In the hope of recruiting his strength somewhat by a more bracing climate, he removed to Lytham. In the spring of 1875, Mr. Firth's health received a severe shock, and from that time his strength gradually failed. But the end was sudden. During a visit to his daughter at Bramley, the Master's call reached him. After taking a short walk one day with Mrs. Firth, he sat down in a chair to rest, and without a sigh or any indication of pain, passed away to the city above.

When those who mourn his loss look back upon the cheerfulness and mellowness of piety which were manifest during this visit, they can joyfully confess how completely the Lord had prepared His servant for such a sudden departure, and give glory to Him Who doeth all things well.

Modest and retiring, of genial disposition, thoughtful for others, and ready to sacrifice his own convenience and wishes for their good, Mr. Firth won the full confidence of those with whom he was associated. Faithful and earnest in the pulpit, a watchful and loving Pastor, sparing not himself in labour and living in close fellowship with God, his ministry was effective and awakening. In his attachment to Methodist doctrine and discipline, and in all his work as a Methodist Preacher, he was thorough, fulfilling diligently the pledges given when he was admitted into Full Connexion with the Conference. His life was happy. The wife of his youth was a true help meet for him in all his cares and responsibilities, sustaining and encouraging him, and entering heartily into his work. She was spared to him throughout his course, but did not very long survive him.

SERMON PREACHED ON BEHALF OF THE THANKSGIVING FUND, IN CITY-ROAD CHAPEL,

ON SUNDAY MORNING, DECEMBER 1ST, 1878:

BY THE REV. J. H. RIGG, D.D., PRESIDENT OF THE CONFERENCE. 'Unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ :...... by that which every joint supplieth.'-EPHESIANS IV. 13, 16.

THE Unity of the Church in Christ, and in the Spirit of Christ, that is the main subject of this chapter. There is one body, and one Spirit, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, Who is over all, and works through all, and is in all.' And there are gifts and offices bestowed upon the Church, defining and constituting its order and concord, and contributing to its growth and living unity. Some are appointed to be apostles, some prophets, some pastors and teachers,' not for the sake of their own glory or perfection, but 'in order to the perfecting of the saints, to the work of the Ministry,...to the building up of the body of Christ,' 'until,' as the final and glorious consummation, we shall all come,' says the Apostle-all the true people of God in Christ Jesus-'to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the

fulness of Christ.' This grand passage is introduced, as you will see if you look back to the third verse of the chapter, by an earnest and tender exhortation to the Ephesian believers to maintain 'the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace'; and it is wound up by the forecast and anticipation of accomplished unity of experience and affection, the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God'—through the means and agencies appointed in the Church by its Divine Head--' the whole body making increase of itself in love by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part.'

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If the unity of the Church in Christ, however, is the main thought which pervades this noble passage, another and scarcely less cardinal thought, colouring and inspiring the whole, is that of the perfection of the Church as consisting in the perfected humanity, which, through the man Christ Jesus, God's eternal Son, is to become the attribute and character of the finally matured Church of Christ. When the Church shall have become all that it should be, according to the Divine ideal; when it shall have attained to absolute unity and to Divine perfection, then it will exhibit and embody the perfection of all that belongs to a true humanity. The Church will be among men as an embodied Christ, an Omnipresent Christ in the flesh. Present everywhere among men by and in His Church, Christ Jesus will be the universal Healer and Saviour, going about in the persons of His saints doing good, fulfilling every human virtue, exemplifying every human grace, saving the souls and the bodies of men. The Church of Christ is His body,' the 'fulness of Him that filleth all in all.' The standard of perfection for the ideal Church is nothing less, nothing else, than a perfect man, the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.' This is the leading thought in our immediate context: Till we all come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.' And the means whereby this result is to be attained are further described in the words that follow. It is by 'speaking,' or, rather let us say, for this is a fuller and truer expression of the meaning of the word ŋevovτes—it is by 'living the truth in love' that we are to 'grow up into Him in all things, which is the Head, even Christ; from Whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, maketh increase of...itself in love.' It is a great thought, dear brethren, that the perfection of the Church means the perfection of humanity in Christ, and of the living outgoings and manifestations of that humanity, from man to man, and all in and for Christ.

It appears, accordingly, that when in this passage St. Paul speaks of ali Christians coming to a perfect man,' he is not speaking directly or primarily of the perfection of the individual Christian, but of the perfection of the Church as a corporate whole, as an ideal embodiment of humanity-humanity redeemed, renewed, sanctified in Christ Jesus. Nevertheless, inasmuch as such corporate perfection of the Church could be attained only through the growth and perfection in Christ of the several parts, only by means of that

which every joint supplieth,' of the sanctified character and influence of each individual believer, the Apostle-as it were, parenthetically-recognizes this truth in the course and within the sweep of his grand paragraph; and thus, intensely practical as he ever was, fails not, even in so lofty a flight, to point the practical moral which needed to be taught. So that ye,' he proceeds, 'ye individually, are to be no longer infants, carried to and fro and tossed about with every wind of doctrine, but living the truth in love, are to grow up into Christ in all things; that thus the whole body may be brought to perfection by that which every member contributes of living and loving influence and fellowship.' This explicit reference to individual character and experience is, however, parenthetical. The main course of thought is as I have stated it; relates to the perfected humanity of the Church regarded as an extension and fulfilment of Christ's incarnation. Christ is the Incarnate Son of God; the Church is, in a certain sense, an incarnation of Christ.

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There is in this thought, however, a point necessarily involved, which has been already stated, but which requires to be brought forth into full relief. It is that the consummation held in view, the perfection of the Church in CHRIST as the Healer and Saviour of Humanity, is only to be brought about in conformity with certain laws and processes of growth, only by means of mutual action and influence on the part of the several members of the Church. This perfecting of the Church cannot be accomplished by decree or by any mere force or forces, by any means or influences wholly external to the Church and to humanity, but only by forces and influences working within, and indeed belonging to the living whole and unity of the Church itself. Christ's body is to build itself up in love by 'that which every joint supplieth.' Only in this way can it attain 'unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ, unto a perfect man in Christ Jesus.'

The meaning of the passage will be brought out more distinctly and fully by means of a strictly literal rendering of the Apostle's words. Let us then render the thirteenth verse as follows: Until we (combine or) coalesce, the whole of us, into the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, inte a perfect man, into the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.' So much as to the end and consummation set before our view the unity of living faith and experimental knowledge for the Church, a perfected humanity, dowered and filled with the mind and life of Christ. And then as to the living process by which this consummation is to be reached, the Apostle teaches (verses 15 and 16) that it is to be approached more and more closely, and finally to be attained by the mutual agency and influence of all the members of the body, who are to contribute their share respectively to the grand result, by acting out the truth in love towards each other and to all men.

You will have observed that there is one notable difference in the rendering which I have now given as compared with the Authorized Version. That version speaks of coming in the unity of the faith and knowledge of Christ unto a perfect man. The true rendering, however, makes the faith and knowledge of Christ to be not the means, but the end; not on the way

to a perfected humanity, 'to a perfect man,' 'to the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ,' but coincident with such perfection. The Apostle does not speak of Christians as coming, or attaining, or combining, or coalescing in, but into the unity of the faith and knowledge of the Son of God,' as 'into a perfect man,' and 'into the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.' It is the selfsame word, the selfsame preposition eis-into or unto—in all the three cases. They are parallel thoughts. The Church will attain— or will approach unto-the perfect unity of living faith and experimental knowledge in the Son of God, when and as it attains or approaches 'unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.'

