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come boldly (or confidingly) unto the Throne of Grace, that we may obtain Mercy, and find Grace to Help in time of need! for the Word of GOD is Quick and Powerful, and Sharper than any two-edged sword, Piercing even to the dividing asunder of Soul and Spirit; and is A Discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart-Heb. iv. 16, 12.

VERSES 7 to 11.-Do ye look on things after the outward appearance? If any Man trust to himself, ▲ that he is CHRIST's, let him of himself think this again; that as he is CHRIST's, even so are we CHRIST's: for though I should boast somewhat more of our Authority, Which The LORD hath Given us for Edification, and not for your destruction, I should not be ashamed. That I may not seem as if I would terrify you by letters: for his letters, say they, are weighty and powerful; but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech contemptible. Let Such an One think this, that Such as we are in word by letters, when we are absent, Such will we be also in deed, when we are present.

If superficial investigation lead to approving conclusions in Others, the same rule should influence to at least an equally favourable estimate of Paul, and his Assistant Ministers. But such a hasty attempt at delineating character by outward appearance is not wise; for the Hypocrite resorts to every art of deception, which outward appearances can yield, that those, on whom he would wish to impose, may think of him, as sincere in his professions and exemplary in his habits; yet how otherwise must he appear in the Eye of The All-Seeing and Righteously-Judging GOD! To seek the praise of Men and of them only is to forfeit the Praise of GOD. But Some there are, who in their own peculiar way, and under the influence of received prejudices, think themselves pre-eminently faithful to CHRIST's Religion; and reflect disparagingly on Others, who may not in all respects follow them in those prejudices, or do not in non-essentials act or think with them. But Paul was a Model, and a most distinguished One for the Christian Minister; and the truth and depth of his piety towards GOD, and faith in JESUS CHRIST, were such as to constitute every comparison with him, as of but secondary quality. It was therefore warrantable in him, to assert that weight of Authority and of Office, which fairly belonged to him, when Others, in the vainness of their own fancied superiority, or even equality, would have challenged a rivalship with him. Let us therefore guard the movements of our hearts, and thereby judge ourselves in reference to Scripture Rule and Discipline; and not allow any flattering opinions of Others to withdraw us from that estimate of our own faith and practice, which facts and conscious feelings will warrant.

-St. Paul's Message, like That of his MASTER's, was a Message of Peace, in a Call to repentance and an invitation to Purity and Heavenly-mindedness. This was the Instruction, that he sought to impart, and this the Authority he put forth, as seeking Others' Eternal Benefit. Though he denounced the awfulness of The Judgment Awaiting finally the Reprobates, the Hypocrites, the Impious, and the Unbelieving; yet, like his Merciful LORD, he had no pleasure in contemplating the Spiritual death of the Unrighteous; and heartily willed, and (as far as in him lay) laboured unceasingly to instruct Others to work out their own Salva tion as he was doing, and so receive The Gospel Tidings unto Edification. And however strong in admonition, and injunction, and by communicating Those Terrors of The LORD, by Which, Persuasion to Holiness in life and conversation might be hoped for; yet did he endeavour to do away any mistaken conception of that Authority, with which he felt himself Clothed; pledging his consistency, that the same tone of Doctrine and remonstrance would issue from him, if present with them, as his Letters, though written at a distance from them, were construed to contain.Our SAVIOUR's Admonition was, to judge, not according to the (outward) appearance, but to judge righteous judgment-John vii. 24. And such judgment must not be superficial; but penetrate, as far as may be, into the deep

recesses of the heart, or gather, by strict inquiry, intelligence as to the inner Man, and from his habits and associations and his seasons of reserve or private and family intercourse, form conclusions, which will be far more satisfactory, than any dependance on open professions or any appeal to Public opinion. For, as the Apostle afterwards declares, the vitally-influenced Christian neither will nor can bring himself to do anything against the Truth, but for the Truth-xiii. 8.

VERSES 12 to 18.-For we dare not make ourselves of the number, or compare ourselves with Some, that commend themselves; but they, measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise. But we will not boast of things without our measure; but according to the Measure of the Rule, Which GOD hath Distributed to us; a Measure to reach even unto you: for we stretch not ourselves beyond our Measure, as though we reached not unto you for we are come as far as to you also in preaching The Gospel of CHRIST; not boasting of things without our measure, that is, of other Men's labours; but having hope, when your faith is increased, that we shall be enlarged by you according to our rule abundantly to preach The Gospel in the Regions beyond you; and not to boast in another Man's line of things made ready to our hand. But he, that glorieth, let him glory in The LORD! For not he, that commendeth himself, is Approved; but whom The LORD Commendeth.

Notwithstanding Paul's consciousness of superiority from the Express Revelation Made to him, and the Continued Proofs he received of DIVINE Countenance and Support, and the Direct Command, That had been Delivered to him, to teach the Gentiles, he yet ever manifests the meekness and gentleness and absence of any assumption of Superiority, and of all claim to Authority over Others, except for the purpose of edification, which is so truly characteristic of the faithful Disciple and Servant of JESUS CHRIST. Self-commendation arises from either vanity or weakness, and often disappoints its own object; for few Persons but have penetration enough, not to estimate Others by their conceited standard of their own merit. The only sound criterion of right feeling and right conduct is The Gospel Standard; and All, who rightly appreciate That, though with every desire to conform to It, are so conscious of their shortcomings, that the last thing they would think of obtruding upon Others is the utterance of any arrogance of merit, or more than a hearty wish to be what The Gospel Points out. At the same time Paul would not withhold the averment of The DIVINE Appointment of himself Especially to do the work of an Apostle. This is the Measure, by which he would have Others try him: and how is his character exalted, when comparing his sentiments, as handed down to us through the lapse of so many centuries, in his Letters, with the Perfect Rule of Scripture! and his anxiety was, that the same measure might be both approved and adopted by his Correspondents, and that in every advance he made, he might be considered as only seeking to advance the Doctrine and to enlarge the Benefits of the Mission of The SON of GOD, The Gracious and Soul-Saving MESSIAH. The proofs of the efficacy of Paul's preaching and teaching he ardently hoped to become manifest, by the Christian conduct thereby superinduced in Others. No limit did Paul set to his labours, and like his adored MASTER he went about doing good, seeking at every sacrifice to enlarge the Pale of That Salvation, Which is freely Open to All who have vital faith in CHRIST JESUS. In journeyings oft, in labours above measure was he engaged; even accounting his toils as pleasures, and his troubles as delights, if he could but thereby win over Souls to CHRIST. Paul sought not to build on any other Foundation, but That of CHRIST. If by any other, as Peter, or Apollos, or other Teacher, a Church was established, Paul disclaimed all purpose of interference, but in Brotherly union; his admonition is, that exultation should thence emanate, from a reverential love of The SAVIOUR; and a Glory thus given to The LORD, is such, as is both warrantable and praise-worthy. ~

The being convinced of The Sanction and Approbation of JEHOVAH, is the Crown of the Christian's rejoicing--the praise of Mankind passes heedlessly by him-but the Praise Uttered by The Still Small Voice through the conscience, Gives unspeakable delight to the Soul, and yet Restrains it from the least tendency to Self-commendation--the greater the experience of DIVINE Favour, the stronger the impulse to attribute the Fruits Thereof to the Love and Merits of JESUS CHRIST, and the Gifts of The SPIRIT, as Working both the Will and the Power to discharge faithfully the Ministration of DIVINE Appointments. The Wisest of the Children of Men hath declared, that there is more hope of a Fool, than of a Man wise in his own conceit-Prov. xxvi. 12. -The Apostle appears to have been studiously cautious not to interfere with the Ministries of the other Apostles, but rather to break up new ground, and to spread his Doctrine and extend his labours, where no other Christian Minister or Missionary had established himself; as he assured the Corinthian, so did he the Roman Converts, Yea, (says he), so have I strived to preach The Gospel; not where CHRIST was Named, lest I should build upon another Man's foundation-Rom. xv. 20.Prophets and Apostles concur in Doctrine, as equally deriving their knowledge of DIVINE Things and DIVINE Precepts from The FOUNTAIN of DIVINE Truth. This Record the Prophet Jeremiah bears to the Truth Emanating from JEHOVAH, and inculcated by St. Paul, Thus Suith The LORD, 'Let not the wise Man glory in his wisdom: neither let the mighty Man glory in his might! Let not the rich Man glory in his riches! But let him, that glorieth, glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth Me, that I am The LORD, Which Exercise Loving-Kindness, Judgment and Righteousness in the Earth: for in These Things I Delight,' Saith The LORD-Jer. ix. 23, 24. And our feeling should be, in thus knowing and being Known of GOD, as desirous of pleasing Him, that our praise should not be of Men, but of GOD-Rom. ii, 29.

