bilities, sorrow and joy, trial and success. It is quite different to the Christian from what it is to the non-Christi:in. He is never helpless, and need never be in despair; for he may be sure that the circumstances of his life are ordered by his heavenly Friend, the lines of his life are drawn according to the plan of his loving Saviour. 4. Death; ,rhich comes, not as a grisly terror, but to do a kindly office. Death, like life just because it is not in the Christian's power, serves his best interests. "Whethe; we li'l'e or die, we are the Lord's." We may add-The death of friends is yours, soften- ing your heart. The death of enemies is yours, delivering yon out of their hand. And as for yourself, Boston has said, " Death comes to the godly man as Haman to Mordecai, with royal apparel and the horse, and commission to do him honour, thouuh "·ith a sullen voice and unkind countenance." 5. Things present. The Christian h'7is a promise that he will lack no good thing, and things that seem evil, wounds, losses disappointments, all tend by the Divine blessing to exercise his faith and patience' and so to strengthen his soul. 6, 'In.ing.~ to come. Of these we cannot speak. Th; sights we may see, the feelings we may experience, the changes we may witness, within a year or two, who can tell? How much less can we descant on things beyond? But enough to know that the future is ours. There will be no power among thiaus 0 to come which can separate us from the love of God. II. THE tiisCURITY FOR ALL THIS PROPERTY. The Christian holds all through his relation to Christ," the Heir of all things." "Ye are Christ's; and Christ is God's." Belie'l'ers belong to Christ, as given to him by the Father, redeemed by him on the cross, effectually called and mystically united to him by the Holy Spirit. And Christ is God's, as the well-beloved of the Father, to whom all things are made subject both in heaven and earth. Now believers inherit through Christ, are co-heirs with him. It is because he is Heir and Lord of all, that all things are theirs. To quote an old di 1·ine: "The saints have nothing but through Christ; and whatsoever is his, is theirs. His God is their God; his Father, their Father; his blood, his merits, his Spirit, his victories, all the spoil he hath gotten, all the revenue and income of his life .and dcath,-all is theirs." If men only believed that these things are so, that Christians ha"l"e such treasures, and hold them by such a tenure, surely a motive of enlightened self-interest would urge them to the feet of Christ. Alas! all men have not faith. The current ideas of wealth and substance are quite unconnected with religion, which seems to many a good thing to die with, but rather a hindrance than otherwise in life, St. Paul's teaching tells a different tale. It is the Christless who, being without God in the world, are poor and indigent. It is those who are Christ's who, however poor .in this world, are rich towards God.-F.
Ver. 1.-The carnal mind. In view of St. Paul's description of the immoralities and sensualities of the pagan peoples, given in Rom. i., and in special lists of prevailing :iniquities, such as are given in Gal. v. 19-21, his sense of the hindrance the carnal mind presents to the reception of spiritual teachings can be fully apprehencled, Probably the severest thing St. Paul said about the carnal mind is that it is "enmity .against God: for it is not subject to the Law of God, neither indeed can be. They that are in the flesh cannot please God" (Rom. viii. 7, 8).. Possibly a distinction between the "natural" man and the "carnal" man may be intended. 'l'he natural man is one ·" whose hopes and desires are bounded by the limits of the physical principle of life;" ,the carnal man is regarded as more or less under the influence of the sensual passions. But St. Paul seems to recognize that the Corinthian tendency to disputes and religions -strife was a sign that the carnal principles were yet strongly working in them ; and '' an appetite for religious strife prevents us from discerning the deeper truths of the Christian faith." It is broadly true that the reception of spiritual truth mainly depends on the openness and preparedness and culture of those to whom such teaching is given. The teacher may indeed be umkilful, but more often the hindrance is that the hearer is unspiritual. The preparation of the teacher is considered to be essential, the prepara- tion of the taught is left to the accident of personal earnestness. I. THE SIGNS OF THE CARNAL MIND. With the hints given above two signs may be fully dealt with and illustrated. l. Inability to receive advanced spiritual instruction. Self-indulgence in meat or drink, inordinate purrnit of plca~ure, the captivity of mind and heart to business schemes, the deteriorating influence of worldly ambitions, cu. III. 1-23.] THE FIRST EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS. 127