{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_42753/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_42753","id":"gutenberg_42753","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/42753","summary":null,"tags":["Bible. Thessalonians -- Criticism, interpretation, etc.","Category: Religion/Spirituality"],"text":"Transcriber's Note:\n\nAn advertisement for the Expositor's Bible series has been moved to\nthe end of the text.\n\nThe start of each chapter extends over several pages in the original.\nThese have been simplified.\n\nSmall capitals have been rendered in ordinary capitals. Italics are\nindicated by _underscores_.\n\nApparent punctuation errors, and a small number of apparent spelling\nerrors (both English and Greek) have been corrected. Hyphenation has\nbeen rationalised.\n\n\n\n\nThe\n\nExpositor's Bible\n\nEdited by\n\nW. Robertson Nicoll, D.D., LL.D.\n\n\nTHE EPISTLES\n\nTO THE THESSALONIANS\n\n BY THE\n REV. JAMES DENNEY, B.D.\n\n HODDER & STOUGHTON\n NEW YORK\n GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS.\n\n\n_THE FIRST EPISTLE TO THE THESSALONIANS._\n\n                                                                  PAGE\n I.\n THE CHURCH OF THE THESSALONIANS                                     3\n\n II.\n THE THANKSGIVING                                                   21\n\n III.\n THE SIGNS OF ELECTION                                              37\n\n IV.\n CONVERSION                                                         53\n\n V.\n APOLOGIA PRO VITA SUA                                              69\n\n VI.\n IMPEACHMENT OF THE JEWS                                            83\n\n VII.\n ABSENCE AND LONGING                                                99\n\n VIII.\n LOVE AND PRAYERS                                                  117\n\n IX.\n PERSONAL PURITY                                                   135\n\n X.\n CHARITY AND INDEPENDENCE                                          151\n\n XI.\n THE DEAD IN CHRIST                                                169\n\n XII.\n THE DAY OF THE LORD                                               185\n\n XIII.\n RULERS AND RULED                                                  201\n\n XIV.\n THE STANDING ORDERS OF THE GOSPEL                                 217\n\n XV.\n THE SPIRIT                                                        233\n\n XVI.\n CONCLUSION                                                        251\n\n\n_THE SECOND EPISTLE TO THE THESSALONIANS._\n\n I.\n SALUTATION AND THANKSGIVING                                       271\n\n II.\n SUFFERING AND GLORY                                               289\n\n III.\n THE MAN OF SIN                                                    305\n\n IV.\n THE RESTRAINT AND ITS REMOVAL                                     323\n\n V.\n THE THEOLOGY OF PAUL                                              341\n\n VI.\n MUTUAL INTERCESSION                                               359\n\n VII.\n THE CHRISTIAN WORTH OF LABOUR                                     375\n\n VIII.\n FAREWELL                                                          391\n\n\n\n\nI.\n\nTHE CHURCH OF THE THESSALONIANS.\n\n\n \"Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came\n to Thessalonica, where was a synagogue of the Jews: and Paul, as his\n custom was, went in unto them, and for three sabbath days reasoned\n with them from the scriptures, opening and alleging, that it behoved\n the Christ to suffer, and to rise again from the dead; and that this\n Jesus, whom, _said he_, I proclaim unto you, is the Christ. And\n some of them were persuaded, and consorted with Paul and Silas; and\n of the devout Greeks a great multitude, and of the chief women not a\n few. But the Jews, being moved with jealousy, took unto them certain\n vile fellows of the rabble, and gathering a crowd, set the city on an\n uproar; and assaulting the house of Jason, they sought to bring them\n forth to the people. And when they found them not, they dragged Jason\n and certain brethren before the rulers of the city, crying, These\n that have turned the world upside down are come hither also; whom\n Jason hath received: and these all act contrary to the decrees of\n C\u00e6sar, saying that there is another king, _one_ Jesus. And they\n troubled the multitude and the rulers of the city, when they heard\n these things. And when they had taken security from Jason and the\n rest, they let them go.\"--ACTS xvii. 1-9 (R.V.).\n\n \"Paul, and Silvanus, and Timothy, unto the church of the\n Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace to\n you and peace.\"--1 THESS. i. 1 (R.V.).\n\nThessalonica, now called Saloniki, was in the first century of our era\na large and flourishing city. It was situated at the north-eastern\ncorner of the Thermaic gulf, on the line of the great Egnatian road,\nwhich formed the main connection by land between Italy and the East.\nIt was an important commercial centre, with a mixed population of\nGreeks, Romans, and Jews. The Jews, who at the present day amount to\nsome twenty thousand, were numerous enough to have a synagogue of\ntheir own; and we can infer from the Book of Acts (xvii. 4) that it\nwas frequented by many of the better spirits among the Gentiles also.\nUnconsciously, and as the event too often proved, unwillingly, the\nDispersion was preparing the way of the Lord.\n\nTo this city the Apostle Paul came, attended by Silas and Timothy, in\nthe course of his second missionary journey. He had just left\nPhilippi, dearest to his heart of all his churches; for there, more\nthan anywhere else, the sufferings of Christ had abounded in him, and\nhis consolations also had been abundant in Christ. He came to\nThessalonica with the marks of the lictors' rods upon his body; but to\nhim they were the marks of Jesus; not warnings to change his path, but\ntokens that the Lord was taking him into fellowship with Himself, and\nbinding him more strictly to His service. He came with the memory of\nhis converts' kindness warm upon his heart; conscious that, amid\nwhatever disappointments, a welcome awaited the gospel, which admitted\nits messenger into the joy of his Lord. We need not wonder, then, that\nthe Apostle kept to his custom, and in spite of the malignity of the\nJews, made his way, when Sabbath came, to the synagogue of\nThessalonica.\n\nHis evangelistic ministry is very briefly described by St. Luke. For\nthree Sabbath days he addressed himself to his fellow-countrymen. He\ntook the Scriptures into his hand, that is, of course, the Old\nTestament Scriptures,--and opening the mysterious casket, as the\npicturesque words in Acts describe his method, he brought out and set\nbefore his auditors, as its inmost and essential secret, the wonderful\nidea that the Christ whom they all expected, the Messiah of God, must\ndie and rise again from the dead. That was not what ordinary Jewish\nreaders found in the law, the prophets, or the psalms; but, once\npersuaded that this interpretation was true, it was not difficult to\nbelieve that the Jesus whom Paul preached was the Christ for whom they\nall hoped. Luke tells us that some were persuaded; but they cannot\nhave been many: his account agrees with the representation of the\nEpistle (i. 9) that the church at Thessalonica was mainly Gentile. Of\nthe \"chief women not a few,\" who were among the first converts, we\nknow nothing; the exhortations in both Epistles make it plain that\nwhat Paul left at Thessalonica was what we should call a working-class\ncongregation. The jealousy of the Jews, who resorted to the device\nwhich had already proved successful at Philippi, compelled Paul and\nhis friends to leave the city prematurely. The mission, indeed, had\nprobably lasted longer than most readers infer from Acts xvii. Paul\nhad had time to make his character and conduct impressive to the\nchurch, and to deal with each one of them as a father with his own\nchildren (ii. 11); he had wrought night and day with his own hands for\na livelihood (2 Thess. iii. 8); he had twice received help from the\nPhilippians (Phil. iv. 15, 16). But although this implies a stay of\nsome duration, much remained to be done; and the natural anxiety of\nthe Apostle, as he thought of his inexperienced disciples, was\nintensified by the reflection that he had left them exposed to the\nmalignity of his and their enemies. What means that malignity\nemployed--what violence and what calumny--the Epistle itself enables\nus to see; meantime, it is sufficient to say that the pressure of\nthese things upon the Apostle's spirit was the occasion of his writing\nthis letter. He had tried in vain to get back to Thessalonica; he had\ncondemned himself to solitude in a strange city that he might send\nTimothy to them; he must hear whether they stand fast in their\nChristian calling. On his return from this mission Timothy joined Paul\nin Corinth with a report, cheering on the whole, yet not without its\ngraver side, concerning the Thessalonian believers; and the first\nEpistle is the apostolic message in these circumstances. It is, in all\nprobability, the earliest of the New Testament writings; it is\ncertainly the earliest extant of Paul's: if we except the decree in\nActs xv., it is the earliest piece of Christian writing in\nexistence.