Danley) ; li. 451 (J. M. Thoburn) ; liv. 52 (H. G. Weston).
14*
The Constraint of Love.
For the love of Christ constraineth us ; because we thus judge, that one died for all, therefore all died ; and he died for all, that they which live should no longer live unto themselves, but unto him who for their sakes died and rose again. — 2 Cor. v. 14, 15.
This is the great Apostle's triumphant answer to his accusers. The First Epistle to the Corinthians had only fomented the Judaistic elements in the already faction-torn church at Corinth, until, at the date of this Epistle, they were clamorously challeng- ing the authority of St. Paul and the truth of the doctrines he was preaching. More persons than St. Paul have found that it is not easy to maintain one's equanimity under unjust criticism, especially when the aspersions relate to the fondest attachment and the supreme ambition of life. Such an ordeal reveals the man, and in its fierce light graces or defects stand forth in sharpest out- line. If St. Paul never appeared more human, neither was h» ever more manifestly great, than when pouring out his mighty heart in these rushing sentences, often made obscure by their very intensity. Is St. Paul ambitious ? Does he desire by talking about bonds and imprisonments, or dreams and revelations, to exalt himself above his brethren? Does he wish by his unsparing anti-Judaism, by ideal demands on the Christian life, to make himself the judge of conscience and the infallible interpretation of the Divine mind ? Or has he gone quite beyond himself and is he mad ? All this — and much more — his enemies openly charge. To one and all his answer is : " The love of Christ constraineth us." If we connect this assertion with the words which immedi- ately precede it — " Whether we be beside ourselves, it is to God ; or whether we be sober, it is for your cause " — we shall see that not only his great heroic deeds, but his common acts and judgments, were moulded by the same power. He had defended himself so vehemently against the great public charges which had been brought against his character that to the refined and self-contained Corinthians he appeared " beside himself " ; but he affirms that
148 THE CONSTRAINT OF LOVE
burning torrent of defence was not for self-interest, but for God ; because the love of Christ constrained him. There had been charges too subtle and shadowy for public defences to remove, and these this man of vehemence had calmly lived down ; but he declares that this meek endurance sprang not from his self- control, but from the love of Christ which constrained him. If, then, not only his grander deeds but his daily acts and judgments were thus inspired, these words express a power which was acting intensely on Paul's whole nature, and which made his silence and vehemence, his love and suffering, one living language, by which the constraining love of Christ strove to utter its burning energy.
I.
The Test of Life is found in its Motive.
1. The life of an intelligent being must be under the sway of some chosen and cherished motive. High degrees of intelligence find their expression in the careful selection of the motive. Where the intelligence is low and untrained, we find men blindly obeying motives which the accident of the hour may have raised up, or to which the bodily passions may excite. We can look into the face of no fellow-man and say, " That man is living without a motive." The consideration of the motives that actually rule men's lives gives us very sad thoughts of our humanity. They range between the animal and the Divine, but they belong for the most part to the lower levels. The entire aspect and character of a man's life may be changed by a change of his motives. A new and nobler motive will soon make a man a better man. No man ever did rise to do noble things while his motive concerned only self and self-interests. All noble lives have been spent in service to others. All the best lives in private spheres have been self- denying lives. All the heroic lives in public spheres have been the lives of patriots, the lives of the generous, the pitying, and 'the helpful.
^ Humanity does not need morals, it needs motives ; it is sick of speculation, it longs for action. Men see their duty in every land and age with exasperating clearness. We know not how to do
J COR. V. T4, 15 149
it. The religion which inspires men with a genuine passion for holiness and a constraining motive of service will last. It has solved the problem of spiritual motion.^
(1) Many people have no higher motive than the hope of reward and the fear of punishment. — Hope and fear are among the most powerful feelings of our nature ; and, acting in opposite directions as they generally do, they lead to a behaviour in which the influence of both is to be seen, like those compound motions, the result of equal and opposing mechanical forces. How much do we do from the hope of reward ! How much do we not do from the dread of punishment ! How steadily are we thus pre- served in the straight path of duty from the pressure on the one side and the other of these two powers !