And peace. God is not the author of divisions." all things serve the soul: the Universe, all Life and Providence, are but its ministers and helpers to God. Why, then, glory in any of his agents, when, through all things that exist, God is inviting us to have our glory and our joy in him? "Let no man glory in men ; for all things are yours, whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come, all are yours; but ye are Christ's, and Christ is God's." This is the doctrine of Peace. There is unity in all hearts when they rise to and rest in God; their dissensions are all below, when they stop short among his means and instruments. --- So unused are we to that elevation of thought which regards the spiritual life of his children as the central object of all God's works and agencies here, all their influences to be transmitted to our souls, all their beauty to open a thirst in our hearts for divine perfection, all their teachings to build us up in heavenly knowledge, so timid are we of assuming this providential attitude towards the vast system of Life and Nature spread around us, that the practical force of the Apostle's sentiment is feebly realized. That all things are ours, sounds strangely and unnaturally in our ears. It might be an unchristian sentiment, so little is it breathed forth by prevailing systems. Yet Christ lived, and made all things his; - and he left us the example that all should do likewise, and that our Lord should be but the first-born among many brethren, the first Son of God among men, but the guide -- to all the rest. And when we behold him with his universal spirit, in the midst of God's universal actings, directing every stream of experience inwards upon himself, to deposit in his soul its own freight of good; when we see that to his understanding spirit and moulding love nothing was unavailable to spiritual uses; -when we read how full to his eye the world was of spiritual light, how the frail flowers had connections with the Lord of Providence, —that in childhood's unshadowed heart his spirit beheld his Father's love of purity, — in the moral adjustments of an infant's mind discerning the earthly type of the children of the heavenly kingdom; when we read those parables, the suggestions of an every-day experience, and perceive how each passing incident prompted the lesson of instruction, and opened a channel for the outward flow of holy wisdom, so that to his employment of God's commonest gifts and opportunities might be applied his own memorable words after the feast which miracle had spread, "Gather up the fragments that nothing be lost"; when through his eventful history we find him neglecting no opportunity, however humble, of drawing strength and motive from the aids and instruments around him, — placing his nature beneath the influences which make Duty both holy and dear, - now gathering on his tasked heart the sustaining pressure of human love, — and now alone with God, watching out the stars in prayer, calming nature's reluctance to pass through every darker scene by the summoned thought that God was proposing to glorify his Name, and that for this end came he to this hour; then do we begin to understand, for we perceive how he understood it, that there is nothing which may not be instrumental to build up a meek and lofty spirit, that for moral uses and the growth of the Christian mind, "all things are ours, whether the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come, all are ours, and we are Christ's, and Christ is God's "; for our Lord and Leader guides us to our common Father. Now, it is easy to rail against other men's superstitions, but there is only one way of being true spiritual worshippers of God ourselves, and that is, by making all things ours. Nor would it be difficult to perceive, were we spiritually inclined, how this doctrine might be practically verified, that all things are ours. The World, is it not fitted to educate and mature us until our dying day, - to teach wisdom, strong purpose, self-control, and patience, and love unwearied? Its trials, its uncertainties, its calls to exertion, its daily proffered means and instruments of usefulness, are they not ours, and is there a day in which they are not available for our lasting good? Life, says the Apostle, — deep, sacred, mysterious life, with its first activities, its dreams of happiness, its struggles to realize them, its visions and its hopes, all finding at last their noblest good in Christian duty,—in the patient and faithful doing of what our hand findeth to do, and Death, breathing its hushing strain of tender and solemn wisdom over the turbulent agitations of too eager life, and all its fond and confident pursuits, Death with its twofold beckoning, one to the available time that is passing away, and one to the eternity, the home of God, that knows no change;-"Things present," where all we have of holiness or hope has been learned, and where all of good that really belongs to us has been wrought out in trial; — and "Things to come," our Faith in which heals the wounds of life, and stores our hearts with undecaying affections; - all these are ours, if we are Christ's, for he made them ours by teaching us to use them, -and when we appropriate their power, we but take him for Master and Lord. And Christ is God's his mission was to show us the Father,to make us one with Him, even as he was; — he wrought in His power, he spoke in His name, he sought His glory; and so we rise from the influences of earth to our Father's throne in heaven, and we rest in the faith, that as the shadow of his protection has been over us here, so shall it be, for ever and for ever. And this is the Christian doctrine of Unity :That we all are to be one in God, and that it is the mission of all things under God to lead us to our Father, and so promote his glory alone. SECTION IV. AN APOSTLE'S WAY OF APPLYING APOSTOLIC AUTHORITY TO THE STRIFES OF A CHURCH. CHAP. IV. 1-21. 1 LET a man account us, as ministers of Christ, and 2 stewards of the mysteries of God. What remains is, that 3 it is required of stewards that each be faithful. But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you, or by human measurement: nay, I judge not my4 self. For I am conscious of nothing against myself; yet not by this am I justified, for he that judgeth me is the 5 Lord. Wherefore, judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of hearts; and then praise shall be to each from God. 6 And these things, brethren, I have transferred to myself and Apollos, for your sakes, that ye may learn by us not to be wise above what is written, that no one be 7 inflated on behalf of one against another. For who maketh thee to differ? and what hast thou that thou didst not receive? But if thou didst receive it, why dost thou 8 glory as if thou hadst not received it? Now ye are full: now ye are rich: ye have reigned without us: And I would ye did reign, that we also might reign along with 9 you. For I think that God has set forth us, the Apostles, |