writings of Robert Hall:-"Religion, and that alone, teaches absolute humility; by which I mean a sense of our absolute nothingness in the view of infinite greatness and excellence. That sense of inferiority, which results from the comparison of men with each other, is often an unwelcome sentiment forced upon the mind, which may rather embitter the temper than soften it: that which devotion impresses is soothing and delightful. The devout man loves to lie low at the footstool of his Creator, because it is then he attains the most lively perceptions of the Divine excellence, and the most tranquil confidence in the Divine favour. In so august a presence he sees all distinctions lost, and all beings reduced to the same level. He looks at his superiors without envy, and his inferiors without contempt; and when from this elevation he descends to mix in society, the conviction of superiority, which must in many instances be felt, is a calm inference of the understanding, and no longer a busy, importunate passion of the heart."

The special blessing which the Apostle implores from the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, has been already adverted to. He besought Him to impart to the Christians at Ephesus, and in the neighbouring Churches, richer communications of the Holy Spirit as "the Spirit of wisdom and revelation." He never failed to honour the Holy Ghost as the Source of all spiritual light, and as sent down to glorify Christ by the disclosure to the believing mind, in ever increasing clearness and fulness, of the riches of His grace, and the hopes which His mediatorial work inspires. It was his settled conviction, that to "the natural man" the deeper truths of the Divine word must ever be shrouded in obscurity, and that only the secret operation of the Holy Ghost can give to any mind a clear apprehension of spiritual realities. And he rejoiced to know, that it is the believer's privilege to advance to what he here terms "the full knowledge" of God,-niyvwors avrou: not, indeed, a knowledge which fully apprehends Him as He is in Himself, and grasps the glorious perfections by which He is distinguished from all other beings, but a knowledge which enters into His deep counsels of grace in Christ, and the crowning manifestation of His glory in the everlasting union of His believing people with the Incarnate Son, their exalted and enthroned Head.

Three clauses are introduced by St. Paul to set forth those features of the Father's scheme of grace which he was anxious that believers should apprehend, under the special agency of the Holy Ghost, with a view to the increase of their comfort, and the estab lishment of their holiness:-"The eyes of your understanding" (or, literally, "the eyes of your heart") "being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of His calling, and what the riches

of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what the exceeding greatness of His power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of His mighty power which He wrought in Christ," etc.

The first of these clauses has been differently understood by thoughtful expositors. Some, including Bishop Ellicott, regard it as referring to the hope which the calling of God inspires: but we conceive, with Olshausen, Dr. Eadie, and others, that it refers rather to the object of the believer's hope,-even the perfect and everlasting glory in which the calling of God is designed to issue. St. Paul desired for the Churches, that they should connect all the operations of God upon their minds, in bringing them to the knowledge of Himself in Christ Jesus, and all the spiritual privileges with which they were here invested, with the final result which the scheme of grace contemplates. The call of God, which rouses us from a state of spiritual torpor, and which, if listened to and obeyed, leads us onward to the position of Christ's people, is the beginning of a process which has respect to our ultimate and everlasting triumph. There is a plan in the Divine Mind, involving successive steps in the experience of those who surrender themselves to Christ, but directed to the crowning result of their perfect conformity to Him, the Incarnate Son, in His present state of exaltation and dignity. And all this the phrase, "the hope of His calling," beautifully suggests.

The Apostle next speaks of "the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints." Here, again, it is not easy to define the precise conception which was present to his mind. It seems evident, indeed, that in the phrase, "His inheritance," he had in view the thought which he had expressed in verse eleven, that believers are themselves the portion, or inheritance, of God. We have seen that that general conception of our position and character, while it shows how dear we are to God, and how rich are the spiritual blessings which we are authorized to claim during our earthly course, points onward to the glory that awaits us. For if we are "His inheritance," it is His settled purpose to confer on us a dignity and blessedness that shall redound to His own glory. Brought by His grace into so intimate a relation to Him, we shall not be left in a condition that shall mar the lustre of His perfections, or detract from the praise which the completed scheme of redemption shall call forth. And thus the prayer of St. Paul in this clause seems to be, that "the Spirit of wisdom and revelation," vouchsafed to the Churches, might give them clear and influential views-though necessarily partial and imperfect-of the abounding glory which God will confer upon His own in the

future life, a glory which will manifest His own transcendent excellence and unlimited resources.

And then a third clause follows, which refers, we conceive, to the powerful operation of God Himself on the souls of believers, both as that which raises them even here to the state of spiritual life, and as that which shall ultimately effect the glorification of their entire nature:-" And what the exceeding greatness of His power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of His mighty power which He wrought in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead, and set Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places," etc.

There can be no question, we think, that the language of the Apostle in these verses has this comprehensive reference. It is clear that it bears upon the present experience of the living believers whom he was addressing; and the whole connection of the passage seems to imply that it includes also the glory that awaited them when they should fully share the exaltation and triumph of their Lord. And the grand idea suggested appears to be, that the same glorious power which was evinced in the resurrection and enthronement of the Redeemer, and in the subjection of all things to His mediatorial sway, is even now evinced in the spiritual quickening of those who believe in Him, and in the foretastes of final blessedness which they here enjoy, and shall at length be more signally displayed in their perfect conformity to their exalted Head.

