Chapter V: AUTOGRAPH CONCLUSION.--1. The Judaisers' motive (ch. vi. 12, 13) (16)

"The anchor of their purest thoughts, the nurse,
The guide, the guardian of their heart, and soul
Of all their moral being."

The hope of our calling is a hope for mankind, nay, for the entire universe. We labour for the regeneration of humanity. We look for the actual ingathering into one in Christ of all things in all worlds, as they are already gathered in God's eternal plan. If it were merely a personal salvation that we had to seek, Christian communion might appear to be an optional thing and the Church no more than a society for mutual spiritual benefit. But seen in this larger light, Church membership is of the essence of our calling (_Findlay_).

+II. One Lord+ (ver. 5), or Master, whom we are called to serve. A consentaneous and harmonious obedience to His mandates blends His servants into one compact unity. +One faith+ (ver. 5), one body of inviolable truth, one code of Divine commands, one Gospel of promise, presenting one object of faith. +One baptism+ (ver. 5), one gateway of entrance into the company of believers forming the one Church, one initiatory rite common to all. Christians may differ as to the mode of baptism and the age at which it should be administered, but all agree it is an institution of Christ, a sign of spiritual renewal, and a pledge of the righteousness that comes by faith. Wherever the sacraments are duly observed, there the supremacy of Christ's rule is recognised, and this rule is the basis on which future unity must be built.

+III. One God,+ the supreme and final unity, who is "the Father of all," who is above all, and through all, and in you all (ver. 6). _Above all_--He reigns supreme over all His people (Rom. ix. 5). _Through all_--informing, inspiring, stimulating, and using them as instruments to work out His purpose (Rom. xi. 36). _In all_--dwelling in and filling their hearts and the ever-widening circle of their experience. "The absolute sovereignty of the Divine Mind over the universe," said Channing, "is the only foundation of hope for the triumph of the human mind over matter, over physical influences, over imperfection and death." With what a grand simplicity the Christian conception of the one God and Father rose above the vulgar pantheon, the swarm of motley deities--some gay and wanton, some dark and cruel, some of supposed beneficence, all infected with human passion and baseness--which filled the imagination of the Græco-Asiatic pagans. What rest there was for the mind, what peace and freedom for the spirit, in turning from such deities to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! This was the very God whom the logic of Greek thought and the practical instincts of Roman law and empire blindly sought. Through ages He had revealed Himself to the people of Israel, who were now dispersed amongst the nations to bear His light. At last He declared His full name and purpose to the world through Jesus Christ. So the gods many and lords many have had their day. By His manifestation the idols are utterly abolished. The proclamation of one God and Father signifies the gathering of men into one family of God. The one religion supplies the basis for one life in all the world. God is _over all,_ gathering all worlds and beings under the shadow of His beneficent dominion. He is _through all_ and _in all_; an omnipresence of love, righteousness, and wisdom, actuating the powers of nature and of grace, inhabiting the Church and the heart of men (_Findlay_).

+Lessons.+--1. _In the moral as in the material world there is diversity in unity and unity in diversity._ 2. _All phases of good find their consummation in an imperishable unity._ 3. _To disturb the balance of unity is a great evil._

_GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES._

Vers. 4-6. _The Unity of the Church._

+I. There is one body.+--The Church is a body of which Christ is the Head, and believers are the members. Though Christians are formed into distinct societies, they constitute but one body. They are united to the Head by faith and to their fellow-members by love.

+II. There is one Spirit.+--As all members of the natural body are animated by one soul, so all the members of Christ's body are sanctified, strengthened, and led by the same Spirit. Since there is one Spirit which dwells in all Christians, all contention, bitterness, and envy, all animosity, division, and separation in the Church are offences against the Holy Spirit.

+III. There is one hope of our calling.+--We are all called by the same Word, our hope is grounded on the same promises, the object of our hope is the same immortal life.

+IV. There is one Lord.+--Christ is Lord of all by the same right. He has bought us with a high price, redeemed us by His own blood. There is no respect of persons with him. We are called to the same service, are under the same laws, and must appear at the same judgment.

+V. There is one faith.+--The same Gospel is the rule of our faith, and this all Christians profess to receive. The faith of all true Christians is essentially the same. The object of it is the Word of God, the nature of it is receiving the love of the truth, the effect of it is to purify the heart.

+VI. There is one baptism.+--We are all baptised in the name of Christ, and He is not divided. May differ as to the age at which persons become the subjects of baptism and the manner of administration, but regarding the design of it we are one. Baptism intended not to divide, but unite the whole Christian world.

