be our helmet, in the other hope; just as in one place "faith and love" are said to be our breast-plate, and in another righteousness.

The armour hitherto mentioned is defensive. The only offensive weapon of the Christian is "the sword of the Spirit." Here To Vεúμaros cannot be the genitive of apposition. The Spirit is not the sword; this would be incongruous, as the sword is something which the soldier wields, but the Christian cannot thus control the Spirit. Besides, the explanation immediately follows, which is the Word of God. "The sword of the Spirit" means the sword which the Spirit gives. By the èña ɛoũ is not to be understood the divine precepts, nor the threatenings of God against his enemies. There is nothing to limit the expression. It is that which God has spoken, his Word, the Bible. This is sharper than any two-edged sword. It is the wisdom of God and the power of God. It has a selfevidencing light. It commends itself to the reason and conscience. It has the power not only of truth, but of divine truth. Our Lord promised to give to his disciples a word and wisdom which all their adversaries should not be able to gainsay or resist. In opposition to all error, to all false philosophy, to all false principles of morals, to all the sophistries of vice, to all the suggestions of the devil, the sole, simple, and sufficient answer is the Word of God. This puts to flight all the powers of darkness. The Christian finds this to be true in his individual experience. It dissipates his doubts; it drives away his fears; it delivers him from the power of Satan. It is also the experience of the church collective. All her triumphs over sin and error have been effected by the Word of God. So long as she uses this and relies on it alone, she goes on conquering; but when any thing else, be it reason, science, tradition, or the commandments of men, is allowed to take its place or to share its office, then the church, or the Christian, is at the mercy of the adversary. "Hoc signo vinces," the apostle

may be understood to say to every believer and to the whole church.

Ver. 18. It is not armour or weapons which make the warrior. There must be courage and strength,—and even then he often needs help. As the Christian has no resources of strength in himself, and can succeed only as aided from above, the apostle urges the duty of prayer. The believer is,-1. To avail himself of all kinds of prayer. 2. He is to pray on every suitable occasion. 3. He is to pray in the Spirit. 4. He is to be alert and persevering in the discharge of this duty. 5. He is to pray for all the saints, and the Ephesians were urged by the apostle to pray for him.

The connection of this verse is with orra ouv of ver. 14, "Stand, therefore, with all prayer and supplication, praying on every occasion, in the Spirit." Aià áons #goσεuxs xai δεήσεως, may be connected with the following participle προσEUXóεVOI, as has been done by our translators, who render the passage, "praying with all prayer and supplication." But this renders the passage tautological. Others take this clause by itself, and understand diά as expressing the condition or circumstances: Stand, therefore, with all prayer, praying at all times,' &c. As to the difference between goσευxʼn and dénois, "prayer" and "supplication," some say that the former has for its object the attaining of good, the latter the avoidance of evil or deliverance from it. The usage of the words does not sustain that view. The more common opinion is that the distinction is twofold,-first, that gooʊx is addressed only to God, whereas denois may be addressed to men; and, secondly, that the former includes all address to God, while the latter is limited to petition. The expression all prayer, means all kinds of prayer, oral and mental, ejaculatory and formal. The prayers which Paul would have the Christian warrior use are not merely those of the closet and of stated seasons, but also those habitual and occasional aspirations and

outgoings of the heart after God, which a constant sense of his nearness and a constant sense of our necessity must produce.

Not only must all kinds of prayer be used, but believers should pray ἐν παντὶ καιρῷ, on every occasion, -on every emergency. This constancy in prayer is commanded by our Lord, Luke xviii. 1," Men ought always to pray, and not to faint." In 1 Thess. v. 17, the apostle exhorts believers to "pray without ceasing." It is obvious, therefore, that prayer includes all converse with God, and is the expression of all our feelings and desires which terminate in him. In the scriptural sense of the term, therefore, it is possible that a man should pray almost literally without ceasing.

The third direction is, to pray Ev veμTI. This does not mean inwardly, or, with the heart; "non voce tantum, sed et animo," as Grotius explains it; but it means under the influence of the Spirit, and with his assistance, whose gracious office it is to teach us how to pray, and to make intercessions for us with groanings that cannot be uttered, Rom. viii. 26.

