ably was learning to accept many hard sayings of his Master, even though they puzzled his reason, and tried his faith.

It was not until after the ascension of their Lord, and the reception of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, that the spiritual senses of the disciples were so vivified and developed that they realized that in their crucified, risen, and ascended Master their physical senses had been granted a vision, and communion, as close as human nature can at present possibly endure, of the God in whose hands our life and breath is, and whose are all our ways.

St. John expresses this strong, this educated faith, when he writes: "The word was God; and the word was made Flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory." "No man hath seen God at any time. The only Begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him." "We have seen with our eyes, we have looked upon, and our hands have handled the word of life. The life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness and shew unto you that eternal life which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us." St. Paul expresses the same faith when he writes, that Jesus the Christ was "God manifest in the flesh;" that He is "The brightness of the Father's glory, and the express image of His person;" that in Him "dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily."

If we share in that desire for knowledge of God and communion with Him expressed in St. Philip's words, "Shew us the Father and it sufficeth us," shall we not also accept that declaration of the Lord Jesus, which proved so satisfactory to St. Philip and all the Apostles when their spiritual powers were so strengthened by the

Holy Spirit, that they saw in the Body of Christ the veiled image of the Eternal Father? "He that hath seen Me, hath seen the Father."

We may then learn this lesson from St. Philip, that in this life we can know and communicate with God our Father in Heaven, only by and through the "One mediator between God and Man, the Man Christ Jesus."

Let us see now what we can learn about Christ and God, from St. James. This St. James, whose faith we commemorate in conjunction with St. Philip, is James the son of Alphaeus. He is spoken of, sometimes, as the Lord's brother. The term "brother" was often applied to cousins, and it is generally believed that the relationship between Jesus and St. James was that of cousin. He is also called sometimes in history, St. James the Less. He was a brother of St. Jude.

The other Apostle, St. James, was the son of Zebedee, and brother of St. John.

Our St. James was the first Bishop of Jerusalem, and author of the Epistle of St. James.

As Bishop of Jerusalem he presided at the Church Council assembled there about 51 A. D., seventeen years after the ascension of Jesus Christ.

We will consider his history in connection with that council. A full and very interesting account of that council is given by St. Luke in the fifteenth chapter of the Acts of the Apostles.

We read, that after seventeen years of preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom, and admitting members into the Kingdom of God, the Apostles and Elders came together from distant parts of the land to Jerusalem, to consider a question of church discipline. Notwithstanding great opposition and severe persecution their work

had prospered wonderfully. Thousands of people had heard the Gospel of the Kingdom, and had by baptism become "fellow-citzens with the saints" in the Kingdom of Eternal Life, the Church of Christ. Additions had been made to the number of the Apostles and other ministers of the Church. Matthias, Barnabas and Paul, had received from the original Apostles a share in the great commission given by Christ.

Wherever these Apostles and other ministers had preached the Gospel of the Kingdom, they had confessed the same faith, administered the same sacraments, and recognized the same authority.

They could truthfully speak of the Church as "One body animated by one Spirit, confessing one faith, administering one baptism, and bringing the people to a knowledge of the one God and Father of all, through Jesus Christ, His Son." Now, in the seventeenth year of its history, the whole Church has assembled in Jerusalem, and is represented by "The Apostles and the Elders and the Brethren." They wish to decide a question on which there are differences of opinion. They seek to know the will of God their Father, and of Jesus Christ their Lord. How are they to learn that will, how decide the question in accord with that will?

The whole church is represented; St. James is president. St. Peter, and St. Paul and others make speeches. St. James, the president, sums up the arguments and delivers his decision. It seems to be the unanimous verdict of the Council. There are no dissenting voices. The decree is sent forth to all parts where the Church has been planted. The language of the decree is noteworthy, for it reveals the idea of these men in reference

to their relationship with God, and the responsibility for that relationship.

The decree begins: "The Apostles and Elders and Brethren send greeting unto the brethren which are of the Gentiles in Antioch, Syria," etc. Then, having stated the question they had considered, they proceed, "It seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us, to" decide thus and so.

Does it not seem a little strange that these men should claim to be in partnership with the Holy Ghost, and to give expression to His judgment on a question?

We notice it was the decree of the "whole church," and we judge that this was the understanding of these men, that Jesus their Lord had promised to send the Holy Ghost to teach and guide them into all truth, as a church, as one Body; not as individuals, but as an organic, united corporation, made up of the three constituent orders, Apostles and Elders and Brethren. Neither St. James, nor St. Peter, nor St. Paul, none of the Apostles or of the Elders or of the Brethren, claimed individual direction and guidance of the Holy Ghost. None of them wrote, "It seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to me."

So we judge that as Christ was no longer with them, as before the ascension, they looked for and expected the guidance and direction of the Holy Ghost according to His promise; and they confidently sent forth the decision of the Council, as the mind of Christ, and the voice of the Spirit of Truth, an expression of the will of God. Human hearts and souls have still the same longing for a knowledge of God, for communion with Him, and, if possible, for a sight of Him, as in the days of Moses, and the Psalmist, and the Apostles of Christ.

Still they cry, "My soul is athirst for God." "Shew us the Father and it sufficeth us;" and still they feel sometimes as did the prophet of old, when he wrote, "Verily, Thou art a God that hidest Thyself, O God of Israel, the Saviour."

May we not learn this lesson from SS. Ph lip and James: that our desires and yearnings cannot in our present condition be fully satisfied, and our partial satisfaction must come through the mediator whom our Father Himself hath appointed. We must seek God in and through Jesus the Christ. No man cometh unto the Father but by Him. Jesus, the Christ, has ordained means and institutions by which we may find Him, and know Him and learn of Him; be taught and guided by the Holy Ghost. We cannot know God our Father in Heaven nor communicate with Him at all satisfactorily, except through the mediator and means of communion which He has in mercy and love ordained and instituted.

St. Philip learned to know and see the Father in Jesus Christ. St. James learned to seek the will of God and of Christ and the guidance of the Holy Ghost, in the Church, the Body of Christ, and the Temple of the Spirit of Truth.

We learn that as the Father is in the Son, and They are one, so Christ is in the Church, and Christ and the Church are one. As the Father and the Son cannot be separated, and the Father seen apart from, and without the Son, so Christ cannot be separated from the Church, His Body, and seen and known and heard apart from and without the church, which is the sacrament of His presence, and the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit.