2 Corinthians 6:18

, could be no benefit to any man farther than it might have been a means of conveying to him the salvation of God. And it is most evident that the apostle has in view that grace or benefit that reconciles us to God, and makes us Divinely righteous. And this, and all other benefits of the death of Christ, may be received in vain. Verse 2 For he saith - That is, God hath said it, by the prophet Isaiah, Isa 49:8 ; which place the apostle quotes verbatim et literatim from the Septuagint. And from this we may at once see what is the accepted time, and what the day of salvation. The advent of the Messiah was the עת רצון eth ratson, the time of God's pleasure or benevolence, of which all the faithful were in expectation; and the day of salvation, יום שועה yom yeshuah, was the time in which this salvation should be manifested and applied. The apostle therefore informs them that this is the time predicted by the prophet; and the ministry of reconciliation being exercised in full force is a proof that the prophecy is fulfilled; and therefore the apostle confidently asserts, Behold, Now is this accepted time, Now the Messiah reigns, Now is the Gospel dispensation, and therefore Now is the day of salvation; that is, the very time in which the power of God is present to heal, and in which every sinner believing on the Lord Jesus may be saved. I rather think that this second verse should be read immediately after the last verse of the preceding chapter; as where it now stands it greatly disturbs the connection between the first and the third verses. I will set down the whole in the order in which I think they should stand. 2Cor 5:20 : Now then we are ambassadors for Christ; as though God did beseech you by us, we pray you in Christ's stead, to be reconciled to God. For he hath made him a sin-offering for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him: for he saith, "I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee." Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation. Immediately after this, the sixth chapter will very properly commence, and we shall see that the connection will be then undisturbed: - We then, as fellow workers, beseech you also, that ye receive not this grace of God in vain, giving no offense in any thing, that this ministry be not blamed. This change of the place of the second verse, which every one allows must, if it stand here, be read in a parenthesis, preserves the whole connection of the apostle's discourse, and certainly sets his argument before us in a stronger light. Let us review the whole: 1. God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, 2Cor 5:18 . 2. He appointed the apostles to proclaim to mankind the doctrine of reconciliation, 2Cor 5:19 . 3. The apostles, in consequence, proclaim this doctrine; and show that Christ was a sacrifice for sin, and that through him we may be perfectly saved, 2Cor 5:20 , 2Cor 5:21 . 4. They show also that all this was agreeable to the declaration of God by the prophet Isaiah, Isa 49:8 , where he predicts the days of the Messiah, and the grace then to be communicated, 2Cor 6:2 . 5. The apostle then, speaking in the person of all his fellow laborers, who had this ministry of reconciliation intrusted to them, exhorts them not to receive such a benefit of God in vain, 2Cor 6:1 . 6. He exhorts those who had embraced the Gospel not to put a stumbling block in the way of others, by acting irreligiously, lest this ministry of reconciliation should be reproached on their account, 2Cor 6:3 . 7. He shows what conscientious and scrupulous care he and his fellow apostles took to preach and walk so that this ministry might have its full effect, 2Cor 6:4 , etc. This view of the subject, if I mistake not, shows a beautiful consistency throughout the whole. Verse 3 Giving no offense - The word προσκοπη, read προσκομμα, Rom 14:13 , signifies a stumbling block in general, or any thing over which a man stumbles or falls; and here means any transgression or scandal that might take place among the ministers, or the Christians themselves, whereby either Jews or Gentiles might take occasion of offense, and vilify the Gospel of Christ. Verse 4 But in all things approving ourselves - The apostle now proceeds to show how conscientiously himself and his fellow laborers acted, in order to render the ministry of reconciliation effectual to the salvation of men. They not only gave no offense in any thing, but they labored to manifest themselves to be the genuine ministers of God, in much patience - bearing calmly up under the most painful and oppressive afflictions. In afflictions - Εν θλιψεσιν. This may signify the series of persecutions and distresses in general; the state of cruel suffering in which the Church of God and the apostles then existed. In necessities - Εν αναγκαις· Straits and difficulties; including all that want and affliction which arose from the impoverished state of the Church. In distresses - Εν στενοχωριαις. Such straits and difficulties as were absolutely unavoidable and insurmountable. The word implies, being reduced to a narrow place, driven to a corner, hemmed in on every side, as the Israelites were at the Red Sea; the sea before them, Pharaoh and his host behind them, and Egyptian fortresses on either hand. God alone could bring them out of such difficulties, when their enemies themselves