The Pulpit Commentary — 1 Corinthians — Section 367

knows how they miss their way and sadly blunder in working out themselves throucrh the mists and clouds of the intellect, yet trust them he will, nor can he suffer othe~s to disparage their office. '!'his inward consciousness the Holy Spirit acknowledges, and to it he brings light and warmth, in order that the intuitive judgment may be supplied with the conditions of its best activity. It is, indeed, a part of our fallen nature, but, notwithstanding that, it is a Divine remnant, and only awaits God's voice to utter its response. '!'he-dark lumps of coal when <lug from the earth give no sign of the sunbeams hidden in them, but, on being ignited, they attest their origin. Therefore, argues the apostle, "judge in yourselves," since there is no knowledgi of God unaccompanied by a knowledge of ourselves. Only let your judgment be in the Lord; for only in him can man and woman be seen in the perfection of their mutuality. After all, then, may we not say, in view of this argument no less than of all his methods of thinking, that St. Paul is peculiar among the apostles by his insight into the natural economy of the universe, the apostle of nature as well as of grace, becaµse each was a portion of the same vast scheme of Providence? According to his view, the human race was in Christ from the beginning, and Adam's federal headship. took its whole meaning from the pre-existence of Christ, as the Creator ofman.-L. Vers. 11-34.-Special consideraeion of the Lord's Supper; uses of self-judgment. And what is St. Paul's mood of mind now? "I declare unto you" (command you), and" I praise yo:1 not," since I hear of" divisions" among you, and" I partly believe it." "Heresies [sects] must be among you," for in the present state of our nature there is no way to develop the good without the evil manifesting itself. The evil has its uses; the evil -is not a cause but an occasion of good; the evil is overruled by the Holy Ghost and turned to the advantage of the Church; the evil does not change its character and become a good, but is instrumentally employed to subserve other and very different purposes than itself contemplates. Thereby the genuine advocates of truth are made to appear, and truth itself is brought out in a more luminous aspect. The standpoint is that God is not ouly the Author of the institutions of the Church, but their Divine Guardian. The institutions are not left to themselves, nor arc circumst'.Lnces outside of them surrendered to their own operation, but God himself is in the workmanship of his hands, and presides over all external things, so that his providences are in behalf of a providence which has a supreme object and end. Now, the Lord's Supper is a holy sacrament, and St. Paul approaches the discussion of it in a very marked way. We understand him to claim a direct revelation from the Lord Jesus on this subject, and, by virtue thereof, to" declare," or command, as he st~tes in the seventeenth verse. Truth is truth, whether mediately or immediately received. Yet we do know that there are circumstances under which truth affects us in a manner singularly personal. Only one such scene as that " near Damascus" is reported in the New Testament, and only one such unique individuality as that of St. Paul is recorded for our instruction. So that we are moving in the lino of all the precedents of his career when we suppose that this account of tho supper was communicateJ. directly by the Lord Jesus to the apostle of the Gentiles. In a previous discussion (eh. x.) he had referred to a specific aspect of the snppcr as a communion or participa- tion. Deyond this the argument then in hand did not require him to go. Now, however, he is full and explicit as to details-the time when it was instituted, tho circumstances, the manner of the Lord Jesus, tho formula employed; so that nothing might escape observation, but the utmost depth and solemnity of impression bo secured. "In remembrance of roe'' is the heart of tho holy ordinancc-tho "remem- branci," of the broken body and the shed blood-tho penalty of the violated Law endured, satisfaction offered to tho Lawgiver, the sense of justice met in the human heart, the love of God expressing itself as the grace of God, and the means therewith provided for the sense of God's grace to be awakened and developed in tho hunrnu heart. Memory is the power in man this holy institntion addresses. "In remembrance of me." Now, looking at memory in its position among the mental faculties, we may perchance get some light on the words just quoted. Memory is a very early arnl energetic activity of the mind. It begins our development. and is the chief s~imulant of progressive development. It is the spinal column of the faculties. • Scnsat10n, per-  3,2 TIIE FIRST EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS, [cu. XI, 1-34.