A Lecture by S. R. in New York, Aug. 13th, 1897.

The subject of the whole epistle is Christian ministry, its sources and its character:and the first subject in Christian ministry, as to its nature, is its stability; there is nothing uncertain about the ministry of Christ as there is nothing uncertain about the person of Christ. The apostle puts it in a most forcible way:he says, Christ was not yea and nay, and therefore neither was the gospel which I preached to you yea and nay, it was the everlasting yea, the eternal certainty connected with the person of the blessed Christ of God Himself.

But if the gospel is stable and certain, so also is the truth for the people of God equally unwavering and sure. There is no yea and nay in the ministry of the word of God for the edification of the saints. There is no such thing as divers weights and divers measures,-there must be one standard-the absolute inflexible holiness of God, whether it be in the salvation of sinners, or in the building up and the guidance of the saints.

Then most beautifully we see how in spite of this absolutely inflexible character of the truth of God, when it comes to be ministered to the saints, if there were one who had dishonored Christ, but had been through grace led to see this, the grace of God could go out in all its fullness to him. He was to be restored, and the saints who in the first epistle had been told in the most forcible way to put away the wicked person from among themselves, are exhorted with equal force now to confirm their love to him and to welcome him back.

What a perfect blending there is in that way of the grace and holiness of God. His light flashes into our hearts, reveals our condition, brings us on our knees, brings us into the dust in shame and confusion of face. We say there is no more hope that the Lord will ever use us, we dare not think that we can ever be associated with His people again, when lo! the very word which smites, comforts, heals and witnesses to us of God's willingness to forgive and to restore His beloved, wandering, but penitent child.

This brings us to that wonderful third chapter, where we have the contrast between the ministry of the law and the ministry of Christ. The law could only bring condemnation and death, because it made its demands upon man-demands which he could never fulfil.

The law always put him at a distance with a veil between him and God; and this is most forcibly illustrated in the fact that Moses himself, with the glory shining upon him, had to put a veil over his face, for the children of Israel could not look upon it. They dared not look upon the glory of God, even a partial revelation of that glory. For the glory which shone in Moses' face was only a partial revelation of God, because the full glory could not be manifested in that which made a demand upon man.

Now see the lovely contrast. We look upon what? not the glory of God manifested in the law, not the glory of God in any partial way. Nay, dear brethren, we gaze into the full cloudless brightness of divine glory as it is shining out in the face of Jesus Christ, and instead of there being a veil upon that face-hiding its glory, it shines in all its wondrous effulgence, right down into our hearts, and transforms us into the likeness of Christ. Oh, what a wondrous display, and what a glorious ministry. Therefore the apostle can say "we use great plainness of speech ";-the veil is taken away, and we behold unhindered now the brightness of divine glory.

Now that brings us to our subject, the fourth and fifth chapters, which contain the kernel of this entire epistle. Here we have the great truths which are enlarged upon later on.

Let us notice at the very beginning, that you have in the opening verses of this fourth chapter, and in the closing verses of the fifth chapter, a solemn word to the unsaved. First of all the apostle says, "If our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost;" it is hid-not because there is any veil upon the face of Christ, not because there is any partial revelation of the glory of God in the gospel, not because there is any hindrance on His side; no, if our gospel be hid, it is because "the god of this world "-the god of this age-"hath blindeth the minds of those that believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ who is the image of God, should shine unto them." That is the only reason why there is any hiding of the glory of God.

This world ought to shine with the glory of God; it ought to be fairly resplendent; men's very faces, their lives ought all to catch the light of that glory and to reflect it abroad. Why is it not so? why are there so many dark hearts with absolutely no light in them? why are there so many lives, that instead of reflecting the glory of God below, gather the darkness out of care and sorrow in a world like this? why is it that we hear groans instead of songs of praise, cursing instead of blessing? Ask the god of this world. Ah, brethren, the veil is upon man's unbelieving heart, the veil is there, not on Christ.

