the expressed Thought of God, the Life of Christ. They 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 spiritual communications of their own from God: such were Melchisedec, Job, Rahab, and Nebuchadnezzar.

But from this digression, 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 church felt united into one body when they knew that He belonged to all, that they all had one Spirit, one

C 2

Lord, one Faith, one Baptism, one God and Father in Jesus Christ.

First, then, the Church exists to exhibit self-devotion. They were "sanctified in Christ Jesus." Now 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, selfishness.

Secondly, the Church exists to exhibit 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 Christian converts. They carried into the Church the savour of their old life, for the wine-skin will long retain the flavour with which it has been once 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 colouring their Christianity, 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 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 Church." Rather all are the Church-the profligate brother, the proud rich man, the speculative philosopher, the mere partisan, 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 impossible. 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 right, 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, which 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 our Lord, both theirs and ours."

The Corinthian Church was, according to these words of the Apostle, not an exclusive aurápync 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 possessing higher dignity than the Church at Jerusalem or Thessalonica. They were called to be saints along with, and on a level with, all who named the Name of Christ.

Is this our idea when we set up Anglicanism against. Romanism, and make England the centre of unity instead 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 individual churches might differ, and though sects might even divide 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, pervaded 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 distinct 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.

III. The Benediction: "Grace and peace Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ."

from God our

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 higher Life, and above and beyond all things the Apostle wished them this. He wished them neither "Health" nor "Happiness," but "Grace and Peace from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ." And now comes the question, What is the use of this benediction? How could grace and peace be given as a blessing to those who rejected