(4) We have a neio sense of self-reverence. — If my body be His shrine can I desecrate that shrine ? All wrong done to the body or to any part of human personality is sacrilege. One in whom Christ dwells must reverence himself. Such cannot be merely self-respecting, they will be self -reverential — not self -conceited, but self -a wed ! Herein is the explanation of the dignity which graces many of the humblest Christians. We not seldom wonder at the refinement of spirit and of manner manifested by some who are poor and unschooled. We call it " native refinement." But it is not "native." It springs from the consciousness of Christ
' G. Nickson, in The Record, Nov. 6, 1908. ' Memoir of Robert Herbert Story, 153.
456 CHRIST IN YOU THE HOPE OF GLORY
mystical. Lowly people are noble-mannered when Christ is homed in their hearts.
^ It was in the light of the Incarnation that men dared to speak of the human body as the temple of the Holy Ghost, of our being members of Christ's body, and even dared tersely to express the place of the body in the designs of God by saying, " The Lord is for the body." It was this conception that gave new value and sanction to the work of ministering to the weakly and sick, and new direction to Christian compassion and charity. It gave new importance and meaning to physical self-control, to cleanliness, to sexual purity, to abstinence; and finally it encouraged the dis- charge of reverent and decent offices to the bodies of the dead, with self-restraint in mourning, and uniform tenderness to the frail tenement of the human spirit. We are, indeed, guilty of sham spirituality when we forget the connexion of these things with the Incarnation of the Son of God, and their witness to that deep saying, " The Lord is for the body." ^
(5) There is a fount of sweetest comfort within. — What soothes amid sorrow like the consciousness of the indwelling Christ? This is a pure deep fount of consolation in the heart, more refreshing far than the most sparkling fountain by the way. How would some of you sustain the heavy burdens of life save for Christ being in you ? In the extremes of pain and woe what has upheld you but this ? What supported you on the sad journey to the cemetery, and on the sadder journey home again, excepting this alone — " Christ in you " ? This glowing centre of Christian experience is ardent consolation.^
^ " God reigns, and the Government at Washington still lives," cries Garfield to the crowd in the panic following the assassination of Lincoln. " Had I not perceived the Lord was at the helm I should long ago have given up the struggle," writes Zwingli in the throes of the Eeformation struggle. "I lay my head to-night upon the bosom of Omnipotence " is Eutherford's explanation of calmness in the presence of difficulty and loss. These are the men of whom it is true that
Looking backward thro' our tears
With vision of maturer scope, How often one dead joy appears
The platform of some better hope!* ^ G. A. Johnston Ross, in Youth and Life, 12. 2 D. T. Young, The Crimson Book, 145. 8 G. Nickson, in The Record, Nov. 6, 1908,
COLOSSIANS I. 27 457
** Christ in us " ! — who can reach the depth and height,
The length and breadth of such a gift as this ? In weakness He is strength, in darkness light,
Amidst the world's distress an untold bliss, Treasures of wisdom to a simple mind,
Eiches of grace the contrite heart to bless, A clear and open vision to the blind.
And to the naked soul a comely dress; Compared with this all other gifts are dim : Poor in ourselves, yet we have all in Him.
With " Christ in us," our glorious hope is sure ;
Dwelling in Him the true and living way. Our souls are safe, and to the end endure;
Through faith all sin and guilt on Him we lay: See through the veil our great High Priest within,
Prepared His own redeemed ones to bless; Himself made sin for us, who knew no sin.
That we might perfect righteousness possess ; While by His Spirit, dwelling in our hearts. His peace. His joy, His glory He imparts. ^ * John Streatfeild, Musings on ScripUiral Subjects.
Complete in Christ.
4S9
Literature.
Burns (J. D.), Memoir and Remains, 363.
Burrell (D. J.), The Unaccountable Man, 302.
Bushnell (H.), Sermons on Living Subjects, 96.
Forsyth (P. T.), Christian Perfection, 51.
Jones (T.), The Divine Order, 29.
Liddon (H. P.), Bampton Lectures, 321.
Peabody (F. G.), Mornings in the College Chapel, ii. 157.
Price (A. C), Fifty Sermons, iii. 153.
Vaughan (J.), Sermons (Brighton Pulpit), vii. (1869), No. 695.
Christian World Pulpit, xv. 284 (Palmer) ; xxxiii. 344 (Dykes) ; Iii.
359 (Adamson) ; Ixxxi. 132 (Berry). Expositor, 3i'd Ser., iii. 46 (Maclareii).
460
Complete in Christ,
For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily, and in him ye are made full. — Col. ii. 9, 10.
In the previous part of this far-reaching letter the Apostle had been exalting the Christ, who, he declared, was the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature. He was no mere child of man — no mere hero of the race or wise member of the common family. He was all this, it is true ; but He was far more, and the superhuman element of His nature was the differentiating peculiarity of His unique personality. If He had been only the greatest man, there might yet be a greater, before whose throne Christ Himself would require to bow. If He had been an angel — one of the hierarchies of heaven, — there might, in the future, be a greater, to whom the Christ of Paul would require to give place. But the One whom the Apostle set forth was more than man, more than cherubim or seraphim. He could be loved with a perfect love ; obeyed with full and constant obedience ; wor- shipped with the whole spirit. Such service rendered to Him would be a reasonable service in harmony with what is right and becoming. From this position the Colossians were not to depart, or allow themselves to be driven, for, says the Apostle, " in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily," adding by way of practical application the important truth, " and ye are complete in him," or as the Eevised Version has it, " in him ye are made full," that is, completed, made perfect — He is the complement of your being.