The fourth direction has reference to alertness and perseverance in prayer: εἰς αὐτὸ τοῦτο ἀγρυπνοῦντες, watching unto this very thing. This very thing is that of which he had been speaking, viz., praying in the Spirit. It was in reference to that duty they were to be wakeful and vigilant, not allowing themselves to become weary or negligent. Εν πάσῃ προσκαςτερήσει καὶ δεήσει περὶ πάντων τῶν ἁγίων, with all perseverance and supplication for all saints. "Perseverance and supplication" amounts to persevering or importunate supplication. In Rom. xii. 12, the expression is, τῇ προσευχῇ προσκαρτεροῦντες, continuing instant in prayer. This persevering supplication is to be offered for all the saints. The conflict of which the apostle has been speaking is not merely a single combat between the individual Christian and Satan, but also a war between the people of God and the powers of darkness. No

T

soldier entering battle prays for himself alone, but for all his fellow-soldiers also. They form one army, and the success of one is the success of all. In like manner Christians are united as one army, and therefore have a common cause, and each must pray for all. Such is the communion of saints, as set forth in this epistle and in other parts of Scripture, that they can no more fail to take this interest in each other's welfare than the hand can fail to sympathise with the foot.

Ver. 19. The importance which the apostle attributed to intercessory prayer, and his faith in its efficacy, are evident from the frequency with which he enjoins the duty, and from the earnestness with which he solicits such prayers in his own behalf. What the apostle wishes the Ephesians to pray for was not any temporal blessing, not even his deliverance from bonds, that he might be at liberty more freely to preach the gospel, but that God would enable him to preach with the freedom and boldness with which he ought to preach: "Iva μ δοθῇ λόγος ἐν ἀνοίξει τοῦ στόματος μου ἐν παρρησίᾳ, γνωρίσαι, κ.τ.λ. Our translators have paraphrased this clause thus, that utterance may be given me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known, &c. The literal translation is, "that utterance may be given me in opening my mouth, with boldness to make known," &c. What Paul desired was divine assistance in preaching. He begs his reader to pray iva uos do hoyos, "that the power of speech," or 'freedom of utterance," "might be given to him, when he opened his mouth." Paul says, 2 Cor. xi. 6, that he was idiúrns r λów, "rude in speech." The word óyos itself has at times the metonymical sense here given to it, and therefore ἐν ἀνοίξει τοῦ στόματος is most naturally taken without emphasis as equivalent to, "when I open my mouth," i.e., when called upon to speak. Calvin and many others lay the principal stress on those words, and make “with opening of the mouth" equivalent to "with open mouth," "pleno ore et intrepida lingua," as Calvin expresses it: "Os

opertum cupit, quod erumpet in liquidam et firmam confessionem. Ore enim semiclauso proferuntur ambigua et perplexa responsa." This, however, is to anticipate what is expressed by ἐν παρρησίᾳ γνωρίσαι. Others connect both ἐν ἀνοίξει τοῦ στό ματος and ἐν παρξησίᾳ with γνωρίσαι, ' to make known with the opening of the mouth, with boldness the mystery,' &c. This is the construction which our translators seemed to have assumed. But this is very unnatural, from the position of the words and relation of the clauses. Παρρησία (πᾶν ῥῆσις), “ the speaking out all," "freespokenness." Here the dative with i may be taken adverbially, "freely," "boldly,"-keeping nothing back, but making an open, undisguised declaration of the gospel. This includes, however, the idea of frankness and boldness of spirit, of which this unrestrained declaration of the truth is the expression. Μυστήριον τοῦ εὐαγγελίου, mystery of the gospel; the gospel itself is the mystery, or divine revelation. It is that system of truth which had been kept secret with God, but which is now revealed unto our glory, 1 Cor. ii. 7.

Ver. 20. Trig o5, for the sake of which gospel, geoСεúwv ev àλúo eiui, I am an ambassador in bonds. An ambassador is one through whom a sovereign speaks. "We are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled with God," 2 Cor. v. 20. The apostles, as sent by Christ with authority to speak in his name, and to negotiate with men, proposing the terms of reconciliation, and urging their acceptance, were in an eminent sense his ambassadors. As all ministers are sent by Christ, and are commissioned by him to propose the terms of salvation, they too are entitled to the same honourable designation. Paul was an ambassador in bonds, and yet he did not lose his courage, but preached with as much boldness as ever.

"Iva ev aury Taggnoidowpar, that therein I may speak boldly.— This may be taken as depending on iva do of ver. 19. The sense would then be, That utterance may be given to me,