accordance more literally with the Greek, "God is faithful; for our preaching unto you was not yea and nay." The phrase seems to have the form of an oath, or to be a solemn appeal to God as a witness, and to be equivalent to the expression, "the Lord livetb," or "as the Lord liveth." The idea is, "God is faithful and true. He never deceives; never promises that which he does not perform. So true is it that I am not fickle and changing in my purposes." This idea of the faithfulness of God is the argument which Paul urges why he felt himself bound to be faithful also. That faithful God he regarded as a witness, and to that God he could appeal on the occasion. Our word. Marg. preaching, (o Aoyoç.) This may refer either to his preaching, to his promises of visiting them, or his declarations to them in general on any subject. The particular subject under discussion was the promise which he had made to visit them. But he here seems to make his affirmation general, and to say universally of his promises, and his teaching, and of all his communications to them, whether orally or in writing, that they were not characterized by inconstancy and changeableness. It was not his character to be fickle, unsettled, and vacillating.

VER. 19. For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us, even by me and Silvanus and Timotheus, was not yea and nay, but in him was yea.

w Mark i. 1.

For the Son of God.-In this verse, and the following, Paul states that he felt himself bound to maintain the strictest veracity for two reasons; the one, that Jesus Christ always evinced the strictest veracity, (ver. 19;) the other, God was always true to all the promises that he made, (ver. 20;) and as he felt himself to be the servant of the Saviour and of God, he was bound by the most sacred obligations also to maintain a character irreproachable in regard to veracity. On the meaning of the phrase "Son of God," see Note, Rom. i. 4. Jesus Christ.-It is agreed, says Bloomfield, by the best commentators, ancient and modern, that by Jesus Christ is here meant his doctrine. The sense is, that the preaching respecting Jesus Christ, did not represent him as fickle, and changeable; as unsettled, and as unfaithful: but as true, consistent, and faithful. As that had been the regular and constant representation of Paul and his fellowlabourers in regard to the Master whom they served, it was to be inferred that they felt themselves bound sacredly to observe the strictest constancy and veracity. By us, &c.-Silvanus, here mentioned, is the same person who in the Acts of the Apostles is called Silas. He was with Paul at Philippi, and was imprisoned there with him, (Acts xvi.;) and was afterwards with Paul and Timothy at Corinth when he first visited that city. (Acts xviii. 5.) Paul was so much attached to him, and had so much confidence in him, that he joined his name with his own in several of his epistles. (1 Thess. i. 1; 2 Thess. i. 1.) Was not yea and nay.-Our representation of him was not that he was fickle and change

able. But in him was yea.-Was not one thing at one time, and another at another. He is the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever. All that he says is true; all the promises that he makes are firm; all his declarations are faithful. Paul may refer to the fact that the Lord Jesus when on earth was eminently characterized by truth. Nothing was more striking than his veracity. He called himself "the truth," as being eminently true in all his declarations. "I am the way, and the truth, and the life." (John xiv. 6.) Comp. Rev. iii. 7. And thus (Rev. iii. 14) he is called "the faithful and true witness." In all his life he was eminently distinguished for that. His declarations were simple truth; his narratives were simple, unvarnished, uncoloured, unexaggerated statements of what actually occurred. He never disguised the truth; never prevaricated; never had any mental reservation; never deceived; never used any word, or threw in any circumstance, that was fitted to lead the mind astray. He himself said that this was the great object which he had in view in coming into the world. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth." (John xviii. 37.) As Jesus Christ was thus distinguished for simple truth, Paul felt that he was under sacred obligations to imitate him, and always to evince the same inviolable fidelity. The most deeply felt obligation on earth is that which the Christian

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feels to imitate the Redeemer.

VER. 20. For all the promises of God in * him are yea, and in him amen, unto the glory of God by us.

a Rom. xv. 8, 9. Heb. xiii. 8.

