Vers. 15, 16.-Contentment is better than envy. \Vhere party spirit is rife, as it was in the Corinthian Church, there is always danger of hatred, envying, and jealousy. The rebuke to these dispositions, administered by the apostle, is founded upon the deepest principles of Christianity. The Church is not a club which each member joins for his own advantage anrl convenience, but a body in which each member is incor- porated for mutual co-operation in common subjection to the Divine Head. 1. THERE MUST NKEDS DE, IN RELIGIOUS AS IN ciVIL SOCIETY, DIFFERENT POSITIONS CORRESPONDING TO VARYING GIFTS AND SERVICES. As the body needs all its members, they must occupy their appointed positions for which they are severally fitted and to which they are severally called. It is so in the Church of God; and, according to the -0ffice filled, the duties performed, will be the position occupied in the regard and esteem of men. II. THOSE IN INFERIOR POSITIONS SHOULD REMEMDER THAT INFERIORITY IN 'l'IIE VIEW OF MEN IS NOT NECESSARILY SUCH IN THE SIGHT OF Goo. That there is a scale of excellence cannot be questioned, but that God's graduation agrees with man's is not to be for a moment supposed. He judgeth not as man jndgeth. Not always do those \vho fill most space in men's eyes stand first in the view of God. III. AN ENVIOUS SPIRI'l' IS PRODUCTIVE OF THE UTMOST MISERY TO nm WIIO ,CHERISHES IT. All painters and poets who have tle.1lt with the sub_ject have (lgreed .in depicting envy as consumed and tortured with wretchedness. '!'ho envious man cannot enjoy his own blessings or exercise his own powers, for the sight or thought of what he deems the choicer blessings or the rarer powers of his neighbour. IV. ON THE OTHER HAND, A CONTENTED SPIRI'l' IS PRODUCTIVE OF TRUE HAPPINESS. When "the sun of sweet content" has risen in the eyes, the light is upon every ieature. A holy and calm conviction that his lot is ordered by Divine wisdom gives a deep peace, an abiding cheerfulness, to a good man's life. If one were to have regard ,only to his own happiness, he would do well to beware of discontent. V. IT IS TO DE nEMEMDERED THAT AN APPAI\EN'l'LY LOWLY SEHVICE MAY nn IMPORTANT AND EVEN ESSENTIAL. '!'he foot has not so complex a structure, has not the same adaptation to a varied service, as the hand ; yet, with no power of locomotion • .the man would be crippled and pitiable, nc,twithstanding the marvellous manual 40S THE FIRST EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS. [cH, xn. 1-31,
mechanism of which he is master. The ear does not afford the 8ame range of know- ledge, perhaps not the same gradation of pleasure, as the eye; but the man who loses hearing is shut out from many of the joys and very much of the information which this life affor<ls. And in the Church of Christ, what work has been done by the lowly, the feeble, the illiterate! and in how many cases do they J)Ut to shame the gifted and the eminent! VI. IF THE TRUST DE SMALLER, THE RESPONSIDILITY WILL BE LESS, Instead of looking up to the great, the learned, the eloquent, and sighing because we have not their gifts, let us be grateful that we have not their account to render. To whom much. is given, of him will much be required.-T.
Ver. 21.-Respect is better than contempt. In previous verses the apostle has expostulated with those in lowly stations and with inferior gifts who give way to the temptation t_o repine because of wl!at is their own and to envy the higher position and the J~rger gifts of others. In this verse he exemplifies his justice and impartiality, rebukrng those who despise such as are beneath them in mental or spiritual endow- ments. L PRIDE FOLLOWS UPON FORGETFULNESS OF THE DIVINE SOURCE OF ALL <lIFTS. The man who looks dowo upon his fellow-Christian virtually boasts of whatever he himself bas which he deems a ground of superiority. Now, this is in contradiction to the precepts of the Bi hie and the spirit of Christ. "What hast thou that thou. didst not receive? Who hath made thee to differ?" II. CONTEMPT IMPLIES FORGETFULNESS OF THE RULE OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE, Can, we say to a brother, "I have no need of thee"? whilst we remember that the Head of . the Church has stationed him where he is, 'and has given him what he possesses? To question his place in the Church, his function in the body, his service to the Head, is to dispute the wisdom and the authority of Christ himself. III. CONTEMPT rs SELF-DESTRUCTIVE. It rebounds upon the head of him who casts it at his neighbour. For the fact is that we are members one of another in such a srnse that each one's efficiency and usefulness is to a large extent dependent upon ,those of his brethren. In the figure used by the apostle, the eye and the head in which it is so pre-eminently and regally stationed, are taken as representing the great and notable among the members of a Christian society. And it is laid down as evident that they cannot say to hand, to foot, to the trunk and all the vital organs, "I have no need of you." For the fact is, they have such need. 'fhe well-known fable of Agrippa may be quoted, as in Shakespeare's 'Coriolanus,' in illustration and proof of the mutual dependence of all parts of the organism. So is it in the Church of God. 'J'he great controversialist, the great episcopal administrator, the great Biblical scholar, the great church builder, are all doubtless and undeniably of great importance, and fill a large place in men's eyes; But the obscure pastor, the lowly Scripture reader, the unnoticed Bible woman, the patient and unrewarded teacher of the young,-these and many others like -them are the rank-and-file of the army, and cannot be dispensed with. To look down upon them with disdain would be a proof of folly as well as of sinfu,l self-conceit. Happily, the truly great are ever foremost to recognize the value of the labours of the humble, ever foremost to do them honour. '!'hey know full well that their own work would fall to pieces were it not for the unnoticed work of others who may be less known to fame. IV. MUTUAL RESPECT IS PROMOTIVE OF SPIRITUAL UNITY. Let there be murmuring among the lowly and disdain among the great, and there follows at once a" schism." But when each renders due honour to his brother, the society is compacted, and is made· strong for its united work and witness in the world.-'!'. Ver. 26.-Sympatliy. The desirableness and preciousness of sympathy are unques- tionable. Selfishness is the curse of human nature and human society. There is a. tendency towards absorption in individual interests, pleasures, and sorrows, which needs to be counteracted. Sympathy is as natural a principle as selfishness, though not so strong. Christianity tends to strengthen it for the conflict; and io the new humanity the love of the Saviour awakens and fosters regard for all those for whom Christ died. OH, xu. 1-31.] THE FIRST EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS. 409