2. And why does he rejoice ? Because the captives led by God share in the great triumph. They may be a spectacle to angels or to men. Sometimes in the stocks ; often accounted the
54 THE TRIUMPH OF THE VANQUISHED
off-scouring of all things; yet, in the spiritual realm, they are made to triumph always. Conquered, they conquer; enslaved, they are free ; last in this world, but in the front rank of heavenly society. God has first triumphed over them, and is now making them partners of His triumph. Conybeare and Howson thus translate the language of the text : " But thanks be to God, who leads me on from place to place in the train of His triumph, to celebrate His victory over the enemies of Christ; and by me sends forth the knowledge of Himself, a stream of fragrant incense, throughout the world." A pretty free translation, it is true ; but embodying, no doubt, the precise meaning of the writer. St. Paul regarded himself as a signal trophy of God's victorious power in Christ ; his Almighty Conqueror leading him about through all the cities of the Greek and Eoman world, as an illustrious example of His power at once to subdue and to save. The foe of Christ was now the servant of Christ. Grace Divine had subdued and disarmed him. The rebel, the persecutor, the conspirator with hell, was brought into subjection, and rejoiced in his burden as a blessing. As to be led in triumph by man is miserable degrada- tion, so to be led in triumph by the Lord of Hosts is highest honour and blessedness.
3. The number and the quality of the captives who walked in the triumphal procession of any Eoman general were the measure of the magnitude of the victory won by him. People could argue from the multitude and the rank of the captives up to the skill and prowess of the victorious general. In much the same way the power, the subduing and resistless power of Jesus, is revealed by the captives He takes, by the multitude of prisoners who walk before His triumphal car. In imagination one can see the triumphal procession of which the Apostle here speaks. And when it comes to the trophies of victory, they are a multitude which no man can number ; they are of every kindred and tribe and people and tongue ; they are of every colour and speech.
^ All these centuries Jesus Christ has been casting His spell upon the great thinkers of the world, and taking captive their hearts. Augustine, Galileo, Francis Bacon, John Milton, John Locke, Samuel Butler, Alfred Tennyson, Kobert Browning — they are all in the procession. People tell us that in these days science is discarding faith. Some loud and blatant folk tell us that no
1 COR. II. 14-16 55
man of any intellect now believes. They forget that the greatest scientists of our day and time, and other master-minds like the late Mr. Gladstone, all delight to own allegiance to Jesus. And though there be some who seem to repudiate His authority for the moment, like that great and candid soul, G. J. Romanes, they will return to Jesus before long and gladly acknowledge Him as Lord and King. St. Paul in the procession is a tribute to the mighty power of Christ. St. Paul in the procession is a proof — if proof were needed — that we shall yet see all things put under Him ,; that the kingdoms of this world must become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ.^
IIL
The Incense-Bearers.
In the second clause of the fourteenth verse the figure abruptly changes. Any attempt to explain the phrase " maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge " as referring to the captives is forced. The incense was carried, not by the captives, but by the incense-bearers, and St. Paul uses this feature of the procession to illustrate the work of the Christian for God. As captives God leads us in triumph in Christ ; as incense-bearers it is ours to make manifest the savour of the knowledge of Christ.
1. Like incense-bearers, Christians are to spread wherever they go the knowledge of the grace of their Divine Conqueror. The captives in the procession through the streets of Ptome were in a way a testimony to the general. They were a tribute to his prowess and military skill. They revealed him as a general to be feared and dreaded. And their death at a certain stage in the procession was a testimony to his pitilessness. St. Paul, too, was a testimony to his Captor. But not to His pitilessness. And not simply to His prowess. St. Paul was a testimony to His grace and mercy and love. He manifested the savour of the knowledge of God in every place. The savour of it ! The sweetness and winsomeness and charm of it ! A look at the captive made men realize the love and grace of the Captor. People looked at St. Paul, and they fell in love with St. Paul's Master and King. For St. Paul was a man full of radiant peace and joy. He went
' J. D. Jones, The Gospel of Gract, 180.
56 THE TRIUMPH OF THE VANQUISHED
through the world with a singing heart and a shining face. And this was how he accounted for it : " By the grace of God I am what I am." It was his Conqueror who gave him his peace and his joy. St. Paul's speech, his looks, his life, all commended his Gospel ; they gave charm and wiusomeness to his message. He manifested in every place the savour of the knowledge of God.