THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS LIBRARY Return this book on or before the Latest Date stamped below. A charge is made on all overdue books. University of Illinois Library TTJl '■iy / i IN 29 •> *1 .'Si* f ^ MAR ™ 1 tS(;9 IMX :9' V SLP i? m < 7 i: MAY 5 son 2 3 K *'7 \ lyi 7r' 979 M32 Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2017 with funding from University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Alternates https://archive.org/details/sermonsonstpauls00robe_0 EXPOSITORY LECTURES O N ST. PAUL’S EPISTLES TO THE CORINTHIANS. SERMONS O N ST. PAUL’S EPISTLES TO THE CORINTHIANS: DELIVERED AT TRINITY CHAPEL, BRIGHTON. B Y T H E LATE REV. F. W. ROBERTSON, M.A., THE INCUMBENT. BOSTON: TICKNOR AND FIELDS. M DCCC LX. STEREOTYPED AND PRINTED BY THURSTON, MILES, AND PRITCHETT, C A M B R I D G \ gj’Scc \ *2) U) ^ i TO THE CONGREGATION WORSHIPPING IN TRINITY CHAPEL, BRIGHTON, From August 15 , 1847 , to August 15 , 1853 , THESE expository LECTURES, DELIVERED BY THEIR LATE PASTOR, 0-p ARE DEDICATED. O . lU PREFACE. A FEW months after Mr. Robertson had entered on his ministry at Trinity Chapel, Brighton, he announced his intention of taking one of the Books of Scripture as the subject of Expository Lectures for the Sunday afternoons. This form of address, he said, gave him greater freedom, both in subject and style, than that of the sermon, with its critical or historical division of some text arbitrarily taken as a prefix. He intended, therefore, to devote each Sunday morning to the ser- mon ; and in the afternoon to go regularly through each chapter of the Book selected, including in his exposition all the topics contained therein. On this plan he commenced with the First and Second Books of Samuel. In the exposition of these Books many subjects came under review which would not have found a place in an ordinary sermon. He was ex- pounding Hebrew national life, and, incidentally, the experiences of particular individuals of that nation, — in all of which he discerned lessons for the English people, and for the men and women who sat before him. Thus it occurred that topics of national policy, so far as bearing on individuals, — questions of social life — of morals, as they are connected with every-day life, arose naturally, and were treated with unshrinking faithfulness. The period (1848) was one of great po- litical and social excitement, and these Lectures may Vlll PREFACE. emphatically be said to have been ‘‘ preaching to the times.” Some people were startled at the introduction of what they called secular subjects ” into the pulpit ; but the Lecturer, in all his ministrations, refused torec- oernize the distinction so drawn. He said that the whole life of a Cdiristian was sacred, — that common every- day duties, whether of a trade or a profession, or the minuter details of a woman’s household life, were the arenas in which trial and temptation arose ; and that, therefore, it became the Christian minister’s duty to enter into this familiar working life with his people, and help them to understand its meaning, its trials, and its compensations. It were, perhaps, out of place here to say how greatly the congregation valued this mode of teaching, although it may be properly observed that it was at this period that his marvellous influence with the working classes commenced. Subsequently, Mr. Robertson selected the Acts of the Apostles, and the Book of Genesis, for his after- noon expositions ; after which he commenced those Lectures on the Epistles to the Corinthians, of which this volume is but a very imperfect transcript. The Epistles to the Corinthians were selected by him, because they afforded the largest scope for the consid- eration of a great variety of questions in Christian casuistry, which he thought it important to be rightly understood. It will be seen that these Lectures were generally expository of the whole range of Christian principles. They are less a scheme of doctrine than Mr. Robertson’s view of St. Paul’s ideas on all the subjects included in his Epistles to the Church at Cor- inth. PREFACE. IX They were the fruit of much study and preparation, and, from examination of his papers, it appears that Mr. Robertson prepared very full notes of all the lead- ing divisions in most of these Lectures, while of the minor divisions, a single word was often all that was written down to guide his thought. Occasionally, at the request of some friends, he wrote his lecture out after its delivery ; and these, with short-hand notes of others, taken by different people, and which have been carefully collated, with his own manuscript notes, have been the materials from which this volume has been arranged. It is, therefore, necessarily somewhat frag- mentary in its character. Mr. Robertson’s custom was to preach from forty to fifty minutes, with a clear, un- broken delivery, in which there was no hesitation, or tautology. Hence it will be evident, from the quantity of matter contained in each of these printed Lectures, that a considerable portion of the spoken Lecture has not been given : and this will explain the brevity of some of the discourses, and the apparent incompleteness with which many of the topics are treated. A few sermons on different texts in the Epistles to the Corinthians have already appeared in the three volumes of Mr. Robertson’s Sermons ; but it has been considered best to include them in this volume (although they did not frrm a part of this series), in order that the Lecturer’s view of the Epistles might so be ren- dered more complete. Expositions of two chapters will be found to be omitted altogether ; there are no notes of the Lectures on these chapters available for publica- cation. After concluding these Lectures, Mr. Robertson preached one more Sunday afternoon, on the Parable X PREFACE. of the Barren Fig-tree, with a solemnity and an ear- nestness that now seem to have been prophetic. His voice was never afterwards heard from the pulpit of Trinity Chapel. J\rov. 15 1859 . CONTENTS LECTURE TEXT PAGE L — (Introductory) — Acts xviii. 1 . 1 11. — 1 Corinthians, i. 1-3 17 III. >> i. 4-13 . 21 IV. >> i. 13-22 . . 25 V. j > i. 23 . . 29 VI. in. 1-10 . 32 VII. >> iii. 11-23 . 39 VIII. >> iv. 1-7 47 IX. iv. 7-21 . 55 X.— 2 Corinthians, ii. 10, 11 63 XI. — 1 Corinthians, V. 1-13 . 73 XII. j> Yi. 1-12 . 81 XIII. j j vi. 12-20 . . 89 XIV. 9> Yii. 1-22 . 97 XV. 9 J Yii. 29-31 . . 108 XVI. 99 Yiii. 1-7 . 120 XVII. 99 Yiii. 8-13 . 126 XVIII. 99 ix. . . 140 XIX. 99 X. . 147 XX. 99 xi. 1-17 . . 155 XXI. 99 xi. 18-34 . . 161 XXII. 99 xii. 1-31 . 165 XXIII. 99 xii. 31; xiii. 1-3 . 170 XXIV. 99 xiii. 4-13 174 XXV. 99 xiY. 1 . 183 XXVI. 9 9 xiY. 2-40 . 192 XXVII. 99 XY. 1-12 . . 201 XXVIII. 99 XV. 13-20 . 213 XXIX. 99 XV. 21-34 . 221 XXX. 99 XV. 35-45 . 230 XXXI. 99 XV. 46-58 . . 237 XXXII. 99 xvi. 1-9 . . 245 XXXIII. 99 xvi. 10-24 . . 253 [xi] XU CONTENTS, LECTURE TEXT PAGE XXXIV.— 2 Corinthians, i. 1-14 . . 260 XXXV. 9 » i. 15-22 . 267 XXXVI. } > i. 23, 24; ii. 1-5 . . 272 XXXVII. ii. 6-11 ... . 278 xxxvni. J J ii. 12-17; iii. 1-3 . 285 XXXIX. 99 hi. 4-18 . 292 XL. 99 iv. 1-15 . , 299 XLI. 99 iv. 16-18; V. 1-3 . . 307 XLII. 99 V. 4-11 . 313 XLIII. 99 V. 12-17 . 320 XLIV. 99 V. 14, 15 . 327 XLV. 99 V. 18-21 339 XLVI. 99 vi. 1-10 . . 345 XLVII. 99 yi. 11-18 . 351 XLVIII. 99 vii. 1 . . . 358 XLIX. 99 vii. 2-8 ... . 363 L. 9 9 . vii. 9, 10 . . 370 LI. 99 vii. 11-16 . 377 LII. 9 9 viii. 1-12 . . 386 LIII. 99 viii. 13-15 . 394 LIV. 99 viii. 16-24; ix. 1-15 . . 400 LV. 99 X. 1-18 . 409 LVI. 99 xii. 1-21 . . 416 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES TO THE CORINTHIANS. INTRODUCTOEY LECTURE. June 1, 1851. Acts, xviii. 1. — “ After these things Paul departed from Athens, and came to Corinth.” It has been customary with us for more than three years to devote our Sunday afternoons to the exposition throughout of some one Book of Scripture, and our plan has been to take alternately a Book of the Old and of the New Testament. I have selected for our present exposition the Epistles of the Corinthians, and this for several reasons — amongst others, for variety, our previous work having been entirely historical.^ These Epistles are in a different tone altogether ; they are eminently practical, rich in Christian casuistry. They contain the answers of an inspired Apostle to many questions which arise in Christian life. There is, too, another reason for this selection. The state of the Corinthian Church resembles, in a re- markable degree, the state of the Church of this Town, in the present day. There is the same complicated civilization, the religious quarrels and differences of sect are alike, the same questions agitate society, and the same distinctions of class exist now as then. For 1 * The Book oP Genesis. 2 LECTURES ON THE El’ISTLES the heart of Humanity is the same in all times. '^I'he ])rinciples, therefore, which St. Paul applied to the Corinthian questions will apply to those of this time. The Epistles to the Corinthians are a witness that Keligion does not confine itself to the inward being of man alone, nor solely to the examination of orthodox opinions. No ! Religion is Life, and right instruction in Religion is not the investigation of obsolete and curious doctrines, but the application of sj)iritual prin- ciples to those questions, and modes of action, which concern present existence, in the Market, the Shop, the Study, and the Street. Before we can understand these Epistles, it is plain that we must know to whom, and under what circum- stances, they were written, how the writer himself was circumstanced, and how he had been prei)ared for such a work by previous discipline. We make, therefore, I. Preliminary inquiries respecting Corinth, viewed historically, socially, and morally. II. Respecting the Apostle Paul. I. Inquiry respecting Corinth. We all know that Corinth was a Greek city, but we must not confound the town to which St. Paul wrote with that ancient Corinth which is so celebrated, and with which we are so familiar in Grecian history. That Corinth had been destroyed nearly two centuries before the time of these Epistles, by the Consul Mum- mius, B. c. 146. This new city, in which the Apostle labored, had been built upon the ruins of the old by Julius Caesar, not half a century before the Christian Church was formed there. And this rebuilding had taken place under very different circumstances — so different as to constitute a new population. Greece, in the time of the Roman dictators, had lost her vigor. She had become worn out, corrupt, and de])opu kited. Tliere were not men enough to supply her armies It was necessary, tlierefore, if Corinth were to rise again, to peo])le it with fresh inhabitants, and to re-invigorate her constitutioii with new blood. TO THE CORINTHIANS. 