a practical character, particularly in respect to the marriage relation in their present state of trial.  Chap. 7:1.  The occasion, then, of writing this epistle, which gives also its scope and office, was to correct the above named errors and abuses, of which he had received accurate information, and also to answer the inquiries of the Corinthians in their letter.  In this work the apostle employs now sharp rebuke, now tender expostulation, and now earnest and impassioned argument.  The party strifes among the Corinthians he meets by showing that Christ himself is the only head of the church, that all gifts are from him, and are to be used to his glory in the edification of believers.  Chaps. 1:13, 14, 30, 31; 3:5-23.  The vain-glorious boasting of their leaders he exposes by showing the emptiness and impotence of their pretended wisdom in comparison with the doctrine of Christ crucified, who is the power of God and the wisdom of God for the salvation of all that believe, without regard to the distinctions of worldly rank.  Chaps. 1:18-2:16; 3:18-20.  The abuses and disorders that had crept into the church he rebukes with apostolical severity; and in correcting them, as well as in answering the questions of the Corinthians, he makes an application of the general principles of the gospel to the several cases before him which is full of practical wisdom—­the incestuous person (chap. 5:8), companionship with the vicious (chap. 5:9-13), litigation among brethren (chap. 6:1-8), fleshly indulgence (chap. 6:9-20), the inquiries of the Christians in respect to marriage (chap. 7), meats offered to idols and sundry questions connected with them (chaps. 8, 10), disorders in the public assemblies (chap. 11), spiritual gifts with a beautiful eulogy on love (chaps. 12-14), the doctrine of the resurrection (chap. 15).  He also defends his apostolical character and standing against his opposers, though by no means so earnestly and fully as in the following epistle.  Chaps. 4, 9.  Thus it comes to pass that the present epistle contains a remarkable variety of topics, and gives us a fuller and clearer insight into the practical working of Christianity in the primitive apostolic churches than that furnished by any other of Paul’s epistles, or, indeed, any other book of the New Testament.  The great principles, moreover, which he lays down in meeting the particular wants of the Corinthian church remain valid for all time; shedding from age to age a clear and steady light, by which every tempest-tossed church may, God helping it by his grace, steer its way into the haven of peace and prosperity.