THEIR RELIEF AND ST. PAUL'S VIEWS OF DUTY IN MAT

1 Now concerning the collection for the Saints, as I have given direction to the Churches of Galatia, so do ye also. 2 On the first day of each week let each of you lay by him, storing according as he hath prospered, that there 3 may be no collections when I come. And when I come, whomsoever ye shall approve, I will send them with let4 ters to bear your gift to Jerusalem. And if it be right that I also should go, they shall go with me.

5 Now I will come to you when I pass through Macedo6 nia, for I do pass through Macedonia. And it may be I shall abide with you, and even winter with you, that ye 7 may send me forward, wherever I shall go. For I do not wish to see you now by the way; for I hope to re8 main some time with you, if the Lord permit. But I will 9 remain in Ephesus, until Pentecost. For a great and effectual door is opened to me; and there are many opposers.

10

Now if Timothy come, see that he be without fear among you; for he worketh the work of the Lord even 11 as I. Let no one then despise him, but send him forward in peace, that he may come to me; for I wait for him with the brethren.

12

13

And concerning our brother Apollos, I much entreated him to go to you with the brethren, and it was by no means his wish to go now; but he will go when it is seasonable.

Watch ye; stand fast in the faith; acquit ye like men ; 14 be strong. Let all your things be done in Love. And I 15 beseech you, brethren, (ye know the household of Stepha

nas, that it is the first fruits of Achaia, and that they have 16 addicted themselves to the service of the saints,) that ye

submit yourselves to such, and to every fellow-worker 17 and laborer. I am glad of the coming of Stephanas, and

Fortunatus, and Achaicus: for what was deficient on your 18 part they have supplied. For they have refreshed my spirit and yours: wherefore acknowledge them as such. 19 The Churches of Asia salute you. Aquila and Priscilla greet you much in the Lord, with the Church that is in their 20 house. All the brethren greet you. Greet one another 21 with a holy kiss. The Salutation by mine own hand, of 22 Paul: If any love not the Lord Jesus, let him be separat23 ed; the Lord is at hand [Anathema, Maran-atha]. The 24 grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. My love be with you all, in Christ Jesus! Amen.

It is said that the manifestation of a brotherly interest by one Community towards another, a general direction of effectual sympathy toward distant sufferers, is peculiar to Christianity. It dates with the

Gospel, and appears there for the first time, as a new fact in History. There is no parade made of it in the Records, nor any claim of appropriation on this new development of the spirit of Humanity. It appears there as the natural fruit of that spiritual sentiment which connects the Brotherhood of Man with the Universal Father, and it is left to the philosophical Critic, in some after age, to discover and proclaim, that it is an entirely new phenomenon in the Moral History of Mankind. Such is the unconsciousness in which the Spirit and the Truth of Goodness ever brings forth its fruit, in quietness of heart. Acting from an inward movement, from the growing life of an affection, its noblest deeds are but simple faithfulness to itself; and what appears extraordinary in the eyes of others not stirred by the same sentiment, is but spontaneous and natural to it. The Christian heart, like Christianity itself, ripens its own blessed fruits, but makes no note of how far it differs from the common world.

But now, after the fact has been pointed out by the historical philosopher, it is not difficult to perceive how this last and purest development of the spirit of Humanity—an approach on the part of His children to the tenderness and universality of the Providence of God should be reserved to be the product of the Christian sentiment. Christianity first placed men in spiritual relations to one another. It recognized their identity of Nature, and their one Heavenly Father; and on each child of God necessity was laid to act in God's spirit, — in every man to recognize a Brother, and to unite that brother

with the whole Family of the Heavenly Parent. Before Christianity, there was no example of a Community applying itself to the elevation and enlightenment of another and distant Community. Polytheism could never make of all Mankind one Church and one Family.

St. Paul, who acted in the spirit of this relationship, had the satisfaction of awakening it wherever he went, and of making it fruitful in charities likę his own. Corinth becomes united to Jerusalem by mercy and beneficence; so true is it that the spiritual sentiment, the relation of each individual to the same God, is the fountain of the practical virtues, of the tenderest and strongest sympathies, and of all the finest humanities of Life. The parent Church had sent the blessing of the Gospel to the distant Grecian City, and Corinth sends what she has, and can spare, to lighten the afflictions of the persecuted Christians in Jerusalem. It was no slight progress of the Spirit of Jesus, that within half a century Greece and Judea had been brought into such connections; - and it is no slight call to individual faithfulness and courage, that one man was the main agent of that change.

The Christians of Palestine were depressed and persecuted. They were poor in circumstance and station, — and sunk below even their natural poverty by the exclusive and persecuting spirit of the privileged order, and of the established Priesthood. They were losing their life in this world, that they might keep it unto Life eternal. In their behalf Paul enlisted the brotherly affections of the Gen

tiles. The treasures of Faith and Knowledge, the spiritual riches of Christ Jesus, flowed from Palestine, and it was no mean proof that they had accomplished that whereunto they were sent, that there flowed back again from the Gentiles a stream of Mercy. "Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I gave order to the Churches of Galatia, so do ye likewise. Upon the first day of each week, let each of you lay by him in store, as he hath prospered, that there may be no collection when I come." The Duty is not insisted on, the Spirit of Liberality is not urged, the Principle and Affection are taken for granted, and only the best method of Administration pointed out, — that time and trouble may be economized, and the fullest effect given both to their capacity, and their will to help.

66

It is commonly supposed that the mention of the first day of the week fixes that early date for the ecclesiastical observance of Sunday, as the Lord's Day. But this is by no means implied in the passage; it contains no allusion to a public collection, on the other hand, it distinctly states, more distinctly than in our English Version, “ Let each man lay by him, at home, according as he hath prospered"; - and it is certain that, in St. Paul's view, the observance of " Days" did not belong to the Christian estimate of the fulness of the spiritual Life. St. Paul mentions the first day of the week as that in which they were to examine, and lay aside for purposes of Mercy whatever could be spared from the prosperity which God had given them, because it was evidently expedient that