-stewards of the mysteries of God; and very solemn is the thought suggested by this title, as it brings. before our mind a day of reckoning to come, an account to be rendered, an everlasting award to be made. Beautifully descriptive, too, of the becoming attitude of the minister of Christ is the word which the apostles love to apply to themselves—the servants, or rather the slaves, of Jesus Christ, His willing captives. How well they seem to have learnt that last lesson of their dying Master, when in that solemn hour He girded Himself with a towel, and did wash the disciples' feet, thus teaching them the spirit they were to be of, that they were the followers of One "who came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many," and that they too must be obedient as He was, if needs be, unto death.

Another and yet more glorious title there is. The Spirit by St. Paul calls them "the messengers or angels of the Churches, the glory of Christ," as though He numbers them among that countless host of ministering spirits, who are "sent forth to minister to them who shall be heirs of salvation," for whom the great Angel of the covenant made Himself a sacrifice. But of all these titles there is perhaps none so expressive of the mutual relations between God and man— of God's dealings on the one hand, and man's duties on the other as this in my text-ambassadors, "ambassadors for Christ." May God's Holy Spirit be with us, as we spend a few moments in dwelling and reflecting on this title and the teaching it seems to convey, and may He bring that teaching home to all our hearts for His name's sake!

First, then, let us consider this blessed name itself, which God bestows on His ministers, and next the message He gives them to deliver. "We are ambas

sadors for Christ." This is a term, dear brethren, that we can all of us easily apprehend, and yet it is a term that embraces within its meaning a very wide range of influence and activity, of duties and difficulties; and it is also one so eminently applicable to the sacred office of the ministry, that we may do well to spend a little time in endeavouring to bring out some at least of the ideas the term seems to convey.

The office of an ambassador is first of all an office of high honour and trust. He is the representative of his sovereign, and from him he receives his authority, and so his position at the court to which he is sent is a high one. He must watch over his sovereign's interests, and jealously uphold his dignity. He must give up selfish thoughts, and do everything with the single object of magnifying his master's name, and seeking his country's welfare, and at the same time he must be careful not to bring by his conduct the least degree of discredit on the livery he wears, or sully the brightness of the crown he represents; and here we see the responsibility as well as the dignity which the office entails.

And is it not so, dear brethren, with the ambassador of Christ? Must he not seek the honour alone of Him who has sent him? It is from God alone that he receives his authority. It is He that gives him his credentials, and therefore has He not a right to demand the whole-hearted service of him whom he has so highly honoured and trusted? Is he not to have a

single eye to His glory, and to showing forth the excellencies of Him whose he is and whom he serves? Must he not yield himself up entirely---body, soul, and spirit to the service of his God, to set forth His glory, and to set forward the salvation of all men? Then, and only then, in the language of the text, will it be as though God did beseech you by us, and as though we did pray you in Christ's stead. And we may, I think, be quite sure of this, that in proportion as the minister of Christ yields himself up to the service of God, so that it is no longer he, but God who dwelleth in him, no longer he that speaks, but God who beseeches you by him, so much will his own ministry be blessed and his message be welcomed. God give grace to me and to each one of His ministers so to do and so to live!

And while we consider the duties an ambassador owes to the sovereign and country from whence he comes, we must not forget that there are duties also that he owes to those to whom he is sent. And here we see the difficulties that attend his position. For while having a sound basis for his conduct in a uniform determination to uphold his sovereign's honour at any cost, he will have to examine the temper and character of the court at which he abides, and act somewhat in accordance with it. He will have to make a due allowance for national characteristics and national prejudices, and regulate his conduct somewhat by them, He must be an acute discerner of men's hearts and men's motives; he must enter into their feelings, and identify himself with their interests; and above all, while ever faithful

to his own master, and never forgetful of his duty to his own country, he must let the people see that he has their welfare at heart, or his mission will not be a very successful one. And is not this somewhat the position of the ambassador of Christ? Dwelling as he does, a representative of the most high God at the court of mankind, a stranger and a sojourner, yet a fellow-creature and a fellow-sinner, he must, on the one hand, be exceedingly jealous for the Lord God of hosts, as jealous as was Elijah; but, on the other, he must be wise and sympathizing in delivering God's message; he must be gentle and tender in dealing with men's consciences, and with human frailties and infirmities; the bruised reed he must not break, and the smoking flax he must not quench; nay, rather, like Christ's greatest apostle, he must be made all things to all men if by any means he may save some, and he must be ready to "spend and be spent for them." And here we see the difficulty of his position. On the one hand he must, above all things, and apart from every other consideration, never forget his duty to his God; but, on the other hand, he must always remember that he has a duty towards his fellow-man. God give grace, my dear brethren, to me and to each one of His ministers to be "wise as serpents, and harmless as doves."

But let us pass on to consider this message which God gives His ministers to deliver. "We pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God." The first and prominent point that we notice here is a reconciliation spoken of. Then there has been a quarrel. Ah! we all of us know, alas! too well, the origin and

the grounds of that quarrel; but we also know, thank God, that, so far as He is concerned, that quarrel is at an end. We know that Christ came and lived and died, to reconcile His Father to us; we know that now we, "who sometime were afar off, are made nigh by the blood of Christ," and that He has reconciled both Jews and Gentiles unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby; and in the verses preceding my text we read that "God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them." We know all this, and yet the seeds of that quarrel still lurk within us-the natural man still receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God—there is still the same hard heart of unbelief that refuses to learn the simple lesson that we are sinners, and that Christ died for us. And yet this is a lesson which we must all of us learn before we can come to God, that Christ "came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." Men will believe readily enough that the origin and the government of this great universe is too stupendous a work to be referred to any spontaneous or accidental cause, and so they will recognize the hand of the Creator. Men will believe readily enough that the structure of this human frame is too intricate and too complex to be accounted for otherwise than as the handiwork of an all-wise God. But they will not believe, or at least they will not realize, that by nature the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked. And yet till this all-important truth is thoroughly, effectually, savingly received, till the sinner feels his need of a Saviour, he can