the extent, the nature, and the ill-desert of sin. Such views will lead to sorrow that it has ever been committed; and such views will be "according to God." (2.) Such sorrow as shall be exercised towards God in view of sin; which shall arise from a view of the evil of sin as committed against a holy God. It is not mainly that it will lead to pain; that it will overwhelm the soul in disgrace; that it will forfeit the favour or lead to the contempt of man; or that it will lead to an eternal hell; but it is such as arises from a view of the evil of sin as committed against a holy and a just God, deriving its main evil from the fact that it is an offence against his infinite Majesty. Such sorrow David had (Psa. li. 4,) when he said, "against thee, thee only have I sinned;" when the offence regarded as committed against man, enormous as it was, was lost and absorbed in its greater evil when regarded as committed against God. So all true and genuine repentance is that which regards sin as deriving its main evil from the fact that it is committed against God. (3.) That which leads to God. It leads to God to obtain forgiveness; to seek for consolation. A heart truly contrite and penitent seeks God, and implores pardon from him. Other sorrow in view of sin than that which is genuine repentance leads the person away from God. He seeks consolation in the world; he endeavours to drive away his serious impressions, or to drown them in the pleasures and the cares of life. But genuine sorrow for sin leads the soul to God, and conducts the sinner, through the Redeemer, to him to obtain the pardon and peace which he only can give to a wounded spirit. In God alone can pardon and true peace be found: and godly sorrow for sin will seek them there. Worketh repentance.-Produces a change that shall be permanent; a reformation. It is not mere regret; it does not soon pass away in its effects, but it produces permanent and abiding changes. A man who mourns over sin as committed against God, and who seeks to God for pardon, will reform his life and truly repent. He who has grief for sin only because it will lead to disgrace or shame, or because it will lead to poverty or pain, will not necessarily break off from it and reform. It is only when it is seen that sin is committed against God and is evil in his sight, that it leads to a change of life. Not to be repented of, (peraμEXnTov.)-See Note on ver. 8. Not to be regretted. It is permanent and abiding. There is no occasion to mourn over such repentance and change of life. It is that which the mind approves, and which it will always approve. There will be no reason for regretting it, and it will never be regretted. And it is so. Who ever yet repented of having truly repented of sin? Who is there, who has there ever been, who became a true penitent, and a true Christian, who ever regretted it? Not an individual has ever been known who regretted his having become a Christian. Not one who regretted that he had become one too soon in life, or that he had served the Lord Jesus too faithfully or too long. But the sorrow of the world.—All sorrow which is not toward God, and which does not arise from just views of sin as committed against God, or lead to God. Probably Paul refers here to the sor

row which arises from worldly causes, and which does not lead to God for consolation. Such may be the sorrow which arises from the loss of friends or property; from disappointment, or from shame and disgrace. Perhaps it may include the following things. (1.) Sorrow arising from losses of property and friends, and from disappointment. (2.) Sorrow for sin or vice when it overwhelms the mind with the consciousness of guilt, and when it does not lead to God, and when there is no contrition of soul from viewing it as an offence against God. Thus a female who has wandered from the paths of virtue, and involved her family and herself in disgrace; or a man who has been guilty of forgery, or perjury, or any other disgraceful crime, and who is detected; a man who has violated the laws of the land, and who has involved himself and family in disgrace, will often feel regret, and sorrow, and remorse, bat it arises wholly from worldly considerations, and does not lead to God. (3.) When the sorrow arises from a view of worldly consequences merely, and when there is no looking to God for pardon and consolation. Thus men, when they lose their property or friends, often pine in grief without looking to God. Thus when they have wandered from the path of virtue and have fallen into sin, they often look merely to the disgrace among men, and see their names blasted, and their comforts gone, and pine away in grief. There is no looking to God for pardon or for consolation. The sorrow arises from this world, and it terminates there. It is the loss of what they valued pertaining to this world, and it is all which they had, and it produces death. It is sorrow such as the men of this world have, begins || with this world, and terminates with this world. Worketh death-Tends to death, spiritual, tem- || poral, and eternal. It does not tend to life. (1.) It produces distress only. It is attended with no consolation. (2.) It tends to break the spirit, to destroy the peace, and to mar the happiness. (3.) It often leads to death itself. The spirit is broken, and the heart pines away under the inficence of the unalleviated sorrow; or under its influence men often lay violent hands on themselves and take their lives. Life is often closed under the influence of such sorrow. (4.) It tends to eternal death. There is no looking to God; no looking for pardon. It produces murmuring, repining, complaining, fretfulness against God, and thus leads to his displeasure and to the condemnation and ruin of the soul.