[1]\n\nThe names mentioned in the address are all well known--Paul, Silvanus,\nand Timothy. The three are united in the greeting, and are sometimes,\napparently, included in the \"we\" or \"us\" of the Epistle; but they are\nnot joint authors of it. It is the Epistle of Paul, who includes them\nin the salutation out of courtesy, as in the First to the Corinthians\nhe includes Sosthenes, and in Galatians \"all the brethren that are\nwith me\"; a courtesy the more binding on this occasion that Silas and\nTimothy had shared with him his missionary work in Thessalonica. In\nFirst and Second Thessalonians only, of all his letters, the Apostle\nadds nothing to his name to indicate the character in which he writes;\nhe neither calls himself an apostle, nor a servant of Jesus Christ.\nThe Thessalonians knew him simply for what he was; his apostolic\ndignity was yet unassailed by false brethren; the simple name was\nenough. Silas comes before Timothy as an older man, and a\nfellow-labourer of longer standing. In the Book of Acts he is\ndescribed as a prophet, and as one of the chief men among the\nbrethren; he had been associated with Paul all through this journey;\nand though we know very little of him, the fact that he was chosen one\nof the bearers of the apostolic decree, and that he afterwards\nattached himself to Paul, justifies the inference that he heartily\nsympathised with the evangelising of the heathen. Timothy was\napparently one of Paul's own converts. Carefully instructed in\nchildhood by a pious mother and grandmother, he had been won to the\nfaith of Christ during the first tour of the Apostle in Asia Minor. He\nwas naturally timid, but kept the faith in spite of the persecutions\nwhich then awaited it; and when Paul returned, he found that the\nsteadfastness and other graces of his spiritual son had won an\nhonourable name in the local churches. He determined to take him with\nhim, apparently in the character of an evangelist; but before he was\nordained by the presbyters, Paul circumcised him, remembering his\nJewish descent on the mother's side, and desirous of facilitating his\naccess to the synagogue, in which the work of gospel preaching usually\nbegan. Of all the Apostle's assistants he was the most faithful and\naffectionate. He had the true pastoral spirit, devoid of selfishness,\nand caring naturally and unfeignedly for the souls of men (Phil. ii.\n20 f.). Such were the three who sent their Christian greetings in this\nEpistle.\n\nThe greetings are addressed \"to the church of (the) Thessalonians in\nGod the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.\" No such address had ever\nbeen written or read before, for the community to which it was\ndirected was a new thing in the world. The word translated \"church\"\nwas certainly familiar enough to all who knew Greek: it was the name\ngiven to the citizens of a Greek town assembled for public business;\nit is the name given in the Greek Bible either to the children of\nIsrael as the congregation of Jehovah, or to any gathering of them for\na special purpose; but here it obtains a new significance. The church\nof the Thessalonians is a church in God the Father and the Lord Jesus\nChrist. It is the common relation of its members to God the Father\nand the Lord Jesus Christ which constitutes them a church in the sense\nof the Apostle: in contradistinction from all other associations or\nsocieties, they form a Christian community. The Jews who met from\nSabbath to Sabbath in the synagogue were a church; they were one in\nthe acknowledgment of the Living God, and in their observance of His\nlaw; God, as revealed in the Old Testament and in the polity of\nIsrael, was the element or atmosphere of their spiritual life. The\ncitizens of Thessalonica, who met in the theatre to discuss their\npolitical interests, were a \"church\"; they were one in recognising the\nsame constitution and the same ends of civic life; it was in that\nconstitution, in the pursuit of those ends, that they found the\natmosphere in which they lived. Paul in this Epistle greets a\ncommunity distinct from either of these. It is not civic, but\nreligious; though religious, it is neither pagan nor Jewish; it is an\noriginal creation, new in its bond of union, in the law by which it\nlives, in the objects at which it aims; a church in God the Father and\nin the Lord Jesus Christ.\n\nThis newness and originality of Christianity could not fail to impress\nthose who first received it. The gospel made an immeasurable\ndifference to them, a difference almost equally great whether they had\nbeen Jews or heathen before; and they were intensely conscious of the\ngulf which separated their new life from the old. In another epistle\nPaul describes the condition of Gentiles not yet evangelised. Once, he\nsays, you were apart from Christ, without God, in the world. The\nworld--the great system of things and interests separated from\nGod--was the sphere and element of their life. The gospel found them\nthere, and translated them. When they received it, they ceased to be\nin the world; they were no longer apart from Christ, and without God:\nthey were in God the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ. Nothing\ncould be more revolutionary in those days than to become a Christian:\nold things passed away; all things became new; all things were\ndetermined by the new relation to God and His Son. The difference\nbetween the Christian and the non-Christian was as unmistakable and as\nclear to the Christian mind as the difference between the shipwrecked\nsailor who has reached the shore and him who is still fighting a\nhopeless fight with wind and waves. In a country which has long been\nChristian, that difference tends, to sense at least, and to\nimagination, to disappear. We are not vividly impressed with the\ndistinction between those who claim to be Christians and those who do\nnot; we do not see a radical unlikeness, and we are sometimes disposed\nto deny it. We may even feel that we are bound to deny it, were it\nonly in justice to God. He has made all men for Himself; He is the\nFather of all; He is near to all, even when they are blind to Him; the\npressure of His hand is felt and in a measure responded to by all,\neven when they do not recognise it; to say that any one is \u1f04\u03b8\u03b5\u03bf\u03c2,\nor \u03c7\u03c9\u03c1\u1f76\u03c2 \u03a7\u03c1\u03b9\u03c3\u03c4\u03bf\u1fe6, or that he is _not_ in God the Father and in the\nLord Jesus Christ, seems really to deny both God and man.\n\nYet what is at issue here is really a question of fact; and among\nthose who have been in contact with the facts, among those, above all,\nwho have had experience of the critical fact--who once were not\nChristians and now are--there will not be two opinions about it. The\ndifference between the Christian and the non-Christian, though\nhistorical accidents have made it less visible, or rather, less\nconspicuous than it once was, is still as real and as vast as ever.\nThe higher nature of man, intellectual and spiritual, must always have\nan element in which it lives, an atmosphere surrounding it, principles\nto guide it, ends to stimulate its action; and it may find all these\nin either of two places. It may find them in the world--that is, in\nthat sphere of things from which God, so far as man's will and intent\ngoes, is excluded; or it may find them in God Himself and in His Son.\nIt is no objection to this division to say that God cannot be excluded\nfrom His own world, that He is always at work there whether\nacknowledged or not; for the acknowledgment is the essential point;\nwithout it, though God is near to man, man is still far from God.\nNothing could be a more hopeless symptom in character than the\nbenevolent neutrality which evades this truth; it takes away every\nmotive to evangelise the non-Christian, or to work out the originality\nand distinctiveness of the Christian life itself. Now, as in the\napostolic age, there are persons who are Christians and persons who\nare not; and, however alike their lives may be on the surface, they\nare radically apart. Their centre is different; the element in which\nthey move is different; the nutriment of thought, the fountain of\nmotives, the standard of purity are different; they are related to\neach other as life in God, and life without God; life in Christ, and\nlife apart from Christ; and in proportion to their sincerity is their\nmutual antagonism.