1. Natural proprietorship. "The earth is the Lord's," etc. (1 Corinthians 10:26, 1 Corinthians 10:28; Psalms 24:1-10:12); "Of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever" (Romans 11:36). The end of all creatural existence must needs be the glory of him who created it. In proportion as we recognize the fact that all the springs of our being are in God, that all the faculties of our nature, all the resources, materials, and relations of our life are from him, we shall feel that our existence answers its true end, life is worth living, just so far as it fulfils his purposes.
2. Personal redemption. There is a more tender but not less powerful claim established by that marvellous act of grace of which the "table of the Lord," with its "cup of blessing" and its "broken bread," is the perpetual memorial. "Ye are not your own, ye are bought with a price," etc. (1 Corinthians 6:19, 1 Corinthians 6:20). Here is a proprietorship superadded to that of the original and natural relation. See the fatherhood of God as it appears in the cross of Jesus, and the sovereignty of his claims comes home to you, not with the mere force of natural authority, but with the resistless persuasiveness of unparalleled self surrendering love.
II. THE SENSE OF MORAL FREEDOM IN US TO WHICH IT MAKES ITS APPEAL. The essential dignity of our nature is implied in this assertion of God's claims over us. The inferior creatures show forth his glory by fulfilling the ends for which he has created them, but their service is rendered by a law and necessity of their being which they have no power to resist. The myriad forms of lower life that people the earth and air and sea cannot but obey the instincts of their nature, and in that blind, instinctive obedience the end of their existence is attained. To us alone belongs the mysterious, self regulating power by which it lies with ourselves to determine whether we will respond to the Divine appeal or refuse to do so. These inferior creatures of God, all of which in themselves "are good" (1 Timothy 4:4), are intended to be the instruments of our higher purpose. We are "crowned with glory and honour" above them all, that we may interpret their voices and utilize their powers in presenting to him our living tribute of gratitude and love and service. Our daily life, in its deeper moral meaning, proclaims how far this is really the case with us. As every new day dawns upon us, God throws it upon us afresh to decide whether we will" use the world" as we ought to use it by living to his glory, or will "abuse it" by following the impulses of our own self will and serving the idols of our own imagination or carnal appetite.
III. THE FAMILIAR COMMONPLACE FIELD OF INTEREST IN WHICH IT IS TO BE FULFILLED. "Whether ye eat or drink," etc. The simplest materials of our life are to be consecrated to his service, and the meanest doings of life are to be made designedly a tribute to his praise. We greatly err if we imagine certain things to be so purely physical or so trivial as to have nothing to do with the sublimer interests and responsibilities of our being. You learn the deepest truth of things only when you come to see spiritual principles and laws and issues enshrined in them; that everything, in fact, in the root of it, in its inmost heart and core, is spiritual, and bears some relation to that higher part of us which will endure for ever. No doubt life is for the most part an aggregate of many little things. To some it may seem but a monotonous round of trivialities—the same things done day after day in the same way and to the same end, and that an end of very little moment. But may not the noblest principles of moral feeling and life, as motive powers, be underlying these seemingly insignificant activities, and making them really great? Infuse something of the wealth of a devout and godly soul into them, and the meanest doings of your life become no longer mean, That inner, invisible greatness of holy thought and feeling makes them great. There is no motive so lofty but it may be brought to bear upon the so called trifles that make up the story of our days. The minutest movements of the material world around us are effected by the same forces as govern the most majestic.
"The very law that moulds a tear
And makes it trickle from its source,
That law preserves the earth a sphere
And guides the planets in their course."
So may the grand motives of reverence for God and love to the Saviour give shape and beauty, consistence and harmony, to everything we do. And then, he who "seeth not as man seeth," who recognizes none of our distinctions of great and. small, will accept it as a welcome tribute to his praise. The poor widow's consecration of her "two mites" to the Lord's treasury, the "cup of cold water" given to the disciple in the name of a disciple, the simplest act of real Christian service and self sacrificing love, these are as pleasing to him as the heroism of a Paul compassing sea and land with painful toil and travail that he may win souls, or a Luther daring the dark powers of earth and hell in his brave witness for the truth. Learn to fill your common everyday life with the inspiration of a high and holy purpose. This will make it far other than it seems to be, more real, more satisfying, less like a mere feverish pursuit of unsubstantial shadows. It will then become a thing of imperishable beauty and worth. Its outward incidents will be but as the scaffolding within which the structure of a holy character and glorious destiny is being raised. The outer form of it will be a matter of small concern to you so that that interior work is going on well. Take this spiritual view of things, and yours shall be indeed a consecrated life, in which every work you do will be as a "sacrament," and every step you take will lead you nearer to your home in God.—W.
HOMILIES BY D. FRASER
1 Corinthians 10:3, 1 Corinthians 10:4
Meat and drink for God's people.
By a few master strokes of his pen St. Paul indicated the typical significance of Israel's life in the wilderness. His object in these allusions to the Old Testament was to correct party spirit among the Greek Christians of the first century, by showing that, like the tribes of Israel in the old time, the people of Christ are one in respect of their redemption and consolation in him. As all the Hebrew fathers were delivered from slavery in Egypt, so all the Christians are delivered from the bondage of the flesh. As all of them were baptized unto Moses in the cloud and the sea, so all the Christians have been baptized into Christ by death and burial with him. As all of them ate of the manna from the Lord, so all Christians have the same spiritual food; and as all of them drank of the water from the smitten rock in Horeb, so all Christians drink of the same spiritual Rock, which is Christ. Thus what God did for Israel, he did for all; what he gave to Israel, he gave to all that people. It was the fault of the people that this unity was broken. "Some of them were idolaters;" "some of them committed fornication;" "some of them tempted the Lord;" "some of them murmured." Christians should mark this, and beware lest any of them, through temptations to idolatry, fleshliness, or wilfulness, forfeit what the Lord has provided for all of them without respect of persons. Here are the necessaries of the spiritual as of the natural life—food and drink, bread and water.
I. SPIRITUAL FOOD. The Israelites got manna as a direct and free gift from God. Christians receive Christ as "the true Bread which came down from heaven," a direct and a free gift from God. The bread is his flesh which he has given for the life of the world; i.e. Christ nourishes his people through the efficacy of his atonement. Whosoever heartily believes in Christ crucified eats by faith of the flesh which is heavenly bread. The emphasis in this passage lies on the words, "They all did eat the same." In the wilderness, every family of the whole redeemed nation ate daily of exactly the same bread with every other family. Moses himself partook of the manna, and so did the lowest of the people. There was no difference between the princes of Israel and the feeblest in the tribes, between the old people and the children, or between masters and servants. All partook of the same daily bread. So there is the same Christ for all of us. Believers have the same life and the same support or staff of life. No matter what social and intellectual distinctions may be among us, or what varieties of view on secondary points; in this we are at one, that we have the same spiritual food. And we show this when we all partake together of the Lord's Supper.
