Nor is this feeling altogether without reason; for such is the imperfection of human nature, that the great and gentle, the lofty and tender, are seldom seen united in the same individual. Among the apostles of our Lord, one was the Son of Thunder, and another, the Son of Consolation-one was distinguished for great, and another for good, qualities. Not that there is any real contrariety between these two kinds of qualities, or that they are absolutely incompatible. He who is the greatest is at the same time the best of beings, and is not only infinite in wisdom and power, but also "very pitiful, and of tender mercy." He upon whom "the spirit of counsel and might rested," could not refrain from melting into tears at the grave of that friend whom he was about to raise from the dead. "Jesus wept❞—wept, too, over that city, the inhabitants of which were about to put him to a cruel death; and the thought of his own sufferings, which were at hand, was swallowed up in tender concern for theirs, which were at a distance. Paul had drunk deeply of this spirit of his Divine Master, and he displayed it towards his unbelieving, ungrateful, implacable countrymen, who had pursued him with the same hostility with which they had treated their Saviour. "I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost, that I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart. For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh."* Ah! my brethren, how difficult is it for us, "straitened," as we are," in our own bowels," narrow and illiberal, selfish and indevout as our hearts are, to take the height of this aspiration, or penetrate the depth of its spring! There is more here than an effusion of disinterested benevolence, more than an expression of sacred patriotism. It is an ejaculation from a great heart, filled with all goodness, longsuffering, forbearance, forgiveness, compassion, tenderness; touched with a recollection of its own former sinfulness; alive to all the ties of kindred and country; crucified to every selfish feeling; quickened and inflamed by the knowledge

Rom. ix. 1-3.

surpassing love of Christ. No wonder that those who have contemplated it have taxed their ingenuity to find an interpretation of the language in which it is conveyed, which would bring it within the range of what they deemed practicable, or lawful to wish and utter. Certainly, we are not to understand them in a sense which would imply a violation of Christian principle, or a denial of the indissolubility of that union between the Redeemer and all his genuine friends, in which our apostle elsewhere triumphs; but neither, on the other hand, are we to reduce their meaning to the standard of our diluted and lukewarm affections. I am averse to admit any construction of the words, which would strip them of the resemblance which they bear to the patriotic and self-devoting request of the great Jewish legislator, * between whose character and that of Paul I think I observe such a striking coincidence, espccially in the sacrifices which they made for the same cause, their "esteem of the reproach of Christ," and their exemplification of all that is amiable in union with all that is magnanimous.

The grace of God can soften the most insensible and obdurate heart, and make it overflow with loving-kindness, as the waters gushed from the rock smitten by the rod of Moses. But in the present instance it purified a heart which was originally open and affectionate, directed its streams into a new and more enlarged channel, and caused to flow in upon them, with irresistible and increasing force, a tide which raised them to a supernatural height of devotion and benevolence. The strength of his devotional feelings is apparent from the whole of his writings. With what mingled admiration and delight does he dwell on the discoveries of divine wisdom in the economy of redemption! How overpowered his mind when he attempts to describe the incommensurable love of Christ! Whenever he approaches such themes he yields to the power of their attraction, and is carried away by it with such rapidity that, if unattentive, we lose him, and are unable to track his flight. He cannot speak of them in an ordinary strain. When

Exod. xxxii. 32.

employed in teaching men the deep things of God, he, as if unconsciously, addresses himself to God. His letters are written on his bended knees; and a system of divinity, comprising the most mysterious truths, is conveyed in the form of a continued prayer or thanksgiving. Of this the first chapters of the epistles to the Ephesians and Colossians are examples. Yet ardent, elevated, and even rapturous as his devout emotions are, there is nothing enthusiastical in the sentiment, or extravagant and unbecoming in the expression. Our judgment approves as excellent what he expresses in the most impassioned language; and we believe him when he tells us that he cannot reach the sublimity of his subject, just because he has raised our minds to that height which enables us to look upon it. There is nothing in his writings of the unintelligible jargon of mystics and essentialists. If it is necessary for him to "come to visions and revelations," instead of entertaining us with what he had seen and heard when "caught up to the third heaven,” he has nothing to communicate, excuses his reserve by telling us that it was "unspeakable, and not lawful for a man to utter," and, introducing a subject which was more pleasing to him, because it is more edifying to us, he proceeds to descant, with his usual eloquence, on the infirmities, reproaches, necessities, persecutions, distresses, which he endured for Christ's sake.*