saw that the wilderness had shut them in. So was it often with the apostles; all human help failed, and their deliverance came from God alone. Verse 5 In stripes, in imprisonments - Of these the history of the Acts of the Apostles gives ample testimony; and there were doubtless many instances of persecution in various forms which are not on record. In tumults - Ακαταστασιαις· Insurrections raised against them because of the Gospel. It is more natural to understand the word thus, than of agitations, or tossings to and fro in consequence of their unsettled state of life; or because of persecution, which obliged them to flee from place to place. In labors - Both with our own hands to provide for ourselves the necessaries of life, that we might not be chargeable to others; and in labors to spread the Gospel of God through all countries where his providence opened our way. In watchings - Passing many nights without sleep or rest. In fastings - Partly constrained through want of food; and partly voluntary, as a means of obtaining an increase of grace both for ourselves and for the Churches. Verse 6 By pureness - Εν ἁγνοτητι· In simplicity of intention, and purity of affection; together with that chastity and holiness of life which the Gospel enjoins. By knowledge - Of the Divine mysteries. By long-suffering - Under all provocations. By kindness - To our most virulent persecutors, and to all men. By the Holy Ghost - There are doubts among learned men whether the apostle here means that Spirit who is called the third person of the holy Trinity; or some grace, disposition, or quality of the soul, which was thus denominated, as implying a spirit wholly purified, and fitted to be a habitation of God. Schoettgen quotes a passage from Rabbi Bechai, in which it appears to him to have this latter meaning: "Rabbi Pinchas, the son of Jair, said: Reflection leads to sedulity; sedulity to innocence; innocence to abstinence; abstinence to cleanness; cleanness to sanctity; sanctity to the fear of sin; fear of sin to humility; humility to piety; and piety to the Holy Spirit. Of these ten virtues five are external, or belong to the body; and five internal, or belonging to the soul; but all men prefer the tenth, which is רוח הקדש ruach hakkodesh, the Holy Spirit." Even allowing Rabbi Pinchas to be a person on whose judgment we could rely, and whose authority was decisive, there does not appear to me any reason why we should depart from the usual meaning of the term from any thing that is said here. It appears to me plain enough that the rabbi means the constant indwelling of the Holy Spirit; and St. Paul, in this place, may have the same thing in view, and with it the various gifts of the Holy Spirit by which he was enabled to work miracles. By love unfeigned - Εν αγαπῃ ανυποκριτῳ· Love without hypocrisy; such as disposed us at all times to lay down our life for the brethren, and to spend and be spent for the glory of God and the good of mankind. Verse 7 By the word of truth - The doctrine of truth received immediately from God, and faithfully and affectionately preached to men. By the power of God - Confirming this doctrine, not only by the miracles which we were enabled to work, but also by the application of that truth to the souls of the people by the energy of God. By the armor of righteousness - Such as that described by the apostle, Eph 6:13-17 , which he calls there the whole armor of God, consisting of the following pieces: the girdle of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the shoes of the Gospel of peace, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit. On the right hand and on the left - Particularly, the shield and the sword; the former on the left arm, the latter in the right hand. We have the doctrine of truth, and the power of God, as an armor to protect us on all sides, every where, and on all occasions. It seems far-fetched to understand the right hand as signifying prosperity, and the left as signifying adversity; as if the apostle had said: We have this armor to defend us both in prosperity and adversity. By the doctrine of the Gospel, and by the power of God, the apostles were furnished with offensive and defensive weapons; they could ever defend themselves, and discomfit their foes. Verse 8 By honor and dishonor - By going through both; sometimes respected, sometimes despised. By evil report and good report - Sometimes praised, at other times calumniated. As deceivers - Said to carry about a false doctrine for our secular emolument. And yet true - Demonstrated by the nature of the doctrine, as well as by our life and conversation, that we are true men; having nothing in view but God's glory and the salvation of the world. Verse 9 As unknown - Persons who are to be suspected as harbouring dark designs; persons of neither birth, parentage, nor respectable connections in life; And yet well known - Proved by our whole conduct to have no such designs, and demonstrated to be holy, upright, and useful, by the whole train of our peregrinations, through which we can be readily traced from place to place; having preached openly, and done nothing in a corner. As dying - Through continual dangers, fatigues, and persecutions; And, behold, we live - We are preserved by the mighty power of God in the greatest dangers and deaths. As chastened - As though we were disobedient children; And