II. CORINTHIANS 6, 8-10. 163

to actual facts. He was, as he says, 4, 11 and 1 Cor. 15, 31, constantly exposed to death. He died daily, and yet he lived. God always interposed to rescue him from destruction when it seemed inevitable, and to sustain him under calamities which to all appearance no man could bear. As chastened,, hut not hilled. To chasten (7raiS€i;€6i/) is j^roperly to treat as a child, and as children are often made to suffer by their pa- rents for their good, to chasten is to correct by suffering. The word, however, is often used to express simply the idea of infliction of pain without any reference to the end of the infliction. God never punishes his people. That is, their suf ferings are never designed to satisfy justice; nor are they always even chastisements in the proper sense of the word. They are not in all cases sent to correct evils, to repress pride, or to wean from the world. God often afilicts his people and his church simply to enable them the better to glorify his name. It is an unchristian disposition, therefore, which leads us always to ask, when afllictions are sent upon ourselves or others. Why is this? AVhat have we or they done to call forth this expression of parental displeasure or solicitude? What does God mean to rebuke ? It may be that our suffer- ings are chastisements, that is, that they are designed to cor- rect some evil of the heart or life, but this is not to be inferred from the simple fact that they are sufferings. The greater part of Paul's sufferings were not chastisements. They were designed simply to show to all ages the power of the grace of God ; to let men see what a man could cheerfully endure, and rejoice that he was called upon to endure, for the sake of the Lord Jesus. In this case chastened means simply afiiicted. There is no reference to the design of God in sending the suf- ferings which the apostle was called to endure. There is an- other Aiew of the meaning of this passage, w*hich supposes the words to be uttered from the stand-point of Paul's enemies. " Chastised, but not killed." ' Regarded as an object of di- vine displeasure, as smitten of God, (which may be true,) yet I am not killed.' It is, however, more in keeping with what follows to understand the apostle as referring to his actual ex- perience. He was greatly afiiicted, but not killed ; cast down, as he says in 4, 9, but not destroyed. Compare Ps. 118, 18, " The Lord hath chastened me sore ; but he hath not dehv- ered me over unto death." Let believers therefore regard their afllictions, when they can, not as indications of God's disapprobation, but rejoice in them as opportunities graciously