3 This was done ficom Rome. Julius Caesar sent to his re-elected city freedmen of Rome, who themselves, or their parents, had been slaves. From this importation there arose at once one peculiar characteristic of the new population. It was Roman, not Greek ; it was not aristocratic, but democratic ; and it held within it all the vices as well as all the advantages of a de- mocracy. Observe the peculiar bearing of this fact on the Epistles to the Corinthians. It was only in such a city as Corinth that those public meetings could have taken place, in which each one exercised his gifts with- out order ; it was only in such a city that the turbu- lence, and the interruptions, and the brawls which we read of, and which were so eminently characteristic of a democratic society, could have existed. It was only in such a community that the parties could have been formed which marked the Christian Church there ; where private judgment, independence, and general equality existed, out of which parties had to struggle, by dint of force and vehemence, if they were to have any prominence at all. Thus there were in Corinth the advantages of a democracy ; for instance, unshackled tliought ; but also its vices, when men sprang up crying, I am of Paul, and I of Apollos.” Again, the population was not only democratic, but commercial. This was necessitated by the site of Corinth. The neck of land which connects northern and southern Greece had two ports, Cenchrem on the east, and Lechseum on the west, and Corinth lay be- tween either seaboard. Thus all merchandise from north to south necessarily passed there, and all com- merce from east to west flowed through it also, for the other way round the Capes Malea and Taenarum (Matapan), was both longer and more dangerous for heavily laden ships. Hence it was not by an imperial flat but by natural circumstances, that Corinth became the emporium of trade. Once rebuilt, the tide of commerce, which had been forced in another direction. 4 LECTUllES ON TI£E EPISTLES surged naturally back again, and streamed, as of old, across the bridge between Europe and Asia. And from this arose another feature of its society. Its aristocracy was one not of birth, but of wealth. They were merchants not manufacturers. They had not the calm dignity of ancient lineage, nor the intellec- tual culture of a manufacturing ])0])ulation. For let us remember that manufactories must educate. A manufacturer may not be a man of learning, but an educated man he must be, by the very necessity of his position. And his intelligence, contrivance, invention, and skill, which are being drawn out continually every hour, spread their influence through his work among the very lowest of his artizans. But, on the other hand. Trade does not necessarily need more than a clear head, a knowledge of accounts, and a certain clever sagacity. It becomes, too, a life of routine at last, which neither, necessarily, teaches one moral truth, nor, necessarily, enlarges the mind. And the danger of a mere trading existence is that it leaves the soul engaged not in producing, but in removing pro- ductions from one place to another ; it buries the heart in the task of money-getting ; and measuring the worthiness of manhood and of all things by what they severally are worthy too often worships Mammon instead of God. Such men were the rich merchants of Corinth. In addition to this adoration of gold, there were also all the demoralizing influences of a trading seaport. Men from all quarters of the globe met in the streets of Corinth, and on the quays of its two harbors. Now, one reason why a population is always demoralized by an influx of strangers continually going and coming is this ; a nation shut up in itself may be very narrow, and have its own vices, but it will also have its own growth of native virtues ; but when peoples mix, and men see tlie sanctities of their childhood dispensed witli, and otlier sanctities, wliich they despise, substi- tuted ; wlien they see the ])rinciples of their own country ignored, and all that they have held venerable TO THE CORINTHIANS. 5 made profane and common, the natural consequence is that they begin to look upon the manners, religion, and sanctities of their own birth-place as prejudices. They do not get instead those reverences which belong to other countries. They lose their own holy ties and sanctions, and they obtain nothing in their place. And so men, when they mix together, corrupt each other ; each contributes his own vices and his irreverence of the other’s good, to destroy every standard of good- ness, and each in the contact loses his own excellences. Exactly as our young English men and Avomen on their return from foreign countries learn to sneer at the rigidity of English purity, yet never learn instead even that urbanity and hospitality which foreigners have as a kind of equivalent for the laxity of their morals. Retaining our own haughtiness and rudeness, and misanthropy, we graft, upon our natural vices, sins which are against the very grain of our own nature and temperament. Such as I have described it Avas the moral state of Corinth. The city Avas the hot-bed of the world’s evil, in which every noxious plant, indigenous or trans- planted, rapidly grew and flourished ; where luxury and sensuality throve rankly, stimulated by the gam- bling spirit of commercial life, till Corinth, now in the Apostle’s time, as in previous centuries, became a proverbial name for moral corruption. Another element in the city was the Greek popu- lation. To understand the nature of this we must make a distinction. I have already said that Greece was tainted to the core. Her ancient patriotism was gone. Her valor was no more. Her statesmen were no longer pure in policy as in eloquence. Her poets had died with her disgrace. She had but the remem- brance of what had been. Foreign conquest had broken her spirit. Despair had settled on her ener- gies. Loss of liberty had ended in loss of manhood. Her children felt the Roman Colossus bestriding their once beloved country. The last and most indispensa- ble element of goodness had perished, for hope Avas 1 * 6 LECTUllES ON THE EPISTLES dead. Tliey buried themselves in stagnancy. But remark that amid this universal degeneracy there were two classes. There were, first, the uncultivated and the poor, to whom the ancient glories of their land were yet dear, to whom the old religion was not merely hereditary, but true and living still ; whose imagination still saw the solemn conclave of their ancient deities on Mount Olympus, and still heard Pan, and the Fauns, and the wood gods piping in the groves. Such were they who in Lystria came forth to meet Paul and Barnabas, and believed them to be Jupiter and Mercury. With such, paganism was still tenaciously believed, just as in England now, the faith in witchcraft, spells, and the magical virtue of bap- tismal water, banished from the towns, survives and lingers among our rural population. At this period it was with that portion of heathenism alone, that Chris- tianity came in contact, to meet a foe. Very different, however, was the state of the culti- vated and the rich. They had lost their religion. Their civilization and their knowledge of the world had destroyed that ; and that being lost, they retained no natural vent for the energies of the restless Greek char- acter. Hence out of that high state of intellectual culture there arose a craving for Wisdom ; ” not the wisdom which Solomon spoke of, but wisdom in the sense of intellectual speculation. The energy which had found a safe outlet in War now wasted itself in the Amphitheatre. The enthusiasm which had been stimu- lated by the noble eloquence of patriotism now preyed on glittering rhetoric. They spent their days in tour- naments of speeches, and exulted in gladiatorial ora- tory. They would not even listen to a sermon from St. Paul, unless it were clothed in dazzling words and full of brilliant thought. They were in a state not un- common now with fine intellects whose action is cram[)ed. Religion, instead of being solid food for the soul, had become an intellectual banquet. That was another dilficulty with which Christianity had to deal. TO THE CORINTHIANS. 7 The next thing we observe as influencing Corinthian society is, that it was the seat of a Roman provincial government. There was there a deputy, that is, a pro- consul. Gallio was deputy of Achaia.” Let it sur- prise no one if I say that this was an influence favor- able to Christianity. The doctrine of Christ had not as yet come into direct antagonism with Heathenism. It is true that throughout the Acts we read of persecution coming from the Greeks, but at the same time we in- variably find that it was the Jews who had “ stirred up the Greeks.” The persecution always arose first on the part of the J ews ; and, indeed, until it became evi- dent that in Christianity there was a Power before which all the principalities of evil, all tyranny and wrong, must perish, the Roman magistrates generally defended it, and interposed their authority between the Christians and their fierce enemies. A signal instance of this is related in this chapter. Gallio, the Roman proconsul, dismisses the charge brought against the Christians. And when Paul was now about to open his mouth, Gallio said unto the Jews, If it were a mat- ter of wrong or wicked lewdness, O ye Jews, reason would that I should bear with you : But if it be a ques- tion of words and names, and of your law, look ye to it ; for I will be no judge of such matters.” And his judgment was followed by a similar verdict from the people ; for Sosthenes, the ringleader of the accusation, was beaten by the mob before the judgment seat. And ‘‘ Gallio cared for none of these things,” that is, he took no notice of them, he would not inter- fere ; he was, perhaps, even glad that a kind of wild, irregular justice was administered to one who had been foremost in bringing an unjust charge. So that instead of Gallio being, as the commentators make him, a sort of type of religious lukewarmness, he is really a speci- men of an upright Roman magistrate. But what prin- cipally concerns us in the story now is, that it is an example of the way in which the existence of the Ro- man Government at Corinth was, on the whole, an advantage for the spread of the Gospel. 8 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES The last element in this complex community was the Jews. Every city, Greek or Roman, at this time was rife with them. Then, as now, they had that national peculiarity which scatters them among all nations, while it prevents them from amalgamating with any, whicli makes them worshippers of Mammon, and yet withal, ready to suffer all things, and even to die for their faitli. In their way they were religious ; hut it was a blind and bio’oted adherence to the sensuous side of rehVion. They had almost ceased to believe in a living God, but they were strenuous believers in the virtue of ordi- nances. God to them only existed for the benefit of the Jewish nation. To them a Messiah must be a World-Prince. To them a new revelation could only be substantiated by marvels and miracles. To them it could have no self-evident spiritual light ; and St. Paul, in the first Epistle to the Corinthians, describes the dif- ficulty which this tendency put in the way of the progress of the Gospel among them thus : The Jews require a sign.” II. Respecting the Apostle Paul. To this society, so constituted, so complex, so mani- fold, St. Paul came, assured that he was in possession of a truth which was adapted and addressed to all, ‘‘ the power of God unto salvation to every one that believ- eth, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile.” Now, for this work he was peculiarly assisted and prepared. 1. By the fellowship of Aquila and Priscilla. We read that when he came to Corinth he found a certain Jew named Aquila, lately come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because that Claudius had commanded all the Jews to depart from Rome ; and that he came to them. St. Ihiul had a peculiar gift from God, the power of doing without those solaces which ordinary men re- ({uire. Ibit we should greatly mistake that noble heart and rare nature, if we conceived of it as hard, stern, and inc{ij);ibl(‘. ol’ tender human sympathies, iiemem- TO THE CORINTHIANS. 