II. SPIRITUAL DRINK. The water from the rock at Horeb not only supplied the immediate want, but was of use to the tribes of Israel for many days. Now, that rock signified Christ. Jehovah said to Moses, "I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb." So God is now before us in Christ Jesus, able and willing to satisfy all the poor and needy whose hearts faint and" fail them for thirst." Christ as the Rock smitten is a Fountain of life, available to us now, and not now only, but all our lives long. As the bread resolves itself into the flesh, so the stream also into the precious blood of Christ. We eat the flesh and drink the blood of the Son of man, according to his own teaching at Capernaum. Thus we are again brought to the fact and virtue of the atonement. That which it would be gross and intolerable to eat and drink after a literal and carnal manner, is, after a spiritual manner, full of sweetness and strength. And again, the emphasis is on the participation by all Christians of the same spiritual drink, which is symbolized in the Lord's Supper. "The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ?" Other Scriptures follow more closely the idea of water gushing from a rocky fountain. As the blood of Christ signifies his atonement, so the water is a sign of the communication of the Holy Ghost. By the former our Lord gives peace to the conscience; by the latter, cleansing and healing to the heart. Christ, our Rock, spoke more than once of his power to impart to all comers the water of life (John 4:10-14; John 7:37-39). And now, as from a height above the plain on which his people still walk as pilgrims, our Saviour in heaven gives this water to the thirsty. To it all are welcome. Water is no luxury for the few, but an acknowledged universal necessary of life; and so a participation of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus is no privilege of a few superlative Christians, but necessary to the inward life of every one who is a Christian at all "If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his." How can a rock follow? The rock in Horeb did not move from its place, but followed the people in the stream which issued from it and flowed through the lower levels of the wilderness. So Jesus Christ remains at God's right hand; yet is with us always in the continual efficacy of his shed blood and the continual fellowship of his Holy Spirit. The fountain never runs dry. We never find anything less than fulness in him. And there is no need to go on a long pilgrimage to our sacred well. The Rock follows us.
III. HOW TO GET THIS NOURISHMENT. By grace, through faith. When the children of Israel saw the manna, they "wist not what it was." Then Moses told them from God what it was, and bade them gather it, "every man according to his eating." So now, men do not know of themselves what Christ is; but it is preached or proclaimed as from God that this is the true Bread. Take, and eat, and live. Why should any household be without the heavenly Bread? When the rock was smitten, no one stood by but Moses and the eiders, who had gone in advance of the host. One can imagine those elders hastening back to the camp, and calling aloud to the several tribes, "Water! water! He, every one that thirsteth, come to the waters!" Shall we who have found life and peace in Jesus Christ hold our peace? Nay, but we call to every thirsty soul, "Come, and drink, and live."—F.
HOMILIES BY R. TUCK
1 Corinthians 10:2
Baptism unto Moses.
The expression used here is a singular and suggestive one, and one that seems to require an enlargement of our associations with the term "baptized." "Were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea." It may be noted that more precisely the passage should read, "all baptized themselves unto Moses." St. Paul sees, in the incidents of the crossing of the Red Sea under the guidance of the pillar cloud, a symbol of that Christian confession which puts us wholly under the redeemings and guidings of the Lord Jesus Christ. For the incidents, see Exodus 14:21, Exodus 14:22. The point is that the "fathers," the "Israelites," voluntarily dedicated themselves to the leadership of Moses when they went through the waters at his command. They came up out of the waters, on the further shore, a new people, devoted to Moses as the earthly ruler representing Jehovah. "The Israelites were baptized 'unto Moses' because, by passing through the cloud and the sea, they had become connected with him, dependent on his commands and guidance." F. W. Robertson well points out the reason for the warnings here given. "The peril of the Corinthian Church lay in their false security. They were tempted to think that all things were safe to do, because all things were lawful. They were ready to rest satisfied with the knowledge that they were God's people and God's Church. Now, the apostle shakes this sense of their safety by reminding them that the ancient Church of Israel fell, although it had the same privileges; therefore he infers that spiritual privileges are not perfect security. Now, the argument by which he proves that the privileges of ancient Israel were similar to theirs is remarkable. That people had a baptism as well as they, and a spiritual food and drink. Baptism is the solemn profession of our Christianity; and the passing through the Red Sea was the Israelites' profession of discipleship to Moses." Here, then, baptism is the symbol of confession, or profession; it is the act by which we voluntarily yield ourselves to the leadership of another. This may receive four illustrations.
I. COMPARE JOHN'S BAPTISM. Observe the connection between John's teaching and John's rite. Those who accepted his teaching yielded themselves to his leadership by the act of submitting to his rite. He led them to a change in their ideas and expectations of Messiah which should have prepared them to recognize in him a spiritual Saviour—a Saviour from sin. Through voluntary submission to John's baptism, they publicly confessed themselves to be John's disciples.
II. COMPARE OUR LORD'S BAPTISMS. It does not appear that he personally baptized any one; but his disciples did so in his Name. Here, again, the act was a public and outward acknowledgment or confession of the Messiahship of Christ, and a voluntary submission to his rule and law. It was the faith of the disciple gaining expression in a solemn public act. It brought the disciple under our Lord's leadership, just as following Moses into the sea involved full submission to his guidance.
III. COMPARE ST. PAUL'S TEACHING ABOUT BAPTISM. It is always with him the equivalent of confession. It is confession by an act rather than by a word. Such confession St. Paul declares to be an absolute necessity for salvation. With characteristic point and force, he even makes it as necessary as faith, saying in Romans 10:9, "If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved." And from this St. Paul argues that we are now, by our own consecration, "under law to Christ." "We serve the Lord Christ."
IV. COMPARE PRESENT DAY DISCIPLESHIP. The rite is perhaps less regarded, but that which it stands for is still essential. Impress that the following things are the proper stages of religious experience:—
1. Repentance, with due forsaking of sinful ways.
2. Faith in Christ as able to grant forgiveness and to give life.
3. Confession of Christ, by some form of voluntary and public testimony.
4. Full and submissive practical obedience to his rule and law in everyday life and conduct.—R.T.
1 Corinthians 10:3, 1 Corinthians 10:4
The spiritual meat and drink.
Give account of the historical facts to which the apostle refers. It seems as if he had in mind also the Jewish tradition that the rock—i.e. a fragment broken off from the rock smitten by Moses—followed the Israelites through their journey. St. Paul sees, in that symbol of the Divine presence and providing, an aid towards our realizing the gracious abiding presence of the Lord Jesus Christ with his Church. His point here is that God's people, in the olden times and still, are divinely led and divinely fed; so no excuse for apostasy can be found in any "straitening in God."
I. DIVINELY LED. By God in the pillar cloud that loomed dark against the clear sky by day, but shone like fire at night, and moved or rested to direct the people's journeyings. By God's power through the Red Sea, whose waters were held back, making a great pathway over the dried sands. The fact of such leadings ought to have bound the people to Jehovah in everlasting bonds. Then show what is the answering Christian fact to this, and how, when we are brought to Christ, a new light shines upon the wondrous providences of our whole lives, and so we feel freshly bound to our Lord, and say—
"Jesus, still lead on,
Till our rest be won."
II. DIVINELY FED. By God in the provision of the manna day by day. By God in the smitten rock, that provided in a miraculous manner for them when natural supplies failed. Such daily signs of Divine presence and care ought to have held them fast to daily obedience and service. Then we may realize that
1 Corinthians 10:11
Ensamples from the wilderness life.
The words of this verse may be better rendered, "happened unto them typically." "The real point of the passage is—These things which occurred to them are to be looked upon by us, not merely as interesting historical events, but as having a typical significance. Their record remains as a standing warning that great privileges may be enjoyed by many, and used by them to their destruction. In introducing this subject, dwell on the mission of history and biography in relation to education and culture. If science and mathematics bear most powerfully on mental training, history and biography are the most important agencies in moral culture. As the poet Longfellow says
"Lives of great men all remind us
We may make our lives sublime."
There is an important sense in which there is "nothing new under the sun? Circumstances, situations, and the relations of men to them, constantly repeat themselves; with sufficient variety, indeed, to give individuality and to impress responsibility, but with sufficient sameness for us to recognize the adaptation of the warning or the example to us. One age can become thus a power upon another, but the power is related to general principles rather than to minute details. So the records of ancient and Eastern life, given to us in Holy Scripture, become a gracious power on us. The records have been written for our admonition, upon whom the "ends of the age" are come. The story of ancient Israel, especially in the forty years of its wilderness life, is for the most part one of warning. As such, the apostle here calls it to mind. We may find in it warning of four possible perils.