Nor was his philanthropy less ardent than his devotion. But philanthropy is a cold affection compared with that which the apostle felt for those among whom he laboured in the gospel of Christ, and which he evinced by his unwearied assiduities, his painful watchings, his anxious solicitude, his self-forgetfulness, his tenderness, his tears. "Though ye have ten thousand instructors" (says he to the Corinthians), "yet have ye not many fathers."† His was indeed parental affection, and that of no ordinary kind. "We were gentle among you" (he is addressing himself to the Thessalonians), cherisheth her children: So, being affectionately desirous of you, we were willing to have imparted to you not the gospel of Christ only, because ye were dear to us."

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even as a nurse

While feeding

* 72 Cor. xii. 1-10.

† 1 Cor. iv. 15.

1 Thess. ii. 7, 8.

them with "the sincere milk of the word," he felt ready to pour out his blood for their sake. One would think that love could not have been more intense; and yet his removal from them caused it to burn with a more vehement flame, converting his concern for their spiritual welfare into an anxiety which grew to be agonizing and intolerable. Hearing of the persecution which raged at Thessalonica, and afraid that the confidence of his young converts might be shaken by it, he became impatient to visit them. "Once and again" he made the attempt, "but Satan" (says he) "hindered me." At last he could no longer forbear," but sent Timotheus, his sole companion, from Athens, to establish and comfort them; and having received a favourable report from him, he was "comforted over them," amidst all his personal afflictions; "for now" (says he) "we live, if ye stand fast in the Lord." * His fears of their stability had almost exanimated him; the intelligence of their apostasy how could he have survived? for, as he says of another church, "ye are in our hearts, to die and live with you." +

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The annals of the Corinthian church furnish us with still more striking illustrations of this part of the apostle's character. He had planted that church, been the means of converting many in it to the faith of Christ, conveyed to them a rich profusion of spiritual gifts, and left them in a most flourishing state. But after his departure, false apostles, deceitful workers, had entered among them, corrupted their Christian simplicity, and introduced many flagrant abuses. "Out of much affliction and anguish of heart he wrote unto them with many tears," expostulating with them on their conduct, and beseeching them to return to their duty. Scarcely had he despatched the letter when he began to "repent." The epistle contained nothing which was calculated to irritate them, and the object of the writer was, "not that they should be grieved," but that they "might know the love which he had to them more abundantly." But love has its jealousies, and sensibility its fears, for which they cannot account at the bar of cold reason. Something might have been done to abate the severity of rigid + 2 Cor. vii. 3. + 2 Cor. ii.

* 1 Thess. iii. 7, 8.

reproof, to explain what was hard to be understood, and to ascertain the sense of what they were disposed to misconstruct. His presence among them would, in existing circumstances, add oil to the flame of contention, but another might be useful in preventing them from throwing themselves into the arms of designing leaders or abandoning themselves to despair, Accordingly Timothy is despatched to Corinth, and after him Titus is sent. In the mean time "a door is opened of the Lord" to the apostle to preach Christ's gospel at Troas ; but, strange to relate! he who panted so earnestly for such opportunities, had neither heart nor tongue to improve the present. The expected messenger from Corinth had not arrived he had "no rest in his spirit," and abandoning the rich harvest which invited his labours, he wandered into Macedonia. Nor yet did he find ease : "For when we were come into Macedonia, our flesh had no rest, but we were troubled on every side; without were fightings, within were fears." At last Titus arrives with tidings from Corinth. The apostle's letter had been well received; it had produced the intended effects; a spirit of repentance had fallen upon the church; they had applied themselves vigorously to the correction of abuses; the love which they bore to their spiritual father had revived with additional strength. "NOW! thanks be unto God, who always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place! Great is my boldness of speech toward you, great my glorying of you; I am filled with comfort, I am exceeding joyful in all our tribulation." * What a sudden change! What a wonderful transformation! Formerly we saw him, like a soldier, wounded, weak, disabled, dispirited, fallen to the ground: now he is lifted up, victorious, and borne on the triumphant car. merly, a retrospect of his toils imparted no joy to his heart, and he was ready to exclaim, “ Surely I have laboured in vain, and spent my strength for nought and in vain:" but the tidings of Titus had the same effect on him which the

For

* 2 Cor. ii. 14; vii. 4.