Ver. 9.-1?ie condescension of Christ. According to the teaching of the New Testa- ment, human kindness should be based upon Divine benevolence. Such is the import of this wonderful parenthesis-a jewel which the inspired writer drops by the way and passes on. I. CHRIST'S NATIVE RICIIEB CONTRASTED WITII lllS VOLUNTARY POVERTY. 1. His proper rightful w11alth is apparent, not only from his nature as the Son of God, but from his evident command, during his earthly ministry, of all the resources of nature. Bread, wine, money, he could multiply or create; the earth and the sea obeyed bis will; diseases and demons fled at his bidding. 2. His poverty was not compulsory; it was a" grace." We see it in his incarnation, in which he emptied himself of bis glory; in his ministry, passed in a lowly and all but destitute condition of life ; in his refusal to use his power for selfish ends; in his cheerful submission to a shameful death. Compare the glory which he claimed to have had with the Father before the worlrl was, with the homelessness and poverty of his life and the desertion and ignominy of his death, and his "grace" appeals to every just mind, to every sensitive heart. II. Oun NATIVE SPIRITUAL POVERTY CONTRASTED WITII OUR ACQUIRED SPIRITUAL WEALTII. 1. Our natural destitution is undeniable; by sin we have lost our pos- sessions, our inheritance, our powers of acquisition, and are left resourceless and friend- less. Apart from the interposition of Christ, :i.nd where Christianity is 11nknown, such is still the state of man. 2. Christ's humiliation was for the sake of man's spiritual enrich- ment. Only by condescension, compassion, and sacrifice could man be reached. Thus he drew near to us, and imparted to us of his own true and Divine riches, of knowledge, of righteousness, of favour, and of glory. 3. lly Christ's mediation ~II things are ours. God, givin" Christ, gives with him all good things. "I have all thmgs and abound," is the testimony of every right-minded and appreciative disciple of qh~ist. The history of the Church is the history of the enrichment of the race ; and this ID turn 1, the pledge and promise of the inestimable and inexhaustible riches of eternity.-T.
Ver. 12.-1?ie rule o/ acceptance. Justice is distinctive of all the demands and of ll06 THE SECOND EPIS'l'LE '£0 THE CORINTHIANS. [011. vu1. 1-24.