office which in no sense belonged to him. It will be seen from his letters that he was very jealous of his position as an apostle, and persisted in claiming the rights which belonged to the office. We may, therefore, recall to mind the general grounds on which he believed himself to be an apostle, and the more special signs of his apostleship wbid: ought to have commended his rlaim to the Corinthians. St. Peter, on the occasion of filling the betrayer's place, 1·,,,l declared a condition of apostleship for which he gives no kind of authority. Accc•du,g to his idea (Acts i. 21, 22), "Of the men therefore which have companied with us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from the baptism of John, unto the day that he was received up from us, of these must one become a witness with us of his resurrection." Probably St. Peter was led to this idea by our Lord's appointment of the apostles as his witnesses, and he conceived that an apostle must have a complete knowledge to be a true witness. But the essential condition of apostleship is rather to be found in the direct per:;hnal call to the office by the Lord Jesus Christ himself. Each one of the first twelve our Lord personally called. St. Paul he directly and personally called. No man can cl::.im the office. 'l'he number can never be increased, unless Christ should be pleased to make himself manifest again, and call men to the office. St. Paul saw the Son of man, and heard his voice, and received his direct call, when smitten by the light near Damascus. ,vhere there had been this direct personal call of Christ, there would surely be a seal of the call in a Divine endowment of miraculous power. 'fhis the first twelve apostles had, and this it is certain St. Paul also had. This, then, was the general ground of his claim; but he further urges upon the Corinthians that they had special reasons for accepting him as an apostle. 'l'hc power of Christ which bad come to them through him carried its own testimony. "The seal of mine apostleship are ye in the Lord." God had witnessed to him by crowning his labours with success; and the Corinthians had felt his apostolic power. Now St. Paul had to vindicate his personal dignity and liberty and right as an apostle. He had persisted in working for his own living at the trade of the tent-maker, in which he had been brought up, and his malicious enemies argued that he did so because he felt that he could not press his claim to maintenance, as did the other apostles. "The followers of St. Peter, with malicious ingenious logic, argued from this practice of St. Paul that his dignity and authority were thereby proved to be somewhat inferior to that of St. Peter and the Lord's brethren, who were supported by the Christian Church." In this chapter St. Paul declares his apostolic liberty and rights, especially iu three matters. I. His RIGHT OF ENTERING INTO SOCIAL RELATIONSHIPS. St. Peter had a wife. Other apostles were married men. .A.nd St. Paul might have been had he choseu to be. H he voluntarily refrained from entering into this social relation, because of the limitations which its responsibilities would entail on him, and because of the itinerant character of his labours, no one need assume that he abandoned his rights or fai:ed to recognize them. Had he so minded, he could have made both wife and family chargeable to the Churches, and the burden those who loved him would gladly have borne. Voluntary abstention from the pressing of a man's rights ought never to be construed as the surrender of those rights. So St. Paul lays down the true and only principle upon which the celibacy of the clergy can be recognized. Every clergyman has tho riqht to "lead about a sister, a wife," but any clerµ;yman may refuse to exercise his right, an<l may voluntarily set his own liberty in bonds, if he thinks that ho may thus gain o. higher power in the service of his Divine Lord. 'l'he principle is equally applicable in the life of the ordinary Christian. Abridgments of liberty are oftentimes necessary, and yet more often advisable, but they never involve abandonments of rights. Constantly the Christian man says, " I may, but I will not-I will not for Christ's sake." II. His RIGHT OF WORKING FOR l!'IDEPENDENT MAINTENANCE. This was certainly a peculiarity in St. Paul, and no doubt other teachers felt it to be a kind of reproach upon them. llut St. Paul never argues that it was a necessary duty for others. Any other man might feel it a duty, just as he did; but he had no intention of making his conduct in this respect even an example. He was placed in peculiar circumstances; he was of a singularly sensitive temperament; he laboured among all classes, and was anxious to keep away everything that might be rua<lo a reproach of the gospel; ho was determined to make his motives quite clear, aud so he would receive from the Churches uo mainteuance, only, iu times of necessity, some kindly and helpful gifts. Now, wo 31S THE FIRST EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS. [cu. 1x. 1-27.
nc~d not even sa:i: that St. P~ul was right in this. He had an unque~tioued ministeriat ch11m to support m carnal thmgs. \Ve can only say he had a ri<>ht •~!so to exercise his liberty, and work for his own living, if he chose so to do. Tho~e who work for their li,·ing may serve Christ in the preaching of his gospel· and those who preach his gospel may work for their living, if they prefer so to do. ' lll. Hrs RIGHT OF CL.\I:MING TIIE DUE REWARDS OF ?;-- WORI[. (Ver. 7.) Th'l.s is urge_d by three figures: ~he support of the soldier in "., r; al.IC 1>artaking of the fruitage of 111s vmeyard by t?e vmc-dresser; and the sharing of the milk, given by the cattle, by hin~ wh~ has them Ill charge. The true rewards of Christian s•irvice for others are (1) thelf lovmg confidence and esteem; (2) the expressions of that love in their holy lives and la hours; and (3) the more personal expressions of their love in <>ifts and care and kindly concern for the temporal well-being of their teachers.-lt. T. " ,