For all the promises of God in him.-All the promises which God has made through him. This is another reason why Paul felt himself bound to maintain a character of the strictest veracity. The reason was, that God always evinced that; and that as none of his promises failed, he felt himself sacredly bound to imitate him, and to adhere to all his. The promises of God which are made through Christ, relate to the pardon of sin to the penitent; the sanctification of his people; support in temptation and trial; guidance in perplexity; peace in death, and eternal glory beyond the grave. All of these are made through a Redeemer, and none of these shall fail. Are yea.-Shall all be certainly fulfilled. There shall be no vacillation on the part of God; no fickleness; no abandoning of his gracious intention. And in him amen.-In Rev. iii. 14, the Lord Jesus is called the "Amen.” The word means true, faithful, certain. And the expression here means that all the promises which are made to men through a Redeemer shall be certainly fulfilled. They are promises which are confirmed and established, and which shall by no means fail. Unto the glory of God by us.-Either by us ministers and apostles; or by us who are Christians. The latter, I think, is the meaning; and Paul means to say, that the fulfilment of all the promises which God has made to his people shall result in his glory and praise as a God of condescension and veracity.

nature as they will be in heaven. Heaven will consist of like comforts; of love, and peace, and joy, and purity begun here, and simply expanded there to complete and eternal perfection. The joys of heaven differ only in degree, not in kind, from those of the Christian on earth. That which is begun here is perfected there; and the feelings and views which the Christian has here, if expanded and carried out, would constitute heaven. (2.) These comforts, these influences of the Spirit, are a pledge of heaven. They are the security which God gives us that we shall be saved. If we are brought under the renewing influences of the Spirit here; if we are made meek, and humble, and prayerful by his agency; if we are made to partake of the joys which result from pardoned sin; if we are filled with the hope of heaven, it is all produced by the Holy Spirit, and is a pledge or earnest of our future inheritance; as the first sheaves of a harvest are a pledge of a harvest, or the first payment under a contract a pledge that all will be paid. God thus gives to his people the assurance that they shall be saved; and by this "pledge" makes their title to eternal life sure.

VER. 23. Moreover I call God for a record upon my soul, that, to spare you, I came not as yet unto Corinth.

Moreover I call God for a record upon my soul. -It is well remarked by Rosenmüller, that the second chapter should have commenced here, since there is here a transition in the subject more distinct than where the second chapter is actually made to begin. Here Tindal commences the second chapter. This verse, with the subsequent statements, is designed to show them the true reason why he had changed his purpose, and had not visited them according to his first proposal. And that reason was, not that he was fickle and inconstant; but it was that he apprehended that if he should go to them in their irregular and disorderly state, he would be under a necessity of resorting to harsh measures, and to a severity of discipline that would be alike painful to them and to him. Dr. Paley has shown with great plausibility, if not with moral certainty, that Paul's change of purpose about visiting them was made before he wrote his first epistle; that he had at first resolved to visit them, but that, on subsequent reflection, he thought it would be better to try the effect of a faithful letter to them, admonishing them of their errors, and entreating them to exercise proper discipline themselves on the principal offender; that with this feeling he wrote his first epistle, in which he does not state to them as yet his change of purpose, or the reason of it; but that now, after he had written that letter, and after it had had all the effect which he desired, he states the true reason why he had not visited them. It was now proper to do it; and that reason was, that he desired to spare them the severity of discipline, and had resorted to the more mild and affectionate measure of sending them a letter, and thus not making it necessary personally to administer discipline. See Paley's Horæ Pauline, on 2 Cor., Nos. iv. and v. The phrase,

"I call God for a record upon my soul," is in the Greek, "I call God for a witness against my soul." It is a solemn oath, or appeal to God; and implies, that if he did not in that case declare the truth, he desired that God would be a witness against him, and would punish him accordingly. The reason why he made this solemn appeal to God was, the importance of his vindicating his own character before the church from the charges which had been brought against him. That to spare you.-To avoid the necessity of inflicting punishment on you; of exercising severe and painful discipline. If he went among them in the state of irregularity and disorder which prevailed there, he would feel it to be necessary to exert his authority as an apostle, and remove at once the offending members from the church. He expected to avoid the necessity of these painful acts of discipline, by sending to them a faithful and affectionate epistle, and thus inducing them to reform, and to avoid the necessity of a resort to that which would have been so trying to him and to them. It was not, then, a disregard for them, or a want of attachment to them, which had led him to change his purpose, but it was the result of tender affection. This cause of the change of his purpose, of course, he would not make known to them in his first epistle; but now that that letter had accomplished all he had desired, it was proper that they should be apprised of the reason why he had resorted to this instead of visiting them personally.