\n\nIn Thessalonica the Christian life was original enough to have formed\na new society. In those days, and in the Roman Empire, there was not\nmuch room for the social instincts to expand. Unions of all kinds were\nsuspected by the governments, and discouraged, as probable centres of\npolitical disaffection. Local self-government ceased to be interesting\nwhen all important interests were withdrawn from its control; and even\nhad it been otherwise, there was no part in it possible for that great\nmass of population from which the Church was so largely recruited,\nnamely, the slaves. Any power that could bring men together, that\ncould touch them deeply, and give them a common interest that engaged\ntheir hearts and bound them to each other, met the greatest want of\nthe time, and was sure of a welcome. Such a power was the gospel\npreached by Paul. It formed little communities of men and women\nwherever it was proclaimed; communities in which there was no law but\nthat of love, in which heart opened to heart as nowhere else in all\nthe world, in which there was fervour and hope and freedom and\nbrotherly kindness, and all that makes life good and dear. We feel\nthis very strongly in reading the New Testament, and it is one of the\npoints on which, unhappily, we have drifted away from the primitive\nmodel. The Christian congregation is not now, in point of fact, the\ntype of a sociable community. Too often it is oppressed with\nconstraint and formality. Take any particular member of any particular\ncongregation; and his social circle, the company of friends in which\nhe expands most freely and happily, will possibly have no connection\nwith those he sits beside in the church. The power of the faith to\nbring men into real unity with each other is not lessened; we see this\nwherever the gospel breaks ground in a heathen country, or wherever\nthe frigidity of the church drives two or three fervent souls to form\na secret society of their own, but the temperature of faith itself is\nlowered; we are not really living, with any intensity of life, in God\nthe Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ. If we were, we would be drawn\ncloser to each other; our hearts would touch and overflow; the place\nwhere we meet in the name of Jesus would be the most radiant and\nsociable place we know.\n\nNothing could better illustrate the reality of that new character\nwhich Christianity confers than the fact that men can be addressed as\nChristians. Nothing, either, could better illustrate the confusion of\nmind that exists in this matter, or the insincerity of much\nprofession, than the fact that so many members of churches would\nhesitate before taking the liberty so to address a brother. We have\nall written letters, and on all sorts of occasions; we have addressed\nmen as lawyers, or doctors, or men of business; we have sent or\naccepted invitations to gatherings where nothing would have astonished\nus more than the unaffected naming of the name of God; did we ever\nwrite to anybody because he was a Christian, and because we were\nChristians? Of all the relations in which we stand to others, is that\nwhich is established by \"our common Christianity,\" by our common life\nin Jesus Christ, the only one which is so crazy and precarious that it\ncan never be really used for anything? Here we see the Apostle look\nback from Corinth to Thessalonica, and his one interest in the poor\npeople whom he remembers so affectionately is that they are\nChristians. The one thing in which he wishes to help them is their\nChristian life. He does not care much whether they are well or ill off\nin respect of this world's goods; but he is anxious to supply what is\nlacking in their faith (iii. 10). How real a thing the Christian life\nwas to him! what a substantial interest, whether in himself or in\nothers, engrossing all his thought, absorbing all his love and\ndevotion. To many of us it is the one topic for silence; to him it was\nthe one theme of thought and speech. He wrote about it, as he spoke\nabout it, as though there were no other interest for man; and letters\nlike those of Thomas Erskine show that still, out of the abundance of\nthe heart, the mouth speaketh. The full soul overflows, unaffected,\nunforced; Christian fellowship, as soon as Christian life is real, is\nrestored to its true place.\n\nPaul, Silas, and Timothy wish the church of the Thessalonians grace\nand peace. This is the greeting in all the Apostle's letters; it is\nnot varied except by the addition of \"mercy\" in the Epistles to\nTimothy and Titus. In form it seems to combine the salutations current\namong the Greeks and the Jews (\u03c7\u03b1\u03af\u03c1\u03b5\u03b9\u03bd and \u05e9\u05b8\u05c1\u05dc\u05d5\u05b9\u05dd), but in import\nit has all the originality of the Christian faith. In the second\nEpistle it runs, \"Grace and peace from God the Father and the Lord\nJesus Christ.\" Grace is the love of God, spontaneous, beautiful,\nunearned, at work in Jesus Christ for the salvation of sinful men;\npeace is the effect and fruit in man of the reception of grace. It is\neasy to narrow unduly the significance of peace; those expositors do\nso who suppose in this passage a reference to the persecution which\nthe Thessalonian Christians had to bear, and understand the Apostle to\nwish them deliverance from it. The Apostle has something far more\ncomprehensive in his mind. The peace, which Christ is; the peace with\nGod which we have when we are reconciled to Him by the death of His\nSon; the soul-health which comes when grace makes our hearts to their\nvery depths right with God, and frightens away care and fear; this\n\"perfect soundness\" spiritually is all summed up in the word. It\ncarries in it the fulness of the blessing of Christ. The order of the\nwords is significant; there is no peace without grace; and there is no\ngrace apart from fellowship with God in Christ. The history of the\nChurch has been written by some who practically put Paul in Christ's\nplace; and by others who imagine that the doctrine of the person of\nChrist only attained by slow degrees, and in the post-apostolic age,\nits traditional importance; but here, in the oldest extant monument of\nthe Christian faith, and in the very first line of it, the Church is\ndefined as existing in the Lord Jesus Christ; and in that single\nexpression, in which the Son stands side by side with the Father, as\nthe life of all believing souls, we have the final refutation of such\nperverse thoughts. By the grace of God, incarnate in Jesus Christ, the\nChristian is what he is; he lives and moves and has his being there;\napart from Christ, he is not. Here, then, is our hope. Conscious of\nour own sins, and of the shortcomings of the Christian community of\nwhich we are members, let us have recourse to Him whose grace is\nsufficient for us. Let us abide in Christ, and in all things grow up\ninto Him. God alone is good; Christ alone is the Pattern and the\nInspiration of the Christian character; only in the Father and the Son\ncan the new life and the new fellowship come to their perfection.\n\n[1] The date cannot be precisely assigned, but it is not later than 54\nA.D., and cannot be so early as 52. Most scholars say 54. It was\nwritten in Corinth.\n\n\n\n\nII.\n\nTHE THANKSGIVING.\n\n\n \"We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in\n our prayers; remembering without ceasing your work of faith and\n labour of love and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, before\n our God and Father; knowing, brethren beloved of God, your\n election.\"--1 THESS. i. 2-4. (R.V.).\n\nThe salutation in St. Paul's epistles is regularly followed by the\nthanksgiving. Once only, in the Epistle to the Galatians, is it\nomitted; the amazement and indignation with which the Apostle has\nheard that his converts are forsaking his gospel for another which is\nnot a gospel at all, carries him out of himself for a moment. But in\nhis earliest letter it stands in its proper place; before he thinks of\ncongratulating, teaching, exhorting, admonishing, he gives God thanks\nfor the tokens of His grace in the Thessalonians. He would not be\nwriting to these people at all if they were not Christians; they would\nnever have been Christians but for the free goodness of God; and\nbefore he says one word directly to them, he acknowledges that\ngoodness with a grateful heart.