I. THE CONDUCT ABJURED. Paul sought not his own profit; and he dissuades Christians generally from doing so. By this we are to understand that our own profit is not to be the one ruling principle of our life. Certainly it is not wrong to seek our own spiritual welfare and eternal salvation; for this we are responsible, to this we are called. But having found Christ ourselves, we are not to make our personal advantage our one and only concern. They who seek such an end always fail; none are more stunted in spiritual growth than those whose only thought is how they may obtain abundant nourishment for themselves. Christians must be prepared to sacrifice religious advantages and enjoyments, when such a sacrifice is demanded in the interests of their fellow men.
II. THE RULE ADOPTED. Paul's rule, which he commends to us, was to "please all men." This might easily be misunderstood, for nothing is baser than a habit of pandering to the passions and courting the favour and humouring the prejudices of all we meet with. But there is a pliancy and adaptation of character and demeanour, which flows from and expresses sympathy, and which is a sure road to most men's hearts. It is no degradation to condescend to the simple and illiterate, to enter into the thoughts and pursuits of the scholarly, to talk the languages of the foreigner, to share the ways and the life of any man, in innocence and without duplicity. It was by this habit, carried to excess, that the Jesuits gained their hold upon individual natures and upon general society. And it is by this habit, rather than by great powers of thought or of speech, that successful servants of Christ usually achieve their success.
III. THE AIM SOUGHT.
1. It respects "the many." This is just like the large heart of Paul, who in this was a true follower of Christ himself. The Lord's purpose is to draw "all men" unto himself; his prediction, that "many" shall come and sit down in his kingdom; and his commission: "Preach the gospel to every creature." He gave his life a ransom "for many;" his blood was shed for "many;" he bare the sins of "many."
2. It is their immediate "profit" or advantage. What he concerned himself not about, as far as he himself was concerned, he anxiously sought for others.
3. The final aim is the salvation of mankind; a purpose and hope which may well justify, and indeed all but compel, self denial and effort; for salvation includes all blessings of which human nature is capable, and the prolongation, the perpetuation, of those blessings throughout a glorious eternity.—T.
HOMILIES BY E. HURNDALL
1 Corinthians 10:1-12
Old Testament pictures.
Painted from life. Painted for our inspection and instruction. Painted by the genius of inspiration.
I. A PICTURE OF PRIVILEGE. The privileges of the Israelites were, like our own, multifarious. Five are here enumerated.
1. The Israelites were all "under the cloud." They were thus signally protected by God. He was in the cloud; "The Lord went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light "(Exodus 13:21). Divine protection is a great privilege. How safe we are if God keeps us! Of themselves, the Israelites were peculiarly helpless and defenceless; but they were stronger than the strongest because God was with them. Our great ally is God.
2. They all "passed through the sea." Special deliverance was theirs. Menaced by fearful danger, they were required merely to walk on, and they walked out of the peril. They were hedged in, but God made for them a path through the waters. God always leaves one safe way for those whom he favours. God helps us when we are at our wits' end. Everything fails, but God never fails.
3. They were all "baptized unto Moses." They became his disciples—were under his leadership; he, under God, was their ruler and head. A great privilege, for Moses was a prince among men. Association with such a man, divinely commissioned for his great work, was no slight mark of God's favour. We are baptized unto a greater than Moses. The "cloud and sea" were their baptism, typifying the "water and Spirit" of ours (John 3:5).
4. They were all fed. A table was spread for them in the wilderness—and a good table too; God does not half starve his children. No ordinary fare was theirs; it was "spiritual meat." It was not coarse; it was "angels' food" (Psalms 78:25). It was "spiritual," being derived from the great Spirit; God fed them. This meat had, therefore, a message for their spirits, as well as sustenance for their bodies; it spoke of the love of God; it was thus still further "spiritual meat." Moreover, it pointed to the bread which should by and by come down from heaven (John 6:35), of which it is now our privilege to partake, and which the pious Israelite fed upon by faith.