+VII. There is one God and Father.+--The Father of the whole creation, but in a more eminent sense the Father of Christians. He is above all. He reigns supreme. He is through all. His essence pervades our frame, His eyes search and try our souls, His influence preserves our spirits. He is in all. In all true Christians by His Spirit. They are the temple of God, and His Spirit dwelleth in them.--_Lathrop._

Ver. 4. _The Oneness of the Church._--1. All the members of the Church being one body is a strong argument enforcing the duty of keeping peace and unity; it being no less absurd for Christians to bite and devour one another than if the members of the selfsame natural body should tear and destroy one another. 2. As those in nature are in a hopeless state, having no right to heaven and happiness, so the Gospel doth open to the person called a large door of well-grounded hope, that, whatever be his misery here, he shall be perfectly blessed in the full enjoyment of God for ever hereafter. 3. The joint aiming of the saints at one mark should make them of one mind and heart, seeing there is that in glory which will suffice all. Their seeking of one thing need be no occasion of strife and emulation, but rather of unity, for why should they strive together who not only are brethren but also heirs together of the grace of life and shall one day reign together in glory?--_Fergusson._

_One Body and One Spirit._

+I. The unity or oneness of the Church as set forth by the unity or oneness of the body.+--One life animates the whole. The parts mutually subserve one another, while the head thinks and the heart beats for all. There is a certain harmony existing between all the members; they constitute a symmetry among themselves, so that one could not be taken away without destroying the perfection of all the others, more or less marring the grace and beauty of the whole frame. So the Church is one--one mystical body--having one author, God; one Head, which is Christ; and one informing Spirit, the Holy Ghost; one country towards which all its members are travelling, heaven; one code of instructions to guide them thither, the Word of God; one and the same band of enemies seeking to bar their passage, the world, the flesh, and the devil. Despite all miserable divisions, wherever there is a man with true love to God and man, any true affiance on Christ, any true obedience to the Spirit and His leadings, _there_ exists a member of this mystical body.

+II. As in the human body there is unity, so there is also variety, diversity, multiplicity.+--This is true of the Church of Christ. Its different members have different functions and offices, and in performing these the Church makes equable and harmonious growth.

+Lessons.+--1. _As members of the same body, let us not separate from brethren in Christ._ 2. _If we are members one of another, many are the debts as such we owe the one to the other._ (1) We owe one another _truth._ (2) _Love_ one to another. (3) _Honour_ one to another.--_R. C. Trench._

Ver. 5. _One Lord._

+I. Christ is our Lord according to every notion and acceptation of the word "Lord."+--He is our Prince and Governor, we are His subjects and vassals; He is our Master, and we are His servants; He is our Owner, or the Possessor and Proprietary of us; He is our Preceptor or Teacher; that is, the Lord of our understanding, which is subject to the belief of His dictates; and the Lord of our practice, which is to be directed by His precepts. He is therefore also our Captain and Leader, whose orders we must observe, whose conduct we should follow, whose pattern we are to regard and imitate in all things.

+II. Christ is also our Lord according to every capacity or respect of nature or office that we can consider appertaining to Him.+--1. He is our Lord as by nature the Son of God, partaking of the Divine essence and perfection. 2. He is our Lord as man, by the voluntary appointment and free donation of God His Father; in regard to the excellency of His Person, and to the merit of His performances. 3. He also, considered as God and man united in one Person, is plainly our Lord. 4. If we are to consider Him as Jesus, our Saviour, that notion doth involve acts of dominion, and thence resulteth a title thereto. Nothing more becomes a Lord than to protect and save; none better deserves the right and the name of a Lord than a Saviour. 5. Likewise, if He be considered as the Christ, that especially implieth Him anointed and consecrated to sovereign dominion, as King of the Church.

+III. Survey the several grounds upon which dominion may be built,+ and we shall see that upon all accounts He is our Lord.--1. An uncontrollable power and ability to govern is one certain ground of dominion. 2. To make, to preserve, to provide and dispense maintenance, are also clear grounds of dominion. 3. He hath acquired us by free donation from God His Father. 4. He hath acquired us by just right of conquest, having subdued those enemies unto whom (partly by their fraud and violence, partly from our own will and consent) we did live enslaved and addicted. 5. He hath also further acquired us to Himself by purchase, having by a great price bought us, ransomed us out of sad captivity, and redeemed us from grievous punishment due to us. 6. He likewise acquired a lordship over us by desert, and as a reward from God, suitable to His performance of obedience and patience, highly satisfactory and acceptable to God. 7. He hath acquired a good right and title to dominion over us as our continual most munificent benefactor. 8. Our Saviour Jesus is not only our Lord by nature and by acquisition in so many ways (by various performances, deserts, and obligations put on us), but He is also so by our own deeds, by most free and voluntary, most formal and solemn, and therefore most obligatory acts of ours. (1) If we are truly persuaded that Christ is our Lord and Master, we must then see ourselves obliged humbly to submit unto and carefully to observe His will, to attend unto and to obey His law, with all readiness and diligence. (2) If Christ be our Lord, then are we not our own lords or our own men; we are not at liberty, or at our own disposal, as to our own persons or our actions. (3) If Christ be our Lord (absolutely and entirely such), then can we have no other lords whatever in opposition to Him, or in competition with Him, or otherwise any way than in subordination and subserviency to Him. (4) If Christ be our Lord, we are thereby disobliged, yea, we are indeed prohibited, from pleasing or humouring men, so as to obey any command, to comply with any desire, or to follow any custom of theirs, which is repugnant to the will or precept of Christ. (5) Finally, for our satisfaction and encouragement, we may consider that the service of Christ is rather indeed a great freedom than a service.--_Barrow._

