CHAPTER III. 21-23. THE CHRISTIAN'S INHERITANCE. "THEREFORE let no man glory in men. For all things are yours; whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours; and ye are Christ's; and Christ is God's." This golden chain, which leads the humblest believer to God himself, has its staple in the very throne of Deity. We are enabled to trace up the humblest believer through Christ to the Father, and to be sure that, as truly as he belongs to Christ by the exercise of living and personal trust below, he shall be with Christ and spend eternity in his presence in the brightness of glory above. The words I have read are the titledeeds, signed and sealed, of a Christian's inheritance. You may be very poor in this world, despised, forlorn, and oppressed, orphans and widows, fatherless and desolate; but if you be Christ's, in a higher sense than mere material possession, all things that you see, and all things that you have, and things you see not, and things you have not, though you may desire them, are in a true sense and real shape subserving your present interests, your ultimate and your eternal happiness. in this world, yet rich in the things You may be poor of heaven; you may not have the substance of earthly possession, but you have the cream and excellency, the best and the choicest of all; for you have all things yours, and all things, therefore, doing you good, because you are Christ's, and Christ is God's. The origin of this precious remark of the apostle lies in the fact stated in our exposition of the previous part of the chapter, viz., that the Corinthians, being Greeks, and attached to the Greek schools of philosophy, though Christians by grace, retained many of their former habits learned in the schools of that country. One said, "I am of Plato;" another, "I am of Zeno;" another, "I am of Epicurus." And when they became Christians, too much of the old leaven remained; for instead of recognising all as of Christ and in Christ, the fellow-heirs of God with him, one said, "I am of Paul;" another, "I am of Apollos; " and another, "I am of Cephas." They tried to divide into schools—or, as we should say, denominations-the undivided and indivisible Church of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, says the apostle Paul, in order to get rid of this tendency, let me urge that no man should glory in men. Whenever you begin to attach to an individual-a teacher, minister, or preacher-more than belongs to him, you are introducing into the Church of Christ a disruptive, if not a destructive element; you are lifting him out of the place which belongs to him as a servant, and you are giving him some share of the glory which is the prerogative of the master. We should think less and less of the divisions into which Christendom is split, and more and more of the thorough unity that subsists among all true Christians in reference to God and to each other. No one we have ever read of in the history of Christendom is fit to be the head, the leader, and the guide, of true Christians; not even an apostle, nor a martyr, nor a reformer; the best and noblest of them all had great flaws. And perhaps the reason why there is not a distinguished character in the whole Bible, who acted a conspicuous part on the stage of history, without some great defect, is, in all probability, God's will to prevent Christians from glorying in men, even the best, the holiest, and the noblest in Christendom. Aaron had his great defects; Moses had his; Abraham his; Paul, Peter, each of the apostles, were more or less stained by some sin, indiscretion, impetuosity of temper or obliquity of conduct, in order that we may see that the best of earth is imperfect, and that we may lift our trust from the very highest, and fix it only on the Rock of Ages, in whom there is, and was, and can be, no fault at all. The apostle asserts in this passage, which I have called the title-deeds of à Christian's property, that "all are yours, Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas;" that is, all ministers of Christ, inspired in the first age, uninspired in later ages, are yours. All that were inspired are yours. They preached and wrote as they were directed by the Holy Spirit of God for you. They wrote the Bible for you; they sent epistles to Romans, and Corinthians, and Philippians, and Galatians, for you; they suffered and sacrificed in order to perpetuate and spread the Gospel, till it reached you. And therefore all the past of history has been subserving you; you are to-day what you are because your predecessors were in their days what they were. The nineteenth century is more or less the creation of the previous eighteen; the Christianity of to-day is in some degree the product of the Christianity of past ages. If martyrs had not died, if apostles had not suffered, if evangelists had not written, we should not have been now what we are, in knowledge, in privilege, in possession, in comfort. And therefore Paul, Apollos, and Peter, are yours, and lived and died in order that you might live purely here and happily hereafter. And in the present day ministers are yours as uninspired; for what is the very definition of a minister? A servant. Of old the Levites were the laity, and Aaron's sons were the priests; now the laity are the priests,-for "ye are a royal priesthood," -and the clergy are the Levites that minister to them, teach and instruct them. But the ministers of the Gospel are yours, not to echo your prejudices, nor to pander to the people's passions, nor to cry, "Peace, peace," in order that they may please. The minister is not set up by you to reflect your thoughts, but set over you to win your hearts, and enlighten your minds, and save your souls; but still his services, his talent, his learning, his study-whatever he is, whatever he has, great or small—are yours, pledged to you, and for you, and consecrated to do you good. All the varieties of address, peculiarities of manner, colouring of thought and illustration,—all that each individual as a minister has, and knows, and is characterised by, are consecrated by God to the edification and to the instruction of the people; so that Paul, Apollos, Cephas, are not lords over you to tyrannise, to dogmatise, and dictate; but they are ministers to teach you, to preach to you, and to do you service in Christ's name and for Christ's sake. "The world also is yours." It exists for you; it was made for you; and the world will continue-understanding by that the present economy of things-just as long as there is one soul to be saved, one mind to be enlightened. The earth does not exist to be the platform of contending armies, nor for avarice to hoard its stores on, nor for dishonesty to hide what it has stolen in; but as your platform in order that you may learn and see the feet of them that bring glad tidings of great joy; the house that is continued for the sake of the tenant; the casket that is preserved for the sake of the jewel; and as soon as the last jewel is set in the eternal diadem, and the last Christian has been gathered to Christ, then the earth and the things that are thereon shall be burned up, in order to give place to a new heaven and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. But in the next place the world is yours in the sense that the use of the world is also yours. You are in the world by providence as your place of duty; you are not of the world by grace, as if you belonged to it, and were to be destroyed in it. You may eat of its every tree, drink of its every stream, breathe its every air, enjoy the fragrance of its every flower, only remembering that "the time is short, and it remaineth that they that have wives be as though they had none; and they that weep be as though they wept not; and they that rejoice be as though they rejoiced not; and they that buy as though they possessed not: for the world and the fashion of it passeth away." Whatever is in the world, therefore, and whatever the world can give, is meant by God for you, and may be the means of your reaching the knowledge and enjoyment of that truth which is salvation. And, in the next place, the promise of the world |