CHRIST'S KINGDOM NOT OF THIS WORLD (5)
CHRIST’S KINGDOM NOT OF THIS WORLD (5)
Hebrews 8:1 - 6; Ephesians 2: 4 - 10
JT These chapters will enable us to see how the subject before us enters into the service of God. They treat of the heavenly side of the believer’s position. Hebrews has been regarded as ‘the book of the opened heavens’. Not in the literal sense in which we have already spoken of the opened heavens, but in a truly spiritual way. There “we see Jesus ... crowned with glory and honour”. The passage read calls attention to the fact that if He were on earth He would not be a priest; He is a priest in heaven. “We have such a one high priest who has sat on the right hand of the throne of the greatness in the heavens; minister of the holy places and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man”.
These facts enter into our services on the first day of the week, and indeed generally, but especially on the first day of the week, involving a rising trend. The passage in Ephesians has been read because it tells us that we are raised up together and made to sit down together in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus. The trend in the services is heavenly and really prepares us for our ascension into heaven. That is the normal consummation of the whole matter of divine service as entrusted to the assembly. It will continue eternally because God will be glorified in the assembly in Christ Jesus unto all generations of the age of ages.
The idea of elevation, an upward trend in the service, is in keeping with what we have been saying and prepares us for our heavenly part. The service of God as in the assembly will continue in its own heavenly way. And the service of God will resume its place in Israel as down here. Primarily it was committed to Israel, and it will again take its place [p. 88] in Israel restored;
whereas the service of the assembly will continue eternally.
RRT So that what we began with in this series of meetings was the negative side of the subject, “My kingdom is not of this world”. But now we have come to what essentially is positive.
JT Yes; it bears on our translation to heaven. The Lord purposes that we should become accustomed to elevation. The apostle Paul says, “I know a man in Christ, fourteen years ago ... caught up to the third heaven ... into paradise” (2 Corinthians 12: 2 - 4), as if to mark off the altitude of the assembly’s place. And Ephesians contemplates that we who form the assembly are blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies.
JLF So the scripture in Hebrews would indicate how much “better” what we have come to is than what had obtained before.
JT Yes. So that Paul says, “We are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God, and boast in Christ Jesus, and do not trust in flesh” (Philippians 3: 3). That is christian service and it will continue essentially in eternity where God is to be glorified in the assembly throughout all generations of the age of ages. In christianity everything takes on the character of the best. Hebrews contemplates what is “better” than the Old Testament dispensations had.
EGM Why is the priest so greatly stressed — “We have such a one high priest who has sat down on the right hand of the throne of the greatness in the heavens”.
JT It is to call attention to Christ’s personal greatness — what the writer had specially spoken of: “We have such a one high priest who has sat down on the right hand of the throne of the greatness in the heavens”. It is alluded to in Hebrews 1: 3, “set himself down on the right hand of the greatness on high”. It is in each case to bring out His deity. He has the right or liberty to thus place Himself. Here [p. 89] it specially brings out the greatness of His priesthood. It is “We have such a one high priest” — we have Him. The superiority of christianity is implied. The Jewish system was not to be compared with it, or any other system; the greatest of them is not to be compared with what is inaugurated in heaven. It is what we have. In verse 26 of the previous chapter it is said, “such a high priest became us”, pointing to the calling of the saints; what is on earth is not good enough, as we have seen, the Lord said, “my kingdom is not from hence”. It is a heavenly system and it is needful, too, because of the dignity of the saints of the present dispensation.
MDF The service now would be in sonship.
JT That is in accord with what we are saying. It is said in chapter 2 that God is bringing many sons to glory, the service is in that connection. So that “he that sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all of one; for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren” (Hebrews 2: 11). The service is on those lines; it is not only the great Priest but the great persons who are associated with Him and to whom He is Priest.
PH Would you say just a little more about “such a high priest became us”?
JT Well; it brings out the greatness of the saints in this dispensation. At Pentecost these great facts did not fully come out. They awaited Paul’s ministry. This epistle stresses the superiority of christianity to the previous dispensation and even to the future dispensation; the “us” refers to christians; what attaches to them because of being subjects of divine purpose — chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world. Christ only could be their High Priest.