5. They were all supplied with drink. "They drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ." The water which came to them was from God, and was thus like the meat, "spiritual;" and, if intelligently received as from Divine love, quenched spiritual as well as physical thirst. But we are told that "that Rock was Christ." Not only did it foreshadow him, who was smitten that the waters of salvation might flow out to a perishing world (Isaiah 53:5), but from him came the supply of the physical wants of the Israelites. He, having had all things connected with the administration of the world committed to him, was with the people of God in the wilderness and ministered to their needs. The expected Messiah was in their midst as Ruler and miraculous Worker; yet then, as afterwards, he was hidden from their eyes. The spiritual Rock "followed them;" Christ ministered to their physical and spiritual need continuously. Divine favours never fail the believer. Always in the wilderness here, but always cared for.
II. A PICTURE OF TRANSGRESSION. As five special privileges are enumerated, five instances of transgression are recorded.
1. They lusted after evil things. They were not content with the good things provided by God. They complained of the manna and longed for the flesh pots of Egypt. That these were identified with their bondage seemed to matter to them but little. Professors of religion sometimes hanker after old delights, though these are associated with their earlier years of disobedience and sin. The provisions of God's house are "light bread;" they want the more tasty dishes of the world. The Corinthians were tempted by meats identified with idol worship; they were in danger of imitating the sin of Israel. Egypt tastes cling to us; we should mortify them.
2. They became idolatrous. Almost insensibly, but very truly. When they made the golden calf, they no doubt intended it only as a symbol of deity, and designed to worship the true God through it (Exodus 32:5), but they began by disobedience to an express command (Exodus 20:4, Exodus 20:5), and they terminated in gross idolatry and in many evils often connected with it. They went near to the fire, and were burned. People do not become idolatrous instantly, but by steps. The Israelites were impatient, had a great sense of their own importance and of their privileges, east off restraint—and fell. On the spot where they had solemnly promised obedience they transgressed. The danger of the Corinthians was similar. They did not intend to worship idols when they inclined towards the sacrificial feasts of the heathen, but this was the practical peril, and those who participated in these feasts were in danger of becoming apostates nigh to the very spot which had witnessed their confession of Christ. We should hot seek to go to the end of our tether; under the strain the tether may break. Those who seek to go as far as they may, often go much further. Liberty and licence live next door to each other.
3. They fell into immorality. False worship leads to false life. Idolatry to the Israelites was the door of sensuality (Numbers 25:1-9). It threatened to be so to the Corinthians. First idol recognition, then participation in idol rites, many of which were scandalously impure. It might be difficult to draw the line; not theoretically perhaps, but practically. And the temptation to go further would assuredly be strong. When we get away from God, corruption soon masters us. On the devil's ground the devil has great power. We laugh at the danger, but the author of the danger laughs at us. How low the privileged may fall! The chosen people have become as moral scum and refuse.
4. They tempted God. Or Christ, as the Angel (Exodus 23:20) and Administrator of the Divine kingdom. By their sinfulness they tried the forbearance of God—they provoked him. Their unbelief and disobedience strained his long suffering to the utmost. This was a great sin. The Corinthians were in peril of committing it by verging towards idolatry and living as much like men of the world as they dared. We should ask, not only what effect our conduct may have upon ourselves, but how it affects God. It may arouse the Divine anger. It was to those who provoked him that God sware" they shall not enter into my rest."