VER. 24. Not for that we have dominion over your faith, but are helpers of your joy: for by faith ye stand.

c 1 Cor. iii. 5. 1 Pet. v. 3. d Rom. xi. 20. 1 Cor. xv. 1.

Not for that we have dominion, &c.-The sense of this passage, I take to be this: "The course which we have pursued has been chosen, not because we wish to lord it over your faith, to control your belief, but because we desired to promote your happiness. Had the former been our object, had we wished to set up a lordship or dominion over you, we should have come to you with our apostolical authority, and in the severity of apostolic discipline. We had power to command obedience, and to control your faith. But we chose not to do it. Our object was to promote your highest happiness. We therefore chose the mildest and gentlest manner possible; we did not exercise authority in discipline, we sent an affectionate and tender letter." While the apostles had the right to prescribe the articles of belief, and to propound the doctrines of God, yet they would not do even that in such a manner as to seem to "lord it over God's heritage" (OUR RVOLVOμev;) they did not set up absolute authority, or prescribe the things to be believed in a lordly and imperative manner; nor would they make use of the severity of power to enforce what they taught. They appealed to reason; they employed persuasion; they made use of light and love to accomplish their desires. Are helpers of your joy.-This is our main object, to promote your joy. This

object we have pursued in our plans; and in order to secure this, we forbore to come to you, when, if we did come at that time, we should have given occasion, perhaps, to the charge that we sought to lord it over your faith. For by faith ye stand.-See Note, I Cor. xv. 1. This seems to be a kind of proverbial expression, stating a general truth, that it was by faith that Christians were to be established or confirmed. The connexion here requires us to understand this as a reason why he would not attempt to lord it over their faith, or to exercise dominion over them. That reason was, that thus far they had stood firm, in the main, in the faith; (1 Cor. xv. 1;) they had adhered to the truths of the gospel; and in a special manner now, in yielding obedience to the commands and entreaties of Paul in the first epistle, they had showed that they were in the faith, and firm in the faith. It was not necessary or proper, therefore, for him to attempt to exercise lordship over their belief, but all that was needful was to help forward their joy, for they were firm in the faith. We may observe, (1.) That it is a part of the duty of ministers to help forward the joy of Christians. (2.) This should be the object even in administering discipline and reproof. (3.) If even Paul would not attempt to lord it over the faith of Christians, to establish a domination over their belief, how absurd and wicked is it for uninspired ministers now, for individual ministers, for conferences, conventions, presbyteries, synods, councils, or for the pope, to attempt to establish a spiritual dominion in controlling the faith of men. The great evils in the church have arisen from their attempting to do what Paul would not do; from attempting to establish a dominion which Paul never sought, and which Paul would have abhorred. Faith must be free, and religion must be free, or they cannot exist at all.

REMARKS.

In view of this chapter, we may remark, 1st. God is the only true and real source of comfort in times of trial. (Ver. 3.) It is from him that all real consolation must come, and he only can meet and sustain the soul when it is borne down with calamity. All persons are subjected to trial, and, at some periods of their lives, to severe trial. Sickness is a trial; the death of a friend is a trial; the loss of property, or health, disappointment, and reproach, and slander, and poverty, and want, are trials to which we are all more or less exposed. In these trials, it is natural to look to some source of consolation; some way in which they may be borne. Some seek consolation in philosophy, and endeavour to blunt their feelings and destroy their sensibilities, as the ancient stoics did. But "to destroy sensibility is not to produce comfort."-Dr. Mason. Some plunge deep into pleasures, and endeavour to drown their sorrows in the intoxicating draught; but this is not to produce comfort to the soul, even were it possible in such pleasures to forget their sorrows. Such were the ancient Epicureans. Some seek consolation in their surviving friends, and look to them to comfort and sustain the sinking heart. But the arm of an

earthly friend is feeble, when God lays his hand upon us. It is only the hand that smites that can heal; only the God that sends the affliction ! that can bind up the broken spirit. He is the "Father of mercies," and he "the God of all consolation;" and in affliction there is no true comfort but in him.

