The Pulpit Commentary — 2 Corinthians — Section 166

is an emergency on which all the future &ecretly depends, and which if one let slip be may wring his hands and curse his folly, but will never find a remerly. ' II. INDICATIONS OF 0PP0nTUNITY. The favourable day for spiritual life is not so easily recognized as that of worldly advantage. In external aspect it is as other days. A preacher may speak to you whom you have often heard and not heeded. The view of truth which is to carry you capti'l'e may be one which has often been pressed on you to little purpose. But somehow you are moved ; you catch the ur"ency0 of now • and you listen and believe as you never listened or belleved before. So that commo~ day becomes a beginning of days e.nd a spiritual epoch to you. 'fhere are, however, indica- tions or hints of a critical time which watchful spirits may perceive. Often it is preceded by sickness, sorrow, or di8appointment, making one more thoughtful and more wistful about the things unseen. Or there springs up, one hardl_y knows how a sense of inward weariness and want. Conscience is uneasy, and the heart cannot re~t. Then some word in season falls on the ear, or looks out of a book or a. friend's letter. These things indicate opportunity. Miss it not. Embrace the gospel at once. Receive not the grace of God in vain. III. FENALTY OF MISSING OPPORTUNITY. The wasted day can never be recalled. Lost property may be recovered; lost friendships regained; but the lost year never comes back. It was a sign of wisdom in the young Roman emperor that be grieved when a day had been wasted. Perdidi diem! But such tasks as he had in hand might still be accomplished by redoubled diligence on the morrow. Not so with him who wastes the day of salvation. Perdidi vitaml The day of grace neglected is followed by the night of doom. IV. THE APPEAL FOR IMMEDIATE COMPLIANCE WITH THE GOSPEL. 1. Let gratitude move you. The God of grace calls you to him; not exacting his rights and dues from you as his creature and his subject, but with open hands extending pardon and countlesa benefits for time and eternity, freely. "Now then," exclaimed an old English preacher, "what is more suitable to ingenuous gratitude than to embrace the season of God's bestowing so free a favour? Surely the least we can do is to accept of that God that accepteth of us ; of him who is full of beauty and rewards, while we have nothing to bring to him but deformity and beggary." 2. Let a prope:r silj-Tegard move yov.. Why should you lose your own soul? Why will ye die? It is more pleasant for the preacher to speak as from the gate of heaven ; but it is necessary to cry aloud some- times as from the mouth of hell. Tum ye I Get you back I Seek the Lord, and do itnow!-F. Ver. 10.-Sorrow and J°oy. The apostle's experience is in some degree known to many Christians. The apparent paradox of simultaneous grief and joy is to them a fact of sober consciousness. I. SORROWFUL. Not querulous, out bruised and sad. The course of the world rushes past us, and we sit down with our pain or grief. We are chastened. And not without reason. 1. We must take our share of the troubles common to mankind. Spiritual life carries with it no exemption from the usual cares and losses of the present state. To bring about such exemption would require a multiplication of miracles without any sufficient reason. If famine come upon a land, or war, or pestilence ; if a railway train or a passenger steamship be wrecked,-there can be no discrimination between the go?d and the bad in the common catastrophe. Indeed, it is questionable whether a special immunity from pain and grief accorded to spiritual men might not do serious harm to religion, by giving strong temporal inducements to worldly men to cover themselves over with a thin coating of godliness. And there a.re sorrows which no personal qualities can ward off. Some troubles are inherited; others come from the mishap ol' misconduct of a relative or of a partner in business. And the sickness and de~th of those who are d1Jar to us must bring us grief. Man is born to trouble. _2 •. We. find iP the discipline of sonow some of the best lessons and impulses of the Christian life. 11 Night brings out stars; So sorrow shows us truths." And conformity to Chdst is gained in suffering with him, working out a deepP• patience and keener moral sensibiUty, 11. CORINTHIANS. II  162 THE SEOOND EPISTLE TO THE COIUN'l'HIANS. [on. v1. 1-18,