exposed to the severe punishment of the Jewish flagellation, thrice to that of the Roman magistrates; once I was stoned, thrice I was shipwrecked, a whole night and day I was in the sea. My travels have been numerous; and in them too I have encountered all the perils of travel, the perils of swollen torrents, of robbers and pirates, of Jewish enemies, of heathen mobs, in the crowded city, in the lonely desert, on the stormy sea, from false Christians. My trials and troubles and sleepless nights have been numerous; with hunger and thirst and days without food again and again; with cold and with scanty clothing. And (not to go through all the points which I might name), there is besides all this, the daily concourse of those who flock to hear me, and the anxiety for all the congregations which I have converted; amongst whom, if there is any one weak, I too am weak with him, and for his sake; if any caught in a snare, I am scorched in the flame of his temptation.

"I have spoken of my weakness. Of my weakness then let me boast, if I must still continue to boast. I drop all irony. I speak the very truth itself, as God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, through all ages Blessed, well knows. Let me begin at the beginning. It was at Damascus, under the government of the Arabian chief Aretas, that his viceroy guarded the city to take me; and in a rope-basket I was let down over the side of the wall. Here I find myself again on the verge of continuing my boast; it is not becoming for me to do so, but I must.—I shall speak of the visions and revelations of Divine secrets which Christ has vouchsafed to me. I know a man who lived in Christ fourteen years ago, whether he was literally carried up, or whether heaven was disclosed to him, I know not, God only knows—but he was carried away beyond the region

of the clouds of earth, beyond the visible sky, into the invisible heaven above; and there, again, whether literally or not, I know not, God only knows he was carried away into the garden of the Lord, into the presence of God, and heard words which were no human words, which man cannot speak, though God may. Of this man, thus far removed from my own individual consciousness, I will boast; but of myself only in my weaknesses. I might boast, if so I wished it, and yet not be a fool, though before in irony I said that I should be; but I forbear lest you should regard me with superstitious reverence beyond what you hear and see. And it was for this very purpose, lest I should be raised too high by the excess of the revelations of which I have spoken, that there was planted in my weak mortal frame a stake, as of impalement, on which I writhe like one crucified: an angel of the adversary was sent to smite me, like Job, whilst thus exposed before him; for this very purpose, I say, lest I should be raised up too high. When this pressed hard upon me, I thrice entreated the Lord, that my enemy may depart from me, and thrice He has answered to me "My loving favour suffices for thee; my strength is perfected in weakness." Most gladly, therefore, will I boast in these my weaknesses, in order that the strength of Christ may overshadow me. Therefore I take pleasure in weaknesses, in insults, in necessities, in persecutions from my enemies, in difficulties of all kinds, for Christ's sake; for when I am most weak, I know that I am most strong."

(3.) Concluding Explanations, Warnings, and Salutations. XII. 11-XIII. 13.

11 Γέγονα ἄφρων· ὑμεῖς με ἠναγκάσατε. ἐγὼ γαρ αφει λον ὑφ ̓ ὑμῶν συνίστασθαι· οὐδὲν γὰρ ὑστέρησα τις υπερ

• add καυχώμενος

γέγονα ἄφρων. "I have been a fool." This is the expression of the Apostle's first feeling on looking back at what he has said. "It is over now (yέyova): and that one word appwv ('fool') [already used so often, see on xi. 1.] sums it all up; how far used in irony, how far in sober truth, it is needless to determine."

"It

ὑμεῖς με ἠναγκάσατε. was you who compelled me; i. e., "It was not my doing, but yours" [for you ought to have saved me the task of commending myself].

11. The long burst of passionate self-vindication has now at last expended itself, and he returns to the point from whence he diverged at x. 7., where he was asserting his intention to repress the disobedience of those who still resisted his authority at Corinth. Before, however, he enters again upon this, he looks back, as it were, over the long digression; and resumes here and there a thought which needed explanation or expansion. Hence, although this concluding section stands apart from the interruption of x. 10—xii. 10., and is truly the winding up of the main argument begun in x. 1-7., it is filled with traces of the torrent which has passed through his mind in the interval. His folly" (xi. 1 1-10.), the "commendatory" epistles (iii. 1., v. 12.), the "Apostolical" pretensions of his opponents (xi. 12. 13.) are resumed, in verse 11.; his miracles and sufferings (xi. 23-28.) in verse 12.; the question of self-support (xi. 12.) in verses 13-mendations." 18.; the strength and weakness united in Christ (xii. 9.) in xiii.

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3. 4. 9.

This clause implied, but not expressed, furnishes the ground for the next sentence. ἐγω yáp, K. T. λ.: "You ought to have commended me; "for I ought to have been commended by you;" pov being as emphatic as yo. "It was your. business not mine." But the position of ey, and the connexion of the next clause, make it probable that there is implied the further sense, "I, and not my opponents, ought to have been the object of your comFor the feeling of looking for the attestation of his Apostleship to the Corinthians themselves,

λίαν ἀποστόλων, εἰ καὶ οὐδέν εἰμι. 12 τὰ μὲν σημεῖα τοῦ ἀποστόλου κατειργάσθη ἐν ὑμῖν ἐν πάσῃ ὑπομονῇ, “σημείοις καὶ τέρασιν καὶ δυνάμεσιν. 18 τί γάρ ἐστιν ὁ ἡσσώθητε ὑπὲρ

τὰς λοιπὰς ἐκκλησίας, εἰ μὴ ὅτι αὐτὸς ἐγὼ οὐ κατενάρκησα ὑμῶν; χαρίσασθέ μοι τὴν ἀδικίαν ταύτην. 14 ἰδοὺ τρίτου τοῦτο ἑτοίμως ἔχω ἐλθεῖν πρὸς ὑμᾶς, καὶ οὐ καταναρκήσω. οὐ γὰρ ζητῶ τὰ ὑμῶν, ἀλλὰ ὑμᾶς. οὐ γὰρ ὀφείλει τὰ τέκνα τοῖς γονεῦσιν θησαυρίζειν, ἀλλ ̓ οἱ γονεῖς τοῖς τέκνοις. 15 ἐγὼ