have the most terrible end; the "end shall be according to their worlcs." They will reap tho fruit of their own doings, UoNoLUBION, Learn: 1. The duty of self-truthfulness. Let us Reek to be such trnn men, so true to self, society, nnd God, that we may have no temptation whatever to tJlay the hypocrite or to appear to others what we are not. "To thlne owe self be true, And it must follow, as the night the clay. Thon canst not then be false to any man." 2. The outy of social caution. Do not let us estimate men by their appearances, an,l take them into the circle of our confidence and friendship merely on account of ,vhat they appear to be. Often those whose outward garb is the most holy are inwardly the most corrupt, who outwardly move as angels of light are inwardly the greatest devils. Let us learn to take off the mask, to disrobe corruption of its external robes of purity, and to give neither our trust nor our sympathy until we are convinced that they have truth in the "inward parts." Vers.16-19.-Man tallcing about himself, and the limitation of apostolic inspiration. "I say again, Let no man think me a fool; if otherwise, yet as a fool receive me, that I may boast myself a little. That which I speak, I speak it not after the Lord, but as it were foolishly, in this confidence of boasting. Seeing that many glory after the flesh, I will glory also. For ye suffer fools gladly, seeing ye yourselves are wise." Observe here-- I. MAN TALKING ABOUT HIMSELF. Paul had said a good many things about himself. Here again be takes up the subject, and his language suggests: 1. That the world is disposed to regard such talk as foolish. "Let no man think me a fool [or,' foolish']." In this he recognizes the tendency of men to regard such self-reference and self-talk as weak and unwise. So in truth unsophisticated men do. When they bear a mau talking about himself he impresses them with a sense of his folly. Inwardly they say, "What a fool that man is to be talking about himself!" It must be confessed that qenerally it is a very foolish thing-few things are more foolish. 2. That such conduct may become a duty. Paul felt it such an urgent obligation at this time that be begs them to bear with him. "Yet as a fool receive me, that I may boast myself a little." He was on his defence, and be felt that such self-references as he made he owed tn himself, to the Christians at Corinth, and to the cause of his Master. Hence he seems to say, "Though you regard me as a fool whilst I thus talk about myself, yet do hear me/' . 3. That to attention to such talk about himself the apostle had a special claim. "Seeing that many glory after the flesh, I will glory also. For ye suffer fools gladly, seeing ye yourselves are wise." As if he had said, "'!'be false apostles amongst you talk about themselves; they boast of their merits and achievements, and you listen to them. I have a special claim to your attention because of the proofs of my apostleship amongst you." II. THE LIMITATION OF APOSTOLIC INSPmATION. "That which I speak, I speak it not after the Lord, but as it were foolishly, in this confidence of boasting." As if he had said, "I do not talk of myself by 'commandment;' I have no special commission from Christ." How frequently does the apostle, in his communications to the Church at Corinth, guard against the impression that everything he wrote was divinely inspired ! Indeed, in one case he indicates an imperfection of memory. "I baptized also the house- hold of Stepbanas: besides, I know not whether I baptized any other" (1 Cor. i. 1_6). " I know not." What, an inspired apostle not knowing what he had don~, forgettmg the religious ordinances he had celebrated I In his letter to Timothy be himself says, "Every Scripture inspired of God is also profitable for teachin;;,'' i_mplying that all Scriptme is not inspired. It is for us to find out which the inspired ones are, to separatu the human from the Divine. Whatever agrees with the character and the teaching of the Spirit of Christ we may rest assured is inspired of God. Who but God himself can tell the enormous O.!llount of injury that has been don~ to sacred trut~ by the dogma of verbal inspiration, regarding all the imprecati_ons ofDav_1d, ~11 t_be reason1ngs of Job's three friends, and even the utterances of Satan himself, as mspued by Heaven? 'l'he Scriptures contain the word of God, but they are not the word of God; the casket 272 THE SECOND EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS. [cu. xr. 1-33.
ie not the jewel, the shell is not the kernel. This by a. devout e.nd earnest study we must find out for ourselves. CoNcLUSION. The subject mches: 1. That we must not shrink from the discharge <1.f a. d11.ty, however painful. Paul, as a humble and modest man, felt it a very painful thing to talk about himself. His native modesty shrank from it; yet, though he would be considered e. "fool," he did it. 2. That we must study the Scriptw·es with a discriminating judgment. We must penetrate through the "letter" that is human and reach the "spirit" that is Divine. "Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy Law."