enough what it is to be cast down. The higher the hope, the bitterer the sorrow when that hope is frustrated. It sometimes happens that, where the Christian warrior spends all his strength, and attacks the enemy with courage and perseverance, -there he experiences the most humiliating rebuff. Then let him be assured that different experience is in store for him. Foes shall yield, whose stubbornness, it seemed to him, no power could subdue. Victory shall be to the faithful and to the brave. IV. lF THERE BE A SHARING OF CHRIST'S CROSS, THERE SHALL BE ALSO A SHARING OF ms THRONE. Our Lord, the Captain of our salvation, knew by experience the power of the enemy. And can it be expected that with us all will be prosperou~? Shall we not be followers of him, and know the likeness of his death? Thus shall it be given to him that overcomcth to sit down with him upon his throne.-T. Ver. 16.-" Who is suffir:ienH" Those to whom the ministry of the gospel of Christ is merely a profession, who regard the offices of religion as a routine, who consider chietl.y such emoluments and advantages 11s may be connected with it, read these words with astonishment and without sympathy. But those who think as Paul thonght of the ministry, with a wondering amazement at the grace of God and at the provision made in Christ for the passage of that grace to man, those who realize the preciousness of the soul and the solemnity alike of life and of eternity, cannot but cherish a conviction that, for a service so high and holy as the ministry of God's Word, no human qualification can suffice. I. THE INSUFFICIENCY OF HUMAN POWER. To understand this we must regard: 1. The deficiencies of the human agent. No minister has an 11dequatc view of the Saviour he preaches ; none has a sufficiently keen sympathy with the souls of his fellow- men; none has a power of persuasion commensurate with the necessities of the case; none has the burning zeal for God which was perfectly displayed by Christ alone. 2. The peculiar difficulties of the work to be accomplished. 'l'he ignorance, the levity, the prejudices, the wilfulness, the gross sinfulness of men,-all must be taken into account if we would have a just conception of the magnitude of the great task which is entrusted to the Christian minister. IL THE SUFFICIENCY OF DIVINE GRACE. 1. This is revealed to those, o.nd to those alone, who are sincerely conscious of their own powerlessness and the inadequacy of all human aid. 2. God's own commission is an assurance that he will not withhold the assistance needed. The work is his; his is the call and his the authority. 3. God, by his Spirit, assists all lowly and faithful agents in his service, strengtheni!!g the feeble, so that by their means, however seemingly inadequate, great results are accom- plished. 4. By the same invisible but marvellous agency God overcomes the obstacles encountered in the sinner's heart, and makes the word of man effectual becauso the vohicle of the power and grace of Hcaven.-T.
Vor. 4.-The pains of rebukin,q. I. THESE ARE VERY REAL TO GRACIOUS NATURES. Somo delight to castigate; but they are not gracious or noble-they aro rather fittod to foel the rod than to wield it. An affectionate parent often suffers moro than his chastened child; a faithful pastor than the rebuked Church member. Pan! said that if he came to Corinth he would not spare; before he came, he did not spare himself. '!'here was grief at Corinth, but as much or more in Macedonia. Joy in causing suffering is a mnrk of degradation. We condemn pleasure obtained from cruel sports; pleasure obtained from wounding minds is even more barbaric and revolting. We may feel compelled to rebuke, and that sharply. Wo can never be justified in extrncting joy from the suffering occasioned. I!, WHEN REBUKE IS PAINFUL TO THE REBUKER IT IS MORE LIKELY TO PROVE EFFICACIOUS TO THE REBUKED. 1. There is evidence of qualification to rebulce. 'l'ho rebuke docs not spring from personal feeling. 2. Undue harshness will be avoided. 3. A gracious tenderness is likely to permeate the severest rebulce. 4. If lcnown to tha rebulced, a salutary influen~e will be exercised. Nothing is moro irritating or hardening than to be rebuked by one who evidently enjoys his office. But if the one who points out our fault is evidently deeply pained himself, we must be very obdurate if we are insensible to snch an appeal. The wayward child is conquered, not by tho rod in his mother's hand, but by the tears in her eye~. TI, COlllN'l'flIAN8 1 11 50 THE SECOND EPISTLE TO THE COJ;UNTHIANS. [oH. n. 17 17,.,
III, 'l'HE OBJECT OF RIGHT REDUKING IS NOT THE PAIN OF ,THE REDUKED. This sl1ould ever _be kept in mind. We are not ju~ges to pass sentences of mere punishme,nt. We may grieve our fellows, but only for their good. We may cause pain, but only as a means to something else. Castigation is a beginning, not an end. We have effected nothing except failure if we have merely caused sorrow. It is a thankless task indeed merely to make men sad. It is a noble one to make them sad that we may make them holier. ~v. RIG~ REBUKL'-G IS EVIDENCE OF MUCH LOVE. N?t to suffer sin upon our ne1gh~ur is a great duty ! b~t the best natures are apt to shrmk from reproving. Great love will compel them, as it did Paul. We often cannot show our love more conclusively. It may not at once be apparent to men, but it will to God-and to mea. by-and-by. The strongest evidence of Paul's love for the Coria.thian Church was exhibited in the rod which he held over it. So of God himself: those whom he loves he chastens. (Heb, xii. 6).-H. •