CHAPTER XI.

VERSES 1 to 3.-Would to GOD ye could bear with me a little in my folly; and indeed bear with me! for I am jealous over you with godly jealousy; for I have espoused you to One HUSBAND, that I may present you as a chaste Virgin to CHRIST. But I fear, lest by any means, as the Serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the Simplicity, that is in CHRIST.

Weakness or simpleness would perhaps have better expressed, according to the original idiom, Paul's feeling and consciousness of what he terms his folly in his jealousy for those, who had heard his Doctrine, and had seemed to have become Christians under his preaching; a jealousy lest Others, assuming an authority that did not belong to them, might seek to gain an ascendancy over the minds of the same Hearers, and mislead them from the safe and direct and consistent Paths of Gospel Truth. The Apostle therefore supplicates at the Throne of Grace an Influence over them, that should be manifested by their stedfast observance of Paul's teaching, and a Personal preference for and deference to him as their faithful and Heaven-Appointed Pastor in CHRIST JESUS. Such a jealousy, though the term is more often used to express in the abstract a suspicious and unamiable feeling, was quite in character with St. Paul's unwearied and incessant anxiety to prevent the influx of unsound doctrine amongst Any, and especially amongst Those, whom he had toiled to bring within the Pale of Salvation, through the preaching of JESUS CHRIST and Him Crucified, as The Means and The Only Means of Redemption and Sanctification by The SPIRIT unto Life Everlasting. Such is a godly jealousy in accordance with the Persevering and Prompting Impulse of The SPIRIT of Grace. The beautiful Relationship in

Conjugal alliance St. Paul, though himself personally a Stranger to its endearing and embosoming intercourse and mutual and sustaining affections, presses as an argument into his service; that the sweetest and the choicest union amongst Human-Kind might serve to render more intelligible, by illustration, the Pure and Perfect Love of CHRIST to every Community in His Establishment, and every faithful Member Thereof; and to each such Church the Apostle's warranty is given to claim to be the Spouse of CHRIST. The offer of Woman's first love to One of a character of delicacy and discernment and of right-mindedness in all respects, is an Offering of inestimable value in domestic life; and if the heart be pure, and the mind cultured and gifted with wisdom, the alliance is evidently Guided and Blest of Heaven. Nor can any state of Human Nature, as regards the present life, be compared with it. But the Everlasting Union with CHRIST has All that is in the most vivid imagination to endear It, and infinitely more than can be within its conception, and that equally to the Unmarried as to the Married, if by Faith joined to Him.- -St. Paul, in allusion to the temptation by Satan of Eve, thus confirms the Mosaic testimony of that event; and as Satan was a Tempter from the beginning, so has he been and ever will be through all the lapse of time even unto its end; when an end shall be put to his further seductions by the Triumphant Rule of The SON of GOD Incarnate over All. It therefore behoves us ever to watch and pray lest we fall into temptation and a snare of Satan. If watchfulness and the wisdom of the serpent with the harmlessness of the dove are of the Armoury of an Apostle to defeat the subtilty of that Serpent, or the Spirit of Evil, which would beguile us to our everlasting destruction, can they be less so in that of every Soldier of CHRIST, who, whatever may be his rank, has to take his part in the good fight of faith, if he would share in the joys of his Great CAPTAIN's Triumph.In the DIVINELY Inspired Writings of the Prophet Hosea, it is Recorded as of DIVINE Assertion, (in reference to Judah, and the Descendants thereof); Thus Saith The LORD, I will Betroth thee unto Me for ever; yea, I will Betroth thee unto Me in Righteousness, and in Judgment, and in Loving-Kindness, and in Mercies; I will even Betroth thee unto Me in faithfulness, and thou shalt know The LORD-Hosea ii. 19, 20. And So in His Day The LION of the Tribe of Judah Offers to Espouse His Church with all the same Endearing Characteristics. Under the Mosaic Dispensation the High-Priest was Injoined to take a Wife in her virginity-Lev. xxi. 13. Indeed Chastity and Purity both in body and mind, and that in both Sexes, are to be urged and encouraged as parts of Christian discipline; and when observed by Both before Union, how highly must they enhance after it the charm of reciprocal affection!

