cision circumscribes lustful tendencies ancl keeps them within mechanical bounds. Whatever truth may be in this, it is certain that Jesus can so restrain uR by his indwelling and grace as to deliver us from the whole body of the sins of the flesh. V. OnnIST HAS ALSO OANCELLED THE OEREMONIES UPON 'l'HE CROSS, so THAT WHEN WE RISE WITH HIM INTO NEWNESS OF LIFE WE ARE FREED FROM 'l'HEIR OBLIGATION. (Vers. 12-15.) '!'he ritual of Judaism typified in its various aspects the atoning work of Jesus Christ. The sacrifices pointed to the ono great sacrifice on Calvary. '!'he long list of ordinances, therefore, conducted the intelligent mind to Christ's cross and received their fulfilment there. Hence it was that those who by faith passed through resurrection with Christ became as free from the obligation of these ceremonies as the risen Jesus was himself. Could any one have gone to Jesus after his resurrection ancl asked from him, with any show of reason, a fulfilment of the ceremonial Law? Is it not felt by every intelligent thinker that Jesus had so fulfilled the ceremonies in tho actualities of atonement that more ceremony from him would be unmeaning? A similar emancipation, Paul here insists, from the obligation of ceremonies is the pro- perty of Christ's believing people. A careful study of the cross is the great protection, therefore, against improper emphasis being laid on ceremonials.-R. M. E. Vera. 16-23.-Legalism exposed. The apostle, having shown in the last section how much Christ is to the believer, proceeds in the verses now before us to expose the false use of ceremonies, or, in modem phraseology, ritualism. The false teachers were anxious to entangle the Gentile converts in a tedious round of ceremonies-to make them, in fact, Old 'l'estament ritualists. They could even adduce what seemed to them philosophic reasons for such practice. But Paul scatters their false philosophy to the winds by the magic power of bis Redeemer's cross. I. LEGALISM ANCIENT OR MODERN IS THE PRACTICE OF CEREMONIES WITHOUT TREIB TRUE MEANING BEING APPRECIATED. (Ver. 16.) 'l'he Judaizers insi~ted on the Gentiles entering into the scrupulosity of the Jews about meat and drink, about holy days and new moons, and about the seventh-day sabbath, for the word is singular as the Revised Version has it, and not plural as in the Authorized Version. Now, it was quite possible for Jews and Gentiles to enter upon the keeping of these ceremonies without ever con- sidering their signification. A ceremony may be kept just to be able to congratulate ourselves upon the keeping of it; that is to say, a ceremony may be kept in a self- righteous spirit instead of intelligently. When ceremonies minister to self-righteous- ness, when they lead to pride, when they are entertained iu order to furnish a fancied claim, they are mere superstitions. It is to be feared that no other rationale can be given of a large proportion of modern ceremonial. Jt is a mere blind and leads souls away from Christ to self-righteousness. It may, indeed, have the appear:i.nce of great humility. There may be apparent awe and regard for the angels, and the visible may seem to so impress the soul as to secure deepest humiliation; but when the issue of the ritual is self-congratulation and a fancied independence of Christ's merits for acceptance, the whole process is simply a deceptive superstition. It matters not how rustbetic the ritual may seem: the Jew of the apostolic age could ban pleaded restheticisrn like his modern counterpart; but the true analysis of the whole process is that it is self- righteousness cultivating superstition. 11. THE LORD JESUS CHRIST MUST TEST THE MEANING OF ALL CEREMONIES, AS THE SUBSTANCE DETERMINES 'l'IIE SIIADOW. (Ver. 17.) If ceremonies cease to lea,l souls to Jesus, then they are meaningless and condemned. '!'he ceremonial laws of Moses were so constructed as to lead the thoughtful worshi]Jper on to the promised Messiah. Meat must be bloodless, because blood was to be the atonement for sin, when Messiah came. The blood was forbidden, because the blood of Jesus Christ was to be shed in clue season. The regulations about drink and holy days and new moons pointed, as may easily be shown, in some way or other to ChriGt. The seventh-day sabbath was the type of the spiritual rest to which Jesus conducts us (Heb. iv. 9-12). Christ is the Substance, and these ceremonies simply shadowed forth some aspect of his mission. But when men kept the ceremonies without ever thinking of their relation to Christ, when they kept them and made saviours of them instead of seeing in Jesus their only So.viour, they became not only meaningless but prejudicial to the interests of souls. Let Christ, then, be our test for every ceremony to which men summon us. If it is a TIIE EPISTLE TO 'l'IIE COLOSSIANS. [en. 11. 1-23.
substitute for Christ, or if it bas no relation to Christ then we aro bound to dismiss it from our thoughts as simple superstition. ' llI. FELLOWSHIP wrrn CHRIST IN ORU0IFIXION MAKES MEN FREE FROM TilE ODLIGA• TJON oF THE OLD TESTAMENT CEREMONIES, (Vers. 20-23.) Wheu Jesus died upon the cross every ceremony was fulfilled. The ceremonial La\V had no further claim upon him. In the same way, when the Gentile converts so appreciated the Crucifixion that they were able to say they were "crucified with Christ" and so "dead with Christ.," then the ceremonies of circumcision and the like were no lon"er obliua.tory upon them. They had fulfilled them in their Substitute and so were fr~e from "them. It "Was this lib~1ty for which Paul so earnestly contended. IV. Arm BELIEVERS IN CONSEQUENCE TO RENOUNCE ALL CEREMONY AND TURN Cams- TUNITY INTO QUAKERISM? Certainly not. The Gentile converts were not encouraued by the apostles to set all ceremony at defiance. Thouuh taught that the ceremonie; of Judaism were fulfilled in Christ, they were directed nit to eat blood, not to eat things strangled; they were directed to celebrate baptism and the Lord's Supper, and to keep tl,e Lord's day. But what kept them right in these ceremonies was what will keep us right in ceremonies-the simple determination whether or no they foster reverence for and deepen our interest in the atoning work of our blessed Lord. What really con- ducts the soul to Jesus is safe; but what only nominally does so and really ministers to self-righteousness is dangerous and deadly error. Let Jesus be our test continually, :md we shall be kept safc.-R. M. E.