Ephesians (Sections 219-226)

Section 219 "That holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inherit ance."—Ephesians 1:13-14 Heaven is ours by inheritance. It is not purchased by merit, nor won by strength, but obtained by birthright. Of this inheritance we have a foretaste here below; and that foretaste is of the nature of a pledge or earnest, guaranteeing our coming to full possession. An earnest is of the same nature as the ultimate blessing of which it is an earnest. A pledge is returned, but an earnest is retained as part of the thing promised.

Great enjoyment attends the possession of the earnest of our inheritance when rightly understood.

I. The Holy Spirit is himself the earnest of the heavenly inheritance.

He is not only the pledge, but the foretaste of everlasting bliss.

1. His entrance into the soul brings with it that same life which enters heaven, namely, the eternal life.

2. His abiding in us consecrates us to the same purpose to which we shall be devoted throughout eternity, namely, the service of the Lord our God.

3. His work in us creates that same holiness which is essential to the enjoyment of heaven.

4. His influence over us brings us that same communion with God which we shall enjoy for ever in heaven.

5. His being ours is as much as heaven being ours, if not more; for if we possess the God of heaven we possess heaven, and more. The possession of the Spirit is the dawn of glory.

II. The Holy Spirit brings to us many things which are blessed foretastes of the heavenly inheritance.

1. Rest. This is a leading idea of heaven, and we have rest at this moment in Jesus Christ. Hebrews 4:3.

2. Delight in service. We serve the Lord with gladness even now.

3. Joy over repenting sinners. This we can now attain.

4. Communion with saints. How sweet even in this imperfect state!

5. Enlarged knowledge of God and of all divine things. Here also we know in part the same things which are known above.

6. Victory over sin, Satan, and the world.

7. Security in Christ Jesus.

8. Nearness to our Beloved. By these windows we look into the things which God has prepared for them that love him. "He hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit."

III. There is a very dark contrast to this bright theme.

There are "evident tokens of perdition," pledges of woe.

There are also earnests and fortastes of the eternal state of misery.

Ungodly men may pretty clearly guess what sin will bring them to when it has ripened. Let them learn from—

1. The fruit of some sins in this life: shame, rags, disease, etc.

2. Their fear of death; alarm at the thought of it.

3. Their frequent unrest and foreboding. "They flee when no man pursueth"; they are "tossed to and fro as the locust."

4. Their disappointments in their companions; their mutual quarrels and hates. What will it be to be shut up with such persons for ever?

5. Their distaste for good things, inability to pray, etc., all earnests of the impossibility of their joining saints and angels in heaven.

Oh, to be filled by the Spirit, so as to find heaven begun below!

Striking Extracts

There is great resemblance betwixt an earnest and the indwelling of the Spirit with the graces which he works in us. 1st. The earnest is part of the whole sum, which is on a certain account to be paid at the time appointed; so the Spirit we have, and his grace, are the beginning of that glorious being which we shall ultimately receive—the same for substance, though differing in degree. 2nd. An earnest is but little in comparison of the whole. Twenty shillings is earnest sufficient to make sure of a hundred pounds; thus, all the grace we have is but a small thing in comparison of the fulness we look for, even as the first-fruits were in comparison of the full harvest. 3rd. An earnest doth assure him that receiveth it of the honest meaning of him with whom he contracteth; so the Spirit and grace which we receive from God do assure us of his settled purpose of bringing us to eternal glory.—Paul Bayne.

Christians! God is nearer to us than our nearest friend; nearer to us than Christ himself would be, if we only felt the touch of his hand and the sweep of his vesture; for he takes up his abode within us. Plato seemed to have a glimpse of this glorious truth when he said, "God is more inward to us than we are to ourselves." What was to him a beautiful speculation, is to us an inspiring reality; for we are the "temples of the Holy Ghost."—Dr. Charles Stanford. As soon as we have set out on our journey to go home, our home, by foretastes, comes to meet us; the peace of our home embraces us; the Spirit, like a dove, rests upon our hearts; the glory of our home allures us; and angel-servants from our home bear us company and help us on our road. Oh, what a sweet home ours must be, that can send us such pledges of its sweetness while we are yet a great way off!—John Pulsford.

"The earnest." The Greek word is arrhádbôn. It is Hebrew (at least, Shemitic) by derivation, the identical Hebrew word appearing in Genesis 38. By derivation it has to do with exchange, and so at first means a pledge; but usage brought it to the kindred meaning of an earnest. It was used for the bridegroom's betrothal-gifts to the bride, a case exactly in point here. In ecclesiastical Latin it appears usually in the shortened form, arra. It survives in the French arrhes, the money paid to strike a bargain. Arrhádbôn occurs elsewhere in the New Testament; 2 Corinthians 1:22; 2 Corinthians 5:5. There, as here, it denotes the gifts of the Holy Spirit given to the saints as the part payment of the "coming weight of glory," the inmost essence of which is the complete attainment (1 John 3:2) of that likeness to the Lord which the Spirit begins and develops here (2 Corinthians 3:18). A kindred expression is "The first-fruits of the Spirit" (Romans 8:23)—"Cambridge Bible for Schools and Families." A work which we commend to all ministers.

Section 220 "Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named." —Ephesians 3:15 Many are the weights which drag us towards earth and the cords which bind us to it.

Among these last our families are not the least.

We need an upward impulse. Oh that we may find it in the text!

There is a blessed connection between saints below and saints above.

Oh to feel that we are one family!

I. Let us understand the language of the text.

1. The keyword is "family." A building sets forth the unity of the builder's design. A flock, unity of the shepherd's possession. The title of citizen implies unity of privilege. The idea of an army displays unity of object and pursuit.

Here we have something closer and more instructive still: "family." The same Father, and thus unity of relationship. The same life, and so unity of nature. The same mutual love growing out of nature and relations. The same desires, interests, joys, and cares. The same home for abode, security, and enjoyment. The same inheritance to be soon possessed.

2. The link-word is "whole." "Whole family in heaven and earth."

There is but one family, and it is a whole. On earth we find a portion of the family—

Sinning and repenting: not yet made perfect.

Suffering and despised: strangers and foreigners among men.

Dying and groaning, because yet in the body. In heaven we find another part of the family—

Serving and rejoicing. Sinless and free from all infirmity.

Honoring God and honored by him.

Free from sighing, and engrossed in singing. The militant and the triumphant are one undivided family.

3. The crowning word is "named."

We are named after the first-born, even Jesus Christ.

Thus are we all acknowledged to be as truly sons as the Lord Jesus; for the same name is named on us.

Thus is he greatly honored among us. His name is glorified by each one who truly bears it.

Thus are we greatly honored in him by bearing so august a name.

Thus are we taught whom to imitate. We must justify the name.

Thus are we forcibly reminded of his great love to us, his great gift to us, his union with us, and his value of us.

II. Let us catch the spirit of the text.

Let us now endeavor to feel and display a family feeling.

1. As members of one family let us enjoy the things we have in common. We all have— The same occupations. It is our meat and drink to serve the Lord, to bless the brotherhood, and win souls. The same delights; communion, assurance, expectation, etc. The same love from the Father. The same justification and acceptance with our God. The same rights to the throne of grace, angelic ministration, divine provision, spiritual illumination, etc. The same anticipations. Growth in grace, perseverance to the end, and glory at the end.

2. As members of one family, let us be familiar with each other.

3. As members of one family, let us practically help each other.

4. As members of one family, let us lay aside all dividing names, aims, feelings, ambitions, and beliefs.

5. As members of one family, let us strive for the honor and kingdom of our Father who is in heaven.

Let us seek out the lost members of the family.

Let us cherish the forgotten members of the family.

Let us strive for the peace and unity of the family.

Choice Words The Scripture knows but two places for the receipt of all believers, either heaven or earth. So when the apostle will tell us where all they were who were gathered under Christ as their Head and Redeemer, he rangeth them in these orders, "things in heaven, and things in earth" (Ephesians 1:10); the apostle forgot limbo there, and purgatory here. As the Scripture doth know but two sorts of saints, so but two places, heaven for the triumphant, earth for the militant.—Paul Bayne.

"The whole family in heaven and earth," not the two families, nor the divided family, but the whole family in heaven and earth. It appears, at first sight, as if we were very effectually divided by the hand of death. Can it be that we are one family when some of us labor on, and others sleep beneath the greensward? There was a great truth in the sentence which Wordsworth put into the mouth of the little child, when she said, "O master, we are seven."

"But they are dead: those two are dead! Their spirits are in heaven!"

'Twas throwing words away; for still The little maid would have her will, And said: "Nay, we are seven." Should we not thus speak of the divine family? For death assuredly has no separating power in the household of God— C. H. S.

"When I was a boy," says one, "I thought of heaven as a great shining city, with vast walls and domes and spires, and with nobody in it except white tenuous angels, who were strangers to me. By-and-by my little brother died; and I thought of a great city with walls and domes and spires, and a flock of cold unknown angels, and one little fellow that I was acquainted with, he was the only I knew in that time. Then another brother died, and there were two that I knew. Then my acquaintances began to die, and the flock continually grew. But it was not till I had sent one of my little children to His Grandparent—God—that I began to think I had got a little myself. A second went, a third went, a fourth went; and by that time I had so many acquaintances in heaven, that I did not see any more walls and domes and spires. I began to think of the residents of the celestial city. And now there have so many of my acquaintance gone there, that it sometimes seems to me that I know more in heaven than I do on earth."—Handbook of Illustration.

