Corinth to bring them to remembrance of the Apostle's ways in Christ.' These associations of others with himself, are never allowed to interfere in the least degree with the individuality of the Epistles in which they occur.

And now, from ch. i. 3, at once begin the personal matters which make this Epistle so difficult to explain and put together for us who live at a distance from them. The Apostle speaks of great suffering undergone by him, even to danger of his life (ver. 8), expresses deep thankfulness for his deliverance, and states its purpose to have been that he also might be able to comfort others in tribulation. To what he here alludes is, and must remain, uncertain. One thing we may safely say: that it was not to the peril arising out of the tumult narrated in Acts xix. 'So that we despaired even of life' (ver. 8) is not an expression applicable to danger from a mob, but rather to tedious suffering, which, from minor afflictions, at last threatened even the seat of life. The same may be said of the words 'we had the sentence of death in ourselves,' which look more like a deadly sickness than any danger from without. But, as we said, the matter must remain in obscurity.

I

But, in thus opening, the Apostle evidently has a further purpose, which soon begins to unfold itself. Chrysostom, with his usual admirable tact, explains as follows:

The fact of the Apostle's not coming annoyed and discomposed them, especially as he had promised he would come, but had spent all the time in Macedonia, and seemed to have preferred others to them. For this cause, knowing the feeling against him on this matter, he tells them the cause of his not coming. But he does not set it down plainly, nor does he say, "I know that I promised to come, but as I was hindered by troubles, forgive me, and do not charge me with contempt of you, or fickleness of purpose: but manages the matter in another way, in a more dignified and trustworthy manner, exalting it by speaking of consolation in his troubles, that they might not even ask for the cause wherefore he disappointed them.'

This postponed journey to Corinth becomes more and more the subject, till in ver. 23 it is openly brought forward. It was to spare them, that he forbore his coming, not from any fickleness of purpose. And he continues in chap. ii. to expound this his reason, referring to the case of the offending

person dealt with in 1 Cor. v., and giving directions for the reinstatement of this now penitent offender in the favour of the church. He proceeds to tell them how anxious he had been for the news from Corinth which Titus was to bring; and takes occasion thereby to write (verses 14-17) some golden sentences respecting the dignity, and the duties, of his office.

Continuing this same strain in ch. iii. he draws a contrast-parallel, in allegory, between the Christian and the Jewish ministrations. I may observe in passing, that this passage and that in Gal. iv. 2131, form striking links between the teaching of St. Paul and that of the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews, and serve to show that the latter, if not writing under the influence of the Apostle himself, was thoroughly imbued with his spirit, and his mode of allegorising.

The same subject, the apostolic office, and himself as the holder of it, is treated as far as ch. vi. 10. He sets forth his ministerial feelings, sufferings, and hopes, partly with regard to his connection with the Corinthians, but for the most part in general terms. In the midst of this highly personal matter, occurs one of those grand expositions of Christian faith.

and hope which are the resting-places of believing hearts in all time. It extends from ch. iv. 16 to ch. V. IO. Notice in it-and this will be better done after making the corrections indicated in the latter part of this chapter-how the confident expectation which was expressed in the words, 'we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord,' begins to give way to uncertainty as to whether that day would find the Apostle still clothed with the body, or in the 'unclothed' state. We shall hereafter find it deeply interesting to watch how this very uncertainty itself has given way to the prospect of 'departing and being with Christ' in the later thoughts of the Epistle to the Philippians. Such evidences of a natural change of view on a point which the Lord himself left expressly uncertain, are invaluable as testimonies to the reality and truthfulness of the apostolic Epistles: and more than compensate us, even in outward bulwarks of the faith, for the collapse of the verbal inspiration theory.

But to proceed. From ch. v. Io to the end of the chapter, the conclusion is drawn which the earlier verses had introduced, the high and self-denying position of the Christian ministry, and the nature of its work, as a reconciliation of man to God.

This description is further wrought out in ch. vi.; and the earnest pleading with the Corinthians which results from it is carried on into ch. vii. It then gradually passes into an explanatory narrative of his anxiety to receive news of the effect of his former letter, and his heartfelt joy, when he learned how they had felt respecting it.

In ch. viii. he exhorts them to the duty of contributing to the wants of the poor saints at Jerusalem. That metropolis of the church was passing through dark and stormy days: and the peculiar position of the believers there seems to have first given rise to, and then continued, as a feature found in Jerusalem only, that community of goods which we witnessed in the former chapters of the Acts. The common chest of the church at Jerusalem seems to have been replenished by contributions from all the daughter churches: and as yet, though Macedonia in its poverty had been liberal, the flourishing and wealthy Corinthians had proved but backward and scanty in their bestowal. In the course of chapters viii., ix., there are several allusions to circumstances with which we are but imperfectly acquainted: as, for instance, the mission of certain persons, mentioned ch. viii. 18—22, con