the r:~nl l~ncss 11nd ratience (2 Tim. ii. 24-20; 1 Thess. ii. 7), the sympathy Rnd 11da.p• th·eoess which the tl_l,11~,her's ~ork requires_(! Cor. ix. 20-22), "teaching publicly and from house to house,· . ke_epmg bnck 7:othmg that ~as _profitable," but everything thRt ""'~~ unprofitable ~l Tim n·. 6-8; vt. 3-5; ~ Tim. ii. 14-23; Titus iii. 8, 9), and rlymg every possible means to promote and to increase in all men" repentance toward God a1;1d faith ~~rd onr Lord ~esus Christ" (Acts u. ~8-21, 27). 4. In this work: (1) Hu; labour t-S intense and painful- (Ver. 29.) Work 1s in his eyes the one thing for ~hi~h the ,?hristian ministry is to be ~alued _and ?Ommended (1 Thess. v. 12, 13). Be is himself m labours more abund!l,llt, and m this respect chiefly is" more a minister of Christ" than some others (2 Cor. xi. 23; comp. 1 Cor. xv. 10). No kind of toil come5 amiss to him, for Christ's sake. Claiming his "right in the gospel" to "live of the gospel as the Lord ordained," yet on grounds of expediency he cheerfully foregoes it, and "brings himself into bondage to all,"" for the gospel's sake" (1 Oor. ix. 1-23). "These hands," as he holds them up hard and black with working at the coarse sail- cloth, show how" in all things he gave us an example" of self-denying toil (Acts xx~ 34, 35). (2) .And vww his sufferings surpass even hi,s labours, yet they fill him with constant joy. (Ver. 24.) He is a prisoner, and his flesh rebels against" these bonds" (Acts x:xvi. 29). He cannot preach abroad, or visit the Churches (eh. iv. 3; Eph. vi.19, 20; Phil. i. 25, 26), whose "care" still "presses on him daily" (2 Cor. xi. 28). Many desert him ( eh. iv. 11), and some even who "preach Christ" do it to injure and not to help him (Phil i. 16). Yet even in this he can rejoice (Phil. i. 17, 18). He has learnt the secret of contentment (Phil. iv. 11). He is conscious of being "set for the defence of the gospel " (Phil i. 16). His sufferings are evidently tending to its furtherance (Phil. i 12-20). The cause of the Gentile Church is being effectually served by the sacrifice he has made (Eph. iii. 1, 13; Phil. ii. 17, 18). Above all, he feels that he is treading in the steps of Christ, su1fering in the same interest, carrying on the same cause; and he takes it as a gi~ of grace (Phil i 29) that he has thus assigned to him his special sh:i.re in that which Christ has been pleased to leave for his servants to su1fer after him. How shall he not rejoice to be "as his Master"! In the two words H01t1ii lryo,v,(oµe,as (v.er. 29), whose full force is untranslatable, the apostle paints himself to the life, as the spiritual athlete, the great Christian champion, never flagging in his effort.s nor shrin.ki.ng from the heavy blows that fall upon him, till the prize of victory is won· (comp. 1 Cor. iL 24-27 ; 2 Cor. ii. 14-17 ; iv. 7-18 ; xi. 23-33 ; Acts xx. 24; 2 Tim. iv. 7, 8). Bnt while we look at him with admiration, he cries out," It is not I, but Christ living in me; and in my poor efforts his mighty energy displays itself" (ver. 29; 1 Cor. xv. 10; 2 Cor. xii. 8, 9; Gal. ii. 20). II. CHRIST THE MYSTERY OF Gon. (Vers. 26, 27.) This is the glorious theme of St. Paul's ministry. 1. It is the burden of the old revelation, the secret of ancient .his- tory. The great heroes of the Old Testament-patriarchs, lawgivers, prophets, kings -were fragmentary types of him, in their character, achievements, or sufferings (Heb. v. 10; Acui vii. 37, etc.). The highest aspirations and anticipations of "holy men of old, moved by the Holy Ghost," were directed mysteriously all along to him, to his birth, teaching, sufferings, resurrection, to "the glory that should fi;,llow," to "the preach in er of repentance and remission of sins to all nations in his name" (Luke xxiv. 2G, 27, 44---47). The Jewish system of worship and discipline, in its c~nstruction aod design, prefigured and prepared for his advent, who was hunself meanwhile secretly acting in it and speaking through it to his people (John i. 10, 11; 1 Cor. x. 4, 9; Heb. ii. 10--12; xi. 26). The whole history of Israel and the development of the Old Tes- tament system unerrincrly O pointed to this goal, where it met the blindly groping, half- articulate desire of all iaations. In Christ the lines of promise and of preparation, converging from the most, distant ages and widely separated peoples, meet 11nd are focussed, in this "fulness of the times." 2. But the goal 1vas hidden from the ages ar,d from the generations, who stood with straining sight seekiag to pierce the darkness of the future (1 Pet. i 10-12; '.Matt. xiii. 17). Seeing but a part of the promise, "afar off," and" at sundry times and in divers manners," they could not forecast it& issue, nor pitcc tocrether 0 its scattered intimations. '!'he Gentiles knew that they needed a lJivine Saviour, and their need had become consciously extreme and desperate (1 Cor. i. l!:l-:!l; Epb. ii. 12; 1 These. iv. 13; Acts xvii. 23, 27). 'l'he Jews knew t)1at ho ...,,,uld come, but little suspected in what guise. 'l'hey knew not how great arid in wal'tl Oil, I, 1-29.] THE EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIANS. 27
WIIB thoir own need of him. Least of all did they expect or wish that he should be for "a light of the Gentiles, and for salvation unto the enrls of the earth" (Acts xiii. 4i). l'hose who know most of hie coming were least prepared to believe this. It is, alas! still a mystery to ·them (Eph. iii. 4-6; Rom. xi.; 2 Cor. iii. 12-16). 3. 1'his mystery brings to Gor£s saints, not only a Ohrist revealed to them, the open ser,ret of the Old Testament, but a Ohrist manifested in them (ver. 27; Gal. i. 16), Gentiles and Jew., alike (Acts xi. 17), which is a deeper secret stal. How" rich" is the Divine " glory" displayed in this ( With what "might" do our weak hearts need to be " strengthener] that Christ may dwell through faith" therein, that so we may be "filled with all this fulness of God" (Eph. iii. 16-19) I 4 . .And therefore this mystery of God is not finished yet. (Rev. x. 7; xxi. 1-8.) "Christ in you is the hope of glory" (ver. 27). Every saint of God is a new mystery to the world, and oven to himself (eh. iii. 3; 1 John iii. 1, 2). "'l'he manifestation of the sons of God" (Rom. viii. 19) has still to come, when their hidden life will be made visible. The soul united to Christ and like to him will be mated with "a spilitual body" (1 Cor. xv. 44), a "body of glory" (Phil.iii. 21). Then at last the inward and the outward, character and condition, will harmonize and be fitly matched, and" we shall be manifested with him in glory" (eh. iii. 3, 4). This is the Christian hope, of which "Christ in you" is the abiding pledge (eh. iii. 15, not-e; Eph. i. 13, 14; Rom. viii. 11).