Ver. 6. _God the Father._

+I. God is the universal Father.+--1. God is the Father of all things, or of us as creatures, as the efficient Cause and Creator of them all. 2. The Father of intellectual beings. He is styled the Father of spirits; the angels, in way of excellency, are called the sons of God. 3. The Father in a more especial manner to mankind. 4. The Father of all good men, with a relation being built upon higher grounds; for as good they have another original from Him, virtue springs in their hearts from a heavenly seed, that emendation and perfection of nature is produced by His grace enlightening and quickening them; they are images of Him, resembling Him in judgment and disposition of mind, in will and purpose, in action and behaviour, which resemblances argue them to be sons of God and constitute them such.

+II. The uses of this truth.+--1. It may teach us what reverence, honour, and observance are due from us to God, in equity and justice, according to ingenuity and gratitude. 2. This consideration may instruct and admonish us what we should be and how we should behave ourselves, for if we be God's children it becometh us, and we are obliged in our disposition and demeanour to resemble, to imitate Him. It is natural and proper for children to resemble their parents in their complexion and countenance, to imitate them in their actions and carriage. 3. This consideration may raise us to a just regard, esteem, and valuation of ourselves; may inspire noble thoughts and breed generous inclinations in us; may withdraw us from mean, base, and unworthy designs or practices; may excite and encourage us to handsome, brave, worthy resolutions and undertakings suitable to the dignity of our nature, the nobleness of our descent, the eminence of so high a relation, of so near an alliance to God. 4. This consideration is a motive to humility, apt to depress vain conceit and confidence in ourselves. If we are God's children, so as to have received our beings, all our powers and abilities, all our goods and wealth, both internal and external, both natural and spiritual, from His free disposal, so as be continually preserved and maintained by His providence to depend for all our subsistence upon His care and bounty, what reason can we have to assume or ascribe anything to ourselves? 5. This consideration shows us the reason we have to submit entirely to the providence of God with contentedness and acquiescence in every condition. 6. Obligeth us to be patient and cheerful in the sorest afflictions, as deeming them to come from a paternal hand, inflicted with great affection and compassion, designed for and tending to our good. 7. Shows the reason we have to obey those precepts which enjoin us to rely on God's providence. 8. Serves to breed and cherish our faith, to raise our hope, to quicken our devotion. For whom shall we confide in if not in such a Father? From whom can we expect good if not from Him? To whom can we have recourse so freely and cheerfully on any occasion if not to Him? 9. Considering this point will direct and prompt us how to behave ourselves towards all God's creatures according to their respective natures and capacities. If God be the Father of all things, they are all thence in some sort our brethren, and so may claim from us a fraternal affection and demeanour answerable thereto.--_Barrow._

_MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.--Verses_ 7-12.

_The Gifts of Christ to His Church_--

+I. That each member of the Church possesses some gift from Christ.+--"Unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ" (ver. 7). All are not alike talented, but each one has some gift of grace. Every gift is not from earth, but from heaven; not from man, but from Christ. Look not down, then, as swine to the acorns they find lying there, and never once up to the tree they come from. Look up; the very frame of our body bears that way. It is nature's check to the body. "Graces are what a man _is_; but enumerate his gifts and you will know what he _has._ He _is_ loving, he _has_ eloquence, or medical skill, or legal knowledge, or the gift of acquiring languages, or that of healing. You have only to cut out his tongue, or to impair his memory, and the gift is gone. But you must destroy his very being, change him into another man, obliterate his identity, before he ceases to be a loving man. Therefore you may contemplate the gift separate from the man; you may admire it and despise him. But you cannot contemplate the grace separate from the man" (_F. W. Robertson_).

"If facts allure thee, think how BACON shined,
The wisest, brightest, meanest of mankind."--_Pope._

The humblest member of the Church of Christ is not without his gift. The grace of the Gospel elevates and sanctifies all his powers and opportunities, and turns them into noblest uses.