\n\nIn this case the thanksgiving is particularly fervent. It has no\ndrawback. There is no profane person at Thessalonica, like him who\ndefiled the church at Corinth at a later period; we give thanks, says\nthe Apostle, for you all. It is, as far as the nature of the case\npermits, uninterrupted. As often as Paul prays, he makes mention of\nthem and gives thanks; he remembers without ceasing their new-born\ngraces. We ought not to extenuate the force of such words, as if they\nwere mere exaggerations, the idle extravagances of a man who\nhabitually said more than he meant. Paul's life was concentrated and\nintense, to a degree of which we have probably little conception. He\nlived for Christ, and for the churches of Christ; it was literal\ntruth, not extravagance, when he said, \"This one thing I do\": the life\nof these churches, their interests, their necessities, their dangers,\nGod's goodness to them, his own duty to serve them, all these\nconstituted together the one dear concernment of his life; they were\never with him in God's sight, and therefore in his intercessions and\nthanksgivings to God. Other men's minds might surge with various\ninterests; new ambitions or affections might displace old ones;\nfickleness or disappointments might change their whole career; but it\nwas not so with him. His thoughts and affections never changed their\nobject, for the same conditions appealed constantly to the same\nsusceptibility; if he grieved over the unbelief of the Jews, he had\nunceasing (\u1f00\u03b4\u03b9\u03ac\u03bb\u03b5\u03b9\u03c0\u03c4\u03bf\u03bd) pain in his heart; if he gave thanks for the\nThessalonians, he remembered without ceasing (\u1f00\u03b4\u03b9\u03b1\u03bb\u03b5\u03af\u03c0\u03c4\u03c9\u03c2) the\ngraces with which they had been adorned by God.\n\nNor were these continual thanksgivings vague or formal; the Apostle\nrecalls, in each particular case, the special manifestations of\nChristian character which inspire his gratitude. Sometimes, as in 1st\nCorinthians, they are less spiritual--gifts, rather than graces;\nutterance and knowledge, without charity; sometimes, as here, they are\neminently spiritual--faith, love, and hope. The conjunction of these\nthree in the earliest of Paul's letters is worthy of remark. They\noccur again in the well-known passage in 1 Cor. xiii., where, though\nthey share in the distinction of being eternal, and not, like\nknowledge and eloquence, transitory in their nature, love is exalted\nto an eminence above the other two. They occur a third time in one of\nthe later epistles--that to the Colossians--and in the same order as\nhere. That, says Lightfoot on the passage, is the natural order.\n\"Faith rests on the past; love works in the present; hope looks to the\nfuture.\" Whether this distribution of the graces is accurate or not,\nit suggests the truth that they cover and fill up the whole Christian\nlife. They are the sum and substance of it, whether it looks back, or\nlooks round, or looks forward. The germ of all perfection is implanted\nin the soul which is the dwelling-place of \"these three.\"\n\nThough none of them can really exist, in its Christian quality,\nwithout the others, any of them may preponderate at a given time. It\nis not quite fanciful to point out that each in its turn seems to\nhave bulked most largely in the experience of the Apostle himself. His\nearliest epistles--the two to the Thessalonians--are pre-eminently\nepistles of hope. They look to the future; the doctrinal interest\nuppermost in them is that of the second coming of the Lord, and the\nfinal rest of the Church. The epistles of the next period--Romans,\nCorinthians, and Galatians--are as distinctly epistles of faith. They\ndeal largely with faith as the power which unites the soul to God in\nChrist, and brings into it the virtue of the atoning death and\nresurrection of Jesus. Later still, there are the epistles of which\nColossians and Ephesians are the type. The great thought in these is\nthat of the unity wrought by love; Christ is the head of the Church;\nthe Church is the body of Christ; the building up of the body in love,\nby the mutual help of the members, and their common dependence on the\nHead, preoccupies the apostolic writer. All this may have been more or\nless accidental, due to circumstances which had nothing to do with the\nspiritual life of Paul; but it has the look of being natural too. Hope\nprevails first--the new world of things unseen and eternal outweighs\nthe old; it is the stage at which religion is least free from the\ninfluence of sense and imagination. Then comes the reign of faith; the\ninward gains upon the outward; the mystical union of the soul to\nChrist, in which His spiritual life is appropriated, is more or less\nsufficient to itself; it is the stage, if it be a stage at all, at\nwhich religion becomes independent of imagination and sense. Finally,\nlove reigns. The solidarity of all Christian interests is strongly\nfelt; the life flows out again, in all manner of Christian service, on\nthose by whom it is surrounded; the Christian moves and has his being\nin the body of which he is a member. All this, I repeat, can be only\ncomparatively true; but the character and sequence of the Apostle's\nwritings speak for its truth so far.\n\nBut it is not simply faith, love, and hope that are in question here:\n\"we remember,\" says the Apostle, \"your _work_ of faith and\n_labour_ of love and _patience_ of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.\"\nWe call faith, love, and hope the Christian graces; and we are apt to\nforget that the associations of heathen mythology, thus introduced,\nare disturbing rather than enlightening. The three Graces of the\nGreeks are ideally beautiful figures; but their beauty is \u00e6sthetic,\nnot spiritual. They are lovely as a group of statuary is lovely; but\nthough \"by (their) gift come unto men all pleasant things and sweet,\nand the wisdom of a man and his beauty, and the splendour of his\nfame,\" their nature is utterly unlike that of the three powers of the\nChristian character; no one would dream of ascribing to them work, and\nlabour and patience. Yet the mere fact that \"Graces\" has been used as\na common name for both has diffused the idea that the Christian\ngraces also are to be viewed mainly as the adornments of character,\nits unsought, unstudied beauties, set on it by God to subdue and charm\nthe world. That is quite wrong; the _Greek_ Graces are essentially\nbeauties; they confer on men all that wins admiration--personal\ncomeliness, victory in the games, a happy mood; but the _Christian_\ngraces are essentially powers; they are new virtues and forces which\nGod has implanted in the soul that it may be able to do His work in\nthe world. The heathen Graces are lovely to look at, and that is all;\nbut the Christian graces are not subjects for \u00e6sthetic contemplation;\nthey are here to work, to toil, to endure. If they have a beauty of\ntheir own--and surely they have--it is a beauty not in form or colour,\nnot appealing to the eye or the imagination, but only to the spirit\nwhich has seen and loved Christ, and loves His likeness in whatever\nguise.\n\nLet us look at the Apostle's words more closely: he speaks of a work\nof faith; to take it exactly, of something which faith has done. Faith\nis a conviction with regard to things unseen, that makes them present\nand real. Faith in God as revealed in Christ, and in His death for\nsin, makes reconciliation real; it gives the believer peace with God.\nBut it is not shut up in the realm of things inward and unseen. If it\nwere, a man might say what he pleased about it, and there would be no\ncheck upon his words. Wherever it exists, it works; he who is interested\ncan see what it has done. Apparently the Apostle has some particular\nwork of faith in his mind in this passage; some thing which the\nThessalonians had actually done, because they believed but what it is\nwe cannot tell. Certainly not faith itself; certainly not love, as\nsome think, referring to Gal. v. 6; if a conjecture may be hazarded,\npossibly some act of courage or fidelity under persecution, similar to\nthose adduced in Heb. xi. That famous chapter contains a catalogue of\nthe works which faith wrought; and serves as a commentary, therefore,\non this expression. Surely we ought to notice that the great Apostle,\nwhose name has been the strength and shield of all who preach\njustification by faith alone, the very first time he mentions this\ngrace in his epistles, mentions it as a power which leaves its witness\nin work.\n\nIt is so, also, with love: \"we remember,\" he writes, \"your labour of\nlove.\" The difference between \u1f14\u03c1\u03b3\u03bf\u03bd (work) and \u03ba\u03cc\u03c0\u03bf\u03c2 (labour) is\nthat between effect and effort. The Apostle recalls something which\nthe faith of the Thessalonians did; he recalls also the wearisome toil\nin which their love spent itself. Love is not so capable of abuse in\nreligion, or, at least, it has not been so rankly abused, as faith.