faculties, but not their souls. "Consciences and souls were made to be the Lord's alone." 2. It is obedience honestly rendered. "With fear and trembling in singleness of your heart"-" not with eye-service." These expressions mean that there should be no duplicity, no double-dealing, but downright honesty in everything. .A servant is bound to be honest towards his employer. He has no right to be lazy or wasteful. He has contracted to give, on certain stipulated conditions, his energies and time to promote the secular interests of his master. 3. It is obedience inspired with the religious spirit. 'l'hey are to regard themselves in everything as the servants of Christ, and are bound to do the "will of God from the heart." In everything the authority of Christ must be held 11s supreme. Whatsoever is done in word or deed should be done all to the glory of God. 4. It is obedience which, if truly rendered, will be rewarded of God. "Knowino- that whatsoever good thing any man doeth, the same shall he receive of the Lord, whether he be bond or free." 'l'he faithful servant may feel that the wages he receives from his earthly master a.re unjustly inadequate. Yet the great Master will award to him at last an ample compensation. Whatsoever good thing he bas done, however trivial, shall meet its reward at last. The good thing must be rewarded. Goodness carries evermore its own reward. II. THE DUTY OF MASTERS. The way in which masters should exercise their authority is here indicated. 1. They are to exercise it religiously. "Ye masterR, <lo the same things unto them." "The same things," as we have said, do not mean tho snme work, but the same spiritual attributes. Servants are to be honest and respect the will of God in all; the masters are here bound to do " the same things." Both arc to be under the domination of the same moral spirit. 2. 'l'bey aro to exercise it magnanimously. "Forbearing threatening." Though the servant may by accident, or, what is worse, by intent, by omission, or by commission, try severely the temper of his master, his master should forbear threatening. He should show his right to be a master by governing his own soul. The man who takes fire at every offence, whoso eyes flash with rage, and lips mutter threats, is too little a creature to be a master. He has no licence from Heaven to rule either children, servants, or citizens, who is not magnanimous in soul. 3. They are to exercise it responsibly. "Knowing that you1 Master also is in heaven." They are amenable to God for the way in which they use their authority. 'l'he master hns the same Lord as the servant, and they mUllt stand at last together at the great tribunal. To that Master all social distinctions vanish in the presence of moral charnctor. " Neither is there respect of persons with him."-D.T.
Vers. 10-20.-Soul-mi'litancy. "Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord," etc. The subject of these words is soul-militancy, and they bring under our notice the soul's foes, the soul's strength, the soul's weapons, and the soul's religiousness. I. THE eom'e FOES. "We wrestle not against flesh and blood." Tho passage teaches the following things in relation to the antagonists of souls :-1. 'l'hey arc spiritual personalities. They are spiritual, not" flesh and blood." 'l'hey exist apart from matter-apart from all animal incarnations. 'l'hey are personalities. We cannot accept the interpretation of tbose~wbo regard Paul as speaking here only of evil principles. If language means anything, personal agents are here indicated. A priori reasoning renders the existence of such beings probable; human experience and the Bible place their existence beyond all reasonable doubt. 2. They are wicked personalities. "Spiritual wickedness," or, as the margin has it," wicked spirits." They are out of sym- pathy with God; they are in bitter and practical hostility to all that is Divine, benevo- lent, and happy. 3. They are diverse personalities. 'l'hey differ in their make and their rank; they are not all of the same nature and measure of faculty, nor of the same rank in the uuiverse. There are "principalities," "rulers," and "powers" amongst them. Some, as compared to others, may be as wasps to vultures, as mosquitoes to dragons. 4. They are organized principalities. They are under one head, here called the "devil." "That ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil." There is one gigantic intellect that manages and marshals the whole: be who seduced our first parents, be with whom Christ battled in the wilderness-the Satan of God, the .Apollyon of man. These boats of evil spirits are not left to themselves; they are welded together by one master inlellect. "Devil with devil damned firm concord EPHESIANS. C 290 THE EPISTLE TO 'l'HE EPHESIANS. [oH, VL 1-21.