+II. That the gifts of Christ to His Church are distributed with the lavish generosity of a conqueror returning from the field of victory+ (vers. 8-10).--We have read of the profuse gifts of victorious warriors:--of Gonsalvo, the great Spanish captain, whose unselfish prodigality was proverbial. "Never stint your hand," he was accustomed to say: "there is no way of enjoying one's property like giving it away";--of Alexander the Great, who on one occasion gave a blank draft to one of his generals with liberty to fill in any amount he chose. When the treasurer, surprised at the enormous sum inserted, asked his imperial master if there was not some mistake, he answered: "No; pay it, pay it; the man honours me by assuming the inexhaustible resources of my empire";--of Belisarius, whose victories were always followed by liberal and extravagant largesses. "By the union of liberality and justice," writes Gibbon, "he acquired the love of his soldiers, without alienating the affections of the people. The sick and wounded were relieved with medicines and money, and still more efficaciously by the healing visits and smiles of their commander. The loss of a weapon or a horse was instantly repaired, and each deed of valour was rewarded by the rich and honourable gifts of a bracelet or a collar, which were rendered more precious by the judgment of Belisarius. He was endeared to the husbandmen by the peace and plenty which they enjoyed under the shadow of his standard. Instead of being injured, the country was enriched by the march of the Roman armies; and such was the rigid discipline of their camp that not an apple was gathered from the tree, not a path could be traced in the fields of corn. Victory by sea and land attended his armies. He subdued Africa, Italy, and the adjacent islands, led away captives the successors of Genseric and Theodoric, filled Constantinople with the spoils of their palaces, and in the space of six years recovered half the provinces of the Western empire";--and of Aurelian, whose triumphant entry into Rome after his victories in the East was the longest, most brilliant, and imposing of any recorded in the annals of the empire, and was signalised by rich donations to the army and the people; the Capitol and every other temple glittered with the offerings of his ostentatious piety, and the temple of the sun alone received above fifteen thousand pounds of gold. But who can measure the munificence of the ascended Saviour, the Divine Conqueror, who, as the fruit of His unparalleled victory, has scattered His gifts among men, to enrich them for ever? He gives not grudgingly and sparingly, but after the measure of His own great nature. He gives not for display but for blessing, and His smallest gift out-values the most lavish donation of the richest earthly benefactor.

+III. That the gifts of Christ qualify man for special work in His Church+ (ver. 11).--The "apostles, prophets, evangelists" linked Church to Church and served the entire body; the "pastors and teachers" had charge of local and congregational affairs. The apostles, with the prophets, were the founders of the Church. Their distinctive functions ceased when the foundation was laid and the deposit of revealed truth was complete. The evangelistic and pastoral callings remain; and out of them have sprung all the variety of Christian ministries since exercised. Evangelists, with apostles or missionaries, bring new souls to Christ and carry His message into new lands. Pastors and teachers follow in their train, tending the ingathered sheep, and labouring to make each flock that they shepherd, and every single man, perfect in Christ Jesus.

+IV. That the gifts of Christ furnish the full moral equipment of the members of His Church+ (ver. 12).--Christ's gifts of great and good men in every age have been bestowed for a thoroughly practical purpose--"the perfecting of the saints, the work of the ministry, the edifying of the body of Christ." No one man has all the gifts requisite for the full development of the Church; but it is the privilege and honour of each worker to use his special gift for the general good. The combination of gifts, faithfully and diligently employed, effects the desired end. The Church must be built up, and this can be done only by the harmonious use of the gifts of Christ, not by mere human expedients. "We may have eloquent preaching, crowded churches, magnificent music, and all the superficial appearance of a great religious movement, whilst the vaunted revival is only a poor galvanised thing, a corpse twitching with a strange mimicry of life, but possessed of none of its vital energy and power." Gifts are dangerous without the grace and wisdom to use them. Many a brilliant genius has gone down into oblivion by the reckless abuse of his gifts. Christ endows His people with gifts that they may use them for the increase and upbuilding of His Church, and they must be exercised in harmony with the rules and purposes of the Divine Architect. "Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it."

+Lessons.+--1. _Christ's estimate of His Church is seen in the spiritual riches He has lavished upon it._ 2. _The gifts of each member of the Church are for the benefit of all._ 3. _The gifts of Christ to His Church are the offerings of a boundless love._

_GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES._

Ver. 7. _The Gospel according to Mark._--The writers of the four Gospels completed their work not for the sake of making a literary reputation for themselves, or of adding to the literary masterpieces of the world, but for the spiritual benefit of the Christian Church. Christ our Lord sitting in the heavens, seeing exactly what was wanted in the apostolic Churches, and in the Church of all time, seeing what was wanted in the evangelists themselves if they were to supply the Church's wants, measured out His gifts to the evangelists. Accordingly, to each evangelist He gave that special gift which was needed in order to do his particular work. What was the grace that was given to St. Mark? It has been said that St. Mark's Gospel has no special character, that it is the least original of the four, that it is insipid, that it might have been dispensed with without loss to the harmony of the evangelical narrative. Even St. Augustine has spoken of it as an epitome of St. Matthew; and his deservedly great authority has obtained a currency of this opinion in the Western Church. But in point of fact, although St. Mark has more in common with St. Matthew than with any other evangelist, he is far from being a mere epitomist of the first Gospel. He narrates at least three independent incidents which St. Matthew does not notice. He has characteristics which are altogether his own.