9 ber how, when anxious about these very Corinthians, he felt no rest when he found not Titus his brother, at Troas.” Recollect his gentle yearnings after the recovery of Epaphroditus. Such an one thrown alone upon a teeming, busy, commercial population, as he Avas at Corinth, would have felt crushed. Alone he had been left, for he had sent back his usual companions on several missions. His spirit had been pressed within him at Athens when he saw the city wholly given to idolatry. But that was not so oppressive as the sight of human masses, crowding, hurrying, driving together, all engaged in the mere business of getting rich, or in the more de^radino; work of seeking mere sensual en- joyment. Nothing so depresses as that. In this crisis, Providential arrangements had prepared for him the assistance of Priscilla and Aquila. In their house he found a home : in their society, companionship. Alto- gether with them, he gained that refreshment for his spirit, without which it would have been perilous for him to have entered on his work in Corinth. 2. He was sustained by manual work. He wrought with his friends as a tent-maker. That was his craft.” For by the rabbinical law, all Jews were taught a trade. One rabbi had said, that he who did not teach his son a trade, instructed him to steal. Another had declared that the study of theology along with a trade was good for the soul, and without it a temptation from the devil. So, too, it was the custom of the monastic institutions to compel every brother to work, not only for the purpose of supporting the monastery, but also to prevent the entrance of evil thoughts. A wise les- son ! For in a life like that of Corinth, in gaiety, or the merely thoughtful existence, in that state of leisure to which so many minds are exposed, woe and trial to the spirit that has nothing /or the hands to do ! Misery to him or her who emancipates himself or herself from the universal law, ‘‘ In the sweat of thy brow shalt thou eat bread.” Evil thoughts, despondency, sensual feelings, sin in every shape is before him, to beset and madden, often to ruin him. 10 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 3. By the rich experience he lind gained in Athens. There the Apostle had met the pliilosopliers on their own gronnd. He had sliown tliem tliat there was a want in Human Nature to wliich tlie Gosj)e] was adapted ; he liad spoken of their cravings after the Unknown ; lie had declared that he had to jireach to them that which they, unconsciously, desired : he had stripped their worship of its anthropomorphism, and had manifested to them that the residuum was the germ of Christianity. And his speech was triumphant as oratory, as logic, and as a specimen of jdiilosophic thought ; but in its bearing on conversion, it was un- successful. His work at Athens was a failure ; Dio- nysius and a few women are all we read of as con- verted. There was no church at Athens. Richly taught by this, he came to Corinth and preached no longer to the wise, the learned, or the rich. Ye see your calling, brethren,” he said, ‘‘ how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called.” God had chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith. He no longer confronted the philosojiher on his own ground, or tried to accommodate the Gospel to his tastes : and then that memorable resolve is recorded, “ I determined to know nothing among you, save Jesus Christ and Him crucified.” Not the crucifixion of Christ; but Christ, and that Christ crucified. He preached Christ, though crucified ; Christ crucified, though the Greeks might mock and the Jews reject Him with scorn — Christ as Christianity; Christ His own evidence. We know the result ; the Church of Corinth, the largest and noblest harvest ever given to ministerial toil. TO THE CORINTHIANS. 11 LECTURE II. June 8, 1851. 1 Corinthians, i. 1 - 3. — “ Paul called to be an Apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God. and Sosthenes our brother, — Unto the chui-ch of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours : — Grace be unto you, and peace from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.” Our discourse last Sunday put us in possession of the state of Corinth when the Apostle entered it. We know what Corinth was intellectually, politically, morally, and socially. We learned that it contained a democratic population. We found it commercial, rich, and immoral from its being a trading seaport. We spoke of its Roman government, which on the whole acted fairly at that time toward Christianity ; of its Greek inhabitants, of whom the richer were sceptics who had lost their religion, and the poorer still full of superstitions, as we discover from the no- tices of heathen sacrifices which pervade these Epistles. And the last element was the Jewish population, who were devoted to a religion of signs and ordinances. Our subject for to-day comprises the first three verses of this chapter. From these we take three points for investigation — I. The designation of the writers. II. The description of the persons addressed. III. The benediction. I. The designation of the writers. Paul ‘‘ an Apos- tle ” — Sosthenes ‘‘our brother.” An apostle means “ one sent,” a missionary to teach the truth committed 12 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES to liim ; and the authority of this apostolic mission St. Paul substantiates in the words ‘‘ called to be an Apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God^ There was a necessity for this vindication of his Apostleship. At the time of writing this Epistle he was at Ephesus, having left Corinth after a stay of eighteen months. There he was informed of the state of the Church in Achaia by those of the house of Chloe, a Christian lady, and by letters from them- selves. From this correspondence he learnt that his authority was questioned ; — and so St. Paul, unjustly treated and calumniated, opens his Epistle with these words, written partly in self-defence — ‘‘Called to be an apostle by the will of God.” In the firm conviction of that truth lay all his power. No man felt more strongly than St. Paul his own insignificance. He told his converts again and again that he “ was not meet to be called an Apostle that he was “ the least of all saints,” that he was the “ chief of sinners.” And yet, intensely as he felt all this, more deeply did he feel something above and beyond all this, that he was God’s messenger, that his was a true Apostleship, that he had been truly commissioned by the King ; and hence he speaks with courage and with freedom. His words were not his own, but His who had sent him. Imagine that conception dawning on his spirit, imagine, if you can, that light suddenly struck out of his own mind in the midst of his despondency, and then you will no longer wonder at the almost joyful boldness with which he stood firm, as on a rock, against the slander of his enemies, and the doubtful- ness of his friends. Now, unless this is felt by us, our life and work has lost its impulse. If we think of our profession or line of action, simply as arising from our own independent choice, or from chance, in- stantly we are paralyzed, and our energies refuse to act vigorously. But what was it which nerved the A])Ostle’s soul to bear reproach and false witness? Was it not this? 1 have a mission: “I am called to be an Apostle through the will of God.” Well, this TO THE CORINTHIANS. 13 should be our strength. Called to be a Carpenter, a Politician, a Tradesman, a Physician — he is irrev- erent who believes that ? God sent me here to cut wood, to direct justly, to make shoes, to teach children ; — Why should not each and all of us feel that ? It is one of the greatest truths on which we can rest our life, and by which we can invigorate our work. But we get rid of it by claiming it exclusively for St. Paul. We say that God called the Apostles, but does not speak to us. We say they were inspired and lifted above ordinary Humanity. But observe the modesty of his apostolic claim. He does not say, I am in- fallible,” but that the Will of God has sent him as It had sent others. He did not wish that his people should receive his truth because he, the Apostle, had said it, but because it was truth. He did not seek to bind men, as if they were destitute of reasoning, to any avxog as is set up now by Evangelicalism or Popery, but throughout the whole of this Epistle he uses arguments, he appeals to reason and to sense. He convinces them that he was an Apostle, not by dec- larations that they must believe him, but by appealing to the truth he had taught — “by manifestation of the truth, commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.” Further, we see in the fact of St. Paul’s joining with himself Sosthenes, and calling him his brother, another proof of his desire to avoid erecting himself as the sole guide of the Church. He sends the Epistle from himself and Sosthenes. Is that like one who desired to be Lord alone over God’s heritage ? ‘‘I am an Apostle — sent by the will of God ; but Sosthenes is my brother.” Of Sosthenes himself, nothing certain is known. He is supposed by some to be the Sosthenes of Acts xvii., the persecutor, the ringleader of the Jews against the Christians, who was beaten before the judgment seat of Gallio. If so, see what a conqueror St. Paul, or rather, Christianity had become. Like the Apostle of the Gentiles, Sos- thenes now built up the faith which once he destroyed. But, in truth, we know nothing accurately, except that 14 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES he was a Corinthian known to the persons addressed, and now with Paul at Ephesus. Tlie proper reflection from the fact of his being joined witli the Apostle, is the humility of St. Paul. Pie never tried to make a Party or form a Sect ; he never even tliouglit of placing liimself above them as an infallible and autocratic Pope. II. The persons addressed. The Church of God which is at Corinth.” The Church ! What is the Church ? That question lies below all the theological differences of the day. The Church, according to the derivation of the word, means the house of God. It is that Body of men in whom the Spirit of God dwells as the Source of their excellence, and who exist on earth for the purpose of exhibiting the Divine Life and the hidden order of Humanity : to destroy evil and to assimilate Humanity to God, to penetrate and purify the world, and as salt, preserve it from corruption. It has an existence continuous throughout the ages ; con- tinuous however, not on the principles of hereditary succession or of human election, as in an ordinary corporation, but on the principle of spiritual similarity of character.^ The Apostle Paul asserted this spirit- ual succession when he said that the seed of Abraham were to be reckoned, not on his lineal descendants, but as inheritors of his faith. f And Christ, too, meant the same when he told the Jews that out of the stones before Him God could raise up children unto Abraham. There is, however, a Church visible, and a Church invisible ; the latter consists of those spiritual persons who fulfil the notion of the Ideal Church ; the former is the Church as it exists in any particular age, em- bracing within it all who profess Christianity, whether they be ])roper or improper members of its body. Of the invisible Church, the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews speaks ; :j: and St. Paul also alludes to this in the description which he gives of the several churches, ♦ Jol.n, i. 13. t Gal. 111. 