The Pulpit Commentary — 2 Corinthians — Section 320

desire for the "perfection" of the Church at Corinth, All this le admirable as a mere matter or congrnity in respect to the Jaws of art, But it leaven.the domain of art and rises to 11. reRlm infinitely more exalted when he comes before us" apparelled in colesUal light," and completes the impression of on'! "Whose high endeavours are an inward light, That makes the path before him always bright." Nothing in the apo~t.lc's life more became him than the tenderness in the parting words of this Epistle. "Finally, brethren, farewell." Thero have been throes of spirit during the hirl,h of this Epistle, moments of v:ehemence, outbnrsts of indignation and menace; but they are over now. The sun sets m a. sky that the storm has purified and the last beams glide through an atmosphere of holy stillness, " Be perfect," or, be perfected making np what ye lack ; "be of good comfort," ta.king encouragement and hope frc.n:: your trials that God would overrule them for your happiness; " be of one mind," by suppressing all selfishness and partisanship and cultivating unity of interest; "live in peace," so that your outward life bears witness to the fact that ye have "one mind." So shall the" God of love and peace be with you." Let not the sign of your union in Christ as members of his Church be forgotten, and, accordingly," greet one another with a holy kiss." Macedonian brethren salute you. And now, acknowledging with profoundest reverence the Holy Trinity, "in plac.e of his own salutation, he gives us finally that precious benediction which has acquired such a liturgical use in every age and in every part of the Christian world" (Lange), Grace, love, commwnion,-these three, and each blessing and all the blessedness for every one, friends and enemies, since they are, in this touching moment, "brethren" to his heart. "The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ " in the fnlness of his mediatoria.l office, " the love .of God" the Father revealed through that grace, and the "communion of the Holy Ghost" as the effect of the " grace" and the " love" in their fellowship with God and one another, "be with you all. Amen. n It pleased God to make St. Paul his own historian during the memorable period to which this Epistle belongs. No one was competent to this task, not even St. Luke, with a.II his skill and insight as a writer, and his close relations to the apostle, The inner lHe of the author wa.s to be set forth with a force and vividness never equalled in sacred literature ; and we were to have a section, and a most important ,section, of the New Testament as a Scripture of a private soul. For, indeed, the Holy •Spirit would not limit the wonders of inspiration to the narration of outward events, Great as t?tose events were in the midst of changes goiog on in the Roman empire, " the mingling and confusion of races, languages, and conditfons," of which Dean .Milman gives so eloquent a description (' Latin Christianity'), and vast as was the influence of the gospel in slowly transforming that,. heterogeneous mass of a corrupted l!Ocial system n by "instilling feelings of humanity,., and giving "dignity to minds tprostrated by years, almost centuries, of degradini despotism,'' it yet was vital to the purpose of the written Word that we should have the record of a human soul in ·th') most typical period of its perplexity and conflict, and under just such circumstances ns identified it most nearly with the sharpest trialli of ma;nly intelligence and courage. •It is St. Luke who describes the one class of occurrences. Only a St. Paul was qualifie~ for the other; and in the Second Epistle to the Corinthians he does this most interesting work. At no point are we left in dimness or obscurity as to what he felt and purposed. Every moment, as the eye follows his path, we see the end to which his steps are tending. "Faint, yet pursuing," often thwarted, often thrown back,. often sorel;y embarrassed, without the lights of past experience, without the helps of brother apostles, alone and unbefriended, he had to solve those problems of Church order and discipline which involved all the future administrative policy of Christian communities. Through• out the struggle we accompany him. We know what he thought, and why, We mark ,his wisdom, earnestness, and fidelity. In the variety of his moods, in exaltation and depression, in the alternate predominance of very unlike states of consciousness, we find •him the same man as to his ruling principle and aim, the same when he threaten■ and ,beseeches, the same when he unmasks "false apostles," that he is in prayers for peace and brotherhood. It was a most energetic and exciting portion of bis career. But the 11Il41l'II heart is the chief interest as illustrative of the cardinal doctrines of grace, Truc,1 OH, xm. 1-14.J 'fHE SECOND EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS. 321