Paul well understood, and bore, as it were, in con- stant remembrance. Not that he on any occasion acted with artifice : no ; his caution was the result of his own exquisite delicacy and holy refinement : and his success in affecting the minds of others bore ample testimony to the wisdom of his measures. He was anxious to obtain from amongst the Gentile Churches relief for the distressed and persecuted saints at Jerusalem. In writing therefore to the Church at Corinth who were more opulent, he en- deavoured to interest them in behalf of their suffering brethren in Judtea. But he did not proceed, as we might have expected, to expatiate upon the wants of the sufferers, or on the obligations of the Church at Corinth to relieve them ; but simply communicated, as an article of pleasing intelligence, the liberality that had been displayed towards them by the poorer Churches of Macedonia ; and then stirred them up to imitate so laudable an example.
With the same view we shall now, I. Consider the example here set before us —
The Churches here referred to were those of Thes- salonica, Beraea, and Philippi : and truly their example was most eminent in respect of,
1. Their liberality — [The real extent of liberality must not be judged of by the sum given, so much as by the circumstances under which it is given : our blessed Lord has told us, that the widow's mite exceeded in value all that the most opulent had bestowed, because their donations were a small portion only of what they possessed, whereas her's was her all, even all her living. To view the liberality of the Macedonians aright, we must particu- lai'ly notice the tityie and manner of its exercise.
It was in a time of ^^ great affliction and of deep poverty." Now persons in great affliction are for the most part so occu- pied with their own troubles, as to have but little either of leisure or inclination to enter into the concerns of others
And, if they be at the same time in a state of deep
poverty, they seem by their very situation, as it were, to be exempt from any obligation to relieve the wants of others : if they shed a tear of sympathy, it is as much as, under their circumstances, can be expected of them But behold.