from all our spiritual enemies. He was, at the time he wrote this epistle, imprisoned at Rome : yet what did he desire of the Ephesian Church ? Did he re- quest them to interest themselves in his behalf, that he might be restored to liberty ? No ; the thought did not so much as enter into his mind : the welfare of their souls was all his concern : " I, therefore," says he, " the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you, that ye walk worthy the vocation wherewith ye are called a:" and again, " This I say and testify in the Lord, that ye walk not as other Gentiles walkb :" ye are instructed better : ye can never conform to their practices : no ; " ye have not so learned Christ, if so be ye have heard him, and been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus."
In these remarkable words, we see,
I. The Christian's education —
" He has been instructed by our Lord Jesus Christ himself."
There is a teaching which proceeds from Christ himself —
[I readily grant, that, in learning from the inspired writings, we may properly be said to learn of Christ : for he himself said to his Apostles, " He that heareth you, heareth me ; and he that despiseth you, despiseth me ; and he that despiseth me, despiseth him that sent mec." But it is evident that much more than this is contained in the words before us : in fact, here is a contrast drawn between those who learn by the word, or human teaching only, and those who learn of the Lord Jesus Christ himself: the former may find their instruc- tion insufficient to regulate their life : the latter never can ; because Christ instructs the heart, to which nothing but Omnipotence can gain access. This teaching is sometimes ascribed, in Scripture, to the Father : " Every man that hath heard and learned of the Father, cometh unto med." Some- times it is ascribed to the Son: " No man knoweth the Father, but the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him e." Sometimes it is ascribed to the Holy Ghost: " The Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all thingsf." But the truth is the
a ver. 1. h ver> !7. c Luke x. 16.
rt John vi 45. e Matt. xi. 27. f John xiv. 26.