the Epistle. This is the new bond which the Gospel has introduced, binding all true Christians to one another in Christ, and giving to their mutual intercourse as pastors and people a depth, and reality, and force incomparable. Paul felt deeply and keenly the attacks made on him. But his sensitiveness arose from his fear lest the truth should suffer. In 1 Cor. v. 1, we have an instance of apostolic "binding," or excommunication. Toward the end of this chapter we have an instance of "loosing," or restoring; and in both the exercise of "the keys of the kingdom."

CHAPTER I. 3, 4.

COMFORTED IN ORDER TO COMFORT.

"BLESSED be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God."

Paul traces all the blessings of the kingdom of grace, all the pledged and promised blessings of the kingdom of glory, to one inexhaustible and glorious source, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. He says, "Blessing, praise, honour, and thanksgiving be lifted up to God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and because his Father our Father, and because his God our God, the Father of Mercy, from whom all mercies flow, whose hand distributes them, and to whom alone we are to look for them; the God of all comfort." What an endearing expression is this! -the God who gives comfort, the God in whom alone there is comfort, the God whose property it is to "comfort all that mourn, to give beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, and the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness." This God, says the apostle, comforteth us, as a matter of present experi

mental enjoyment, in all our tribulation. And for what purpose ? That we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble. God never gives a blessing for selfish monopoly, or exclusive possession: what he gives he gives as a trust for diffusion, a capital for use. All whom he makes saints he constitutes thereby stewards; and he that tries to keep for himself and to intercept the gift or the grace that he has from descending upon others, will find it wither in his heart, and dry up as he hoards it; instead of finding, as they do who have become servants because they were saints, the blessing increasing in proportion as they diffuse it. Now, says Paul, we are comforted not that we may be selfishly happy, but that we may be distributors of the comfort wherewith we ourselves have been comforted. Let each seek to be a fountain, ever diffusing; not a vortex, ever absorbing.

Let us try to ascertain from this passage how it is that God comforts his people. First of all, it assumes that there is tribulation, or affliction, or distress, with all the consequent depression of the human heart, and inner experience; or there would be no necessity for special comfort. "In the world ye shall have tribulation." There is as great 66 a needs be " for the heaviest affliction, as there is for the comfort wherewith we can be comforted under it. The affliction sanctifies; the comfort sweetens the affliction whilst it sanctifies. Were there no comfort in our afflictions, they would precipitate us into the depths of despair; were there no afflictions in our comfort, then we should presume. Ceaseless sunshine would make us forget that this is the land of the stranger, the pilgrim, and the exile, and not capable of being the home of the Christian or of the

Christian's heart. When our blessed Lord sent forth His disciples, as it is recorded in the gospel, we read of his telling them what awaited them. He did not say, your path will be strewn with roses, you will find a welcome wherever you go; your glad message will awake a responsive echo in every heart; you will be raised to the dignity of princes, and you will be exalted among the very highest of the earth. On the contrary, he said, "In the world ye shall have tribulation; they will think that he that killeth you doeth God service." He neither disguised nor diluted; he told them plainly what was before them. But whilst he predicted the tribulation that awaited them, he unsealed the spring out of which they could get the comfort that would cheer them. 66 In the world ye shall have tribulation ; do not expect anything else, but in Me ye shall have peace,' and be certain that as sure as you seek it, so sure you shall obtain it." When a Christian draws his joys from the world, and his fears from Christ, he inverts the economy of God. When a Christian accepts the world's cross, but bears it in the strength of the believer's Lord, he assumes and asserts his true position. "In the world ye shall have tribulation, in Me ye shall have peace."

Whatever be the nature of the comfort that is here given by God to those that are in tribulation of any kind, it is for all; it is a comfort that is available to all; "who comforteth us in all our tribulations." It is available to all Christians, in all kinds of trial. There is no affliction so great that no comfort is to be had in it; just as there is no sin so heinous that there is no forgiveness for it. For the worst sin there is forgiveness through the blood of sprinkling; for the greatest

trial there is comfort in God, the Father of Mercy and of all comfort. None need despond in tribulation on the supposition that there is no comfort; none need despair in the recollection of sin from the fear that there is no forgiveness: as there is no sin which the blood of Christ cannot wash away, there is no tribulation in which the Holy Ghost cannot make your comfort exceeding abundant above all that you can ask or desire.

We gather from this passage, that whatever be the comfort that Christians feel, or if they would experience comfort adequate to the trial, whatever it may be, in which they are placed, they must not look to any earthly cistern or to any human source, but only to Him who is the Father of Mercy and of comfort. All others are like Job's, miserable comforters, like broken cisterns that can hold no water. But God is the fountain, ever full, ever overflowing. That man who does not go to God for the pardon of his sins is very guilty; and that man is next to him guilty who does not go to God for comfort in his trials. God's command and invitation to us is to make use of him, as a father for the orphan and a husband for the widow, the source of forgiveness for the greatest sin, the fountain of consolation in the greatest trial. To seęk comfort from anything beneath, or rather independent of, God is next in criminality to seeking forgiveness from any one beside God. You must not make use of God only for your safety; he asks to be applied to also for your comfort. God wishes every Christian to be as happy as he is forgiven; and in order that he may have a like forgiveness and comfort, he bids him lift up his heart unto the Father of Mercy, the God of Comfort, who comforteth us in all our tribulations.