5. They murmured against God. And this murmuring was of no insignificant character. It was an impugning of the Divine character—a charge of evil against the infinitely good. The reference may be to Numbers 14:2 and to Numbers 16:41. The justice, the wisdom, and the love of God were assailed; and what could be a greater crime? "Murmuring;" we say and think but little of it. What creatures of words we are! The charge against God was none the less evil that it was indirect—it was made directly against Moses and Aaron. In Numbers 16:41 the Israelites say," Ye have killed the people of the Lord," though it must have been patent to all that Moses and Aaron had nothing to do with the actual death of Korah and his company. The Israelites' sin was made no better by the cowardice which prompted them to make a charge against men, which they intended for God, but dared not make against him. The Corinthians, many of them, murmured against Paul, and perhaps would murmur more after his sharp rebukes. Now, here was a question suggested for them, "Against whom are you really murmuring?" A pregnant question for us. We may half unconsciously veil our attacks upon God by directing them against our fellows. But after all, what is it we find fault with? Is it of man, confined to him? Or is it of God, coming to us through men? We should ponder what is involved in making charges against God indirectly. Note: Privilege cannot "keep us from falling." It cannot hold us up. Though numbered amongst God's people and participating in Divine favours, we may perish. Though we have sailed over many spiritual seas, we may yet "make shipwreck of faith." We need to be watchful and diligent, lest we become "castaways." The peril of the Corinthians under higher privilege than that of Israel was so clearly foreseen that these things were written for their admonition (Numbers 16:11), and these "examples" of privilege and fall were for their eyes to behold (Numbers 16:6). They are for ours also, for upon us, with them, "the ends of the ages are come" (Numbers 16:11). Especially do those need to beware who are over confident. "Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall" (Numbers 16:12). Some are so sure, that they run into temptation and perish. Self confidence leads to disaster, God confidence to security.
III. A PICTURE OF PUNISHMENT. Great privilege—great sin—great punishment. Jehovah will "by no means spare the guilty." Condign punishment followed Israel's transgression. God's stern messengers to her were:
1. Sword; as Exodus 32:27.
2. Plague; as Numbers 16:44-49 and Numbers 25:9.
3. Serpents; as Numbers 21:6.
4. Other death heralds, followed by the overthrow in the wilderness of those who had sinned (Numbers 21:5, Numbers 21:13). "God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap" (Galatians 6:7). As privilege cannot save us from sin, neither can it save us from punishment. God's justice was impugned, but it was not impaired; those who murmured against it felt its stroke. How gracious is God to those who submit themselves and are obedient! how terrible to those who dare him! If his chosen people did not escape, "how shall we escape?" Our fall will be greater, as our privileges are. "Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace?" (Hebrews 10:29). These are three companion pictures to be hung in our gallery and to be often studied.—H.
1 Corinthians 10:13
The hour of temptation.
I. TEMPTATION COMES TO ALL. It came to the writer of this Epistle, to all the apostles, to Christ himself. It has come to the great and good in all ages, as well as to the insignificant and evil. It will come to us. The conditions of our life on earth make it unavoidable. It must not be regarded as indicative of Divine disfavour or as an evil altogether. The salutary effect of the hour of temptation has often been shown in the hour after temptation. Many who have fallen "into manifold temptations" have been led to "count it all joy" (James 1:2).
II. TO BE TEMPTED IS NOT TO SIN. We need to remember this. Some sensitive natures conclude that they must be very sinful because they are so much tempted, whereas multiplicity of temptation is often rather an evidence of faithfulness and integrity. The strongest attacks are made upon the strongest forts. Satan does not waste his ammunition. He would not be so earnestly seeking to capture us if we were already completely his captives. Repeated temptation argues the existence of resistance. Sin is consent to the temptation. Where there is no acquiescence there is no sin. The greatly tempted Christ was the perfectly sinless Christ.
III. TEMPTATION IS NOT COMPULSION. Some dread temptation, because they think it will force them to that which is evil. But since the world was, no man has ever been compelled to commit a single sin. Satan has no power of compulsion. Indeed, to be "compelled to sin" involves a contradiction in terms; if we are compelled, there can be no sin. We could not be responsible if we were under compulsion. Temptation at its strongest is only inducement. Satan said to Christ, "Cast thyself down;" he can say no mere to us; he cannot cast us down. Here the responsibility of sin comes in. Every sin that we commit is voluntary. We do it—no one else.
IV. GOD'S GRACIOUS PROVISION FOR HIS TEMPTED PEOPLE.
1. He will not allow them to be unduly tempted. Our temptations are under his control. His eye is upon us whilst we are tempted. His hand is stretched out. His voice says, "Thus far." Though he never tempts us in an evil sense, every temptation is weighed by him before it reaches us. He is faithful to his covenant with believers (1 Thessalonians 5:24).
2. He will provide the appropriate means for dealing with the temptation. A "way of escape," not necessarily from the temptation, but from the peril of it. As with Job, Daniel, Paul (2 Corinthians 12:8, 2 Corinthians 12:9). "The way of escape" as it should be rendered—the precise way in which the temptation should be received, borne, resisted. This way of escape comes with the temptation: when the temptation comes, this comes also; to the true believer the two are inseparable. With the sickness comes the cure, with the shaft the shield. In temptation we should look to God; from him cometh our help. When the enemy comes in like a flood, he lifts up the standard against him. The promise is only to those who are in alliance with God. Others go down under temptation, not because they are compelled, but because to the invitation from without there is a quick response from within. We should enter into covenant with God through Christ; then we shall be in his hands who can "keep us from falling" and who will.—H.
1 Corinthians 10:14-22
Wariness in Christian walk.
A burning question amongst Corinthian Christians was whether they were justified in partaking of sacrifices offered to idols. With this the apostle deals in several parts of these Epistles. Note the course of his argument here.
I. HE LIFTS THE VEIL FROM IDOLATRY. He is quite willing to allow that an idol is nothing in itself, and that meats offered to an idol are in themselves as though they had not been so offered. But he thrusts upon the attention the startling truth that, when men professedly sacrifice to idols, they really sacrifice to devils. "They sacrificed unto devils, not to God; to gods whom they knew not" (Deuteronomy 32:17).
1. The character of many of the heathen deities was Satanic. The conception of the worshippers was largely a conception of the character of devils.
2. Paganism is a part of the Satanic kingdom. It is not of the true God, and what is not of him is of the devil. There are but two masters. Pagan worship is the worship of the false, and the false is of Satan, not of God. Behind every idol, because it is an idol, lurks a devil. The dumb image and the supposed deity associated with it are but masks hiding the face of the fiend. An idol is nothing; yes, but "nothings" are generally the veils of very palpable "somethings." Beware of the nothings of life; they are most dangerous because least dreaded.
3. When any objects are worshipped in the place of God, the devil kingdom is served. Idolatry of whatever sort involves "sacrifice to devils." All sin is homage and offering to Satan, the "god of this world." The truth applies when pure things, as well as when impure, are substituted for God. Satanic interests are advanced; a sacrifice is laid upon the altar of darkness.
II. HE SHOWS WHAT PARTAKING OF HEATHEN SACRIFICES INVOLVES.
1. To all. As the sacrifice is virtually offered to devils, partaking of it when it is in the form of a sacrifice—this would not apply to meat sold in the shambles (1 Corinthians 10:25) or to meat at a friend's house (1 Corinthians 10:27)—involves fellowship with devils. Established by reference to:
2. To Christians specially. It is an attempt to serve God and his greatest enemies. This is what it amounts to really, though not necessarily with full realization of the fact on the part of the participants.
1 Corinthians 10:26
The great Proprietor.
I. REALIZE AND REMEMBER THE FACT OF GOD'S UNIVERSAL PROPRIETORSHIP. It is easy to say that all things are God's, but difficult to adequately grasp and to retain this in our minds. We yield a ready acquiescence, are but little impressed because the truth is cloudy to us, and then go our way thinking, speaking, and acting, as though God did not own a square foot of ground in the universe! Yet all things are his—the earth and its fulness, small things and great, "our possessions" and the possessions of others, things consecrated to him and things unconsecrated, creatures who obey and creatures who disobey,—all are his.
II. GOD'S PROPRIETORSHIP MAKES THE WORLD MORE BEAUTIFUL.
1. His possessions become associated with himself. We prize certain things because they belong or belonged to our dear ones. All around us has been and is God's. Interesting in themselves, their interest is increased without limit as the whisper comes to us, "They are all God's and of God."
2. As his proprietorship springs from his creation of all things, we may be able to trace his mind in objects around us, to see the marks of his fingers, to behold his skill and power. He will be reflected to some extent in his works.
3. He has purposes in connection with his possessions. Everything was made for some end. We may discern some of these ends. We may know that the principle is universal, and may thus be stimulated to seek for further knowledge.
4. Brings good cheer into a world where there is much to sadden. Not the earth was the Lord's, but the earth is the Lord's. It is still in his hands. Here is light amid dense darkness. The world has not slipped from the grasp of the Eternal—he holds it now.
III. GOD'S PROPRIETORSHIP SHOULD INFLUENCE OUR USE OF THE WORLD AND THE THINGS THEREOF. If all things are God's, they should not be used
IV. GOD'S PROPRIETORSHIP EXTENDS TO OURSELVES. If "the earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof," we are his.
1. We are not our own.
2. Let us not think, feel, speak, or act as though we were.
V. IF WE ARE REDEEMED, WE SHARE IN GOD'S PROPRIETORSHIP. As children do in the possessions of their father. If we are in Christ, God is our Father. We have received the adoption of children. We are "heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ." How rich is the condition of the poorest believer! how exalted the status of the humblest! The way to power, dignity, and wealth is the way of the cross; for thus we become the inheritors of all things. "All things are yours."—H.
1 Corinthians 10:31
The great rule of life.
I. WHAT IT IS. To seek the glory of God. There have been and are many life rules; this alone is flawless. Many have themselves as life ends. Some enjoin us to make the welfare of others our life object, and preach to us "the greatest happiness of the greatest number," which would prove a very high and excellent object to aim at were it a little less obscure and a little more practicable; but it would not be high enough even then. God must be the Sun of our system, not ourselves or others. Then order and well being result, but otherwise confusion, contradiction, chaos. When we truly seek God's glory, neither our own interest nor that of others will be prejudiced, but the reverse. This life rule is:
1. Reasonable. As creatures, we should live to our Creator. All we have, and all we are, belong to God; it is intensely reasonable that they should be used for his pleasure.
2. Beneficial. It fulfils the object of our creation. If that object be frustrated, God is robbed, others are injured, and we cannot profit. Our life must be according to the Divine intent, or it will become pernicious all round.
3. Joy bringing. We are "out of gear" until our lives are thus ordered. We may gain excitement, but we shall lack solid satisfaction. The joy of heaven arises from the fact that those in it live for God; heavenly joy comes to earth where heavenly life comes.
II. To WHAT IT APPLIES. The answer is brief—to everything. It is a rule for all life, for every part of life. Note particularly that it applies to small things as well as great, to so called secular things as to sacred. But the distinction is destroyed—it makes all things sacred. It saves anything from becoming insignificant by giving it this supreme significance, "the glory of God." It makes everything interesting and useful. The apostle particularizes such acts as eating and drinking—the most familiar and commonplace. A man should eat and drink so as to be fitted for serving God. How many by gluttony and wine bibbing are unfitted! "Sunday religion" is a flagrant violation of the apostolic precept. Obedience will make our piety continuous, and there is no piety which is not so. How different our lives would be if this commandment were ever in our thoughts! What a check it would prove to self seeking and to sin generally! How much we should have to discontinue because such things could not possibly be done to the Divine glory! How strangely beautiful our lives would become if we yielded a full obedience!
III. WHAT IT INVOLVES.
1. Conversion. However it may be with others, we to whom the gospel has come cannot live to the glory of God if we reject Christ. Apart from Christ we are the enemies of God. Our lives may be moral, but the rejection of Christ is like poison mixed with good food—resulting in a poisonous mass. We must come to God in the appointed way before we can serve him. There is a parallel passage to the text: "Whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus" (Colossians 3:17). We must start at Calvary. We must be converted to God before we can glorify him. "They that are in the flesh cannot please God" (Romans 8:8).
2. Direct service offered to God. In worship. In Christian enterprise and labour. It we use the smaller opportunities of bringing glory to God, we shall not neglect the greater. The man who serves God in his home and business will seek to serve him also in the Church and in spheres of Christian usefulness. The man who professes to serve God on one day out of seven is more than open to suspicion, and so is the man who professes to serve God on six.