7. t lleb. xii. 23. TO THE CORINTHIANS. 15 to whom he WTites in language which certainly far transcended their actual state. As, for instance, in this Epistle, he speaks of them as ‘‘ called to he saints,” as temples of the Holy Ghost,” and then in another place describes them in their actual state, as carnal, and walking as men.” Again, it is of the visible Church he writes, when he reproves' their par- ticular errors ; and Christ, too, speaks of the same in such parables as that of the net gathering in fishes both good and bad, and the field of wheat which was mingled with tares. An illustration may make this plain. The abstract conception of a river is that of a stream of pure, un- mixed water, but the actual river is the Rhine, or the Rhone, or the Thames, muddy and discolored, and charged with impurity ; and the conception of this or that river necessarily contains within it these peculiari- ties. So of the church of Christ. Abstractedly, and invisibly, it is a kingdom of God in which no evil is ; in the concrete, and actually, it is the church of Cor- inth, of Rome, or of England, tainted with impurity ; and yet just as the mudded Rhone is really the Rhone, and not mud and Rhone, so there are not two churches, the church of Corinth and the false church with it, but one visible Church, in which the invisible lies con- cealed. This principle is taught in the parable, which represents the Church as a Vine. There are not two vines, but one ; and the withered branches, which shall be cut off hereafter, are really for the present part and portion of the Vine. So far then, it appears, that in any age, the visible Church is, properly speaking, the Church. But beyond the limits of the Visible, is there no true Church ? Are Plato, Socrates, Marcos Antonnius, and such as they, to be reckoned by us as lost ? Surely not. The Church exists for the purpose of educating souls for heaven ; but it would be a perversion of this purpose were we to think that goodness will not be received by God, because it has not been educated in the Church. Goodness is goodness, find it where we 16 LECTURES gN THE EPISTLES may. A vineyard exists for tlie purpose of nurturing vines, but he would be a strange vine-dresser who de- nied the reality of grapes because tliey had ripened under a less genial soil, and beyond the precincts of the vineyard. The truth is, that the Eternal Word has communicated himself to man in the ex])ressed Thought of God, th5 Life of Christ. That to whom that Light has been manifested are Christians. But that Word has communicated Himself silently to human minds, on which the manifested Light has never shone. Such men lived with God, and were guided by His Spirit. They entered into the Invisible; they lived by Faith. They were beyond their generation. They were not of the world. The Eternal Word dwelt within them. For the Light that shone forth in a full blaze in Christ, lights also, we are told, every man that cometh into the world.” Instances that lead us to this truth are given in the Scriptures of persons beyond the pale of the Church, who, before their acquaintance with the Jewish nation, had been in the habit of receiving spirit- ual communications of their own from God : such were Melchisedec, Job, Rahab, and Nebuchadnezzar. But from this dio-ression, let us return to the visible Church of which the Church of Corinth formed a part. It existed as we have said to exhibit what Humanity should be, to represent the Life Divine on earth, and that chiefly in these particulars : — 1. Self-devotion — To them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus.” 2. Sanctity — Called to be saints.” 3. Universality — With all that in every place call on the name of Jesus Christ our Lord.” 4. Unity — Of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours; ” for Christ was their common centre, and every cliurch felt united into one body when they knew that He belonged to all^ that they all had one Spirit, one Lord, one Faitli, one Baptism, one God and Father in Jesus Christ. First, tlien, the Church exists to exhibit self-devo- tion. Tliey were sanctified in Christ Jesus.” Now TO THE COEINTHIANS. IT the true meaning of to sanctify ” is to set apart, and hence to consecrate to any work. Thus spoke Christ, For their sakes I sanctify, set apart, devote Myself.” His life was a voluntary devotion of Himself even to the death, as well to save others as to bear witness to the truth. It is this attribute of the Divine nature in Humanity that the Church exists to exhibit now on earth. And then it is a church most truly when it is most plainly devoted. Thus it was in martyr times, when the death and persecuted existence of the saints of God were at once the life-blood of the Church and a testimony to the truth of its Faith. But then it is not, plainly, the Church, where bishops and priests are striving to aggrandize their own power, and seeking to impress men with the idea of the infallibility of their office. When the ecclesiastical dignity makes godliness a means of gain, or when priestcraft exercises lordship over the heritage of God, then it is falsifying its mission, for it is existing to establish, instead of to destroy, self- ishness. Secondly, It exists to establish sanctity. The Church of Corinth was formed, as we have said, of peculiar elements. It arose out of a democratic, and therefore a factious, community It sprang out of an extremely corrupt society, where pride of wealth abounded, and where superstition and scepticism looked one another in the face. It developed itself in the midst of a Judaism which demanded visible proofs of a divine mission. Ancient vices still infected the Chris- tian converts. They carried into the Church the sa- vor of their old life, for the wine-skin will long retain the flavor with which it has once been imbued. We find from these epistles that gross immorality still existed, and was even considered a thing to boast of. We find their old philosophy still coloring their Chris- tianity, for on the foundation of the oriental idea that the body was the source of all sin, they denied a future resurrection. We find the insolence of wealth at the Lord’s Supper. We find spiritual gifts abused by being exhibited for the sake of ostentation. Such was the 2 * 18 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES Church of Corinth ! This is the Early Church so boasted of by some ! Yet nowhere do we find, “ These are not of the Church ; these are of the Churcli.” Rather all are the Church — the profligate brother, the proud rich man, the speculative philosopher, the mere partizan, the superstitious and the seeker after signs, all are called to be saints.” All were temples of the Holy Ghost, though possibly admonished that they might be defiling that temple. Know ye not that your bodies are the temples of the Holy Ghost ” — that Christ is in you^ except ye be reprobates ? ” In the face of this the hypothetical view of Baptism is im- possible. Publicans and sinners may be in the Church, and yet they are called God’s children. His children, redeemed though not sanctified ; His people pardoned and reconciled by rights though the reconciliation and the pardon are not theirs in fact^ unless they accept it. For it is possible to open the doors of the prison, and yet for the prisoner to refuse deliverance ; it is possible to forgive an injury, and yet for the injurer to retain his anger, and then reconciliation and friendship, Avhich are things of two sides, are incomplete. Nevertheless, all are designed for holiness, all of the professing Church are called to be saints.” Hence the Church of Christ is a visible body of men providentially elected out of the world to exhibit holiness, some of whom really manifest it in this life, while others do not ; and the mission of this society is to put down evil. Thirdly, Its universality. With all who, in every place, call upon the name of Jesus Christ, both theirs and ours.” The Corinthian Church was, according to these words of the Apostle, not an exclusive avraoirig Church, but only a part of the Church universal, as a river is of the sea. He allowed it no proud superiority. He would not permit it to think of itself as more spiritual or as pf)ssessing higher dignity than the Church at Jerusalem or Jdiessalonica. They were called to be saints along with, and on a level with, all who named the Name of Christ. TO THE CORINTHIANS. 19 Is this our idea when we set up Anglicanism against Romanism, and make England the centre of unity in- stead of Rome ? There is no centre of unity but Christ. We go to God with proud notions of our spirituality and our claims. We boast ourselves of our advantages over Dissenters and Romanists. Whereas the same God is theirs and ours ; ” the same Christ is theirs and ours.” Oh ! only so far as we feel that God is our Father not my Father, and Christ our Saviour not my Saviour, do we realize the idea of the Church. The name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both theirs and ours.” What a death blow to Judaism and party spirit in Corinth ! Lastly, unity. Christ was theirs and ours. He was the Saviour of all, and the common Supporter of all. Though indi- .vidual churches might differ, and though sects might divide even those churches, and though each might have a distinct truth, and manifest distinct gifts, yet Christ existed in all. The same one Spirit, His Spirit, per- vaded all, and strengthened all, and bound all together into a living and invisible unity. Each in their several ways contributed to build up the same building on the same Foundation ; each in their various ways were dis- tinct members of Christ’s Body, performing different offices, yet knit into One under the same Head ; and ► the very variety produced a more perfect and abiding unity. HI. The Benediction. ‘‘ Grace and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.” This is, if you will, a formula, but forms like this teach much ; they tell of the Spirit from which they originate. The heathen commenced their letters with the salutation, Health ! ” There is a life of the Flesh, and there is a life of the Spirit — a truer, more real, and a higher Life, and above and beyond all things the Apostle wished them this. He wished them not Health” nor Happiness,” but Grace and Peace ” from God our Father. And now comes the question, What is 20 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES the use of this benediction ? How could grace and peace be given as a blessing to those who rejected grace, and not believing felt no peace? Let me try to illus- trate this. When the minister in a representative capacity, in the person of Christ, declares absolution to a sinner, his absolution is not lost if the man rejects it, or cannot receive it ; for it returns to him again, and he has done what he could to show that in Christ there is a full absolution for the sinner, if he will take it. Remember what Christ said to the seventy : ‘‘ When ye enter into an house, say. Peace be to this house ; and if the Son of Peace be there, your peace shall rest upon it, if not, it shall return to you again.” The validity of St. Paul’s blessing depended on its reception by the hearts to whom it was addressed. If they received it, they became in fact what they had been by right all along, sons of God : they set to their seal that God was true.” Grace and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” For the special revelation of Jesus Christ is, that God is our Father, and when we believe that, not merely with our intellects, but with our hearts, and evidence in our lives that we believe it, and that this relationship is the spring of our motives and actions, then will flow in the Peace which passeth all understanding, and we are blessed indeed with the blessing of God. TO THE COKINTHIANS. 