CHAP. IV.] DEATH IN US: LIFE IN YOU. t 343 9 Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; X t Ps. xxxvii. 24. u 5,9. Gal. 31. ch. i. 10 "Always bearing about in the body the dying 1 Cor. xv. of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. 11 For we which live are alway delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh. vi. 17. x Rom. viii, 11, 12. 17. 2 Tim. 1 Pet. iv. 13. y Ps. xliv. 22. Rom. viii. 36. 12 So then death worketh in us, but life in 1 Cor. xv. 31, you. 49. z ch. xiii. 9. The way in which our adversaries press upon us and environ us, seems in no way to take from the power of our words. We utter freely what we desire. "Perplexed, yet not in despair." We know not sometimes whither we are to turn to be extricated from our difficulties, but we are quite sure, from past experience, that a door will be opened. "Persecuted (or pursued), yet not forsaken"—when in the dungeon we sang at midnight hymns to God. Some translate it," pursued, yet not abandoned." "Cast down, but not destroyed." Cast down in soul, yet not destroyed. "Patience," as he says elsewhere, "worketh experience, and experience hope" (Rom. v. 4). "My grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect in weakness" (xii. 9). ་ 10. "Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus," &c. "And what is the dying of the Lord Jesus, which they bare about? Their daily deaths, by which also the Resurrection was shewed. For if any believe not,' says he, 'that Jesus died and rose again, beholding us every day die and rise again, let him believe henceforward in the Resurrection.' Seest thou how he has discovered yet another reason for the temptations? 66 'What, then, is this reason? That His life also might be manifested in our body. He says, 'by snatching us out of the perils.' So that this, which seems a mark of weakness and destitution, this [I say] proclaims His Resurrection. For His power had not so appeared in our suffering no unpleasantness, as it is now shown, in our suffering indeed, but without being overcome." (Chrysostom.) 12. “So then death worketh in us, but life in you." These forms of a living death, in which we exist, are your salvation. They work 344 THE SAME SPIRIT OF FAITH. [II. COR. 13 We having a the same spirit of faith, according as it is written, "I believed, and therefore have I spoken; we also believe, and therefore speak; a Rom. i. 12. 2 Pet. i. 1. b Ps. cxvi. 10. Rom. viii. 11. 1 Cor. vi, 14. d 1 Cor. iii. 21. Col. ch. i. 6. i. 24. 2 Tim. ii. 10. e ch. i. 11. & viii. 19. & ix. 11, 12. 14 Knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus, and shall present us with you. d e 15 For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God. life in you, because God has ordained them to be the channels by which you live to God, according to the saying, "The Blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church." 13. “We having the same spirit of faith, according as it is written, I believed, and therefore," &c. St. Paul quotes this as an axiom of universal truth, that what a man of any truthfulness believes, that he speaks, and this is particularly so in the matter of any revelations he may have received from God. Thus, "my heart was hot within me, and while I was thus musing, the fire kindled, and at the last I spake with my tongue." This is the characteristic of the spirit of faith, it forces the man to utter what he believes. 14. "Knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus," &c. Now the truth which burnt in the very bones of the Apostle, and made him as a man on fire, was the Resurrection of Jesus, and our resurrection in and with Him; and not only so, but the fact that God had raised up Jesus, not as a solitary man, but as the Head of a great redeemed race, as the Head of a great mystical body, in which were first the Apostles, and then their converts who endured to the end. 15. "For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace," &c. To enter fully into the meaning of the Apostle here we must have something of his mind respecting the importance of Eucharistia―of praise and thanksgiving. The lifting up of the spirits and couls of men to God in thanksgiving was in one sense the most important thing which they could do. It was the acknowledgement by all within them of God-His goodness, His love, and His power, put forth on their behalf. And so it was the purpose for which the abundant grace was given. What, humanly speaking, is the rain given for, but to call forth the fruits of the earth; and CHAP. IV.] WE FAINT NOT. 345 Rom. vii. 22. 