Manning (H. E.), Sermons on Ecclesiastical Subjects, 223.
Moinet (C), The Great Alternatvoe, 279.
Parker (J.), City Temple Pulpit, ii. 89.
Price (A. C), Fifty Sermons, vii. 249.
Spurgeon (C. H.), New Park Street Pulpit, i. (1855), No. 26.
Whitworth (W. A.), The Sanctuary of God, 179.
Christian World Pulpit, xixviii. 349 (S. McComb) ; xxxix. 81 (F. W,
Farrar) ; Ivii. 385 (W. C. Doane). National Preacher, xxv. 185 (E. F. Hatfield). Preacher's Magazine, xi. (1900) 209 (G. A. Clayton).
The Triumph of the Vanquished.
But thanks be unto God, which always leadeth us in triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest through us the savour of his knowledge in every place. For we are a sweet savour of Christ unto God, in them that are being saved, and in them that are perishing ; to the one a savour from death unto death ; to the other a savour from life unto life.— 2 Cor. ii. 14-16.
1. The text in its immediate connexion presents a striking instance of a peculiarity in St. Paul's style of writing. He often drops the subject in hand and goes ofif, at the suggestion of a word, into a digression which has little apparent relation to it. In the thirteenth verse of this chapter he says that he left Troas in deep distress at not having met Titus there, and came into Macedonia. But, notwithstanding his sorrow, at the mention of Macedonia he startles us by an outbreak of thanksgiving, " But thanks be unto God, etc." He does not explain this outburst of thankfulness, and tell us why he thus breaks forth. But we happen to know why. In Macedonia he received Titus, whom he expected at Troas, with news from Corinth, which he had anticipated with dread, but which, as it turned out, instead of confirming his fears, filled him with joy. He feared the Corinthians might have resented the faithfulness of his dealing with them in his former letter, and been hardened by it, instead of being made penitent, but Titus brings him news of their repentance and reformation, and he is overwhelmed with joy. He finds he has achieved a triumph when he half dreaded a defeat, and he cannot help expatiating upon it at the mention of the name of the place where Titus met him. And in doing so he generalizes the thought to the expression of this truth — that the exercise of sincerity and faithfulness on the part of a Christian minister, in " speaking the truth in love," is always a triumph in the sight of God, whatever may be its efifect upon the persons addressed. He therefore enlarges the sphere of his joy, and thanks God, "which always
2 COR. & GAL. — 4
50 THE TRIUMPH OF THE VANQUISHED
leadeth us in triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest through us the savour of his knowledge in every place."
2. The image before the mind of the Apostle is the triumphant entry of a Koman general who, after some victorious campaign, has returned to the capital laden with spoils. The civic dignitaries met him at the gate. The long vista of the Sacred Way that led to the Temple of Jupiter — the most venerable spot in the imperial city — was lined with crowds of spectators. The route was strewn with flowers, and adorned with various devices. The doors of the temples were flung wide open, and from innumerable altars clouds of incense were wafted into the streets. There also fragrant spices were burnt till the air was filled with the rarest perfumes. As the stately procession advanced, with its troops of prisoners and trains of waggons, a shout of universal joy rent the air. It was the moment when the proud and boastful confidence of the people tasted its most exquisite gratification, when the wine of their exultation was quaffed to the dregs. But amid all the rejoicing and smoking of incense, there were some whose hearts were full of ominous forebodings. The captives who enhanced the glory and lustre of the victor were destined to taste the severity of their masters. Arrived at the temple, which marked the termination of the route, some were mercilessly slain, to show how Eome rewarded her opponents, while some were spared, to remember what they owed to her haughty generosity. To the one the pageantry of the spectacle with its far-spreading odours was a savour of death unto death, to the others a savour of life unto life. So, says St. Paul, has it been with us. God has led us about "from place to place in the train of His triumph to celebrate His victory over the enemies of Christ." By us He has made known the reality of His might, in us has been seen the evidence of His conquest ; and wherever we have gone there we have been a living testimony to His prevailing prowess. Just as the prisoners who were paraded through the streets of Eome showed that the victorious general had been engaged in no sham warfare, so we have been led from place to place as proofs of the saving vigour of the gospel of His grace.
^ A couple of centuries earlier, Corinth had fallen before the military prowess of Kome. The ruin of the city had been
2 COR. II. 14-16 51
completed by a conflagration in which, as St. Paul had before reminded them, the hovels of the vast slave population, built of "wood, hay, stubble," had been consumed. But in addition, Mommius, the victorious consul, had collected many of the pic- tures and statues of the city to adorn, together with a train of captives, his triumph. Perhaps the ancestors of some of those to whom St. Paul wrote had been of that throng; the memory, at least, of that humiliation could not have died away. Yet the blush of shame which the mention thereof brought to the face must have been lost in astonishment at one who rejoiced in his defeat, and exulted in that he was led captive — and that always — by the conquering grace of God.^