But look at the close of the fifth chapter. He says there that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them. These very people who are lost, upon whose hearts the god of this world has put a veil, who are blinded by Satan,-to these very people he speaks as an ambassador for Christ, '' as though God did beseech you," he prays them in Christ's stead to be reconciled to God. How beautiful is this ! Satan puts a veil over man's heart, and blinds him to the beauties of Christ ; the faithful minister of Christ takes the veil away if they will only let him, and entreats them to be reconciled to God. The first word of the ministry of the gospel declares man's lost condition, and the last word is one of entreaty. "Be ye reconciled to God, for he hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him." That is the gospel. We speak of the glories of God, but before we go into that, let us have a word for the poor sinner. Is the veil upon his heart ? let him listen to the word of divine entreaty:Christ was made sin, Christ came for the lost, Christ came to do away with that darkness of your heart ; He says if you will but hear the word of reconciliation and accept it you will know something of that glory of God which shines in the face of Jesus Christ. Is not that blessed, beloved ; is it not a precious thought ? And what a divine motive power behind the man who has all the glory of God to present to sinners with the solemn earnest entreaty for them to be reconciled to Him. Oh for hearts to hear the gospel!

Now let us take up just a few of the things in this portion for us as believers, and see how beautifully the apostle unfolds to us not only the glory of the treasure, but the earthen vessel in which the treasure is contained. He begins here, as you notice, with a contrast. He had been speaking of the darkness of those who are lost, and he passes into happiest contrast, and you will notice it here in the sixth verse " For God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness hath shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ."

Do you think of the darkness of the sinner's heart ? The first word is that which God uttered on the morning of creation, when darkness covered the face of the deep ; "God said, Let there be light, and there was light." So in our poor hearts there was that awful darkness of sin ; into that darkness the voice of the living God pierced. Ah, the commanding power of that divine word in the soul, how it woke us out of our indifference, and made us feel first of all the desolation which sin had wrought! But it was the beginning of that new creation of which the apostle speaks in the next chapter, "if any man be in Christ there is a new creation." The darkness fled, the light shone. Where did it shine from? It was the glory of God, but it shone from the face of that blessed Lord who had gone into the darkness of the cross of Calvary,-a darkness just as great, just as awful as that in man's ruined heart. Into that darkness-from which God, who is light, had withdrawn-the Lord went. He bore the full penalty of sin ; and now risen and glorified at God's right hand, that Light of the glory of God shines down into our hearts, and illumines them forever with the brightness of His perfect love.

Oh what a light is that, dear brethren ! We talk about heaven being a place of light, and we say well; we talk about there being no need of the sun, nor of the moon there, and we say well, for the Lamb is the light thereof. Do you see Jesus, beloved ? then you see God's likeness. Do you see Him ? then you know what the happy secret is, of which the apostle speaks here,-the light of the glory of God, which shines in His blessed face. The Lord give us to realize that more fully, and to walk in the joy of it here, and we will be indeed lights in the world.

But I want you to notice another thing. You have here the reason why this light has shone in our hearts. It is not merely in order that our hearts may be illuminated by it. It is supposed we are illumined ; but the reason why the light is shining is " to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." And that word "to give the light" means that we are to give out the light which has shone into us.

The glory of God has come down here into my poor breast. Is it to be imprisoned there as a captive? No, beloved, you can no more imprison that light, than you can shut up a sunbeam in a closet. If it has shone in, it must shine out. That is just God's order for the carrying of the precious news of the gospel to this world. The light comes to my heart, it illumines my life, it scatters the darkness there and then shines out in my life that others may see the image of Christ and be led to Him. Oh that we may realize this, our responsibility that there should be nothing to hinder the out-shining of the light any more than there is to hinder its in-shining. And it is the same thing; you get your eye off Christ and the light does not shine in clearly, you get your eye off Christ and the light will not shine out clearly.

