ON THE EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. LATE BY THE REV. ROBERT J. M‘GHEE, A.M., M.R.I.A. MINISTER O F HAROLD'S CROSS CHURCH, RECTOR OF HOLYWELL CUM NEEDINGWORTH, HUNTS. DUBLIM NEW YORK: No. 530 BROADWAY. 1857. DEDICATION TO THE RIGHT HON. THE EARL OF RODEN, K.S.P., MY DEAR LORD, &c., &c., &c. Various are the motives which influence men in the dedication of their Works. Sometimes it is from a conviction that the Person to whom their Work is inscribed takes a warm interest in the cause in which it is written. Or, it may be, that he is eminently distinguished in knowledge and attainment on the subject of which it treats; and that, therefore, his judgment and approval are highly appreciated and prized by the Public, as well as by the Author. Or, the Writer may consider, that the sanction of a venerated name must reflect an honor on his book. Or, perhaps he may select this as a mode in which he desires to express the feelings of respect and grateful affection to a revered and distinguished friend. These motives, which, in various degrees and modifications, may dictate other Dedications, so combine to induce me to inscribe. this Work to your Lordship, that I know not to which of them, I could ascribe a preponderating influence. To those which relate to your Lordship, I could not adequately or truly advert, without inflicting a wound on the individual whom I desire to honor. As to those in which I am myself concerned :-While I trust I can truly say, that I desire not to seek any Patron for this work, but HIM, whose Blessed Word, it is a very weak and unworthy effort to expound-and that I desire to commit it to Him, to bless and direct its circulation, as far as, through His grace, it may con duce to the promotion of His glory, and the edification and salvation of souls-yet, I may be allowed to add, that there is not a Layman in the Church of England, on whose opinion, as to its sound and Scriptural fidelity, I should more confidently rely; and by whose approbation of it, I should feel more truly gratified and honored, than by that of ONE, to whose judgment and advice, on subjects of the gravest moment, I have felt so often and so deeply indebted whose kindness and affection I have been permitted, for nearly half of my life, to feel as one of its greatest privileges, and best enjoyments; and in whom I have found, all that could be included in the truest, highest sense of that sacred name-- -A FRIEND. These Lectures in fact, owe their existence to your Lordshipas they had never been delivered, if you had not erected the Infant School-house at Bray. To your Lordship, then, with the sincere hope, that you may consider them true, though so inadequate to the mighty subject; and Scriptural, though alas! so very defective and unworthypermit me to inscribe them, as an humble testimony of that grateful respect, and sincere affection, with which I am, My Dear Lord, Your Lordship's Most Obliged and Faithful, R. J. M'GHEE. PREFACE. THE Author would think it in some degree presumptuous to present the following Lectures to the Public without a few words of apology, or at least excuse, for their many defects and redundancies, of which he is fully conscious. He need not deprecate criticism upon them as literary compositions, from those who know the circumstances which led to their delivery and publication; but as they are now submitted to a more extended tribunal, he thinks it due to the importance of the subjects on which they treat, to account for the existence of many faults which he might be supposed to have been able by care and labor to have corrected. Having been precluded by ill health for many years from parochial duty, although willing to work according to his ability, he undertook to deliver a weekly lecture in the Infant School-House at Bray, near which place he resided, and after proceeding through an exposition of the Epistle to the Romans, he commenced the following course : The Lectures were delivered quite extemporaneously, without any other preparation than sincere prayer, that God would be graciously pleased to bless His own Word, plainly and simply expounded, to the instruction and edification of those who attended, and they were preserved as delivered, by a Reporter whom the Congregation assembled there, kindly employed to take them down. Since the Author's subsequent restoration to health and engagement in official duty, time was not afforded him to prepare them however imperfectly for the press, and therefore this Work, though frequently called for, has been unavoidably delayed. Under these circumstances the Author does not desire to incur the charge of obtruding himself on the public in general, with self-sufficient presumption as a Commentator on the Scriptures; he rather offers his book as a tribute due to those, who considering the Lectures profitable to themselves when delivered, subscribed to preserve them, and (doubtless with indulgent partiality) encouraged and urged their Publication. These Lectures, therefore, consist of a very plain, unadorned exposition of that Apostolical Epistle, which next to those addressed to the Romans and the Hebrews, may be said to comprehend the fullest scope of Divine truth of any in the New Testament. There are not any vital doctrines which are not fully developed or implied, nor any precepts which are not enforced in the Epistle to the Ephesians, and which must not be consequently treated of, in any consistent Scriptural exposition of it. It has been the anxious desire of the Writer to adhere with the closest simplicity to the letter of the text. He can conscientiously say, that according to the best of his judgment, he has not strained a single verse or a single word to support any opinion of his own, or of any other man, -or of any party, nor has he attempted to force a single expression, to maintain |