CAM Christ being the Priest, the greatness of the system is determined. Whatever religious system we are thinking about, if we know what kind of a priest it has, we know the character of a system.
JT Yes, it is said “as the people so the priest” (Hosea 4: 9).
[p. 90] Think of needing, according to divine thoughts, such a glorious Priest — no less than a divine Person who sets Himself down at the right hand of the throne on high!
CAM It says in the last verse of chapter 7, “a Son perfected for ever”. Speaking of Aaron and his sons in the Old Testament, where do you place that in the New Testament?
JT Well, it is alluded to formally in Peter, that christians are a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices. We are not really called priests in Hebrews but it is inferred in that we are sons. The sons are priests as the Great High Priest is Son. In Exodus Moses is directed to take Aaron his brother, “and his sons with him”, that he might serve God as priest. Then Jehovah associates with Aaron his sons by name: Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar. The habiliments of Aaron are described first — most gorgeous and varied; then the attire of the sons, much less gorgeous, but nevertheless garments of glory and beauty. The garments denote divine thoughts as to the persons of the priesthood. God is expressing His thoughts about us by the clothing He accords us. So it is with the bride, the Lamb’s wife, she is dignified by the kind of clothing she is given to appear in — to her is granted that she shall be arrayed in fine linen clean and bright, which is the righteousnesses of the saints. I think the garments indicate the dignity of the persons, the divine thoughts about them in that sense.
JLF As to Hebrews 2: 10, “bringing many sons to glory”, is it right to raise the question as to whose sons they are, or the full character of them?
JT They are sons of God, we know from other scriptures. Their dignity is expressed in the family relationship in which they stand with God.
JLF Then there is the thought of “Behold, I and the children which God has given me” (Hebrews 2: 13).
JT Well, there it is “children”, of course; we are not viewed as children in heaven, we are viewed as sons; the assembly of the firstborn registered in heaven, they are firstborn, viewed as sons. Everyone there is a firstborn. It is a remarkable thing.
CHH Would the naming of the sons of Aaron involve distinction in personality and individuality, everyone having a distinction?
JT I think that is how the truth stands. In Exodus 6 we get the priesthood, the genealogy of the tribes to Levi, indicating that the priesthood is in mind. It is proceeded with until the Spirit arrives at Levi. And then Aaron and Moses are born — they being especially in view. Eleazar and Phinehas also have special notice, both having important places in the testimony. The priestly line ran down in that way.
HG That would not be necessary now, due to the fact that Christ is Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec. Is that the suggestion here?
JT Quite so; that is the point that is made. Aaron’s priesthood is contrasted in chapter 7, that he was hindered by reason of death; but Christ as Son is Priest perfected for ever.
ADS Have you not said that sonship underlies priesthood?
JT Well, it must; that is the idea.
ADS One sees that in relation to the sons of Aaron, but how do You apply it to Aaron?
JT Sonship applied to Israel in the Old Testament. Aaron is a type of Christ, not because Aaron was a son, but that God took him up in that way. He told Moses to take Aaron his brother; as the brother of the mediator, he was typically Christ. In our epistle Christ is Apostle and High Priest of our confession — the two offices in one Person; and the teaching bases that position on sonship. So that He is Son over the house. Moses was a servant in God’s house.
MDF Sons of Aaron would be what God is looking for now — priesthood continued in sons.
JT Yes, each high priest would be son of Aaron, but Melchisedec is the great type of priesthood in Hebrews, and he lives. So there is no other high priest. Aaron is recognised as typifying Christ in function in our dispensation. Melchisedec is a type of Christ’s personality as he is without father, mother, or genealogy; “having neither beginning of days nor end of life”, he “abides a priest continually”. But Melchisedec is not said to have any sons; so that we have to go to Aaron for the priesthood in its function in our dispensation, and it is a heavenly priesthood. Hebrews speaks of Christ being the Apostle and High Priest of our confession: this passage refers to Moses and Aaron, Christ combining in His Person both types.
CAM If I understand, when you are thinking of the priestly service of Christ, Aaron comes into view, but as to the Person you are thinking of Melchisedec.
