Christ to" the boa.rt sprinkled from a.n evil conscience;" second, the opcnin~ of the windows of the understnndin~ to displace the tainted atmosphere of man's thouo-hts nnd ths kindling ?f the fire of love Divi~e in_the heart; third, the watchful closing up of t~tos~ avenu~s m the ~oul through which SID so easily finds access; and fourth, the fum1shmg of the sonl with the needed graces of the Spirit. 2. The indwelling is here ascribed to Olwist. It is elsewhere a.scribed to the Holy Spirit t "Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?" (1 Cor. iii. 16 ). It is likewise ascribed to the Father: "He that dwellcth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him" (1 John iv. 16). 'l'hese varying forms of expression find their solution in the doctrine of the Trinity. He that bath seen the Son bath seen the Father, and be that bath the Son bath the I<'ather; then, again, he that bath the Son bath the Spirit of Christ: "The Spirit of God dwelletb in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. And if Christ be in you ... the Spirit is life because of righteousness!' (Rom. viii. 9,.10). Therefore, when the apostle speaks of Christ dwell- ing in our hearts, he refers to the Spirit's indwelling, for Christ dwells in his people by his: Spirit. But there is a distinction in the modes of this indwelling: the Father dwells in us by love (1 John iv. 16); the Son by faith (eh. iii. Ii); the Spirit lies hid in the heart, working the faith in t_he one case and the love in the other. 3. It implies an abiding habit of life.. Christ does not come a.a a sojourner or as a wayfaring man, that. turneth aside to ta.rry for the night, but as e. constant dweller. Herein lies our security for the continuance, the power, the comfort, of this life. II. 'l'HE BEAT OF INDWELLING-THE HEABT. 'l'bis is the true shrine. The word signifies the seat of.religious knowledge as well a~ feeling. 'l'hus Christ sits at the very centre of spiritual life, himself the very Life of that life (Ga.I. ii. 20), controlling all its impulses and movements. 'fhe objects we most desire we treasure in the heart. The heart wearies of many things, but can never weary of this Divine Visitant, who can speak with commanding voice when the. soul is disturbed by suggestions of sin. "If our ·heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart" (1 John iii. 20). The Lord is the supreme. Possessor of the heart "now sprinkled from a.n evil conscience." UI. THE SU11JECTIVE MEANS OF THE INDWllLLING-FAITH. This is not to be regarded merely as the means of our justification, or as the root of our spiritual life, but as its·continuously sustaining principle, according to the apostle's teaching:" I live; yet ,not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life whicl;l I now live in the flesh I live by. the faith of the Son of God" ,(Gal; ii. 20). 'l'his is the faith that worketh by love, that purifies the heart, that overcometh the world. It is the principle of spiritual communion; it is that by which we realize the presence, the excellence, the power, of Christ in us; it is that which radiates alLgrace and peace through the belie'l"er's hee.rt.-T; C. , Ver. 18.-Love, the root (1/f/,d foundatiM of spiritual knowledge. "That ye, being rooted and grounded in love," may comprehend and know the love of Christ. The effect of Christ's indwelling in bolievers is to root them and found them deeply in love-love being the root of the tree of life in the one case, and the foundation of the temple or house in the other; for the soul, ever contemplating Christ within it, is changed into his very likeness. The a.postle means that the Ephesian snints would grow in the knowledge of that love by growing into the likeness of that love. "Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.;" "The meek will be guide in judgruent, the meek will he teach his way." The truths of God are by them spiritually discerned. '!'here is a deep philosophy in, this matter. Men cannot understand each other except so far as they have the radical elements of the same experiences in themselves. I understa.nd wha.t you mea.n when you say y:,u are hot or cold, because I luwc bad sensations of hea.t and cold in myself. Thus people of dissimilar tempers, or culture, or opportunities are apt to misunderstand each other. A vulgar man cannot uuJ.erstnnd a man of high refinement. A practical man of the world, who is to-day what he was yesterday, and will be to-morrow what he is to-day, cnn never understand the man of poetic genius, whose spirits come and go like the tides, to-day in the height of senti- mental ecstasy, to-morrow in the depths of despair. 'l'here must, therefore, be similarity of temper or experience to promote a real under~tai:idin~. 'Fh_us we can see how only love .can understand lovo. Even in ow: worldly rnt1mac1cs, 1t 1e not quu;kncss of :per- 120 THE EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. [<lit. m. 1-21.
ception but the force of sympathy or affection that enables us to understand our friends. "Love's quick eye can pierce through disguises impenetrable to a colder scrutiny." Thus it is that the knowledge of God is not t-0 be compassed bv n mere exercise of the int<?lloct; it is to be attained through love: "He that loveth not knoweth not God· for G,.._i. is lc,n" (1 John i.. S). Thus it comes to pass that we can know the lo;e of Ch:-ist realizingly just in proportion as we ha,e that which resembles it in our own hearts s;_1.:. t?at love ~s the~ in virtue of his own indwelling by the Spirit. "The Christ of t .. e Bible mauife,,--ts himself, md, by the law-s of human nature, can manifest himself only to his own image formed in the heart." Thus it is possible to read a new meanina into the bea~tiful sentence of inspiration, " Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neithe~ ha,e entered mto the heart of man, the things which God hnth prepared for them that Io,·e him" (1 Cor. ii. 9). Our Lord has suggesth-ely said, " If any man will do his will he shall know of the doctrine whether it be of God." There are moral as well ~ intellectual conditions in the pathway of all extended knowledge.-T. C.