of self-forgetfulness, their genuine blessedness in disinterested affections, in the exercise of a pure Love, whose singleness of eye has no view to recompense, no self-directed glance. This was the spirit, the joy, the power, the crown, of him who reigneth from the Cross.

God give us grace to be in fellowship with that first-born of many Brethren!

SECTION III.

A CAUTION AGAINST SELF-CONFIDENCE; LEST AN UNSCRUPULOUS FAMILIARITY WITH POLYTHEISTIC HABITS MIGHT LEAD TO A RELAPSE INTO HEATHENISM.-THE PARALLEL CASE OF THE JEWS OF OLD.- COMMUNION WITH CHRIST EXCLUDES ALL DALLIANCE WITH IDOLATRY.- LOVE SHOULD CONTROL LIBERTY IN THINGS INDIFFERENT.

CHAPS. X. 1-33- XI. 1.

X. 1. FOR, Brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, that all our fathers were under the cloud, 2 and all passed through the sea; and were all baptized 3 into Moses, in the cloud and in the sea; and did all 4 eat the same spiritual bread, and did all drink the same spiritual drink, for they drank from that spiritual rock which followed them, and that rock was 5 Christ; yet with most of them God was not pleased, 6 for they were slain in the desert. Now these things

have become examples for us, that we should not lust 7 after evil things, even as they lusted: nor become idolaters as some of them did; as it is written, "The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to 8 play." * Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one day three-and-twenty 9 thousand. Neither let us try Christ, as some of them 10 also tried, and were destroyed by serpents. Neither murmur, as some of them also murmured, and perished

* Exod. xxxii. 6.

11 by the destroyer. Now all these things happened to

them as examples, and are written for our admonition, 12 upon whom the ends of the ages are come. Where

fore let him, who thinketh he standeth, take heed lest 13 he fall. There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: and God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able, but will with the temptation make also a way of 14 escape, that ye may be able to endure. Wherefore, 15 my beloved, flee from idolatry. I speak as to wise 16 men judge ye what I say. The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the com17 munion of the body of Christ? That as there is one bread, we, being many, are one body, for we all par18 take of the one bread. Behold Israel according to the flesh are not they which eat of the sacrifices par19 takers of the altar? What then do I say? that an idol is any thing? or that what is sacrificed to idols is 20 any thing? No, but that what the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons and not to God; and I would not that ye should become in communion with de21 mons. Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of demons: ye cannot partake of the table of the 22 Lord, and of the table of demons. Do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he ?

23 All things are lawful; but all are not exepdient. 24 All things are lawful; but all do not edify. Let no 25 one seek his own, but that of another. All that is

sold in the market eat, asking no questions for con26 science' sake. For the earth is the Lord's, and the 27 fulness thereof. And if any of the unbelievers invite you, and ye be willing to go, whatever is set before you eat, asking no questions for conscience' sake.

28 But if any one say to you, "This hath been sacrificed to idols, eat not, because of him that pointed 29 it out, and because of conscience. Conscience I say, not thine own, but that of the other. Why is my 30 liberty judged of by another man's conscience? If I partake by grace, why am I evil spoken of, on account 31 of that for which I give thanks? Whether, therefore, ye eat or drink, or whatever ye do, do all to God's 32 glory. Become occasions of sin neither to Jews, nor to 33 Gentiles, nor to the Church of God: even as I please

all men in all things, not seeking mine own benefit but the benefit of the many, that they may be saved. XI. 1. Become imitators of me, even as I am of Christ.

THERE is something of pleasing and graceful sentiment in the prevalent conception, that the Early Ages of the Church were the pure times of Christianity. The mind does not readily adapt itself to the idea, that Antiquity was the Infancy of human wisdom and development, and that modern men are the Sages of Time. There is an instinctive tendency to regard that venerable Past as the Fountainhead of Knowledge, and to place ourselves in humble attitude, as juniors and disciples, at the feet of those "gray fathers" of the Ancient World. This indeed is but a sentiment, which reflection speedily corrects; and, as happens to most sentiments, even to those that have a divine Right of Rule, it is not suffered to stand in the way of any practical interest that touches the business and bosoms of men. Reverence for Antiquity will impede no man's

gains, and the Wisdom of our Ancestors is seldom used as an argument against change, except when it is a profitable plea. There are minds, no doubt, abstracted from the world, with whom this worship of the Past is a lofty and enthusiastic sentiment, nor do we envy the man whose thoughts are never tinged by its solemn power. But still, wherever in the press of real life, in the great questions that practically affect Society, that sentiment holds its place as a guide to conduct, it will be found on the side of Interest and Ease, that under its influence large classes of men neither make sacrifices for the good of others, nor resist advantages for themselves. It has indeed too slight a basis of truth to be of any practical force, except when allied with some secret motive of self. That no voice comes to us from the first Ages of the world for thousands of years, because, as children write no Histories, undeveloped man had nothing to record; — that the earliest exercise of human faculties was in the helpless surrender of the Imagination, a dim, passive, and shadowy Mirror, to the forms of the Outward World; - that the first Worship and the first Civilization were in rude attempts to symbolize the Powers of Nature in vast and shapeless emblems; - that the period of authertic History commenced only when Man ceased to lie, like a dreaming child, on the mighty bosom of the External Universe, and awoke dimly to the consciousness of an inward Life and a spiritual Nature, designed to interpret and rule the Outward, not to lie prostrate beneath it; cumulative and her lessons

even

that Experience is acmost abundant, not in