(2.) This consolation in God is derived from many sources. (a) He is the "Father of mercies," and we may be assured, therefore, that he does nothing inconsistent with mercy. (b) We may be assured that he is right, always right, and that he does nothing but right. We may not be able to see the reason of his doings, but we may have the assurance that it is all right, and will yet be seen to be right. (c) There is comfort in the fact, that our afflictions are ordered by an intelligent Being, by one who is allwise and all-knowing. They are not the result of blind chance; but they are ordered by one who is wise to know what ought to be done, and who is so just that he will do nothing wrong. There could be no consolation in the feeling that mere chance directed our trials; nor can there be consolation, except in the feeling that a being of intelligence and goodness directs and orders all. The true comfort, therefore, is to be found in religion, not in atheism and philosophy.

(3.) It is possible to bless God in the midst of trials, and as the result of trial. It is possible so clearly to see his hand, and to be so fully | satisfied with the wisdom and goodness of his dealings, even when we are severely afflicted, as to see that he is worthy of our highest confidence and most exalted praise. (Ver. 3.) God may be seen, then, to be the "Father of mercies; and he may impart, even then, a consolation which we never experience in the days of prosperity. Some of the purest and most elevated joys known upon earth are experienced in the very midst of outward calamities; and the most sincere and elevated thanksgivings which are offered to God, are often those which are the result of sanctified afflictions. It is when we are brought out from such trials, where we have experienced the rich consolations and the sustaining power of the gospel, that we are most disposed to say with Paul, Blessed be God;" and can most clearly see that he is the "Father of mercies." No Christian will ever have occasion to regret the trials through which God has brought him. I never knew a sincere Christian who was not finally benefited by trials.

(4.) Christian joy is not apathy, it is comfort. (Ver. 4, 5.) It is not insensibility to suffering: ' it is not stoical indifference. The Christian feels his sufferings as keenly as others. The Lord ¦¦ Jesus was as sensitive to suffering as any one of the human family ever was; he was as susceptible of emotion from reproach, contempt, and scorn, and he as keenly felt the pain of the scourge, the nails, and the cross, as any one could. But there is positive joy, there is true and solid comfort: there is substantial, pure, and elevated happiness. Religion does not blunt the feelings, or destroy the sensibility, but it brings in consolations which enable us to bear our pains, and to endure persecution without murmuring. In this, religion differs from all systems of plu

losophy. The one attempts to blunt and destroy our sensibilities to suffering; the other, while it makes us more delicate and tender in our feelings, gives consolation adapted to that delicate sensibility, and fitted to sustain the soul, notwithstanding the acuteness of its sufferings.

(5.) Ministers of the gospel may expect to be peculiarly tried and afflicted. (Ver. 5.) So it was with Paul and his fellow-apostles; and so it has been since. They are the special objects of the hatred of sinners, as they stand in the way of the sinful pursuits and pleasures of the world; and they are, like their Master, especially hated by the enemy of souls. Besides, they are, by their office, required to minister consolation to others who are afflicted; and it is so ordered in the providence of God, that they are subjected to peculiar trials often, in order that they may be able to impart peculiar consolations. They are to be the examples and the guides of the church of God; and God takes care that they shall be permitted to show, by their example as well as by their preaching, the supporting power of the gospel in times of trial.