21 LECTURE III. June 15, 1851. 1 Corinthians, i. 4 - 13. — I thank my God always on your behalf, for the Grace of God which is given you by Jesus Christ; — That in every thing ye are enriched by him, in all utterance, and in all knowledge; — Even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you: — So that ye come behind in no gift; waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ: — Who shall also confirm you unto the end, that ye may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. — God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord. — Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divis- ions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. — For it hath been declared unto me of you, my brethren, by them which are of the house of Chloe, that there are contentions among you. — Now this I say, that every one of you saith, I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas; and I of Christ.” Our work to-day will be from the commencement of the fourth to the end of the thirteenth verses, in which we find two points ; first, the Apostolic congratulations from the fourth to the tenth verse ; and, after that, the Apostolic warning and rebuke, from the tenth to the end. First, then, the Apostolic congratulation — “I thank my God always on your behalf,” &c. Let us remark here how, in the heart of St. Paul, the unself- ishness of Christianity had turned this world into a perpetual feast. He had almost none of the personal enjoyments of existence. If we want to know what his life was, we have only to turn to the eleventh chapter of the second Epistle : Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one, thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned,” &c. That was his daily outward life ; yet we shall greatly mistake the life of that glorious Apostle if we suppose it to have been an unhappy one. It was filled with blessedness ; the blessedness which arises from that high Christian faculty through which a 22 LECTUKES ON THE EPISTLES man is able to enjoy the blessings of others as tliough they were his own. Tlius, the Apostle, in all his weariness and persecutions, was, nevertheless, always rejoicing with his Churches ; and especially he rejoiced over the gifts and graces given to the Corinthians, of which he here enumerates three : first. Utterance, then Knowledge, and then the grace of that peculiar attitude of Expectation with which they w^ere looking for the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. lie speaks of the gift of Utterance, and we shall understand his reason for calling it a gift rather than a grace, when we re- member that, in his conception. Charity was far above Knowledge. To him a blessing was nothing, unless it could be imparted to others. Knowing a truth is one thing ; being able to express it, is quite another thing : and then again, to be able to express a truth is one thing, but to dare to do it is another thing altogether. The Apostle unites both of these in the expression, ut- terance : ” it is, at the same time, an intellectual gift and a spiritual grace. St. Paul also thanks God for their Knowledge ; for utterance without knowledge is worth- less. He did not value these things merely for them- selves, but only as they were means to an end — channels for conveying truth to others. The last gift for which the Apostle thanks God in this place Avas their attitude of Expectation — they were waiting for the coming of the Lord — he says, So that ye come behind in no gift, waiting for the coming of the Lord ; ” as though that were the highest gift of all ; as if that attitude of expectation were the highest posture that can be attained here by the Christian. It implies a patient, humble spirit, one that is Avaiting for, one that is looking forward to, something higher and better. The Apostle seems by this to tell us that the highest spirit is shown rather in calm expectation, than in disputing how that Kingdom shall come, in believing that it must come, and silently waiting for God’s OAvn time for the revealing. St. Paul’s congratulation contains a ground of hope lor the continuance of those blessings — God shall confirm you to the end ; ” and again, God is TO THE CORINTHIANS. 23 faithful.” He relies not on any stability of human good- ness, he knows that he cannot trust to their inherent firmness or fidelity ; his ground of confidence for the future is rather in the character of God. This is our only stay, our only hope, the unchanging faithfulness of God. True it is, that doctrine may be abused, we may rest upon it too much, and so become indifferent and supine ; but, nevertheless, it is a most precious truth, and without some conviction of this, I cannot under- stand how any man dares go forth to his work in the morning, or at evening lay his head on his pillow to sleep. We now pass on, secondly, to consider the Apostle’s warning and reproof — Parties had risen in Corinth : let us endeavor briefly to understand what these parties were. You cannot have read the Epistles without per- ceiving that the Apostles taught very differently — not a different gospel, but each one a different side of the gospel. Contrast the Epistles of St. Paul \vith those of St. Peter or St. John. These were not contrarieties, but varieties, and so together they made up the unity of the Church of Christ. The first party in Corinth of which we shall speak was that one which called itself by the name of Paul ; and the truths which they would chiefly proclaim would doubtless be those of Liberty and Universality. Moreover, St. Paul was not ordained like other teachers, but was called suddenly by special revelation of the Lord. He frequently refers to this, and declares that he was taught — not of man, but of God only. Now, the party calling itself by the name of Paul would doubtless exaggerate this, and teach, in- stead of liberty, licentiousness ; and so with the other peculiarities of his teaching. There was also a party naming itself after Apollos ; he had been educated at Alexandria, the university of the world, and we are told that he was mighty in the Scriptures, and remarkable for eloquence. The difference between Apollos and St. Paul seems to be not so much a difference of views as in the mode of stating those views : the eloquence of St. Paul was rough and burning ; it stirred men’s hearte, 24 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES kindling in them the living fire of tnith : that of A poll os was more refined and polished. Tliere was also the party called by the name of Peter. Christianity in his heart had been regularly and slowly develoj)ed ; he had known Jesus first as the Son of Man ; and afterwards as the Son of God. It was lon^ before he realized God’s o purpose of love to the Gentiles — in his conception the Messiah was to be chiefly King for the Jews ; therefore all the Jewish converts, who still clung to very much that was Jewish, preferred to follow St. Peter. Lastly, there was the party calling itself by the name of Christ Himself. History does not inform us what were the special views of this party ; but it is not difficult to imagine that they set themselves up as superior to all others. Doubtless, they prided themselves on their spirituality and inward light, and looked down with con- tempt on those who professed to follow the opinion of any teacher. Perhaps they ignored the apostolic teach- ing altogether, and proclaimed the doctrines of direct communion with God without the aid of ministry or ordinances ; and these, as well as the others, the Apostle rebuked. The guilt of these partizans did not lie in holding views differing from each other; it was not so much in saying this is the truth,” as it was in saying this is not the truth ; ” the guilt of schism is when each party, instead of expressing fully his own truth, attacks others, and denies that the others are in the Truth at all. Avoid, I pray you, the accursed spirit of sectarianism : suffer not yourselves to be called by any party names ; One is your Master, even Christ, and all ye are brethren. Let each man strive to work out, bravely and honestly, the truth which God has given to him ; and when men oppose us and malign us, let us still, with a love which hopeth all things, strive rather to find good in them — truths special to them — but which as yet they — per- il aps unconsciously — falsely represent. TO THE CORI]STHIANS. 25 LECTURE IV. June 22, 1851. 1 Corinthians, i. 13-22. — “Is Christ dmded ? was Paul crucified for you ? or were ye baptized in the name of Paul ? — I thank God that. I baptized none of you, but Crispus and Gains; — Lest any should say that I had baptized in my own name. — And I baptized also the household of Stephanas; besides, I know not whether I baptized any other. — For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the Gospel; not with wisdom of words, lest the Cross of Christ should be made of none elfect. — For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God. — For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understand- ing of the prudent. — Where is the wise ? where is the scribe ? where is the disputer of this world ? — hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world ? — For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. — For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom.” Last Sunday we endeavored to arrive at a right understanding respecting the different parties in the Church of Corinth : let us now pass on to consider the argument by which St. Paul met these sectarians. It was an appeal to Baptism, and to understand the force of that appeal, we must endeavor to understand what Christian Baptism is. It contains two things : something on the part of God, and something on the part of man. On God’s part it is an authoritative revelation of His Paternity : on man’s part it is an acceptance of God’s covenant. Now there is a remarkable passage in which we find St. Paul expressing the meaning of Baptism as symbolizing submission, discipleship to any particular teacher : Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant how that all our fathers were bap- tized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea.” When the Israelites passed through the Red Sea they cut 8 26 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES themselves off for ever from Egypt, so that, figuratively speaking, the Apostle teaches that in that immersion they were baptized unto Moses, for thereby they de- clared themselves his followers, and left all to go with him. And so, just as tlie soldier who receives the bounty money is thereby pledged to serve his sovereign, so he who has passed through the Baptismal waters, is pledged to fight under the lledeemer’s banner against sin, the world, and the devil. And now the argument of St. Paul becomes plain. He argues thus : To whom were ye then baptized ? To whom did you pledge yourselves in discipleship ? If to Christ, why do ye name yourselves by the name of Paul ? If all were baptized into that One Name, how is it that a few only have adopted it as their own ? Upon this we make two remarks ; first, the value and blessedness of the Sacraments. It will be asked. To what purpose are the Sacraments of the Church ? if they work no miracle, of what avail are they ? Our reply is. Much every way ; among others, that they are authoritative signs and symbols. Now there is very much contained in the idea of a recognized authorita- tive symbol ; for instance, in some parts of the country it is the custom to give and receive a ring, in token of betrothal ; but that is very different from the marriage- ring, it being not authoritative, and being without the sanction of the Church. It would have been perfectly possible for man to have invented for himself another symbol of the truth con- veyed in Baptism, but then it would not have been authoritative, and consequently it would have been weak and useless. Now, there is another thing, and that is, that these Sacraments are the epitomes of Chris- tian Truth. This is the way in which the Apostle frequently makes use of the Sacraments. From the l^^pistle to the Romans we find that Antinomianism had cre|)t into the (Miurch, and that there were some who said, that if only they believed, it did not matter that they sinned. How does St. Paid meet this? By an appeal to ]hq)tism ? He says, God foihid, how shall TO THE CORINTHIANS. 