not killed - Though we continue in the very same line of conduct that is supposed to bring on us those chastisements, and which, if it were criminal, would justly expose us to death for incorrigible obstinacy; but our preservation is a proof that we please God. Verse 10 As sorrowful - Considerate men supposing, from our persecuted state and laborious occupation, (often destitute of the necessaries of life; seldom enjoying its conveniences; and scarcely ever, its comforts), that we must be the most miserable of all men. Yet alway rejoicing - Having the consolation of God's Spirit at all times, and a glorious prospect of a blessed immortality. As poor - Destitute of all worldly good and secular interest, Yet making many rich - By dispensing to them the treasures of salvation; making them rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom. The Gospel, when faithfully preached, and fully received, betters the condition of the poor. It makes them sober; so they save what before they profusely and riotously spent. It makes them diligent; and thus they employ time to useful purposes which they before squandered away. They therefore both save and gain by religion; and these must lead to an increase of property. Therefore they are made rich; at least in comparison with that sinful, profligate state in which they were before they received the truth of the Gospel. As having nothing - Being the most abject of the poor, And yet possessing all things - That are really necessary to the preservation of our lives. For the wants under which we labor for a time are supplied again by a bountiful Providence. The man who possesses a contented spirit possesses all things; for he is satisfied with every dispensation of the providence of God; and "a contented mind is a continual feast." Verse 11 O ye Corinthians, our mouth is open unto you - I speak to you with the utmost freedom and fluency, because of my affection for you. Our heart is enlarged - It is expanded to take you and all your interests in; and to keep you in the most affectionate remembrance. The preceding verses contain a very fine specimen of a very powerful and commanding eloquence. Verse 12 Ye are not straitened in us - That is, Ye have not a narrow place in our affections: the metaphor here is taken from the case of a person pent up in a small or narrow place, where there is scarcely room to breathe. Ye are straitened in your own bowels - I have not the same place in your affections which you have in mine. The bowels are used in Scripture to denote the most tender affections. See the note on Mat 9:36 . Verse 13 Now for a recompense in the same - That you may, in some sort, repay me for my affection towards you, I speak to you as unto my children, whom I have a right to command, be ye also enlarged - love me as I love you. Verse 14 Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers - This is a military term: keep in your own ranks; do not leave the Christian community to join in that of the heathens. The verb ἑτεροζυγειν signifies to leave one's own rank, place, or order, and go into another; and here it must signify not only that they should not associate with the Gentiles in their idolatrous feasts, but that they should not apostatize from Christianity; and the questions which follow show that there was a sort of fellowship that some of the Christians had formed with the heathens which was both wicked and absurd, and if not speedily checked would infallibly lead to final apostasy. Some apply this exhortation to pious persons marrying with those who are not decidedly religious, and converted to God. That the exhortation may be thus applied I grant; but it is certainly not the meaning of the apostle in this place. Nevertheless, common sense and true piety show the absurdity of two such persons pretending to walk together in a way in which they are not agreed. A very wise and very holy man has given his judgment on this point: "A man who is truly pious, marrying with an unconverted woman, will either draw back to perdition, or have a cross during life." The same may be said of a pious woman marrying an unconverted man. Such persons cannot say this petition of the Lord's prayer, Lead us not into temptation. They plunge into it of their own accord. For what fellowship, etc. - As righteousness cannot have communion with unrighteousness, and light cannot dwell with darkness; so Christ can have no concord with Belial, nor can he that believeth have any with an infidel. All these points were self-evident; how then could they keep up the profession of Christianity, or pretend to be under its influence, while they associated with the unrighteous, had communion with darkness, concord with Belial, and partook with infidels? Verse 16 What agreement hath the temple of God with idols - Nothing could appear more abominable to a Jew than an idol in the temple of God: here, then, could be no agreement; the worship of the two is wholly incompatible. An idolater never worships the true God; a Christian never worships an idol. If ye join in idolatrous rites, it is impossible that ye should be Christians. Ye are the temple of the living God - God intends to make the heart of every believer his own house. I will dwell in them, and walk in them - The words are very emphatic: ενοικησω εν αυτοις· I will inhabit in them. I will not be as a wayfaring man, who