I. YIELDING TO BODILY PASSIONS. In all ages there are found indications of man's danger from the corrupt inclinations of his own body. Adam and Eve sinned by yielding the conscience of duty to the bodily inclination; and brought upon the race an undue force of carnal passion, which makes the life conflict to win righteousness a heavy and a hard one for every man. Some have felt this so deeply that they have thought virtue must come by the crushing down of the body, the absolute repression of all its inclinations. This is the inspiring thought which has driven men into hermits' caves and monkish cells; but it is a truer conception of life that regards the body as providing the very conditions of our moral trial; and the problem for us to work out is the conquering and efficient using of every power and faculty. The Christian triumph is to know how to "possess the vessel of our body in sanctification and honour." This may be illustrated from the perils of the Corinthian Christians, who had to live in the midst of a society where bodily pleasure reigned supreme. The passions by which we may be overcome are:
1. Self indulgence; over responding to the appetites for
All for our use and for our good; but all may be unduly pursued, to our moral peril.
2. Sensuality; the passions which bear relation to our life associations. It is important to learn, from the example of the Israelites, and from the usual scenes at pagan and heathen festivals, that unusual excitement in religion fosters the sensual passions into undue strength.
II. YIELDING TO IDOLATRY. It may seem as if no such peril could be near to us in these Christian times. But the Apostle John starts us upon searching thoughts of our own dangers when he says, "Little children, keep yourselves from idols." For us now,
III. YIELDING TO PRESUMPTION. (Verse 9.) David shows a remarkable insight of his own frailty when he prays, "Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me." This is the subtle peril of advanced and experienced Christian life. A man may take advantage of God; presume upon what is his will, without asking him; and even may put God to the test; these being sure signs of lost humility and lost childlike dependence. It was the sin of Rebekah; she presumed on the promise made her concerning Jacob, and so was set upon trying to fulfil the promise by schemes of her own.
IV. YIELDING TO COMPLAINING. (Verse 10.) A peril that comes to us all when the circumstances of life will not go "according to our mind." Troubles and disappointments and failures are Divine testings of our professed trust; and for us to complain and fret and murmur is plainly to show lost submission and lost trust. He never complains who holds firmly the assurance that "all things work together for good to them that love God."—R.T.
1 Corinthians 10:12
Self security is insecurity.
Over confidence in a religious profession is one of the most perilous of Christian faults. He who presumes upon his position and his privileges is only too likely to be unwatchful of his conduct. A solemn lesson is learned from the wilderness life of God's people Israel. Though so honoured, so guarded, so guided, and so provided for, only a very few of those who came out of Egypt kept their faithfulness and were permitted to enter the "promised land." "It is not sufficient to have been admitted into the Christian covenant; we need watchfulness in order to use our privileges aright" (Romans 11:20).
1. Distinguish between the man who "standeth" and the man who "thinketh" he standeth."
2. The man who "standeth" is not, necessarily, in any danger of falling.
3. The man who "thinketh he standeth" has just cause to fear. So we are led to understand that a man s moral peril never lies merely in the circumstances in which he is placed; never merely in his outward surroundings, but always in his inward moods—in his conditions of mind and feeling, and the relations in which they set him towards outward circumstances. Our standing or our falling depends on our heart rightness. Anywhere we might stand if but our heart be right with God. Everywhere we must fall if we fail to "keep our heart with all diligence." And what may we regard as the one essential thing in heart rightness? Surely it is the humility that keeps us ever leaning hard on our strong Lord, hiding in him when calamities come nigh, doing all things only "through him that strengtheneth us." It may be urged, in conclusion, that the falls of the self secure and over confident are usually sudden, violent, and overwhelming falls; though even these may be only permitted to break down the over confidence and to humble them under God's mighty hand.—R.T.
1 Corinthians 10:13
The commonness of our temptation.
