The Pulpit Commentary — 2 Corinthians — Section 56

officers, the horse-soldiers, and the vast army of foot-soldiers, each one holding aloft a spear adorned ~ith laurel boughs. And so the procession moved on through the crowded, shouting· streets until it reached the Capitoline hill. There they halted, dragged some of tl;iose poor captives aside to be killed, and then offered their sacrifices and began their triumphal feast. St. Paul's mind was evidently full of such a scene as this, and he took his figures from it. He says that God permits us, as apostles and ministers, always to triumph with Christ. We are, through grace, always conquering generals. But St. Paul fixed his thoughts chiefly on those miserable, naked, fettered captives, who were going on to death. He could not help thinking-What was the sound of the clanging trumpet and the piping flute to them-poor hopeless oues? What was the savour of sweet incense .in the air to them-poor agitated ones? Some among them may indeed have had the promise of life, and to them the savour of the incense would be sweet; it would be" life u'nto life." But so many of them knew what their fate must be; they dreaded the worst; they trembled as they came nearer to the ascent of the hill; and as the wind wafted the savour of the incense to them they could but sadly feel that it was a savour of "death unto death'." And the apostle thought of his life-work of preaching the gospel. It was even thus with the savour of the gospel-triumph. To some it was death, to others it was life. Not, indeed, at 'the arbitrary will of some proud general, but as the necessary issue of the relations in which men stand to a preached gospel; for "he that bath the Son bath life, and he that bath not the Son of God hath not life, but the wrath of God abideth on him." I. THE PROPER RESULT OF A PREACHED GOSPEL IS LIFE. It was God's gracious pur- pose that men, "dead in trespasses and sins," should have life, and havo it more abundantly. In his Son Jesus Christ life and immortality are brought to light. In the early days God set before men life and death, and, with all holy persuasions, urged them to choose life and good. This was the one absorbing purpose and endeavour of the Lord Jesus. Whilo he was here he was ever doing one thing-quickening life, restoring life, renewing life: the life of health to those affiicted, of reason to those possessed with devils, of knowledge to ignorant disciples, and even of the body to those smitten and dead. .And the apostles carried his gospel forth into nil the world as the light and life of men. Dwell upon the significance and interest of the word "life,'' and explain the new life in Christ Jesus, which the Christian enjoys. II. THE MOURNFUL RESULT OF A PREACHED GOSPEL OFTEN 1B DEATII. Our Lord used forcible but painfnl figures to express the death of the impenitent and unbelieving: "outer darkness;" " wailing and gnashing of teeth; " "worm that never dies;" "firo that none may quench." ,ve must feel the force of these things, for no man cau worthily explain the!]l. This "death" wai:l the moumful issue of II preached gospol when the Son of man was himself the Preacher. Foolish (fadnrenes besought hiw to depart out of their coasts, and leave them to their night and death. Hardened Capernaum, exalted even to heaven in privilege, must bo thrust down to hell. St. Paul must turn from bigoted and prejudiced Jews, and go to tho Gentiles, leaving the very children of the covenant in a darkness that might bo felt. Ho who camo to give life is practically found to be a Stone ot' stumbling and a Rock of offence. Five foolish virgins put their hands about their flickering lamps as they cry against the closed door; and this is the simple, awful ending of their story, "The darkness took them." Wo do see men hardened under a preached gospel now. Illustrate by tho dropping well at KnBres- borough. Water ought to soften and melt, but these waters, falling upon things, encrust thorn with stone, :me! even tum them into stone. Such may have been the droppings of the " water of life" upon us. 1'here aro only these two issues. Tho gospol must either take us by the band and lead us up into the sunlight or it must bid us away down into the dark. Only two issues, but what issues they are I Lifo I As we think of that word, all joy, light, and heaven come into our view. Death I As wo sp~ak that word, all darkness, woe, and hell oome into our thoughts. " Who indeed is sufficient for these things? "-even for the preaching of a gospel which must prove to be o. "savour of life unto life or of death unto doath."-R. '1'. Ver. 17.-Conscious simpU~ity and integrity. "The ~ord for• corrupt,' formed from a word which signifies • huckster,' or • tavern-keeper,' implies an ndultemtion like that which such people commonly practised. We, says St. Paul, l)!ay no such tricks of trn<lo  THE SECOND ,EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS. [cB. III. 1-le.