then, entireness, in opposition to one-sidedness. This is plain from many passages of Scripture. Thus: "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father, which is in heaven, is perfect." Again, it is not "Love them which love you," but "Love your enemies." Again: "This also we wish, even your perfection:" "Not as though I had already attained," says St. Paul, "either were already perfect:" and here he says, "perfecting holiness. This expression seems to be suggested by the terms flesh and spirit; for the purification of the flesh alone would not be perfect, but superficial, holiness. Christian sanctification, therefore, is an entire and whole thing; it is nothing less than presenting the whole man a sacrifice to Christ. "I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless." For we should greatly mistake, if we supposed the Apostle meant here only one class of sins, when he speaks of purifying ourselves from "all filthiness in flesh and spirit:" for what are they which in Christ's catalogue defile the man? They are thefts, blasphemies, evil witness, murders, as well as what we especially call sins of uncleanness. LECTURE XLIX. JANUARY 26, 1853. 2 CORINTHIANS, vii. 2–8. -"Receive us; we have wronged no man, we have corrupted no man, we have defrauded ro man. - I speak not this to condemn you: for I have said before, that ye are in our hearts to die and live with you. Great is my boldness of speech toward you, great is my glorying of you: I am filled with comfort, I am exceeding joyful in all our tribulation. - For when we were come into Macedonia, our flesh had no rest, but we were troubled on every side; without were fightings, within were fears. Nevertheless God, that comforteth those that are cast down, comforted us by the coming of Titus ; And not by his coming only, but by the consolation wherewith he was comforted in you, when he told us your earnest desire, your mourning, your fervent mind toward me; so that I rejoiced the more. - For though I made you sorry with a letter, I do not repent, though I did repent: for I perceive that the same epistle hath made you sorry, though it were but for a season.' THE remainder of this chapter, which we began last Sunday, is almost entirely personal, having reference to the relations existing between St. Paul and the Corinthian Church. In the sixth chapter he had spoken of his expressed affection towards them, and asked for a return. That return is contained in the words, "Be ye reconciled to God." We found that the reconciliation itself consisted of two particulars - separation from the world, and separation from all impurity. Subordinate to this is a request for the only personal acknowledgment and recompense they could make for his affection : "Receive us," said St. Paul: "let there be an affectionate understanding between us. Our subject to-day, therefore, chiefly bears on St. Paul's personal character, his feelings and ministerial conduct. I. The ground on which he urged this request. I. He urged it on the ground that he deserved it. It was a simple matter of justice. "We have wronged no man, we have corrupted no man, we have defrauded no man." Recollect the charges alleged against him: venality; preaching the Gospel for gain; and the accusation of the false teachers, who said, "He has overreached you - taken you in." Now the Apostle meets these charges simply by an assertion of his innocence, but an assertion which appealed at the same time to their own witness. No one who read those words could doubt whether he was guilty, for there is a certain tone in innocence not easily mistaken. There are some voices that ring true. This reminds us of Samuel's purgation of himself when laying down his judgeship. A worthy close! Two precedents are these, most worthy of thought, both for ministerial and secular life. Only consider how great in Samuel's case, and in St. Paul's, was the influence of integrity! There is nothing from which it so much behoves a public servant especially one in a sacred office- to be perfectly free, as from the very suspicion of interested motives. If he cannot say openly, and to his own heart, "I have not been bribed either by the hope of favor or popularity, or by the dread of offending; neither personal fear, nor personal hope, has ever shaped one sentence, or modified one tone, or kept back one truth," he may rest assured his work cannot stand. Honesty, uprightness, integrity of character, are sometimes called mere moral virtues : and religious people are too often deficient in these points but the bright honor of the Apostle Paul was never stained. He could say, "I have wronged no man." There is, however, one touch of graceful delicacy in the way he made this assertion of his innocence, which must not be passed over, if we would rightly appreciate the character of St. Paul. A coarser and ruder man would have cared for nothing but the proof of his own integrity. Now St. Paul perceived that the broad assertion of this might give pain. It might cover with confusion those who had suspected him. It might seem to them as if this were spoken at them in indirect reproach. It might even wound those who had not suspected him, as if his protest were a bitter reflection upon them. Therefore, he adds, "I speak not this to condemn you;" that is, "I am not defending myself against you, but to you. I am not reproaching you for past injustice: I only say these things to assure you of my undiminished love." There was one thing in the character of St. Paul, which often escapes observation. Carlyle calls him “an unkempt Apostle Paul;" and some say of him, "He was a man rude, brave, true, unpolished.' We all know his integrity, his truth, his daring, his incorruptible honesty. But besides these, there was a refined and delicate courtesy, which was for ever taking off the edge of his sharpest rebukes, and sensitively anticipating every pain his words might give: so that to have been rebuked by him would have been less painful than to be praised by most other men. Remember the exquisite courtesy with which his request to Philemon is put. Remember the delicate exception in his answer to Agrippa: "I would to God that not only thou, but also all that hear me this day, were both almost, and altogether such as I am, except these bonds." Remember, too, how he pours love over one of his strongest condemnations in Philippians: "For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ." This is something of the tender tact, the Christian art, which marks the character of this Apostle. Observe, it is only Love which can give that. It was not high breeding; it was rather good breeding. High breeding gracefully insists on its own rights; good breeding gracefully remembers the rights of others. We have all seen that dignified courtesy which belongs to high birth, which never offends as long as it is not personally harmed. But we know that that will not last: provocation makes it as bitter and as vulgar as the breeding of the most uncultured mechanic. Far far above this, is the polish which the highest Christianity gives to the heart. It is not "gentility," but gentleness. It is the wisdom from above, which is first pure, then gentle. There is a rough, rude, straightforward honesty which is just and upright, which can say these words as St. Paul did: "I have wronged no man." Perforce we respect such integrity. But Christianity requires something more: not gold only, but gold thrice refined; not a building of precious stones only, but of exquisite polish also; for there is a rough way, and a gentle way, of being true. Do not think that Christian polish weakens character, as polish thins the diamond. The polish of the world not only saps strength of character, but makes it even unnatural. Look at St. Paul, with all that grace of a feeling almost feminine in its sensitiveness was there ever anything in human character more daringly impassioned, more full of noble energy and childlike impulsiveness! That is what the grace of Christ can do. "of II. The grounds for the Apostle's hope of a good understanding with the Corinthians. To put it in one word: he rested it on his candor; he hoped it, because he had been true with them in all his dealings : "Great is 99 boldness my that is, freedom speech toward you." But let us explain. When we were going through the First Epistle, we found that a scandalous crime had been committed by a Corinthian Christian; it was the crime of incest. Now consider the difficulty in which St. Paul was placed. If he rebuked the Corinthians, he would probably destroy his own interest, and irreparably offend them. If he left the crime unnoticed, he might seem to connive at it, or gloss it over. Besides this, the subject was a delicate one to enter upon it touched family honor and family feelings. Might it not be wise to leave the wound unprobed? Moreover, we all know how hard it is to deal harshly with the sins of those we love, of those to whom we are indebted, or who are indebted to us. : Any of these considerations might have made a less straightforward man silent. But St. Paul did not hesi |