experience. Here emphatically rich and poor meet together. The gracious power which changed the heart of Philemon the master, renewed the soul of Onesimus his slave. So it still is so it always has been. The pomp of worldly wealth, or honour, or noble birth can recommend no one to God for this momentous change; nor does lowliness of extraction or poverty of condition influence Him to reject any. In the mystery of the new birth there is no respect of persons with Him.

These outward distinctions, therefore, do not hinder, and they do not directly help, the putting off of the old man and the putting on of the new. It is bounded by no national limits, fettered by no local ties, identified with no ecclesiastical conditions or ceremonies: it is for all men, in all time, and everywhere. Some think that what was necessary in the first ages of the Church, and that what is necessary now in a heathen country, is not necessary in our land, with all our culture and privilege-that to speak now of spiritual change is altogether needless. No mistake could be greater. Every soul of man is degenerate, and is one of a degenerate race, and to be born again is necessary in the case of all, without exception. The influences of philosophy, literature, and science do not of themselves. bring men any nearer to God; nay, often they have a contrary tendency; and the philosopher, in his intellectual pride, may be farther from God than the poor and unlettered man. All alike must be spiritually changed: and that which is hid from the wise and prudent, who are self-sufficient, is revealed unto babes. What avails, then, for this change?

III. In this spiritual change Christ is everything. He is all and in all. The original is expressive, with the subject at the end for the greater emphasis, "All and in all, Christ." "A Scythian is not a Scythian, but Christ's. A barbarian is

not a barbarian, but Christ's. Christ is all, and that, too, in all who believe. The new creature is in Christ."* The spiritual renovation of the soul lies in the all-sufficiency of Christ Jesus. In this moral transformation He is everything, and He is in every one who is changed. It is not implied that a man loses his nationality, or that his social rank is obliterated, when he becomes a Christian; but that these distinctions have neither place nor power in this spiritual renovation of manhood. Here "Christ is the aggregation of all things, distinctions, prerogatives, blessings, and moreover is in all, dwelling in all, and so uniting all in the common element of Himself."†

And it is worthy of remark, and, indeed, of devout thought, that in all races and tribes of men, when they are converted by the gospel of God, the great facts of the spiritual life, especially love to Christ, are essentially the same. It may well be so, for Christ is all and in all in the principle of the "new man." He may, indeed, be designated the Author of the change, for without Him there can be no spiritual renewal of the soul. Through Him the Holy Spirit works to melt and mould the heart afresh; and the truth as it is in Him is the grand instrument which the Spirit wields in the washing of regeneration. Every Christian is created anew in Christ Jesus. The Saviour alone availeth in the realm of spiritual renewal: all mere human influences to this end fail and are utterly vain; and all needful Divine influences come through Christ. Only those who hear the voice of the Son of God in the gospel can spiritually live. Victory over sin, and the subjugation of the "old man," are not in intellectual culture, or in scientific discovery, or in social refinement,-only in Jesus Christ and Him crucified.

*Bengel's Gnomon of the New Test. in loc.

† Bp. Ellicott's Crit. and Gram. Comment. in loc.

Further, He is all in the progress and development of the new man. Not only is the Lord Jesus the principle of the new life, but He is its sustenance and strength. As the renewed soul feeds by faith on Him, so it grows up into Him. In Nature all things are nourished by the same agencies and means, under the Great Creator, as those which produced them: the sunshine and the showers of heaven which quicken the seed in the soil, will by-and-by make it blossom and send forth beauty and fragrance as a flower: so in the kingdom of God the new man is preserved and strengthened by the infinite resources of Christ. There can be no advancement away from Him, and no true growth but in living union to Him. Difficulties have to be overcome in the spiritual life, which can only be conquered in Christ; blessings to be realized, which can only be reached in Him; and triumphs to be won, which He alone can help us to secure. The more that the Christian is with his Lord, the more clear and beautiful will be the lineaments of the renovated life in likeness to Him. Nor less marked or important is the truth that the perfection of the new man is in Christ Jesus. We are to be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is we shall yet be fashioned like unto His glorious bodyshining in His splendour, and sharing in His beauty for ever. This is the prize of the high calling of God; and to fit us for this heavenly fellowship and reward, spiritual renewal advances from day to day, and Jesus Christ is "all and in all."

66

With what motives to holiness, then, the Apostle surrounds us! What arguments he adduces for the putting off of the old man and the putting on of the new! How powerful the reasons which he assigns for the mortification of the flesh! "Holiness unto the Lord" should be clearly seen in the daily life of every disciple of the Son of God.

XXXI.

The Characteristic Graces of the New Man.

"Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, long-suffering; forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye."— COLOSSIANS iii. 12, 13.

THE Apostle having specified those members of the old

man which must be mortified, proceeds now to name some of the graces of the new man which are to be cultivated. The Christian is a new creature in Christ, and his business is not only to depart from evil, but to do good; not only to crucify the lusts of the flesh, but to cherish and bring forth the fruits of the Spirit. "As you have put on the new man, put on all its characteristic qualities;" thus only can the possession of life in Christ be fairly and fully manifested. It is not enough to put off the carnality and worldliness of the old man, there must be the earnest and constant endeavour to put on the spirituality and purity of the new man. This is, alas! too much forgotten or neglected by many. They seem to think that if they abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul," little or nothing else remains for them to do. They do not consider as of any great moment the practical precepts here laid down, which bear on the deportment and temper of daily life, in

66

Yet very

relation to others, and our intercourse with them. much may our conduct in these things before the world tend to commend or condemn the religion which we profess. Christians, as "elect of God, holy and beloved," are required to put on all the graces of the Spirit, as essential ornaments of their holy calling, and necessary manifestations of their regenerate character.

I. Observe the greatness of their privilege involved in the designation here given-" the elect of God, holy and beloved." Truly it becomes those so distinguished, to whom these epithets can be fairly applied, to have a course in harmony with their position and character. The full force of the argument can be seen only as we rightly apprehend the dignity and preciousness of the privileged condition. "Elect of God," chosen by Him, according to His good pleasure, to the knowledge of Himself, to conformity to the image of His only begotten Son, and to the glory and blessedness of His salvation. Their position of gospel light, liberty, and hope, originated with God; for help and deliverance could come from no other source. They were called by Him out of darkness, and translated into the kingdom of His marvellous light. This election finds its all-sufficient ground in the perfect will of the Highest-in His wisdom, goodness, and love: it is not determined by our character, but determines it. Much mystery and, indeed, much error has been connected in human thought and system with the word elect, and men have at times ascribed to God a caprice, not to say an injustice, of which they would themselves be ashamed. God's election is man's distinction, but no man's doom. His kingdom is open to all, His grace free to all, His mercy offered to all. Every true disciple of the Lord Jesus can gratefully say with St. Paul, "By the grace of God I am what I am;" and over his character and history should be read the words, "Predestinated unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