Ver. 10.-Apostolic endumnce. "We suffer reproach." Thie is hard to bear, even • when it is not deserved. All who have broken old ties of Church or home know its power. Men ever brand with heresy that which conflicts with their own opinions. Against St. Paul men brought false charges. We must not surround the gospel then with the glory associated with it now. We put the nimbus on. the heads of the Mints and martyrs; their enemies crowned them with shame. I. THERE WAS THE CONSCIOUS LOSS OF ALL THAT THE WORLD HOLDS DEAR. A good name and a fair fame, how precious these a.re to us all! But if we move daily in an atmosphere of suspicion and false accusation, how full of misery the outward lot becomes I It is a proof of how precious Christ was to Paul, that he counts all things but offal that he may win Christ. Reproach itself became a source of joy when he felt that it was endured for the Master's ea.use. "If ye be reproached for the Na.me of Christ, happy are ye." II. IT w AS A SURE PROOF OF THE REALITY OF THEm RELIGION. ".Because I testify of it that the works thereof arc evil," said Christ, "therefore they have hated me." The Master was reproached as a blasphemer, a wine-bibber, a seditionist, a friend of publicans and sinners. It was a testimony to his earnest character that Paul suffered reproach. Wolves do not worry a painted sheep, and the world does not persecute a mere professor. In every age of religious earnestness reproach has had to be endured. The Covenanters of Scotland in their wilderness-worship, when they spread the white communion cloth on the yet whiter snow; the Puritans in their hidden assemblies; and missionaries like Carey, satirized by the review.. I Even now it is not an easy thing to be a Christian; but we find in the gospel that which no secular inspiration can give-the power t.o live in the face of an antagonistic world.-W. M. S. Ver. 10.-Sustaining motive. "Becauae we trust in the living God." One remark- able fact in the history of St. Paul was that nothing damped bis ardour. It was not so with such men as Luther, who seemed to feel at last that all is vain. There were no outward forces to sustain the life of the new Church. Well may the ancient words be used in contrasting the cause of Mohammed with that of the gospel : " Some trust in chariots, and some in horses, but we trust in the Name of the Lord our God." L "IN THE LIVING Goo." The tendency of Judaism was to leave God in the past! The age of inspiration had passed, the prophetic roll bad closed, and the Jews became scribes and traditionists. They had a codex of finished Law, and gathered up the opinions of the rabbis upon the minutest matters of ceremonial and duty. Paul preached a God who was then baptizing men with fire-a Holy Spirit that was working in the hearts of the faithful. Il. u THE LIVING Goo;,, BECAUSE THE GOSPEL SHOWED ALL THE HABKS OF LIFE. It embodied Divine power, it manifested a living purpose. It had an echo in the con- science and heart of men. God, who in times past had spoken to the fatherH by th'- prophets, had in these last days spoken unto them by his_ Son. God was manifest in the flesh. The Spirit bad descended after Christ's ascension, and Pentecost had already taken its place ill' history. IlL "THE LIVING Goo" HAD SHOWN THAT HE COULD TAKE OARE OF BIS SERVANTS. He bad opened ways for them ; be bad touched the hearts of men. AB they preached, the message had been accompanied with power from on high; and Paul in his imprison- ment had received grace according to his day. IV. "THE LIVING Goo " WHO WOULD C0NTINUJ: Hl8 WORK IF BIS 8ERV ANTS DIED, Empires might fall; dynasties might change; the ancient Jewish Church might fulfil OR, IV. 1-16.] THE FIRST EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. 86
i te day; but the living God had designed a. new heaven a.nd a. new earth, wherein righteousness should dwell ; a.nd thus hie apostles trusted, not in a.n a.rm of lleah but in a. living God.-W. M. S. '