VII. THE DOXOLOGY.

"Now unto Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, unto Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen. (Verses 20, 21.)

The doxology is directed "To Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask," viz., God -God the Father, who, through Jesus Christ the Mediator, is to be glorified and adored by the whole creation. Paul is fond of doxologies, and uses them often both in the end and in the middle of his discourse (see Rom. xvi. 25, Phil. iv. 20, Jude 24, 25, 1 Tim. i. 17, vi. 16). These are ascriptions of praise and honour offered up to God, or to God the Father, or to Christ directly, or to God through Jesus the Mediator (see Heb. xiii. 21, Eph. iii. 21, compare Col. iii. 17, Rom. vii. 25); to Christ directly (Rev. i. 6, 2 Tim. iv. 18, Rev. v. 12). The angel-hosts on Bethlehem broke out into the sublime doxology (Luke ii. 14), “Glory be to God in the Highest, on earth peace, and good will toward men;" and when the redemption work is completed, and the ransomed gathered home, their sublime anthems around the throne are to Him that loved them, and washed them from their sins in His blood (Rev. v. 9-12)

"Worthy the Lamb that died, they cry,

To be exalted thus;

Worthy the Lamb, our hearts reply,

For He was slain for us."

It is not so much prayer as solemn adoration and praise; it is like the bursting forth of a stream too strong for its banks; the full heart overflows in these holy gushes of pious feeling and praise to God. I do not like the practice brought into everyday life, as it

tends to make the great name of God too familiar, nor ought we to abominate anything more than the Popish practice of appealing to Mary, the saints, and the angels of God. This is flat, stupid idolatry, for which there is no warrant in the Holy Scriptures. We offer up our doxologies in the firm faith and assurance that He is able and willing to do more than we can ask or think (Rom. iv. 21, 1 Thess. v. 24). He is God, and can, He is our Father, and will fulfil our desires and supply all our need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. The language of this noble doxology is exceedingly emphatic in the English translation, and still more so in the Greek, so that critics have been confounded by the apostle's effort to express the power of God in the way of a magnificent pleonasm, thus— God is able to do what you ask, He is able to do what you think, He is able to do more than we can ask or think, He is able to do abundantly more than we can ask or think, He is able to do exceeding abundantly more than we can ask or think. On the Greek construction I recommend Greenfield's critical note on the passage as the best and clearest I have seen. All this variety, without doubt, has its meaning, and is surely intended to give the saints full confidence in the Divine assistance and strength. He would have us to rest in His love. He would banish from our minds the fear which hath torment, and fill us with an assurance of His presence and power, which no earthly trials can shake. Therefore this sublime pleonasm. All this is according to the power which worketh in us, viz., the indwelling of the Holy Spirit (Eph. i. 19, iii. 16), by which we are raised to a new life, and made conquerors over our spiritual enemies, which is the pledge and assurance that He can and will do exceeding abundantly above all we can ask or think. Thus the believer has

within him an inworking, flesh-crucifying power of God, even the Holy Ghost, the power of the Highest (Luke i. 35), whose presence in the Church is the assurance and proof that the Head is risen, and that all the promises shall, in due time, be accomplished. The enlargement of the Church, the overthrow of Antichrist, the binding of Satan, the advent of the Son of Man, the Millennial kingdom and glory, shall all be accomplished by the power of God; nor will this require anything more than a development of the immortal powers which reside in the present Church. The beginning is already made, and the end will surely come. Verse 21," Unto Him be glory in the Church by Christ Jesus, throughout all ages, world without end. Amen." This is the most common, and, perhaps, the best translation. The Greek text will bear, without violence, the following translations, which the reader may choose from as he pleases :-To Him be glory in the Church in Christ Jesus--and this is quite literal; to Him be glory in the Church, through Christ Jesus; to Him be glory in the Church, which is in Christ Jesus; to Him be glory by the Church for Christ Jesus. That the Greek ev, in, often signifies the same as dia, through (with a genitive), is proved by Matt. ix. 34, Acts iv. 9, 1 Cor. xv. 22, Gal. iii. 8, Acts iii. 25, Heb. i. 1, 1 John v. 11. I take it in this sense, "Glory be to God in the Church, through Jesus Christ." The place of His glory is the Church, and the person through whom he receives it is Christ, and the time it continues is throughout all ages, world without end.

CHAPTER VIII.

"Itherefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, with all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, forbearing one another in love; endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all. But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. Wherefore He saith, When He ascended up on high, He led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. (Now that He ascended, what is it but that He also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that He might fill all things.) And He gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: that we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; but speaking the truth in love, may grow up into Him in all things, which is the head, even Christ from whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love."-EPHESIANS iv. 1-16.

THIS chapter commences the more practical part of the Epistle, and, with great tact, leads us from the doctrines to the duties, not, indeed, as if the division between doctrinal and practical was marked and distinct, so that doctrines only could be found here, and duties there.

This is never the case in the writings of the New Testament, and in this, as in all things, we may easily trace the wisdom of God. We do not find, as in confessions of faith, and articles of religion, one chapter on God, another on the state of man, one on the Trinity, and another on the Divine Unity, one on faith, and another on works, &c. In the Bible, doctrine is never separated from life, faith from practice. The Divine motives are always made the ground on which the believer's holy living rests; thus the Incarnation of the Son of God is the motive and example of humility (Phil. ii. 5-8); His exaltation is the motive to heavenly-mindedness (Col. iii. 1-6); His coming in glory is the motive to prayer, watchfulness, and many other Christian duties (1 Pet. iv. 1-8, 13, 2 Pet. i. 11, iii. 10), and so we may say of all the doctrines of the Gospel. They occur in the Scriptures where they are required for the comfort, warning, or encouragement of the saints. Nevertheless, the latter parts of Paul's Epistles are generally the more practical, and the former the more doctrinal. This gives force to the therefore of the first verse-seeing that such is the glorious purpose of God in the saints (iii. 10, 11), such the immeasurable dimensions of His love (iii. 17, 18), therefore I, the prisoner in the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith you are called. Many connect the words, in the Lord, with beseech, and translate thus-"I the prisoner, beseech you in the Lord," and refer to 1 Thess. iv. 1, and Eph. iv. 17, as examples of similar construction; but the great majority of interpreters connect prisoner with in the Lord, as our translation does, and as its position in the text seems to require. Thus we have, the brother in the Lord (Phil. i. 14), a man in Christ (2 Cor. xii. 2), fellow servant in the Lord (Col. iv. 7), and many other similar expressions in the New Testament (see 1 Thess. v. 12,