"No temptation taken you but such as is common to man." In Christian experience there is constant fresh surprise at the forms which temptation can take; and one of our gravest difficulties arises from our fear that the forms are special to us—such as no ethers have known. We are thus led to think that we must battle with the temptation alone, since we can hope to gain no real help from the sympathy or the experience of our Christian brethren. It is a great joy to us when we find out that all the ages are linked together in a common experience of the possible forms of temptations. Human nature is the same in every age and every place. The corruption of human nature shows itself in the same forms among all classes. Even in what we think to be quite subtle and peculiar forms of sinful inclination and passion, we are really but sharing a common experience; our temptation is one that is common to men. Again and again, as life advances, we find this out, often with a great surprise; and, although the finding it out does not relieve us from the conflict with the evil, it does relieve us from the strain of feeling that our experience is unique, our tempter a hitherto unconquered one. We seem to gain new strength when we can say, "Our brothers have mastered this very foe many a time; and God has adapted his grace to those tempted just as I am over and over again." The Revised Version gives a somewhat different turn to the sentence: "There hath no temptation taken you but such as man can bear;" i.e. such as is fairly within the limitations of a human and earthly experience.
I. TEMPTATION IS A COMMON HUMAN EXPERIENCE. It is a necessity of our probationary state; it is the condition of our changing the mere innocence of ignorance for the virtue that comes by knowledge and will. If God were pleased to give us, as moral creatures, the discernment between right and wrong, with a distinct understanding that he stood by the right, then he must set his creatures in the midst of circumstances which would test their good will towards the right. So, in one sense, temptations around us, taking their thousandfold forms, make the battle and the bitterness of our human life. But, in another sense, our surrounding of temptation is but the great sphere in which we are to win holiness and virtue. None of us can get out of the way of temptation. It goes with us where we go, because God will not leave us alone: he wants us to be holy.
II. CHRISTIAN LIFE IS NOT EXEMPT FROM TEMPTATION. It cannot be too fully shown that becoming a Christian never alters a man's circumstances; it only alters his relation to the circumstances. The laws of life rule on for the Christian and the unrenewed man; and, from his higher position, the Christian has still to see all virtue wrung from the remitter. Temptation may even take more subtle and perilous forms for the Christian. His new thought and feeling may even discover temptations where duller souls would miss them.
III. THE RELATIONS IN WHICH GOD STANDS TO TEMPTATION, AS AFFECTING THE CHRISTIAN. Here three points need treatment.
1. God modifies the temptation to the bearing power of the man to whom it comes. We may be sure that God will "not suffer us to be tempted above that we are able."
2. God will provide the necessary escapes either from or through the temptation.
3. God comforts with gracious promises and assurances, to which he is ever faithful. "God permits the temptation by allowing the circumstances which create temptation to arise, but he takes care that no fate bars the loath of retreat." Then "all that a Christian has to do is to live in humble dependence upon him, neither perplexed in the present nor anxious for the future."—R.T.
1 Corinthians 10:16
The communion of souls in Christ.