(6.) If we suffer much in the cause of the Redeemer, we may also expect much consolation. (Ver. 5.) Christ will take care that our hearts shall be filled with joy and peace. As our trials in his cause are, so shall our consolations be. If we suffer much, we shall enjoy much; if we are persecuted much, we shall have much support; if our names are cast out among men for his sake, we shall have increasing evidence that they are written in his book of life. There are things in the Christian religion which can be learned only in the furnace of affliction; and he who has never been afflicted on account of his attachment to Christ, is a stranger yet to much, very much of the fulness and beauty of that system of religion which has been appointed by the Redeemer, and to much, very much of the beauty and power of the promises of the Bible. No man will ever understand all the Bible, who is not favoured with much persecution and many trials.

(7.) We should be willing to suffer. (Ver. 3— 5.) If we are willing to be happy, we should also be willing to suffer. If we desire to be happy in religion, we should be willing to suffer. If we expect to be happy, we should also be willing to endure much. Trials fit us for enjoyment here, as well as for heaven hereafter.

(8.) One great design of the consolation which is imparted to Christians in the time of affliction is, that they may be able to impart consolation also to others. (Ver. 4, 6, 7.) God designs that we should thus be mutual aids. And he comforts a pastor in his trials, that he may, by his own experience, be able to minister consolation to the people of his charge: he comforts a parent, that he may administer consolation to his children; a friend, that he may comfort a friend. He who attempts to administer consolation should be able to speak from experience; and God, therefore, afflicts and comforts all his people, that they may know how to administer consolation to those with whom they are connected.

(9.) If we have experienced peculiar consolations ourselves in times of trial, we are under obligations to seek out and comfort others who are

afflicted. So Paul felt. We should feel that God has qualified us for this work; and having qualified us for it, that he calls on us to do it. The consolation which God gives in affliction is a rich treasure which we are bound to impart to others: the experience which we have of the true sources of consolation is an inestimable talent which we are to use for the promotion of his glory. No man has a talent for doing more direct good than he who can go to the afflicted, and bear testimony, from his own experience, to the goodness of God. And every man who can testify that God is good, and is able to support the soul in times of trial-and what Christian cannot do it who has ever been afflicted?-should regard himself as favoured with a peculiar talent for doing good, and should rejoice in the privilege of using it to the glory of God. For there is no talent more honourable than that of being able to promote the divine glory, to comfort the afflicted, or to be able, from personal experience, to testify that God is good-always good. "The power of doing good, always implies an obligation to do it."-Cotton Mather.

(10.) In this chapter, we have a case of a near contemplation of death. (Ver. 8, 9.) Paul expected soon to die. He had the sentence of death in himself. He saw no human probability of escape. He was called, therefore, calmly to look death in the face, and to contemplate it as an event certain and near. Such a condition is deeply interesting; it is the important crisis of life. And yet it is an event which all must soon contemplate. We all, in a short period, each one for himself, must look upon death as certain, and as near to us; as an event in which we are personally interested, and from which we cannot escape. Much as we may turn away from it in health, and unanxious as we may be then in regard to it, yet by no possibility can we long avert our minds from the subject. It is interesting, then, to inquire how Paul felt when he looked at death; how we should feel; and how we actually shall feel when we come to die.

(11.) A contemplation of death as near and certain, is fitted to lead us to trust in God. This was the effect in the case of Paul. (Ver. 9.) He had learned in health to put his trust in him, and now, when the trial was apparently near, he had nowhere else to go, and he confided in him alone. He felt that if he was rescued, it could be only by the interposition of God; and that there was none but God who could sustain him if he should die. And what event can there be that is so well fitted to lead us to trust in God as death? And where else can we go in view of that dark hour? For, (a) We know not what death is. We have not tried it; nor do we know what grace may be necessary for us in those unknown pangs and sufferings; in that deep darkness and that sad gloom. (b) Our friends cannot aid us then. They will, they must, then, give us the parting hand; and as we enter the shades of the dark valley, they must bid us farewell. The skill of the physician then will fail. Our worldly friends will forsake us when we come to die. They do not love to be in the room of death, and they can give us no consolation if they are there. Our pious friends cannot attend us far in the dark