turns aside to tarry as for a night, but I will take up my constant residence with them; I will dwell in and among them. I will be their God - They shall have no other God, they shall have none besides me; and if they take me for their God, I will be to them all that an infinite, eternal, and self-sufficient Being can be to his intelligent offspring. They shall be my people - If they take me for their God, their supreme and eternal Good, I will take them for my people; and instruct, enlighten, defend, provide for, support, and bless them, as if I had none else to care for in the creation. Verse 17 Wherefore come out from among them - Is it not plain from this and the following verse that God would be their God only on the ground of their taking him for such, and that this depended on their being separated from the works and workers of iniquity? for God could not inhabit in them if they had concord with Belial, a portion with infidels; etc. Those who will have the promises of God fulfilled to them must come under the conditions of these promises: if they are not separate - if they touch the unclean thing, God will not receive them; and therefore will not be their God, nor shall they be his people. Verse 18 Will be a Father unto you - I will act towards you as the most affectionate father can act towards his most tender and best beloved child. And ye shall be my sons and daughters - Ye shall all be of the household of God, the family of heaven; ye shall be holy, happy, and continually safe. Saith the Lord Almighty - Κυριος παντοκρατωρ· The Lord, the Governor of all things. Earthly fathers, however loving and affectionate, may fail to provide for their children, because every thing is not at their disposal; they may frequently lack both the power and the means, though to will may be present with them; but the Lord who made and who governs all things can never lack will, power, nor means. The promise is sure to the children; and the children are those who take the Almighty for their God. For the promise belongs to no soul that is not separate from sinful ways, works, and men; those who touch the unclean thing, i.e. who do what God forbids, and hold communion with unrighteousness, can never stand in the endearing relation of children to God Almighty: and this is most forcibly stated by God himself, in these verses, and in the beginning of the following chapter, the first verse of which should conclude this. To the Jews the promises were originally made; they would not have God for their God, but would work iniquity. What was the consequence? God cast them off; and those who were joined to iniquity were separated from him. "Then said God, Call his name Lo-ammi; for ye are not my people, and I will not be your God." Hos 1:9 . The Jews were therefore cast off, and the Gentiles taken in their place; but even these, under the new covenant, are taken in expressly under the same conditions as the apostle here most fully states. Those who apply these words in any other way pervert their meaning, and sin against their souls. Introduction The apostle's inference from the preceding exhortation, 2Cor 7:1 . He presses them to receive him with affection, because of his great love towards them, 2Cor 7:2-4 . He tells them what distress he felt on their account in Macedonia, till he had met with Titus, and heard of their prosperity, 2Cor 7:6-7 . He rejoices that his first epistle was made the means of their reformation, 2Cor 7:8 , 2Cor 7:9 . States how they were affected by his letter, and the process of their reformation, 2Cor 7:10 , 2Cor 7:11 . Shows why he had written to them, 2Cor 7:12 . Rejoices that his boasting of them to Titus is found to be a truth; and takes occasion to mention the great affection of Titus for them, and his own confidence in them, 2Cor 7:13-16 . Verse 1 Having therefore these promises - The promises mentioned in the three last verses of the preceding chapter, to which this verse should certainly be joined. Let us cleanse ourselves - Let us apply to him for the requisite grace of purification; and avoid every thing in spirit and practice which is opposite to the doctrine of God, and which has a tendency to pollute the soul. Filthiness of the flesh - The apostle undoubtedly means, drunkenness, fornication, adultery, and all such sins as are done immediately against the body; and by filthiness of the spirit, all impure desires, unholy thoughts, and polluting imaginations. If we avoid and abhor evil inclinations, and turn away our eyes from beholding vanity, incentives to evil being thus lessened, (for the eye affects the heart), there will be the less danger of our falling into outward sin. And if we avoid all outward occasions of sinning, evil propensities will certainly be lessened. All this is our work under the common aids of the grace of God. We may turn away our eyes and ea

