gospel Itself. 2. No <Jhrl,tio!ra ean be ashamed of a gospel of s,v,h power, eo trne, s•, gracious, so useful. 3. No Ohristian can be ashamed of its confessors. The apos1 I" was a prisoner at Rome for its sake, not for crime of any sort. The gospel then laboured under an i=ense load of pagan prejudice, and Timothy needed to be reminded of his obligations to sympathize with its greatest expounder. II. THE MINISTER OF GoD HUST SHARE IN THE AFFLICTIONS OY TBB GOSPEL. .. But be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God." 1. Though ii is a gospel of peace, ie brings a sword wherever it goes, and involves iti preachers in tribulations arising out of the perverseness of men who thwart and despise it. 2. We O'Uflht eo suffer hardship for the gospel, by the consideration tbat the God who has saved 118 with BUCh a strong hand ia able to succour us under all our afflictions. -T.C. Vers. 9-11.-77ie powtlt' of God in the sal11atum manifested by Jes., tJhrist eo the world. He now proceeds to expound in a glorious sentence the origin, conditions, manifestations of the salvation provided in tbe gospel I. THE MANNER IN WHICH THE POWER OF GoD BAB BEEN DISPLAYED TOW ARD us. "Who bath saved us, and called 118 with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began." 1. The power of God has been displayed tow,ird -us in salvation. God is the Author of salvation in its most comprehensive sense, as including both its i.mpetration and its application. 'l'he salvation may be said to precede the calling, as (1) it has its origin in the "purpose of God," (2) as Christ has procnred it by bis death. 2. It has /,een displayed in our calling. (1) The call is the act of the Father (Gal. i. 6). (2) It is a "holy calling," (a) as its Author is holy; (b) it is a call to holiness; (c) the called are enabled to live holy lives. 3. The principle or condition of our salvation. "Not according to our works." (1) Negatively. Worka are not (a) the moving cause of it, which is the love and favour of God (John ill. 16); (b) nor are they the procuring cause, which is the obedience and death of Christ (Rom. iii. 21-26); (c) nor do they help in the application of salvation; for works done before our calling are not good, being without faith; and works done after it are the fruits of our calling, and therefore not the cause of it. (2) Positively. "But according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ before the world began." Salvation has thus a double aspect. (a) It is" according to the purpose of God." It is a gift from eternity; for it was" before the world began," and therefore it was not dependent upon man's works. (b) It is according to "his grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began." Though those to whom it was given were not in existence, they existed in Obrist as the covenant Head and Representative of his people. They were chosen in him (Eph. i. 4). II. THE MANIFESTATION OF THIS PURPOSE AND GBACE IN THE INCARNATION AND WOBK OF CHRIST. "But manifested now by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Chri1<t,." 1. The nature of this manifestation. It iucluded (1) the Incarnation; for the Son of God appeared in the fulness of time to make known the "mystery hid from ages," even himself-" the Hope of glory "-to both Jew and Gentile; (2) the work of Christ, in tbe obedience of his life and the suffering of his death-in a word, the whole work of redemp- tion. 2. The effects of this manifestation. "Who abolished death, and brought to ligbt life and incorruptibility by means of the gospel." (1) Its action upon death. It has abolished or made it of none effect. Death is regarded both in its physical and its ethical aspects. (a) In its physical aspects, Christ has (a) deprived it of its IIUJlg, and made it a blessing to believers (Heb. ii. 14; 1 Cor. xv. 65), and (S) secured iis ultimate abolition (Rev. xxi. 4). (b) In its ethical aspects, as working through a law of sin and death, Christ has caused us "to pass from death unto life" in regeneration (1 John iii. 14), and secured us from "the second death" (Rev. ii. 11). (2) Its revelation of life aud Incorruptibility. (a) Life here is the true life, over which death has no power-the new and blessed life of the Spirit. This was, in a sense, known to the Old Testament saints; but Christ exhibited it, in its resurrection-aspect, after he rose from the de~d. It was in virtue of his resurrection, indeed, that the saints of the old economy had hfe at all. But they did not see it aa we see it. (b) Incorruptibility. Not in reference to the risen bod7, but to the life of the soul, In its imperishable qualities, in ita perfect 'l'HE SECOND EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY, [ea. L 1-18,
exemption from death (1 Pet. i. 4; Rev. :n:i. 4). (o) The me&llll or this revelation i1 the gospel, which makes this life perfectly known to men, o.a to its nature as to the way int-0 it, as to the persons for whom it is prepared or designed. ' III. THE OONNECTION OF THE APOSTLE WITH THIS REVELATION 01' LIJl'B, 11 For whioh I was appointed a herald anll. an apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles." He rehear&ee his titles of dignity at the very time that he points to them as entailing suffering upon him.-T. C.