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less exacting, or reduced to smaller dimensions, except by such a dilution of the Apostle's language, or such a diversion from the straight line of his argument, as would divest them both of all adequate meaning and purpose ?

An exhortation of precisely similar import is given in Ephesians iv., 22-24. The Apostle had before called the Ephesians "saints," and "faithful in Christ Jesus." He had told them that he had heard of their faith in the Lord Jesus," and of their "love unto all the saints." He had assured them that he "ceased not to give thanks for them, making mention of them in his prayers." He had even spoken of them as "quickened" from their "death in trespasses and sins," and as "raised up together and made to sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus." And yet, as though this was a small part of what was possible, and but the beginning of a much more glorious achievement and result, he now strenuously exhorts them to "put off, concerning the former conversation, the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts," and, "renewed in the spirit of their mind," to "put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness." Language could not be more energetic, nor figuring more pregnantly expository and suggestive. For what does the Apostle require of the Ephesians, but that they literally strip themselves, by one complete and decisive act, of their remaining polluted self, and by another equally decisive act, through renewal of their innermost spirit, replace it by another self that shall be distinctly and truly divine? What does he wish but to urge them forward to such a height and depth of spiritual attainment, as that the "verminous rags" of sin shall be utterly cast aside and the "beautiful garments" of righteousness and true holiness shall be assumed and worn instead? A twofold action is specified and enjoined, just as before-a negative and a positive. There is something to part with and something to acquire. They are to "put off" and to "put on "; they are to cleanse themselves and also to perfect themselves. Not that the two can be wholly separated, or become even strictly consequent and successive. The two forms of personal activity run into each other, and the results of both are but different aspects or correlative sides of substantially the same individual state. This state-this divine transformation-moreover, when fully arrived at is explicitly called the "new man," the "old man" having disappeared, and is further said to be created "after God," or as the directly parallel passage in Colossians iii., 10, has it, "after the image of God," "in righteousness and true holiness." The language is not a little remarkable, and its meaning is not soon exhausted. For what else does it teach us but that paradise may be regained; that what was lost by sin may be found in Christ; that the brightness and glory of the Divine image impressed upon man at the beginning, but dimmed and blurred by the fall, may be so far recovered and even heightened, as that, in other words of the same Apostle, he shall "stand perfect and complete in all the will of God"?

Indeed, these very words themselves, thus incidentally introduced, might almost be trusted to sustain our whole argument. They certainly lend considerable support to it, especially as harmonising so

well with the general strain of the Apostle's teaching. First to be, and then to "stand perfect and complete" in all that God ordains and wishes for us, is to have a very real and very eminent degree of Christian holiness-to come, in fact, not far short of "the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ." Nor would this conclusion be, greatly modified if, according to another reading of the sacred text, "fully established" were made to take the place of "complete," though the accepted reading is undoubtedly the one that is supported by the greatest authority. All the five English versions previous to the authorised one render the Greek phrase "perfect and full," the latter, though not with greater exactitude of meaning, preferring "complete" to "full.”*

From the exhortations of the Apostle, let us pass to his prayers which are, if possible, still more to our purpose. They are conceived in the same spirit, and support even more strongly the same doctrine. Among these might have been classed the passage just referred to, but for the accident which suggested its immediate consideration; for, though it is not formally a prayer itself, yet the high religious experience it specifies is one for which he assures the Colossians that he "labours fervently" in his "prayers" on their behalf.

Take, then, first of all the following: "For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man; that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God." (Ephesians iii., 14—19.)

