The Pulpit Commentary — 1 Corinthians — Section 559

show what we did actually attain once, and prove that we coulcl, throu"'h life have clone better. It is, however, the hope and promise of first things on which 1;e now propose to dwell. I: F!RST Tl!INGS _ARE DONE WITH I_NTENSE FEELING. Il!ustrate from the youth bcgmmng ~usrness hfe; the man entenng on a new underta~mg; the ~issionary goiug i~rth to !us new sphere, etc. Men brace themselves up to deal with new things. 'lhey have no experience to tell them what amount of strength the new work will ,lemand, so they are likely to put too much Into it. A vague but arousing wonder clings all about new things, and imagination makes them bigger and better than they .are. At first we fail to estimate difficulties, qualifications, hindrances; we start out dike Israel, and expect to reach our Canaan quickly: so all our hearts go out into our first things. And happily life is full of them, especially early life, and they exert a most gracious influence on us, for they again and again lift us out of ourselves and above ourselves. II. FIRST THINGS HAYE A NATURAL PRE-EMINENCE. Of this the position and rights -of the firstborn sons are but the illustration. First things are felt to have a repre- sentative character; they are the natural leaders of all that come after them-the specimens and examples of their sort. In all the spheres of life we give prominence to beginnings. When a servant comes to a new situation, the master or mistress watch the first actions t-0 see "how they will frame." vVhen a convert joins a Church, the pastor give prominence to the first forms in which Church responsibilities are met. 'l'urning their thoughts back to their hopeful "first things," the apostle reproaches his converts thus: "Ye did run well; who did hinder you?" III. FIRST THINGS HAVE PROMISE FOR THE FOLLOWING TFrums. As firstfruits have for harvest. The harvest need not be worse than the specimen firstfruits, but it may be much better. A man's first work need not be his maximum standard., but it ought to be his minimum standard. A first result may tell of power, and power al ways holds the promise of what culture can make it. Or, applying the point in relation to our text, one convert made in a new sphere of Christian labour holds the promise of a great ingathering; as we find at first one star in the darkening evening sky, which is the "glorious prospect of millions more." IV. Fll!ST THINGS KEEP PROMINENT PLACE IN OUR MEMORY. Illustrate our first school; first steps in business life; first love; first communion; first convert to Christ by our influence; first sickness; first success in life, etc. 'l'he most treasured things in our memory are these first things of life; and, as such, their moral mission is (1) to aid us in the review of life, by fixing attention upon points; (2) to remind us that the ipirit of energy in which we take things up is the spirit in which we should carry them through; and (3) to show us that we need the Divine help for " patient continuance in well-doing," as much as we remember we needed it for our anxious beginnings.-R. T. Ver. 19.-The Church in the house. This expression is used concerning Aquila and Priscilla, who had been the apostle's friends at Corinth (Acts xviii. 1-3). A similar reference is found in Rom. xvi. 3-5; 2 Tim. iv. 19. At the time of St. Paul's writing this Epistle, Aquila and Priscilla were with the apostle at Ephesus, and it is probable that they opened their house or lodging as a place of worship for the Christian foreigners or strangers who happened to be visiting Ephesus. Some, huwever, think that St. Paul uses the term "Church" as equivalent to that of" family," or household, probably including servants, children, and workpeople connected with their business. 'l'he word "Church" appears to have been us.ed with some variety of meaning, the associations of the term only gradually becoming settled into those with which we are familiar. The first suggestion of the word is a gathering or assembly. Dut this implied some purpose or design for which people met together. It might be n. family object, or a political, or a social, or a religious object. Any assembly called for a pur- pose could be properly spoken of as a "Church." We know that it was applied to the political meetings of the Greeks; and it may also have been used for the synagogue meetings of the Jews, for these must be the "Church n to which our Lord referred, when he required his disciples to tell their disputes, or injuries from their fellows, to the "Church." ,ve need to be on our guard against furcin,; words to bear their modern ecclesiastical meanings when we find them employed. in the New Testament. The 5i4 THE FIRST EPISTLE· TO THE CORINTHIANS. Len. xvI. 1-24.