impressive aspect of it will be towards men, even evil men. "He that is meek will know himself a sinner among sinners, . . . and this will teach him to endure meekly the provocation with which they may provoke him."* In the world it may be looked upon as cowardice, may be called chickenheartedness, or a softness of which a man should be ashamed; but what is more highly commended than "the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit," when we are assured that whatever it may be in the eyes of men, it is "in the sight of God of great price"? Meekness is not easily provoked; it restrains the stirrings of anger in the soul, and gives a soft answer to turn away wrath. It is both slow to take and scorns to give offence. The proud man is ever sensitive on points which touch his position and fancied dignity: the meek man thinks not so much of himself as of his God; and amidst the toils and trials of this life, it is he above all others who most fully "inherits the earth." Nothing more truly sweetens social existence than meekness, and it may well be regarded as an ornament of the religion of that Saviour who was Himself meek and lowly-minded.

Long-suffering belongs to the same category of graces. In a different connexion St. Paul refers to this virtue in the eleventh verse of the first chapter, and this renewed allusion to it serves to show its importance. It indicates the state of mind and feeling we ought to cultivate towards those who injure us in word or deed. Meekness may be required by the mere manner of others towards us; long-suffering is often necessary by their conduct. Perhaps by no grace can we be brought into more marked likeness to the Lord, who, when He was reviled, reviled not again, and patiently endured the contradiction of sinners against Himself.

These virtues most truly become those who are "the

* Trench's Synonyms of Gk. New Test. sect. xliii.

elect of God, holy and beloved;" they are in source and essence some imitation, on the part of the saint, of what God has felt and manifested towards him. Should we not strive to act towards our fellows, as God from the height of His glory has in infinite condescension and mercy acted towards us?

III. "Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye." Here is recommended an exhibition of the last two, and perhaps more particularly of the last, of the graces or virtues named, with the proposal of Christ as our pattern. St. Paul adds this in order the better to illustrate the real force of the graces he had enjoined, and "to guard against hypocrisy and mere emotions without actually putting them into effect." * Here then are two ways in which meekness and long-suffering may be practically exhibited. "If any man have a quarrel against any," forbearance and forgiveness must be shown by the Christian. The word does not exactly mean quarrel; it should not amount to that. Two are required to make a quarrel, and of these a Christian should never be one. It is simply a ground of complaint; and wherever there is such reason for blame, forbearance is to be exercised. We may often have to complain of others, of their spirit and manner, of their words and actions towards us; but even if we have any real ground of blame, it is a characteristic grace of the new man to forbear and to forgive, and it is to be cultivated by Forbearance waits with composure under provocation or injury; and even if the forbearance should be abused, and injury be added, we are still to cherish a forgiving spirit. It may be hard to do so, yet the Apostle, knowing the difficulty, urges it with the strongest motive, and pro

us.

*Bp. Daniel Wilson's Comment. on Colossians in loc.

poses for our imitation the highest example: "Even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye." As the Lord Jesus has done to us, so are we to do to one another: the necessity amongst us is common, first one and then another; for as we have to forgive, so we need to be forgiven. But Christ forgives, and needs on His part no forgiveness. "Who can forgive sins, but God only?" In ascribing the power of forgiveness to Christ Jesus, the inference is clear-He is Divine. In this respect, such as the Father is, such also is the Son." If we are His disciples, He has forgiven us freely, fully, unreservedly, and for ever. So should we forgive others who may have offended us; not "seven times" merely, and objecting to the "seventy times seven," but forgiving freely, even as the Lord has forgiven us. We have as men but to forgive our equals: Christ has forgiven us, His servants and creatures who are infinitely below Him. The faults which we have to forgive each other are comparatively small and few; but how much has Christ forgiven us, and at what a cost to Him has He provided pardon! Our sins and shortcomings are beyond our reckoning, yet the blood of Jesus Christ the Son of God washes them all away. Let us then be sure of our own pardon through Him, that we may the more earnestly cultivate a forgiving spirit. This grace is essential to the evidence of our own forgiveness. What a silencing of tongues, what a restraining of tempers, what a hushing of angry passions there would be, were this grace triumphant in human society. As we see its excellency, let us seek its possession; and to this end let us ever have Christ the Great Exemplar before us.

XXXII.

The Place and Power of Christian Love.

"And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness."-COLOSSIANS iii. 14.

ST

(T. PAUL had recommended and enjoined various Christian graces as the proper adornment of the new life; but as some of these graces might be assumed, and their mere appearance made to deceive men, he insists on love as the true soul of every virtue, without which the fairest and most respectable actions are but as glittering shams. The word translated charity is the word in the Greek New Testament which really signifies "love." Charity has a peculiar meaning attached to it now, and is generally limited to the expression of one effect or result of love-the relief of distress or poverty; but this is nowhere in Scripture the proper sense of the word. There is no grace or virtue more constantly or carefully urged or more gloriously illustrated than that which is here the theme of the Apostle's command. "God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him." (1 John iv. 16.)

*

I. The principle which is the theme of this injunction is love, not a mere natural, but a Divine affection. On this theme much has been written by moralists and poets, by fools as well as philosophers. It is the most powerful, as it

* 'Αγάπη.

is the most common, of all human affections; and every one may be said, in some sense and to some extent, to understand it. But the love which the Christian has to Christ has to be acquired and cultivated: it is not the affection of the natural heart, and is altogether distinct from amiability of disposition. Many are naturally amiable, gentle, and loving, who have no real love to God, and little or no thought of Him. The affection required is that which makes God its supreme and central object, so that the heart spontaneously rises up to Him, and goes forth in sympathy and desire toward Him, and all that bears His name or reflects His character. It is love to God and to our brother also, both together comprising the great duty of man, as illustrated in the life of our Lord during His sojourn on earth. This love is a fruit of the Holy Spirit, the first-named indeed of the fruits of the Spirit, by whom it is shed abroad in the heart.* Naturally amongst men there is a great deal of affectionate kindness; but there is not naturally in any heart the spiritual love of God, or delight in His presence, or any desire for communion with Him. It is in every case the result of the operation of the Holy Ghost, and comes through faith, for "faith worketh by love." Many other influences may excite natural affection for subordinate objects, but it will be more or less of a selfish love. Faith in God, as He has revealed Himself in Christ, can alone produce in us true childlike love to Him— faith in the glory of His righteousness, the splendours of His grace, and the triumph of His love in the gospel of His Son. "Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins." (1 John iv. 10.) It is the apprehension of this glorious fact that draws forth from us the return of pure affection. "We love Him, because He first loved us" (v. 19). And "if

* Gal. v. 22; Rom. v. 5.