\nMen are much more apt to demand the proof of it. It has an inward side\nas much as faith, but it is not an emotion which exhausts itself in\nits own transports. Merely as emotion, indeed, it is apt to be\nundervalued. In the Church of to-day emotion needs rather to be\nstimulated than repressed. The passion of the New Testament startles\nus when we chance to feel it. For one man among us who is using up the\npowers of his soul in barren ecstasies, there are thousands who have\nnever been moved by Christ's love to a single tear or a single heart\nthrob. They must learn to love before they can labour. They must be\nkindled by that fire which burned in Christ's heart, and which He came\nto cast upon the earth, before they can do anything in His service.\nBut if the love of Christ has really met that answer in love for which\nit waits, the time for service has come. Love in the Christian will\nattest itself as it attested itself in Christ. It will prescribe and\npoint out the path of labour. The word employed in this passage is one\noften used by the Apostle to describe his own laborious life. Love set\nhim, and will set every one in whose heart it truly burns, upon\nincessant, unwearied efforts for others' good. Paul was ready to spend\nand be spent at its bidding, however small the result might be. He\ntoiled with his hands, he toiled with his brain, he toiled with his\nardent, eager, passionate heart, he toiled in his continual\nintercessions with God, and all these toils made up his _labour_ of\nlove. \"A labour of love,\" in current language, is a piece of work\ndone so willingly that no payment is expected for it. But a labour of\nlove is not what the Apostle is speaking of; it is _laboriousness_, as\nlove's characteristic. Let Christian men and women ask themselves\nwhether their love can be so characterised. We have all been tired in\nour time, one may presume; we have toiled in business, or in some\nambitious course, or in the perfecting of some accomplishment, or even\nin the mastery of some game or the pursuit of some amusement, till we\nwere utterly wearied: how many of us have so toiled in love? How many\nof us have been wearied and worn with some labour to which we set\nourselves for God's sake? This is what the Apostle has in view in this\npassage; and, strange as it may appear, it is one of the things for\nwhich he gives God thanks. But is he not right? Is it not a thing to\nevoke gratitude and joy, that God counts us worthy to be\nfellow-labourers with Him in the manifold works which love imposes?\n\nThe church at Thessalonica was not old; its first members could only\ncount their Christian age by months. Yet love is so native to the\nChristian life, that they found at once a career for it; demands were\nmade upon their sympathy and their strength which were met at once,\nthough never suspected before. \"What are we to do,\" we sometimes ask,\n\"if we would work the works of God?\" If we have love enough in our\nhearts, it will answer all its own questions. It is the fulfilling of\nthe law just because it shows us plainly where service is needed, and\nputs us upon rendering it at any cost of pain or toil. It is not too\nmuch to say that the very word chosen by the Apostle to characterise\nlove--this word \u03ba\u03cc\u03c0\u03bf\u03c2--is peculiarly appropriate, because it brings\nout, not the issue, but only the cost, of work. With the result\ndesired, or without it; with faint hope, or with hope most sure, love\nlabours, toils, spends and is spent over its task: this is the very\nseal of its genuine Christian character.\n\nThe third grace remains: \"your patience of hope in our Lord Jesus\nChrist.\" The second coming of Christ was an element in apostolic\nteaching which, whether exceptionally prominent or not, had made an\nexceptional impression at Thessalonica. It will more naturally be\nstudied at another place; here it is sufficient to say that it was the\ngreat object of Christian hope. Christians not only believed Christ\nwould come again; they not only expected Him to come; they were eager\nfor His coming. \"How long, O Lord?\" they cried in their distress.\n\"Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly,\" was their prayer.\n\nIt is matter of notoriety that hope in this sense does not hold its\nancient place in the heart of the Church. It holds a much lower place.\nChristian men hope for this or that; they hope that threatening\nsymptoms in the Church or in society may pass away, and better things\nappear; they hope that when the worst comes to the worst, it will not\nbe so bad as the pessimists anticipate. Such impotent and ineffective\nhope is of no kindred to the hope of the gospel. So far from being a\npower of God in the soul, a victorious grace, it is a sure token that\nGod is absent. Instead of inspiring, it discourages; it leads to\nnumberless self-deceptions; men _hope_ their lives are right with God,\nwhen they ought to search them and see; they _hope_ things will turn\nout well, when they ought to be taking security of them. All this,\nwhere our relations to God are concerned, is a degradation of the very\nword. The Christian hope is laid up in heaven. The object of it is the\nLord Jesus Christ. It is not precarious, but certain; it is not\nineffective, but a great and energetic power. Anything else is not\nhope at all.\n\nThe operation of the true hope is manifold. It is a sanctifying grace,\nas appears from 1 John iii. 3: \"Every one that hath this hope set on\nHim, purifieth himself, even as He is pure.\" But here the Apostle\ncharacterises it by its patience. The two virtues are so inseparable\nthat Paul sometimes uses them as equivalent; twice in the Epistles to\nTimothy and Titus, he says faith, love, and patience, instead of\nfaith, love, and hope. But what is patience? The word is one of the\ngreat words of the New Testament. The corresponding verb is usually\nrendered endurance, as in Christ's saying, \"He that endureth to the\nend, the same shall be saved.\" Patience is more than resignation or\nmeek submission; it is hope in the shade, but hope nevertheless; the\nbrave steadfastness which bears up under all burdens because the Lord\nis at hand. The Thessalonians had much affliction in their early days\nas Christians; they were tried, too, as we all are, by inward\ndiscouragements--that persistence and vitality of sin that break the\nspirit and beget despair; but they saw close at hand the glory of the\nLord; and in the patience of hope they held out, and fought the good\nfight to the last. It is truly significant that in the Pastoral\nEpistles patience has taken the place of hope in the trinity of\ngraces. It is as if Paul had discovered, by prolonged experience, that\nit was in the form of patience that hope was to be mainly effective in\nthe Christian life. The Thessalonians, some of them, were abusing the\ngreat hope; it was working mischief in their lives, because it was\nmisapplied; in this single word Paul hints at the truth which abundant\nexperience had taught him, that all the energy of hope must be\ntransformed into brave patience if we would stand in our place at the\nlast. Remembering their work of faith, and labour of love, and\npatience of hope, in the presence of our God and Father, the Apostle\ngives thanks to God always for them all. Happy is the man whose joys\nare such that he can gratefully dwell on them in that presence: happy\nare those also who give others cause to thank God on their behalf.\n\nThe ground of the thanksgiving is finally comprehended in one short\nand striking phrase: \"Knowing, brethren beloved of God, your\nelection.\" The doctrine of election has often been taught as if the\none thing that could never be known about anybody was whether he was\nor was not elect. The assumed impossibility does not square with New\nTestament ways of speaking. Paul knew the elect, he says here; at\nleast he knew the Thessalonians were elect. In the same way he writes\nto the Ephesians: \"God chose us in Christ before the foundation of the\nworld; ... in love He foreordained us to adoption as sons.\" Chose whom\nbefore the foundation of the world? Foreordained whom? Himself, and\nthose whom he addressed. If the Church has learned the doctrine of\nelection from anybody, it has been from Paul; but to him it had a\nbasis in experience, and apparently he felt differently about it from\nmany theologians. He knew when the people he spoke to were elect; how,\nhe tells in what follows.\n\n\n\n\nIII.\n\nTHE SIGNS OF ELECTION.\n\n\n \"How that our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in\n power, and in the Holy Ghost, and _in_ much assurance; even as ye\n know what manner of men we showed ourselves toward you for your sake.\n And ye became imitators of us, and of the Lord, having received the\n word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Ghost; so that ye\n became an ensample to all that believe in Macedonia and Achaia. For\n from you hath sounded forth the word of the Lord, not only in\n Macedonia and Achaia, but in every place your faith to God-ward is\n gone forth; so that we need not to speak anything.\"--1 THESS. i. 5-8\n (R.V.).