VER. 11. For behold this self-same thing, that ye sorrowed after a godly "sort, what carefulness it wrought in you, yea, what clearing? of yourselves, yea, what indignation, yea, what fear," yea, what vehement desire, yea, what zeal, yea what revenge! In all things ye have approved yourselves" to be clear in this matter.

See the effects which it produced; see an illustration of what it is fitted to produce. The construction is, "For lo! this very thing, to wit, your sorrowing after a godly manner, wrought carefulness, clearing of yourselves," &c. The object of Paul is to illustrate the effects of godly sorrow, to which he had referred in ver. 10. He appeals, therefore, to their own case, and says that it was beautifully illustrated among themselves. What carefulness, (σπουδήν.) This word properly denotes speed, haste; then diligence, earnest effort, forwardness. Here it is evidently used to denote the diligence and the great anxiety which they manifested to remove the evils which existed among them. They went to work to remove them. They did not sit down to mourn over them merely, nor did they wait for God to remove them, nor did they plead that they could do nothing, but they set about the work as though they believed it might be done. When men are thoroughly convinced of sin, they will set about removing it with the utmost diligence. They will feel that this can be done, and must be done, or that the soul will be lost. What clearing of yourselves, (àñoλoɣíav.)—Apology. This word properly means a plea, or defence before a tribunal or elsewhere. (Acts xxii. 1. 2 Tim. iv. 16.) Tindal renders it, "Yea, it caused you to clear yourselves." The word here properly means apology for what had been done; and it probably refers here to the effort which would be made by the sounder part of the church to clear themselves from blame in what had occurred. It does not mean that the guilty, when convicted of sin, will attempt to vindicate themselves and to apologise to God for what they had done; but it means that the church at Corinth were anxious to state to Titus all the mitigating circumstances of the case; they showed great solicitude to free themselves, so far as could be done, from blame; they were anxious, as far as could be, to show that they had not approved of what had occurred, and perhaps that it had occurred only because it could not have been prevented. We are not to suppose that all the things here referred to occurred in the same individuals, and that the same persons precisely evinced diligence, and made the apology, &c. It was done by the church; all evinced deep feeling; but some manifested it in one way, and some in another. The whole church was roused, and all felt, and all endeavoured in the proper way to free themselves from the blame, and to remove the evil from among them. Yea, what indignation.-Indignation against the sin, and perhaps against the persons who had drawn down the censure of the apostle. One effect of true repentance is to produce decided hatred of sin. It is not mere regret or sorrow; it is positive hatred. There is a deep indignation against it as an evil and a bitter thing. Yea, what fear.-Fear lest the thing should be repeated. Fear lest it should not be entirely removed. Or it may possibly mean fear of the displeasure of Paul, and of the punishment which would be inflicted if the evil were not removed. But it more probably refers to the anxious state of mind that the whole evil might be corrected, and to the dread of having any vestige of the evil remaining among them.