Stein, a great German statesman, head of the Prussian government in 1807, wrote in 1812 to Count Münster:—"I am sorry your excellency suspects a Prussian in me, and betrays a Hanoverian in yourself. I have but one Fatherland, and that is Germany; and as under the old constitution I belonged to Germany alone, and not to any part of Germany, so to Germany alone, and not to any part of it, I am devoted with my whole heart."

Thomas Brooks mentions a woman who lived near Lewes, in Sussex, who was ill, and therefore was visited by one of her neighbors, who to cheer her, told her that if she died she would go to heaven, and be with God, and Jesus Christ, and the saints and angels. To this the sick woman in all simplicity replied, "Ah, mistress, I have no relations there! Nay, not so much as a gossip, or acquaintance; and as I know nobody, I had a great deal sooner stop with you and the other neighbors, than go and live among strangers." It is to be feared that if a good many were to speak their thoughts they would say much the same.

Section 221

"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 3:16-19 The ability to comprehend and measure described in our text, was the subject of the apostle's prayer, and therefore, we may be quite sure that it is a most desirable attainment.

Observe how he prays, and how wisely he arranges his petitions.

He would have us measure the immeasurable, but he would first have us made fit to do so.

We shall make our chief point the fourfold measurement, but we shall note that which comes before, and that which follows after.

I. The previous training required for this measurement.

1. He would have their spiritual faculties vigorous.

"Your inner man": understanding, faith, hope, love, all need power from a divine source.

"Strengthened," made vigorous, active, healthy, capacious.

"With might": no low degree of force will suffice.

"By his Spirit." The power required is spiritual, holy, heavenly, divine, actually imparted by the Holy Ghost.

2. He would have the subject always before them. "That Christ may dwell in your heart by faith."

"In your heart." Love must learn to measure Christ's love. It is revealed to the heart rather than to the head.

"By faith." A carnal man measures by sight, a saint by faith.

"May dwell." He must be ever near, that we may learn to measure him. Communion is the basis of this knowledge.

3. He would have them exercised in the art of measurement. "That ye, being rooted and grounded in love," etc.

We must love him ourselves, if we would measure Christ's love.

We must, by experience of his love, be confirmed in our own love to him, or we cannot measure his love.

We must also have a vital grip of Christ. We must be rooted as a tree, which takes many a hold upon the soil.

We must settle down on his love as our foundation, on which we are grounded, as a building.

We must also show fixedness, certainty, and perseverance in our character, belief, and aim; for thus only shall we learn.

II. The mensuration itself. This implies a sense of the reality of the matter.

It includes a coming near to the object of our study.

It indicates an intimate study, and a careful survey.

It necessitates a view from all sides of the subject. The order of the measurement is the usual order of our own growth in grace. Breadth and length before depth and height.

1. The breadth. Immense.

Comprehending all nations. "Preach the gospel to every creature."

Covering hosts of iniquities. "All manner of sin."

Compassing all needs, cares, etc.

Conferring boundless boons for this life and worlds to come.

It were well to sail across this river and survey its broad surface.

2. The length. Eternal.

We wonder that God should love us at all. Let us meditate upon—

Eternal love in the fountain. Election and the covenant.

Ceaseless love in the flow. Redemption, calling, perseverance.

Endless love in endurance. Long-suffering, forgiveness, faithfulness, patience, immutability.

Boundless love, in length exceeding our length of sin, suffering, backsliding, age, or temptation.

3. The depth. Incomprehensible.

Stoop of divine love, condescending to consider us, to commune with us, to receive us in love, to bear with our faults, and to take up from our low estate.

Stoop of love personified in Christ.

He stoops, and becomes incarnate; endures our sorrows; bears our sins; and suffers our shame and death. Where is the measure for all this? Our weakness, meanness, sinfulness, despair, make one factor of the measurement. His glory, holiness, greatness, Deity, make up the other.

4. The height. Infinite. As developed in present privilege, as one with Jesus. As to be revealed in future glory. As never to be fully comprehended throughout the ages.

III. The practical result of this mensuration.

"That ye might be filled with all the fulness of God."

Here are words full of mystery, worthy to be pondered. Be filled. What great things man can hold!

Filled with God. What exaltation!

Filled with the fulness of God. What must this be?

Filled with all the fulness of God. What more can be imagined? This love and this fulness will lead to the imitation of Christ's love. Our love to him will be broad, long, deep, high.

