Rpeaks. As nlre11dy seen, be is aiming at the unity of the Church. Here we have the means by which it is secured. Let us briefly analyze this life of love. I. IT HAS A HEART OF COMPASSION. (Ver. 12, Revised Version.) All the emotion which misfortune evokes in the heart of God is to have its counterpart in the heart of bis people. "Kindness, humility, meekness, and long-suffering'' are to be in exercise within us continually. '!'be apparent drawbacks in others are thus transfiCJ'ured 0 by our kindly spirit into helps to unity. II. IT HAS A FORGIVINGNESS LIKE THAT OF Go». (Ver. 13.) Church members and those outside the Church will, from time to time, be guilty of injustice towards us; we may have just ground of complaint. But how our brother's offences clwincllc into utter insignificance when compared with the offences we have ourselve, committed against God I It will not do to be severe on our debtors after God has been so forgiving towards ourselves (Matt. xviii. 21-35). If we cultivate a God-like forgivin"ncss, then we shall be promoting constantly the unity of the Church. " III. LOVE IS ITS noND OF PERFECTNESS, (Ver.14.) We need only study 1 Cor. xiii. to see bow love is the all-important matter. It is what brings the whole life into harmony. For love expresses the willingness of the person to give himself to the gootl of others. It is the principle of the new life, without which it cannot exist. IV. Go»'s PEACE RULES AND EVOKES MAN'S GRATITUDE. (Ver. 15.) For when we are God-like in our compassion, forgiveness, and love, we find a peaceful temper laying hold of us, We cannot war with others, but must follow the things that make for peace. To the unity of peace we feel that God has called us. lie has been our Peace- maker and the Peacemaker of many more, and so we dwell in the uuity of the one3 mystical body. And surely such a state of mind and heart is something to be thankful for. A grateful spirit for our personal peace and for the peace which permeates through the Church of God. V. GoD's WoRD IS TnANSLATED INTO HEARTFELT PRAISE. (Ver. 16.) For we can only sustain the new life by the reception of God's quickening Word. It must dwell within us richly. And if it do, it will evoke praise from our grateful hearts. We will sing in our social gatherings one to another, and be mutually helpful. '!'he meetings of the saints shall be of a most joyful character. And wliat a unifying element is always found in social praise I How it blends our hearts into unity as we praise the one Lord. The very harmony of the music catches our souls autl blends them into something like the harmony of heaven. VI. ALL LIFE BECOMES SACRAMENTAL, (Ver. 17.) There can be no idle words nor random deeds in the new life. All is consecrated to the Lord. His Name is our banner, and under it all is done. God bas thus come and made " the comrnou " clean, and the life on earth is like the great sheet of the Apostle Peter, in which the four- footed beasts and creeping things were pure. Into every nook and cranny of the new life the consecrated spirit is carried: The meanest matters are thus lifted into heaveuly light, and God reigns over all. Tbus it is that the sacramental element is carried into all things, and we feel that "the communion of the Lord's Supper is meant to be o. sample of, and not an exception to, our common days; and in the rite there lies a mighty power to make the whole of the rest of life like itself." Arnold has a curious sermon on this text, in which be advocates the consecration in the making of "wills." But this is only an illustration of a universal principle which God requires in the Christian life. There is to be 110 exception to· consecration. In a grateful spirit we nre to do all in Christ's Name. May it be our single ambition !-R. M. E.
Ver.18--cb. iv. 1.-0hristianity remodelling the ancient household. The unity of the Church, which Paul has in view, is to have its counterpart and model in tbe unity of the Christian household. '!'be Church is only an enlarged family. Hence Church officers are to serve their apprenticeship in the matter of rule in the family. It they are not able to rule their own families well, they have no business to take office in tho Church of God (1 Tim. iii. 2, 12). Of necessity, therefore, Christianity takes up the household and sanctifies it. The relation of Christianity to family life is most important. In the present section Paul takes up tbreo relations and shows how love is to regulate them all. L THI!: RELATIONS Oli' IIUSBANDS AND WIVES. (Vers. 18, 19.) Now, it is woll kuown 182 THE EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIANS. [en. ur. 1-25.