You are busy perhaps with your tract distribution, your visitation, your gospel work, and you say what a weariness it is, what a routine it is. So few come to hear the gospel, so few will listen to what I have to say to them, my tracts do not seem to bear any fruit. Is it the glory outshining in your life, or is it the mere effort of nature ? Is it your own puny strength ? Are you going through the forms of happy service, rather than the living reality of that constraining love of Christ ? As he tells us here, "The love of Christ constraineth us, because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead, and that He died for all that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves but unto Him who died for them and rose again." Show me a man who realizes what the love of Christ is, show me one who knows what it is for Christ to have taken his heart captive, and I will show you one who like Paul can say "I will very gladly spend and be spent for you, though the more abundantly I love you the less I be loved."

The love of Christ took possession of his soul, and if saints were indifferent, nay, if they despised him, if they turned from his message, it did not change the constraining power of the love of Christ, and he would go on loving and loving ; and if he could not love in any other way, he would die for them, as he says to the Philippians " yea, and if I be poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrifice of your faith, I joy and rejoice with you all." But what was the secret of this ? Oh, the light of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ had shone in his heart and had shone out again, for he could not keep it in. He lived as it were only for the One who loved him, in service for His saints.

You and I can be the same in our measure, dear brethren. We are not different from Paul, for he goes on just here to tell us what kind of a vessel the treasure was hidden in. When we read in the epistles, of his saying for instance, "I can do all things through Christ which strengthened me,"or, I will glory in the cross, I will glory in that which has crucified me to the world, we say, oh, but that is Paul ! Beloved, that ought to be us too. If it were Paul, he tells us here that the treasure was of God, and that the vessel was an earthen vessel.

Let me give you a little illustration, which struck me most forcibly the other day. I was driving with a brother along the foot of a mountain, near sunset ; and as we looked up on the crest of the mountain, the sun had gone down below it, and was out of sight. But there were floating, just over the top of the mountain, clouds, the mists of earth, floating there in the bright pure air. Do you say, they spoiled the lovely view, they simply reminded us of the exhalations of the earth ? On the contrary those clouds looked like liquid gold, they shone with all the brightness of an absent sun. They shone because they were in the light, and there was no hindrance between them and the sun; its brightness illumined them and they illumined the valley below. We could not see the sun, we could see the clouds. Analyze those clouds. Do you say what wonderful clouds they were? They were nothing but the mists, nothing but the exhalations perhaps of some marsh in the neighborhood, or from the salt ocean, which speaks of death and desolation. What made those clouds reflect ? nothing in the nature of the clouds, but in the glory of that sunshine, in which they were bathed.

So with the Christian. He is common clay. If you think you are some precious alabaster box of ointment, you are very much mistaken; we are nothing but common clay. God formed man out of the dust of the earth ; that is unfallen man, and in addition to being formed out of the dust of the earth, we are fallen creatures as well. Is there anything to boast in ? is there anything to glory in ourselves ? Made of clay and fallen at that! But what is it that makes us different from all others ? It is the treasure, the glory of God Himself in the face of Jesus Christ. And the fact that we are poor earthen vessels only emphasizes the wonder of the glory that could display itself in us. Just as those clouds shone with the sun's brightness and beauty, so with the Christian. He is the poor vessel of earth, but if Christ's light shines into his heart, he exhibits the perfection, he exhibits the character of his Lord- he resembles Him. What a treasure ! Can he not rejoice in the fact that he is an earthen vessel ? Let us go a step further; I say it reverently. God's glory could not have been otherwise so manifested, as it is manifested in these vessels of earth.
Let us suppose an illustration, which I have heard given. Let us suppose that a person had discovered some wonderful elixir, we will say, which if one took it, would give him the power of a giant; he could overturn houses, could pluck up trees by the roots. He is going to prove the power of the elixir. What kind of a person would he select? Oh, you say, he will go to some place of athletic training, and ask for the strongest man they have there, one who can do the greatest feats of strength ; he will give him his elixir and with his natural, and imparted strength, he will be a wonderful giant. Is that what he does ? Nay, he will go to yonder hospital, and pick out the weakest, the most helpless person there; he says now, If my elixir is of any value, it will take this perfectly helpless person, and make him the giant. I will not ask him for any strength of his own, but all strength will come from what I will give him. He gives him the elixir, the man takes it, and lo! he is quickened with mighty strength, and does all that the other claimed for him. What will the people say? Will they say, what a wonderful man in yonder hospital? No, they will say what a wonderful man to have discovered that mighty power, which can use such human weakness and make it strong.