Insertions In the gospel history we find that Christ had a fourfold entertainment amongst the sons of men; some received him into house, not into heart, as Simon the Pharisee, who gave him no kiss, nor water to his feet; some received him into heart, but not into house, as Nicodemus, and others; some neither into heart nor house, as the graceless, swinish Gergesenes; some both into house and heart, as Lazarus, Mary, Martha. And thus let all good Christians do; endeavor that Christ may dwell in their hearts by faith, that their bodies may be fit temples of his Holy Spirit, that now in this life, whilst Christ stands at the door of their hearts, knocking for admission, they will lift up the latch of their souls, and let him in; for if ever they expect to enter into the gates of the city of God hereafter, they must open their hearts, the gates of their own city, to him here in this world.—John Spencer.

Faith makes man's heart, That dark, low, ruin'd thing, By its rare art, A palace for a king.

Higher than proud Babel's tower by many a story; By faith Christ dwells in us, the hope of glory.

—F. Tate The more we know the more are we conscious of our ignorance of that which is unknown, or, as Dr. Chalmers used to put it in his class—borrowing an illustration from his favorite mathematics—"The wider the diameter of light, the greater is the circumference of darkness." The more a man knows, he comes at more points into contact with the unknown.

'Tis hard to find God; but to comprehend Him as he is, is labor without end.

—Robert Herrick A gentleman passing a church with Daniel Webster, asked him, "How can you reconcile the doctrine of the Trinity with reason?" The statesman replied by asking, "Do you understand the arithmetic of heaven?"

Section 222 "The head, even Christ:

"From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which
every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of
every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love."—Ephesians 4:15-16 The words are as "compacted" as the body itself.

We shall not attempt full or even accurate exposition of the original, but dwell on the figure of the English text, undoubtedly a Scriptural one, and full of profitable instruction.

Four subjects are brought before us in the text.

I. Our union to Christ:

"The Head, even Christ."

1. Essential to life. Severed from him we are dead.

2. Essential to growth. We grow up into him who is the head.

3. Essential to perfection. What should we be without a head?

4. Essential to every member. The strongest needs union to the head as much as the weakest.

II. Our individuality:

"Every joint"; "every part." Each one must mind his own office.

1. We must each one personally see to his own vital union with the body, and chiefly with the head.

2. We must be careful to find and keep our fit position in the body.

3. We must be careful of our personal health, for the sake of the whole body; for one ailing member injures the whole.

4. We must be careful of our growth, for the sake of the whole body. The most careful self-watch will not be a selfish measure, but a sanitary duty involved by our relationship to the rest.

III. Our relationship to each other:

"Joined together"; "that which every joint supplieth."

1. We should in desire and spirit be fitted to work with others. We are to have joints. How could there be a body without them?

2. We should supply the joint-oil of love when so doing; indeed, each one must yield his own peculiar influence to the rest.

3. We should aid the compactness of the whole by our own solidity, and healthy firmness in our place.

4. We should perform our service for all. We should guard, guide, support, nourish, and comfort the rest of the members, as our function may be.

IV. Our compact unity as a church:

"The body edifying itself in love."

1. There is but one body of Christ, even as he is the one head.

2. It is an actual, living union. Not a mere professed unity, but a body quickened by "the effectual working" of God's Spirit in every part.

3. It is a growing corporation. It increases by mutual edification. Not by being puffed up, but by being built up. It grows as the result of its own life, sustained by suitable food.

4. It is an immortal body. Because the Head lives, the body must live also. Are we in the body of Christ? Are we not concerned to see it made perfect? Are we ministering the supply which the body may fairly expect from us as members? To fit in

There is great fitness in the figure of the head and the members. The head is—(1.) The highest part of the body, the most exalted. (2.) The most sensitive part, the seat of nerve and sensation, of pleasure and pain. (3.) The most honorable part, the glory of man, the part of man's body that receives the blessing, wears the crown, and is anointed with the oil of joy and of consecration. (4.) The most exposed part, especially assailed in battle, and liable to be injured, and where injury would be most dangerous. (5.) The most expressive part, the seat of expression, whether in the smile of approval, the frown of displeasure, the tear of sympathy, the look of love.—G. S. Bowes.

Everyone knows that it would be far better to lose our feet than our head. Adam had feet to stand with, but we have lost them by his disobedience: yet, glory be to God, we have found a Head, in whom we abide eternally secure, a Head which we shall never lose.—"Feathers for Arrows." The moment I make of myself and Christ two, I am all wrong. But when I see that we are one, all is rest and peace.— Luther.

