A CONTRAST.

When reading the epistles to the Corinthians, one cannot fail to remark the great contrast between the Corinthian converts and their spiritual father, the apostle Paul; showing clearly that the possession of gifts is no safeguard against error, and that those who most abound in them may be those who, through unwatchfulness, fall into grave evils. . . . What a picture have we in Corinth of the depths to which saints could fall. For, saints they were, but placed in circumstances widely differing from any in which a Christian assembly, in Christendom at least, could in these days be found:being surrounded with vices openly and unblushingly practiced by the heathen, which the influence of Christianity has driven into the shade. And then the different parties among them hindered common action in dealing with any of these evils.

But in the apostle we see how high a sinner saved by grace could rise. Were the Corinthians glorying in their teachers, glorying in men, he gloried only in the Lord They were captivated by the natural gifts of their teachers. He had learnt the lesson, that all human teachers to whom were entrusted gifts of ministry were but earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power might be of God, and not of man (2 Cor. 4:7). The apostle came not with excellency of speech, or of wisdom; and was determined to know nothing among them, but Jesus Christ and Him crucified, that their faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God (1 Cor. 2:i, 2).. They were self-sufficient-"full"(i Cor. 4:8). He was not sufficient of himself to think anything as of himself, but his sufficiency was of God (2 Cor. 3:5)-as an apostle he thus spoke of himself. Then they were reigning without him. He would be glad to connect himself humbly with them -reign with them (i Cor. 4. 8)-were the time for that really come. Then he could say, "Now He that establisheth us with you in Christ." "Helpers of your joy" (2 Cor. i:21, 24). Again, "Ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake " (2 Cor. 4:5). "Shall present us with you " (2 Cor. 4:14). Not a word in all this of his superiority. He classes himself with them, and makes himself their servant.

Did they stand up for their liberty ? So could he. But how different was the case with him! Would he indulge his palate at the expense of a weak brother's faith? Nay; " I will eat no flesh," he said, "while the world standeth, lest I make my brother to offend" (i Cor. 8:13). What, then, was the liberty he claimed for himself ? Simply this, that he might preach the gospel to them without charge! What could prompt him to such labor without temporal reward? Was it the hope that they would value such disinterested-ness? He had already felt, that after all his labors on them and affection for them, they had not valued the one nor requited the other. How, then, did this affect him? We see in 2 Cor. 12:14, 15:"Behold, this third time I am ready to come to you; and I will not be burdensome:for I seek not your's, but you. . . . And I will gladly spend and be spent for you; though the more abundantly I love you, the less I be loved."

What grace was here! The divine nature in him showing itself; love working for its own sake, laying objects unworthy of its love. And who was this who thus wrote? Was it one who felt his deficiency in gifts when in such an assembly as that of Corinth, and wished to make up for that deficiency by an assiduous attention to their wants? Far from it. He was not behind the very chiefest apostle. He might, indeed, be rude in speech, but not in knowledge. He had a power-the apostolic power-which he could have used, but he did not. What a contrast between the Apostle and the Corinthians!

What caused it ? Whence came it ? Both he and they were children of Adam, descended after the flesh from the same corrupt stock. Both he and they were subjects of the same divine mercy, and objects of the same divine grace. But he had learnt a lesson which they had not. He had learned of the crucifixion of the old man with Christ, hence he was not looking at the outward appearance; he looked far higher. He lived, as it were, on the other side of death; they on this side. All that was of nature he estimated at its true value. For him, self was nothing; Christ and God were everything. That was the secret of the difference. What teaching there is in all this. He had '' the sentence of death in himself, that he should not trust in himself, but in God who raiseth the dead" (2 Cor. 1:9).

Throughout the first five chapters of the second epistle we see this brought out. His sufficiency was of God (iii). If the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ had shone into his heart, it was God who had commanded it (iv). And the excellency of the power of ministry was of God. And all that he suffered was for the glory of God. With him, God in Christ was everything. And now, as in Christ, he knew no man after the flesh. All this the Corinthians had forgotten, or could have never learnt. So, in the first three chapters of the first epistle we have a continual contrast between man and God, to recall them to their true position as Christians. God had called them to the fellowship of His Son. The calling was of God, not of man. It was God's Church he addressed. God was pleased by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe:and the object preached was Christ, the power and the wisdom of God. Was Paul chosen for the work? God had done that. And God had made Christ "unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption. " It was God's testimony he declared, that their " faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God." And he spoke wisdom, but it was the wisdom of God; and he spoke of things which the natural man could not receive, but God had revealed them by the Spirit. And the Corinthians were God's husbandry, God's building. He recognized these things, as the second epistle shows. They had forgotten them, as the first epistle teaches. Hence the difference.

What a lesson, then, for us. If the eye looks away from God to man, into what may we not fall-what evils may not come in ! But, on the other hand, the true remedy for decline of spirituality in the assembly, when man is exalted and self reigns, is to recall it to a right sense about God. It is God's work that goes forward. The instruments are God's The increase is God's. The building and temple are God's. This truth, brought out in i Cor. i:4. forms the groundwork of the apostle's directions. Christian liberty is to be permitted, but only to the glory of God (i Cor. 10:31). Spiritual gifts are to be exercised, but in an orderly manner. For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace (i Cor. 14). Man may be followed, but only as he follows Christ (i Cor. ii:i).

When God gets His place in the assembly and in the hearts of His children, all will go well. But if not, the capacity to judge and deal with moral evil may be weakened; meetings for worship be made opportunities for the display of gifts, as the vanity of the possessor may dictate, and even the Lord's table become a scene of dreadful confusion. How needful, then, to watch against the first departure from the simplicity that is in Christ But as evil in the assembly is generally the result of evil unchecked in individuals, what need of watchfulness to keep the eye fixed on the true Center. When looking at God, and remembering that we have died and are risen with Christ, the Lord will have His place, and man his; conscience will be alive; evil if it comes in will be judged; and the assembly be in practice the temple of the Holy Ghost. C. E. S.