1 l1c sphere of mind. "The natural man is he whose pGrceptions do not extend bcyon,I the region of the intellect, the part of his beiug which he he\s in common with the animal creation." "The natural man is he iu whom pme intellcct11al reason and the •11ercly naturnl affections prcdominat0." But though the natural man's sphere is thus limited, there is glorious fulness within the limits; the perfection of art is yet un11t- t~in<'cl; the possibilities of knowledge arc far from exhausted, though tho noble minds of the long ages have been occupied in study and research. \Ve need uot undervalue the natural man's sphere, so far as it goes. But the spiritual man enters a region altogether unknown to, and hopelessly closed to, the natural man. It is the sphere of the unseen, the eternal, the spiritual; in a word, of God and the things of God. Regeneration in the power of the Holy Ghost involves and includes an awakening of new sensibilities to Divine and eternal things. It is as if a man were endowed with. some- new senses, and found revealed to him what his fellow-men might not know. In this higher and further sphere man can alone find satisfaction for his foll powers. It is an encircling sphere that hallows all the lesser olles in which he shares with his fellows. II. CoMPARE THE COKDUCT OF THE TWO. .As a rule, the conduct of the natural man, will be ruled and toned by considerations of self-pleasing. This may be tempered by g0od1less of the natural disposition, or by culture and self-mastery; but the tendellcy nhrnys lies towards bodily indulgence and power of sellsual passion. The sky over such a man is low, and he fails to get the elevating of the high, vast, pure heavens-. Another sentiment tones the conduct of the spiritual man, For him life is God's, the· world is God's, he is God's; and there is no question with him as to what he would like;_ nil his desire is to know what God would wish. His whole conduct must be in harmonv with alld must tend to work out God's purposes. For him there is no danger of deterioration. His sphere is exhilarating, his thought is inspiring, his progress is assured. Ill. CoMPAUE THE FUTURE OF THE TWO. The natural man can have no future that is more than sentiment. His sphere is temporary. He must make what he can of the life that now is. His career has its limits here and its good things now. To the spiritual man life here is but a stage of the true life, a preparation-time for a nobler life, upon which he is soon to enter. That future ceases to be strange to him, as he folly realizes life in the Diville spheres now. Impress the disabilities of the "natural man," and show how, by God's graciou'.:l provision, the "natural" may become" spiritual."-R. T,
EXPOSITION. spiritual. As unto be.bes in Christ. Ths CHAPTER III. word "be.Les" has I\ good 11ncl µ. bad sellee. Vera. 1-4.-Tlie carnal C011ceit of the In its good sense it implies humility and spiritually immature. teache.bleness, as in eh. xiv. 20, "In mu.lieu Ver. 1.-I ... could not speak unto you be ye babes;" alld in l Pet. ii. 2, "As new- as unto spiritual. Though softene<l by the born babes, desire the sincere milk of the word brethren, there was a crushing irony Word;" and in Matt. xi. 25. Here it is used of reproof ill these worda: "You thought ill its bad sense of spiritual childishness. yourselves quite 11bove the need of my Ver. 2.-I fed you with milk. The Biropie teaching. You were looking down metaphor is·expallded ill Heb. v. 13," Every oil me from the whole hcigbt of your Dile th11t partaketh of milk is without ex- inferiority. The elementary character of perience of the Word of righteousness; for my doctrine was after all tbe necelisary he is a babe." The s11me met1tphor is found consequeuce of your own illcapacity for in Philo; 11nd the youllg pupils of the anytbing more profound." As unto carnal. rabbis were called "sucklings" (n1pu•n) and Tile true reading here is sarldnoiB, fleshen, "little Diles" (comp. Matt. x. 42). Not not sarkilwu, fh,shly, or carnal; the later with meat; not with solid food, which is foir alld severer word is perhaps first useJ in full-grown or spiritually perfect mell (Heb. ver. 3. The word sarkinos (carneus), v. 14). For hitherto; rather, /IJ'I' ye wert fleshell implies earthliness alld wcaknefe not yet-wlien I preached to you-able io alld th; absellce of spirituality; but •arki- bear it. The same phrase is used by oun kuf! (carnali•) illvolves the <lowinancc of Lord ill John xvi. 12, "I have many thingd thfl lo·,1·er nature alld alltagollililll to the to say uuto you, but yo cannot bc11r thcr.. en. m. 1-23.J THE FlW5T EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS.