bbour; he does not create the reward, but receives it from God; nor could rcwanl have any other basis than free and unmerited grace, seeing that we aro co-workers "·ith Gou. If this were not the hnv of nature and providence, it could not be a law 0f grace, nor could the figure of seed and sower have any logical force. But, at the same time, the workman under the gospel has a special relation to God, and, in a sense peculiar to the gospel, is a "co-worker." 'l'his is one of St. Paul's favourite ideas (see 2 Cor. ,i. l). It is not working, but co-working, that evidences the spiritu- nlity of the work and gains the recompense. Among the sources of deception, not one is so insidious as ou.r w,,rk. 'l'be old man, long a servant of God, looks back upon his labours; his eye is tranquil now; it has grown to be a very honest eye; and nothino- in the past surprises him so much as the mixture of self with work that he one: thought was unselfish. Early manhood and middle life, if not absolutely incompetent to form a perfect idea of disinterestedness, are yet very prone to fall into a mistake on this subject. No doubt St. John imagined that he was doing Christ's work when he forbade the man casting out devils in Christ's Name; and, likely enough, St. Peter put a special value on his courage in the garden, when he drew his sword for the Lord's defence. If our tastes and self-will can be gratified, we are often ready to be enthusi- astic workers for what we suppose is the cause of Christ. But God's rule is unyielding. You must labour according to his will, or the work will be rejected. And just here, his thought in transition to another aspect of the great topic, St. Paul brings into view the co-relationship of ministers and people, God being all in all. "We" and" ye"- " we" are co-labourers with God, and "ye" are not our husbandry and building, but God's. What claims he for himself? He is a builder, a master-builder, a wise one too; and he is free to assert it, because it is the utterance of humility, and humility is under obligation to speak the exact truth about itself, under-valuation being wrong, as -well as o"rer-valuation. The preface attests the spiritual purity of the avowal: "According to the grace of God which is given unto me," while the elaboration of the fignre, taken from architecture, indicates more of the Grecian mode of illustration than tLe Jewish.-L.
Vers. 11-15.- Worlcmen and their works. St. Paul affirms that he had laid just such a foundation in Corinth as became a wise master-builder. Like a good architect, he had made sure of a solid basis, but had the edifice in process of erection been true to the corner-stone? There was but one Foundation-Jesus Christ-and a man might ll'lild rightly or wrongly on it in the materials used. The range of substances which might be employed in the superstructure was large. Large it must needs be, for, if the builders are many, the material must be manifold. Individuality in workmen must be respected, and, though the risks are numerous and great, yet Christianity can only adhere to its fundamental principle of each man as a man in himself. Brutus sacri- ficed bis instincts to what he deemed patriotism in the murder of Cresar; Rome taught her best men to have no conscience except what she dictated; but Christianity laid a stress on personality in the human will in order to secure the full activity of individual responsibility. Providence ordains our home and life in a very ample world. 'l'he amplitude is seen, not in its size nor in the mere variety (;)fits objects, but in the eudless adaptability to human tastes and dispositions. Despite the curse, this earth is a grand historic memorial of the original idea of humanity, and a prophecy likewise of a glory to be recovered. "Tbe field is the world;" and this is true of every man in it, so true indeed that our connections with the great world are far more vital and operative on our destiny than we imagine. This, furthermore, is our discipline. We have a world from which to choose our resources, means, and opportunities, and hence the wonder of experieuce is the multitudinous additions ever making to the world we inhabit as our own world. Now, to each Christian, "the field is the world;" and therein be finds a vast miscellany-" gold, silver, precious stones," and they are side by side with " wood, hay, stubble." Redeemed man is treated by Providence and the Holy Ghost, not on the bare idea of what he is in an earthly condition, but also and mainly on the ideal of his capacity in Christ. And consequently, when St. Paul says (ver. 21), "All things are yours," he has only formally wrought out the trnth involved in the workman's command of his diversified materials. Just because the worker is in such e. vast and heterogeneous world, be must" take heed." Nothing short of spiritual 01. m. 1-23.J THE FIHST EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS. .,103