Cautions against Mingling with Unbelievers. ( a. d. 57.) 11 O ye Corinthians, our mouth is open unto you, our heart is enlarged. 12 Ye are not straitened in us, but ye are straitened in your own bowels. 13 Now for a recompence in the same, (I speak as unto my children,) be ye also enlarged. 14 Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? 15 And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? 16 And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 17 Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, 18 And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty. The apostle proceeds to address himself more particularly to the Corinthians, and cautions them against mingling with unbelievers. Here observe, I. How the caution is introduced with a profession, in a very pathetic manner, of the most tender affection to them, even like that of a father to his children, v. 11-13 . Though the apostle was happy in a great fluency of expressions, yet he seemed to want words to express the warm affections he had for these Corinthians. As if he had said, "O ye Corinthians, to whom I am now writing, I would fain convince you how well I love you: we are desirous to promote the spiritual and eternal welfare of all to whom we preach, yet our mouth is open unto you, and our heart is enlarged unto you, in a special manner." And, because his heart was thus enlarged with love to them, therefore he opened his mouth so freely to them in kind admonitions and exhortations: " You are not, " says he, " straitened in us; we would gladly do you all the service we can, and promote your comfort, as helpers of your faith and your joy; and, if it be otherwise, the fault is in yourselves; it is because you are straitened in yourselves, and fail in suitable returns to us, through some misapprehensions concerning us; and all we desire as a recompense is only that you would be proportionably affected towards us, as children should love their father." Note, It is desirable that there should be a mutual good affection between ministers and their people, and this would greatly tend to their mutual comfort and advantage. II. The caution or exhortation itself, not to mingle with unbelievers, not to be unequally yoked with them, v. 14 . Either, 1. In stated relations. It is wrong for good people to join in affinity with the wicked and profane; these will draw different ways, and that will be galling and grievous. Those relations that are our choice must be chosen by rule; and it is good for those who are themselves the children of God to join with those who are so likewise; for there is more danger that the bad will damage the good than hope that the good will benefit the bad. 2. In common conversation. We should not yoke ourselves in friendship and acquaintance with wicked men and unbelievers. Though we cannot wholly avoid seeing, and hearing, and being with such, yet we should never choose them for our bosom-friends. 3. Much less should we join in religious communion with them; we must not join with them in their idolatrous services, nor concur with them in their false worship, nor any abominations; we must not confound together the table of the Lord and the table of devils, the house of God and the house of Rimmon. The apostle gives several good reasons against this corrupt mixture. (1.) It is a very great absurdity, v. 14, 15 . It is an unequal yoking of things together that will not agree together; as bad as for the Jews to have ploughed with an ox and an ass or to have sown divers sorts of grain intermixed. What an absurdity is it to think of joining righteousness and unrighteousness, or mingling light and darkness, fire and water, together! Believers are, and should be, righteous; but unbelievers are unrighteous. Believers are made light in the Lord, but unbelievers are in darkness; and what comfortable communion can these have together? Christ and Belial are contrary one to the other; they have opposite interests and designs, so that it is impossible there should be any concord or agreement between them. It is absurd, therefore, to think of enlisting under both; and, if the believer has part with an infidel, he does what in him lies to bring Christ and Belial together. (2.) It is a dishonour to the Christian's profession ( v. 16 ); for Christians are by profession, and should be in reality, the temples of the living God —dedicated to, and employed for, the service of God, who has promised to reside in them, to dwell and walk in them, to stand in a special relation to them, and take a special care of them, that he will be their God and they shall be his people. Now there can be no agreement between the temple of God and idols. Idols are rivals with God for his honour, and God is a jealous God, and will not give his glory to another. (3.) There is a great deal of danger in communicating with unbelievers and idolators, danger of being defiled and of being rejected; therefore the exhortation is ( v. 17 ) to come out from among them, and keep at a due distance, to be separate, as one would avoid the society of those who have the leprosy or the plague, for fear of taking infection, and not to touch the unclean thing, lest we be defiled. Who can touch pitch, and not be defiled by it? We must take care not to defile ourselves by converse with those who defile themselves with sin; so is the will of God, as we ever hope to be received, and not rejected, by him. (4.) It is base ingratitude to God for all the favours he has bestowed upon believers and promised to them, v. 18 . God has promised to be a Father to them, and that they shall be his sons and his daughters; and is there a greater honour or happiness than this? How ungrateful a thing then must it be if those who have this dignity and felicity should degrade and debase themselves by mingling with unbelievers! Do we thus requite the Lord, O foolish and unwise?