To see the full meaning of this comprehensive invocation, it is necessary to connect it directly with the Apostle's previous thought. This is given, not in the verses immediately preceding, which in fact form one of those parenthetical digressions so characteristic of his style, but in the concluding verses of the preceding chapter. He had before spoken, in pregnant and glowing language, of the purpose of the Father, anciently hidden from the world, but now revealed in His Son, to unite by the same means both Jews and Gentiles into one Church. These means included, with "the blood of Christ," by which both were to be reconciled, the effectual operation of His lifegiving Spirit, by which both were to be renewed. Into the possession of these gracious privileges the Ephesians, he now said, had themselves come. Though once afar off, they were now nigh; though once without God and without hope, they had now access by one Spirit unto the Father; though once strangers and foreigners, they were now fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household of God; though once aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers

* The passage as now read isἵνα στῆτε τέλειοι καὶ πεπληρωμένοι ἐν παντὶ SEXFMETI TOU BEDU. The reading adopted by Lachmann and Alford, on the authority of several MSS. is—πεπληρωφορημένοι, for πεπληρωμένοι. Colossiane iv., 12.

to the covenants of promise, they were now built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner-stone. "On this account," then, he continues-taking up the thread of thought apparently dropt at the beginning of the third chapter, but continues in the language of most fervent supplication— "Because ye are thus called unto Christ, and thus built up together with Him for a habitation of God through the Spirit, I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ," &c., &c. He prays, in other words, that the spiritual inheritance obtained for them by Christ Jesus, and of which he had before spoken, may be received and enjoyed by them in all the fulness and completeness of its immeasurable and manifold blessings.

How large this reception and enjoyment would in that case be is seen from the terms of the prayer itself; or rather it cannot well be seen, as the terms are such as to escape very precise and definite exposition. The Apostle desires first of all that what he prays for may be given by the Father" according to the riches of His glory"; that is, according to the abundance and plenitude of His own infinite perfections, and therefore in a measure beyond all that the Ephesians could either ask or think. He desires that the realised effect of this gift may be to each of them a vast accession of spiritual strength to their inner man, and with this the constant, and so conscious, indwelling in their hearts of Christ through the medium of their faith. He desires yet further that, being by this means "rooted and grounded in love "-rooted as a tree in the soil, grounded as a building on a rock--they may be "fully able (TE) to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height"—what, that is, are the several dimensions of the great privileges and blessings which God has provided and designed for them; and again that they may "know"-know as by an inward sense, which lies in fact much deeper than simple intellection-"the love of Christ which passeth knowledge," and so "be filled up even to all (ɛis wav) the fulness of God." More, surely, words could not express; more the heart of man could not conceive. To be filled in every power, and throughout the whole capacity, with divine wisdom, and might, and love-what is this but to be perfect, even as our Father which is in heaven is perfect?

Substantially the same prayer is offered in behalf of the Thessalonians. The form of it is different, but the essence is in all material respects identical. It is shorter than the other, and less varied in detail, but certainly not less remarkable in its terms, or less comprehensive and suggestive in its meaning. "And the very God of peace," says the Apostle, "sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." (1 Thess. v., 23.)

The connection of the former prayer, we saw, was doctrinal; the connection of this is ethical. The conclusion of both, however, drawn from different premises, is just the same.

The Apostle had been discoursing on the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ from heaven. His observations, commenced in the fourth chapter, are extended into the fifth, and continued onward up to the twelfth verse. From this point he diverges, if divergence it is,

into sundry practical admonitions and counsels, designed to stimulate and guide the Thessalonians in the pursuit of a deeper personal piety, as if to prepare them for the great day of the Lord. His exhortations range freely throughout the whole scale of moral duty, embracing in detail almost every practical obligation and interest of the Christian life. He counsels them first of all with respect to those who labour among them, and are over them in the Lord, to esteem them very highly for their work's sake. He then admonishes them to live at peace among themselves, and to engage in kindly ministries one to another, just as each has need, rendering to no man evil for evil, but to all men alike and universally only good. He exhorts them to rejoice evermore, to pray without ceasing, to give thanks in everything, neither to quench the Spirit nor to despise prophesyings, to prove all things, to hold fast that which is good, and, finally, to abstain from every species of evil. "But," he adds-not "and," as in our version, for this would break the line of his thought-" But may the God of peace Himself sanctify you wholly, and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved whole without blame in the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." As much as if he had said: "Give all diligence to observe these several precepts. Exercise yourselves sedulously and habitually in every department and in every form of practical godliness, and become thereby as complete and perfect as may be. But as all this will not avail to your entire need, and will in fact avail but little on its own account, may God Himself sanctify you wholly," &c.

