up and concentrated after the measure of the particular, as in Christ the Lord after the measure of the universal. And from the Angel they as it were radiate again, and find their respective expression in the Elders, with the Prophets, Evangelists and Pastors and Teachers, under him. By these the individual saints are perfected; and in each church the fourfold worship is offered and the fourfold profitableness of Scripture ministered.

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SIXTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST.

The Perfecting of the Saints.

Eph. iv. 11-13.

"He gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints till we all come

unto a perfect man.”

The words "perfecting" and "perfect" here are different in the original, and embody distinct ideas. We will consider them both to-day; and begin with the last.

I. The work of the four-fold Ministry is to go on, says the Apostle, "till we all come to a perfect man." "Perfect" here means of full age and growth; as he adds -"to the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ; that we be no longer children but may grow up into Him in all things, which is the Head, even Christ." It is our faith that in holy baptism Christ is truly formed in us.* From thenceforth Jesus Christ is in us, except we be reprobates;† and is there the hope of glory. But He begins in us, as He began in the world, as an infant: or (to reverse the image) we are at first but babes in Christ. While thus, we need to be fed with milk, and not with meat; for we are not yet able to bear it. But while as new-born babes we (rightly) desire the

* Gal. iv. 19.

† 2 Cor. xiii. 5.

+ Col. i. 27.

sincere milk of the Word, it is that we may grow thereby.* If the time does not come when the teaching of first principles is no longer needed, and the strong meat of fuller doctrine is the appropriate food, there must have been stunting or blighting of growth. Remember what St. Paul says about the fourfold Ministry having been given for this end: and then hear him speaking to the Corinthian and the Hebrew Christians.

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I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God: for I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect (i.e. of full age)". even the hidden wisdom which

God ordained before the world unto our glory, as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him. But God hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit; for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.

1. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God; that we might know the things which are freely given to us of God.

But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God; neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. . . And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. I fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able. For ye are yet carnal: envying, and strife, and

for whereas there is among you

divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men? For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not carnal ?”

And now to the Hebrews.

"When for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat. For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe. But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age" (to the perfect,-it is the same word): "even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith towards God, of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. And this will we do, if God permit."

In the light of these words understand the "perfect man" to which we are all to come: and then consider if the Church at this day has any features of it. Is the strong meat tolerated? is the wisdom of God spoken, and are His deep things known? Is it not rather true that even the most faithful are content to continue babes in Christ, and to know nothing of Him but as crucified, making the Apostle's unwilling exception their boasted. rule? Are the first principles so mastered that they can. be left behind, and progress made towards perfection? Do not strifes and divisions abound, and is it not an accepted practice for men to say, I am of Paul and I of Apollos? Is not the tossing to and fro, and carrying about with every wind of doctrine, the very form and

fashion of the time? If so, why will not Christian men ask-Where are the Apostles, the Prophets, the Evangelists who were given with our Pastors and Teachers that we might be no longer children, but might grow to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ?

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What then? are we better than they? No, in no wise. But we have had grace to repent and to confess the error of our ways: and we have sought for and received again our judges as at the first and our counsellors as at the beginning. With the feebleness of a convalescent indeed has the fourfold Ministry revived in our midst but there is a commendation which says, "Thou hast little strength, yet hast kept My word and hast not denied My name."* Let us only be true to the faith we profess; and Christ will honour His own ordinances, and the Ministry He gave for the perfecting of the saints shall perfect them, and we shall grow under their hands to the full age of His knowledge and the full stature of His grace, and with Him fill creation with God's praise.

II. We turn now to that other kind of perfecting for which the ministries of Christ were given. When the Apostle says, " for the perfecting of the saints," the word he uses does not, like the other, imply the growth of children to full age and stature. It rather signifies that completion which results from fashioning, furnishing, equipment. It contemplates a shapeless block or an empty receptacle: and its "perfecting" is giving due form to the one and full supply to the other. It is the word which the same Apostle uses when he writes to

* Rev. iii. 8.