feeling of degradation; obeying the laws, not because they were right, but because institutions are to be upheld with cordiality. One thing in conclusion we have to observe. It is possible from all this to draw a most inaccurate conclusion. Some men have spoken of Christianity as if it was entirely indifferent about liberty and all public questions as if with such things as these Christianity did not concern itself at all. This indifference is not to be found in the Apostle Paul. While he asserts that inward liberty is the only true liberty, he still goes on to say, "If thou mayest be free, use it rather." For he well knew that although it was possible for a man to be a high and lofty Christian, even though he were a slave, yet it was not probable that he would be so. Outward institutions are necessary partly to make a perfect Christian character; and thus Christianity works from what is internal to what is external. It gave to the slave the feeling of his dignity as a man, at the same time it gave to the Christian master a new view of his relation to his slave, and taught him to regard him "not now as a servant, but above a servant, a brother beloved." And so by degrees slavery passed into freed servitude, and freed servitude, under God's blessing, may pass into something else. There are two mistakes which are often made upon this subject; one is, the error of supposing that outward institutions are unnecessary for the formation of character, and the other, that of supposing that they are all that is required to form the human soul. If we understand rightly the duty of a Christian man, it is this; to make his brethren free inwardly and outwardly: first inwardly, so that they may become masters of themselves, rulers of their passions, having the power of self-rule and self-control; and then outwardly, so that there may be every power and opportunity of developing the inward life; in the language of the prophet, "To break the rod of the oppressor, and let the oppressed go free.” LECTURE XV. NOVEMBER 16, 1851. 1 CORINTHIANS, vii. 29–31. — " But this I say, brethren the time is short it remaineth, that both they that have wives, be as though they had none. And they that weep. as though they wept not; and they that rejoice, as though they rejoiced not; and they that buy, as thongh they possessed not. And they that use this world, as not abusing it for the fashion of this world passeth away." THIS was St. Paul's memorable decision, in reply to certain questions proposed to him by the Church of Corinth, on the subject of Unworldliness. Christianity was a new thing in the world, and circumstances daily arose in which it became a question in what way Christianity was to be applied to the circumstances of ordinary daily life. Christ had said of his disciples, "They are not of the world." It was a question, therefore, Can a Christian lawfully enter the married state? Can he remain a slave and be a Christian too?- May he make certain worldly compliances? Should à Christian wife remain with an unchristian husband? Here was the root of the difficult question - What is Worldliness? Now, observe the large, broad spirit of the Apostle's answer. In effect he says you may do all this you may enter into family relationships, and yet be living in expectation of Christ's coming. If you are a slave, care not for it. If any that believe not invite you to a feast, and you are disposed to go, go without fear. I cannot judge for you, you must judge for yourselves. All that I lay down is, you must in spirit live above, and separate from the love of earthly things. Christianity is a spirit—it is a set of principles, and not a set of rules; it is not a mapping out of the chart of life, with every shoal and rock marked, and the ex act line of the ship's course laid down. It does not say, Do not go to this, or, See that you abstain from that. It gives no definite rules for dress, or for the expenditure of time or money. A principle is announced; but the application of that principle is left to each man's own conscience. Herein Christianity differed essentially from Judaism. Judaism was the education of the spiritual child, Christianity that of the spiritual man. You must teach a child by rules; and, as he does not know the reason of them, his duty consists in implicit and exact obedience. But a man who is governed, not by principles, but by maxims and rules, is a pedant, or a slave; he will never be able to depart from the letter of the rule, not even to preserve the spirit of it. Here is one difference between the Law and Gospel. The Law lays down rules "Do this, and live." The Gospel lays down principles. Thus Judaism said, Forgive seven times exactly so much; Christianity said, Forgiveness is a boundless spirit - not three times, nor seven. No rule can be laid down but an infinite one, seven. It must be left to the heart. -- seventy times So, too, the Law said, "On the Sabbath-day thou shalt do no manner of work." The spirit of this was rest for man, and Pharisaism kept literally to the rule. It would rather that a man should perish than that any work should be done, or any ground travelled over, on the Sabbath-day, in saving him. Pharisaism regarded the day as mysterious and sacred; Christianity proclaimed the day to be nothing, the spirit, for which the day was set apart, everything. It said, "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath." broke the day in the letter, whenever it was necessary in the true spiritual observance of the day to advantage the man. It Unworldliness, then, does not consist in giving up this or that; but in a certain inward principle. Had St. Paul been one of those ministers who love to be the autocrats of their congregations, who make their own limited conceptions the universal rule of right and wrong, he would have hailed this opportunity of deciding the question for them. But he walked in the light and liberty of the Gospel himself, and he desired I. The motives for Christian unworldliness. The first motive is, the shortness of time. "This I say, brethren, the time is short." That mysterious word "time," which is a matter of sensation, dependent on the flight of ideas, may be long to one person and short to another. The span of life granted to a summer butterfly is long compared with that granted to the ephemeron, it is short compared with the duration of a cedar of Lebanon. Relative to experience, an hour is long to a child, yet a year is little to a man. ness, therefore, is a term entirely relative to something else. Short 1. It is relative to the way in which we look on time; whether it be regarded from before or after. Time past is a dream, time to come seems immense; the longest night, which seemed as if it would never drag through, is but a speck of memory when it is gone. At sixty-five, a man has on an average five years to live; yet his imagination obstinately attaches solidity and stability to those five coming years, though the sixty-five seem but a moment. To the young such words as these are often perfectly unmeaning; life to them is an inexhaustible treasure. But ask the old man what he thinks of the time he has had; he feels what the young can scarcely be brought to believe, that time future may seem long, but time past is as nothing. Years glide swiftly, though hours and minutes scarcely seem to move. 2. Time is short in relation to opportunities. Literally these words mean "The opportunity is compressed, narrowed in,' that is, every season has its own opportunity, which never comes back. A chance once gone is lost forever. The autumn sun shines as brightly as that of spring, but the seed of spring cannot be sown in autumn. The work of boyhood cannot be done in manhood. Time is short -it is opportunity narrowed in ! The chance will not be given you long. Have you learnt the lesson of yesterday? or the infinite meaning of to-day? It has duties of its own; they cannot be left until to-morrow. To-morrow will bring its own work. There is a solemn feeling in beginning any new work; in the thought, I have begun this to-day, shall I ever complete it? And a voice says, "Work on, for the day of its closing is unknown." The true consciousness of this life is as a tombstone, on which two dates are to be inscribed: the day of birth is engraven at full length, while a blank is left for the day of death. Born on such a day; died -? The time in which that blank has to be filled up is short. The great idea brought out by Christianity was the eternity of the soul's life. With this idea the Corinthian Church was then struggling. So vast, so absorbing was this idea to them, that there was ground for fear lest it should absorb all considerations of the daily life, and duties, which surrounded these converts. The thought arose, "Oh! in comparison of that great hereafter, this little life shrivels into nothingness! Is it worth while to attempt to do anything? What does it concern us to marry, to work, to rejoice, or to weep?" All deep minds have felt this at some period or other of their career all earnest souls have had this temptation presented to them in some form or other. It has come perhaps, when we were watching underneath the quiet, gliding heavens, or perhaps when the ticking of a clock in restless, midnight hours, made us realize the thought that time was speeding on for ever-for this life beating out fast. That strange, awful thing, Time! sliding, gliding, fleeting on-on to the cataract; and then the deep, deep plunge down, bearing with it and swallowing up the world and the ages, until every interest that now seems so great and absorbing is as a |