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SERMON I.

I. COR. vii. 24.

Brethren, let every man wherein he is called, therein abide with God.

γου You find that three times within the compass of a very few verses this injunction is repeated. "As God hath distributed to every man," says the Apostle in the 17th verse, 66 as the Lord hath called every one, so let him walk. And so ordain I in all churches." Then again, in the 20th verse, "Let every man abide in the same calling wherein he is called." And then finally in our text.

The reason for this emphatic reiteration is not difficult to ascertain. There were strong temptations to restlessness besetting the early Christians. The great change from heathenism to Christianity would seem to loosen the joints of all life, and having been swept from their anchorage in religion, all external things would appear to be adrift. It was most natural that a man should seek to alter even the circumstances of his outward life, when such a revolution had separated him from his ancient self. Hence would tend to come the rupture of family ties, the separation of husband and wife, the Jewish convert seeking to become like a Gentile, the Gentile seeking to become like a Jew; the slave

trying to be free, the freeman, in some paroxysm of disgust at his former condition, trying to become a slave. These three cases are all referred to in the context-marriage, circumcision, slavery. And for all three the Apostle has the same advice to give-stop where you are. In whatever condition you were when God's invitation drew you to himself-for that, and not being set to a "vocation" in life, is the meaning of the word "called " here—remain in it.

And then, on the other hand, there was every reason why the Apostle and his co-workers should set themselves, by if all means in their power, to oppose this restlessness. For, Christianity in those early days had once degenerated into the mere instrument of social revolution, its development would have been thrown back for centuries, and the whole worth and power of it, for those who first apprehended it, would have been lost. So you know Paul never said a word to encourage any precipitate attempts to change externals. He let slavery he let war alone; he let the tyranny of the Roman empire alone-not because he was a coward, not because he thought these things were not worth meddling with, but because he, like all wise men, believed in making the tree good and then its fruit good. He believed in the diffusion of the principles which he proclaimed, and the mighty name which he served, as able to girdle the poison-tree, and to take the bark off it, and the rest-the slow dying-might be left to the work of time. And the same general idea underlies the words of my text. Do not try, he says, do not trouble yourselves about external circumstances; keep to your Christian profession; let those alone, they will right themselves. Art thou a slave? Seek not to be be freed. Art thou circumcised? Seek not to be uncircumcised. Get

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hold of the central, vivifying, transmuting influence, and all the rest is a question of time. But, besides this more especial application of the words of my text to the primitive times, it carries with it, dear brethren, a large general principle that applies to all-a principle, I may say, dead in the teeth of the maxims upon which life is being ordered by the most of us. Our maxim is, "Get on!" Paul's is, "Never mind about getting on, get up!" Our notion is-"try to make the circumstances what I would like to have them." Paul's is "leave circumstances to take care of themselves, or rather leave God to take care of the circumstances. get close to him, and hold his hand, and everything else will right itself." Only he is not preaching stolid acquiescence. His previous injunctions were-"Let every man abide in the same calling wherein he was called." He sees that that may be misconceived and abused, and so, in his third reiteration of the precept, he puts in a word which throws a flood of light upon the whole thing :- -"Let every man wherein he is called therein abide." Yes, but that is not all—" therein abide with God!" Aye, that is it! not an impossible stoicism; not hypocritical, fanatical contempt of the external. But whilst that gets its due force and weight, whilst a man yields himself in a measure to the natural tastes and inclinations which God has given him, and with the intention that he should find there subordinate guidance and impulse for his life, still let him abide where he is ca led with God, and seek to increase his fellowship with Him, as the main thing that he has to do.

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I. Thus we are led from the words before us first to the thought that our chief effort in life ought to be union with God.

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