him his money. Then why should you hesitate to receive us? We have done what was right in the sight of God; what was conducive to your present progress and your everlasting well-being. And I speak not this to condemn you; for I have said before, as you know, that ye are in our hearts to die and live with you ;" that is to say, "I am united to you; I am warmly attached to you; and therefore, when I speak the severest truths, it is not to offend, but to do you good." And here is just the model for a minister of Christ; he ought to go to the very verge of compromise, in order to conciliate a sinner; and yet he ought not to compromise the least vital and essential truth. It is possible to speak the truth without the least of compromise or uncharitableness. When we speak truth because it is truth, and speak it because it is expedient that all should hear it, and show while we speak it not a spirit of revenge, of passion, of fretfulness, of peevishness, of complaint, but a spirit of real affection and of love,-then truths, like arrows feathered with love, will sink deepest into the heart, and leave impressions that the Spirit of God himself will foster and guide by his comforting presence.

He then says, in the 4th verse, "It is quite true, great is my boldness of speech toward you; I am not afraid of you. If you should misconstrue me," as if he had said, "I am sorry for it, but I cannot help it; that will not in the least diminish my boldness of speech." As if the apostle had set us a precedent for all ministers. "I do not preach to conciliate your favour; I do not preach to avert at all hazards your hate; I do not preach about you, I do not preach for you; but, with all boldness of speech, I preach to

you, anxious that you should know that truth through which alone you can be sanctified and made happy for ever and ever. And therefore," says Paul, "great is my boldness of speech." The fact is, truth needs no apology for its utterance; and he that begins to make apologies for uttering God's truth, shows the utmost want of confidence in the reality of what he speaks.

Then he says, "When we were come into Macedonia, we had no rest; we had fightings without, and we had fears within. But nevertheless we found, though we began to despond, that God, who comforteth those that are cast down ;"-what a beautiful thought! those that God comforts are not the rich, the prosperous, the exalted, the eminently great; but those that most need his comfort, the cast down. "And we had also comfort," he says, " by Titus the evangelist, who came to us, and gave a good report of your conduct. And the result of all that I received from him is this: I rejoice, not that ye were made sorry ;"-that would be unchristian. You never can rejoice, that you have made a man sorry by conveying to him some message that rebukes a favourite passion, that cuts up by the roots an inveterate prejudice. And so Paul says, "I do not rejoice that I made you sorry; but I do rejoice that the sorrow that you felt was the sorrow that worketh repentance unto life everlasting." Here he shows that his delight was not that he had pained them, but that he had said truths that had sanctified them. The sorrow that he was the occasion of, he was grieved at the necessity of; but the repentance unto life which that sorrow by the blessing of God wrought out, made him rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory. nd then he says, "The consequence of the rebuke

that I administered for the sin at which you seemed to connive was, that you sorrowed after a godly sort."

Now here are the evidences of a genuine repentance; when a man truly repents of what he has wrongly done, then it will work carefulness that he be not involved in similar sin; clearing of yourselves of all filthiness of the flesh and spirit; indignation against sin; fear lest you should be led into temptation; vehement desire after the strength of God made perfect in weakness; zeal on behalf of truth; revenge over the sins that "And in all these respects

had misled and ensnared you.

ye

have approved yourselves to be clear in this matter."

And then says the apostle, “Therefore I am very glad that I made you sorry; not because you were sorry, but because it issued in such practical beneficent and precious fruits as those which I have now recorded. And the consequence is, that we were comforted in your comfort; and we joyed the more for the joy of Titus, because his spirit was refreshed by you all."

He concludes the chapter by saying, "I will forget the past, as God has forgiven it; I will cease to suspect you. I rejoice, therefore, that at length I have confidence in you in all things."

What a beautiful specimen of pastoral intercourse, of ministerial sympathy, of the feelings that ought to subsist and be reciprocated between those who are journeying together to the everlasting rest, fellow-heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ Jesus!

"The unfeigned pleasure which Paul manifests at the restoration of intercourse-the enumeration of the names of his friends in the frequent salutations—the joy with which his heart was lighted up at his meeting with the brethren at Macedonia, indicated the true

consolation which he derived from the pure spring of His life is the first great

the better human affections.

example of the power of Christian friendship. It is also a perpetual protest against the seclusion from all human society, which in a later age was regarded as the highest flight of virtue. It is impossible to imagine the 6th and 7th chapters of this epistle proceeding from the pen of Simeon Stylites."-Stanley.

CHAPTER VIII.

CHRISTIAN SYMPATHY-DELICACY OF PAUL'S WORDS-TRUE LIBERALITY-COLLECTION SERMONS-ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI-INNER LIBERALITY-PRUDENCE.

It appears from cotemporaneous history, and, indeed, from allusions scattered throughout the epistles of St. Paul, that the Church of Christ at Jerusalem had been labouring under great poverty, persecution, and almost destitution of the means of ordinary subsistence. Paul therefore besought his Corinthian converts, true Christians, who had at least something to spare, that they should raise amongst them collections, in order that their poor brethren at Jerusalem might participate in their riches and abundance. It is true there was no direct relationship of country, or of city, or of kindred, between the Churches of Corinth, Macedonia, and Jerusalem; but there was that common bond, stronger than the ties of nature-the bond that knits a Christian to Christ, and to all that are also in Christ Jesus. And if it be true of human nature, where man suffers, there man should sympathise, it is no less true when transferred to a higher level; it is more natural where a Christian suffers, that with him other Christians should sympathise.

Now the apostle begins this chapter by stating, "We do you to wit," a phrase common enough in 1611, when