These words are uttered in illustration of an important practical principle, which St. Paul is urging as sufficient to guide the Corinthians safely through many of the difficulties of the Christian life. Explain the question, which threatened to break up the unity and peace of the Church at Corinth, whether "a Christian man was justified in eating meat which had been offered in sacrifice to idols." Show under what circumstances of social life this question arose, and the different ways in which persons of different temperament were disposed to treat it. St. Paul in no way encourages superstitious notions, but he pleads that consideration for others and Christian charity will readily decide our conduct in every case that may arise. Having had to refer to the heathen feasts, he is led to think of the one Christian feast. He says that is a sealing of the union of all who love the Lord Jesus Christ; it is a joint partaking as it were of the redemption, and so a community of sentiment and feeling and life which involves that each member shall be concerned for the highest well being of the others, and willing to put his own preferences aside if they stand in the way of his brother's good. We have two subjects here brought before us,
I. THE REALITY OF THE COMMUNION OF SOULS IN CHRIST. The word "communion" is often applied to the intercourse of friendship, the fellowship of two kindred souls between whom there is a recognized community of sentiment and feeling. The word is applied to our privilege of access to God; we are said to have communion with God, with his Son Jesus Christ, and with the Holy Ghost. But the term would be more precisely applied to that feeling of mutual interest which two persons have in each other because of their common interest in some object, or common love to some third person. We may not even be personally known to each other, but if we are both interested in the same thing, and working for the same ends, we have "communion" with one another. Illustrate that this is the basis on which societies and associations of men are formed. Those who have the same love to the Lord Jesus Christ feel that they are bound to one another; they gather themselves into Churches that they may have "communion'' with each other. Christianity demands love to a Person. It sets forth one Person, the One who is worthy to receive the devotion of every soul. Usually, indeed, if two love one person, there rises a deadly jealousy and hatred between them, but that only springs from the fact that both cannot possess the object of their affection in the same sense; but even here on earth there are many cases in which two may love the same person, and find their common love brings them nearer to each other. You may fall into conversation with a fellow traveller, and may find that you both know and love stone third person, and at once all strangeness passes, and you converse together as do long known friends. Now, the Lord Jesus Christ can be as much to one believer as to another. He can be all to each one, and so there need be no jealousy, but mutual love fur Christ may make it easy for us to love each other. But our text significantly calls our communion the "communion of the blood and body of Christ;" and this we must try to understand. In the story of the heathen gods there is generally some one incident which is regarded as specially characteristic of each one, and from which he may even take his name or fashion his symbol. Something of the same kind may be observed in Scripture and modern biographies. There is some event of the life which is regarded above all others as revealing the man. Thus we have in the Bible, Jacob the supplanter, Moses the meek, impulsive Peter, etc., the qualifying terms recalling some characteristic incident. In the reference of the text to the "body and blood of Christ" we have something of the same kind. Everything in the life of Jesus is of supreme concern to us, but the Christian heart has always regarded the "body breaking and blood shedding" as the characteristic incident, the one so peculiarly significant as revealing the person, the spirit, and the mission of the Lord Jesus. That "body and blood" reveal to us these things—duty, love, self sacrifice. This trinity expresses the very essence of Christ's religion. And "communion in the body and the blood" is the fellowship of those in whom the essential spirit of Christianity is found; who are toned and ruled by duty, out of their sonship to God; by love, because the "love of Christ is shed abroad in their hearts;" by self sacrifice, because the spirit of their Master has become theirs. Those who have thus "communion in the body and the blood" can enter into the meaning and power of that "cup of blessing which we bless," and of that "bread which we break."
II. THE VALUE OF A SYMBOLICAL ACT WHICH WILL ASSERT THAT COMMUNION. As in everything, so in respect of symbols, two extremes are possible, and both are to be avoided. He is unhuman who thinks he may refuse the help of any symbol. He is too human who multiplies symbols, glorifies symbols, until they occupy all his thought, and he has no room for the realities of which they should testify. Symbols of spiritual things will be not only useful, they will be necessary, so long as we are in the body. We have embraced spiritual truths, but they came to us in symbolic words; they are represented to us in symbolic acts. There can be no question as to our need of symbols; the only questions concern their character and their kind. Our Lord met our need in the institution of the "Lord's Supper," the "communion of the body and the blood." We are drawn into a great and tender fellowship as we share together the one loaf, as we make affirmation of our common life in Christ; and our communion finds fitting expression in a gentle patience with our brother's failings, a loving consideration for even our brother's prejudices, and a cheerful willingness to put our own preferences aside, if they grieve or hinder our brethren.—R. T.
1 Corinthians 10:24
The primary law of Christian association.
"Let no man seek his own, but every man another's wealth;" the word "wealth" being here used in the general sense of "well being," and, more especially, "moral well being" (comp. Romans 15:1-3; Philippians 2:4). Here is given to us—