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III. The connection of the ninth chapter with this Christian Duty, of consideration for the wounded Conscience of the weakest Disciple, is not distinctly stated. Yet there can be no doubt that St. Paul appealed to his own Example, in proof that he made. no claim on their forbearance or tenderness that he himself was not willing to observe, and that the superior Knowledge, and spiritual Liberty, which had never exonerated him from tender adaptation to the wants, weaknesses, and susceptibilities of Jew or Gentile, could not be pleaded by them in excuse for the sin of self-concentrated disregard for the moral Temptations that belonged to any peculiar experiences, or forms of mind. There is a slight obscurity, or strangeness, in occasional expressions, arising, it would appear, from St. Paul's alluding, in an indirect way, to the injurious representations of his depreciating opponents at Corinth, whilst at the same time he is pursuing the main current of his Christian argument. It is only on this supposition, that some unjust suspicion had been cast on the generosity of his motives, or some doubt hinted of the authority of his Apostleship, on the ground that he had had no personal intercourse with Christ, that we can account for the necessity he seems to feel, of first vindicating his Character, which in the Second Epistle we shall find him obliged to do at great length,and of claiming the fulness of his Office, before he proceeds to make application to their case of the Example he had shown of the voluntary resignation of his own Liberty, for the sake of the spiritual welfare of the Church. For the sake of unobstructed access

to the Jewish mind, he had resigned his Liberty in ceremonial observances, in meats, and drinks, and fasts, and remained under the Law, though no man made less account of such matters. For the sake of entire devotion to his missionary service, he had resigned all personal affections, and wedded his spirit only to the Church of Christ. For the sake of the loftier influence that belongs to an unrewarded service, he had resigned his Right of maintenance, the Right of living by his work that belongs to every laborer, even to the ox that treadeth out the corn, - and he had toiled with his own hands, that he might burden no one, and the Gospel be a free gift. The early life of Saul the Persecutor, the enemy of Christ, left one indelible impression on the heart of the Apostle, not in bitterness or remorse, but in the inextinguishable desire to do free service for the Gospel,

to atone for the Past by spending, and being spent, in its cause, without being placed in any connection with it to which the thought of a recompense could attach. How noble is this desire to do something voluntarily, over and above what he was bound to do, on the part of one who, though no victim of morbid memories, could not altogether efface from his heart its past history. "Though I preach the Gospel, I have nothing to glory of: because necessity is laid upon me; yea, woe is unto me if I preach not the Gospel. But if I do this willingly, I have a reward. What then is my reward? Verily, that, while I preach the Gospel, I make the ministry of the Gospel to be without recompense, that I serve in Love." "And though free from all men, I

have made myself the slave of all, that, by meeting their wants, I might win them to the Gospel. With the Jews I had intercourse as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews: to those without the Law, I became as one under Law to God and Christ only,—that I might gain those that were without the Jewish Law; to the weak I became as weak, that I might gain the weak: I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some. And this have I done for the Gospel's sake, that I, too, may have a share in its diffusion."

The application to the Corinthians, and to all men, lies in this, that the Christian service is one of disinterested regard for the benefit of others, and that we must abjure our self-will whenever it interferes with this end, — and, instead of standing on our individuality, forget ourselves in sympathy. This is the incorruptible crown for which the Christian strives, this is the glory of Christ himself, to find our life and joy, not in working our own pleasure, or seeking our own ends, but in blessing others, when and how they can be blessed, and finding, without, seeking, our own blessedness therein. And if we seek this glory of the Lord, we must first strive for mastery over ourselves, and keep our selfwill under, and have our affections directed not on ourselves but out of ourselves, fixed on those whom by our true service we may bless, else we "run with no definite object, and we fight as one that beats the air." Those who would be Victors in this contest, Athletes in this fight, must carry no dead-weights of selfishness, — must find their element in the spirit

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

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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.

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