2 Corinthians Preface To The Second Epistle Of Saint Paul To The Corinthians (1546 and 1522) In the First Epistle, St. Paul rebuked the Corinthians severely for many things, and poured sharp wine into the wounds, and terrified them. But an apostle should be a preacher of comfort, to raise up terrified and fearful consciences, rather than to frighten them. Therefore, in this Epistle, he praises them once more, and pours oil into their wounds, and shows himself wonderfully kind to them, and bids them receive the sinner back with love. In chapters 1 and 2, he shows his love toward them, how all that he said, did, and suffered was for, their profit and good, and how they ought to trust him for the best. After that, he praises the office of the Gospel, which is the highest and most comforting of all works and is for the profit and good of men’s consciences. He shows how it is nobler than the office of the law, and how it is persecuted, and yet increases among believers, and produces, through the Cross, a hope of eternal glory. But with all this he touches the false apostles, who were concerned with the law, rather than the Gospel, and taught mere outward holiness, which is hypocrisy, and allowed the inner shame of unbelief to continue. This he does in chapters 3, 4 and 5. In chapters 6 and 7, he exhorts them to obey this preaching with works and sufferings, and concludes by praising them, so that he may incite them to go forward in it. In chapters 8 and 9, he exhorts them to contribute temporal support and help, in a time of scarcity, to the saints in Jerusalem, who, at the beginning, had given up all their goods. In chapters 10, 11 and 12, he deals with the false apostles. In chapter 13, he threatens those who had sinned and not reformed.

hem, and counsels them in time of perplexity. No relation is more tender than this. In accordance with this, God says, that he will be to his people their Protector, Counsellor, Guide, and Friend. He will cherish towards them the feelings of a father; he will provide for them, he will acknowledge them as his children. No higher honour can be conferred on mortals than to be adopted into the family of God, and to be permitted to call the Most High our Father. No rank is so elevated as that of being the sons and the daughters of the Lord Almighty. Yet this is the common appellation by which God addresses his people; and the most humble in rank, the most poor and ignorant of his friends on earth, the most despised among men, may reflect that they are the children of the ever-living God, and have the Maker of the heavens and the earth as their Father and their eternal Friend. How poor are all the honours of the world compared with this! The Lord Almighty. The word here used (παντοκρατωρ) occurs nowhere except in this place and in the book of Revelation, Rev 1:8, 4:8; Rev 11:17, 15:3, 16:7,14, 19:6,15, 21:22. It means one who has all power; and is applied to God in contradistinction from idols that are weak and powerless. God is able to protect his people, and they who put their trust in him shall never be confounded. What has he to fear who has a Friend of almighty power? (d) "will be a Father" Jer 31:1,9, Rev 21:7 REMARKS on 2nd Corinthians Chapter 6 (1.) It is right and proper to exhort Christians not to receive the grace of God in vain, 2Cor 6:1. Even they sometimes abuse their privileges; become neglectful of the mercy of God; undervalue the truths of religion, and do not make as much as they should do of the glorious truths that are fitted to sanctify and to save. Every Christian should endeavour to make just as much as possible of his privileges, and to become just as eminent as he can possibly be in his Christian profession. (2.) The benefits of salvation to this world come through the intercession of Jesus Christ, 2Cor 6:2. It is because God is pleased to hear him; because he calls on God in an accepted time, that we have any hope of pardon. The sinner enjoys no offer of mercy, and no possibility of pardon, except what he owes to Jesus Christ. Should he cease to plead for men, the offers of salvation would be withdrawn, and the race would perish for ever. (3.) The world is under a dispensation of mercy, 2Cor 6:2. Men maybe saved. God is willing to show compassion, and to rescue them from ruin. (4.) How important is the present moment! 2Cor 6:2. How important is each moment! It may be the last period of mercy. No sinner can calculate with any certainty on another instant of time. God holds his breath, and with infinite ease he can remove him to eternity. Eternal results hang on the present, the fleeting moment--and yet how unconcerned are the mass of men about their present condition; how unanxious about what may possibly or probably occur the next moment! Now the sinner may be pardoned; the next moment he may be beyond the reach of forgiveness. This instant the bliss of heaven is offered him; the next he may be solemnly excluded from hope and heaven! (5.) The ministers of the gospel should give no occasion of offence to any one, 2Cor 6:3. On each one of them depends a portion of the honour of the ministry in this world, and of the honour of Jesus Christ among men. How solemn is this responsibility! How pure, and holy, and unblamable should they be! (6.) Ministers and all Christians should be willing to suffer in the cause of the Redeemer, 2Cor 6:4,5. If the early ministers and other Christians were called to endure the pains of imprisonment and persecution for the honour