The Pulpit Commentary — 1 Corinthians — Section 188

mass, are owing to the multiplication of the plant-cells, which takes place with astonishing rapidity. By this process of vegetation! t~e starch and sugar of the dough are converted mto other chemical products. But 1t 1s only allowed to go to a certain length, and then the principle of growth is checked, by placing the dough in the oven and baking it into bread. .Leaven is thus a principle of destruction and construction- of decay and of growtli-of death and of life. It has two effects, which are made use of as types in Scripture. On the one side, the operation of leaven upon meal presents an analogy to something evil in the spiritual world; for it decays and decomposes the matter with which it comes into contact. On the other side, the operation of leaven upon meal presents an analogy to something good in the spiritual world; for it is a principle of life and growth, and imparts a new energy and a beneficent quality to the matter with which it comes in contact." Archbishop Trench says, "In some pas8ages, the puffing up, disturbing, souring propetries which leaven has are the prominent points of comparison; in others, its warmth, its penetrative energy, the power which a little of it has to lend its own savour and virtue to much wherewith it is brought in contact." I. LEAVEN ISA FIGURE OF MORAL EVIL IN THE CHURCH. It suggests (1) the insidious nature, (2) the rapid propagation, (3) the cornipting influence, of evil. "Observe, the evil was not a matter of example, but of contagion. Such a one as this incestuous man-wicked, impenitent, and unpunished-would infect the rest of the Church. ·who does not know how the lone of evil has communicated itself? Worldly minds, irreverent minds, licentious minds, leaven society. You cannot be long with persons who by innuendo, double meaning, or lax language, show an acquaintance with evil, without feeling in some degree assimilated to them, nor can you easily retain enthusiasm for right amongst those who detract and scoff at goodness." The corrupting influence of evil in the Church may be illustrated from the history of the great heresies, more especially those which have been started by immoral and unworthy men. II. SUCH MORAL EVIL IS SURE PRESE:STLY TO ATTRACT PUBLIC ATTENTION. And so it brings a wrong estimate of the Church, and excites prejudice against it. The Church bas most gravely suffered, in every age, from her unworthy members, who have been only too readily regarded, by outsiders, as the Church's representatives. "The student of history will remember how dexterously Gibbon contrives to throw discredit upon Christianity by enlarging upon the shortcomings of the early Church, and by evnding the cornparison between its moral elevntion and the shocking demoralization of heathen society." III. SucH MORAL EVIL HAS A DANGEROUSLY ACTIVE AND PERVASIVE INFLUENCE. "It leaveneth the whole lump." It spreads in the soil as the roots of bindweed. Therefore, as, in preparation for the Paschal feast, the Jews carefully and minutely senrched for every particle of leaven, to turn it out of their houses, so must the Christian Chur~h watch lest any bad person come into its membership, and must strictly exclude those who may take bad ways after joining its membership, lest their evil influence should be found to pervade the whole lump. The very first symptoms and indications of moral evil demand resolute dealing, and should be immediately met by the strong yet ch:uitable discipline of the Church. In simple language, suil;ed for children, the i,oet txprn8ses the danger dealt with in this homily. "One sickly sheep infects the Book, And poisons nil the rest." R.T. Ver. 1.-The Christian Church as unleavened. ".As ye are unleavened." The idea of the Church is of a pure and unadulterated and uncorrupted mass, and every individual member of the Church is under obligation to aid in securing and maintaiuing tbe purity. The Church must put out, purge out, and keep out, the very relics of the old leaven. Reference is made in the figure which St. Paul uses to the Jewish custom of searching for leaven, which was probably rotained in the apostle's time. " Because Scriptm:o speaks of' searching Jerusalem with candles' (Zeph. i. 12), they used to carry out this custom of searching for leaven with great strictness, taking a candle and 'prying into every mouse-hole and cranny,' as St. Cbrysostom says, so as to collect even the smallest  rno THE FIRST EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS. [cH. v. 1-13.