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Did Paul ignore the material universe, or so underrate it as to pay it no attention? No. He studied, admired, used it. He speaks comparatively, and means that in the daily course of himself and his Corinthian brethren, they were influenced more by the invisible than the visible, by the spiritual and eternal than by the material and the temporal. They were practical spiritualists. In relation to this course of life we may observe —

I. It is A MORE PHILOSOPHIC COURSE. A life of practical spiritualism is far more rational than that of practical materialism, because the spiritual is —

1. More real than the material. We have stronger evidence for the existence of spirit than of matter. True, the essence of both is beyond us; but the phenomena of spirit come more closely and impressively to us. Thought, volition, hope, fear, are immediate subjects of consciousness, and these belong to the spirit.

(1) The whole structure of the visible universe indicates the existence of spirit. Matter is essentially inert, but every part of nature is in motion. Matter is blind, but every part of nature indicates contrivance. Matter is heartless, but every part of nature is instinct with goodness. And then, too, it seems designed for spirit. Does not its contrivance appeal to thought, its streams of goodness to gratitude, its beauty to admiration, its sublimity to reverence and awe? What is this fair universe without spirit but a magnificent mansion without a tenant; a temple filled with the glories of the Shekinah, but containing no worshipper?

(2) The impressions of mankind sustain the belief. From remotest times, in all places and in every stage of culture, men have believed in the spiritual. A belief so universal must be intuitive, and any intuitive belief must be true, otherwise there is no truth for man.

(3) The Bible authoritatively declares this fact. It tells us of legions of spirits in various orders and states, and that there is One Infinite Spirit, the Parent, Sustainer, and Judge of all. I am bound to believe, then, that the universe is something more than can be brought within the cognisance of my five senses. We are confessedly more intimately and solemnly related to the spiritual, and is it not natural to expect that we should have a sense to see spiritual things? Were such a sense to be opened within us, as the eye of Elijah's servant was opened of old, what visions would burst upon us! The microscope gives us a new world of wonders, but were God to open the spiritual eye, what a universe of spirits would be revealed!

2. More influential. The invisible is to the visible what the soul is to the body, that which animates and directs every part. Its spirit is in all the wheels of the material machine. It is the spring in all its forces, the beauty in all its forms, the glow in all its life.

3. More lasting.

II. It is A MORE UNPOPULAR COURSE. It is opposed to —

1. Popular science, which teaches that matter is everything, that all thoughts about the invisible are idle and superstitious. "Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die."

2. Popular religion, not only of heathendom, but of Christendom, which is the religion of the senses. Popular life. The great bulk of mankind live a material life; their ideas of wealth, grandeur, beauty, dignity, pleasure, are all material. Their grand question is, "What shall we eat, what shall we drink, wherewithal shall we be clothed?" The Christly man, in walking by faith, sets popular science, religion, life, at defiance. Though he is in the world, he is not of the world.

III. It is A MORE BLESSED COURSE.

1. It is more safe to walk "by faith" than "by sight." The senses are deceptive, the eye especially.makes great mistakes. "Things are not what they seem."

2. It is more useful. Who is the more useful man in society — the man who is controlled by appearances, who is materialistic in all his beliefs and pursuits, or the man whose mental eye enters into the invisible region of eternal principles, ascertains the real work they do in the universe, arranges them, and applies them to the uses of man's daily life? Undoubtedly the latter. To him we owe all the blessings and arts that adorn civilised life. Albeit a stupid age calls the former a practical man, and the latter a theorist and a dreamer. In the spiritual department of life, the man who lives under the practical recognition of One whom no eye has seen or can see, is the man who both enjoys for himself and diffuses amongst others the largest amount of happiness.

3. It is more ennobling. He who walks by sight is bounded by the material. Matter is his cradle, his nourishment, the circle of his activities, and his grave. On the contrary, he who walks by faith, towers into other regions, brighter, broader, and more blest.Conclusion — Which of these courses of life are we pursuing? It is not difficult to determine this question. Jesus Himself has supplied the test, "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, that which is born of the spirit is spirit."

1. He that walks by sight is in all his experiences, purposes, and pursuits, "flesh." His mind is a "fleshly mind," his wisdom is "fleshly wisdom."

2. On the contrary, he who "walks by faith" is spirit. Spirit in the sense of —

(1) Vivacity. All his faculties are instinct with a new life — the life of conscience, the true life of man. He is spirit.

(2) Social recognition. He is not known as other men are known, as men of the world. But, as a spiritual man, distinguished by spiritual convictions, sympathies, and aims.

(3) Divinity. He is born of the Divine Spirit, and has a kindredship with, and a resemblance to, his Eternal Father. He is now a conscious citizen of the great spiritual kingdom.

(D. Thomas, D. D.)

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KJV: Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord:

WEB: Therefore, we are always confident and know that while we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord;