Forgiveness and cleansing from impmity may justly be regarded ns the meRns to an end; i.e. to hallowing or sanctificat1011. This is the positive, to which the other is the negative, side. Set free from ~-ice_ and ?rime, the subject of the Divine power of the cross comes under a new and mspmng mfluence. 'l'hc Holy Spirit creates the nature af~e~h. ~o. inferior power _is adeq~at: t? p~·oduce a ?hange so vast. It is a proof of the D1vme origm and adaptat10n of Chnst1amty that 1t attempts and achieves a task so superhuman. These moral miracles of sanctification constitute an evidence of Chris- tianity which is to many minds the most conclusive of all, Ill. A BLESSING AS RESPECTS THE FUTURE : THE CHRISTIAN IS JUSTIFIED J:<'ROM co:S-DEMNATION. 'l'he expression employed refers to the government or God and our rnlation _to it. Justification _is acqt'.ittal at the bar of the rii;hteous Judge. By anticipa- tion Scripture represents this acquittal as already pronounced in the case of those who liave accepted the terms of salvation. For such the Name of Jesus Christ avails and in such the Spirit of God graciously works. Justification is conferred now· but the full benefit of it will appear by contrast in the day of judgment. ' APPLICATION. 1. The q~estion is suggested to every~hearer of the go~pel-Could the apostle have used this language with reference to me 1 Are the si()'ns of this mighty change manifest in my life? 2. The reflection is snirgested to tl10s~ who have ~xperienced this moral transformation-Bow wonderful and how effectual is the grace of God! How vast is the debt of gratitude we owe to the Father who loved us the Saviour who redeemed us, the Holy Spirit who sanctifies us !-'f. ' Vers. 12-16.-The sanctity of the body. At Corinth idolatry assumed a most in,posing, luxurious, and voluptuous form. It is quite in accordance with all we !mow or the opuleiit and pleasure-loving inhabitants of and visitors to "the star of Hellas," that thosa controversies and scandals which are dealt with so fully in this chapter should arise in a Christian society planted by the apostle at Corinth. It should be more especially noticed that there is a sufficient reason for the remarkable fact that sexual matters should be treated more fully in this Epistle than in any other part ()f the New Testament. The apostle in this passage demolishes the sophistical ari;uments :md excuses by which certain professed Christians at Corinth were disposed to defend the practice of fornication. It was said that matters relating to the bodily life were indifferent to the moral welfare of men, that as an enlightened man will eat this food or tbat, irrespectively of any 6uperstitious prejudices, inasmuch as food and the digestive system are naturally in co-relation with each other, so he will satisfy the sensual appetites of his body in whatever way may be convenient and agreeable to him. Against this doctrine of devils Paul here argues, not on grounds of asceticism, but on grounds which must be concrded as secure by the moral and especially by the Christian thinker. l. THE GROUIWS UPON WHICH CHRISTIANITY ESTABLISHES THE SANCTITY OF THE BODY. As here presented, they may appear to some readers to be mystical, but in fact they are in harmouy both with the facts of human 11ature and with the great doctrines or the New Testament. 1. 'l.'he Lord Christ and the body of man are "for'' each other. In his incarnation Christ has assumed the human body, in his ministry he has honoured it, in his death he has redeemed it. Not the soul only, but the body, is God's creation, and the object of Christ's regard, and partaker of the benefits of his mediation. As the Lord is for the body, so is the body fur the Lord. 2. J.1,re particularly, the bodies ,f Christians are members of Christ. The ransomed and renewed humanity is one glorious whole, one Divine organism, the Lord Jesus being himself the authoritative Head. If the Head, the informing Spirit, is holy, must not also the subordinate members be also pure and consecrated? 3. Christ having been raised from the dead, it is appointed that the body of every follower and friend of Christ shall share in tltis resuscitation and exaltation. In what way this shall take place is immaterial to the argument. The spiritual renewal is the earnest of the high and immortal resurrection of the whole man, These things being so, the body of the Christian standing in relation so intimate to the glorious and holy Mediator and Lord,-is there any consistency between such a connection with the King of saints and a life of filthy ~ensuality? '!'he incompatibility is apparent and undeniable. JI. THE PRACTICAL CONSEQUE1'CE8 WHICH FOLLOW UPO?, TIIE CHRISTIAN DOCTllINE OF 1'1lE DODY. These are broadly distinguished into two classes. 1. Foorl is a matter of clI. YI. 1-20.J THE FUIST EPISTLE TO THE COP.INTHIANS. 20.:;
indifference, Many we11k Christians laid great stress upon clean and unclean food ;. eorno objected to eat what had been or might have been offered to idols. Now, the apostle claims all this as a province of Christian liberty. Diet was a matter "with- out" the body. All things were lawful. Those who ate and those who refrained from eating were forbidden to despiae one another; for both alike were called upon to act in this matter "as unto the Lord." 2. Impurity is absolutely forbidden. There is a vital dilTcrence between the satisfaction of hunger and the gratification of the sexual appetite, This latter is only permissible within the boundaries of holy matrimony. Fornication is an abuse of the body, a defilement of Christ's mP-mbers, an insult to the Lord himself, whose property it not only takes by theft from him, but hands over to a harlot. This is very plain speaking on the part of the apostle. But it is just; and if it was neces~ary in those days, it is equally necessary now. Physiology is often invoked to sanction vice; but it is well to listen to the nobler and purer counsels of the apostles, which am not more in harmony with the loftiest ethics than they are with the soundest conclu- sions of physical and of social science.-T.