\n\nThe Revised Version renders the \u1f45\u03c4\u03b9, with which ver. 5 begins, \"how\nthat,\" the Authorised Version, \"for.\" In the first case, the Apostle\nis made to explain in what election consists; in the other, he\nexplains how it is that he knows the Thessalonians to be among the\nelect. There is hardly room to doubt that it is this last which he\nintends to do. Election does not consist in the things which he\nproceeds to enlarge upon, though these may be in some sense its\neffects or tokens; and there is something like unanimity among\nscholars in favour of the rendering \"for,\" or \"because.\" What, then,\nare the grounds of the statement, that Paul knows the election of the\nThessalonians? They are twofold; lying partly in his own experience,\nand that of his fellow-labourers, while they preached the gospel in\nThessalonica; and partly in the reception which the Thessalonians gave\nto their message.\n\nI. The tokens in the preacher that his hearers are elect: \"Our gospel\ncame not unto you in word only, but in power, and in the Holy Ghost,\nand in much assurance.\" That was the consciousness of the preachers\nthemselves, but they could appeal to those who had heard them: \"even\nas ye know what manner of men we showed ourselves toward you for your\nsake.\"\n\nThe self-consciousness of the preacher, we see from these words, is a\nlegitimate though a perilous study. Every one has been told that there\nis no relation whatever between his own consciousness when preaching,\nand the effect of what is preached; but has anybody ever quite\nbelieved this? If there were no relation whatever between the\npreacher's consciousness and his conscience; if he did not know that\nmany a time neglect of prayer or duty had separated him from God, and\nmade him useless as an evangelist, it would be easier to believe it;\nbut as our life is, the preacher may know quite well that it is no\nproof of God's good will to men that _he_ is sent to preach to them;\nor, on the other hand, he may have a humble but sure trust that when\nhe stands up to speak, God is with him for good to his hearers. Thus\nit was with Paul at Thessalonica.\n\nThe heartiness with which he speaks here justifies the inference that\nhe had had experiences of an opposite and disappointing kind. Twice in\nAsia (Acts xvi. 6 f.) he had been forbidden by the Spirit to preach at\nall; he could not argue that the people so passed by were specially\nfavoured of God. Often, especially in his intercourse with the Jews,\nhe must have spoken, like Isaiah, with the depressing consciousness\nthat it was all in vain; that the sole issue would be to blind their\neyes and harden their hearts and seal them up in impenitence. In\nCorinth, just before writing this letter, he had come forward with\nunusual trepidation--in weakness and fear and much trembling; and\nthough there also the Holy Spirit and a divine power brought home the\ngospel to men's hearts, he seems to have been so far from that inward\nassurance which he enjoyed at Thessalonica, that the Lord appeared to\nhim in a vision by night to reveal the existence of an election of\ngrace even in Corinth. \"Fear not: I have much people in this city.\" In\nThessalonica he had no such sinking of heart. He came thither, as he\nhoped to go to Rome, in the fulness of the blessing of Christ (Rom.\nxv. 29). He knew in himself that God had given it to him to be a true\nminister of His grace; he was full of power by the Spirit of the Lord.\nThat is why he says so confidently, \"Knowing your election.\"\n\nThe Apostle explains himself more precisely when he writes, \"not in\nword only, but in power and in the Holy Ghost and in much assurance.\"\nThe gospel must come in word at least; but what a profanation it is to\npreach it only in word. Not preachers only, but all Christians, have\nto be on their guard, lest familiarity rob the great words of the\ngospel of their reality, and they themselves sink into that worst\natheism which is for ever handling holy things without feeling them.\nHow easy is it to speak of God, Christ, redemption, atonement,\nsanctification, heaven, hell, and to be less impressed and less\nimpressive than if we were speaking of the merest trivialities of\nevery-day life. It is hard to believe that an apostle could have seen\nsuch a possibility even from afar; yet the contrast of \"word\" and\n\"power\" leaves no room to doubt that such is his meaning. Words alone\nare worthless. No matter how brilliant, how eloquent, how imposing\nthey may be, they cannot do the work of an evangelist. The call to\nthis requires \"power.\"\n\nNo definition of power is given; we can only see that it is that which\nachieves spiritual results, and that the preacher is conscious of\npossessing it. It is not his own, certainly: it works through the very\nconsciousness of his own want of power; \"when I am weak, then am I\nstrong.\" But it gives him hope and confidence in his work. Paul knew\nthat it needed a stupendous force to make bad men good; the forces to\nbe overcome were so enormous. All the sin of the world was arrayed\nagainst the gospel; all the dead weight of men's indifference, all\ntheir pride, all their shame, all their self-satisfaction, all their\ncherished wisdom. But he came to Thessalonica _strong_ in the Lord,\nconfident that his message would subdue those who listened to it; and\ntherefore, he argued, the Thessalonians were the objects of God's\nelecting grace.\n\n\"Power\" stands side by side with the \"Holy Ghost.\" In a sense, the\nHoly Ghost is the source of all spiritual virtues, and therefore of\nthe very power of which we have been speaking; but the words are\nprobably used here with some narrower meaning. The predominant use of\nthe name in the New Testament bids us think of that divine fervour\nwhich the spirit kindles in the soul--that ardour of the new life\nwhich Christ Himself speaks of as fire. Paul came to Thessalonica\naglow with Christian passion. He took that as a good omen in his work,\na sign that God meant well to the Thessalonians. By nature men do not\ncare passionately for each other as he cared for those to whom he\npreached in that city. They are not on fire with love, seeking each\nother's good in spiritual things; consumed with fervent longing that\nthe bad should cease from their badness, and come to enjoy the pardon,\nthe purity, and the company of Christ. Even in the heart of\napostles--for though they were apostles they were men--the fire may\nsometimes have burned low, and a mission have been, by comparison,\nlanguid and spiritless; but at least on this occasion the evangelists\nwere all on fire; and it assured them that God had a people waiting\nfor them in the unknown city.\n\nIf \"power\" and the \"Holy Ghost\" are in some degree to be judged only\nby their effects, there can be no question that \"much assurance,\" on\nthe other hand, is an inner experience, belonging strictly to the\nself-consciousness of the preacher. It means a full and strong\nconviction of the truth of the gospel. We can only understand this by\ncontrast with its opposite; \"much assurance\" is the counterpart of\nmisgiving or doubt. We can hardly imagine an apostle in doubt about\nthe gospel--not quite certain that Christ had risen from the dead;\nwondering whether, after all, His death had abolished sin. Yet these\ntruths, which are the sum and substance of the gospel, seem, at times,\ntoo great for belief; they do not coalesce with the other contents of\nour mind; they do not weave easily into one piece with the warp and\nwoof of our common thoughts; there is no common measure for them and\nthe rest of our experience, and the shadow of unreality falls upon\nthem. They are so great that it needs a certain greatness to answer to\nthem, a certain boldness of faith to which even a true Christian may\nfeel momentarily unequal; and while he is unequal, he cannot do the\nwork of an evangelist. Doubt paralyses; God cannot work through a man\nin whose soul there are misgivings about the truth. At least, His\nworking will be limited to the sphere of what is certain for him\nthrough whom He works; and if we would be effective ministers of the\nword, we must speak only what we are sure of, and seek the full\nassurance of the whole truth. No doubt such assurance has conditions.\nUnfaithfulness of one kind or another is, as our Lord teaches (John\nvii. 17), the source of uncertainty as to the truth of His word; and\nprayer, repentance, and obedience due, the way to certainty again. But\nPaul had never been more confident of the truth and power of his\ngospel than when he came to Thessalonica. He had seen it proved in\nPhilippi, in conversions so dissimilar as those of Lydia and the\njailor. He had felt it in his own heart, in the songs which God had\ngiven him in the night while he suffered for Christ's sake. He came\namong those whom he addresses confident that it was God's instrument\nto save all who believed. This is his last personal reason for\nbelieving the Thessalonians to be elect.