ous."

tion. Compare verses one to eight of this chapter, and also the eleventh chapter of Romans, at the eleventh verse. Observe here the truth of Scripture. Ordinary, feeble philanthropy would say, "Emulation is dangerCowper calls it parent of envy, hatred, jealousy, and pride. Yet there is such a feeling as emulation in our nature, and the Bible says it has a meaning; nay, is not wrong, but in its place a true and right affection of Humanity. So St. Paul here took advantage of this feeling. The Macedonian Church had raised the standard of Christian liberality high, and the Corinthians are stimulated not to fall below that standard.

But had the Apostle said, "Be not beaten by those Macedonians "had he called natural prejudices into playa Corinthian to yield to a Macedonian! then all the evil passions of our nature had been stimulated. In giving largely the Corinthians would have learned to hate the Macedonians; and to give more for the sake of triumphing over them, Instead of this, St. Paul exhibits the Macedonians as worthy of admiration, and exhorts the Corinthians to enter the lists in honorable rivalry. Herein, I believe, lies the difference: Emulation, meaning a desire to outstrip individuals, is a perverted feeling; emulation, meaning a desire to reach and pass a standard, is a true feeling the parent of all progress and of all excellence. Hence set before you high models. Try to live with the most generous, and to observe their deeds. Unquestionably, good men set the standard of life.

3. The last motive alleged is the example of Christ (ver. 9). Here we must observe, first, that Christ is the reference for everything. To Christ's Life and Christ's Spirit St. Paul refers all questions, both practical and speculative, for a solution. For all our mysterious human life refers itself back to Him. Christ's Life is the measure of the world. Observe, again, it is in spirit, and not in letter, that Christ is our example. The Corinthians were asked to give money for a special object; and Christ is brought forward as their example But Christ did not give money, He gave Himself. His

riches were perfect happiness; His poverty was humiliation; and He humbled Himself, that we, through His poverty, might be made rich. He gave Himself to bless the world. This, then, is the example; and it is the spirit of that example which the Corinthians are urged to imitate.

It was giving, it was Love that was the essence of the Sacrifice. The form was a secondary thing. It was Life in His case, it was money in theirs; the one thing needful was a love like His, which was the desire to give, and to bless.

LECTURE LIII.

1853.

2 CORINTHIANS, viii. 13-15. "For I mean not that other men be eased, and ye burdened; But by an equality, that now at this time your abundance may be a supply for their want, that their abundance also may be a supply for your want: that there may be equality: As it is written, He that had gathered much had nothing over; and he that had gathered little had no lack.”

THE eighth chapter of the Second Epistle to the Corinthians, the latter part of which we enter on to-day, concerns a contribution collected by St. Paul from the Gentile Christians for the Jewish Christians at Jerusalem. Part of this we have already expounded, namely, as regards the nature of Christian liberality, and the motives on which St. Paul urged it. But there still remain several points which we had not time to consider in the last lecture, and which are, nevertheless, only a continuation of the same subject.

Christian charity, we saw, was a grace" of God, not merely useful, but also beautiful. We found it a thing whose true value is measured not by the amount given, but by the willingness of heart of the giver. We learnt also that it springs up in the soil of poverty, rather than in that of wealth.

We considered, further, two motives on which St. Paul urges it: -1. Christian completeness. 2. Christian emulation. To-day we take two points more:

I. The spirit in which he urged Christian liberality. II. The additional motives which he brought to bear. I. The Apostle spoke strongly; not in the way of coercion, but of counsel and persuasion. In the eighth verse he says, "I speak not by commandment; " and again, in the tenth," And herein I give my advice." Both expressions, taken together, mean simply: "I do not order this, I only advise it."

Now here is a peculiarity which belongs to the teachmg of the Apostles. They never spoke as dictators, but only as counsellors. St. Peter says: "Neither as being lords over God's heritage." And St. Paul marks still more strongly the difference between the dictatorial authority of the priest, and the gentle helpfulness of the minister: "Not for that we have dominion over your faith, but are helpers of your joy." The Church of Rome practises a different system. There are two offices in that Church, director and confessor. It is the duty of the confessor to deal with guilt, to administer punishment and absolution; and it is the duty of the director to deal with action, to solve cases of difficulty, to prescribe duties, and to arrange the course of life. Rome has reduced this to a system, and a mighty_system it is. For when the confessor and director have done their work, the man is wholly, Will and Conscience, bound over to the obedience of the Church. This is the righteousness at which Rome aims, to abrogate the individual will and conscience, and substitute the will and conscience of the Church. But, remember, I select Rome simply because Rome has reduced it to a system. Do not think it is confined to Rome; it belongs to human nature. There is not a minister or priest who is not exposed to the temptation which allures men to this practice, to try to be a confessor and director to his people, to guide their conscience, to rule their wills, and to direct their charities.

But obesrve how entirely alien this was from St. Paul's spirit. He of all men, the Apostle of liberty, could not have desired to bind men even to himself in subjection. He hated slavery: most of all, the slavery of mind and conscience; nay, he consoled the slave, because he was free in heart to Christ (1 Cor. vii, 21, 22).

According to the Apostle, then, a Christian was one who, perceiving principles, in the free spirit of Jesus Christ, applied these principles for himself. As examples of this, remember the spirit in which he excommu nicated (1 Cor. v. 12, 13) and absolved (2 Cor. ii. 10):

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and remark, in both these cases where the priestly power would have been put forward, if anywhere-the entire absence of all aim at personal influence or authority. St. Paul would not even command Philemon to receive his slave (Philemon, 8, 9, 13, 14). And in the case before us he would not order the Corinthians to give, even to a charity which he reckoned an impor tant one. He would never have been pleased to have had the naming of all their charities, and the marking out of all their acts. He wanted them to be men, and not dumb, driven cattle. That pliable, docile, slavish mind, which the priest loves and praises, the Apostle Paul would neither have praised nor loved.

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II. Observe the spirit in which St. Paul appeals to the example of Christ (ver. 9). He urges the Corinthians to be liberal by the pattern of Christ. He places. Him before them for imitation: but observe in what spirit he does it:

1. Remark the tendency in the mind of St. Paul to refer everything back to Christ. Even when you least expect it; when there seems no similarity, he finds a precedent for every duty in some sentence or some act of Christ. For example, when the Apostle delivered his last charge to the weeping Church of Ephesus, he urged on them the duty of supporting the weak by loving labor, and enforced it thus: "I have showed you all things. How that so laboring ye ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said, It is more blessed to give than to receive." So in the case before us he is urging on the Church of Corinth to contribute money; and at once he recurs back to the example of Christ: "Ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though He was rich, yet for our sakes He became poor, that ye through His poverty might be rich."

To a Christian mind Christ is all; the measure of all things: the standard and the reference. All things centre in Him. The life and death of Christ got by heart, not by rote, must be the rule for every act.