ness there is a consci.oUs11£SS of Christ. IC For your sakes forgive I it In· the person of Christ." He who 'has Christly love in him has the ".'ery consciousness of Christ, feels e.s:he.feels, "one in the presence of Christ." How often does Christ urge his genuine disciples to proclaim forgiveness where there is genuine repentance I " Whatsoever is loosed on earth shall be loosec. in heaven." 3. Tho.t the forgiving spirit thwarts ,the purposes of the devil. "Lest Satan should get an advantage of us; for we are not ignorant of his devices." Forgiveness is not, then, the prerogative of priests, but the. prerogative of Christian love. A truly Christly man represents Christ-stands, so to say, in his stead; and" Christ bath power on earth to forgive sins." • . • Vers. 12-16.-17ie preaching of the gospel,. "Furthermore, when !came to 'l'roas," etc. The subject of these verses is the preaching of the gospel. Notice- • I. THE DIFFICULTIES CONNECTED WI'l'H IT. "Furthenn6re, when I came to T~oas·to preach Christ's gospel, and a door was opened unto me of the Lord, I had no rest in my spirit, because I found not Titus my brother: but taking my leave of them, I went from thence into Macedonia." Just at 'the time when the apostle was about opening his mission at Troas, and the prospect of usefulness seemed most suitable, he encountered a serious difficulty, and that difficulty was the absence of Titus, whom he fully expected. The disappointment cost him such great anxiety that he resigned his purpose, retired from the scene, and wended his way in another direction. Strange that an inspirecl man should have met with such a disappointment, and stranger still that a disappoint- ment should have so disheartened him that he relinquishes for a time the grand message with which Heaven had especially entrusted him. .Antecedently we might have supposed that a man going forth in a true spirit to preach the gospel would encounter no difficulties, that Heaven would sweep away all obstructions from his path; but not so. Perhaps no class of men encounter more difficulties in their mission than ministers. Many become so baffled, confounded, and depressed that, like Jeremiah, they exclaim, "I will speak no more in thy Name." II. THE TRIUMPHS ACHIEVED BY IT. "Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place.'' The grandest of all victories is the victory over sin. He' who conquers the moral foes of one soul achieves a far grander triumph than he who lays a whole army dead upon the battle-plain. There is no grandeur, but infamy, in the latter conquest. It is here taught that these victories were achieved whenever they preached. "Always causeth us -to triumph." Wherever they preached, "in every place," and always through God, "thanks be to God." He is the Author of their victory; _he constructed the weapon, he instrncted the soldiers; he inspired and gave effect to the strokes. • III. THE INFLUENCES BEBULTING FROM IT. '' For·we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved; and in them that perish." Observe:. 1. The. 1nan.wa:d aspect of gospel preaching. (1) It quickens some. "To the other tho savour of hfo unto life." (2) It destroys others. "To the one we are the savour of death unto death." These effects occur wherever the gospel is preached. 2. The Godward aspect of gospel preaching. "We are unto God a sweet savour of Christ.~• Whatever the results of preaching, baneful or beneficial, it is acceptable to God if rightly ~ischarged. Af, the preaching of the gospel is the cause of immense good and tlie occasion of great evi_l. Like the waters of the sea, the li"ht of the·firmament, the breeze of the atmosphere, 1t is the Divine cause of good; but ~an, through the perversity of his nature, may make it the occasion of his ruin. • IV. THE SOLEMNITY CONNECTED WITH IT. Po.11I felt its solemnity and exclaims, "Who is sufficient for these things?" Who, of himself, is "sufficient'' _to expound the meaning of the gospel, to exemplify the spirit of the gospel, to inwork into h~mo.n souls the eternal principles of the goeptl ? Paul adds in another place, I' Our sufficiency is of God." Ver. 17.-The way in which the gospel sliooldt be yreaclted. "For we aro n?t as many, which corrupt the Word of God: but as of sincerity, but as o~ God, in the sight of God Epeak we in Christ." 'l'he words suggests the way in wlncb the gospel should be preo.che<l. • oa. n.1-17.] THE SECOND EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS. 43
L WITH OONBOIOU8 HONESTY. "As of sincerity.n ".rhis Is a state of mind in direct · antagonism to all duplicity. No man who is not true to hjs convictions and to himself can preach the gospel. He must be a trne man who would preach truth, a loving man who would inculcate love. To have conscious honesty he must preach his own personal 'convictions of the gospel, not the opinions of others. II. WITH 00Nsc10us DIVINITY. "As of God, in the sight of God." 1. He must be conscious that God sent him. From God, not from schools, sects, Churches, or ecclesi- astics, but direct from God himself. 2. He must be conscious that God sees him. "In "the sight of God." 'l'his consciousness will make him humble, ean:i.est, fearless, caring ·nothing for -the frowns or smiles of his audience. III. WITH c0Ns01ous CHRIBTLINESS. "Speak we in Christ." To be" in Christ" is to be in his character, in his Spirit. "The love of Christ constraineth me," etc. He who is conscious of the Spirit of Christ within him will be free from all self-seeking, all eordid motives, all cravings for popularity and fame.