I. THE MORAL RELATIONSHIP of the ages. Paul teaches here that the age of tlic Jew in the wilderness sustained a twofold relation to men of all future times-the relation of a representative and of an admonisher. 1. It was a representutive. Things that happened in the wilderness happened as "ensarnples." (1) Their blessings were "ensamples." Their "pillar" represented the Bible. Their baptism unto Moses represented the dedication of Christians to the relii(iOn of Christ. Their manna an<l their water from the rock represented Christ-the Bread and Water of spiritual life. (2) Their imperfections were" ensamples." Their lusts, idolatries, frivolity, discontent, represent the sins to which men are liable through all Christian times. (3) Their punishments were "ensamples." '.I.'housands died in the wilderness in consequence of their sins, and this represents the fact that sin and misery are indissolubly con- nected. 2. It was an admonisher. "They are written for our admonition." The principles embodied in their history are of universal application. They are: (1) The special care which God exercises over those who commit themselves to him. (2) 'l'he tendency of the depraved heart to go wrong. (3) The inviolable connection between sin and suffering. II. TnE DIVINE SUPERINTENDENCE of the ages. It is here taught that God employs one age as a minister to another. He is in all ages. He makes the events that happened to the Jews in the wilderness thousands of years ago minister to the good of men of all future times. This fact: 1. Should restrain us from hasty judgments of bis providence. 2. Should impress us with the seriousness of life. III. THE GROWING RESPONSIBILITY of the ages. "Upon whom the ends of the world are come." The patriarchal was succeeded by the Mosaic, the Mosaic by the Christian. The Christian is the last. All the past has come down to us: 1. Through literature. Books bring down to us the poets, the sages, the orators, the preachers of past ages, etc. 2. Through tradition. Were there no books, one generation would impart its thoughts, spirit, art, institutions, to another. IV. THE COMMON TEll!PTATION of the ages. "There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man," etc. Men through all times have been subject to similar temptations. (1) All men are temptable. (a) Men are constitutionally temptable. All moral creatures in the universe are temptable, even the highest angel. 'fhere is no virtue where there is no ternptability. (b) All men as fallen creatures are specially temptable. Having yielded to temptation by the law of habit, they have gained a tendency to do this, and this tendency is ever on the increase. (2) All men are in tempting circumstances. In heaven there may be no incentives to wrong, no seductive influences. Earth is full of the tempting. The passage here teaches us two things. 1. That our temptations require great caution. "Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall." The Jews in the wilderness had great privileges. Inspired men were with them. Supernatural manifestations surrounded them; God himself was specially with them. Yet they yielded to their temptations, and they fell. Wherefore let all "take heed." Privileges are no security. 2. Tlwt our temptations must be resisted. They are resistible: (l) Because God does not nllow any temptation to happen to us that outrueasures our power of resistance. "He will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able." He is in all the events of life. He proportions the burden to the back. If temptations came outstripping our capa- bilities of resistance, our yielding to them might be a calamity, but would not boa crime. Such a case, I presume, never happens in the history of man. 'l'hc righteous God would not allow it to transpire. (2) Because if we are in earnest in our resistance, he will enable us to escape. He "will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it." "'!'here is no valley so dark," says an old expositor, "but he can find a way through it, no affiiction so grievous but he can prevent or remove or enable us to support it, and, in the end, overrule it to our advantage." CONCLUSION. 1. Do not suppose that the advantages of past times were greater than ours. '!'hero are men who are constantly referring us to the past, saying the former times were better than the present. Of all the ages that arc past, what age had the advantages of this? Not the patriarchal; for under it the Deluge came. Not ~ho Mosaic; for under it came the ruin of Jerusalem and the destruction of the Jewish commonwealth. Not the apostolic; for in it g1icvous heresies arose and moral abominations grew rife. 2. Do not suppose that the type of excel/wee reached by our THE FIRST EPISTLE TO THE COHIN'l'IUANS. [cH. x. 1-33.
w,!'<.:s/o,·.,_ is l,iyh enmql, fri;· us. \Ve ought to be more noble than the old patrinrchd, lllore ell i1~htcned aud Chrn;t-hkc than the best Christians of apostolic times. • On us, gr<'nt God, on us arc come The ends of rolling time; We would begin each openino- day With gratitude sublime. " l\Icn after men have come and gone, ::lly1fods have passccl away; Dnt thou hast lived unchanged, O Goel, And brought us to this day. The past, nn ocean under thee, llorc onward thy grent plan, And every billow, ns it Lroke, Wus fraught witli goocl to man, The dispensations under whi,·h Our fatl,ers lived and <lied W"re only, as compared witil ours, Dim daybrrnk to noontide. .. A goodly herilage" have we, A gcs or choicest lore ; What" kings and prophets long'd" to see Are ours for evermore. '.l'lie great men of the past are ours, To help us ou life's way; The Sun of Righteousness we have, To flood our hearts with day. All that past times have given us lllay we employ aright, And live a grand and go,lly life, Full worthy of our light. We follow in the 11wful march Of 1111 the migilty deatl. Eternal Father, succour us When all our years have fled I