Yea, what vehement desire.-This may either mean their fervent wish to remove the cause of complaint, or their anxious desire to see the apostle. It is used in the latter sense in ver. 7, and according to Doddridge and Bloomfield this is the meaning here. Locke renders it, "desire of satisfying me." It seems to me more probable that Paul refers to their anxious wish to remove the sin, since this is the topic under consideration. The point of his remarks in this verse is not so much their affection for him, as their indignation against their sin, and their deep grief that sin had existed and had been tolerated among them. Yea, what zeal.-Zeal to remove the sin, and to show your attachment to me. They set about the work of reformation in great earnest. Yea, what revenge!-Tindal renders this, "it caused punishment." The idea is, that they immediately set about the work of inflicting punishment on the offender. The word here used (ikdienoic) probably denotes maintenance of right, protection; then it is used in the sense of avengement, or vengeance; and then of penal retribution, or punishment. See Luke xxi. 22. 2 Thess. i. 8. 1 Pet. ii. 14. In all things, &c.The sense of this is, "You have entirely acquitted yourselves of blame in this business." apostle does not mean that none of them had been to blame, or that the church had been free from fault, for a large part of his former epistle is occupied in reproving them for their faults in this business; but he means that by their zeal and their readiness to take away the cause of complaint, they had removed all necessity of further blame, and had pursued such a course as entirely to meet his approbation. They had cleared themselves of any further blame in this business, and had become, so far as this was concerned, clear (ȧyvoùç) or pure.

The

VER. 12. Wherefore, though I wrote unto you, I did it not for his cause that had done the wrong, nor for his cause that suffered wrong, but that our care "for you in the sight of God might appear unto you.

Chap. ii. 4.

Wherefore, though I wrote unto you, &c.-In this verse Paul states the main reason why he had written to them on the subject. It was not principally on account of the man who had done the wrong, or of him who had been injured; but it was from tender anxiety for the whole church, and in order to show the deep interest which he had in their welfare. Not for his cause that had done the wrong.-Not mainly or principally on account of the incestuous person. (1 Cor. v. 1.) It was not primarily with reference to him as an individual that I wrote, but from a regard to the whole church. Nor for his cause that had suffered wrong.-Not merely that the wrong which he had suffered might be rectified, and that his rights might be restored, valuable and desirable as was that object. The offence was, that a man had taken his father's wife as his own, (1 Cor. v. 1,) and the person injured, therefore, was his father. It is evident from this passage, I think, that the father was living at the time when Paul

2. Every true Christian will aim at perfection. (Ver. 1.) He will desire to be perfect; he will strive for it; he will make it a subject of unceasing and constant prayer. No man can be a Christian to whom it would not be a pleasure to be at once as perfect as God. And if any man is conscious that the idea of being made at once perfectly holy would be unpleasant or painful, he may set it down as certain evidence that he is a stranger to religion.

3. No man can be a Christian who voluntarily indulges in sin, or in what he knows to be wrong. (Ver. 1.) A man who does that, cannot be aiming at perfection. A man who does that, shows that he has no real desire to be perfect.

4. How blessed will be heaven! (Ver. 1.) There we shall be perfect.-And the crowning glory of heaven is not that we shall be happy, but that we shall be holy. Whatever there is in the heart that is good, shall there be perfectly developed; whatever there is that is evil, shall be removed, and the whole soul will be like God. The Christian desires heaven, because he will be there perfect. He desires no other heaven. He could be induced to accept no other, if it were offered to him. He blesses God day by day that there is such a heaven, and that there is no other that there is one world which sin does not enter, and where evil shall be unknown.

5. What a change will take place at death! (Ver. 1.) The Christian will be there made perfect. How this change will be there produced, we do not know. Whether it will be by some extraordinary influence of the Spirit of God on the heart, or by the mere removal from the body, and from a sinful world to a world of glory, we know not. The fact seems to be clear, that at death the Christian will be made at once as holy as God is holy, and that he will ever continue to be in the future world.

6. What a desirable thing it is to die. (Ver. 1.) Here, should we attain to the age of the patriarchs, like them, we should continue to be imperfect. Death only will secure our perfection; and death, therefore, is a desirable event. The perfection of our being could not be attained but for death; and every Christian should rejoice that he is to die. It is better to be in heaven than on earth; better to be with God than to be away from him; better to be made perfect than to be contending here with internal corruption, and to struggle with our sins. "I would not live always," was the language of holy Job; "I desire to depart, and to be with Christ," was the language of holy Paul.

