fitness for presontalion to God, we mnst persevere, and persevere in tho righc way. Our posilion is to bo foith toward Christ. Within ourselves we have not the clement3 of strength. Wo are powerless to fonn chari.cter. We are not only to come into the position of faith, but we nre to reat in it. However our outward position may be altered, our inward position is to remain unaltered. Result. "Grounded." "My soul bath found the steadfast ground." ,v e try other foundations, only to find them insuffi- cient. ·when wo have got past our own doings and the services of the Church down to Christ, then we feel that we havo found the immovable Foundation, tbo steadfast ground for our being. ".A.nd steadfast." .A building even by its own weight getH steadied when it is upon a secure foundation. So by faith are we to get steadied upon the Foundation. We aro to become like the Foundation. The immovableness that is in Christ is to come up into us. (2) In hope. "And not moved away from the hope of the gospel." Believing in Christ we have hope toward God-we have hope in view of the future. We have hope of being presented holy and without blemish and unre- provable before God. 'l'his is the hope communicated in, evoked by, the gospel. From this hope we are not to be moved away (which is the negative corresponding to the positive connected with faith). We are not to be of two moods, hoping and desponding, but we aro to keep to the one mood, hoping. Circumstances may arise • in which we are tempted to despond or despair; but our hope is to partake of the immovableness of its object. The inexcusableness of being moved away from the hope of tl1e gospel. (a) From their having heard the gospel. " Which ye heard." Left to themselves, they would have been in heathenism and its hopelessness: "Having no hope, and without God in the world," as is said in Ephesians. Such had been their melau- choly state, but by the griico of God the gospel had been preached to them in Colossro. It bec~me them, then, to present a contrast to the hopelessness of heathenism, to be inspired with the hope of future presentation and everlasting continuance before God. (b) From the universality which characterized the gospel. "Which was preached in all creation under heaven." The form of the command was: " Go ye into all the world, and 1ireach the gospel to the whole creation." The apostle, writing not many years nfter the giving forth of the command, regards its universal character as already estab- lished. lt had already obtained this seal of its Divine authorship. It was not a partial provincial thing, but, preached in all creation under heaven, it had been proved to be adapted to the wants of men. They were not, then, to abandon its peculiar hope. (c) From Pau7!s pers011al relation to the gospel. "Whereof I Paul was made a lDinister." Of this gospel, the universal bope-briuger, he had the high privilege of being a minister. He had no claim to the position. He was only Paul, one who h:i.,l been a persecutor and had obtained mercy. But the gospel was dear to him, and, iu writing to them and in introducing his personal relation to them, he puts that forward as a reason for their not being moved away from their hope.-R. F.
Vers. 24-29.-Paul's sujfel'ings. " Now." This is tho counecting word, and serves to bring down the time from the past (when he was made a minister) to the present wheu ho contemplates his sufferings. I. HE REJOICES IN ms SUFFERIN0S, BECAUSE THEY WERE FOR THE BE~EFIT OF THE CoLOSSIANB. "I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake." He adopts a triumphant key with regard to his sufferings. He is nut merely reconciled to them, but ho finds them a sphere in which be has occasion for rejoicing. He does not rejoice in them as suffer- ings, for they w~re no more pleasant to him than to others. Nor does he rejoice in them here because they were helpful to self-discipline. Dut he rejoices in them because they were beneficial to tho Colossians. Ile "·as suffering as a witness to the gospel. 1. His sufferings may have been as prayel's, 'l'he Lord looking down on them, in response to them, may have showered blessings on the Colossians. 2. His sufferings may have been as the sending of the gospel to them. Because he stood in the breach, others may have been left free to give them tho go,pcl. 3. ll-is sufferings may hcl"ve been as a ~timulus to them. Because he was courageous in enduring sufferings, th~ir courago may have been strengthened. !I. HE REJOICES IN HIS SUFFERINGS BECAUSE TIIEY WERE CONNECTED WITU THE AFFLICTIONS OF CHRIST, ".And fill up on my part that which is lacking of the afliic- tions of Christ in my flosh for his b<Xlv's sake.'' '!'he language employed is very remnrk- 58 'l'HE EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIANS. [cu. I, 1-20.