3. Duties to ourselves. Our duties to ourselves are our duties to God. We cannot glorify God unless we observe his laws, and many of these are directed towards our personal well being. By self improvement, by growth in grace, by increase in physical, mental, and spiritual health, we may glorify our Father who is in heaven.
4. Duties to others. The first and second commandments (Matthew 22:37-39) are indissolubly united. When we truly serve men we serve God. We may glorify God by seeking to advance the true interests of our fellow creatures. Under the guidance of this principle, we shall:
HOMILIES BY J. WAITE
1 Corinthians 10:1-4
Ancient types.
These incidents of patriarchal history were typical of what belongs to the Christian age (1 Corinthians 10:11). A "type" is one of two things—it is either a figure and prophecy of something to come, the antitype, in which the idea of the type finds its full and complete unfolding; or it is the example and representative of a class, combining and setting forth most distinctly the characteristics of that class. Both these meanings may to some extent be involved here, but we take the latter to be the more prominent and the more important. To say that these incidents mystically foreshadowed the "sacraments of the Christian Church," or that they are "a standing testimony to the importance of the Christian sacraments as necessary to the membership of Christ" (Alford); or to attempt to gather from them definite teaching as to the mode and order of those sacraments,—all this is to subordinate the inner truth and meaning of the subject to the mere accidental form. We take these incidents as typical of principles rather than ordinances, of living truths rather than of the ritual forms in which those truths may be embodied. There are three representative facts here.
I. THE CLOUD AND THE SEA. (For the narrative of the crossing of the Red Sea and the movement of the cloud, see Exodus 14:1-31.) From this it would appear that the Israelites, in a very literal sense, passed "under the cloud and through the sea," i.e. through the bed and channel of it, through its very depths. The cloud was to them emphatically "a guide, a glory, a defence," and the divided sea the instrument of their deliverance—the grave of their enemies, but to them the gate into a region of freer, nobler life. See here a beautiful memorial of the grand truth of God's perpetual guidance and guardianship of his people. The Divine providence of human life, specially of all consecrated life, was thus made visibly, palpably manifest to the men of that age. The providence that assumes a variety of forms but is always animated by one and the same spirit; the providence that arranges circumstances and determines issues, that both marks out and clears the way, that shields from harm and avenges it, that interposes difficulties and also removes them, that leads into danger and then makes a way of escape; the ever watchful, kindly, faithful providence of an all wise Father, a gracious and almighty Redeemer;—it is this that we here see typically represented. The miraculous apparition or incident, which in its very nature was local and temporary, did but bear witness to the universal and abiding fact. It is in accordance with our advanced position in the history of the kingdom of God that we should be thrown more entirely on the exercise of our faith for the apprehension of this, as of every other Divine truth. But the wing of the same beneficent providence is over us, though we have no such significant symbol of it. The overshadowing cloud leads us, often in "a way that we know not,"—it may be into the entanglement of mountain difficulties, through deep waters of sorrow, over waste wildernesses of unrest; but always in the right way, the way that is best fitted to "prove" us and to develop in us the needful moral qualities. And it is a way signalized often by unexpected deliverances. The mountains are not found to be so terrible as they seemed. The waters divide when we step down into them. The very wilderness abounds with fruits of tender, succouring love that we could scarcely have known if we had never entered it, The angel of the Lord still goes before his people as in the days of old—
"Leader of faithful souls and guide
Of all who travel to the sky."
II. THE BAPTISM UNTO MOSES. We regard this as referring to nothing in Christian baptism beyond the essential idea and principle of it. As a formal rite, there was nothing in the experience of the Israelites in coming out of Egypt that bears the remotest resemblance to it, and it is a waste of ingenuity to attempt to find out such a resemblance. But what is the essential moral meaning of this rite. It is consecration, dedication. It is a sign and a pledge, the avowal of a faith, the oath of an allegiance. In passing "under the cloud and through the sea," the fathers became the avowed followers of Moses. It was the pledge, the sign, the seal, of their allegiance to him as God's anointed "leader and commander of the people." And his leadership of that emancipated host did but dimly shadow forth Christ's headship of his ransomed Church (Hebrews 3:5, Hebrews 3:6). As the uprising of that host, with all its tribes and families, at the call of Moses, was the formal pledge of submission to him, so our assumption of the sacred name of "Christian" commits us to the responsibility of following and obeying Christ. The supreme tact in the history of all the ages is God's redemption of the human race by Jesus Christ his Son. Through him God. enters into a new relation to humanity. In him humanity rises into its true freedom and dignity. By him the kingdom of God upon earth is established, consummated, led on through varying fortunes to final victory and glorious everlasting rest. "The Head of every man is Christ." He bears to every man the triple relation of "Prophet, Priest, and King." Shall not this historical covenant relation of the fathers to Moses teach us seriously to consider how far we are worthily maintaining our true personal allegiance to Him?
III. THE SPIRITUAL MEAT AND DRINK. The word "spiritual," as applied to the manna and the water from the rock, refers to their supernatural origin, rather than to their essential quality. They were not the result of ordinary physical causes, but the direct and miraculous product of an unseen spiritual power. Whether, in saying the rock "followed them," the apostle gives countenance to a fanciful Jewish tradition or not, this deeper truth is sure—"that Rock was Christ." Both the manna from heaven and the water from the rock were shadows, the substance, the "body," of which is in Christ (John 4:13, John 4:14; John 6:32-35, John 6:49-51). Here, again, is an old world witness to that grand truth which is at once the centre and the circumference of the whole circle of Divine revelations—that in Christ alone is there life for the souls of men. He alone can satisfy their hunger and allay their thirst; he alone can nourish and build up the fabric of their being unto a blessed immortality. Faintly gleaming through those ancient types and figures, as in the morning twilight, it is to us the glorious, full orbed revelation of the gospel day—life from God for a perishing world through Jesus Christ his Son. "This is the record," etc. (1 John 5:11). The providence, the lordship, and the life-giving power of Christ are the three great truths that we find typically represented in these historical memorials. How nobly did the lives of many of our fathers bear witness to their faith in these truths! The world in which they moved may have been strangely different in its outward aspects from ours, but the substantial realities of human life were the same.
"The old order changeth, giving place to new;"
but the vital principles that underlie that order change not. As regards the Divine relationships and the essential needs of our being, we stand just where our fathers did. We are encompassed by the same almighty power and love. We pass through the same kind. of discipline, are exposed to the same dangers, realize the same deliverances, bear the same burdens of responsibility. We live by the same spiritual food, are saved by the same mercy, redeemed by the same atoning sacrifice. "All flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass," etc. (1 Peter 1:24, 1 Peter 1:25).—W.
1 Corinthians 10:31
Eating and drinking to the glory of God.
The particular questions with which the apostle here deals may be of comparatively little interest to us, but, as usual in, such cases, he brings to bear on them principles that affect the moral life of man in every age. So far as he speaks of the right or wrong of eating that which has been offered in sacrifice to idols, or attending heathen festivals, he is treating of what may have been of great moment to Corinthian Christians in apostolic times, but does not much concern us now. When, however, he says, "All things are lawful for me," etc.; "Let no man seek his own," etc.; "The earth is the Lord's," etc.; "Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God," he is laying down laws that are of universal and eternal obligation. Our aim must be to distinguish this vital and enduring element from all that is local and temporary; to extract from that which may seem foreign to our interest those Divine lessons that bear on the deepest realities of our individual and social life. Here, then, lies one grand condition of all true nobility of character and deed. Every man is great and honourable in proportion as he makes the "glory of God" the definite and conscious aim of his existence. "Whether therefore ye eat or drink," etc. Note respecting this apostolic exhortation—
I. THE GROUND ON WHICH IT RESTS—the absolute sovereignty of God's claims. The twofold character of this Divine right is recognized.