kimllos ours. Now, this love was Paul's dominant passion; it" constrained" him• it co.rri?d him 011 like a. reRist_les~ torrent; it was ~h~ regnant im~ulse. Two thought; in relation to this new 1mpcno.l impulse. 1. It is incomprehen.,ible to those who posse.,., it not, " Whether we be beside ourselves, it is to God," etc. Probably Paul appeared as mnd to his contemporaries. They saw him brave the greatcRt perils, oppose the greatest' powors, mako the greatest sacrifices. What was the principle that moved him to all? This they could not understand. Had it been ambition or avarice, they could h~ve understood it. But" tho love of Christ" they knew nothing of; it was a new thinn- in the world. Only the man who has it can understand it; love alone can interpr~'t love. 2. It arises from reflection on the death of Christ. It is not an inbred passion, not a blind impulse, not something divinely transferred into the heart. No; it comes "because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead." Paul as~nmes as an undoubted fact that Christ died for all. Because of this fact be concludes: (l) That the whole world were in a ruined condition: "Then were all dead." (2) That this fact should inspire all to act with the same sacrificing spirit as dhrist. " He die.d for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him." II. 'l'he man in Christ has a new BOOIAL STANDARD. "Henceforth we know no man after the flesh." The world has numerous standards by which it judges men, birth, wealth, office, etc. To a man filled and fired with love to Christ these are nothin:!, He estimates man by his rectitude, not by his rank; by bis spirit, not by his station; by his principles, not by his property. Paul might have said-I once knew men after the flesh, Jew or Gentile, rich or poor, learned or ignorant; but now I know them so no more; I see them now in the light of the cross, sinners dead in trespasses and sins ; " Yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh," etc., I think no more of his body, but of bis mind, not of his station, but of his Spirit. The fact that this is the true standard serves: 1. As a test by which to try our own religion. 2. As a guide for us in the pro- motion of Christianity. 3. As a principle on which to form our friendships with men. 4. As a rnle to regulate our social conduct. III. The man in Christ has a new BPIBITtJAL HISTORY. "Therefore if any man be iu Christ, he is a new creature." In what sense can this change be called a creation? 1. It is the production of a new thing. This passion for Christ is a new thing in the universe. 2. It is the production of a new thing by the ag,mcy of God. Creation is the work of God. 3. It is the production of a new thing according to a Divine plan. The almighty Maker works by plan in all. IV. 'l'he man in Christ has a NEW STANDING. "All things are of God, who bath reconciled us," etc. That is, all things pertaining to this new creation. The great want of man is reconciliation to God. Man's alienation or apostasy from bis Maker is the sin of all his sins, and the source of all his miseries. His reconciliation is not the means to his salvation; it is his salvation. Friendship with him is heaven. On the other hand, alienation is hell. A river cut from the fountain dries up; a branch cut from the tree withers and dies ; a planet cut from the sun rushes into ruiu. Separate a soul from God its Fountain, its Root, its Centre, and it dies- dies to all that makes existence tolerable. Such, then, is what Chri~tianity does for us.
•Vers. 19, 20.-God's work in Olirist. • To wit, that God was in Christ," etc. God is a great Worker. He is the eternal Fonntain of life in unremitting flow. He is essentially active, the mainspring of all activity in the universe but that of sin. There are at least four organs through which he works-material laws, animal instincts, moral mind, and Jesus Christ. By the first he leads on the great revolutions of inanimate natnre in all its departments; by the second he preserves, guides, and controls all the seritient tribes that populate the earth, the air, and the sea; by the third, through the laws of reason and the dictates of conscience, he governs the vast empire of mind; and by the fourth, viz. Christ, he works out the redemption of sinners in our world. There is no more difficulty in regarding him in the one Person, Christ, for a certain work thnn there is in regarding him as being in material nature, animal instinct, or moral mind. The words lead us to make three remarks concerning God'l! work in Christ. I. It is e. work of RECONCILING HUMANITY TO Goo. "God was in Christ recon• ciling the wol'ld unto himself." 'l'he work of niconciling implies two things-o-nmity 128 THE SECOND EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS. [on. v. 1-21.
on the side of one of the p&rtiea, and a change of mind in one of the .parties. Tho enmity here is not on God's part-he is love; but on man's. 'l'he "carnal mind is enmity with God.'' Nor is the change on God's part. He ronnot change, he tteed not change. He could never become more loving and merciful. The change needed is on man's part and on man's e.ulus,:vely. Paul speaks of the world being reconciled to God, not of G~d to thr world. The " world;" not a seotion of the race, but all mankind. II. It is a work involving the REMISSION OF SINS. "Not imputing [reckoning] their trespas..'1011 unto them." The reconciled man is no longer reckoned guilty. Thr<.>e facts will throw light on this. The state of enmity towards God is : 1. A sUJ.te of sin. 'fhere is a virtue in disliking some characters, but it is evermore .11, siu to dislike Gou, for he is the All-good. 2. A state of sin liable to punishment. Indeed, sin is its own punishment. 3. In reconciliation, the enmity beino- removed the punishment i8 oln-iated. What is pardon? A separating of man fro~ his si~ and their consequences. This God does in Obrist. ,, IIL It is a work in which GENUINE MINISTERS ABE ENGAGED.· " He bath committed unt-0 us the word of reconciliation. Now then we are a.mbassadors for Christ, as though God <lid beseech yon by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye recon- ciled to God." Observe: L The position of the true minister. He acts on behalf of Christ, and sta.uds in" Christ's stead." 2. The earnestness of the truo minister. "We pmy you." .; From the whole we observe concerning this work : 1. '11hat it is a work of vnbounde.d mercy. Whoever heard the offended party seeking the friendship of the offender? 2. It is a work essffltial to human happiness. In the nature of the case there is no happiness without this reconciliation. 3. It is a work exclusively of moral -influence. No coercion on the one hand, no angry denunciations on the other, can do it ; it ce.n only be effected by the logic of love. 4. It is a work that must be grad'll,(J;l, :Mind cannot be forced; there must be reflection, repentance, resolution. ,