of the gospel, assuredly we should be willing also to suffer. Why should there be any more reason for their suffering than for ours? (7.) We see what our religion has cost, 2Cor 6:4,5. It has come down to us through suffering. All the privileges that we enjoy have been the fruit of toil, and blood, and tears, and sighs. The best blood in human veins has flowed to procure these blessings; the holiest men on earth have wept, and been scourged, and tortured, that we might possess these privileges. What thanks should we give to God for all this! How highly should we prize the religion that has cost so much! (8.) In trial we should evince such a spirit as not to dishonour, but to honour our religion, 2Cor 6:3-5. This is as incumbent on all Christians as it is on ministers of the gospel. It is in such scenes that the reality of religion is tested. It is then that its power is seen. It is then that its value may be known. Christians and Christian ministers often do good in circumstances of poverty, persecution, and sickness, which they never do in health, and in popular favour, and in prosperity. And God often places his people in trial that they may do good then, expecting that they will accomplish more then than they could in prosperous circumstances. They whose aim it is to do good have often occasion to bless God that they were subjected to trial. Bunyan wrote the "Pilgrim's Progress" in a dungeon; and almost all the works of Baxter were written when he was suffering under persecution, and forbidden to preach the gospel. The devil is often foiled in this way. He persecutes and opposes Christians --and on the rack and at the stake they do most to destroy his kingdom; he throws them into dungeons--and they make books which go down even to the millennium, making successful war on the empire of darkness. Christians, therefore, should esteem it a privilege to be permitted to suffer on account of Christ, Php 1:29. (9.) If ministers and other Christians do any good, they must be pure, 2Cor 6:6,7. The gospel is to be commended by pureness, and knowledge, and the word of truth, and the armour of righteousness. It is in this way that they are to meet opposition; in this way that they are to propagate their sentiments. No man need expect to do good in the ministry or as a private Christian, who is not a holy man. No man who is a holy man can help doing good. It will be a matter of course that he will shed a healthful moral influence around him. And he will no more live without effect, than the sun sheds its steady beams on the earth without effect. His influence may be very noiseless and still, like the sunbeams or the dew, but it will be felt in the world. Wicked men can resist anything else better than they can a holy example. They can make a mock of preaching; they can deride exhortation; they can throw away a tract; they can burn the Bible; but what can they do against a holy example? No more than they can against the vivifying and enlightening beams of the sun; and a man who leads a holy life cannot help doing good, and cannot be prevented from doing good. (10.) They who are Christians must expect to meet with much dishonour, and to be subjected often to the influence of evil report, 2Cor 6:8. The world is unfriendly to religion, and its friends must never be surprised if their motives are impeached, and their names calumniated. (11.) Especially is this the case with ministers, 2Cor 6:8. They should make up their minds to it, and they should not suppose that any strange thing had happened to them if they are called thus to suffer. (12.) They who are about to make a profession of religion, and they who are about entering on the work of the ministry, or who are agitating the question whether they should be ministers, should ask themselves whether they are prepared for this. They should count the cost; nor should they either make a profession of religion or think of the ministry as a profession, unless they are willing to meet with dishonour, and to go through evil report; to be poor, ( 2Cor 6:10,) and to be despised and persecuted, or to die in the cause which they embrace. (13.) Religion has power to sustain the soul in trials, 2Cor 6:10. Why should he be sad who has occasion to rejoice always? Why should he deem himself poor, though he has slender earthly possessions, who is able to make many rich? Why should he be melancholy as if he had nothing, who has Christ as his portion, and who is an heir of all things? Let not the poor, who are rich in faith, despond as though they had nothing. They have a treasure which gold cannot purchase, and which will be of infinite value when all other treasure fails. He that has an everlasting inheritance in heaven cannot be called a poor man. And he that can look to such an inheritance should not be unwilling to part with his earthly possessions. Those who seem to be most wealthy are often the poorest of mortals; and those who seem to be poor, or who are in humble circumstances, often have an enjoyment of even this world which is unknown in the palaces and at the tables of the great. They look on all things as the work of their Father; and in their humble dwellings, and with their humble fare, they have an enjoyment of the bounties of their heavenly Benefactor, which is not experienced often in the dwellings of the great and the rich. (14.) A people should render to a minister and a pastor a return of love and confidence that shall be proportionate to the love which is shown to