صور الصفحة
PDF
النشر الإلكتروني

to renew our souls by the Comforter, and make us "partakers of the divine nature'." Jesus, from his throne, beholdeth us; willing to save all who refuse not to be saved; to adapt their trials to the perfecting of their souls to support, chasten, and comfort them, as He seeth best; and, finally, will He welcome the stedfast saint, and penitent sinner, and the faithful Minister, to a blessed home of peace, and holiness, and glory, for evermore.

And now, my dear brethren, having brought these lectures to a close, I pray that God, by his Spirit, may lead your minds to meditate much on these exhortations of St. Paul. Few portions of Scripture afford more profitable subjects of consideration, especially on the Lord's day, to the Minister of Christ. "This Epistle," saith one, “better deserveth a twelvemonths' study, than most things that young students do lay out their time in. O brethren, write it on your study

1 2 Pet. i. 4.

doors, or rather, set it as your copy in capital letters, still before your eyes. Could we but well learn two or three lines of it, what preachers, what Ministers, should we be! Write all this upon your hearts, and it will do yourselves and the Church more good, than twenty years' study of those lower things, which, though they get greater applause in the world, yet separated from these, will make you but sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal."

So this excellent author.-I will now only add, compare the principles and rules of this Epistle, with the great example set us in Christ's perfect life, and in the imitation of their Master by his Apostles. On these let your standard be formed. From these judge ye, what a Minister of the Lord Jesus ought to be!

And often, on your bended knee, let deep and lively prayer be offered, that ye may lay these things profitably to heart: beseech God that ye may become godly, self

denying, humble, zealous, and tender, shepherds of Christ's flock.

And strive, under the grace of God, that ye may be able to say, with humble hope, in your last hours, Lord, of them, which thou gavest me, have I lost none.

281

LECTURE XV.

66

COLOSS. ii. 5.

THOUGH I BE ABSENT IN THE FLESH, YET AM I

WITH YOU IN THE SPIRIT, JOYING AND BEHOLDING

YOUR ORDER, AND THE
FAITH IN CHRIST."

STEDFASTNESS OF YOUR

It is a matter of doubt with some, whether St. Paul had, in person, established the Church at Colossæ: a spot associated with double interest in the student's mind; as being one of the halting places of the army under the younger Cyrus: and subsequently as a scene of Christian edification under the governance of the Holy Spirit. We cannot but be struck with the singleminded tact, and delicate propriety of Saint Paul's mind. Does he think that the Ro

man Church might have taken offence at the seeming neglect, on his part, towards the great metropolis of the world? He assures them that he has been prevented, by Divine interposition, from fulfilling the wish of his heart in seeing them, and imparting some spiritual gift1. Is he uneasy lest the Corinthian Church should be overwhelmed with sorrow, at the chastisement imposed by his absence? He promises another and speedy visit to that penitent body of believers. Does he apprehend that the Colossian Christians may be jealous of his long tarryings at Ephesus, and in Greece, while they had not seen his face in the flesh? He assures them, with a dexterous turn of affectionate expression, that "though absent in the flesh, he is present in the spirit; joying and beholding their order and stedfastness of Faith in Christ."

1 Rom. i. 13.

« السابقةمتابعة »