\n\nStrictly speaking, all this refers rather to the delivery of the\nmessage than to the messengers, to the preaching than to the\npreachers; but the Apostle applies it to the latter also. \"Ye know,\"\nhe writes, \"what manner of men we showed ourselves toward you for your\nsakes.\" I venture to think[2] that the word rendered \"we showed\nourselves\" has really the passive sense--\"what God enabled us to be\";\nit is God's good will to the Thessalonians which is in view, and the\nApostle infers that good will from the character which God enabled him\nand his friends to sustain for their sakes. Who could deny that God\nhad chosen them, when He had sent them Paul and Silas and Timothy; not\nmere talkers, cold and spiritless, and dubious of their message; but\nmen strong in spiritual force, in holy fervour, and in their grasp of\nthe gospel? If that did not go to show that the Thessalonians were\nelect, what could?\n\nII. The self-consciousness of the preachers, however, significant as\nit was, was no conclusive evidence. It only became such when their\ninspiration was caught by those who listened to them; and this was the\ncase at Thessalonica. \"Ye became imitators of us and of the Lord,\nhaving received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy\nGhost.\" This peculiar expression implies that the signs of God's\nelection were to be seen in the evangelists, and eminently in the\nLord. Paul shrinks from making himself and his companions types of the\nelect, without more ado; they are such only because they are like Him,\nof whom it is written \"Behold my servant whom I uphold; Mine elect, in\nwhom My soul delighteth.\" He speaks here in the same strain as in 1\nCor. xi. 1: \"Brethren, be ye imitators of me, even as I also am of\nChrist.\" They who have become like the Lord are marked out as the\nchosen of God.\n\nBut the Apostle does not rest in this generality. The imitation in\nquestion consisted in this--that the Thessalonians received the word\nin much affliction, with joy of the Holy Ghost. It is, of course, in\nthe last part of the sentence that the point of comparison is found.\nIn a sense it is true that the Lord Himself received the word which He\nspoke to men. \"I do nothing of Myself,\" He says; \"but as the Father\nhath taught Me, I speak these things\" (John viii. 28). But such a\nreference is irrelevant here. The significant point is that the\nacceptance of the gospel by the Thessalonians brought them into\nfellowship with the Lord, and with those who continued His work, in\nthat which is the distinction and criterion of the new Christian\nlife--much affliction, with joy of the Holy Ghost. That is a summary\nof the life of Christ, the Apostle of the Father (John xvii. 18). It\nis more obviously a summary of the life of Paul, the apostle of Jesus\nChrist. The acceptance of the gospel meant much affliction for him: \"I\nwill show him how great things he must suffer for My name's sake.\" It\nmeant also a new and supernatural joy, a joy arising from, and\nsustained by, the Holy Spirit, a joy triumphant in and over all\nsufferings. This combination of affliction and spiritual joy, this\noriginal, paradoxical experience, is the token of election. Where the\nchildren of God live, as Christ and His apostles lived, in the midst\nof a world at war with God and His cause, they will suffer; but\nsuffering will not break their spirit, or embitter them, or lead them\nto desert God; it will be accompanied with spiritual exaltation,\nkeeping them sweet, and humble, and joyful, through it all. Paul knew\nthe Thessalonians were elect, because he saw that new power in them,\nto rejoice in tribulations, which can only be seen in those who have\nthe spirit of God.\n\nThis test, obviously, can only be applied when the gospel is a\nsuffering cause. But if the profession of the Christian faith, and the\nleading of a Christian life entail no affliction, what shall we say?\nIf we read the New Testament aright, we shall say that there is a\nmistake somewhere. There is always a cross; there is always something\nto bear or to overcome for righteousness' sake; and the spirit in\nwhich it is met tells whether God is with us or not. Not every age is,\nlike the apostolic, an age of open persecution, of spoiling of goods,\nof bonds, and scourging, and death; but the imitation of Christ in His\ntruth and faithfulness will surely be resented somehow; and it is the\nseal of election when men rejoice that they are counted worthy to\nsuffer shame for His name. Only the true children of God can do that.\nTheir joy is in some sense a present recompense for their sufferings;\nbut for suffering they could not know it. \"I never knew,\" said\nRutherford, \"by my nine years' preaching, so much of Christ's love as\nHe hath taught me in Aberdeen, by six months' imprisonment.\" It is a\njoy that never fails those who face affliction that they may be true\nto Christ. Think of the Christian boys in Uganda, in 1885, who were\nbound alive to a scaffolding and slowly burned to death. \"The spirit\nof the martyrs at once entered into these lads, and together they\nraised their voices and praised Jesus in the fire, singing till their\nshrivelled tongues refused to form the sound:--\n\n  \"'Daily, daily sing to Jesus,\n    Sing my soul, His praises due;\n  All He does deserves our praises,\n    And our deep devotion too.\n\n  \"'For in deep humiliation,\n    He for us did live below;\n  Died on Calvary's cross of torture,\n    Rose to save our souls from woe.'\"[3]\n\nWho can doubt that these three are among the chosen of God? And who\ncan think of such scenes, and such a spirit, and recall without\nmisgiving the querulous, fretful, aggrieved tone of his own life, when\nthings have not gone with him exactly as he could have wished?\n\nThe Thessalonians were so conspicuously Christian, so unmistakably\nexhibited the new Divine type of character, that they became a model\nto all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia. Their conversion called\nthe attention of all men to the gospel, like a clear and\nfar-resounding trumpet blast. Thessalonica was a place of much coming\nand going on all sides; and the success of the evangelists there,\nbeing carried abroad in various ways, advertised their work, and so\nfar prepared for their coming. Paul would naturally have spoken of it\nwhen he went to a new city, but found it unnecessary; the news had\npreceded him; in every place their faith to God-ward had gone forth.\nSo far as we learn, it was the most impressive incident which had yet\noccurred in the progress of the gospel. A work of grace so\ncharacteristic, so thorough, and so unmistakable, was a token of God's\ngoodness, not only to those who were immediately the subjects of it,\nbut to all who heard, and by hearing had their interest awakened in\nthe evangelists and their message.\n\nThis whole subject has a side for preachers, and a side for hearers of\nthe gospel. The preacher's peril is the peril of coming to men in word\nonly; saying things which he does not feel, and which others,\ntherefore, will not feel; uttering truths, it may be, but truths which\nhave never done anything for him--enlightened, quickened, or\nsanctified him--and which he cannot hope, as they come from his lips,\nwill do anything for others; or worse still, uttering things of which\nhe cannot even be confident that they are true. Nothing could be less\na sign of God's grace to men than to abandon them to such a preacher,\ninstead of sending them one full of power, and of the Holy Ghost, and\nof assurance. But whatever the preacher may be, there is something\nleft to the hearer. There were people with whom even Paul, full of\npower and of the Holy Ghost, could not prevail. There were people who\nhardened their hearts against Christ; and let the preacher be ever so\nunworthy of the gospel, the virtue is in it, and not in him. He may\nnot do anything to commend it to men; but does it need his commendation?\nCan we make bad preaching an excuse for refusing to become imitators\nof the Lord? It may condemn the preacher, but it can never excuse us.\nLook steadily at the seal which God sets upon His own--the union of\naffliction with spiritual joy--and follow Christ in the life which is\nmarked by this character as not human only, but Divine. That is the\nway prescribed to us here to make our election sure.\n\n[2] With Godet and P. Schmidt; against Ellicott.\n\n[3] _Life of Bishop Hannington._\n\n\n\n\nIV.\n\n_CONVERSION._\n\n\n \"For they themselves report concerning us what manner of entering in\n we had unto you; and how ye turned unto God from idols, to serve a\n living and true God, and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He\n raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivereth us from the wrath\n to come.