+I. St. Mark is remarkable for his great attention to subordinate details.+--He supplies many particulars which evangelists who write more at length altogether omit. From him, for instance, we learn the name of Jairus, the ruler of the synagogue, and of Bartimæus, the blind man healed by our Lord. From him we learn how Simon of Cyrene was related to well-known Christians of the next generation--Alexander and Rufus. He it is who tells us that the woman of Canaan whose petition our Lord so indulgently received was a Syrophenician, and that our Lord was popularly spoken of as the carpenter. He is careful to point out more minutely than do others the scenes in which our Lord took part on four occasions. He describes particularly our Lord's look. He notes the express affections of our Lord's human soul, His love for the rich young man, His anger with the Pharisee, His pity for the leper, His groaning in spirit on two separate occasions. And here we have something more than a literary peculiarity--than a style of writing which corresponds to those pre-Raphaelite artists who render every leaf and every blade of grass with scrupulous accuracy. I say that we are here face to face with a moral and spiritual excellence which forms part of the special grace given to St. Mark. Close attention to details in any workman means a recognition of the sacredness of fact. Where details are lost sight of, or blurred over, in the attempt to produce a large, general, indistinct effect, there is always a risk of indifference to the realities of truth. The very least fact is sacred, whatever be its relative importance to other facts. But in a life like that of our Lord, everything is necessarily glowing with interest, however trivial it might appear to be in any other connection. This care for details is thus the expression of a great grace--reverence for truth, reverence for every fragment of truth that touched the human life of the Son of God.

+II. St. Mark is remarkable for the absence of a clearly discernible purpose in his Gospel,+ over and above that of furnishing a narrative of our Lord's conflict with sin and evil during His life as man upon the earth. The three other evangelists have each of them a manifest purpose in writing of this kind. St. Matthew wishes to show to the Jews that our Lord is the Messiah of the Jewish prophecy. St. Luke would teach the Gentile Churches that He is the Redeemer whose saving power may be claimed through faith by the whole race of men. St. John is, throughout, bent upon showing that He speaks and acts while in the flesh as the eternal Word or Son of God, who has been made flesh and was dwelling among us. And it has been said that St. Mark's narrative is an expansion of those words of Peter--that Jesus of Nazareth "went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil, for God was with Him." Probably this is true; but then these words describe not a purpose beyond the narrative, but the substance of the narrative itself. St. Mark simply records a sacred life as he had learned it from the lips of Peter, not for any purpose beyond the narrative itself; but whatever it might prove beyond itself, it was to a believing Christian unspeakably precious.

+III. A few words in conclusion.+--"Unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ." As no two human souls exactly resemble each other, so no two souls are endowed in an exactly similar way. And for the difference of endowment let us be sure there is always a reason in the Divine Mind, for each soul in every generation has its appointed work to do, without itself as within itself; and it is endowed with exactly the grace, whether of mind or heart, which will best enable it to do that particular work. Some may think that they have received little or nothing--some gift so small as to be scarcely appreciable. The probability is that they have not yet considered what God has done for them. They have spent their time in thinking of what He has withheld, instead of thinking of what He has given; of what they might have been, instead of what they are. Certainly the grace which our Lord gave to St. Paul when he wrote his great epistle to the Romans was immensely greater than that which He gave to Tertius, the poor amanuensis, who took it down from the apostle's dictation, and who inserts a greeting from himself just at the end of the document. And yet Tertius, too, had his part in the work--a humble but a very real part, according to the measure of the gift of Christ. He did not say, "Because I am not the eye I am not of the body." He made the most of the grace which was certainly his. And others may think, rightly or wrongly, that unto them very great graces have been given according to the gift of Christ, that they are the hands or the eyes of the holy body, the men who do its work, or the men who discern the truths which support its life. Well, if it be so, this is a reason, not for confident satisfaction, but for anxiety. Such gifts as these are edge tools; they may easily prove the ruin of their possessors. For all such gifts an account must one day most assuredly be rendered; and if self has appropriated that which belongs to God or to His Church, it cannot but entail misery on the possessor. If a man has wealth, or ability, or station; much more if he has cultivated intelligence and generous impulses; most of all if his heart has been fixed by the love of God, and the unseen is to him a serious reality, and he has hopes and motives which really transcend the frontiers of the world of sense, then, assuredly, his safety lies in remembering that he is a trustee who will one day have to present his account at the great audit, when the eminence of his gifts will be the exact measure of his responsibility. Eighteen centuries have passed since St. Mark went to reign somewhere beneath his Master's throne whose life he had described; but he has left us the result of his choicest gift--he has left us his Gospel. What has it--what have the four Gospels--hitherto done for each of us? It is recorded that John Butler, an excellent Church of England layman of the last generation, stated on his death-bed that on looking back on his life the one thing he most regretted was that he had not given more time to the careful study of the life of our Lord in the four evangelists. Probably he has not been alone in that regret; and if the truth were told, many of us would have to confess that we spend much more thought and time upon the daily papers, which describe the follies and errors of the world, than on the records of that Life which was given for the world's redemption. The festival of an evangelist ought to suggest a practical resolution that, so far as we are concerned, the grace which he received, according to the measure of the gift of Christ, shall not, please God, be lost. Ten minutes a day seriously spent on our knees, with the Gospel in our hands, will do more to quicken faith, love, reverence, spiritual and moral insight and power, than we can easily think.--_H. P. Liddon._