JT Yes. Melchisedec denotes the Person; One really a divine Person. But Aaron’s service is a pattern of the service that Christ carries on now.
CHH In 1 Chronicles 24 lots are cast for the priests, each one being named. Would that involve that personality would give a peculiar touch to the way they ministered?
JT No doubt each priest would have his own distinction, and each singer too; that opens up the economy under David, but Hebrews alludes to the economy under Moses; it is what was in the tabernacle. The tabernacle is said in our chapter to be a figure of heavenly things. It says, “If then indeed he were upon earth, he would not even be a priest, there being those who offer gifts according to the law, (who serve the representation and shadow of heavenly things, according as Moses was oracularly told when about to make the tabernacle; for See, saith He, that thou make [p. 93] all things according to the pattern which has been shewn to thee in the mountain.)” verses 4, 5. It is the service in the tabernacle that is in mind in Hebrews, because we are viewed as on the way to heaven as they were on the way to the land, and the tabernacle was the pattern of heavenly things. It was God’s house and the service was carried on there, and thus Aaron comes in. There were priests before Aaron, we are told in Exodus 19; there were priests and young men acting as priests, but it is when we have Christ prefigured in the Hebrew bondman as possessed of love in all its features, that we have the full thought of priesthood brought in. When the tabernacle is described on the mount, the pattern of it given to Moses, then there must be this priesthood. There must be approach to God and hence the need of priests. So that Aaron is introduced in chapter 28 to be in this capacity, and his sons as well; so that we have there the suggestion of the service going on at the present time. Christ is priest above, and we are priests, too: sons of Aaron, so to say, to offer up, as Peter says, spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God.
The priesthood around us in the various denominations is not what Scripture presents. In these, Jewish and heathen habiliments and practices supersede the spiritual qualities of Christ and the saints. Indeed if Christ, according to the description we have of Him, were literally here He would not be admitted in Rome, nor in the Anglican system; He would not qualify.
HG What is the distinction between chapter 2, where in the midst of the assembly Christ sings praises, and what we get here?
JT It is not much. Priesthood is involved there, verse 11 speaks of it. “He that sanctifies and those sanctified are all of one”. That would involve Aaron and his sons, only “those sanctified” are not called priests. God is bringing many sons to glory and the Captain of their salvation is perfected through suffering.
[p. 94] It became God that the Leader of those brought to glory should go through sufferings. So the passage goes on to say, “Both he that sanctifies and those sanctified are all of one;” that is, we are all of one kind and that qualifies us for this heavenly priesthood; we are the same as the Great Priest in that sense. Then He praises in the midst of the assembly. That is what we have before us to arrive at in this meeting — how the service of God is carried on in the assembly.
HG Does that imply that if Christ is High Priest it involves others?
JT It involves that there are other priests, “all of one” with Him as stated in Hebrews. Peter says that we are “a holy priesthood ... acceptable to God by Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 2: 5).
PH In order to do that would you have to come out from all religious systems having official priests?
JT Certainly, true priesthood of christians would not be owned there, as already remarked; not that there are no christians there, but in those systems priesthood is according to man. Nominal christians are marked off as clergy and laity, whereas Scripture regards all true believers in Christ as priests, as already noted. According to Scripture, divine service can be found only where Christ is owned as High Priest and all true christians as priests.
PH Are you considering an ordained minister an official priest?
JT As in Rome, and the Anglican system and the Greek; yes. Indeed the idea of priesthood attaches generally to all so-called ordained ministers or clergymen. It is no question now of attacking them, but only to bring out the truth. As remarked before, if Christ were on earth He would not be a priest; He could not qualify. The high priesthood of Israel rejected Him and put Him to [p. 95] death.
DR What are the services of priesthood that we have been brought into?
JT That brings us down to what the apostle said in writing to the Philippians, that “we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God, and boast in Christ Jesus, and do not trust in flesh” (Philippians 3: 3). That largely governs the principles of christian service. The word worship in this verse refers to the public service of God. The apostle states that christians’ worship is by the Spirit of God — not by a mere ritual. Our Priest has not been constituted according to law of fleshly commandment, but according to power of indissoluble life, Hebrews 7: 16.