2T we, who are dead to sin, live any longer therein ? Know ye not that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into His death ? ” Buried with Him by baptism,” — in the very form of that Sacra- ment there was a protest against this Antinomianism. And again, in reference to the Lord’s Supper, in the Church of Corinth abuses had crept in ; that holy Communion had become a feast of gluttony and a sig- nal of division. This error he endeavors to correct by reference to the institution of the Supper itself, The bread which we break, is it not the Communion of the Body of Christ ?” The single loaf, broken into many fragments, contains within it a truth symbolical, that the Church of Christ is one. Here, in the text, St. Paul makes the same appeal : he appeals to Baptism against sectarianism, and so long as we retain it, it is an everlasting protest against every one who breaks the unity of the Church. The other remark we have to make bears on the peculiar meaning of the Sacra- ment. We are all aware that there are those in the Church of Christ, whose personal holiness and purity are unquestionable, who yet believe and teach that all children are born into the world children of the devil, and there are those who agree in this belief, though differing as to the remedy ; who hold that the special and only instrument for their conversion into God’s children is Baptism ; and they believe that there is given to the ministers of the Church the power of con- veying in that Sacrament the Holy Spirit, which effects this wondrous change. I know not that I have mis- represented this view : I do not think I have, yet I say at least, that if a minister really believes he has this power, then it is only with fear and trembling that he should approach the font in which he is about to baptize a child. But, let us try this view by the passage before us : if this view be true, then the Apostle, in saying that he thanked God he had not baptized, thanked God that he had not regenerated any : he rejoices that he had not conveyed the Spirit of God to any one but Crispus and Gains, and the household of Stephanas. 28 LECTURES ON THE EPISTJ.ES And all this merely, lest he should perchance lie under the slander of having made to himself a party! If we reject this hypothesis as impossible, then it is plain that the view we have alluded to rests on no scriptural basis. We pass on, lastly, to consider the compromise which Paul refused to make : he would make none, either with the Jews in their craving after Signs, or with the Greeks in their lonmn^ after Wisdom. For fifteen hundred years forms and signs had been the craving of the Jews. St. Peter even had leanings in the same direction. The truth seems to be, that wherever there is life, there will be a form ; but wherever a form is, it does not follow that there must be life ; St. Paul stood firm — Not Signs, but Christ. Neither would he make any compromise with the craving after an intellectual religion. There was a diametrical contrast between the Jewish and the Grecian spirit: one seemed all body, and the other all mind. The wisdom of which St. Paul speaks, appears to have been of two kinds — speculative philosophy, and wisdom of words — elo- quence. Men bow before talent, even if unassociated with goodness, but between these two we must make an everlasting distinction. When once the idolatry of talent enters, then farewell to spirituality ; when men ask their teachers, not for that which will make them more humble and God-like, but for the excitement of an intellectual banquet, then farewell to Christian pro- gress. Here also St. Paul again stood firm — Not Wisdom, but Christ crucified. St. Paul might have complied with these requirements of his converts, and then he would have gained admiration, and love — he would have been the leader of a party, but then he would have been false to his Master — he would luave been preferring self to Christ. TO THE CORINTHIANS. 29 LECTURE V. June 29, 1851. 1 Corinthians, i. 23. — ‘‘Bat we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumbling-block, and unto the Greeks foolishness. In tlie course of our exposition of this Epistle, we have learnt the original constitution of Corinthian society, and have ascertained the state of the religious parties in that city at the time St. Paul wrote. We have seen that the Apostle Paul refused to make a compromise with either of these parties ; it remains for us now to consider first the subject which he resolved to dwell upon, and then the results of that teaching on the dif- ferent classes of his hearers. His subject was — - Christ crucified.” The expression, preaching Christ,” is very much misunderstood by many persons. It is, therefore, incumbent on us to endeavor calmly to un- derstand what the Apostle meant by this. We say, then, that to preach Christ is to preach Christianity, that is, the Doctrines which He taught. In Acts, xv. 21, we read, Moses of old time hath in every city them that preach him.” The reading of the Pentateuch was the preaching of Moses. Preaching Christ is setting forth His Doctrines in contra-distinction to those of the World. The World says — Resent an injury; Christ says — Forgive your enemies. If, therefore, we preach Forgiveness, are we not thereby preaching Christ, even though no distinct mention may be made of his Divinity or of the doctrine of the Atonement ? In the Sermon on the Mount there is contained no reference to any one special doctrine of Christianity, as we should call it ; nor in the Epistle of St. James is there found one word respecting the doctrine of the Atonement ; but if we take this Sermon or this Epistle, and simply work out the truths therein contained — tell us, are we not there- 30 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES by preaching Christ? To preach Goodness, Mercy, Truth, not for the bribe of heaven or from the fear of hell, but in the Name of God the Father, is to preach Christ. Once more, this expression implies preaching Truth in connection with a Person : it is not merely Purity, but the Pure One ; not merely Goodness, but the Good One that we worship. Let us observe the twofold ad- vantage of this mode of preaching : first, because it makes religion practical. Tlie Greek teachers were also teaching Purity, Goodness, Truth ; they were striving to lead men’s minds to the First Good, the First Fair. The Jewish Rabbis were also endeavoring to do the same, but it is only in Christ that it becomes possible to do this effectually. The second advantage in preaching Christianity in connection with a Person is, that it gives us something to adore, for we can adore a person^ but we cannot adore principles. There is im- plied in this expression, preaching Christ crucified,” the Divine nature of Humility. Paul would not preach Christ as a conqueror, although by that he might please the Jews, or yet as a philosopher, in order that he might satisfy the Greeks ; he would only preach Him as the humble, crucified Man of Nazareth. We are, in the second place, to consider the results of this teaching on the several classes of his hearers. To the Jew it was a stumbling-block, something over which he could not pass ; the Jew could not receive the Gos- pel, unless accompanied by signs and miracles to prove that it was from God. To the Greeks it was foolish- ness, for the Apostle spoke to them as an uneducated, uncultivated man ; and they missed the sophistry, the logic, and the brilliant eloquence of their professional orators. Neither could they see what advantage his teacliing could be to them, for it would not show them how to form a statue, build a temple, or make a fortune, which things they looked upon as the chief glories of life. Jkit there was another class on whom his words made a very d life rent impression. They are those whom the A])ostle desci’ibes as the Called.” To them Christ TO THE CORINTHIANS. 31 was the Power and the Wisdom of God. He does not mean to assert here the doctrine of Election or Pre- destination ; on the contrary, he says that this calling was in respect of inward fitness, and not of outward advantages. God prepares the heart of man for the re- ception of the Gospel — that is God’s blessed plan of election. 32 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES LECTURE VI. - November 2, 1851. 1 Corinthians, iii. 1 “10. — “ And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. — I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able. — For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men — For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not carnal? — Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye be- lieved, even as the Lord gave to every man ? — I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. — So then neither is he that planteth anything, neither he that watereth ; but God that giveth the increase. — Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one; and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labor. — For we are laborers together with God: ye are God’s hus- bandry, ye are God’s building. — According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise master-builder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon. ’ ’ The two former chapters of this Epistle refer to St. Paul’s ministry while at Corinth, where there existed a church made up of very peculiar elements. The first of these was Roman, and composed of freedmen, through whose influence society became democratic. The sec- ond element was Greek, refined, intellectual, inquisitive, and commercial, and this rendered the whole body rest- less, and apt to divide itself into parties. In addition to these was the Jewish element, which at this time had degenerated into little more than a religion of the senses. From all this there arose, first, a craving for an intellec- tual religion — appealing merely to taste and philoso- phical perceptions. But St. Paul refused to preach to them elo(piently or philosophically, ‘‘ lest the Cross of Christ should be made of none effect.” St. Paul knew that the liuman lieart often rests in eloquent expression of religions sentiment, instead of carrying it on into re- TO THE CORINTHIANS. 