HOMILETICS. Vera. 1, 2.-Se1f-vindication. "Now I Paul myself beseech you," etc. Pnul, as we hnvo frequently intimated, had detractors in the Corinthian Church, men who sought to gain power by calumniating him. We arc not in possession of all the c11lurunies. Paul knew them all. Throughout these two Epistles we find him cor,- stantly on the defensive; here again we find him Htanding up for himseif. In his defence he manifests- !. A STRONG DEBIBE TO DEAL WITH THEM IN THE BPIBIT OF CHRIST. "Now I Paul myself beseech [entreat] you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ." He seems to shrink from the idea of so defending himself as to act contrary to the mild and gentle spirit of Christ. Whatever I say in my defence, I would say in the spirit of him" who, when he was reviled, reviled not again." Thus we should always act, even in reproving others and defending ourselves; in all we should be actuated and controlled by the spirit of Jesus Christ. No reproof will go so thoroughly home to the heart of the offender as that which breathes and echoes his spirit. IL A KNOWLEDGE OF THE CONTEMPTUOUSNESS WITH wmcn ms DETRACTORS REGARDED HIM, "Who in presence am base [lowly] among you, but being absent am bold [of good courage] toward you." This does not seem to be the estimate he forms of himself, bot the character which his slanderers had given him. In ver. 10 it is so stated : "For his letters, say they, are weighty and powerful; but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech contemptible." It would seem that they spoke somewhat thus-How bold and courageous this man is in his "letters;" but how mean and contemptible in his appearance and conduct I He here intimates that when he comes amongst them he would be " bold " and courageous. They shall know that I am no coward, and with indomitable fearlessness I shall administer the necessary rebuke. Ill. A DREAD OF EXERCISING SEVERITY TOW.ABDS TIIEM, "But I beseech you, that I may not be bold when I am present with that confidence, wherewith I think to be bold against some, which think of us as if we walked according to the flesh." It is the characteristic·of a great soul, especially of a great soul inspired with the spirit of Christ, to shrink from inflicting pain on any heart. Yet when duty calls it must be done. •
Vers. 3-,-6,-The true soldiership. "For though," etc. The passage leads us to notice the weapons and victories of a true soldiership. I. THE WEAPONS OF TRUE BOLDmasllIP, The apostle states two things concern- ing· th.ese weapons. 1, They are not carnal. 'l'he word "carnal" here may be regarded as standing in contradiction to three things. (1) To miraculous agency. Miracles, though employed at first, are not the regular weapons by which Christianity fights her battles. (2) To all coercive instrumentality. The civil magistrate now for fi[teen centuries has sought by exactions and penalties to force Christianity upon the consciences of men. Such weapons disgrace and misrepresent it. (3) To all crafty inventions. In nothing, perhaps, has the craftiness of men appeared more than in connection with the profession of extending Christianity. What are the tricks of rhetoric, the assumptions of priests, and the clap-trap of sects but craft? 2. Though not carnal, they are mighty. "Mighty through God." (1) They are mighty through God because they are his productions. Gospel truths, the weapons of which the apostle speaks, are God's ideas, and those ideas are mighty-mighty with truth and love. (2) They are mighty through God because they are his instruments. God goe,1 with his ideas and works by them. II. 'l,'IIE VICTORmB OF TRUE SOLDIERBIIIP, What are the victories? 1. They are mental. •Paul is speaking about imaginations and things pertaining to mind. They are not over body. '!'here 1s not any glory in destroying the bodily life of man. The lion, the bear, a. poisonons gust of air, will excel man in this. 'l'he victories of a true soldiership are over mind. And indeed you do not conquer the man unless you conquer his mind. If there be a future world, then the men you slay upon the battle- field mn.y hate you in the great eternity with a profounder hatred than ever. 2. Ti,ey TT, COI\lNTIUANS, R 242 THE SECOND EPISTLE TO THE COltlN'.l'HlANS. rcu, x. 1-18,
are corrective. These victories do not involve the destruction of tho mind nor any of its native faculties, but certain evils that pertain to it, What aro they? (1) The cnl fortifications of the mind. "The pulling down of strongholds." What aro thoy? I'rejudic.es, worldly maxims, associations, passions, habits; behind these "strongholds" the mind entrenches itself against God. (2) The corrupt thinking of the mind. " Casting down ima_ginations." The word" thinking" comprehends this, for the faculty which "-e call i~aginati?n ~hi?,k~ as well as the int<;llect. It is against e'vil t.birikiugs;. therefore. (3) 'Iha ant1the1st1c impulses of the mmd. "And every high thin" that exaltcth itself al!ainst the knowledge of God." Every foaling and passion that rises against God. These are the victories of true soldiership. 3. Tliey are Christian. They "bring into capfo·ity every thought to the obedience of Christ.'' Thought .is e\·erything to man. Kow, the work of a true soldier is to bring this fontal force into entire subjection to Christ. • • ' •'