a man may eat thereo~, and not. ~ie.''. Did not the miracle, wrought so lavishly for tile public, wrought without sohc1tat10n, seem to the excited multitude a siO'n 0 thu.t Christ was the national Messiah their hearts craved to have? Next day, he disen- chanted them by sweeping away the secular illusion and tellin(J' them plainly "I am that Bread of life." The contrast between the manna of the wilderness and the bread of life was stated and enforced at a time, in a way, under circumstances, calculated to secure its object. It did not effect its purpose. "From that time many of his disciples "''ent back, and walked no more with him; " and henceforth the popular expectation of a worldly Messiah was a ,vaning moon in a darkenin(J' ni),!ht. And this contrast was recognize~ by St. Paul _even while adhering most clo~ely to the parallelism. On the ground ol the parallelism, ho argues the eminent privileges of the Jews, the opportunities enjoyed, the Divine manifestation, the spiritual influence secured to the nation_ in the _desert. They failed to understaud and appreciate their position. A ppet1te, lust, idolatry, overcame them; "they were overthrown in the wilderness," and so swift was God's wrath and so overwhelming, that there "fell in one day three :rnd twenty thousand." Here was a supernatural economy; here was a reli(J'ion that provicled for bodily necessities, and even gave "an(J'els' food;" here at the s~me time 1bat the claims of a true and proper sensuousnes~ were divinely :net, a "spiritual" :.gency was established and administered-here, in the solitudes of sand and rock, where the chosen people were alone with God, and where neither day nor ni(J'ht was allowed to wear its accustomed face because of the presence of the pillar-cloud of glory ; and yet amid such displays of the providence and Spirit of God, men fell into idolatry, murmured against God, tempted him, and perished under miraculous judgments. It is not simply a lesson from individuals to individuals. It is a warning from a com- munity to a community. Vice as personal, vice as social, vice as an epidemic in the air,-this is the vice of bo,lily deiradation as it exhibits its raging enormity in lust, fornication, and idol-worship. "These things were our examples," "for ensamples," "written for our admonition, upon' whom the ends of the world arc come," the coalescence of the ages in the grand demonstration of Christianity as the completed revelation to mankind of God in Christ. "Wherefore ... take heed." We have more light, larger privileges, nobler opportunities, but there is no mechanical security in these things. The crisis-age has come, the crisis-trial has come with it. " Where- fore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall." To encourage their holy endeavours, he assures them that there is no fatality in temptation. Oftentimes it happens that men are morally disabled before the struggle, before an incitement to do evil has fairly set in. Dy this proneness to believe in fate, they surrender in advance. Remote causes are frequently more potent thnn proximate causes, and many a man has been the victim of a false philosophy of morals long before he has fallen as an actual prey to Satan. Bodily sins have something in them which renders their subjects uncommonly liable to this destructive :belief, and "I could not help it; I cannot help it," are words that easily rise to their lips. But the doctrine of St. l'aul is a protest a(J'ainst such a demoralizing idea. "No trial has come upon yon beyond man's powe~ to bear" (Conybeare and Howson). "God is faithful." 'l'he laws of the universe and their administration, the presence of the Spirit as the universal Helper, and the glory of Christianity as the consummation of_ the ages, are so many Divine assurances that no man is doomed beforehand to fall mto the snare of the devil. Satan himself is only Satan, man's adversary, within certain limits. God holds him in check. At first, the influence of evil takes effect ou the involuntary nature, sensations are awakened, passions excited, but it becomes a temptation when these lower instruments arc brought to bear on the consent of the will. "God is faithful" to the human will. '!'here is nothing in man which is so constantly quickened and energized as a defensive force. And, furthermore, as a positive and a«crressi "e force, what resources are at its command! If temptation is subtle and i,7Jnuating, who knows the number and variety of the Spirit's secret avenues to the will? '!'here is always "a way to escape," and this way is provided by our heavenly Father, who is evermore answering the prayer, "Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil."-L.
Ycrs. 14.-3'.J.-Arguinent further eiiforced; ftllowship with Christ by means of the oil. x. 1-33.] THE FIRST EPISTLE TO 'fl-IE CORINTHIANS.