What a happy condition the Church and members of Christ are in! (1.) Interested in the same love as the Head. (2.) Under the same decree of election with the Head. (3.) Allied to the same relations, interested in the same riches, and assured by membership of the same life and immortality in the world to come: "Because I live, ye shall live also."—Benjamin Keach. Of all the symbols which set forth Christ's church, I prefer this. Bringing out, as well as any other, our relationship to Christ, and better than any other, our relationship to each other, it teaches us lessons of love, and charity, and tender sympathy. When bill-hook or pruning-knife lops a branch from the tree, the stem bends; it seems for a while to drop some tears, but they are soon dried up; and the other boughs suffer no pain, show no sympathy—their leaves dancing merrily in the wind over the poor dead branch that lies withering below. But a tender sympathy pervades the body and its members. Touch my finger roughly, and the whole body feels it; wound this foot, and thrilling through my frame, the pang shoots upward to the head; let the heart, or even a tooth, ache, and all the system suffers disorder. With what care is a diseased member touched! What anxious efforts do we make to save a limb! With what slow reluctance does a patient, after long months or years of suffering, consent to the last remedy, the surgeon's knife! Many holy lessons of love, charity, and sympathy, our Lord teaches by this figure.—Dr. Guthrie.

We must work in concert. Stress is laid on this in Scripture, as may be seen from such expressions as these:—"If two of you shall agree," "Fellow-helpers to the truth," "With one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel." It is as with the human hand. Take one of the fingers, the forefinger, for example; it can do many things by itself separately. I lay it on my pulse, to know how my heart beats; I turn over the leaf of a book with it; I use it to point a stranger the way; I place it on my lips to signify silence; I single out the individual to whom I would say, "Thou art the man"; I shake it in warning or remonstrance. But the hand can do, not five times as much as a single finger, not fifty times as much, not five hundred times as much, but five thousand times—and more. So with Christian churches; there must not merely be individual effort, on the New Testament principle, "As every man hath received the gift, even so let him minister."—Dr. Culross.

Section 223

"But ye have not so learned Christ, "If so be that ye have heard him,
and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus."—Ephesians 4:20-21 The distinction between the Christian and others. "But ye."

There must be this separation as long as the world is "the world." The means of this distinction is our discipleship: we have learned Christ, and learned him in a different way from that which satisfies many who profess to know him.

We have not so learned Christ as to be able to profess his name, and yet practice lasciviousness.

We are converted into learners, and are under the tutelage of the Holy Spirit. How we learn is a test question. Some have learned Christ, and yet are not saved, and others have not so learned him, but are truly his disciples.

I. Our lesson.

"Learned Christ." This learning Christ is—

Much more than learning doctrine, precept, or ceremony.

Much more than knowing about Christ, or learning from Christ.

It includes several forms of knowledge.

1. To know him as a personal Christ.

2. To know his nature, and to treat him accordingly.

3. To know his offices, and how to use them.

4. To know his finished work for God and for us.

5. To know his influence over men, and to test it.

6. To know by learning Christ, the way to live like him.

II. How we have not learned it.

1. So as to remain as we were before. Unchanged, and yet at peace.

2. So as to excuse sin, because of his atonement.

3. So as to feel a freedom to sin because of pardon.

4. So as even to commit sin in Christ's name.

5. So as to reckon that we cannot conquer sin, and so sit down under the dominion of some constitutional temptation.

6. So as to profess reverence for his name and character, and then think little of the truth which he reveals.

III. How we have learned it.

We know the truth, and know it in its best light—

1. As directly taught by his own self, and by his own Spirit.

2. As distinctly embodied in his life and character.

3. As it relates to him and honors him.

4. Consequently as it is in him. Truth is in Jesus, indeed and of a truth, for in him everything is real.

5. Consequently, as it works a total change in us, and makes us like to him in whom truth is embodied.

See, then, that we not only learn of Jesus, but we learn Jesus.

It is not enough to hear him, and to be taught by him; we want to know himself.

Knowing him, we know the truth; for it is in him.

Thoughts

Instead of "if so be that," many very competent scholars propose to render the original "inasmuch as," or, "since we have heard," etc.; for the apostle is not referring to a supposed case, but stating a fact, as verse 20 proves.—W. O'Neill.

He exhorts not to an outward reformation of their converse only, but to that truth and sincerity of sanctification, which the doctrine and power of grace in Christ teacheth and worketh in all true Christians. "If so be," saith he, "ye have learned the truth as it is in Jesus." Which doeth not, as other doctrines of philosophers, etc. teach you to put off the evils of your outward converse only, and to put on a new conversation over an old nature, as a sheep-skin over a wolfish nature; he that doth no more falls short of that truth of grace which Christ requires; but it teacheth principally to put off the old man, as the cause of all the evils in the outward converse; and that is his meaning, when he saith, "As concerning the outward converse, put off the old man," without which it is impossible to reform the converse.—Thomas Goodwin. An illustration of the foregoing remarks is found in Lord Chesterfield, who trained his only son not to abandon vice, but to be a gentleman in the practice of it.

Some persons, instead of "putting off the old man," dress him up in a new shape.—St. Bernard.

Unsanctified wisdom is the devil's greatest tool.

Section 224

"And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works
of darkness, but rather reprove them."—Ephesians 5:11 Directions how to live while here below, are very needful.