JLF Do these three things mentioned in the verses read, a more excellent ministry, a better covenant, and better promises, have any bearing on service?
JT They do; they largely constitute and enrich the ministry. Paul enlarges on this subject in a striking way in 2 Corinthians 3. It is a ministry of liberty, including the new covenant; not of letter, but of spirit, which abounds in glory; a ministry in which those who have part in it behold the glory of the Lord, and are changed into the same image from glory to glory. Further, as in Galatians 4 and Romans 8, christians have received the Spirit of God’s Son crying, “Abba, Father”. Therefore, we should not be tied up as in the service; we should be free to address God as “Abba, Father”.
That cry was heard from Gethsemane. Gethsemane is a place of pressure, but in spite of the pressure the Lord said, “Abba, Father”. He was above the pressure. The assembly normally is not a place of pressure, the pressure is all gone; the heavens are opened to us; we are set up in the light of Christ up there, and He comes to us according to His promise, John 14: 18.
EGM Is that why we have a mediator mentioned [p. 96] in our chapter — to set us free and support us in the service?
JT Yes. He is “the mediator of a better covenant;” through Him the called “receive the promise of the eternal inheritance”. This is to bring out the kind of people He would have in the service. It is a more excellent ministry, by so much as He is mediator of a better covenant, which is established on the footing of better promises. This all enters into our part in assembly service. We should not be hampered or tied up, but in liberty; the Lord’s supper is intended to liberate us. The bread and the cup are a dual testimony, bearing upon us to set us free in the assembly, the new covenant being included, as we have seen.
JSC What is the distinction between the High Priest and the Minister of the holy places?
JT High Priest is that He is high above all; He is also called a Great Priest; it is a commensurate idea; He is great morally. He will set you free; He is not harsh or demanding. As you come into contact with Christ you prove how great He is morally. He is High Priest over the house of God. It is an official matter that He takes on the service of God in the true tabernacle, as Aaron took it on in the old. In order to understand the Aaronic service you have to understand Leviticus. Exodus is the setting up of the system including the typical dignity and glory of the high priest, but in Leviticus God is in the tabernacle, there to be approached, and the priesthood is there that you may approach. The sons of Aaron were to serve the worshippers, and some of them might be very poor. In Eli’s time they were very low morally, they were wicked. But look at the kind of priesthood we have! So we are to be entirely free from everything that would hinder us to approach God. “Let us approach with a true heart, in full assurance of faith” (Hebrews 10: 22).
CHH Although worshipping the Father is not [p. 97] mentioned in Hebrews, does what you say involve the framework and basis for it?
JT Yes. Hebrews is really very initial because it is dealing with Jewish christians who were in danger of giving up christianity, and the writer is endeavouring to push them on, holding out to them with great vividness the great and glorious things set up in Christ in heaven. If they gave up what was presented, they would go back to apostasy and utter darkness for ever. This epistle, therefore, is devoted to the truth of the opened heavens, as if to say, There is nothing better, why give it up? There is nothing better; indeed there is nothing else. Going back is eternal ruin.
DR What did Christ offer?
JT He offered Himself. “Every high priest is constituted for the offering both of gifts and sacrifices; whence it is needful that this one also should have something which he may offer” (Hebrews 8: 3). This chapter and the two following up to the end of Hebrews 10: 18 show the greatness of what He offered. In Hebrews 9: 1 - 10 we have the tabernacle alluded to. “The first therefore” (meaning the tabernacle) “also indeed had ordinances of service, and the sanctuary, a worldly one. For a tabernacle was set up; the first, in which were both the candlestick and the table and the exposition of the loaves, which is called Holy; but after the second veil a tabernacle which is called Holy of holies, having a golden censer, and the ark of the covenant, covered round in every part with gold, in which were the golden pot that had the manna, and the rod of Aaron that had sprouted, and the tables of the covenant; and above over it the cherubim of glory shadowing the mercy-seat; concerning which it is not now the time to speak in detail”.
