The Pulpit Commentary — Ephesians — Section 131

stantly look for the raising up of men to do its work. It is power to which the greatest sinners may be_ pointed for their conversion to God. In magnifying the Divine power, Panl_ humbles himself.. ~ut not thus does his feelin~ of humility (which none need to cultwa.te more than mm1sters) find adequate expression. Ilut in view of the greatnC'ss of his calling he humbles himself still further. " Unto me, who am less than the least (If all saints." There is employed, to express his meaning, what is both a comparati,e and a superlative. There was no exa,,~eration in this to the apostle who t::Qllgh he could warmly vindicate his apostolic position when there was occasion yet h::id a. feeling of his own nothingness (2 Cor. xii. 11). It belongs to a shallower Chri;tian ex,-erience than his was, to make such comparisons. To one who has felt his own utter Yi]e::ie.'S:" before G-o,.i, to think of instituting a comparison in personal worth, in spiritual standing between himself and his fellow-Christians, is utterly abhorrent to him. He repudiates the thought; he i.s less than the least of all saints. There can be no doubt that those who have (without feigning) the deepest feeling of humility are really the bsst saints and the best champions of the faith. It is not the case that a career of wandering such as the apostle had (m his case it was wandering in self-righteousness for thirty years) is necessary to the deepest feeling of humility. For we have all enough of evil in our hearts to lead to humiliation. But it may be said that those who have had such wanderings and subsequent struggles are the most likely (in respect of their opportnnity) to excel in a knowledge of the corruption of their hearts. 'fhe apostle supplies us with a rich expression here," all saints." ,Who a.re they that form this order? Certainly none of mankind who have not the blood of Christ sprinkled upon them. Certainly more than those who have been specially" sainted" of men. They include many "hidden ones" on earth. "But sme from many a hidden dell. From many a rural nook unthonght of, there Rises for that proud world the saints' prevailing prayer." They include the O elder saints., in heaven, both angels and men. They bnve all their ~ircle of influence in the uni,erse of God. We are to look unto "Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith;" but we are also to get s~othening, incitement, catholicity, frcm "the commtmion of saints.P IT. THE SUB.TECI' •OF HIS PREACHING TO TBB GENTILES WAS THE UNSEABCHAllLB RICHni OF Cmus-r. The blessings of the gospel are compared by our Lord to gold: "I counsel thee t-0 buy of me gold." And, in agreement with that, is .this description of these blessings as "the unsearchable riches of Christ." There are none higher (as there is nothing higher in met.als than gold), and, if we count them as men count gold, they are inestimably precious. What a.re the blessings of the gospel? There is first of all peace, not the peace of unfallen beings, but the peace of those who have been sinners and are now reconciled-the sweet sense of sin forgiven, the blessed feeling that the guilt which was resting on us is removed, and that there is now nothing between us and a holy God. And who can tell the preciousness of this blessing? The man who bas this peace ·can feel richer than Crcesus. It is a peace which makes us independent of the world, w~ch the world cannot give_ and w~ich the world ca~not take away. It is a peace which passeth all understandmg, which bas a mysterious, unspeakable sweetness about it, so that he who has once felt what it is would never like to lose it. Another blessing is spiritual understandin_q. The man who knows is on a different footing from the man who does not know. Think of one who bas all the light of modem science, compare.d with the China.man who is only where his ancestors were two or three thousand years ago. Think of one who has all the light which Chri;;tianity has shed on the highest matf;ers, compared with the fetichist whose dim object of reverence is some unconscious stone. How dark the world would have been at this day but for the dayspring from on high which hath visited us I But, along with that outward light which shines widely, there is to all who seek and embrace it an inward light of the Holy Ghost. Illind Bartimmuses, we believe in Christ, and we receive our 6ight. And what riches it is to have spiritual insight, to have the veil taken off God and truth, to be under no delusion, to be delivered from every Cll'ur, and to see things clearly in the light of God I A third blessing, but a very comprehensive one, is holy feeling. What a cage of unclean birds does sin make of our heart11 l But OB. III. 1-21.] THE EPISTLE 'l'O 'l'HE EPHESIANS.