But

Doctrine is the backbone of the Church, in which lies the marrow of her life. A question of doctrine may therefore be a question of life and death, of decay or progress. when I speak of the value of a definite creed, I do not refer to any mere human creed elaborated by men from the word of God. The articles of such creeds may be multiplied to perplexity and confusion, so as to become a snare to tender consciences. I refer to a clear apprehension and acceptance of apostolic teaching regarding the person and work of the Son of God. This is the source of strength, and the centre of life. There must be no vagueness or uncertainty here. Resting in Him as the Revealer of God and the Redeemer of men is the position of healthful expansion, the only way ot the attainment of saving spiritual knowledge. "We believe and are sure that Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God," is the true apostolic creed. Christ-not the sacraments, not Church polity, not human reasoning, not the doctrines and commandments of men, but Christ Jesusmust be the one object of the definite belief and stedfast faith of every regenerate soul.

3. The beauty of Church order is also suggested by St. Paul's words. He admired the order as well as the faith of the Church at Colossæ. The word intimates their orderly state and conduct; and the allusion seems to be to a wellorganized and well-regulated body. Ecclesiastical order should go hand in hand with stedfast intelligent faith. Scripture rules on this point are brief and significant : "Let all things be done decently and in order" (1 Cor. xiv. 40). "Let all things be done unto edifying" (1 Cor. xiv. 26). "Let all your things be done with charity" (1 Cor. xiv. 14). Divine right is not to be exclusively claimed for any sytem of ecclesiastical polity. The New Testament gives. some general principles, as, for instance, when the Apostle speaks here of the order of the Colossian Church as the

order of a Church complete in itself, not requiring the cooperation or aid of the Christians at Laodicea or at Ephesus to its symmetry or perfection. No form of Church polity is a preservative or a protection against disorder. True order depends not so much on prelacy, or presbytery, or congregationalism, as on the Christian principles of those who are in the Church. Every form of polity is liable to derangement through imperfect and selfish men; and order, so essential to peace and holy progress, is chiefly dependent on the fidelity of the members, and their earnest cultivation of the Spirit of Christ. On the one hand, it is not orderly for any one to lord it over God's heritage; so, on the other, it is not orderly for every one in the Church to consider himself qualified to be a ruler or teacher, and to assume that office. There are teachers and taught, pastors and flock, the rulers and the ruled; every man in his place fulfilling his function; the strong helping the weak, and the weak looking up to the strong for guidance and help; "to every man his work," and all working together for the common good,-is a picture or presentation of order which pleased the Apostle, and which, wherever seen, still honours Christ, and promotes His cause among men. A true faith, firm and stedfast, and a loving spirit, help the peace and progress, both of the individual soul and of the collective Christian society. Christ's love never grows cold; His power never fails; His faithfulness never departs. Then may He well be the object of our strong and unshaken trust; and to grow up into Him by such a faith will be to grow in beauty and symmetry towards eternal perfection and glory.

XVII.

The Condition and Nature of the Christian's

Talk,

"As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him: rooted and built up in Him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving."COLOSSIANS ii. 6, 7.

CONNEC

YONNECTED with the Apostle's word of commendation in the previous verses, there was, as we have seen, a word of caution. Now he adds a word of counsel, that as they had received Christ Jesus the Lord as their Saviour, so they ought to abide in their allegiance to Him. He thus gradually approaches his chief object in writing this epistle; fortifying the minds of his readers with full and rich views of the gospel, and of the glory and sufficiency of Christ, as he proceeds to the thorough exposure and condemnation of the errors which sought to beguile them.

We have here an acknowledgment or admission, on the part of the Apostle, that the Colossians had received Christ Jesus the Lord; an exhortation to them to walk in Christ, whom they had thus received; and a direction as to how they were to walk in Christ. In these verses there is much truth of great practical importance to ourselves.

I. Note first the exclusive condition or ground of the

Christian life-the one and only way in which a man can become a true Christian. It is through the reception of Christ Jesus into the soul. True spiritual life is not reached in any other way. Yet this is altogether contrary to man's natural wishes and thoughts. He would be saved by doing, would become acceptable to God by achieving something for himself. But grace, salvation, and glory come not from ourselves, but from God; and we are accepted and saved only by receiving. Real religion, in the light which it diffuses, the liberty which it gives, and the new life which it conveys, is not a development of our own powers, nor the discovery of our own minds; it is the acceptance, primarily, of that which He gives us as His unspeakable gift. We become Christians, new creatures, children of God, by receiving Christ Jesus the Lord. "As many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe in His name " (John i. 12). The condition of the Christian life, that without which no man can be a true saint or son of God, is this acceptance of Christ. St. Paul's mode of designating the personal Saviour is full and significant,-" Christ Jesus the Lord."

CHRIST is to be received,-Jesus the Son of God, as the Christ. This word points to His relation to the Father, as the Anointed One, the Messiah, especially commissioned and ordained for the work which He came to accomplish on earth. He appeared in this world with all the credentials of such a commission, to do the Father's will, reveal His character, and manifest His glory among men. He "thought it not robbery to be equal with God," although He "took upon Him the form of a servant;" and the works which He did bore witness of Him. To receive the Son of God, therefore, as "the Christ," is to receive Him in all that He claimed to be and all that He came to do,-to receive Him as the image of the invisible God, the only Being in the universe who

could say, "I and my Father are one,"-to receive Him as the Creator and Upholder of all things, "by whom all things consist," and to bow before Him with the homage of devout and reverential love, as He says in words which have come to us with living force, "He that hath seen me hath seen the Father; so that now, as of old, "he that hath the Son hath life." There must be no modification of His testimony regarding Himself. He was all that He claimed to be in union and co-operation with the Father, as the Son of His love. The hushing of the storm, the raising of the dead, the healing of disease, the expelling of devils, were but the evidence and outcoming of the fulness of the Godhead that dwelt in Him. He descended to our world to do a work which no mere creature could by any possibility do. Under the Old Testament economy men were uniformly summoned to confidence in Jehovah, the living God of Israel: in the New Testament men are as uniformly summoned to confidence in Jesus Christ. Why? Has there been any change in the object of trust? Certainly not: but now Jehovah is revealed to us in Christ, has come down to us in the person of His Son, who was God manifest in the flesh.

JESUS is to be received. This designation specially points to His relation to mankind: it was His name amongst men. "His name shall be called Jesus; for He shall save His people from their sins." Christ, the anointed of the Father, is to be received as our Saviour. There was a real human manifestation; for He took upon Him our nature, in order to live and toil, suffer and die as the man Christ Jesus. But for this true humanity which He assumed, He could not have been our Saviour. He had to take our room, fight our battles, stand in our stead; and the value of His sacrifice for our sins is connected with His human as really as with His divine nature. Moreover, as our Exemplar, Guardian, and Friend, it was necessary that He should be tried as we