33 ligious action. For strong feelings often evaporate in words. Strong expressions about self-sacrifice or self- denial, about a life sustained high above the world, often satisfy the heart and prevent it from rising to the grace talked about ; whereas Christianity is not a Creed but a Life, and men who listen to a preacher only to find an intellectual amusement, or pictures of an ideal existence, are not thereby advanced one step nearer to the high life of a Christian. Secondly. From the Jewish element there arose a craving for a religion of signs ; and St. Paul refused to teach by signs. He would not base Christianity upon miracles, or external proofs ; because, truth is its own evidence, and the soul alone must be the judge whether a truth is from God or not. Miracles address the senses, and the appetites of hunger and thirst ; and it were preposterous to say that the eye, the ear, or the touch can determine accurately of Divine truth while the soul cannot ; that the lower part of our nature is an unerring judge, while the soul alone is not infallible in its decisions. For the natural man (understandeth) receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God : for they are foolishness unto him.” Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect, yet not the wisdom of this world, but the wis- dom of God, which is hidden in a mystery.” A third consequence of this peculiar constitution of Corinthian society was, its Party spirit. This arose out of its democratic character. Faction does not rend a society in which classes are indisputably divided be- yond appeal, as is the case in Hindustan. Where superiority is unquestioned between class and class, rivalry will exist only between individuals. But where all are by social position equal, then there wdll be a strug- gle for superiority ; for in God’s world there is not one monotony of plains without hills, nor a human society on one dead level of equality. There is an above ^ and there is a below. There are angels, principalities, pow- ers, there ; and here, orders, degrees, and ranks. And the difficulty in social adjudicature is, to determine who 34 LECTURES ON THE ERISTI.ES ouglit to be the leaders, and wlio are to be the led ; to abolish false aristocracies, and to establish the true. Now, to say that this is what men aim at, is to say that dispute, faction, party spirit, animosity must exist till that real order is established which is called the King- dom of God on earth ; in which each person is in his right place, and they only rule who are fit to rule. To-day, therefore, our subject will relate to this third consequence ; and I shall speak of St. Paul's spiritual treatment of the Corinthian Church, in a state of faction. I. His economic management of Truth. II. His depreciation of the Human in the march of progress, by his manifestation of God in it. I. His economic management of Truth. I use this word, though it may seem pedantic, be- cause I find no other to answer my purpose so well ; it is borrowed from the times of the early Christian Church : Economic,” when used in reference to the management of a household, means a frugal use of provision in opposition to extravagant expenditure. An economist apportions to each department the sum neces- sary, and no more. And in the spiritual dispensation of Truth, economy means that prudent distribution which does not squan- der it uselessly away, when it can do no good, but which apportions to each age, and to each capacity, the amount it can turn to good account. It implies a pru- dent, wise reserve. Now the principle of this we find stated in the second verse, I have fed you with milk, and not with meat.” And, although in its application some errors might be committed by withholding truths which should be granted, and by failing to distribute them at the required time, still the principle is a simple and a true one. For different ages, different kinds of food. For childhood, or babes in Christ,” milk. For them that are of full age, or who have the power of dis- cerning: both m)od nnd evil, strono; meat.” But reverse O O 7 0 TO THE CORINTHIANS. 35 this,, and the child becomes sick and fevered. And the reason of this is, that what is strength to the man is injury to the child — it cannot bear it. The doctrine which the Apostle calls strong meat,’’ if taught at first, would deter from further discipleship ; and Christ expresses the same thing. No man put- teth a piece of new cloth unto an old garment, for the rent is made worse. Neither do men put new wine into old bottles, else the bottles break, and the wine runneth out.” Now this, remember, was said imme- diately after the disciples of John had asked, why Jesus had not taught the same severe life (the type of which was fasting) which John had. And so, too, Christ did not preach the Cross to His disciples at first. The first time He did preach it, it shocked them. For it was not until after Peter’s memorable acknowledgment of Him in these words, Thou art the Christ,” that He revealed to them His coming death, which, even then, resulted in a kind of revolt against Him, drawing from Peter the exclamation, This be far from thee. Lord.” Such a case of defection actually did occur in the behavior of the young Ruler, who forced, as it were, from Christ a different method of procedure. At first, Jesus would have given him mere moral duty. Thou knowest the Commandments, Do not commit adultery, do not kill.” But not satisfied with this, he asked for Perfection. What lack I yet?” And then there was nothing left but to say — If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast and give to the poor, and come and follow Me.” For observe, strong meat ” does not mean high doctrine such as Election, Regen- eration, Justification by Faith, but Perfection : ” strong demands on Self, a severe, noble Life. St. Paul taught the Corinthians all the Doctrine he had to teach, but not all the conceptions of the Blessed Life which he knew of. He showed them that leaving the prin- ciples of doctrine, they were to keep themselves in the Love of Christ, and be strengthened more and more with His' Spirit in the inner man, growing up unto Him in all things. But all this by degrees. And so 36 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES of the weak, we must be content to ask honesty : jus- tice, not generosity, not to sell all, but simple moral teaching. ‘‘ Thou knowest the Commandments.” With a child, we must ask not sublime forgiveness of injuries : that which would be glorious in a man, in a boy would be pusillanimity ; but you must content yourself at first with prohibiting tyranny. There is no greater mistake in education than not attending to this principle. Do not ask of your child to sacrifice all enjoyment for the sake of others, but let him learn first, not to enjoy at the expense of the disadvantage or suf- fering of another. Another reason for not neo-lectino; this is, the dano;er of familiarizing the mind with high spiritual doctrines, and thus engendering hypocrisy ; for instance. Self- sacrifice, Self-denial, are large words, which contain much beauty, and are easily got by heart. But the facility of utterance is soon taken for a spiritual state, and while fluently talking of these high-sounding words, and of man’s or woman’s mission and influence, it never occurs to us that as yet we have not power to live them out. Let us avoid such language, and avoid supposing that we have attained such states. It is good to be tem- perate, but if temperate, do not mistake that for self- denial nor for self-sacrifice. It is good to be honest, to pay one’s debts ; but when you are simply doing your duty, do not talk of a noble life ; be content to say, we are unprofitable servants — we have done that which was our duty to do.” The danger of extreme demands made on hearts un- prepared for such is seen in the case of Ananias. These demands were not, as we see, made by the Apos- tles, for notliing could be wiser tlian St. Peter’s treat- ment of the case, representing such sacrifice as purely voluntary, and not compelled. While it remained, was it not thine own ; and after it was sold, was it not in thine own power? ” But ])ublic o])inion, which had made sacrifice faHldonahle^ demanded it. And it was a demand, like strong meat to the weak, for Ananias was unabl(‘ to l)(‘ar it.’' • TO THE CORINTHIANS. 87 II. The second remedy in this factions state was to depreciate the part played by man in the great work of progress, and to exhibit the part of God. Who, then, is Paul, and who is Apollos, but min- isters by whom ye believed? ” Ye are God’s hus- bandry, ye are God’s building.” In all periods of great social activity, when society becomes conscious of itself, and morbidly observant of its own progress, there is a tendency to exalt the instruments, persons, and means by which it progresses. Hence, in turn, kings, states- men, parliaments : and then education, science, ma- chinery, and the press, have had their hero-worship. Here, at Corinth, was a new phase, minister- worship.” No marvel, in an age when the mere political progress of the Race was felt to be inferior to the spiritual sal- vation of the Individual, and to the purification of the Society, that ministers, the particular organs by which this was carried on, should assume in men’s eyes pecu- liar importance, and the special gifts of every such minister, Paul or Apollos, be extravagantly lionored. No marvel either, that round the more prominent of these, partizans should gather. St. Paul’s remedy was simply to point out God’s part, Ye are God’s husbandry,” we are only laborers — different only from wheels and pivots, in that they do their work unconsciously, ive consciously. We exe- cute a plan which we only slightly understand — nay, not at all, till it is completed, like workmen in a tubu- lar bridge, or men employed in Gobelin tapestry, who cannot see the pattern of their work until the whole is executed. Shall the hodman boast ? Conceive the laborer saying of some glorious architecture. Behold my work ! or some poet, king, or priest, in view of some progress of the race. See what I have done ! Who is Faiil^ but a servant of Higher plans than he knows? And thus we come to find that 'we are but parts in a mighty system, the breadth of which we can- not measure. And this is the true inspired remedy for all party spirit, He that planteth, and he that watereth, are 4 38 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES one.” Each in his way is indispensable. To see the part played by each individual in (jod’s world, which he alone can play, to do our own share in the acting, and to feel that each is an integral, essential ])ortion of the whole, not interfering with the rest ; to know that each church, each sect, each man, is co-operating best in the work when he expresses his own individuality (as Paul and Cephas, and John and Barnabas did), in truths of word and action which others perhaps cannot grasp, that is the only emancipation from partizan- ship. Again, observe, St. Paul held this sectarianism, or partizanship, to amount virtually to a denial of their Christianity. For as Christians it was their privilege to have direct access to the Father through Christ ; they Avere made independent of all men but the one Medi- ator Christ Jesus. Whereas this boast of dependence upon men, instead of direct communion with God, Avas to glory in a forfeiture of their privileges, and to return to the Judaism, or Heathenism, from which they had been freed. He says, While one saith I am of Paul, and another I am of Apollos, are ye not carnal and Avalk as men ? ” So that all sectarianism is slavery and narrowness, for it makes us the followers of such and such a leader. Whereas, says St. Paul, instead of your being that leader’s, that leader is yours ; your minister, Avhom you are to use. For All things are yours ; ” the Avliole universe is subservient to your moral being and progress. Be free then, and use them : do not be used by them. Remark, therefore, how the truest spiritual freedom and elevation of soul spring out of Christian humility. All this liberty and noble superiority to Life and Death, all this independence of Men, of Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, as their masters, arises from this, that ye are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s ; ” that ye, as well as they, are servants only of Christ, Avho came not to do His oAvn Avill, but the Will of Him avIio sent Him. TO THE CORINTHIANS. 