Vers. 9, 10. _The contrasted Humiliation and Exaltation of Christ._

+I. The circumstances of the Saviour's depression from His original state.+--We say that a person stoops, that he bends, that he sinks. Moral correspondencies to these actions are understood. They are condescensions. Immanuel is the name of our Saviour when born into our world and dwelling in it--God with us. A local residence is thus described. And we are informed of the degree which marks His coming down from heaven, of the manner in which He came into the world--He descended into the lower parts of the earth. What lowliness is this! Similar terms are employed in other portions of the inspired volume; by collating them with those of the text we shall most satisfactorily determine its sense.

1. _The incarnation of Christ may be thus expressed._--To what did He not submit? By what was He not buffeted? What insult did not disfigure His brow? What shade did not cloud His countenance? What deep waters did not go over His soul? His was humanity in its severest pressures and humblest forms.

2. _This form of language may denote the death of Christ._--It is the ordinary phrase of the Old Testament; "They shall go into the lower parts of the earth: Thou hast laid me in the lowest pit, in darkness, in the deeps." Does it not seem strange that His soul should be commended hence who had often bound death to His bidding and summoned from the grave its prey? He is brought low to the dust of death. The erect figure is prostrated. The instinctive life is arrested. That mysterious frame--related to the infinite and the Divine temple of all greatness, shrine of all sanctity--that "Holy Thing" sleeps in death.

3. _This style may be intended to intimate that burial to which He yielded._--"Lest I become like them that go down into the pit." "So must the Son of man be in the heart of the earth." He has made His grave with the wicked, and with the rich in His death! He is put away into darkness. He is held of death in its gloomy chambers. He is as a victim and a prey. It is a prison-keep.

4. _The separation of the Redeemer's body and spirit may be described in these words._--We mark in this departure of His soul the simple requirement of death. It could not be retained. It descended into the lower parts of the earth. This is the reverse of resurrection and heavenward flight. It was humiliation. These are the gradations of His descent. These are the "lower parts of the earth" to which He declined. This is His coming forth from the Father! This is His coming down from heaven! This is His coming into the world! His measureless surrender of claims! His inconceivable renunciation of honours! Stooping to inferior and still inferior levels of ignominy! Plunging to deeper and still deeper abysses of shame!

+II. The glory of His subsequent exaltation.+--1. _It is in itself an absolute expression of love._

2. _It justifies an expectation of surpassing benefits._

3. _The act regulates and secures its own efficiency._

4. _This act is to be regarded as of incomparable worth and excellence._--The mission of Christ contemplated the highest principles which can direct the Divine conduct. He came to vindicate that character which to conceive aright is the happiness of all creatures--to uphold and avenge that law which cannot be infringed without an utter loss of good and overthrow of order--to atone for sin whose slight and impunity would have been the allowance of infinite mischiefs and evils--to bring in an everlasting righteousness adequate to the justification of the most guilty, and of the most multiplied objects who needed it--leaving it for ever proved that no rule nor sanction of God's moral government can be violated without a necessary and meet resentment! His ascension was a radiant triumph. Scarcely is it more descried than His resurrection. We catch but a few notes of the resounding acclaim, we mark but a few fleeces of the glory-cloud, we recognise but a few attendants of the angel-train. With that laconic force which characterises holy writ, it is simply recorded, "Who is gone into heaven."

+III. The reciprocal influence of these respective facts.+--"The same" was He who bowed Himself to these indignities and who seized these rewards. And this identity is of the greatest value. Not only do we hail Him in His reinstatement in original dignities, but in the augmentation of His glories. Deity was never so beheld before. There is a combination and a form of the Divine perfections entirely new. We repine that He is not here. We forget that it is expedient that He should go away. Heaven alone provides scope for His undertakings and channel for His influences. There must He abide until the restitution of all things. But nothing of His sympathy or His grace do we forego.--_R. W. Hamilton._