We constantly come into contact with ungodly men: this is unavoidable; but here we are taught to avoid such communion with them as would make us partakers in their evil deeds.

Three truths are incidently mentioned: evil works are sterile, they are works of darkness, and they deserve reproof.

We must have no fellowship with them; neither at any time, nor in any manner, nor in any degree.

I. What is forbidden?

"Fellowship with works of darkness." This fellowship may be produced in several ways:

1. By personally committing the sins so described, or by joining with others in bringing them about.

2. By teaching wrongdoing, either by plain word or by just inference.

3. By constraining, commanding, or tempting: by threat, request, persuasion, inducement, compulsion, bribery, or influence.

4. By provoking, through exciting anger, emulation, or discouragment.

5. By neglecting to rebuke: especially by parents and masters misusing their office and allowing known evils in the family.

6. By counseling, and advising, or by guiding by example.

7. By consenting, agreeing, and cooperating. By smiling at an evil attempt, and, in the end, partaking in the spoil. Those who join with churches in error come under this head.

8. By conniving at sin: tolerating, concealing, and making light of it.

9. By commending, countenancing, defending, and excusing the wrong already done; and contending against those who would expose, denounce, and punish it.

II. What is commanded?

"Reprove them."

"Reprove" in the original is a word of large meaning.

1. Rebuke. Declare the wrong of it, and show your hatred thereof.

2. Convict. As the Holy Spirit reproves the world of sin, so aim at proving the world guilty by your holy life and bold witness.

3. Convert. This is to be your continual aim with those about you. You are so to reprove as to win men from ways of evil.

Oh that we had more of honest and loving reproof of all evil!

III. Why it is commanded to me?

It is specially my duty to be clear of other men's sins.

1. As an imitator of God and a dear child. Verse 1.

2. As one who is an inheritor of the kingdom of God. Verses 5, 6.

3. As one who has come out of darkness into marvelous light in the Lord. Verse 8.

4. As one who bears fruit, even the fruit of the Spirit, which is in all goodness, righteousness and truth. Verse 9.

5. As one who would not be associated with that which is either shameful or foolish. Verses 12, 15.

If our fellowship is with God, we must quit the ways of darkness.

IV. What may come of obedience to the command.

Even if we could see no good result, yet our duty would be plain enough; but much benefit may result.

1. We shall be clear of complicity with deeds of darkness.

2. We shall be honored in the consciences of the ungodly.

3. We may thus lead them to repentance and eternal life.

4. We shall glorify God by our separated walk and by the godly perseverance with which we adhere to it.

5. We may thus establish others in holy nonconformity to the world.

Let us use the text as a warning to worldly professors.

Let us take it as a directory in our conversation with the ungodly.

Examples A member of his congregation was in the habit of going to the theatre. Mr. Hill went to him and said, "This will never do—a member of my church in the habit of attending the theatre!" Mr. So-and-so replied that it surely must be a mistake, as he was not in the habit of going there, although it was true he did go now and then for a treat. "Oh!" said Rowland Hill, "then you are a worse hypocrite than ever, sir. Suppose any one spread the report that I ate carrion, and I answered, 'Well, there is no wrong in that; I don't eat carrion every day in the week, but I have a dish now and then for a treat!' Why, you would say, 'What a nasty, foul, and filthy appetite Rowland Hill has, to have to go to carrion for a treat!' Religion is the Christian's truest treat, Christ is his enjoyment."—Charlesworth's Life of Rowland Hill. On one occasion, traveling in the Portsmouth mail, Andrew Fuller was much annoyed by the profane conversation of two young men who sat opposite. After a time, one of them, observing his gravity, accosted him with an air of impertinence, inquiring in rude and indelicate language whether on his arrival at Portsmouth he should not indulge himself in a manner evidently corresponding with their own intentions. Mr. Fuller, lowering his ample brows, and looking the inquirer full in the face, replied in measured tones: "Sir, I am a man that fears God." Scarcely a word was uttered during the remainder of the journey.—Memoir of Andrew Fuller.

Matthew Wilks once rode by coach with a young nobleman and a female passenger. The nobleman entered upon an improper conversation with the coachman and the woman. At a favorable opportunity Mr. Wilks attracted his attention, and said, "My Lord, maintain your rank!" The reproof was felt and acted upon. Let the Christian ever maintain his rank. A distinguished Christian lady was recently spending a few weeks in a hotel at Long Branch, and an attempt was made to induce her to attend a dance, in order that the affair might have the prestige bestowed by her presence, as she stood high in society. She declined all the importunities of her friends, and finally an honorable senator tried to persuade her to attend, saying, "Miss B., this is quite a harmless affair, and we want to have the exceptional honor of your presence." "Senator," said the lady, "I cannot do it, I am a Christian. I never do anything in my summer vacation, or wherever I go, that will injure the influence I have over the girls of my Sunday-school class." The senator bowed, and said, "I honor you; if there were more Christians like you, more men like myself would become Christians."—Dr. Pentecost.

