Ver. 21.-Honest before God amd man. Comp. Prov. iii. 4-, which, in the Greek Version reads," Write them upon the table of thine heart, and thou shalt find favour, Provide things honest in the sight of God and ma.n." This ma.y be troa.ted as a general precept, applicable to all Christian people; or it may be regarded 1\8 a reminder of the care which the apostle had taken that, in the administration of money affairs, he should not be misunderstood or blRmed. Consider- I. THE COUNSEL AS APPLIED TO THE APOSTLR HIMSELF. As a fact he had been jealously providing for honest things, and doing everything possible in order to secure the due checking of the gift.s and safety of the stored money. Calvin says, "He was not so satisfied with himself as to think it unworthy of his dignity to avoid calumny." Dean Plumptre says, " In this case, had the apostle bad oqly the judgment of God to consider, be could with a pure conscience have taken up the money to Jerusalem by himself. But he had to consider that men were judging him, and might suspect him, and therefore he insisted on having his accounts audited." F. W. Robertson says, " In this is to be observed St. Paul's wisdom, not only as a man of the world, but all a man of God. He knew that he lived in a censorious age, that he was as a city set on a hill, that the world would scan his every act and his every word, and attribute all conceivable and even inconceivable evil to what he did in all honour. It was just because of St. Paul's honour and innocence that he was likely to have omitted this prudence." .Archdeacon Farrar indicates the kind of things that were said about the apostle by his Corinthian enemies, which made such an earnest self-vindication·abso.:. lutcly necessary. He represents them as saying that St. Paul was "half demented, and yet there was some method in his madness which showed itself partly in -self- importance and partly in avarice, both of which were very injurious to the inte_reilts of his followers. What, for instance; could be more guileful and crafty than his enti~e conduct about this collection which he was so suspiciously eager to f!et' on foot?, He had ordered them to get up a subscription in his first letter, had, fo answer 'to their inquiries, directed that lt should be gathered, ·as in the G1ilatian Churches, by a weekly offertory, and had, since this, sent Titus to· stimulate zeal iii the matter.- 'l'hey dared to insinuate that all this was only a cunning device to hide his real intehtion:s, and give him a securer grasp of their money." Give in detail the arrangements made_' by the apostle to secure the due safety and auditing of the collection; and urge that all who have responsible positions in relation to Christian monies should show a similar anxiety to "provide things honest." II. 'l'HE 00UNSEL AS .APPLmD TO CmnsTIAN GIVING. Those who· give must- give only that which is honourably their own. The man who is in debt must pay his debts before he gives. The man who has family claims is bound to make adeguate provision for them before he gives. To use the familiar proverb, "A man mnst be just before he is generolll!." When this rule is neglected, a man's gifts can neither be acceptable to God nor right in the sight of his fellow-men.-R. T. '
EXPOSITION. is continuing the BB-me subject, and there- CHAPTER IX. fore ex.eludes the supposit·ion the.t this Encouragement to the Corinthians to ful- chapter is e. separate letter or fragment. fil their promises by giving speedily (vers. No doubt, however, the ex.pres~ mention ol the collection after he has been practically 1-5), amply (ver. 6), cheerfully (ver. 7), writing about it .through the whole of the nn.d thereby earn God's blessing (vers. last chapter looks as if he had been inter- 8----11) in a callBC fruitful of blessed conse- rupted, or had left off dictating at the end quence (vers. 12-14). He coneludes the of the last verse. Such breaks must often subject with a heartfelt thanksgiving (ver. e.nd necessarily have occurred in the dicta- 15). tion of the Epistles, and doubtless help to account for some of their phenomena. Per- Ver. L-For. Thls word shows that he haps, on reperusing the last paragraphs CH, IX, 1-16.J THE SEomm EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS.