The Pulpit Commentary — 2 Corinthians — Section 115

who stored up their treasures of gold and silver, to fill jars or earthenwnre wifo coin or bullion" _(see J_er. :uxii 14).. To t1?Js ~ns_tom allusi?n is !llade. St. Paul says that in these frail bodies of ours, with their limited faculties and powers, in these "earthen vessels " we have that priceless treasure, the knowledge of the glory of God as a. Redeemer. Cecil says, "The meanness of the earthen vessel which conveys to others the gospel treasure takes nothing from the value of the treasnre. A dyincr hand may sign a. deed of incalculable value; a shepherd's boy may point out the way to a. philo- sopher; a. beggar may be the bearer of a valuable present." Three points cla.im attention. I. THE TBEASUBK. This may be regarded as (1) a revelation, (2) as a gospel (3) as a life. In either respect, the personal Christ being the very Centre and Essenc~ of it , he is properly the Treasure. Christ himself is our most sacred Trust. We have the on; Saviour for men .committed to our care. Then how jealously we should guard the treasure! and how wisely we should.put it to use I II. Tai!: NEED FOR THE CONVEYANCE OF THIS TREASURE. For it is not to be stored up in hiding-places, but somehow made the treasnre of all· men. It is a spiritual treasure, and needs some kind of material conveyance. Christ himself must be ministered to men by his disciples. III. THE V.ESSELS FOUND FOR THE DUE CONVEYANCE OF THE TREASURE. Humbly spoken of as earthly, or as mere earthenware. Enlarging upon, them beyond St. Paul's immediate thought in the use of the term, we may show (1) their frailty; (2) their fitness, especially in that they do not take away the honour that is due to the treasure by Jirecting attention to themselves; (3) their safety, since God, who guanls tho treasure, will guard the vessel that holds it; (4) their usefulness, as the human agency commends the heannly truth; and (5) their reward, for God will surely commend those who, in such a trust, are found faithful.-R. T. Ver.10.-Suffering 1h'111rin9 forlh character. It has been said that "affliction n is the one predominant word in the Second Epistle to the-Oorinthians. And perhaps no other Epistle is so charged with wounded personal feeling and reminiscences of varied suffering. This may be explained by the ciroumstances under which this letter WHS written. Perhaps we do not sufficiently realize how much personal suffering, from diBease and bodily infirmity, the apostle ho.d to endure; and yet this is evidently the key to many of his intense expressions. Either from constitutional weakness, or in con.sequence of his many exposures, he had upon him some pl\inful and humiliuting form of disease, whioh was incurable; and this.his _enemies made tho occasion of scorn and insult, until they wounded him to the very quick, l\nd drove him to tho throne of gra~,.seeking, with threefold importunity, to have the" thorn in the flesh" removed. When we apprehend this, we begin to feel the meaning of our text; he wns "always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus:" pain, diseaso, suffering-like a dail;y dying-brought on hi.m in the fulfilment of his ministry for the Lord Jesu.s. But St. Paul never dwelt long on the merely sad side of things, anJ so ho goes on to say- Even if our life on earth be like the dying of the Lord Jesu.s, this also is true, through our very su[eri.ng and dying, the life of Jesus is made manifest in our mortal flesh aud earthly epher88.. "St. Paul felt that every true human soul must repeat Christ's existence. He conld bear to look on his decay; it was but the passing of the human; and, meantime, there was ever going on witbiu him the strcngtheniug of tho Divino. Pa.in was sacred, since Christ also had suffered. And life•bccamo gro.ml whcu viewed as a repetition of the lifo of Christ." L ST. PAUL'S CONCEl'TJON OF 0011. Loan's LIFE. It had been a daily dying which ncverthBl~ showed up himself, in the glory of hill character and spirit. '!'ho dying manifested to men the life that was in him. St. Paul had, probably, never seen Christ in the flesh, but it was given to him, by his fellowship of sulforing, to understand, better than all. the, rest what a suffering Saviour Jesus was. It is St. Paul who writes &0 much about the cross of the Lord Jlll!Us. lie dwells oftener than any other early, teacher upon our Lord's death, but when you apprehend his meaning, you find that he looked upon Christ's whole life as a dying. Ho saw that Jesus w~ every day dying to self, dying with shame, pain, exhaustion, conflict, ond agony. And you do not read Christ's life aright unless you can see in it what St. Poul saw, even humilintionp limitation, suffcriug, burdening it every day. Dut that_ was not all St. Paul's conceptiuu 116 THE SECOND EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS. [en. 1v. 1-18.