Rebuke should always be dealt in love: never wash a man's face in vitriol. Some persons would burn a house down to get rid of a mouse: the smallest fault is denounced as a great crime, and a good brother is cut off from fellowship, and bad feeling is raised, when a gentle hint would have done the work much more effectually.—C. H. S.

Section 225

"Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also
loved the church, and gave himself for it."—Ephesians 5:25 The love of Christ to his church is the pattern for Husbands.

It should be a pure, fervent, constant, self-sacrificing love. The conduct of Jesus was the best proof of his love. "He loved the church, and gave himself for it." Our conduct should be the genuine outcome of our love.

I. How Christ loved his church.

He loved his own church with—

1. A love of choice, and special regard.

2. A love of unselfishness: he loved not hers, but her.

3. A love of complacency. He calls her "Hephzibah, my delight is in her."

4. A love of sympathy. Her interests are his interests.

5. A love of communion. He manifests himself to his chosen bride.

6. A love of unity. A loving, living, lasting union is established.

7. A love of immutable constancy. He loves unto the end.

II. How he proved his love.

"Gave himself for it."

1. He gave himself to his church by leaving heaven and becoming incarnate that he might assume her nature.

2. He gave himself throughout his life on earth by spending all his strength to bless his beloved.

3. He gave himself in death; the ransom for his church.

4. He gave himself in his eternal life; rising, ascending, reigning, pleading; and all for the church of his choice.

5. He gave himself in all that he now is as God and man, exalted to the throne, for the endless benefit of his beloved church.

III. How we should think of it.

It is set before us as a love which should influence our hearts.

We should think of it—

1. In a way of gratitude, wondering more and more at such love.

2. In a way of obedience, as the wife obeys the husband.

3. In a way of reverence. Looking up to love so great, so heavenly, so perfect, so divine.

4. In a way of holiness. Rejoicing to be like our Holy Husband.

5. In a way of love. Yielding our whole heart to him.

6. In a way of imitation. Loving him, and others for his sake.

Let us enter into the love of Jesus, enjoy it in our own hearts, and then imitate it in our families.

Concerning Love

Rowland Hill often felt much grieved at the false reports which were circulated of many of his sayings, especially those respecting his publicly mentioning Mrs. Hill. His attentions to her till the close of life were of the most gentlemanly and affectionate kind. The high view he entertained of her may be seen from the following fact:—A friend having informed Mr. Hill of the sudden death of a lady, the wife of a minister, remarked, "I am afraid our dear minister loved his wife too well, and the Lord in wisdom has removed her." "What, sir?" replied Mr. Hill, with the deepest feeling, "can a man love a good wife too much? Impossible, sir, unless he can love her better than Christ loves the church: 'Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it.' "

"Let all things be done in love," said the apostle. If all thy actions towards others, then, much more all things that concern thy wife, should be done in love. Thy thoughts should be thoughts of love; thy looks should be looks of love; thy lips, like the honeycomb, should drop nothing but sweetness and love; thy instructions should be edged with love; thy reprehensions should be sweetened with love; thy carriage and whole conversation towards her should be but the fruit and demonstration of thy love. Oh, how did Christ, who is thy pattern, love his spouse! His birth, life, and death were but, as it were, a stage whereon the hottest love imaginable, from first to last, acted its part to the life. It was a known, unknown love. Tiberius Gracchus, the Roman, finding two snakes in his bed, and consulting with the soothsayers, was told that one of them must be killed; yet, if he killed the male, he himself would die shortly; if the female, his wife would die. His love to his wife, Cornelia, was so great, that he killed the male, saith Plutarch, and died quickly.—George Swinnock. The Spanish poet Calderon, in one of his dramas, describes a beautiful Roman girl, Daria by name, eventually a Christian convert and martyr, who declares, while yet a pagan, that she will never love until she finds someone who has died to prove his love to her. She hears of Christ, and her heart is won.

Section 226 "And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace."—Ephesians 6:15

Christians are meant to be steadfast, active, moving, progressing, ascending, hence their feet are carefully provided for.

They are feeble in themselves, and need protection: their road also is rough, and hence they need the shoe which grace provides.

I. Let us examine the shoes.

1. They come from the blessed Maker. One who is skillful in all arts, and knows by experience what is wanted, since he has himself journeyed through life's roughest ways.

2. They are made of excellent material: "the preparation of the gospel of peace." Well-seasoned, soft in wear, lasting long.

Peace with God as to the past, the future, the present.

Peace of full submission to the divine mind and will.

Peace with the Word and all its teachings.