So, dear brethren, are you moaning because you are weak? are you thinking you are so helpless that you cannot do a single thing for the Lord ? I believe you are the very person He wants. I believe, that your very weakness and helplessness will give Him all the glory ; therefore you are the very one that ought to lay claim to the secret of power, which Christ will give you, for the excellency of it is of God and not of us. None can boast.

Look at Paul. Did he boast, could he boast in anything that was his own? Nay, he could not, and if you will turn to the third chapter of Philippians, you will find him there breaking the earthen vessel.

There he speaks of what he was by nature, " circumcised the eighth day, of the tribe of Benjamin, of the stock of Israel, a Hebrew of the Hebrews, as touching the law a Pharisee, concerning zeal persecuting the Church, touching the righteousness, which is in the law, blameless." What a beautiful vase! What is he going to do with it? Set it on his mantle and admire it?

What a genealogy I have! What rectitude of life mine has been! Is that what he does with it? He sets that vase out before us and then with one blow he shivers it to pieces. "What things were gain to me those I counted loss for Christ, yea doubtless and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things." That is having the treasure in an earthen vessel, and as you notice, it is a broken one at that. Break that beautiful vessel? It has perhaps upon it the delicate tracery of the potter, that looks so attractive. Break that vessel ? Smash it to pieces? Do we hesitate ?

Gaze up there at that blessed Man in the glory of God; look at all the brightness of God's eternal glory shining in his face and you will rejoice to see the vessel broken, smashed to pieces, that people may see, not you, not your love, not your diligence, not your faithfulness, but see the epistle of Christ, and His love appealing in its constraining power, drawing and winning men to Himself. That is the secret of Christian ministry, and that, dear brethren, is what it is to have the treasure in an earthen vessel and the vessel broken too.

You remember Gideon's men and the light which they had. That light was to be a testimony for God; they were to hold their lamps in their hands and to cry out "The sword of the Lord and of Gideon." It was not their sword that was to gain the victory, but the Lord's sword. How was the light to shine? It could not shine in the pitcher, the pitcher had to be broken, that the light might shine out. Oh, to learn that lesson, to learn that it is not I that serve but Christ that lives and serves in me.

And so if we trace on through these chapters, you will find that the precious truth is unfolded in all its beauty for us. Paul goes on to say that we, who live are always delivered-unto what? " always delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh." Think of it, dear brethren, here is a man, who is engaged in Christ's service, he is going here and there, everywhere, preaching the gospel. People say, Paul, take good care of yourself, be careful that you do not injure that vessel, which holds the treasure. He says, do you know how it is with me ? I am delivered to death for Jesus' sake; I am bearing about the dying, the putting to death, of the Lord Jesus. It is the life of Jesus then, not my life, not my power; it is the life of Jesus manifested in my mortal flesh ; and so far from thinking that the excellency of the power is in me, it is all of Christ, and I am to reckon myself dead, and to bear about that putting to death of Jesus, that the life of Jesus may be displayed.