“Now these things being thus ordered, into the first tabernacle the priests enter at all times, accomplishing the services; but into the second, the high priest only,
[p. 98] once a year, not without blood, which he offers for himself and for the errors of the people: the Holy Spirit shewing this, that the way of the holy of holies has not yet been made manifest while as yet the first tabernacle has its standing; the which is an image for the present time, according to which both gifts and sacrifices, unable to perfect as to conscience him that worshipped, are offered, consisting only of meats and drinks and divers washings, ordinances of flesh, imposed until the time of setting things right”.
Then we come to Christ’s service: “But Christ being come high priest of the good things to come, by the better and more perfect tabernacle not made with hand, (that is, not of this creation,) nor by blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood, has entered in once for all into the holy of holies, having found an eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls, and a heifer’s ashes sprinkling the defiled, sanctifies for the purity of the flesh, how much rather shall the blood of the Christ, who by the eternal Spirit [p. 102] offered himself spotless to God, purify your conscience from dead works to worship the living God?” verses 11 - 14.
There it is: He had something to offer. He offered Himself.
DR So that would be one feature of the present dispensation as compared with the past, that in the past the priests had certain sacrifices to offer. The basis of the present dispensation is that Christ has offered Himself.
JT That is right, so that we have the basis for an eternal inheritance. The passages show that He is set up as Man in eternal relations with God, in relation to the true tabernacle. That is the great point for us to lay hold of now. The old tabernacle was a type of heavenly things, and that is christianity. We serve in the antitype, the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not of this creation; it [p. 99] is a heavenly thing.
EGM What constitutes the “true” and “perfect” tabernacle?
JT It is in contrast to the material or physical structure. It is the great moral system of things in which God is apprehended in Christ, and in which through Him we approach God.
CAM It is a heavenly thing and we are in the enjoyment of it now. How far in your mind does this glorious service go on? According to Ephesians eternity seems to surround all. Does this service enter into eternity?
JT Quite so. We have noted in our chapter that if Christ were on earth He would not be a priest; His priesthood awaited His going into heaven. It is not that He did not exercise priesthood in a true sense while here below, because it is said in chapter 9 that He came in connection with this new system, “Christ being come high priest of the good things to come, by the better and more perfect tabernacle not made with hand, (that is, not of this creation)” verse 11. We have to consider what the Spirit of God is speaking about. Christ being come — that is the incarnation. He owned provisionally the temple at Jerusalem, but He did not present Himself there as an official priest. Nevertheless He was a real priest, and the idea of the true tabernacle was in His heart, in fact, He was it Himself. Still, as I said, He recognised the temple. In His boyhood He went up to Jerusalem with His parents to the convocation, and He was found in the temple at the age of twelve. He could not go into the holy places, because He was not of the tribe of Levi; He was of the tribe of Judah. But the true Aaron was there notwithstanding. Of the ten lepers who were cleansed, one came back glorifying God and failing at the Lord’s feet gave Him thanks, Luke 17: 15, 16. That was in principle the true tabernacle. To the blind man that received his sight (John 9: 35) the Lord says, “Dost thou believe on the Son of God?” He is introducing the new tabernacle, not, of course, yet formally. The man says, “Who is he, Lord, that I may believe?” He was ready for the new thing. The Lord says, “Thou hast both seen him, and he that speaks with thee is he. And he said, I believe, Lord; and he did him homage” verses 36 - 38. The Lord had already said to the Jews, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up ... . He spoke of the temple of his body”. As Christ was risen from among the dead by the Father’s glory, the true tabernacle became more and more indicated, although, of course, the full thought awaited His ascension and the Spirit come down, forming the assembly. It should be remembered that the first day of the week was inaugurated by the Father’s glory. The greatest thing in the sense of glory began the first day of the week. The Father raised His Son from the dead. On that day the Lord joined two that were going to Emmaus, and He opened up wonderful things to them. He began at Moses and in all the prophets expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself. Doubtless He would refer to Moses and Aaron as seen in Exodus; He was the true Apostle and High Priest. Then He would go to Leviticus and so on. Suppose He came to Psalm 22: 22 — “I will declare thy name unto my brethren, in the midst of the congregation will I praise thee”. He would say, I am the Person spoken of there. Their hearts began to burn. And then He went into the house and sat at table, He took the bread blessed and, having broken it, gave it to them. He was Head — He took the house-father’s place. In full effect He is Son over the house of God. The two were being impressed with what was later unfolded through the apostle Paul. The Lord was impressing their understanding, and then they recognised Him and He disappeared from them.