39 LECTURE VII. November 9, 1851. 1 Corinthians, iii. 11-23. — “ For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. — Now it any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; — Every man’s work shall be made manifest : for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is. — If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. — If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall sufter loss : but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire. — Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you ? — If any man defile the tem- ple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are. — Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise. — For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written. He taketh the wise in their own ci afti- ness. — And again, The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain. — Therefore let no man glory in men. For all things are yours; — Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours; — And ye are Christ’s; and Christ is God’s.” As the last time we treated of the first ten verses of this chapter, to-day we shall go on to the end, merely recapitulating, beforehand, the leading subjects we were then led to enlarge upon; which were, first — Paul’s treatment of the Corinthian Church when it was in a state of schism, broken up into parties, one party fol- lowing Apollos, attracted by his eloquence ; another Paul, attracted by his doctrine of Christian liberty ; another Peter, whom they looked on as the champion of the Judaistic tendency, while another called them- selves by the name of Christ. And the schism which thus prevailed was no light matter, for it was not only a proof of carnal views, but it amounted also to a denial of Christianity. For men emancipated by Christ, and given direct access to God, to return again to allegiance 40 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES to men^ and dependence on them, was voluntarily to forfeit all Christian privileges. It is very interesting to observe the difference in St. Paul’s treatment of the Corinthian Church from his treatment of other Churches. He says to them, I have fed you with milk, for hitherto ye were not able to bear meat, neither yet are ye able.” There is a remarkable difference between this Epistle to the Corinthians and that to the Ephesians. It is not in the former that we find the Apostle speaking of the breadth and length and depth and height of the love of Christ, which })asseth know- ledge ; nor there do we find him speaking of the beauty and necessity of self-sacrifice. These were subjects too high for them as yet, but instead we find him deal- ing almost entirely with the hard, stern duties and commandments of every-day life. St. Paul’s twofold method of dealing with the Corin- thian Church in their state of faction was, — 1. Throuo;h an economic reserve of Truth. By which ^ve understood, that first principles only were distributed to feeble minds, to men who were incapable of the Higher Life ; that they were fed with these, in the same way as children, incapable of receiv- ing meat, are nourished with milk. 2. The depreciation of the Human, through the reduction of ministers to their true position ; by pointing out that they were only laborers, servants in God’s world, only a part of the curious clockwork of this world of His. Thus each would be a part of one great Whole, each would be called upon to work, as essential to this, but not to exhibit his own idea; each would best preserve his own individuality, when most acting as a fellow-worker with God. Now observe ! Here was a true notion of Christian unity as opposed to schism. He that planteth, and he that watereth, are one.” And this is the idea I have so often given you — unity in variety. St. Paul did not say you are wrong, you ought to be all of one way of thinking. No ; he said rather, there is one truth, the ritualistic truth, in St. Peter’s and St. James’s TO THE CORINTHIANS. 41 mind ; there is another, the truth of Christian Liberty, which I teach you ; there is another, the truth of grace and beauty in Apollos, and all together build up a Church. And he made use of two metaphors, drawn from agriculture and architecture. How foolish it would be to dispute about the respective merits of planting and w^atering ! Could there be a harvest without either ? How foolish to talk of the superiority of capital over labor, or labor over capital ! Could anything be done without both? And again, who would dream in architecture of a discussion about the comparative importance of the foundation and tiie superstructure ! Are not both necessary to each other’s perfection ? And so to dispute whether the Gospel according to St. Paul or St. James, is the right Gospel, to call the latter ‘‘ Straminca Epistola,” is to neglect the majestic entireness, and the unity of the truth of God. And observe, St. Paul did not say, as many now would say, you must attain unity by giving up your own views, and each one holding the same. He did not say, Mine are right, and the followers of Apollos and Peter must follow me ; but he said that, whatever became of their particular views, they were to rejoice in this — not that they were Christians of a particular kind, but that they had a common Christianity. There was and could be but One Foundation, and he who worked, whether as builder or architect, on this, was one with all the rest. The chapter concludes with — I. An address to ministers. H. To congregations. o o I. To ministers. Let every man take heed, how he buildeth thereupon ; for other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.” First, then, ministers are to preach as the foundation — Christ. Now, let us protest against all party uses of this ex- pression. The preaching of Christ means simply, the preaching of Christ. Recollect what Paul’s own Chris- 42 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES tianity was. A few facts respecting liis Redeemer’s life, a few of liis Master’s precepts, such as, It is more blessed to give than to receive,” out of whicli he educed all Christian principles, and on which he built that noble superstructure — his Epistles. Remember how he sums all up. ‘‘ That I might know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His suffer- ings, being made conformable unto His death.” His Life, Death, and Resurrection, working daily in us, being made manifest in our body.” And again. Ever bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus.” Settle it in your hearts ; Christianity is Christ ; understand Him, breathe His Spirit, compre- hend His mind : Christianity is a Life, a Spirit. Let self die with Christ, and with Him rise to a life of holi- ness : and then, Avhether you are a Minister or minis- tered to, you need not care what discussions may arise, nor how men may dispute your Christianity, or deny your share in the Gospel. You stand upon a rock. Next, on this foundation we are to build the super- structure. Christianity is a few living pregnant princi- ples^ and on these you may construct various buildings. Thus in doctrine you may on this erect Calvinism, or Arminianism ; or in ecclesiastical polity, you may build on this a severe, simple worship, or a highly ritual one, or an imaginative one with a splendid cultus. Or, in life, you may live on this devotionally or actively ; you may pursue the life of the hermit of the third century, or of the Christian merchant of the nineteenth. For Christianity is capable of endless application to different circumstances, ages, and intellects. Now, in the words of this twelfth verse, observe that there are not six kinds of superstructure, but two. Gold, silver, and precious stones, which are the materials of the temple ; wood, hay, and stubble, with which a cottage is erected ; but in these buildings the materials of each are of various degrees of excellence, and in the latter, good, bad, and indifferent. Now, what do these syml)olize ? As 1 said before, perhaps doctrines or sys- tems ; but more })robably they are to make us recollect TO THE CORINTITIANS. 43 that the Church is made up of persons of different kinds of character built up by different ministers. Some of straw, utterly worthless ; some of silver, sound, good, but not brilliant men ; some of gold, characters in which there seems nothing of base alloy, true to the very centre ; some of precious stones, men in whom gifts are so richly mingled with useful qualities, that they are as jewels in the Redeemer’s crown. And such was the author of this Epistle. It does our heart good to know that out of our frail Humanity, anything so good and great has arisen as the Apostle of the Gentiles. Now there follows from all this, the doctrine of the rewardableness of Work. All were one, on the one foundation, yet St. Paul modifies this : they were not one, in such a sense that all their work was equally valuable, for every man shall receive his own reward, according to his labor.” It is incredible that the mere theologian defending the outworks, writing a book on the Evidences of Christianity, or elaborating a theolog- ical system, shall be as blessed as he, who has hungered and thirsted with Christ, and like Christ, suffered. To sit on the right hand and on the left of the Father,” can be given but to them who have drunk of Christ’s cup of Self-sacrifice, and been baptized with His Baptism of Suffering. Nevertheless, each in his own way shall gain the exact recompense of what he has done. Therefore, Christian men, work on — your work is not in vain. A cup of cold water, given in the name of a disciple, shall not lose its reward. There is also here a distinction between the truth of work and its sincerity. In that day nothing shall stand but what is true ; but the sincere worker, even of un- true work, shall be saved; If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss : but he himself shall be saved ; yet so as by fire.” Sincerity shall save him in that day, but it cannot accredit his work. But what is this day ? When is this day ? Generally speaking, we say that it is Time ; but more particularly the Trial day, which every advent is, and especially the last : in which nothing will endure but what is real. Nothing 44 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES gilded or v