VERSES 4 to 6.-For if he, that cometh, preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached; or if ye receive another Spirit, which ye have not received, or another Gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him: for I suppose I was not a whit behind the very chiefest Apostles. But though I be rude in speech, yet not in knowledge; but we have been throughly Made manifest among you in all things.

The Doctrine, as taught by St. Paul, was either the subject of Express Revelation to him, or gathered by him from The Gospel, then known to him, as written by one or more of the Evangelists, and The Source of all This DIVINE Communication he knew to be The Incarnate SON of GOD, JESUS, The MESSIAH: and The Fountain of Immediate and Individual Inspiration he felt to be the Workings on his mind and heart, on his thoughts and actions, by The HOLY

Note.-The marginal interpretation substitutes 'me' for 'him,' which seems to accord better with the context.

SPIRIT. Thus having had Laid Open to him the Truths, That bear upon Man's Eternal Destiny, his heart's desire was, that They should be imparted and received as Such; and that any teaching opposed to This, and professing to set forth a different Saviour, and Tidings of another Redemption, and of the Agency of another Spirit, should at once be rejected, and be stigmatized as a gross violation of Truth, and an awful error, from which the Soul, that yielded to it, might be utterly and irretrievably ruined. Grateful should every Reader of St. Paul's Writings as well as Hearer of his preaching be, at such Means of Deliverance from the thraldom of such error; and moreover, at being led thereby into the Paths of Scriptural Certainty of Peace and Holiness here, with the prospect of Eternal Life in Blessedness Hereafter. The Apostle might well challenge a comparison between himself, as a faithful and consistent Minister of CHRIST, with those, who either sought to substitute another Gospel, or arrogated to themselves an Apostolic Office, and claimed an equal or superior right to spread their views and to supercede his authority. In labours more abundant than All was Paul indeed found, as his Writings evince, and the history of his life confirms; and he appeals to the full acquaintance his Correspondents had with his habits and manners to justify his position, that in a deep and Heavenly-Guided conception of Revealed Truths he was in no degree behind the Ablest of their other Teachers, however he might fall short of the gift of eloquence conferred on them. But the force of Truth was, as he felt, on his side; and so All must acknowledge, if in righteousness they give their minds to their judgment impartially.That Many sought to advance themselves in worldly distinction, by assuming to hold out a safer guide than Paul's doctrine; and that Many false Messiahs appeared, representing themselves to be That Fulfiller of Prophecy, and Source of Salvation, the Jewish annals confirm, as our SAVIOUR Himself had Predicted. St. Paul's remonstrance with the Galatians, at the very opening of his Epistle to them, corroborates this. He writes, I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him, that called you into the Grace of CHRIST, unto another Gospel, which is not another; but there be Some, that trouble you, and would pervert The Gospel of CHRIST. But (then he goes on, under the deepest sense of the awful fate, that would await such an effort at perversion of the Truth,) though we, or an Angel from Heaven preach any other Gospel unto you, than That, Which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed!-Gal. i. 6 to 8. And though claiming the character of labouring more than All; yet he acknowledges, with becoming humility, that it was not he of himself, but the Grace of GOD, Which was with him-1 Cor. xv. 10.—ii. 13.-i. 17; and he disclaimed the having recourse to the wisdom of words in his preaching, as his object was to give all the effect to the Cross of CHRIST, as The Testimony of GÖD, Imparted through The HOLY GHOST. It was in the Mystery of GOD Incarnate that Paul rested all his profitable and communicated knowledge-Eph. iii. 4. In an after part of this second Letter to the Corinthians we shall find what were the avowed signs of his Apostleshipxii. 12.

VERSES 7 to 9-Have I committed an offence in abasing myself, that ye might be exalted, because I have preached to you The Gospel of GOD freely? I robbed other Churches, taking wages of them to do you service; and when I was present with you and wanted, I was chargeable to no Man; for that, which was lacking to me, the Brethren, which came from Macedonia, supplied and in all things I have kept myself from being burdensome unto you; and so will I keep myself.

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In his reasonings, as in his general demeanour, the Apostle was all things to all Men, that by all means he might win Some. His inquiry was, 'Have I committed an offence, in Opening the Door of Everlasting Life and Blessedness to

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