He is a man of transparent honesty, as every Christian man should be. Whether honest~, be the best policy or not, it is the only Christian policy. II. CoxTRITIO~. As a man becomes spiritually great, he has keener reo-ret for old delinquencies. Paul cannot forgive himself for persecutino- the Church of Christ. That act becomes more glaring in its sinfulness the nearer h~ draws to the "Lio-ht of the ,vorld." Little saints-little sins. No sin is little except to the purblind."' The wore perfect our acceptance before God, the more perfect our condemnation of ourselves. III. BoLDXEss. Paul does not shrink from testimony or deed. People may call him" a turncoat," but n~t now bei~g a _chil~, he has put away the childish thing of being appalled by epithets-epithets wluch, ID his prese.nt condition, can re:illy mean only praise, whatever they may be intended to mean. A man who has true and hio-h "fear of God" bas little fElar of man. The truly great in Christian life are afraid only of being afraid to "·itness for Christ. Christian courage is a fine quality. IV. DILIGEXCE. The truly great Christian is a hard worker. He must do some- thing for his Lord, whatever his circumstances. If he be stretched on a sick-bed be ,,ill_ toil there, i1;1 c_onv~:sation ?r _prayer, or in repressing anything that may dishonour Chnst, ~uch as 1mtab1ht)'., rep1mng, etc. Many professors can believe anything and do nothmg. A ton of their piety would be dear at the cost of a bad fartbino-. There arc some microscopic saints, who ever want" to be fed," but all their feeding°seems to come to nothing. Instead of being "labourers in the vineyard," they are only r,ickers of the grapes. Tbe great Paul was a great worker; he "laboured more abund,mtly than they all." If we would be great we must be diligent. "The hand of the diligent maketh rich" (Prov. x. 4). V. LovE. This is very apparent in Paul's case. His heart ie going God-ward with the penning of e,·ery word. His contrition was related to his love. He felt that be bad been forgiYen much, and so be loved much. Love to God made him diligent, and per- l1aps in no one was loYe to man more strikingly exemplified than in this apostle. As we grow great we grow in love, because, as we grow spiritually great, we grow like God, nnd God is lo'l'e. If our religion docs not mellow and soften us and extend our symrathies, we have got hold or'the wrong religion. VI. HUMILITY. We cannot be great unless we are little. To go up we must go 2own. The true Christian is one who bas become a "little child." Paul ascribes e'l'crything to God's grace, notbin:r. to himself. This was a very true and accurate <li Yision; it represented things as they really were. 'l'be great Christian sees things ns they are; the little Christian, as they are not, but as he would like them to be. The little Christian thinks himself to be a great Christian, and the great Christian tl,inks himself to be a little one. .As we rise, God seems greater and greater, and ,re little and ~till more little, until at last he becomes "all in all" and we become "nothing." There is a greater gap between God and Gabriel in Gabriel's thougl~t than hetwEen God and Judas in Judas's thought. We cannot boast of our salvat10n, for God has saved us; nor of our works, for bis grace has wrought them through us.-H.
Yers. 12-19.-Did Ghrist risd • I. A GREAT QUESTION. Everything connected with "arter deat!1" is of high interest to us, but this, whether the professed Messiah and Sa'l'iour \,urst the bands of death or was held captive by them, is of the very hi;diest moment. Christ rested his claims upon his resurrection; if it failed, they failed. His rising from the tc,mb was the demonstration of his Divine Sonship (Rom. i. 4). His witnesses were to be witnesses of his resurrection, as of an all-important event (Acts i. 22). His resurrection was the seal of' the power of Calvary. It gave authority to all bis teaching. It corroborated the antecedent miracles. II. A DISPUTED QUESTION. Disputed from the first, when the absurd rumour was ~pread that his disciples had stolen his body away in the night, and tba,\ men sound asleep had witnessed the depredation! Around this central point of Christian faith have suro-ed floods of controversy. It was and is natural that the citadel of Chris- tianity should be fiercely attacked. Every conceivable supposition has been made to explain away the evidence. But this remains, that greater miracles have to be taken for granted by deniers than by believers. Our faith need not be shaken one whit by the onslaught; the truest and best things in the world have ever been the favourite targets of the devil and his archers. on xv. 1-58.) THE FIIlS'l' EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS. 5::13