INSTRUCTIONS TO THOSE WHO BUILD UPON THE TRUE FOUNDATION.
1 Cor. iii, 12 — 15. Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, ivood, hay, stubble ; every mans work shall be made manifest : for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire ; and thejire shall try every mans zvork of what sort it is. If any mans work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reivard. If any mans ivork shall be burned, he shall suffer loss : but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.
IN our natural state, we follow the dictates of our own will, without consulting the honour of our God. Even after we are converted to God, there yet remains within us a proneness to follow our own inclinations, except as Divine grace counteracts that propensity, and prevails against it. In the Corinthian Church there were many awful proofs of this fact. The irregularities which obtained amongst them, were both numerous and deeply reprehensible. A party-spirit in particular created very grievous dis- sensions among them. St. Paul, reproving their un- becoming conduct, reminds both the preachers who fomented such divisions, and the people who were drawn aside by them, that their eternal happiness would be advanced or diminished in proportion as they cultivated or neglected a Christian temper; and that, if they would be approved of their God in the day of judgment, they must not only build on the right foundation, but raise upon it a superstructure that should be worthy of it.
To elucidate the words before us, we shall shew, I. What is that superstructure which we ought to raise upon the true foundation —