sensuality in that better ternpie which is now the habitation of God in tho Spirit. So rnuch of incompatibilities and contrasts. 'l'hen the apostle, who did not address him• self to the heathen, bidding them stand otf, but wrote to the Christians, urging them to avoid entan~lement with the heathen, gave them a charge from the Lord and enforced it by a gracious promise. (1) The cha,'!Je, "Wherefore come out from 'among them." Th~ Chn~t1ans wer_e not~ leave Corinth, but~- hold their positions and preserve their c~lings m that city, w~1le ~rupulously avo1dmg the contamination of idolatry and vice. So should we contmue m the world. yet not be conformed to it or love it • should do our part in our generation, yet separate ourselves from all that is unjust or'unholy. "Touch not the unclean," under which category comes, not mere licentiousness but all that is unhallowed, and so out of harmony with the purity of God. (2) The promise. •• I will receive you," etc. (vers.17, 18). Such was the promise made to King David in regard to his posterity (2 Sam. vii. 14); and it is extended to all the household 01 faith. From the sure belief of this promise we may derive strength and resolution to keep the rule of separat.ion. Are we to be openly acknowledged as the sons and daughters of the Lord God Almighty? What, then, have we to do with iniquity with darkness, with Belia!, with unbelief, with idols? The best-known Christians ar~ not always the best. They may have some striking quality or rare endowment, or may have reached by favour some conspicuous post. But the best are those men and women who most fully and consistently obey the holy calling. How sweet is fellow- ship with such Christians, and how stimulating! It is good to be yoked together with them under Christ's yoke which is easy, and his burden which is light. It .is good to be builded together with them in the temple of the living God. It is good to be joined as brothers and sisters in the same family, and call the Lord Almighty our Father. The friendship of the world. the alliance of the sons of Belial, the communion of the unclean,-wha.t are these to the dignity of the people of God and the family affection of his children ?-F. •
Ver. 2.-" The accepted time." This text immediately follows upon the full declara- tion of the truth in Jesus, the free offers of Divine mercy, and the earnest pleadings of eh. v. St. Paul understood well that there was this sad and strange tendency in men- they are ever disposed to shift into the future the most serious duties of life. In the time of disease they will not send for the doctor until they absolutely must. They put off me.king their wills until the very power to make them is gone. How is the tendency to be explained? It is one of the forms in which man's hopefulness expresses itself. The future al ways seems to be richer and better than the present; though, when that future is reached, it very seldom realizes our hope. It is, however, a mischievous form of hopefulness if it lifts us off from the performance of present duty. Then it becomes procrastination, "the thief of time." L THE INOOMPARAllLE ADVANTAGES OF TIME PRESENT. The "now." By this term is properly meant that moment in which any duty stands right before us. Observe: 1. Its security. We have it; it is here; it is ours. The only thing in all the world that is or ever can be ours. The only sphere for the activity of our will. We "act in tha living present." Nothing really belongs to us except that which we have at this moment. The past is gone. The future may never come. When we put off duty to the future, we deal with something that is not our own. We have no futw·e until God gives it to us and makes it presen11. We have only the now, and on it may hang eternity. 2. Its peculiar suitability for action, Because the whole nature is aroused. awakened, interested, prepared, and action can be taken so easily and so heartily, 'fWW. You can never again be sure of the same interest, and, if neglected duties do ever get done, they must push into the place of some other duty, and push it aside. Now we have the assistance of all aiding impulses. We are helped by an awakened conscience, by deep emotions, and by the urgings of the Divine Spirit. Now is the time of our opportunity. Illustrate by the boats waiting for a. wave to help them ashore. How the men watch, and at last say, "Now, 'fWW I " as they bend to the oar! The times when the claims of Christ come home to us are just such times; then why not now be flooded over all hindrances and difficulties unto the harbour of salvation? IL THE BERlOOS PERIL INVOLVJI.D IN TH~ .t<J!:GLEOT OF TJME PRESENT, Notice: 1. The os. vr. 1-18,] THE SECOND EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS. 165