ward for every act; only remember, that the reward is not given for the merit of the act, but follows on it as inevitably in the spiritual kingdom, as wheat springs from its grain, and barley from its grain, in the natural world. Because this law of reward exists, we are given encouragements to labor: "Let us not be weary in well doing, for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.' Again: "Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord."

2. In reference to kind. The reward of an act of charity is kindred with the act itself. But St. Paul lays down the broad law: "Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap." He reaps, therefore, not something else, but that very thing which he sows. So in the world of nature, a harvest of wheat comes not from sown barley, nor do oak forests arise from beech mast, but each springs from its own kind; the "herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind." Thus also is it in the spiritual world. He that soweth to the flesh shall not reap of the spirit, nor shall he who soweth to the spirit reap of the flesh.

Now here often a strange fallacy arises. Men sow their carnal things- give their money, for example to God; and because they have apparently sown carnal things to God, they expect to reap the same. For instance, in pagan times, fishermen or farmers sacrificed their respective properties, and expected a double fishery or harvest in return. The same pagan principle has come down to us. Some persons give to a Jews' Conversion Society, or to a Church Missionary Society, and confidently hope for a blessing on their worldly affairs as a result. They are liberal to the poor, "lending to the Lord," in order that He may repay them with success in business, or an advance in trade.

The fallacy lies in this: the thing sown was not money, but spirit. It only seemed money, it was in reality the feeling with which it was given which was

sown.

For example, the poor widow gave two mites, but God took account of sacrifice. The sinful woman gave an alabaster box of ointment, valued by a miserable economist at three hundred pence. God valued it as so much love. Both these sowed not what they gave, but spiritual seed: one love, the other sacrifice. Now God is not going to pay these things in coin of this earth: He will not recompense Sacrifice with success in business, nor Love with a legacy or a windfall. He will repay them with spiritual coin in kind.

In the particular instance now before us, what are the rewards of liberality which St. Paul promises to the Corinthians? They are, first: The Love of God (ver. 7). Secondly: A spirit abounding to every good work (ver. 8). Thirdly: Thanksgiving on their behalf (ver. 11, 12, 13). A noble harvest! but all spiritual. Comprehend the meaning of it well. Give, and you will not get back again. Do not expect your money to be returned, like that of Joseph's brethren, in their sacks' mouths. When you give to God, sacrifice, and know that what you give is sacrificed, and is not to be got again, even in this world; for if you give, expecting it back again, there is no sacrifice: charity is no speculation in the spiritual funds, no wise investment, to be repaid with interest, either in time or eternity!

No! the rewards are these: Do right, and God's recompense to you will be the power of doing more right. Give, and God's reward to you will be the spirit of giving more: a blessed spirit, for it is the Spirit of God himself, whose Life is the blessedness of giving. Love, and God will pay you with the capacity of more love; for love is Heaven-love is God within you.

LECTURE LV.

MARCH 20, 1853.

2 CORINTHIANS, X. 1-18. -"Now I Paul myself beseech you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ, who in presence am base among you, but being absent am bold toward you: - But I beseech you, that I may not be bold when I am present with that confidence, wherewith I think to be bold against some, which think of us as if we walked according to the flesh. - For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh :- (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds;) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled. Do ye look on things after the outward appearance? If any man trust to himself that he is Christ's, let him of himself think this again, that, as he is Christ's, even so are we Christ's. For though I should boast somewhat more of our authority, which the Lord hath given us for edification, and not for your destruction, I should not be ashamed: That I may not seem as if I would terrify you by letters. For his letters, say they, are weighty and powerful; but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech contemptible. Let such an one think this, that, such as we are in word by letters when we are absent, such will we be also in deed when we are present. For we dare not make ourselves of the number, or compare ourselves with some that commend themselves: but they measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise. But we will not boast of things without our measure, but according to the measure of the rule which God hath distributed to us, a measure to reach even unto you. For we stretch not ourselves beyond our measure, as though we reached not unto you: for we are come as far as to you also in preaching the gospel of Christ: Not boasting of things without our measure, that is, of other men's labors; but having hope, when your faith is increased, that we shall be enlarged by you according to our rule abundantly, To preach the Gospel in the regions beyond you, and not to boast in another man's line of things made ready to our hand. But he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. - For not he that commendeth himself is approved, but whom the Lord commendeth."

THE Second Epistle has till now been addressed to those in Corinth who felt either love or admiration for St. Paul, certainly to those who owned his authority.

But with the tenth chapter there begins a new division of the Epistle. Henceforth we have St. Paul's reply to his enemies at Corinth, and his vindication is partly official and partly personal. They denied his apostolic authority and mission, declared that he had not been appointed by Christ, and endeavored to destroy his personal influence in the Church by sneers at his bodily weakness, his inconsistency, and his faithlessness to his promise of coming to Corinth, which they imputed to a fear of his own weakness of character. Powerful enough in letter-writing, said they, but when he comes, his presence, his speech, are weak and contemptible. To these charges St. Paul answers in the remaining chapter. We will consider two subjects:

I. The impugners of his authority.

II. His vindication.

I. The impugners of his authority. It is necessary to distinguish these into two classes, the deceivers and and the deceived; else we could not understand the difference of tone, sometimes meek, and sometimes stern, which pervades the Apostle's vindication. For example, compare the second verse of this chapter with the first, and you must remark the different shades of feeling under which each was written. This change of tone he himself acknowledges in the fifth chapter of this Epistle : "For whether we be beside ourselves, it is to God; or whether we be sober, it is for your cause." His enemies had been embittered against him by the deference paid to him by the rest of the Church. Hence they tried to make him suspected. They charged him with insincerity (2 Cor. i. 12, 13, 18, 19). They said he was ever promising to come, and never meaning it; and that he was only powerful in writing (2 Cor. x. 10). They accused him of mercenary motives, of a lack of apostolic gifts, and of not preaching the Gospel. They charged him with artifices. His Christian prudence and charity were regarded as means whereby he allured and deceived his followers. We must also bear in mind

that it was a party spirit with which the Apostle had to deal: "Now this I say, that every one of you saith, I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas; and I of Christ." (1 Cor. i. 12).

Now, we are informed in this chapter, that of all these parties his chief difficulty lay with that party which called itself Christ's. This was not the school inclined to ritual, which followed St. Peter, nor the Pauline party, which set its face against all Jewish practices, and drove liberty into license; nor yet that which had perhaps a disposition to rationalize, and followed Apollos, who, having been brought up at Alexandria, had most probably spent his youth in the study of literature and philosophy. But it was a party who, throwing off all authority, even though it was apostolic, declared that they received Christ alone as their Head, and that He alone should directly communicate truth to them.

First, then, let us observe, that though these persons called themselves Christ's, they are nevertheless blamed in the same list with others. And yet what could seem to be more right than for men to say, "We will bear no name but Christ's; we throw ourselves on Christ's own words on the Bible; we throw aside all intellectual philosophy: we will have no servitude to ritualism?" Nevertheless, these persons were just as bigoted and as blameable as the others. They were not wrong in calling themselves Christ's; but they were wrong in naming themselves so distinctively. It is plain that by assuming this name, they implied that they had a right to it more than others had. They did not mean to say only, "We are Christ's," but also, "You are not Christ's.' God was not, in their phraseology, our Father, but rather the Father of our party; the Father of us only who are the elect. In their mouths that Name became no longer comprehensive, but exclusive. Thus St. Paul blamed all who, instead of rejoicing that they were Christians, prided themselves on being a particular kind of Christians. The great doctrine of one Baptism taught the feeling of Christian brotherhood.

All were