16 For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. Ephes. iii. 16. what is the abundant grace given for, but that the many might be thankful, and show forth God's praise, not only with their lips, but in their lives. The greatest glory of God is the return which answers to His Grace, consisting first of all in the thankfulness and gratitude which cause the heart to overflow towards God as the Personal Giver of good. Thankfulness is acknowledgment to a person. It cannot be given to a thing. It must be accorded to a good and holy being. The word that the Apostle uses for thanksgiving is "Eucharistia," from which the name of "Eucharist," as applied to the Blessed Sacrament, is derived. Now when he uses such words as "the thanksgiving" (eucharistia) of the many, does he think of the Eucharist? We answer, How can he exclude it from his thoughts? The Eucharist, or Holy Communion, was in his view a solemn commemoration of the Death of Christ, and a setting forth of His Death till He came again. The Apostle most certainly believed with all his heart and soul that all blessings came wholly through the Death of Christ, and would consider that the closer we associate all our graces and blessings with that Death the better; and assuredly, to say the least, the Apostle would hold that the Eucharist afforded to believing Christians the closest connection possible of these thanksgivings and prayers with the Body and Blood of the Lord. 16. "For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish," &c. "For this cause "—that is, because of the Resurrection of the Lord by the Father, and our interest in that Resurrection. Though our outward man perish," through such afflictions and distresses as he had recounted in verses 7, 8, 9, 10. 66 "Yet the inward man is renewed day by day." The distresses by which the outward man was on the point of perishing were so blessed by God that they were made means of union with the sufferings of Christ, and so, whilst there was outward decay, there was inward renewal. 17. "For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us," &c. The Apostle had spoken of the affliction in such terms as troubled " or "hemmed in on every side," "perplexed," "per 66 OUR LIGHT AFFLICTION. [II. COR. our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; h 18 While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for 17. "Our light affliction." "Our" omitted by B. and Syriac; retained by N, D., E., F., G., K., L., P. secuted," ""cast down," ," "always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus." Now he calls this affliction light in comparison with the weight of glory, which under God's grace it was the means of procuring for us. "A far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory." "He sets side by side the things present with the things to come, the momentary with the eternal, the light with the weighty, the affliction with the glory. And neither is he content with this, but he addeth another expression doubling it, and saying in excess and unto excess (καθ' ὑπερβολὴν εἰς ὑπερβολὴν).” (Chrysostom.) 66 Weight of glory." As if the contemplation of it was what one might call oppressive-the mind not able fully to sustain the continued thought of it. "O world to come in exchange for the present! O eternity for a moment! O everlasting rest for a transitory labour! O eternal communion in the holy, blessed, and eternal life of God, for the sacrifice of a criminal, miserable, and corruptible life here on earth! Whoever sets no value on this seed of a blessed eternity knows not what it comprehends." (Quesnel.) 18. "While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which," &c. We look not at (non contemplantibus), we regard not the things of the present life. For if they are good, their good is not lasting; and while it lasts, it is dangerous to our faith and hope. And if they are evil, their evil may be turned into good; and the evil itself, though entailing pain and distress, passes away. "At the things which are not seen.” “We endure as seeing Him Who is invisible. We look for a city which hath foundations. We esteem the reproach of Christ better than the treasures of Egypt, for we have respect unto the recompense of the reward." "The things seen are temporal "—no matter what it is which the fleshly eye looks upon, whether good or evil, it will pass away. "But the things which are not seen," but which the eye of faith CHAP. V.] THINGS NOT SEEN ETERNAL. 347 the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal. sees, are eternal. The ever Blessed Trinity, the Holy Angels, the Incorruptible Body, the crown of righteousness-these the eye of flesh cannot see, and these are eternal. "O God, the Protector of all that trust in Thee, without Whom nothing is strong, nothing is holy, increase and multiply upon us Thy mercy, that Thou being our Ruler and Guide, we may so pass through things temporal that we finally lose not the things eternal." CHAP. V. a FOR we know that if our earthly house of this tabe nacle were dissolved, we have a building a Job iv. 19. ch. iv. 7. 2 Pet. i. 13, 14. 1. "For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have," &c. "We know." Notice the Apostolic certainty. He writes as one who knew and believed that there was not only a resurrection body, but one prepared for him. On what grounds did he know this? On two grounds. First, on the ground of the Resurrection of the Lord; on that was based the truth of the doctrine. But he knew that he had a part in the sufferings here for now in this life he could say, "Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal body." If he suffered now with Jesus, he knew that the Lord would not in death and in eternity desert His fellow-sufferer. Не "If our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved." calls the present body a tabernacle or tent; but inasmuch as it has an inhabitant, which is the soul, it is a tabernacle and a house—a tabernacle, that is, a tent which may be at any time taken to pieces, and yet a house or dwelling, because it is a shelter for the soul for a period. "Be dissolved"-i.e., broken up as a tent is. He scarcely |