them, 2Cor 6:12. This is but a reasonable and fair requital; and this is necessary, not only to the comfort, but to the success of a minister. What good can he do unless he has the affections and confidence of his people? (15.) The compensation or recompense which a minister has a right to expect and require for arduous toil, is that his people should be "enlarged" in love towards him, and that they should yield themselves to the laws of the Redeemer, and be separate from the world, 2Cor 6:13. And this is an ample reward. It is what he seeks, what he prays for, what he most ardently desires. If he is worthy of his office, he will seek not theirs but them, ( 2Cor 12:14,) and he will be satisfied for all his toils if he sees them walking in the truth, ( 3Jn 1:4,) and showing in their lives the pure and elevated principles of the gospel which they profess to love. (16.) The welfare of religion depends on the fact that Christians should be separate from a vain, and gay, and wicked world, 2Cor 6:14-16. Why should they partake of those things in which they can, if Christians, have nothing in common? Why attempt to mingle light with darkness? to form a compact between Christ and Belial? or to set up a polluted idol in the temple of the living God? The truth is, there are great and eternal principles in the gospel which should not be surrendered, and which cannot be broken down. Christ intended to set up a kingdom that should be unlike the kingdoms of this world. And he designed that his people should be governed by different principles from the people of this world. (17.) They who are about to make a profession of religion, should resolve to separate themselves from the world, 2Cor 6:14,15. Religion cannot exist where there is no such separation; and they who are unwilling to forsake infidel companions and the gay amusements and vanities of life, and to find their chosen friends and pleasures among the people of God, can have no evidence that they are Christians. The world, with all its wickedness and its gay pleasures, must be forsaken, and there must be an effectual line drawn between the friends of God and the friends of sin. Let us, then, who profess to be the friends of the Redeemer, remember how pure and holy we should be. It should not be indeed with the spirit of the Pharisee; it should not be with a spirit that will lead us to say, Stand by, for I am holier than thou;" but it should be, while we discharge all our duties to our impenitent friends, and while in all our intercourse with the world we should be honest and true, and while we do not refuse to mingle with them as neighbours and citizens as far as we can without compromitting Christian principles, still our chosen friends and our dearest friendships should be with the people of God. For, his friends should be our friends; our happiness should be with them, and the world should see that we prefer the friends of the Redeemer to the friends of gaiety, ambition, and sin. (18.) Christians are the holy temple of God, 2Cor 6:16. How pure should they be! How free should they be from sin! How careful to maintain consciences void of offence! (19.) What an inestimable privilege it is to be a Christian! ( 2Cor 6:18;) to be a child of God! to feel that he is a Father and a Friend! to feel that though we may be forsaken by all others, though poor and despised, yet there is one who never forsakes--one who never forgets that he has sons and daughters dependent on him, and who need his constant care! Compared with this, how small the honour of being permitted to call the rich our friends, or to be regarded as the sons or daughters of nobles and of princes! Let the Christian then most highly prize his privileges, and feel that he is raised above all the elevations of rank and honour which this world can bestow. All these shall fade away, and the highest and the lowest shall meet on the same level in the grave, and alike return to dust. But the elevation of the child of God shall only begin to be visible and appreciated when all other honours fade away. (20.) Let all seek to become the sons and daughters of the Lord Almighty. Let us aspire to this rather than to earthly honours; let us seek this rather than to be numbered with the rich and the great. All cannot be honoured in this world, and few are they who can be regarded as belonging to elevated ranks here. But all may be the children of the living God, and be permitted to call the Lord Almighty their Father and their Friend. Oh! if men could as easily be permitted to call themselves the sons of monarchs and princes; if they could as easily be admitted to the palaces of the great, and sit down at their tables, as they can enter heaven, how greedily would they embrace it! And yet how poor and paltry would be such honour and pleasure compared with that of feeling that we are the adopted children of the great and the eternal God!

And ye shall be to me for sons and for daughters, saith the Lord Almighty - The promise made to Solomon, 1Chr 28:6 , is here applied to all believers; as the promise made particularly to Joshua is applied to them, Heb 13:5 . Who can express the worth, who can conceive the dignity, of this divine adoption? Yet it belongs to all who believe the gospel, who have faith in Christ. They have access to the Almighty; such free and welcome access, as a beloved child to an indulgent father. To him they may fly for aid in every difficulty, and from him obtain a supply in all their wants. Isaiah 43:6 .