obedience.

Such a wish as this benediction is the truest expression of human
friendship; it is the highest desire any of us can form for ourselves or
for those dearest to us. Do we keep it clear before us in our
intercourse with them so that the end of that intercourse will naturally
be such a prayer?

Our human love has its limitations. We can but wish for others the grace
which Christ can give, but neither our wishes nor His giving can make
the grace ours unless for ourselves we take the great gift that is
freely given to us of God. It is no accident that all his letters close
thus. This benediction is the last word of God's revelation to man, the
brightness in the clear west, the last strain of the great oratorio. The
last word or last book of Scripture is 'the grace of our Lord Jesus
Christ be with you all.' Let us take up the solemn Amen in our lips and
in our hearts.

COLOSSIANS

SAINTS, BELIEVERS, BRETHREN

' . . . The saints and faithful brethren in
Christ.'--COL. i. 2.

'The disciples were called Christians first in Antioch,' says the Acts
of the Apostles. It was a name given by outsiders, and like most of the
instances where a sect, or school, or party is labelled with the name of
its founder, it was given in scorn. It hit and yet missed its mark. The
early believers were Christians, that is, Christ's men, but they were
not merely a group of followers of a man, like many other groups of whom
the Empire at that time was full. So they never used that name
themselves. It occurs twice only in Scripture, once when King Agrippa
was immensely amused at the audacity of Paul in thinking that he would
easily make 'a Christian' of him; and once when Peter speaks of
'suffering as a Christian,' where he is evidently quoting, as it were,
the indictment on which the early believers were tried and punished.
What did they call themselves then?

I have chosen this text not for the purpose of speaking about it only,
but because it gathers together in brief compass the three principal
designations by which the early believers knew themselves.
'Saints'--that tells their relation to God, as well as their character,
for it means 'consecrated,' set apart for Him, and therefore pure;
'faithful'--that means 'full of faith' and is substantially equivalent
to the usual 'believers,' which defines their relation to Jesus Christ
as the Revealer of God; 'brethren'--that defines their relation and