Now, that is beautifully illustrated in the twelfth chapter of this very epistle. The apostle, you remember, had been previously speaking of the glorying of others. He was surrounded by many
who were professing to be wonderful apostles and wonderful teachers, particularly those who were bringing the saints back into Judaism. He had been saying he could compare himself with the best of them. This is in the tent hand eleventh chapters. He is glad to get through with this, so he says, It is not expedient for me to glory; Ido not want to be comparing myself with these men of earth. I have something better than that, I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord. He casts his eye upward and says, Fourteen years ago I had a sight of what I am in Christ. I was caught up to the glory, where I will soon be forever with the Lord, and there I saw manifestations of power and blessing that I cannot tell you of, for you would not understand it. I saw that, and it was simply a man in Christ that I saw; but if you come to what I am on earth, I cannot glory in myself; I will not compare myself with the men of this world. If you want to know what I am on earth, it is these infirmities that you see besetting me day by day. He then shows the link between these conditions. He had seen himself in Christ. It was a wondrous sight; and lest he should be exalted above measure, there was given him-what? A beautiful vessel, in which to display this wondrous man in Christ ?Is it an attendant host of angels to guard his steps ?Is it people who are saying, There is the wonderful man in Christ? No beloved; when Paul gets to earth, what he hears of is the messenger of Satan, sent to buffet him, and special infirmities, which make him realize the sentence of death upon himself. What is he to do? He says, Lord, Lord, takeaway this thing from me. Am I going to be hampered in my usefulness? Am I going to be hampered in my ministry by this messenger of Satan buffeting me? Lord remove it.

Three times he says this. But oh, the wisdom of that blessed Lord, who loved his servant too well to take from him that which was the proper vessel in which the treasure was to be manifested. It was the proper vessel to manifest His glory ; it was a vessel of earth, beset by afflictions and persecutions and distresses for Christ's sake. And Paul says, Is that it ? Is it my weakness that is going to let the power of Christ be manifested? Is it my nothingness that is going to let Christ be all in all ? Welcome affliction ! welcome Satan's messenger ! welcome all the buffeting of. this world ! If the power of Christ is manifested, I can rejoice in it all. Dear brethren, think of it ; our afflictions, our persecutions, the things that we groan under, these things are but the occasions for manifesting the excellency of the power of the Lord in the poor vessel of earth ! Oh, for more ministry like that, which distinctly sets Christ before us.

But I must say a word or two as to another side of this ministry ; it is an intensely practical thing. People have a way of thinking that heavenly truth is a very mysterious thing; that you live up, as it were in a cloud-land ; that you float in a sort of balmy ether without one thing to trouble you. This is quite the reverse of the truth; what does Paul speak of in connection with this?

I will mention only two things that you have in this epistle. In the sixth and seventh chapters, he speaks of the absolute necessity of separation from the world. He goes on to tell them that his heart is enlarged toward them, and that he longs to see them enlarged, and he adds, "Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers." Now, if you and I had wanted to enlarge the saints, we would not have said anything about that; we would have said, Let us feed them, let us nourish them up with the heavenly side of things. Very well, Paul says, that is just what I have been doing. I have been giving them a glimpse of the face of Jesus in the glory, but the practical effect of enlarged hearts is a" narrow path; the practical effect of a heart set at liberty in the things of Christ is to have the feet withdrawn from every way which dishonors our blessed Lord. And if you want to see saints enlarged, do not expect to find them shouting. Do not expect that people will say about them, They live in a kind of a dream land. You will find them very practical. Every one that nameth the name of the Lord, let him depart from iniquity ; or, as the apostle says, as I have partly quoted, " Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers. What agreement hath the temple of God with idols, what concord hath Christ with Belial, or what part hath he that believeth with an unbeliever." That is enlargement; and I think it is as practical a word as you could get. But where does the power for it come from ? How do we get power for practical separation ? Always by the glory of God.

You remember when Abraham dwelt in far Mesopotamia, in that land of Shinar, noted for its idolatry, surrounded by idolaters, perhaps an idolater himself-there a light shone into his heart, there the glory of the Lord appeared unto him; and what is the effect of it? "Get thee out, get thee out;" that is the practical effect of it, separation from evil by the power of the glory of God:and with that glory shining in his heart, Abraham can leave kindred and home and country, and be separate. Let me ask ; had not the God of glory appeared unto him, could he have left country and all that was dear to nature and have gone unto a land he knew nothing of ? No, beloved, it was the glory that told him to separate, that beckoned him on to the place where it could shine unhindered upon him. These two things go together, the light of the glory of God and the separate path upon earth. That is practical, is it not ?