7. It is often painful to be compelled to use the language of reproof. (Ver. 8.) Paul deeply regretted the necessity of doing it in the case of the Corinthians, and expressed the deepest anxiety in regard to it. No man, no minister, parent, or friend, can use it but with deep regret that it is necessary; but the painfulness of it should not prevent our doing it. It should be done tenderly but faithfully. If done with the deep feeling, with the tender affection of Paul, it will be done right; and when so done, it will produce the desired effect, and do good. No man should use the language of reproof with a hard heart, or with severity of feeling. If he is

like Paul, ready to weep when he does it, it will do good. If he does it because he delights in it,

he will do evil.

8. It is a subject of rejoicing where a people exercise repentance. (Ver. 8.) A minister has pleasure not in the pain which his reproofs cause, not in the deep anxiety and distress of the sinner, and not in the pain which Christians feel under his reproofs, but he has joy in the happy results or the fruits which follow from it. It is only from the belief that those tears will produce abundant joy, that he has pleasure in causing them, or in witnessing them.

9. The way to bring men to repentance, is to present to them the simple and unvarnished truth. (Ver. 8, 9.) Paul stated simple and plain truths to the Corinthians. He did not abuse them; he did not censure them in general terms; he stated things just as they were, and specified the things on account of which there was occasion for repentance. So if ministers wish to excite repentance in others, they must specify the sins over which others should weep. If we wish, as individuals, to feel regret for our sins, and to have true repentance towards God, we must dwell on those particular sins which we have committed, and should endeavour so to reflect on them that they may make an appropriate impression on the heart. No man will truly repent by general reflections on his sin; no one who does not endeavour so to dwell on his sins as that they shall make the proper impression which each one is fitted to produce on the soul. Repentance is that state of mind which a view of the truth, in regard to our own depravity, is fitted to produce.

10. There is a great difference between godly sorrow and the sorrow of the world. (Ver. 10.) All men feel sorrow. All men, at some period of their lives, grieve over their past conduct. Some in their sorrow are pained because they have offended God, and go to God, and find pardon and peace in him. That sorrow is unto salvation. But the mass do not look to God. They turn away from him even in their disappointments, and in their sorrows, and in the bitter consciousness of sin. They seek to alleviate their sorrows in worldly company, in pleasure, in the intoxicating bowl; and such sorrow worketh death. It produces additional distress, and deeper gloom here, and eternal woe hereafter.

11. We may learn what constitutes true repentance. (Ver. 11.) There should be, and there will be, deep feeling. There will be "carefulness," deep anxiety to be freed from the sin; there will be a desire to remove it; "indignation" against it; "fear" of offending God; "earnest desire" that all that has been wrong should be corrected; "zeal" that the reformation should be entire; and a wish that the appropriate "revenge," or expression of displeasure, should be excited against it. The true penitent hates nothing so cordially as he does his sin. He hates nothing but sin. And his warfare with that is decided, uncompromising, inexorable, and eternal.

12. It is an evidence of mercy and goodness in God, that the sorrow which is felt about sin may be made to terminate in our good, and to pro

mote our salvation. (Ver. 10, 11.) If sorrow for sin had been suffered to take its own course, and had proceeded unchecked, it would in all cases have produced death. If it had not been for the merciful interposition of Christianity, by which even sorrow might be turned to joy, this world would have been every where a world of sadness and of death. Man would have suffered. Sin always produces, sooner or later, woe. Christianity has done nothing to make men wretched, but it has done every thing to bind up broken hearts. It has revealed a way by which sorrow may be turned into joy, and the bitterness of grief may be followed by the sweet calm and sunshine of peace.

