troubled, either by spirit, or by word, or by epistle as from us, as that the day of the Lord is now present.

It is often asserted that S. Paul wrote the Second Epistle to the Thessalonians to disabuse their minds of the idea with which his First Epistle had possessed them, that the day of the Lord was at hand, or, as in the Revised Version, "the day of the Lord is now present."

But this was not the case; the Second Epistle, no less than the First, is full of the nearness of the Lord's coming. S. Paul wrote it to tell them that the day of the Lord, though near, was not actually come, and that there were some things which would happen first, which had not yet happened.

If he had meant to tell them that the Lord was not at hand, and that they had misunderstood him, in thinking so, he could easily have done so.

But as a matter of fact he tells them nothing of the sort; what he does tell them is that the Day of the Lord was not actually present, that the Lord would not come that day or the next day; but that the things which must happen first would very soon happen, and that then the Lord would come veiled in the clouds of heaven to take vengeance upon the evil and apostate race which had rejected Him, and in rejecting Him had filled up the measure of their iniquities.

The Second Epistle closes with a solemn warning against those who thought they were preparing for the Lord's coming by neglecting the ordinary duties of life, and going about like chattering busybodies, idle themselves and infecting others with their idle fancies. "If any will not work," he says, "neither let him eat." But let them rather, he says, work their work with quietness, and eat their own bread. Then follows a short prayer on their behalf—

Now the Lord of peace Himself give you peace at all times, in all ways. The Lord be with you all.

At this point we may imagine the Apostle taking the pen or style from the hand of the secretary, and in large, straggling characters writing down with his own hand the Apostolic benediction, which was henceforth to be the token whereby genuine epistles were to be known from forgeries:

Ch. iii. 17: The salutation of me, Paul, with my own hand, which is the token in every epistle; so I write. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.

to us.

One thing more I wish to say before we close this chapter. We none of us know what will happen We none of us know under what circumstances we may at some time be placed. We may have to live, as the early Christians did, in the time of a grave religious crisis. The coming, the presence of Christ may be manifested in some unexpected way. It may be even that the supreme crisis, the Daylight of Judgment, the winding up this present Dispensation, the final coming of the Lord may overtake us. We may have to pass through some fiery trial; we may be placed amidst scenes in which we might easily lose our heads, as we say; lose our mental balance; be in danger of falling into some strange fanaticism, or of deserting our posts in the great army. Some terrible plague or cholera visitation may come, and will judge us, show what stuff we are made of; show whether we should run away like cowards, or stay and do our duty like men. In such a time we could have no better guide than these two earliest Epistles of S. Paul. They would teach us that quiet courage, that calm confidence in God, that simple persistence in plain duty, which are things most valuable at all times, but especially in times of great peril and excitement.

H

CHAPTER XIII.

THE FIRST EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS.

OU will remember that it was from Corinth that S. Paul wrote his two letters to the Thessalonians, and that he remained there for a considerable time, more than eighteen months. But the time came when he had to leave that city in which the Lord had told him that He had much people. Accordingly S. Paul set sail for Syria, paying a hurried visit on the way to Ephesus. After having visited Jerusalem, he went through the region of Galatia and Phrygia in order, stablishing all the Churches, and at last arrived at Ephesus, according to the promise made on his previous visit.

We can hardly fail to overlook the fact which I have already pointed out, that the victory of the Faith was won in the great cities of the Empire. S. Paul and his companions did not begin in the villages and country places, but unfurled the Standard of the Cross in the great cities. Antioch, Thessalonica, Corinth had heard the Gospel: now Ephesus was to hear it also. Next to Rome, Ephesus was the most important scene of the Apostle's labours. If Antioch was the cradle of the Church, Ephesus was its nursery. There the Christian Church planted by S. Paul, watched over by Timothy, was at last placed under the care of S. John, the theologian, the great teacher of the Church.

Ephesus was the most magnificent of the mag

nificent cities of Asia. The Great Temple of Artemis (Diana) was reckoned one of the wonders of the world. The Ephesians had no higher boast than that their city was the caretaker or sacristan of the Temple. It was a gay, busy, luxurious and wicked city, the "Vanity Fair" of Asia. It was a very religious city; but a religion of luxury and vice and superstition. No story was too improbable, no imposture too gross to be believed at Ephesus. It was the congenial home of impostors, magicians, soothsayers, and quacks of all descriptions.

To S. Paul, however, it presented itself as a great and effectual door opened to him, by which he might gain access to the surrounding district.

For three months the Apostle carried on his usual work in the synagogue, till the opposition of the Jews grew too strong, and then he separated the disciples, and reasoned daily in the school of an Ephesian sophist named Tyrannus. This continued for two years, so that not only the people of Ephesus itself, but the inhabitants of the whole Province of Proconsular Asia, heard the word of God. Though this two years seems to have been a good time for the Gospel, it was a very hard time for S. Paul; for he speaks of himself at this time as suffering from hunger, and thirst, and nakedness; as having no certain dwelling-place; as being buffeted, reviled, persecuted; as being doomed to death, and made a spectacle unto the world, and to angels and to

men.

Small wonder then that he was, as he said he was, pressed on every side, perplexed, smitten down; though upheld then as ever by the mighty hand of God. So terrible, indeed, and so perilous was his position, that he speaks of himself as having fought with wild beasts at Ephesus.

Nor was this all. It was bad enough to have his work opposed and himself persecuted; but it was still worse to hear that one of his Churches was falling away from the Faith, and that another was falling into licentiousness of life, and heretical doctrine.

And this was what he had to hear. During his absence from Corinth the Church of the Corinthians had been visited by Apollos, a very eloquent and learned Alexandrian. He preached in a very different style from S. Paul-with much greater eloquence and learning; and seems to have fascinated many of the more intellectual of the Corinthians, who were disposed, not at all with his consent, to make him the head of a distinct party in the Church. Then there were others who professed to be followers of S. Peter, and who disparaged S. Paul's claim to be an Apostle; there were others who, disclaiming all parties, were the most sectarian of all, and ventured to style themselves as special disciples of Christ Himself.

Apollos returned to Ephesus, and brought back still more deplorable tidings. Many of the members of the Church were falling back into the licentiousness and impurity which were almost universally prevalent in Corinth, which indeed was a bye-word among the heathen for its vice. Like the Israelites in the wilderness, they had began to lust after the flesh-pots of Egypt, and to loath the light bread of Christ's pure doctrine.

S. Paul had also received a letter from the Corinthians, most self-complacent in its tone, asking for advice on some practical points, such as marriage and divorce, the eating of things offered to idols, and other matters relating to the regulation of their assemblies for worship and discipline, but totally