SERMON I. THE CHRISTIAN LIFE. I COR. vii. 24. Brethren, let every man, wherein he is called, therein abide with God. 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, "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 all means in their power, to oppose this restlessness. For, if 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 |