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Then as to the steps by which the Church is to advance towards the final attainment and consummation, these, as has been observed, are indicated by the Apostle in the fifteenth and sixteenth verses. It is by the union of all the members of the Church in mutual Christian fidelity and truth and love; or, to use the Apostle's own language, it is 'by that which every joint supplieth,' it is by each member 'living and acting out the truth in love.' Practical fidelity, daily service, living fellowship conduce directly to genuine orthodoxy and to true Christian unity. The secluded cloister is not the fountain from which the unity of the faith and knowledge of the Son of God' is to proceed. There must be the student; but mere students alone will rather breed heresy than orthodoxy, and schism than unity. There must be working Christian life as well as recluse learning, or the balance will not be held true. Nay, the student must himself be also a worker, or he will not attain to the true faith and knowledge of the Son of God. And here let it also be observed, that as the faith here spoken of means not mere belief, but that surrender to God in Christ of the whole soul, which is the true 'faith of the operation of the Holy Ghost,' so the knowledge here spoken of is heart-knowledge, the knowledge which belongs to the innermost living consciousness of the Christian believer: not gnosis, but epignosis-experimental knowledge. It is the knowledge which accompanies, the knowledge which follows and grows out of faith. Hence the order of the words, the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God.' The knowledge which is merely intellectual precedes faith as a necessary condition. Without some of this knowledge there can be no faith; for 'how,' says the Apostle, can men 'believe...without a preacher?' that is, a teacher. Doctrine and knowledge are parallel terms; and are needful in order to an apprehension of the Gospel, and therefore in order to faith. But if knowledge in this lower sense is necessary in order to faith-though it be not itself of the nature of faith, and may be entirely separate from any spiritual life or feeling whatever-to knowledge in the higher sense of this passage, to the spiritual and experimental knowledge of the Son of God -faith itself is necessary. Faith opens the way to spiritual knowledgethe knowledge of spiritual fellowship, of Divine sympathy, the higher consciousness which belongs to that life which is hid with Christ in God.' Thus regarded, it will be seen that the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God' spoken of in the context, is a unity which transcends all that

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is merely intellectual, all that belongs to creeds, or formulas, or confessions of faith, or definitions of doctrine. It is that higher and ultimate unity of Christian experience and life, of Christian faith and holiness, in which good men of various creeds-in which the evangelical Arminian and the godly Calvinist, in which the spiritually-minded Protestant and even the Roman Catholic of the quality of Pascal and Fenelon—are at one with each other as they are with Christ the Son of God, as they are with God in Christ. And now we see how absolutely true is the Apostle's identification of this highest unity of true believing souls in Christ with the perfection of the Church in Christ, with a perfected Christian humanity, with 'the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.'

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From this exposition of the terms of the text and immediate context, two things come out in fullest emphasis which I have already indicated, but which will now be more distinctly apprehended. One is, that when the Church is perfect, and in proportion as it approaches to perfection, its beauty and glory will appear as manifested in the perfection of all the qualities that belong to sanctified humanity. As Christ was,' so will His Church be in this world': teaching and living the truth as it is in Jesus, reproving sin, healing sorrow and sickness, gathering children into its embrace, spreading consolation, peace and purity amongst men, instructing and training chosen vessels' to be wit nesses for Christ, preaching His saving doctrine, calling disciples to His fold, diffusing among men His sanctifying knowledge and His heavenly love and life. The other truth beaming forth from the text is, that the Church can only attain to such results, can only accomplish what Christ has given it to do, and exhibit such a pattern and picture of organized goodness, truth and holiness, by means of a diffused, a penetrating, a universal fellowship-a fellowship in which 'every joint' bears its share. This fellowship must be one which not only includes the highest, but the humblest member of the Church; which embraces the whole community, which touches and quickens with its vital current the springs of every heart and soul, which amounts to a universal reciprocity of sympathy and influence bringing into unity and cooperation all the members of the Church. Such a fellowship as this, all vitalized by the indwelling Spirit of Christ, feeds and sustains from its unfailing springs a well and current of life which, circulating through the whole body, maintains it in health and vigour and unity, and assures its unfailing growth and its perfect development. The final blessed result for the Church, the result of perfect assimilation in character and aim to the human perfection of Christ, is dependent upon the living stream of energy and influence and mutual fellowship which is fed by that which every joint supplieth.'

These are the two points, broadly stated, and overlooking many profitable suggestions enfolded in the immediate context, on which to-day I have wished to fix special attention. These points are exemplified, in a remarkable degree, in the history and development of our own Methodist Church. It began in such fellowship as I have described. It is visibly approaching such a consummation, notwithstanding many defects and draw backs, as that which