The Pulpit Commentary — 2 Corinthians — Section 13

tion," and for what pnrpose? Titus and, Timothy had brought him much cheer and consolation, and why? Was it just to revive his drooping spirit? Just to assuarre his personal pain, soothe his unquiet nerves, invigorate bis tone of mind? Nay; co~sola- tion was not selfish. Happiness is not exclusively or even mainly for its possessor. "Doth God take ea.re for oxen? " Yea; for the owner of oxen too in his providence over the beast. The tribulation had not fallen on St. Paul because of anything peculiar to him; it V.'as vicarious; and the comfort had been iranted, not in his behalf alone, but that he might know how to console others. This is his statement: "That we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble." If the Holy Ghost is the Comforter we are his agents, and, just as the gospel of doctrine reaches you from him through us: so too the gospel of consolation comes to your hearts through our hearts. Look at what the apostolic office meant. Far more than preacher, organizer, administrator, leader champion, was incluckd in its high duties and arduous responsibilities. 'l'o console wa~ one of its greatest tasks. Everywhere the dejected were to be lifted up, the discourao-ed animated, the afflicted taught to hope. To be a physician to suffering souls was a cetse- le.ss requisition on St. Paul. Think of what it entailed on such a man as he. Think of but one aspect of the matter-tension of sensibility. The exhaustion consequent on the unceasing strain upon sensibility is the hardest of all things to bear. It opens the door to all manner of temptations. It is the crucial test of manly fortitude. Now, the quality of emotion has much more to do with the exhaustion of the nervous system than the quantity. Every preacher knows that a funeral occasion on which he has to offi- ciate is a severer tax on his nerves than half a dozen ordinary pulpit services. The mere solemn, and especially the more pathetic, the circumstances, the more rapid and complete the snbsequent exhaustion .. Think now of what St. Paul had to endure in this kind of apo~tolic experience, and that too without a respite; how many thorns rankled besides " the thorn in the flesh;" and how many hearts bled in that one bleeding heart of his. Jnst now, moreover, he was suffering greatly on account of the Corinthians. This will appear hereafter. The main point before us is-How was he qualified to be a consoler? What his discipline, what his education, for this beautiful and holy service? Ah, Tarsus and Jerusalem, Gamaliel, all other teachers, pass out of view in this deepest and most personal of all culture, and the Holy Ghost and the man are the only parties to the work. "By the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God." Talk- ing from the intellect is in such a case of no avail. A man must have been a sufferer, must have felt Christ in his sufferings, must have abounded in these "sufferings of Christ," as St. Paul designates his afflictions, before he can be fitted to minister unto others. Only sorrow can speak to sorrow. Notice the correspondence in the degree; if the sufferings of Christ abounded, so "our consolation also aboundeth by Christ." "By the sufferings of Christ abound in us"(" unto us," Revised Version), we understand the apostle to mean his fellowship with Christ in suffering the ills and sorrows that came upon him as an apostle and as a man because of his spiritual union with Christ. Media- tion in all its offices, in the peculiar and exclusive work of Clirist as the one Reconciler and Healer, in the subordinate and imperfect operations of human sympathy, is essen- tially painful. And allowing for the infinite distinction between the Divine Sufferer and human sufferers, there is yet & unity in suffering predicable of Christ and the-members of his mystical body. For it is the capacity to suffer which is the dignity and glory of our nature. We are God-like in this quality. It is the basis of all grand excellence, nor can our innate love of happiness nor any other ideal of our being have its fulfilment except through that kind of swrow which Christians undergo in the Man of sorrows. Ver. 6 empha..sizes this fact. If we are afflicted, argues he, it is for your good, that we may be instrumental in your salvation, and that grace may abound to yon because of what we endure. And, furthermore, it was for their present consolation; it was "effectual ; " tbe example of their distressed apostle operated to strengthen and establish them and the consolation wherewith he was sustained availed to animate their souls. For this reason, his hope of them was "steadfast." Corrnption~ were a~o°:g these Corinthians; God's judgmenls had overtaken them because of t~e1r free-~hrnkmg and laxity of morals; they were punished, they were chastened; but, m the midst of all, St. Paul was encouraged to hope for their stability and growth in grace, seeing that they were not only sympathizers but participants both in the suffering and in the consola- tiun be hi!IlBelf experienced for their sakes. Two points here come into view: first, the ou. L 1-24.] THE BEOOND EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHrANS. 13