so helpful. It ia reflected upon the intellect, the sense-orcrans, the ontward world and dissipates the occasional gloom that falls upon us wh_e; Satan's "It is written,: obscures our perceptions, or when the logic of the sense-intellect gathers its mists about our pathway. Blessed hours of illumination are those which attend the later stages of grace penetrating the depths of instinct. Doubts are over; for we know whom we have believed. "From glory to glory." Gradually our hearts are detached from the world and, while its beauty and love a.nd tenderness are none the less, they are seen as parts of a higher life and a remoter sphere. Afflictions, once "grievous," yield "the peaceable fruit of righteousness;" for the "afterward" has come, and what an "afurward" J To be reconciled t.o the cross of pain; t.o glory in the cross of the Divine Sufferer; to die to self as we die when the Man of sorrows becomes the Christ of our iustincts; to say," Thy will be done" with no half-way utterance, but from the heart, and submit not only willingly but gladly to whatever it may please Providence to ordain ;-this indeed is proof that we have advanced "from glory to glory."-L. Ver. 2.-" Owr epistle." Paul did the work of his life partially by his voice, but to no small extent by his pen. His. compositions which have come down to us, and by which we chiefly know him, are epistolary. His letters were admitted, in his own time, and even by his enemies and traducers, to be weighty and powerful. But in his own view the best of all his epistles-those which most unmistakably witnessed to his apostleship--were the characters, the new lives, of those who by his ministry had received the gospel of Christ. Whether as amanuenses who had indited these spiritual epistles, or as tabellarii, or letter-carriers, who had charge of them, and delivered them to human society, the apostles "ministered" their converts, who attested their skill and fidelity. At the expense of complicating the figure, Paul observes of the Corinthians that they were written in the hearts of himself and his colleagues. The lesson of the text is that l'hristians ar11 euer authenticating the ministry of faithful preachers of the gospel. L MEN HAY BEAD L~ THE HEART A.ND LIFE OF THE CONVERT THE DIVIN~ COM• JIDSSION or THE llD!ISTEB. There ore such proofs of the divinity of the doctrine in its effect.a upon the character and conduct of its sincere recipients as point up to the heavenly authority by which the agents were nppointed and authenticated. II. AND THE PilTBFULNEIIS AND ZEAL OF THE MINISTER. Paul had a good con- science with re,,aard to the manner in which ho had discharged his sacred nnd bonovolent service to his fellow-men. Especially was this the case with his ministry to tho Corin- thians. In his First Epistle to them he had written," If I bo not an apostle unto others, yet doubtless I am to you; for the seal of mine apostleship are ye in the Lord." Ill. AND TBB ADAPTATION OF THE MINISTRY TO THE NEEDS AND THE OIROUM· STANCES OF HEN. Events proved that to Jew and to Gentile, to men of every class nnd character, the gospel of Christ was the power of God unto salvation. This Church at Corinth was as an epistle written in vorious la.nguagos, in vnrious styles, nddrcsscd to nll nations and to all conditions of men, allll assuring them tb11t the apostles of Christ were laden with treasure which WRB able to enrich and to bless the world.-T.
Ver. 3.-" Epi,tlea of (Jhrist." Somo teachers had visited the Christians of Corinth, who boasted of the letters of introduction they brought with them, nnthonticating their commission and their ministry. Paul noeded no such epistles; for the members of tho Church were themselves his epistles; and better still, tboy wore not only his, they were Christ's epistles, manifestly and undeniably such. 'l'he same may bo said of 111l true disciples and followers of the Lord Jesus; it is an honournble nnd nn inspiriting designation. I. THE WRITER-CHRIST. Many great men, especially gretLt thinkers, h11vo per- petuated their influence and have served their race by their writings. As poots, 1ihilo- riophen1, or moralists, they havo made a place for themselves in the mind of hum11nity. 'l.'be great.est of all, the Divine Mo.n, wrote nothing. It is greater to be than to writu; o.nd the Lord Josus simply lived and worked, suffered, died, and conquered. He could not compress and limit his mind within the compass of a treatise or II volume. Ho left his evangelists and apostles to write of him; his earthly manifestation thus spoke a universal language. Yot, in a sense, he has always been writing, 11nd ho is writing now. He is still daily issuing epistles to the worl<l. 72 THE SECOND EPISTLE TO THE CORINTIIIANS. [en. w. 1-18.