Now let us note another practical thing in the eighth and ninth chapters of this same epistle. The apostle had been talking about the shining in of the glory, he had been lifting them up into heaven, what does he say next? "Take up a collection." Just about as practical and earthly a thing ; just about as commonplace as you could imagine. People would say, What a descent! In one chapter you were talking about the glory and the treasure, and then you turn round and talk about filthy lucre, and ministering to the necessities of the saints. Is that not a descent from heavenly truth ? Beloved, it only shows us that the character of a heavenly ministry is to take note of everything, to take note of our possessions, to take note of our associations, of everything, for it reaches to every part of our life. In the light of that glory of God, could there be any darkness, could there be any selfishness, any indifference ? Nay, once let that light shine and everything that is inconsistent with it must be done away. So you find throughout two entire chapters of this epistle, the most practical exhortations as to taking up a collection for the need of the saints,-yes and stimulating them too, by making them understand that others are far ahead in this matter.

So much for the practical side of a heavenly ministry. How full it is, how varied ; how it meets the need, and satisfies the craving of the heart. It lifts me up with joy, it lets me pass along in the midst of afflictions with the heart free and glad, but it keeps my feet in the narrow way, and the affections in full activity.

We have only to look at the last side of this ministry, here in the latter part of the fourth chapter, which I read. This journeying through a vale of affliction, this having the earthen vessel broken here, is it to go on through the whole life? Can we hope at last to gain some point where the vessel will not be broken ? Does Paul look forward to the time when with calmly folded hands, he can say, It is all over, and now I can glory in myself ? He does, but where ? Up there where Christ is ; he looks forward to a rest up there that he cannot look forward to here. Take the very body I live in, it is only an earthen vessel-"the earthly house of this tabernacle"; that has got to break after a while. But he does say, beloved friends, "we have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." So he looks forward to the treasure being in its proper sphere, and in its proper vessel, only when we are clothed upon with our house which is from heaven. How lovely that is. I begin my Christian course by the breaking of the earthen vessel; I carry it on all my journey, through the agency of a broken vessel. I look forward through the vista of life and I see a broken vessel all through. I look to the end of this life and I see that it will end with the shattering of this frail body of clay in which I dwell, or should the Lord come, entirely changed. I look forward a little further, and what do I see then ? God's house, the building of God, a house not made with hands, a body like Christ's glorious body, who went into death for us. I see at last the place where the vessel no longer needs to be broken, but where with Christ Himself we are gathered, and show out in all its effulgence the wonder of that grace which took us poor lost sinners and set us up there in God's own light.

Oh the ministry of the gospel of the glory of God ! What a theme! Does it not indeed set the heart free ? And if we think of affliction by the way, of our circumstances, are we going to be cast down by them ? are we going to be overwhelmed by them ? In the sixth chapter Paul puts them side by side; he says "as sorrowful but always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich ; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things." Does he think of his afflictions ? he says they are light afflictions. They would seem to crush him down ; he says in one place, I despaired even of life ; but with his eye on Christ, he says, "our light afflictions." Was it through a long weary course ? he says, they are only for a moment. Forty years-it is only a moment, and they work for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. That thing which you would wish out of your life, that trial that you would give your right hand to get rid of, that trouble, those circumstances, they are the things which, if you are exercised about them, will yield an eternal weight of joy and glory when you are risen, and at Christ's right hand. Do not then, think of your afflictions, of your nothingness, that which hampers and holds you down ; but if the heart be free, if the heart be open for Christ, dear brethren, you may have your feet in the stocks, but I defy all the powers of earth to keep you from singing the praises of God.

This joy is for us all ; not, as I was saying before, for the favored few. God has no classes of His people-no favored classes. It is for all ; and you and I, as well as Paul in his day, can even now shine with the brightness of Christ's glory.

Do yon not covet to do that ? do you not covet to exhibit His perfectness ? May our hearts indeed long for it, for so we will find that indeed it is ours, and the hindrances be removed by the grace which never disappoints.

May the Lord give us to enter into these things, and to glory in our infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon us.