wise, of bereavement. The loss of those dear to us relations and friends when it is borne as coming from God, has the effect of strengthening and purifying the character. But to bring sorrow wilfully upon ourselves, can be of no avail towards improvement. The difference between these two things lies in this, that when God inflicts the blow, He gives the strength: but when you give it to yourself, God does not promise aid. Be sure this world has enough of the Cross in it: you need not go out of your way to seek it. Be sure there will always be enough of humiliation and shame, and solitariness for each man to bear if he be living the Christ-life. They need not be selfinflicted. 2. The sorrow of this world is not desirable, because it works death;" and this it does in two ways, literally and figuratively. And first, literally. We do not need instances to show that there is nothing like wearing sorrow to shorten life. Death from a broken heart is not uncommon; and when this is not the case, how often have we seen that the days of existence are abridged, the hair grows gray, all the fresh springs of being are dried up, and all the vigor and force of brain and life decay! When the terror of sorrow came on Nabal, his heart became as a stone, and died within him, and in ten days all was over. When the evil tidings came from the host of Israel, the heart of the wife of Phinehas broke beneath her grief, and in a few hours death followed her bereavement. Figuratively, too, the sorrow of this world "works death:" for grief, unalloyed with hope, kills the soul, and man becomes powerless in a protracted sorrow, where hope in God is not. The mind will not work; it feels no vigor; there is no desire to succeed, no impulse to undertake, for the spirit of enterprise and the eagerness in action are over and gone for ever. The zest of existence is no more: "the wine of life is drawn." Hours, days, and years drag on in feeling's sickly mood; and the only things which pass not away are melancholy and uselessness, now become "the habit of the soul." Once more: The sorrow of this world "works death" spiritually. Grief works death. It is a fearful thing to see how some men are made worse by trial. It is terrible to watch sorrow as it sours the temper, and works out into malevolence and misanthropy. Opposition makes them proud and defiant. Blow after blow falls on them, and they bear all in the hardness of a sullen silence. Such a man was Saul, the first king of Israel, whose earlier career was so bright and glorious; to whom all that lay before and around him, seemed only to augur happiness. These all gradually darkened, and a something was at work at the heart of his life. Defeat and misfortune gradually soured his temper, and made him bitter and cruel. The fits of moody grief became more frequent, and then came, quickly, sin on sin, and woe on woe. Jealousy passed into disobedience, and insanity into suicide. The sorrow of the world had "worked death." The second kind of sorrow we mentioned is godly sorrow, and we will consider: first, its marks; secondly, its results. 1. Its marks. First: Over these we shall run rapidly. Moral earnestness, which is here, in the eleventh verse, called "carefulness." My brethren, the one difficulty in life is to be in earnest. All this world, in the gala day, seems but a passing, unreal show. We dance, lighthearted, along the ways of existence, and nothing tells us that the earth is hollow to our tread. But soon some deep grief comes, and shocks us into reality; the solid earth rocks beneath our feet: the awfulness of life meets us face to face in the desert. Then the value of things is seen; then it is that godly sorrow produces carefulness; then it is that, like Jacob, we cry, "How awful is this place! how solemn is this life! This is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven!" Then it is that, with moral earnestness, we set forth walking circumspectly, weighing, with a watchful and sober eye, all the acts and thoughts which make up life. Next, this godly sorrow "worketh fear:" not an unworthy terror, but the opposite of that light recklessness which lives only from day to day. Again, it worketh "vehement desire," that is, affection; for true sorrow -sorrow to God-softens, not hardens the soul. It opens sympathies, for it teaches what others suffer; it gives a deeper power of sympathy and consolation, for only through suffering can you win the godlike ability of feeling for other's pain. It expands affection, for your sorrow makes you accordant with the "still sad music" of humanity. A true sorrow is that "deep grief which humanizes the soul; often out of it comes that late remorse of love, which leads us to arise and go to our Father, and say, "I have sinned against Heaven and in Thy sight." Again, "clearing of themselves," that is, anxiety about character. Some one has said, that " to justify one's deeds unto oneself is the last infirmity of evil; he means, that when we cease to do that, then evil is strong for as long as a man excuses himself, there is hope. He has, at least, a standard of right and wrong still left. Now there is a recklessness of grief for sin, out of which a man wakes when he begins to feel hope, and tries to wipe off the past, when, in St. Paul's words, a godly sorrow urges him to clear himself. Lastly, it is a sorrow which produces "revenge. We interpret this as indignation against wrong in others and in ourselves. Nowhere is this more remarkable than in David's Psalms; and though these are personal, yet still the feeling which gave them birth is a deep and true one, without which all goodness is but feebleness. These, together, make up repentance unto salvation. Finally, the results: 1. "Not to be repented of." 2. "Sorrow's memory is sorrow still." No! not that sorrow. No man ever mourned over the time spent in tears for sin. No man ever looked back upon that healing period of his life as time lost. regretted things given up or pleasures No man ever sacrificed for God's sake. No man on his dying bed ever felt a pang for the suffering sin had brought on him, if it had led him in all humbleness to Christ. No man ever regretted the agony of conquest, when he felt the weight upon his heart to be less through sorrow even by a single sin. But how many a man on his deathbed has felt the recollection of guilty pleasures as the serpent's fang and venom in his soul! 33 LECTURE LII. - 1853. 2 CORINTHIANS, viii. 1 – 12. – -"Moreover, brethren, we do you to wit of the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia; - How that in a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality. For to their power, I bear record, yea, and beyond their power they were willing of themselves; Praying us with much entreaty that we would receive the gift, and take upon us the fellowship of the ministering to the saints. And this they did, not as we hoped, but first gave their own selves to the Lord, and unto us by the will of God. Insomuch that we desired Titus, that as he had begun, so he would also finish in you the same grace also. — Therefore, as ye abound in everything, in faith, and utterance, and knowledge, and in all diligence, and in your love to us, see that ye abound in this grace also. I speak not by commandment, but by occasion of the forwardness of others, and to prove the sincerity of your love. For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might And herein I give my advice: for this is expedient for you, who have begun before, not only to do, but also to be forward a year ago. Now therefore perform the doing of it; that as there was a readiness to will, so there may be a performance also out of that which ye have. For if there be first a willing mind, it is accepted according to that a man hath, and not according to that he hath not." be rich. - In the last chapter of the First Epistle mention was made of a contribution which the Corinthians were systematically to store up for the poor brethren at Jerusalem. To-day we enter on a fresh treatment of the same topic, and on a subject different from those we have lately been engaged with. This contribution St. Paul collected in his journeys from the Christian Churches. In this chapter he records the largeness of the sum which had been given him by the Churches of Macedonia, and urges the Church of Corinth to emulate their example. 'We consider two points |