The Pulpit Commentary — 2 Corinthians — Section 28

of the just at the appearing of Jesus Christ. When we believe in God who raises the dead, the first and chief reference is to his having· raised up the slain .Jesus (sec Ilom. iv. 24; x. 9; 1 Cor. xv. 15). This is in the very heart of the gospel, and this carries with it the sure and certain hope of the resurrection of" the dead in Christ." "God hath both raised up the Lord, and will also raise up us by his own power." The sentence of death which St. Paul had felt was not executed till years had passed ; but it was well to be forearmed. Ere lo~g, warned or unwarned, we all must endure death, 1f the Lord tarry. And before we die we may have to see the sentence carried out in othars whom we love and for whom we must go mourning. There is no help in facino- death but that which comes of faith; there is no comfort in regard to those who bav~ endured it but in the belief that they are already with God," breathers of an ampler day," and in the hope that he will raise them up complete and glorious at his coming.-F. Ver. 19.-0hrist is" yea." Tbe apostle'defended himself against imputations of levity and self-contradiction. He did not lightly form or change his plans. He did not bandv about "yea and nay." The serio_us theme of his ministry was some security for its grave and consistent treatment. At the present day one hears a good many complaints of vagueness and vacillation in the pulpit~ Preachers are said to use ambiguous vhrases, propound shifting opinions, and leave their hearers unsettled and perplexed. '!'hey seem to have no certainty in their own minds, and therefore cannot convey a sure and straightforward gospel to others. Their word is" yea and nay." Now, there may be reason for hesitancy on some topics of religion. It may be a great deal wiser than absolute assertion. But as to the main theme of gospel preaching there should be perfect certainty; for the very essence of it is the setting forth of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. He is the True One, and ought to be proclaimed with firmness, consistency, and "much assurance." The Greeks were fond of speculation. At Athens they inquired after some new thing. At Corinth they were fickle and disputation~. On sncb a people the calm certainty of St. Paul's preaching must have fallen with smprise. It was testified that Jesus, who had taught in Judrea, but never even visited Greece, aud who bad been crucified at Jerusalem, was the Son of God; that he had ascended to heaven, and would judge the world on an appointed day. 'l'bis was not submitted to the critical acumen of the Greeks for their examination and npprova.l. It w11s delivered as truth, and not asa. lie-yea.,and not nay. Jesus, the Son of God, was the gmnd Reality in e. world of delusions, and the grand Essence in a world of shadows. Such had been the teaching of St. Peter and the other apostles at Jerusalem, of Philip at Samaria, Bild of the Cypriote :md Cyrenian brethren who first delivered the testimony at Antioch. No one was more clear or more intent upon this than St. Paul. '!'hough his powerful mind could easily have dee.It with many questions that would have interested the Greeks, he rc8o\vcd to adhere to the simple testimony to Jesus, the Son of the living God. It may be said that, though this was right and needful in the world which St. Paul looked upon, nnd is right o.ncl needful still among Jews and heathens, it is not necessary in Christio.n countries. But alas I it is necessary. Countries called Christian are still very ignornnt of Christ; all of them neeil full, definite, and firm preaching of the Son of God. 'l'here is nothing like it for delivering men from their sins, and dmwing them a.way o.like from the arid sands of unbelief and from the marshy places of super- stition. But the testimony must be delivered with unfaltcrin~ heart and voico; for it ie the pre11ching of the Yea, the Faithful and True-a pillnr that cannot be shaken, a. ~unda.tion that cannot be moved. Heathenism was full of contradiction, incoherence, and contrast. Its gods conflicted with each other and its oracles wore uncertain. It was and still is e. thing of "yea. and nay." Duddhism, in some respects an improve- ment on the heathenism which it supplanted, after all amounts to a mere drcury nihilism. Oue who had studied it carefully (Sir J. Emerson 'l'ennant) said of Buddhism that, "insufficient for time and rejecting eternity, the utmost triumph of this religion is to live without fear and to die without hope." '!'bis is not "yea," not cvon "yea and nay," but a perpetual dismal "noy." In Christendom, too, something like it appeors, There is a weary scepticism which a famous writer described as "tho everlasting No." Partly it is a shallow fllllhion, partly it is a. real plague and misery of the generation to havo "noy n only in regard to the unseen. God is not. 'l'he Biblo is not, The devil is not. Heaven is a dream. Hell is a fable. Prayer is useless.  28 THE SECOND EPISTLE TO THE CORINTBlANS. [oa. r. 1-24.