The rendering of the passage I have adopted is the one given by hishop Ellicott, and is substantially the same as that given by all modern critics. It requires indeed no special Greek scholarship to see its literal exactness. Very emphatic and very extended in meaning is the word translated "wholly." It expresses the entireness and universality of the operation prayed for in regard to its objects. "Your whole selves" is the idea intended, which collective idea is immediately after broken up into the three-fold division of "body and soul and spirit." The sanctification desired is thus to be the sanctification of every single power in particular, and of all the powers in their organised unity, making holiness the one characteristic feature and all-pervading quality of the entire man. So in the second part of the passage the term rendered" whole" has a special sigrificance not observable in our common English translation. It appears there as a mere qualifying adjective, whereas its true function is that of a determining predicate. The Apostle does not pray that their "whole spirit and soul and body may be preserved," but that each separately and all together may be preserved whole-each, as it were, entire in itself, and all in their organic oneness, alike spotless. What else then can the answer to this prayer be than what is meant by entire sanctification? And what else can the answer to both prayers together be than what is meant by Christian perfection? Any answer short of this would clearly fall, by that very amount, below the Apostle's fervent and enlarged desire.

"All appearance of evil," is our English rendering, but ánò mavrós eïdous pou clearly means every form or species of evil.

Yet one other observation in relation to these two remarkable prayers ought not to be omitted, if only for its practical influence and effect. Connected with the first is a virtual declaration on the part of the Apostle, in the form of a most majestic ascription, that God is able to do all that he explicitly and fervently prays for. Connected with the second is a distinct and formal declaration that He will do it. Here are the words: "Now unto Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, unto Him be glory in the Church, by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end." "Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it."

Our space forbids us to consider in detail any other passages from the writings of St. Paul, though many of like character solicit our attention. For the same reason we are unable to compare his teaching on this subject with that of St. John, and, what would be still more interesting, the teaching of both with that of our blessed Lord. Were this possible we should find many confirmatory proofs of precisely the same doctrine, and many peculiar and suggestive forms of expression beautifully helpful to its further and completer exposition. We have chosen specially to dwell on the testimony of St. Paul, because he appears to have dealt with the question more formally and systematically than any other inspired teacher, following in this, no doubt, as in most other things, the native bent of his genius; and because, again, the passages which contain his thoughts upon it are such as readily lend themselves to a free discussion of the whole subject.

One thing at least is clear from them-that entire sanctification, whatever its precise meaning, is a definite article in the Apostle's creed. Another thing is no less clear-that this entire sanctification comprehends so much more than regeneration that it is something, if not distinctly apart from it, yet considerably in advance of it. The two are manifestly not identical in the view he takes of them. They may be, as doubiless, they are, naturally connected; but they are not therefore the same. The connection, moreover, need not be such that the one must by necessary consequence complete itself in the other, any more than that the child must become a man, or the bulb just putting forth its green shoot become a fair and fullgrown lily. The Corinthians, Ephesians, Colossians, Thessalonians-all were at the time of the Apostle's writing of "the household of God," "sanctified in Christ Jesus," "saints and faithful brethren." They could not have been this unless they had been "quickened," "converted," "born again of the Spirit." They must at least have entered upon that stage of Christian experience in which a man, having repented and believed, has become really and consciously "a new creature in Christ Jesus." And yet, though this was their spiritual condition, though thus regenerate, and therefore in the same degree sanctified, they were in the Apostle's estimation so little sanctified as hardly in reality to be sanctified at all.

Not that regeneration is inconsiderable in itself. The bare word alone forbids this supposition. It implies rather a change of vast extent and of immeasurable interest. The moral and spiritual con

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