has the former knowledge, and that is Christ. Of this we are distinctly assured. "No man hath seen God at any time, the Only Begotten, who is in the bosom of the Father hath declared Him." Christ is His express image. Christ says "no man: "-neither Moses, the prophets, nor the apostles. All the knowledge they could have was relative. Now the views of finite beings on any object will always be determined by their mental stand point, their natural capacity, their educational experience, and the peculiar tendencies and habits of their minds. No two minds are alike in these respects. David's idea of God here was relative. He represents the Eternal as he appeared to him in the particular state of mind which he experienced. We make two remarks on his idea of God's "hot displeasure." I. IT WAS GENERATED IN A GUILTY CONSCIENCE BY GREAT SUFFERING. Whatever difference of opinion may exist as to the time when this Psalm was composed, one thing is certain, that the writer was involved in the greatest distress both in body and in mind. With that deep sense of guilt which he experienced on account of his murder and adultery, it is not difficult to see how this suffering would lead him to regard God as burning with revenge. Observe two facts. First That he was conscious of having wronged his Maker. In another place he says, against "Thee, Thee only have I sinned." He felt what all men should feel, that a wrong done against the race is a wrong done to God. Now it is a psychological fact, that the man whom we feel we have injured we are disposed to regard as being more or less indignant with us. A is conscious of having done a wrong to B, and consequently he regards B as his ememy, though B may not have a particle of indignation against him. It is just so with the convicted sinner and God. His conscience robes infinite love with vengeance. Observe, Secondly: He was conscious of deserving God's displeasure. He felt that the sufferings he was enduring were penal inflictions, and he justly deserved them. His sense of guilt told him that God's "hot displeasure" he justly merited. In this way his sufferings acting on a guilty conscience, gave him this terrible idea of God. Had his conscience been appeased by atoning love, the very sufferings he was enduring would have led him to regard the great God as a loving Father disciplining him for a higher life, and not as a wrathful God visiting him in His hot displeasure. God is to you according to your moral state. Unless you are filled with love which is the essence of goodness, you will never rightly know that God who is love. He that loveth not knoweth not God. Another remark we make concerning his idea of God's "hot displeasure" is, II. IT WAS REMOVED FROM HIS GUILTY CONSCIENCE BY EARNEST PRAYER. He prays. His prayer for mercy is intensely importunate. "Oh Lord, rebuke me not in thine anger," &c. "Have mercy upon me, O Lord," "O Lord, heal me." "O Lord deliver my soul," &c. &c. What is the result of his prayer? Here it is, "Depart from me all ye workers of iniquity, for the Lord hath heard the voice of my weeping," &c., &c. What a change! Not in God, He was the same, essential love always, eternally incapable of feelings which we represent by anger, jealousy, hot displeasure. The change is solely in the mind of David. "Lord, what a change within us, one short hour That we should ever weak or helpless be, And strength, and joy, and courage are with Thee." True prayer does two things. TRENCH. First Modifies for the better the mind of the suppliant. Were there no answers to prayer, its reflex influence is not only advantageous, but highly essential. It tends to quicken, to calm, to elevate the soul. True prayer, Secondly: Secures the necessary assistance of the God of love. "Ask and it shall be given unto you," &c. One great truth that comes up from the whole of these remarks, is that man's destiny depends upon his moral state, and that no system can effectually help him, that does not bring his heart into a right relation with God. So long as God арpears to him burning with "hot displeasure," he must be in an agony like that which the Psalmist here describes. The mission of Christianity is to bring men into this happy relation. God is in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself," &c. A Homiletic Glance at the Epistle of Paul to the Ephesians. The student is requested to keep in mind the following things, which will throw much light upon the Epistle. First: The circumstances of the writer when he wrote. He was a prisoner in Rome. During his residence there, in "his own hired house" (Acts xxviii. 30, 31), from the spring A.D. 61 to 63, he wrote the Epistles to the Colossians, Philippians, Philemon, and to the Ephesians. It is generally supposed that this Epistle to the Ephesians was the first he wrote during his imprisonment. Secondly: The circumstances of the persons addressed. They lived, it is thought, in Ephesus, an illustrious city in the district of Iona, nearly opposite the island of Samos, and about the middle of the western coast of the peninsula commonly called Asia Minor. It had attained in Paul's day such a distinction as in popular estimation to be identified with the whole of the Roman province of Asia. It was the centre of the worship of the great goddess Diana. Paul resided here on two different occasions. The first, A.D. 54, for a very short period (Acts xviii. 19-21); the second, for a period of more than two years. The persons therefore addressed in this letter are those whom he had converted from paganism, and in whom he felt all the interest of a spiritual father. Thirdly: The purpose of the letter. The aim of the Epistle seems to be to set forth the origin and development of the Church of Christ, and to impress those Ephesian Christians, who lived under the shadow of the great temple of Diana, with the unity and beauty of a temple transcendently more glorious. For the minute critical exegesis of this apostolic encylical, we direct our readers to the commentaries of Alford, Webster and Wilkinson, Jowett, Harless, Stier, Eadie, Hodge, and, last though not least, Ellicott. Our aim will be to draw out, classify, and set in homiletic order, the Divine ideas reached by the critical aid of such distinguished scholars. SUBJECT: The Redemptive Predestination of God in its Subjective and Objective Aspects. "In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace; wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence; having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself: that in the dispensation of the fulness of times, he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth, even in him: in whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will; that we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ. In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believe, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance, until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory."-Ephes. i. 7—14. ANNOTATIONS. "In whom we have redemption through his blood." "In whom,” (èv ŵ). “As usual èv has here its fullest primary and theological meaning; it implies more than union with, it points to Christ as the living sphere of redemption." (Ellicott.) "Redemption" (å πOλUTPWOL) occurs only in nine other places in the New Testament. In some cases it means deliverance from providential calamities (e.g., Luke xxi. 28 ; Heb. xi. 35). In other cases, the Resurrection of the body. (Rom. viii. 23.) Deliverance is the generic idea. "We are having” (exoμev). We are ever needing, and so are ever having it. The tense denotes continuous possession." (Webster.) "Through his blood.” (dià тoû diμatos.) The word does not, of course, mean material blood, that vital current which coursed through his veins as a man. The gross-minded are ever too ready to associate this barbarous idea with this holy word. Aqua means life. "I have betrayed the innocent blood," i.e., innocent life. The life of Christ was Himself; his blood, therefore, means Himself. Hence elsewhere redemption is ascribed to Him. "The forgiveness of sins." The word aperis occurs in fifteen other places in the New Testament. It is sometimes rendered remission, set at liberty. The idea is release, release from the guilt of sin. "According to the riches of his grace; wherein He hath abounded towards us in all wisdom and prudence." 66 According to the riches of his grace, which He made to abound towards us in all wisdom and discernment." (Ellicott.) "Having made known to us the mystery of his will." The word μvoτýριov means that which is secret and undiscovered. It does not necessarily mean the incomprehensible, but the uncomprehended; not the undiscoverable, but the undiscovered. In this sense the Gospel was once a mystery to the Ephesians, and is a mystery now to those who have not received the revelation. "According to his good pleasure, which he hath purposed in himself." “ Many commentators read' in Him,' meaning in Christ, but this would introduce tautology into the passage, for the apostle would then say, 'which He purposed in Christ, to bring together in Christ."" (Hodge.) "That in the dispensation of the fulness of times." "What is here the meaning of the word dispensation (oikovoμia)? It has two general senses in the New Testament. When used in reference to one in authority, it means plan, scheme, or economy. When spoken of one under authority, it means an office, stewardship, or administration of such office. So Paul says an oikovoμa was committed to him. The former sense of the VOL. XXII. Z word suits the context. It was a purpose having a reference to a plan or economy of God." (Hodge.) "The fulness of the season." God's great economy has its fit seasons for its development. The first advent "in the fulness of time," was one of these seasons. The descent of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost was another. "The time was fully come." The conversion of the Jews is another. "The times of the Gentiles are fulfilled." The Second Advent of Christ is another. "The times of the restitution of all things." The expression here, perhaps, points to the grand consummation. "He might gather in one all things in Christ both which are in heaven and which are on earth” (åvakepaλaiwσaobai, sum up again, recapitulate). The good pleasure which He purposed was to sum up all things, the whole range of things in Christ, which is included in this "all things" (Tα Tavтa.) The diverse opinions of expositors show it is difficult, if not impossible, to determine the exact meaning. We incline to the opinion that the reference is to the union of all the true things in the Jewish and in the Gentile world. "Heaven and earth" may stand for the two great systems of the ancient world, Judaism and Gentilism. Christ came to remove the middle wall of partition between them, and to unite them unto Himself-He, the Head of both. "In whom also we obtained an inheritance." "In whom we acquired the heritage; were made a people of inheritance."" (Webster.) "Being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will." All is of God. It is neither by chance, nor by creature efforts. The fountain of redemption is in the heart of God. "That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.” The idea is that we, we Jews who first trusted in Christ; who before this Advent waited for the "consolation of Israel," that we should be the means of causing his praises to be celebrated in the earth. "In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation." "Ye," at Ephesus, Gentile Christians who believed. "In whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise." "Ye were sealed” (èoppayıoOnte). There are several senses in which a seal is used. To authenticate as genuine, to indicate one's property, and to guarantee security. In all these senses the genuine disciples of Christ are sealed. "Which is the earnest of our inheritance." "Earnest" (appaßúv), a word used in the New Testament only here and 2 Cor. i. 22 v. 5. It denotes first, the part of the price of anything purchased as security of full payment, and, more generally, a pledge. "The redemption of the purchased possession." The word is Tepiwolnois, which means either the act of acquiring, or the thing acquired. Here it is the latter, and the entire sentence may mean the full realisation of a good man's destiny. HOMILETICS. This passage treated homiletically presents redemptive predestination to us in some of its subjective and objective aspects. We use |