Vers. 9, 10. _The Ascension and its Results._

+I. With respect to the new heavens and the new earth, what may we not infer from the ascension of Christ in full integrity of His nature above all heavens with respect to the conversion and transformation and ennobling of this material?+--The nature and history of His person revealed the relations clearly between heaven and earth, between God and man, between the material and the spiritual. We cannot for a moment look upon the transformation and exaltation of Christ's nature as an isolated fact dissociated from the restitution and exaltation of all things spoken of in His Word. The nature with which He rose from the dead and ascended into heaven was the same nature in which He was crucified, though glorified and swallowed up of life. Must we not say, then, that the body which ascended in relation to the body which was crucified and laid in the grave may illustrate the relation of the present heavens and the new earth? And, in accordance with this idea, are there not every way most wonderful changes and transformations of which the ascension of Christ's body seems to be the fulfilment and crown and also the firstfruits? The flower from its imprisoned bud, the insect from its grovelling form, light out of darkness, electricity from ponderable elements, the strange affinities of matter striving to break forth from their captivity, the unerring instincts of animal life held, as it were, in bondage--all seem to point with prophetic finger to a future deliverance and ennobled state and condition whilst meekly waiting, but with earnest expectation, with the whole creation for the deliverance and glorious liberty of the sons of God. The Gospel therefore contains a Gospel for nature as well as for man--the prediction of the day when the strife of elements shall cease, when the powers of darkness shall be swallowed up of life, when the lion shall lie down with the lamb, when the tares shall no longer grow with the wheat, when creation, now so weary, shall lift up her head and rejoice in the redemption for which she now groans and travails.

+II. If we cannot dissociate the history of Jesus from the history of the earth, much less can it be dissociated from the history of mankind.+--He is humanity, root and crown. Humanity exists nowhere else but in Him. No aggregate of men make humanity, nor can personality be ascribed to humanity except in Him. Individual men may have a personality, but humanity is only an idea except it exists in Him who is its root and crown; and it is in this sense that He is spoken of, and that He speaks of Himself as, the Son of man. In His ascension, therefore, which carries as a necessary presupposition all the facts of His history, mankind is delivered from its curse and from bondage. Identity of nature and reciprocity of choice now constitute the most intimate union and most blessed fellowship of which we are conscious, and it is the fair offshoot, the true type of that which is to be the highest, to which He is exalted above all heavens, from which height He has promised to gather together our common humanity. In such and for such a relation He is exalted to the throne of universal dominion as the Bridegroom of mankind, to be the Head over all things to His Church, which is His body, the fulness of Him which filleth all in all.

+III. What may we not learn from the fact of Christ's ascension+--not merely with respect to the new heavens and the new earth, not merely with respect to mankind and its history, but with respect to the government and providence of earth? If all nature is gathered up and represented in human nature, and if all human nature is gathered up and represented in the Son of man, and if the Son of man resteth and sitteth upon the throne of universal dominion, then, my brethren, the conclusion is as direct as it is clear, that all things must be working together in the interests of His kingdom and of His Church, that all things have but one purpose and one end to which the whole creation moves. We may say with Herbert:

"For us the winds do blow,
The earth does rest, heavens, move, and fountains flow;
Nothing we see but means our good--
'Tis our delight or has our treasure.
The whole is either cupboard of our food
Or cabinet of pleasure."

These lines contain as deep a philosophy as they do good poetry. "All things unto our flesh are kind in their descent and being." As they descend to us they bless our lower nature, but as we follow them in their ascent they bless our minds. And in history are there not changes similar to and commensurate with those which we have seen in nature, and all subordinated to one end? Mighty nations and kingdoms have arisen and passed away, and passed away, we might add, in the greatness of their might. What strange development, as it has well been asked, is it that the power of the world should rise to a great height of glory, and, not able to sustain it, pass away? Because they knew not God--because they were prejudicial to the interests of man. The present state and prospects of the world are but the results of all its past history, of the action and reaction, the strife and ceaseless conflict, which have been going on from the first--the strife and ceaseless conflict between the spirit of man's revolt in all the forms of will-worship and idolatrous power, and the returning spirit of allegiance towards God and His kingdom of life and love. On the one hand, therefore, we have a series of rapid and mighty developments of the very power which destroyed them when at the very height of their glory; on the other hand, we have the continuous and silent growth and expansion of the same ideas--all-conquering ideas and all-conquering beliefs personally embodied from the first in men confessing their allegiance to God.--_Dr. Pulsford._

Ver. 10. _The Humiliation and Exaltation of Christ._

+I. Christ's humiliation.+--Implied in the words, "He that descended." These words bear the same sense with those of Ps. cxxxix. 15, and may be properly taken for Christ's incarnation and conception in the womb of the Virgin.--1. Because other expositions may be shown to be unnatural, forced, or impertinent, and there is no other besides this assignable. 2. Since Paul here uses David's words it is most probable he used them in David's sense. 3. The words descending and ascending are so put together in the text that they seem to intend a summary of Christ's whole transaction in man's redemption, begun in His conception and consummated in His ascension.

+II. Christ's glorious advancement and exaltation.+--"He ascended far above all heavens" to the most eminent place in dignity and glory in the highest heaven.

+III. The qualification and state of Christ's person in reference to both conditions.+--He was the same, showing the unity of the two natures in the same person.

+IV. The end of Christ's ascension.+--"That He might fill all things." _All things_ may refer--1. To the Scripture prophecies and predictions. 2. To the Church as He might fill that with His gifts and graces. 3. To all things in the world. This latter interpretation preferred. He may be said to fill all things--1. By the omnipresence of His nature and universal diffusion of His Godhead. 2. By the universal rule and government of all things committed to Him as Mediator upon His ascension.--_South._

Vers. 11, 12. _The Work of the Ministry._

+I. It is evident that public teachers in the Church are to be a distinct order of men.+--Christ has given some pastors and teachers. None has a right publicly to teach in the Church but those who are called, sent, authorised to the work in the Gospel way. All Christians are to exhort, reprove, and comfort one another as there is occasion; but public teaching in the Church belongs peculiarly to some--to those who are given to be pastors and teachers.