We have to turn, then, to the animating theme of the exaltation of our Lord, as effected by the Father's power, and revealing His glory.

The resurrection of the Saviour is first adverted to:-" According to the working of His mighty power which He wrought in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead." In this event, so essential to our hopes, we see the acting of the Eternal Father. As we stand at the vacant sepulchre, and then gaze upon the risen Saviour, and mark the ample and abundant evidence that it is He indeed, we see an illustration of all the Father's perfections. All these required that the Representative of men, after He had offered a complete atonement, and fully upheld the principles of the Divine administration, should not be left in a state of dishonour, but should come forth to a new and glorious life. In His resurrection from the dead we see the vindication of His loftiest claims, and the proof of the sufficiency and acceptance of His sacrifice. But the Apostle specially calls upon us to reflect, that in the Person of our risen Lord we have a manifestation of "the strength" of the Father's "might." For our sakes He had submitted to the humiliation and anguish of the cross; and His body had lain in a state of lifeless impotence. But the Father's

interposition diffused through His humanity that new life which was ever afterwards to pervade it, and constituted Him the Source of life to all His people, so that from Him there even now flows forth a spiritual life into every believing mind, and at length the life which He imparts shall be diffused through our entire nature. The Lord Jesus, as the Risen One, is the firstfruits of humanity.

The enthronement and mediatorial sovereignty of Christ are next referred to. The Father hath "set Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places." The prophetic oracle, on which devout members of the Jewish Church, for many ages, dwelt with reverence and faith, is now fulfilled :-"The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit Thou at My right hand, until I make Thine enemies Thy footstool." The risen Saviour is exalted to a position of dignity and power far exceeding that attainable by any creature. He shares the throne of the Eternal Father. He is invested with a dominion which reaches to all, and which none can successfully resist. But His sovereignty is mediatorial. All its acts are subordinated to the manifestation of the Father's glory, and to the firmer establishment of the great principles of His general moral government. This is intimated by the declaration, that He "sitteth on the right hand of God." Our Lord carries out the counsel of the Father, as He dispenses the benefits of His redeeming work to His humble and believing people, and as He sways His sceptre of righteousness and truth over the Universe. To Him all created beings, even the very highest, are subjected; and in His presence their glory fades into insignificance. The Father hath exalted Him "far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come; and hath put all things under His feet." Not only is every earthly dignity poor and mean in comparison of that with which He is invested, and every earthly sovereignty a feeble and empty thing in comparison of His rule over the spirits of men, and His control of universal nature, but the loftiest angelic dignity and power are as nothing when compared with His majesty and resistless energy. His sway is ceaseless. No languor or fatigue can come over Him to interrupt it. His dominion, too, is marked by the calmness of conscious and unfailing might. No agitation ruffles the breast of the enthroned Mediator. His kingdom, indeed, is exposed to hostile assaults; and, as the ages roll on, opposing powers rise up, in differing forms, to seduce His people, and arrest the triumphs of His grace. But, though He bears long with His enemies, and sometimes permits them to exert their utmost malignity and cunning, He holds them under His control; and at length it shall be made manifest that "all things" are "put under His feet." Amidst the glories of His final manifestation,

even the powers of darkness, His bitterest and most determined foes, shall own the power of His hand, and even they shall "confess," though with reluctance and shame, "that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."

But the exaltation of our Lord includes a third particular. He is constituted by the Eternal Father the glorified Head of the Church, and His headship embraces all things that affect it:"Andg gave Him to be the Head over all things to the Church." This relation of our Lord involves several particulars, at which, however, we can only glance. The Lord Jesus rules His Church. He is its Supreme Legislator: all its doctrines and precepts derive their authority from Him, while its institutions are founded on His appointment. It is His province to raise up, from time to time, the agencies by which His Church is nourished and guarded, and to send forth His ambassadors, from its midst, to the ungodly world, to lead them to submit to His government and seek His grace. As the ascended and enthroned Redeemer, He " gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: 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." He still "holdeth the stars in His right hand," imparting to His commissioned servants their different gifts, appointing the spheres which they shall respectively illuminate, succouring and defending them in their work, and at length transferring them from the toils or the silent waiting of earth to the rest of His immediate presence. In all this we mark His care for His people, as well as the display of His sovereignty; and amidst the perplexity and sorrow which may at times come over our minds, when some to whom we looked for instruction and guidance are taken away, we bow to His hand with mingled reverence, submission, and love. So, too, as the Head of the Church, He fills it with life. "The Spirit of life" is His gift to His people; and one office of the Holy Ghost is to impart to every believer a measure of that mysterious spiritual energy which brings him into vital fellowship with the enthroned Redeemer. There is a depth of truth, which no exposition can fully bring out, in the words of this Apostle, in his Epistle to the Colossians:-"For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our Life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory." Still further, as the Head of the Church, the Lord Jesus identifies Himself with it in all its interests. He cares for His people. He succours them in their sorrows and conflicts. He loves to behold in them the reflection of His own spiritual excellencies. He