13. The great purpose of Christian discipline is, to benefit the whole church. (Ver. 12.) It is not merely on account of the offender, nor is it merely that the injured may receive a just recompence. It is primarily that the church may be pure, and that the cause of religion may not be dishonoured. When the work of discipline is entered on from any private and personal motives, it is usually attended with bad feeling, and usually results in evil. When it is entered on with a desire to honour God, and to promote the purity of the church-when the whole aim is to deliver the church from opprobrium and scandal, and to have just such a church as Jesus Christ desires then it will be prosecuted with good temper, and with right feeling, and then it will lead to happy results. Let no man institute a process of discipline on an offending brother from private, personal, and revengeful feelings. Let him first examine his own heart, and let him be sure that his aim is solely the glory of Christ, before he attempts to draw down the censure of the church on an offending brother. How many cases of church discipline would be arrested, if this simple rule were observed! And while the case before us shows that it is important in the highest degree that discipline should be exercised on an offending member of the church; while no consideration should prevent us from exercising that discipline; and while every man should feel desirous that the offending brother should be reproved or punished, yet this case also shows, that it should be done with the utmost tenderness, the most strict regard to justice, and the deepest anxiety that the general interests of religion should not suffer by the manifestation of an improper spirit, or by improper motives in inflicting punishment on an offending brother.

CHAPTER VIII.

VER. 1. Moreover, brethren, we do you to wit of the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia;"

a Chap. ix. 2, 4.

In the previous chapter the apostle had expressed his entire confidence in the ready obedience of the Corinthians in all things. To this confidence he had been led by the promptitude with which they had complied with his commands in regard to the case of discipline there,

and by the respect which they had shown to Titus, whom he had sent to them. All that he had ever said in their favour had been realized; all that had ever been asked of them had been accomplished. The object of his statement in the close of ch. vii. seems to have been to excite them to diligence in completing the collection which they had begun for the poor and afflicted saints of Judea. On the consideration of that subject, which lay so near his heart, he now enters; and this chapter and the following are occupied with suggesting arguments, and giving directions for a liberal contribution.

Paul had given directions for taking up this collection in the first epistle. See ch. xvi. 1, seq. Comp. Rom. xv. 26. This collection he had given Titus direction to take up when he went to Corinth. See ver. 6-17 of this chapter. But from some cause it had not been completed. (Ver. 10, 11.) What that cause was, is not stated, but it may have been possibly the disturbances which had existed there, or the opposition of the enemies of Paul, or the attention which was necessarily bestowed in regulating the affairs of the church. But in order that the contribution might be made, and might be a liberal one, Paul presses on their attention several considerations designed to excite them to give freely. The chapter is, therefore, of importance to us, as it is a statement of the duty of giving liberally to the cause of benevolence, and of the motives by which it should be done. In the presentation of this subject, Paul urges upon them the following considerations.

He appeals to the very liberal example of the churches of Macedonia, where, though they were exceedingly poor, they had contributed with great cheerfulness and liberality to the object. (Ver. 1-5.)

From their example he had been induced to desire Titus to lay the subject before the church! at Corinth, and to finish the collection which he had begun. (Ver. 6.)

He directs them to abound in this, not as a matter of commandment, but excited by the example of others. (Ver. 7, 8.)

He appeals to them by the love of the Saviour; reminds them that though he was rich yet he became poor, and that they were bound to imitate his example. (Ver. 9.)

He reminds them of their intention to make such a contribution, and of the effort which they had made a year before; and though they had been embarrassed in it, and might find it difficult still to give as much as they had intended, or as much as they would wish, still it would be acceptable to God. For if there was a willing mind, God accepted the offering. (Ver. 10-12) He assures them that it was not his wish to burden or oppress them. All that he desired was that there should be an equality in all the churches. (Ver. 13-15.)

To show them how much he was interested in this, he thanks God that he had put it into the heart of Titus to engage in it. And in order more effectually to secure it, he says that he had sent with Titus a brother who was well known, and whose praise was in all the churches. He had done this in order that the churches might

,