^ The later Jewish theologians had laid much stress upon
the delivery of the Sinaitic Law through the agency of angels
acting as delegates for the Most High God. The Author of
Christianity might be superior to Moses and the prophets, but
could He challenge comparison with those pure and mighty spirits
461
462 COMPLETE IN CHRIST
compared with whom the greatest of the sons of Israel, as beings of flesh and blood, were insignificant and sinful ? The answer is, that if Christ is not the peer of the angels, this is because He is their Lord and Master. The angels are ministers of the Divine will ; they are engaged in stated services enjoined on them to- wards creatures lower than themselves, yet redeemed by Christ. But He, in His glory above the heavens, is invested with attributes to which the highest angel could never pretend. In His crucified but now enthroned Humanity, He is seated at the right hand of the Majesty on high; He is seated there, as being Heir of all things ; the angels themselves are but a portion of His vast in- heritance.^
Christ's Fulness.
The word " fulness " means that which is filled, made perfect, made complete. " The earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof," that is to say, all that the earth contains is the Lord's. And the meaning of the text is that all the natural, the moral attributes or qualities of the Eternal God are in the person under consider- ation. If any one attribute or quality were omitted, any one element of His being were left out, it would be impossible for inspiration to say that " in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily." 2
^ The year 1899, which proved so sadly eventful, opened for Berry and his people with some degree of confidence and hope. In a letter written to the Christian World, dated January 3rd, he thanked his friends for countless kindly messages he had received, and " for the light they shed upon many dark hours, and the courage they inspired when pain brought peril and hope was dim." He had gained strength since his return home, and was able to preach once on each of the five Sundays in January. His second sermon was on " Completeness in Christ," Colossians ii. 10, and dealt with the reality, the closeness, the richness of the believer's union with Christ. " We are more than followers, learners, friends ; we are bound to Him in a more than natural relation, one that is vital, organic, dependent, and derivative, and that * more ' is expressed by the phrase ' In Christ.* All that is His is ours and ours His. His our sin, our penitence, our fears, our weakness, our hope. Ours His death. His resurrection. His reign. His dominion." ^
' H. P. Liddon, Bampton Lccktres, 321. ^ D. D. McLaurin.
'^ J. S. Drummoud, Charles A. Berry, D.D., 203.
COLOSSIANS II. 9, lo 463
^ A heresy, a subtle, poisonous, destructive heresy was invading the fold of that little Church. The heresy was this. Matter is essentially and inherently evil. Flesh is inherently and essentially evil. It is the natural home of evil. God is essentially, inherently holy, and between the essentially, inherently holy God and the inherently and essentially evil flesh there can be no communion. That was the beginning of the heresy. Then this question was propounded : How, then, can the essentially holy God come into contact with essentially evil man ? And here is what the heresy devised — that out of the holy Deity there emanated a presence with holiness slightly diluted, and out of the second emanation there came a third, with the holiness again further diluted, and so on, from emanation to emanation, in ever- decreasing holiness, with ever-increasing impoverishment of Divinity, until the last emanation you come to is one slightly better than evil man himself, and those two can touch and hold fellowship and communion. That is to say, that between God and essentially evil matter there had been constructed a bridge, with decreasing gradients of Divinity, each one less Divine than the one behind it, until there comes one in the distant chain who is so little better than ourselves that we can touch and have com- munion and fellowship.
What was the effect of that heresy upon the little Church ? That little Church of Colossse began to think that God was infinitely remote because of His holiness; that between them there was a perfect hierarchy of beings through whom they had to communicate if they wanted to get to Him — first to the one nearest, and through him to the next, and through him to the next, and on in the ascending scale until, in the far, far, almost infinite distance they touched God. That was the heresy invading that little Church and destroying its Christian faith. What was the result ? There were two theological results. First, it certainly destroyed the sovereign lordship and ascendancy of Jesus. Whatever else we can say about Jesus, He was the One that touched. He touched the Magdalene, and worse than the Magdalene. He touched Zacchseus, and He touched the leper. He touched ; but by this heresy it was the last link in the chain that touched. It was the one whose deity was most diluted. It was the last link. It was the One nearest unto ourselves who came to save. I say that destroys the lordship of Jesus ; I say that, if that heresy were true, then between the Lord Jesus and the throne there were a thousand lords and sovereigns hio-her than He. He was unthroned, and became a little better than you and I. Our Lord Jesus, by this theory, was on the next step of