the first generation of believers, ought not surely to be left unguarded for the future. Eye-witnesses and ministers of the word' were not to pass away and leave no trace behind.

No one indeed was more impressed than S. Paul was by the fact, that the Lord had in His love and wisdom made all provision in these things for His future Church; and he was not backward now in Divine pro- asserting it. He says: When Christ ascended up Apostolate, on high He gave gifts,-some apostles, some prophets,

gress of the

some evangelists, pastors, and teachers; some for the completion of the Jewish Churches, some for the deaconship so soon needed, and some for the edifying of the whole body, Jewish and Gentile, till we should all come to unity, in the faith and knowledge of the Son of God, and unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.' To the Philippians, S. Paul speaks even more definitely, and mentions Bishops and Deacons' as now set up in authority among them, Phil. ii. 25. probably by their apostle Epaphroditus. His speaking so emphatically to them, in their official position, in this the latest of his epistles to these Churches,' is full of significance, when he was about so soon to lay down his mission with a martyr's joy.

For much yet remained of the primitive message, concerning which continued explanation would be required, as the days were lengthened.' The Mosaical rule of worship, and the ministry of the Aaronic priesthood, had not yet been removed by the expected judgment of Heaven; and so of the priesthood of Christ S. Paul had not formally written, nor of

the Ritual therefore to be known hereafter in the Churches. How sacredly the 'secret of the Lord' had thus been guarded, while the first tabernacle was yet standing!' The Baptismal Faith in the crucified and risen Saviour and redemption by His Blood had been proclaimed, but with no nearer approach as yet to Sacrificial language than the Lord's own words had essentially given-This is My Body;' This cup is the new covenant in My Blood.'

The great Apostle had laid foundations, and others Others building as well as himself would yet build thereon.' He thereon. had shown, that the whole Church was a Body Divinely ordered both in heaven and earth; that the Righteousness which springs from faith could only be attained in accordance with the plan of heaven, the mind of Christ; that the members of the Lord's body yet on earth must ever advance in Communion with all the rest. Christians already withdrawn from earth, he taught, were ranked in fit relation, one class with another, in the world invisible: and Christians here must know now their own subordination, part by part, in the system of the new creation. The positions of human duty here were, indeed, the means of forming the heavenly character in all the members of Christ on their heavenward way.

So S. Paul bade the Ephesians, and Colossians, and Philippians in the close of his Epistles to them to look around them. As members of earthly society, as masters, servants, fathers, children, husbands, wives, they were 'passing the time of their sojourning here.' And as such, they were to know and do their several

Subordina-
Christian

tion of

to Chris

tian, purely

moral;

duties, and hold their true places; and be regulated, in all that seemed doubtful, by those 'set over them in the Lord,' the overseers of their souls. Their place in the mystical body on high was hereafter to be such as they might become fit for now. The power of Christ their Head, Who is 'in the heavenly places,' would do for their souls the wondrous work of the Divine reconciliation, and would redeem their bodies also from the power of the grave; but the moral work must here be accomplished in every individual who would at last be found in Christ.'

Not very minutely written rules however would the Apostle give these Christians to whom he was writing. They were to be subject to those who watched for their souls.' He does not any more discuss, as he had once done to the Corinthians, the questions of the day in detail. To submit, and know their own place, was all that he cared to say; except that he now fold details. linked the social and moral duties of Christians

and ordered in the Church

as to mani

with their place in the mystical body of Christ. The oral teaching and practical working of the Church would supply all their need.' Repeating his old saying to the Corinthians that the husband is the head of the wife,' he just shows how the lower creation foreshadows the higher; and he so finds even in the present domestic sphere a sacred microcosm resembling the union of the whole Body of Christians with the Head on high. This is a great mystery: I speak concerning Christ and the Church.'

The Apostle says somewhat more in another place

3, 10.

pondence

in the

on this sacred truth. But can we, without solemnity of a very deep kind, mark even his present teaching as to the Divine interest which pertains to all the particulars of our life on earth, and what bearing they all have on things in the heavens? A Chris- I Cor. xi. tian family, with its reverenced parent, its obedient Corresspouse, its loyal and loving children, 'growing up into with things Christ in all things,' 'putting on the new man day heavens. by day,' should be an earthly hierarchy of righteousness and peace, surely a most august sight to be looked on by 'principalities and powers above' where we shall rise and be as the angels.' Might it not be a pattern of an order in heaven, brighter than what Moses saw, if only the Spirit of God were indwelling there? For being united in the grace of the Body of the Lord they would have the very image of the good things to come,' while the law had 'only the shadow.'

28.

To know that Christians now are one with the Everlasting future-that their daily lives may be fitting for a place in the plan of Heaven, those for whom all things are working together for good, be- Rom. viii. cause they love God, and are called in Christ,'-it is this which fills the Apostle's heart with joyful hope, when writing his last words to the Churches. He left them with the monition, that their present being is clothed with a dignity which may abide for ever. Life on earth, felt as life eternal, life beneath the dominion of grace, life in the Church of Him Who is our Head for ever, is immortality consciously begun. And the believer, in his holy waiting here, may know

Directions

as to some

reserved.

that a canopy of blessing is spread over him from his birth till he passes beyond the reach of death, 'the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, keeping his heart and mind in the knowledge and love of God, and of Jesus Christ our Lord.'

Elsewhere the Apostle enters more fully into the duties yet special duties of the Christian societies, as organized bodies under their appointed Apostolic guides; but the directions so given by him were addressed naturally to the rulers of the Churches, such as were Timothy and Titus, and were given in the prospect of those anxious times which were before Christians, and of which there were now prophetical warnings. His present letters were admonitions of holiness and duty to believers in Christ in every station, teaching them to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts, as being Phil.iii. 20. members of one mystical body having its citizenship in heaven.' This, he exclaims, is our desire for you,

Contrast in the phi

Anselm and
S. Paul.

even your perfection.'

It was part of the philosophy of S. Anselm that the losophy of new creation in Christ would supply that which had been lost to the perfect work of the perfect Creator, and fill up the ranks of glory which had been injured by sin. S. Paul's surely is a nobler view. He speaks of the gathering together in Christ of the new Eph. v. 27. creation, not as arising per accidens, but as a glorious whole in itself, without spot or blemish' or any such thing. The spiritual powers on high, archangels, angels, and principalities, are ranked as in due place under Christ our Head. And while there

d Lect. VI. p. 202, &c.