HOMILIES BY VARIOUS AUTHORS. Vers. 1-6.-Supernatural communications as evidences of his apostleship. The old question as to his apostolic authority, which had recently been revived in a most exciting form, was not yet disposed of, and he must now discuss it in another aspect. So far as external circumstances were concerned, had not the prophetic declaration to Ananias been fulfilled?-" I will show him how great things he must suffer for my Name's sake." .And, furthermore, he had proved that ,his own state of mind, the in ward being of his soul, had corresponded with his call to suffer. The flesh had been subdued. Years of growth had brought him to a stage of experience that allowed him to speak of glorying in his infirmities, But he would now turn to another branch of experiences, viz. "visions and revelations of the Lord." Glorious as these exaltations were, they would see that, while they were exceptional in certain respects, yet they fell in with the providential discipline of his life, and opened the way for a keener sense of his infirmities 'by" a thorn in the flesh." All along St. Paul has been painfully aware that bis enemies were using these infirmities to his official disparagement. Painfully, we say, for it is obvious that he was sensitive to the disadvantages under which be appeared before the public. "Humble,"" fUdil in speech,"" bodily presence weak,"" speech contemptible," were things that had some fouudation in fact. Of course, his adversaries exaggerated them, but the apostle could riot escape instinctive feeling, and at times acute feeling, touching this matter. 'l'his, however, was only one source of depression. A fuller 206 Tl:IE SEOOND EPISTLE 'rO THE CORINTHIAN~. [tit. xn. 1-21.
account, of his BUl'furinga, physioal and mental, th&n he had ever given had Juet now been presented, and the oonolusion or it w1111 that his bodily disad\tantages as a 11peaker, his low repute as a public teacher, bis constant endurance of pain and: solicitude. be.cl. resulted in his realir;in~ the fact that this very weakness was his strength. Could •• visions and revelations ' be entrusted to him-such visions and revelations--snd be not be hu~blcd bY: Divine direc~ion? The more !tlorious tb~ revelation, the greater the necessity for him to be remmded, and most pamfully remmded, that the treasw·e was committed to an" earthen vessel." Witness the following: a man fourteen.years ago- the memory of it still vividly present aa a reality of to-day-such a .man whether in the body or out of the body it was impossible to tell, elevated to ihe third heaven, and hearing" unspeakable words not lawful for a man to utter." 11 Fourteen years ago " the fact now first divulged, and yet the fact alone ; the secret disolosures still a secret and person&} to the man alone; and the sanctity such that it would be profanation to make the contents of the communication known. 11 Caught up to the third heaven, caught up into Paradise," face to face 'llith the Lord Jesus in his mediatorial glory ; and there, the senses laid to rest and the body forgotten and the spirit opened to receive instruction and inspiration, the man taught what he was to be . and what he was to do as the servant on earth of his Divine Master. Of this mMi, aa :a , man in Christ, be would boast; of himself in the flesh and subject to its infirmities, he would not boast save of bis weakness. Under grace, what· a debtor was h_e1 to these humiliations! Intellectual pride and vanity, spiritual pride and vanity, pride aIJd vanity as a Jew to whom the God of the fathers had manifested bimself.,..how could these be kept down except by mortifications of the flesh? If, nevertheless, ~e were to boast of these revelations, he should do it truthfully. Suppose, then, that J:i,e should , make this boast; who would be able to transfer himself into the proper a,Hitudii of a . listener? It would not be weakness, but power, the observer would see. ."I forbear,", and I shrink from it, lest the contrast between this power and .my visible wea"1iess, this glory and my present humiliation, be too great for any man .to bear.~
Vera. 7-10.-Need of humuity and the means appointed to secure it. Uthe Lord Jesus passed from the baptism in the Jordan, and the dovelike \l..~sccnt of the Holy Ghost upon him, to the solitude of the wilderness and the assaults of the tempter;. if he came down from the mount of transfiguration to witness the failure of the disciples to heal the lunatic boy, and to give expression to his sorrow in the words, "O_faitbless and perverse generation! "et.c.-it is not surprising that an apostle should be sorely tried after his exaltation. New endowments must have new te8ts. New and larger grace wust be immediately put on probation, since there are many probations in this one probatio1dhat have eternal issues. "Lest I "-this man in Christ, who fourteen years ago was prepared by special revelation for the toil and trial. of his Gentile apostleship- •• lest I should be exalted above measure;" and what was the danger? "The abundance of the revelations." .Against that danger he must be fortified. If new endowments and new graces are instantly put on trial, and the conditions of !if.i's general 1•robation changed, then, indeed, a new check to guard against abuse of incr_eased gifts must not be lackiug. The man is not precisely the same man as before, nor is he in the same world that he previously occupied. Accessions of outward advant~ges, such as wealth and social position, are full of risks, but accessions of inward power are far more perilous. To preserve St. Paul from self-glorification, th~re was given him II a thorn in tb~. flesh." First of all, the revelations were as to the fact itself to be kept a secret, and this was a . means of humility, but the thorn in the flesh was added.. What it was we knml' not, but it we.s a bodily infirmity that caused him much suffering. "This is significant. It is of the very I1J1.ture of thorns to be felt rather than seen, and to appear triflirw evils to all but those directly stung by them " (Dr. Bellows). It was " a messe~aer of Satan," though this does not imply that it was not unq(;lr God's direction. The ide~ is that this "ar.gel of Satan " was an impaling stake that produced severe and continued pain, and the reason therefore is twice stated, 11 lest I should be exa~ted above measure." So, then, it was not as an apostle, but as the apostle to tho Gentiles, that he was specially afflicted. Pain is instinctively resisted as an enemy to the acti- vily, comfort, and pleasure of life. Naturally, therefore, St. Pa~l f~lt that it would interfer1: with bis energy and happineS1,, and, of course, the Satamc side of the torture on. ut. 1-21.l ·ftlE SECOND gpJS'l'LE 'l'O 'I'IIE CORIN'fHIANS. 20,