The Pulpit Commentary — 2 Corinthians — Section 281

of peril and in forms of physical torture. Enough has been said to make good his claim to pre-eminence in aftliction for the cause of Christ.. Outside of tho duties ho was discharging as the Lord's servant, not ono of these evils had befallen him. It was the cross of Christ, and only the cross, which had brought all these upon him. But he h~d m?re to say_. A _man of feeble health, of acu~e nervous sensibility, struggling with disease and mfim11ty; who among us can enter mto all he meant by " weariness and painfulness, watchings ofren, hunger and thirst, fastings often, cold and naked- ness"? It is only a rude outline; imagine the details. But what were details to him? The rapid summation shows why he writes. .Artistic effect offers him no temptation. Literary motives are impossible to his imagination and tastes. 'l'he eagerness of his spirit, approaching a topic most dear to his soul, hurries him to" the ea.re of a.11 the Churches." Ah! that was something transcendent. Daily it came upon him amidst weariness, painfulness, and other ills, and daily it came a.s a crowd pressing upon him with anxieties beyond utterance. Sympathy is incapable of complete expression. It cannot make itself known. It can only make itself felt, and therefore contents itself with hints. "Who is weak," sympathy asks, "and I am not weak?" And who is overcome by temptation (made to stumble), and I burn not? The sympathetic man is now deeply moved, and his heart breaks forth, "If I must needs glory, I will glory of the things which concern mine infirmities [my weakness]." III. Tm: TRUE NATURE OF HIS BOASTING. Examine this fragment of St. Paul's biography, and what do you find as the shaping thought? It is the idea of suffering as expressive of human infirmity. Suffering for a moral purpose is continually kept before the mind, and, agreeably to that end, it is suffering that not only humbles its subject in a spiritual point of view, but humiliates him in the eyes of the world. Hence the conclusion to which he brings the mournful narration," If I must needs glory, I will glory of the things which concern my weakness." No doubt it seemed very strange to many that he should boast of these things, but this was its justification. Had it not appeared as "folly," it would not have vindicated him against the malicious taunts of his adversaries; for it is exactly such a "folly" as identifies his life and experience with the "foolishness" of the gospel, the preaching of Christ crucified, on which, at the outset, he had laid a very distinctive stress. Boast he must to meet the low state of intellect and spirituality in those of the Church who had fallen under the influence of these self-aggrandizing "apostles." Boast he would in defence of himself, of his motives and intentions. Yet, while stooping to such a worldly method, he would do so in no carnal spirit, but as one who had a profound sense of his own unworthiness. What did the Jewish world think of his apostleship? Let the five times "forty stripes save one" answer. What did the Roman world think of it? '1.'he thrici, "beaten with rods" was the reply. No allusion is made to his having been a "blasphemer" and "persecutor," for this had no bearing on the question at issue. It is a contrast throughout of himself with the "deceitful workers." And, finally, to make the contrast as perfect as possible, he refers to "the care of all the Churches" among the Gentiles. This point reached, he shows why he had made these concessions to the folly of certain Corinthians, and his true heart exclaims, "If I must needs glory, I will glory of the things which concern my weakness." Here, then, we have the first distinct appearance of one among those great thoughts that we find frequently in various forms in his subsequent writings-the idea of glorying in his infirmities. Not enough is it for him to accept it as a burden and tolerate it as a thing providentially ordained to be borne. From this hour he enters on a higher experience, for he has learned to cherish a sentiment as well as find a duty and a principle in his infirmities. He will welcome them, he will press them to his heart as a treasure, he will "glory" in them. And if, hereafter, we shall often listen to his exultation when he rejoices in tribwation and glories in the cross, we can revert to the time and circumstances that first made this experience an era in his career. No wonder that he appeals with such solemnity to God for the truths asserted. It is a moment of impassioned thought which brings the past most vividly before his eye, and lo I the ?peni_ng scene •in a long series of afllictions for the gospel. There it was-the far-off Syrian city of the Damascenes and the beginning of that persecution which the Jews had continued so unrelenting!~. And there, too, it had been announced to Ananias in a vision that the J,ord had made Saul of Tarsus "a chosen vessel" unto himself, and would show him Cl!. XI, 1-33,) THE SECOND EP1S'l'LE TO TRE COltiNTlIIANS.