special sense, the office of preaching among
the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ; and adds a rapturous
prayer for the strengthening of the Ephesians through the Spirit in the
inner man, for their establishment in faith and love, and their
illumination in the love of Christ which passes knowledge, that they may
"be filled with all the fulness of God." Then follows a doxology in
which the apostle labors to find words wherewith to express his
conception of the greatness of God's power and grace through Jesus
Christ.

With the fourth chapter begins the _practical_ part of the epistle. He
begins with an exhortation to unity, the argument for which cannot be
abridged: "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." Chap.
4:4-6. He next speaks of the diversity of gifts among believers, all of
which come from Christ, and have for their end the unity of the church
in faith and knowledge, and thus her stability (verses 7-16). Then
follow earnest admonitions to shun the vices of their former state of
heathenism, and cultivate all the graces of the Spirit. The mutual
relations of life are then taken up, as in the epistle to the
Colossians. Here occurs that grand digression in which the love of
Christ towards his church is compared with that of the husband towards
his wife. Chap. 5:23-32. The closing exhortation, in which the Christian
is compared to a warrior wrestling not with flesh and blood but with the
powers of darkness, and his heavenly panoply is described at length, is
(with the exception of the brief figure, 1 Thess. 5:8) peculiar to this
epistle and is very striking.

26. EPISTLE TO PHILEMON.--This short epistle is essentially of a private
character. It was sent to Colosse by Onesimus at the same time with the
epistle to the Colossians, of which Tychieus was the bearer. Col. 4:7-9.
The epistle itself plainly indicates its object. It is a plea for
Onesimus, the servant of Philemon, who had left his master and
apparently defrauded him (verse 18), but now returns to him a Christian.
As a model of Christian delicacy and courtesy it has been the admiration
of all ages.

V. EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS.

27. The ancient name of Philippi was _Crenides_ (_Fountains_); but
Philip of Macedon fortified the place and called it after his own name.
It lay along the bank