Peace with one's inner self, conscience, fears, desires, etc.

Peace with brethren in the church and the family.

Peace with all minkind: "as much as lieth in you live peaceably with all men": Romans 12:18.

3. They are such as none can make except the Lord, who both sends the gospel, and prepares the peace.

4. They are such shoes as Jesus wore, and all the saints.

5. They are such as will never wear out: they are old, yet ever new; we may wear them at all ages and in all places.

II. Let us try them on.

Observe with delight—

1. Their perfect fitness. They are made to suit each one of us.

2. Their excellent foothold: we can tread with holy boldness upon our high places with these shoes.

3. Their marching powers for daily duty. No one grows weary or footsore when he is thus shod.

4. Their wonderful protection against trials by the way.

"Thou shalt tread on the lion and adder": Psalms 91:13.

5. Their pleasantness of wear, giving rest to the whole man.

6. Their adaptation for hard work, climbing, plowing, etc.

7. Their endurance of fire and water: Isaiah 43:2. By peace of mind we learn to pass through every form of trial.

8. Their fighting qualities. They are really a part of "the whole armor of God." See the chapter in which the text is found.

III. Let us look at the barefooted around us. The sinner is unshod. Yet he kicks against the pricks.

How can he hope to fulfil the heavenly pilgrimage? The professor is slipshod, or else he wears tight shoes. His fine slippers will soon be worn out. He loves not the gospel, knows not its peace, seeks not its preparation. The gospel alone supplies a fit shoe for all feet. To the gospel let us fly at once. Come, poor shoeless beggar!

Fastenings

"Put shoes on his feet" were among the first words of welcome to the returning prodigal. To be shoeless was in Israel a mark of great disgrace, indicating a lost inheritance, a state of misery and penury. (See Deuteronomy 25:10.) The Chinese advertise shoes which enable the wearer to walk on the clouds. Compare Isaiah 40:31 : "They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall run, and not be weary; they shall walk, and not faint." "Run with patience looking unto Jesus." (Hebrews 12:1-3.)

"Your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace." (Ephesians 6:15.) The passage has been paraphrased, "Shod with the firm footing of the solid knowledge of the gospel." The word "preparation" signifies preparedness or readiness. Compare 2 Timothy 4:2 : "Instant in season, out of season"; also Romans 1:15 : "I am ready to preach the gospel." This preparedness is well-pleasing to God. "How beautiful are thy feet with shoes, O prince's daughter!" (Song of Solomon 7:1; Isaiah 52:7.)—Mrs. Gordon.

Christian in the palace Beautiful.—"The next day they took him, and had him into the armory, where they showed him all manner of furniture which their Lord had provided for pilgrims, as sword, shield, helmet, breast-plate, all-prayer, and shoes that would not wear out. And there was here enough of this to harness out as many men for the service of their Lord as there be stars in the heaven for multitude."—Bunyan.

None can make a shoe to the creature's foot, so that he shall go easy on a hard way, but Christ; he can do it to the creature's full content. And how doth he do it? Truly, no other way than by ur derlaying it; or, if you will, lining it with the peace of the gospel. What though the way be set with sharp stones? If this shoe go between the Christian's foot and them, they cannot much be felt.

It is the soldier's shoe that is meant, which, if right, is to be of the strongest make, being not so much intended for finery as for defense. The gospel shoe will not come on thy foot so long as thy foot is swelled with any sinful humor (I mean any unrighteous or unholy practice). This evil must be purged out by repentance, or thou canst not wear the shoe of peace. The Jews were to eat their passover with their loins girded, their shoes on their feet, and their staff in their hand, and all in haste. (Exodus 12:11.) When God is feasting the Christian with present comforts, he must have this gospel shoe on; he must not sit down as if he were feasting at home, but stand and eat even as he takes a running meal in an inn on his way, willing to be gone as soon as ever he is a little refreshed for his journey. The conceited professor, who hath a high opinion of himself, is a man shod and prepared, he thinks; but not with the right gospel shoe. He that cannot take the length of his foot, how can he of himself fit a shoe to it? Is not thy shoe, Christian, yet on? art thou not yet ready to march? If thou hast it, what hast thou to dread? Canst fear that any stone can hurt thy foot through so thick a sole?—William Gurnall.

Paul was thus shod: Romans 8:38, "I am persuaded, nothing shall separate me from the love of God." "All things, I know, work together for the good of them that are beloved of God." (Romans 8:28.) And this furniture made him go such hard ways cheerfully, in which showers of afflictions did fall as thick as hailstones. This doth make God's children, though not in the letter, yet in some sort, tread upon the adder and the basilisk; yea, to defy vipers, and receive no hurt; whereas, if the feet be bared a little with the absence of this peace, anything causeth us sore smart."—Paul Bayne.