+II. Public teachers are here called Christ's gifts.+--"He _gave_ some pastors and teachers." The first apostles were commissioned immediately by Christ. They who were thus commissioned of Heaven to preach the Gospel were authorised to ordain others. Christ gave pastors and teachers, not only to preach His Gospel, but to train up and prepare holy men for the same work.

+III. Ministers are to be men endued with gifts suitable to the work to which they are called.+--As in the early days of the Gospel public teachers were called to extraordinary services, so they were endued with extraordinary gifts; but these gifts were only for a season. As the business of a minister is to teach men the things which Christ has commanded in the Scriptures, so it is necessary he himself should be fully instructed in them. In the early days, as there were evangelists who went forth to preach the Gospel where Christ had not been named, so there were pastors and teachers who had the immediate care of Churches already established.

+IV. The great object of the ministry is the building up of the Church of Christ.+--The ministry is intended for the improvement of saints, as well as for the conversion of sinners. The apostle mentions also the unity of the knowledge of Christ. We must not rest in attainments already made, but continually aspire to the character of a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.--_Lathrop._

_MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.--Verses_ 13-16.

_True Christian Manhood_--

+I. Attained by the unity of an intelligent faith in Christ.+--1. _This faith must be based on knowledge._ "Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God" (ver. 13). A faith, so called, not based on knowledge is fanaticism. True faith is the result of conviction--a profound consciousness of the truth. Many reach this stage. They have heard the evidence, examined it, and are clearly persuaded of its truth; but they never get beyond that. They are like the neap tide that comes rolling in as if it would sweep everything before it; but when it arrives at a certain point, it stops, and with all the ocean at its back it never passes the mark where it is accustomed to pause. It is well to get to the neap-tide mark of conviction; but there is no salvation till the soul is carried by the full spring tide of conviction into a voluntary and complete surrender to Christ. It is weak, it is cowardly, when convinced of the right, not to do it promptly and heartily. Faith acquires its full-rounded unity when it is exercised, not on any abstract truth, but on a Person who is the living embodiment of all truth. The final object of faith is "the Son of God," and any truth is valuable only as it helps us to Him. Christ has Himself revealed the truth essential to be believed in order to salvation: He is Himself that truth.

2. _Perfect manhood is a complete Christ-likeness._--"Unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ" (ver. 13). Man is so great that he is perpetually striving after a loftier ideal; nothing that has limits can satisfy him. "It is because there is an infinite in him which with all his cunning he cannot quite bury under the finite. Will the whole finance ministers and upholsterers and confectioners of modern Europe undertake in joint-stock company to make one shoeblack happy? They cannot accomplish it above an hour or two; for the shoeblack also has a soul quite other than his stomach, and would require, if you consider it for his permanent satisfaction and saturation, simply this allotment, no more and no less--God's infinite universe altogether to himself, therein to enjoy infinitely and fill every wish as fast as it arose. Try him with half a universe of an omnipotence, he sets to quarrelling with the proprietor of the other half and declares himself the most maltreated of men" (_Carlyle_). True manhood does not consist in the development of a fine physique, or a brilliant mentality, or in the pursuit of heroic ambitions. It lies in the nobleness of the soul at peace with God, seeking in all things to please Him, and to possess and exhibit the mind of Christ. The pagan hero is the warrior, the ruler, the poet, the philosopher; the Christian hero is the Christ-like man. The supreme type of manhood is Christ-likeness. The ideal is conceived by faith, and the actual is attained only by the exercise of the same grace.

+II. Superior to the childish vacillation induced by deceptive teaching+ (ver. 14).--The false teachers played with truth, as men play with dice, with the reckless indifference of gamblers, and they and their victims were swayed to and fro, with ruin for the ultimate goal. Like a rudderless ship they were tossed about at the caprice of every current, with the inevitable result of wreckage among the rocks and quicksands. Professing a zeal for truth, they deceived themselves and others by ever changing their point of view, and craftily avoiding the practical bearing of truth in the aims to change the heart and reform the life. The moment the application of truth pressing upon the conscience made them uncomfortable, they tacked about and sailed off under another issue. As the restless seaweed, waving to and fro in the ever-changing tide, can never grow to the dignity of a tree, so those who were swayed by every changing phase of error can never grow up to the strength and stability of true Christian manhood. We can sympathise with the doubts and perplexities of an earnest seeker after truth; but our sympathy changes into impatience when we discover that the seeker is more in search of novelty than truth, of variety rather than certainty. To be for ever in doubt is to be in the fickle stage of mental and moral infancy. It is the worst phase of childishness.