they can speak : and what they cannot administer in their own persons, they may procure through the instrumentahty
of others '^ At all events, if it be only a cup of cold
water that we can bestow, it should be given with a zeal and tenderness that shall evince the strength of an internal prin- ciple, and the wish that our means were more adequate to the occasion.
The proper example for us to follow, is that of the Mace- donians, of whom the Apostle testifies, that, notwithstanding they were themselves " in a great trial of affliction, and in deep poverty, yet abounded unto the riches of liberality : and that to their power, yea, and beyond their power, they were willing of themselves; and prayed the Apostle with much entreaty to take upon himself the ministration of their bounty to the saints^." This is the point to be aimed at: there must first be a willing mind : and, where that is, God will accept the offering, however small '\]
Such is the duty here inculcated. Let us now attend to, II. The consideration with which it is enforced —
When the Apostle says, " Do this," as being your- selves also in the body, he must be understood as intimating,
1. That we ourselves are exposed to the same afflictions as others —
[And this is true respecting every living man. No one is exempt from trouble. If any man was ever justified in saying, " I shall die in my nest," it was Job : yet behold he, with all his wealth and power, was in a few days reduced to the most abject state that can be imagined. There are ten thousand sources of affliction which God may open, and cause our souls to be deluged with it in an instant. Our bodies may be racked with disease, or our spirits be overwhelmed with domestic troubles: or, whilst all external things are prospering, our souls may be so bowed down with a sense of sin, and so agitated with a dread of God's judgments, that we may hate our very existence, and " choose strangling rather than life." Indeed whoever he be that thinks with David, " My mountain stands strong, I shall not be moved ;" he may expect, that God will speedily " hide his face from him ; and that trouble shall ere long come upon him," as the punishment of his iniquity.]
f If this were in aid of a Benevolent Society, or any other Charity, the particular benefits of the Institution, as imparting vi'hat no mere individual could impart, may be stated liere.
« 2 Cor. viii. 1 — 4. '' 2 Cor. viii. 12.