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"withholding more than is meet tendeth to poverty." They withhold their labour, their property, or their prayers from the cause of God and humanity; and their selfishness only starves their own souls. They bring forth little or no fruit, and are dwarfs in spiritual life and joy for their pains. The truest stimulus to progress is practical activity.

But the real means of growth is the knowledge of God. Our own fruitfulness may be a condition of holy progress, but it cannot make us grow. It is the knowledge of God that is the true nourishment of the soul. The more that we know of God as He has revealed Himself, and the more that we are rooted and grounded in this knowledge, so much the more shall we spiritually grow. A God in shadow or unknown creates superstition, and to view Him in only one aspect of His character will lead either to fanaticism or mysticism. But our Heavenly Father does reveal Himself to man. We can see some features of His power and glory in the works of nature around us; elements of His mysterious being and ineffable majesty are discernible in the march of His providence; but He has come down to us in the incarnation of His only begotten Son, in whom alone we behold the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person. It is this revelation of God in Christ that has true quickening power, though every ray of light thrown on the Divine character, from His own glorious works and ways, tends to develop and strengthen the Christian life of those who make it their study. The more that we know of the Divine majesty and mercifulness, of the grace and glory of God, of His holiness and tenderness, of His righteousness and compassion, the more shall we trust Him and love Him, and consequently the more shall we spiritually grow up unto "the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ."

The knowledge of God is the only knowledge which encompasses our whole being and fills the whole man. It

supplies truth for the intellect, the conscience, and the heart, stimulus and nourishment for every attribute and necessity of our being. Overlooking no part of our nature, it seeks the development of our complete humanity, and the growth. which it promotes is symmetrical and full. Devotion to mere human studies, or exclusive attention to a particular branch of human knowledge, may develop the intellectual side of our nature, to the neglect of the moral, spiritual, and social; but the knowledge of God appeals to all, influences all, elevates all, and the growth secured by it is that of the whole man.

Such are the first two branches or aspects of this Christian walk, fruitfulness and progress, doing good and knowing God. These embrace the two sides of our nature, action and reflection; the one for thought, the other for activity. They act and react on each other. The activity would pass into formalism, were it not fed and nourished by the thoughtful contemplation of God in Christ and communion with Him. Our meditation of the Divine Being and Character would pass into fanaticism, were it not regulated by the active duty and fruitfulness required. By the knowledge of God, and in activity for Him, we may healthfully and happily grow in the strength and blessedness of a true manhood.

IV.

The Source and Object of Spiritual Strength.

Strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, unto all patience and long-suffering with joyfulness."-COLOSSIANS i. 11.

THESE words describe a third feature of that walk which

is to be worthy of the Lord. The fertility and spiritual. progress of which the Apostle had spoken in the previous verse are not the result of any natural strength or innate vitality in the Christian himself. They proceed from imparted strength, from the gracious power of God communicated to the soul, and lodged within it. The Christian's power is not indigenous; it is given to him, and the process of strengthening is essential to the spiritual condition in which he grows and brings forth fruit. In this verse we have for our consideration a spiritual process of strengthening, the Divine principle which is the rule or order of that process, and the grand moral purpose contemplated by it.

I. The spiritual process experienced-the process of strengthening" strengthened with all might." For the fourth time in this brief prayer St. Paul here uses the word all or every, being strengthened with every kind of might needful for a moral and responsible creature. Man is frail, essentially weak, and his frequent boasting of strength is in truth.

a sign of his weakness. Adam, our first father, though made in the image of God, was weak, and fell before the first assault of the great enemy; and now that sin by thus triumphing has entered our world, degenerate men are weaker still, in all the elements which constitute the true strength of moral manhood. It was when we were "without strength," when God saw humanity the sport of sin and the willing captive of Satan, that He laid our help on One mighty to save. Yet men rarely think of their weakness; they rather consider themselves strong, equal to all the necessities of their position, and to all moral demands made upon them. It is only when a man receives new life in Christ Jesus that he obtains a new principle of power from God, becomes really conscious of his native weakness, and begins to apprehend the force of that evil tendency which has bent and ruled his life. It is only when you try to stem a torrent that you come to know its force, and find how powerless your efforts are against it. Thus the Christian who, through union to the Saviour, seeks as the law of his new life to crucify the flesh, resist the devil, and overcome the world, becomes conscious of his own weakness. For him there is strength from God, an invigorating process by which he grows, brings forth fruit, and walks worthy of his Master and Lord. Yet, as you cast your eye over the Church of God, and see the course of many who profess and call themselves Christians, how much weakness is painfully manifest, and how much need in many cases of this spiritual invigoration. You see intelligent men conquered by the love of the world, drawn away by the love of pleasure, and often vanquished as the slaves of vice. You see those who avowedly have the Divine life in their souls setting out boldly in the Christian race, but whose pace gradually slackens, and instead of resisting the allurements around them, they become entangled by the pursuits or pleasures of the world, and fall into a state of spiritual apathy. In the history of

many a soul whose course ought to be upwards in spiritual. brightness and power, you see the world as a foe laying siege to it, and point after point is gained, resolve after resolve gives way, until the citadel of the heart is finally stormed, and Christ seems altogether forgotten or denied in a mass of secularity and worldliness, which too clearly proves the weakness of humanity. How often do you see those whom success or prosperity has visited, unable to resist their influence; and those whom adversity frets and sours, unwilling to kiss the rod, and failing to resist impatience and discontent. These in truth are daily and painful sights in the Church of the living God; they are evidences of weakness, and of the need of that great blessing of strength which St. Paul asked for the Colossians. Mark the breadth and fulness of the blessing-strengthened with all might— with every form and kind of might. With might for all the faculties of the soul, so that every power of manhood shall feel the strengthening process, and be invigorated thereby. Its influence will be felt in the understanding, in the heart, and in the will-not that any new faculty is given, or that a larger measure of mental capacity is communicated, but that all the powers and energies of the moral and spiritual nature are braced and invigorated by the impartation. With might for all the wants of the life. How many and varied these are! Daily, as new circumstances arise, and new duties evolve, and new difficulties appear, strength is needful in the varied aspects and relations of life; needful in prosperity as well as adversity, in sadness as well as in success and joy, so that the people of God may always "quit themselves like men, and be strong." Strength is needed by all, and is thus offered to all, in the battle with evil, and in the pilgrimage of life.

II. The Divine principle manifested-" according to His glorious power," or, as the words really are, "according

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