They went back to Jerusalem, and as they gathered [p. 101] with the disciples and were telling them of what happened, and how He was made known to them in the breaking of bread, the Lord stood in their midst. Then He opened their understanding and instructed them, led them out to Bethany, and having lifted up His hands, He blessed them. And He was carried up into heaven. They worshipped Him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and were continually in the temple praising and blessing God. The true tabernacle was in mind in all this. The Spirit came down, and later Paul by His power unfolds the truth of the true tabernacle which the Lord has pitched and not man.
CAM I think that is very impressive.
JT The book of Acts would teach us as to the various parts of the tabernacle set up, but it was a pattern of things in the heavens; it was a heavenly system, and so the vessel comes down to Peter. It comes out of heaven and goes back into heaven.
RRT In regard to the Spirit, I would like to ask as to Hebrews 9: 14, “How much rather shall the blood of the Christ, who by the eternal Spirit offered himself spotless to God, purify your conscience from dead works to worship the living God?” It is a remarkable verse; we have there the Spirit, Christ, God, and the saints. What is the force of that word, “Who by the eternal Spirit offered himself”?
JT This point begins, as we have already remarked, in verse 11, that is, that Christ came in relation to certain things: “by the better and more perfect tabernacle not made with hand, (that is, not of this creation,) nor by blood of goats, and calves, but by his own blood, has entered in once for all into the holy of holies, having found an eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls, and a heifer’s ashes sprinkling the defiled, sanctifies for the purity of the flesh, how much rather shall the blood of the Christ, who by the eternal Spirit offered himself spotless to God, purify your conscience from dead works to worship the living God?”
We have already enlarged on the better and more perfect tabernacle. Then Christ also came in relation to the means of atonement — that is, by His own blood; “having found”, through it, “an eternal redemption”. And then the writer proceeds to add the great thought of the purifying of our conscience from dead works to worship the living God, saying, “how much rather shall the blood of the Christ, who by the eternal Spirit offered himself spotless to God, purify your conscience from dead works to worship the living God”.
RRT In your word this morning you brought in the important thought that the assembly cannot function at all to the pleasure of God apart from the Spirit. And here we have the great thought that the Lord offered Himself to God by the eternal Spirit. It would mark this dispensation, that if the assembly is to function it must be in the light of the Lord offering Himself by the eternal Spirit; and our worship must also be in the Spirit.
JT That is exactly what the apostle said: “we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God” (Philippians 3: 3) — not by outward forms. And the Lord Himself had already said, “Ye shall neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem worship the Father. ... the hour is coming and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth; ... God is a spirit and they who worship him must worship him in spirit and truth” (John 4: 21 - 24). For completion of the new divine system and the service involved in it the apostles had to wait for the Spirit. Being assembled with the disciples before ascending, the Lord commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but await the promise of the Father. Hence the sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind. It was the Spirit in power coming in. Thus the service of the new [p. 103] tabernacle should proceed, and that is what, through the mercy of God, has been recovered to us and what we are engaged with week by week. It will go on eternally. Ephesians 3: 21 says, “to him be glory in the assembly in Christ Jesus unto all generations of the age of ages”.
The passage in Ephesians was read to point out that the service of God in the assembly rises. Paul was caught up as far as the third heaven (2 Corinthians 12: 2). I believe that is an allusion to creature limitations. We do not enter into uncreated conditions; the Lord Jesus did, He “ascended up above all the heavens” (Ephesians 4: 10), which is an infinite thought. It refers to an uncreated condition that we can never touch. Ephesians has “the heavenlies”, conveying what is characteristically heavenly as to place. Paul in 2 Corinthians is specific as to elevation. He was caught up to the third heaven — as far as that. But he says he was caught up into paradise, and he heard unutterable things said. So that in Ephesians 2 we are said to have been raised up together and made to sit down together in the heavenlies in Christ. It is the plural. I had thought only of adding these remarks as giving the fulness of the truth before us, completing the whole subject.