\"--1 THESS. i. 9, 10 (R.V.).\n\nThese verses show what an impression had been made in other places by\nthe success of the gospel at Thessalonica. Wherever Paul went, he\nheard it spoken about. In every place men were familiar with all its\ncircumstances; they had heard of the power and assurance of the\nmissionaries, and of the conversion of their hearers from heathenism\nto Christianity. It is this conversion which is the subject before us.\nIt has two parts or stages. There is first, the conversion from idols\nto the one living and true God; and then the distinctively Christian\nstage of waiting for the Son of God from heaven. Let us look at these\nin order.\n\nThe Apostle, so far as we can make out, judged the religions of\nheathenism with great severity. He knew that God never left Himself\nwithout a witness in the world, but God's testimony to Himself had\nbeen perverted or ignored. Ever since the creation of the world, His\neverlasting power and divinity might be seen by the things He had\nmade; His law was written on conscience; rain from heaven and\nfruitful seasons proved His good and faithful providence; yet men were\npractically ignorant of Him. They were not willing, in fact, to retain\nHim in their knowledge; they were not obedient; they were not\nthankful; when they professed religion at all, they made gods after\ntheir own image, and worshipped them. They bowed before idols; and an\nidol, says Paul, is nothing in the world. In the whole system of pagan\nreligion the Apostle saw nothing but ignorance and sin; it was the\noutcome, in part, of man's enmity to God; in part, of God's judicial\nabandonment of men; in part, of the activity of evil spirits; it was a\npath on which no progress could be made; instead of pursuing it\nfarther, those who wished really to make spiritual advance must\nabandon it altogether.\n\nIt is possible to state a better case than this for the religion of\nthe ancient world; but the Apostle was in close and continuous contact\nwith the facts, and it will take a great deal of theorising to reverse\nthe verdict of a conscience like his on the whole question. Those who\nwish to put the best face upon the matter, and to rate the spiritual\nworth of paganism as high as may be, lay stress on the ideal character\nof the so-called idols, and ask whether the mere conception of Zeus,\nor Apollo, or Athene, is not a spiritual achievement of a high order.\nLet it be ever so high, and still, from the Apostle's ground, Zeus,\nApollo, and Athene are dead idols. They have no life but that which\nis conferred upon them by their worshippers. They can never assert\nthemselves in action, bestowing life or salvation on those who honour\nthem. They can never be what the Living God was to every man of Jewish\nbirth--Creator, Judge, King, and Saviour; a personal and moral power\nto whom men are accountable at every moment, for every free act.\n\n\"Ye turned unto God from idols, to serve a living and true God.\" We\ncannot over-estimate the greatness of this change. Until we understand\nthe unity of God, we can have no true idea of His character, and\ntherefore no true idea of our own relation to Him. It was the\nplurality of deities, as much as anything, which made heathenism\nmorally worthless. Where there is a multitude of gods, the real power\nin the world, the final reality, is not found in any of them; but in a\nfate of some sort which lies behind them all. There can be no moral\nrelation of man to this blank necessity; nor, while it exists, any\nstable relation of man to his so-called gods. No Greek or Roman could\ntake in the idea of \"serving\" a God. The attendants or priests in a\ntemple were in an official sense the deity's ministers; but the\nthought which is expressed in this passage, of serving a living and\ntrue God by a life of obedience to His will, a thought which is so\nnatural and inevitable to either a Jew or a Christian, that without\nit we could not so much as conceive religion--that thought was quite\nbeyond a pagan's comprehension. There was no room for it in his\nreligion; his conception of the gods did not admit of it. If life was\nto be a moral service rendered to God, it must be to a God quite\ndifferent from any to whom he was introduced by his ancestral worship.\nThat is the final condemnation of heathenism; the final proof of its\nfalsehood as a religion.\n\nThere is something as deep and strong as it is simple in the words, to\nserve the living and true God. Philosophers have defined God as the\n_ens realissimum_, the most real of beings, the absolute reality; and\nit is this, with the added idea of personality, that is conveyed by\nthe description \"living and true.\" But does God sustain this character\nin the minds even of those who habitually worship Him? Is it not the\ncase that the things which are nearest to our hand seem to be\npossessed of most life and reality, while God is by comparison very\nunreal, a remote inference from something which is immediately\ncertain? If that is so, it will be very difficult for us to serve Him.\nThe law of our life will not be found in His will, but in our own\ndesires, or in the customs of our society; our motive will not be His\npraise, but some end which is fully attained apart from Him. \"My\nmeat,\" said Jesus, \"is to do the will of Him that sent Me, and to\nfinish His work\"; and He could say so because God who sent Him was to\nHim the living and true God, the first and last and sole reality,\nwhose will embraced and covered all His life. Do we think of God so?\nAre the existence of God and the claim of God upon our obedience the\npermanent element in our minds, the unchanging background of all our\nthoughts and purposes? This is the fundamental thing in a truly\nreligious life.\n\nBut the Apostle goes on from what is merely theistic, to what is\ndistinctively Christian. \"Ye turned to God from idols ... to wait for\nHis Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead.\"\n\nThis is a very summary description of the issue of Christian\nconversion. Judging by the analogy of other places, especially in St.\nPaul, we should have expected some mention of faith. In Acts xx.,\n_e.g._, where he characterises his preaching, he names as its main\nelements, repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus\nChrist. But here faith has been displaced by hope; the Thessalonians\nare represented not as trusting in Christ, but as waiting for Him. Of\ncourse, such hope implies faith. They only waited for Him because they\nbelieved He had redeemed them, and would save them at the great day.\nIf faith and hope differ in that the one seems to look mainly to the\npast and the other to the future, they agree in that both are\nconcerned with the revelation of the unseen.\n\nEverything in this revelation goes back to the resurrection and rests\nupon it. It is mentioned here, in the first instance, exactly as in\nRom. i. 4, as the _argumentum palmarium_ for the Divine Sonship of\nJesus. There are many proofs of that essential doctrine, but not all\ncan be brought forward in all circumstances. Perhaps the most\nconvincing at the present time is that which is drawn from the\nsolitary perfection of Christ's character; the more truly and fully we\nget the impression of that character, as it is reflected in the\nGospels, the surer we are that it is not a fancy picture, but drawn\nfrom life; and that He whose likeness it is, stands alone among the\nsons of men. But this kind of argument it takes years, not perhaps of\nstudy, but of obedience and devotion, to appreciate; and when the\napostles went forth to preach the gospel they needed a more summary\nprocess of conviction. This they found in Christ's resurrection; that\nwas an event standing alone in the world's history. There had been\nnothing like it before; there has been nothing like it since. But the\nmen who were assured of it by many infallible proofs, did not presume\nto disbelieve it because of its singularity; amazing as it was, they\ncould not but feel that it became one so unique in goodness and\ngreatness as Jesus; it was not possible, they saw after the event,\nthat He should be holden by the power of death; the resurrection only\nexhibited Him in His true dignity; it declared Him the Son of God,\nand set Him on His throne. Accordingly in all their preaching they put\nthe resurrection in the forefront. It was a revelation of life. It\nextended the horizon of man's existence. It brought into view realms\nof being that had hitherto been hidden in darkness. It magnified to\ninfinity the significance of everything in our short life in this\nworld, because it connected everything immediately with an endless\nlife beyond. And as this life in the unseen had been revealed in\nChrist, all the apostles had to tell about it centred in Him. The\nrisen Christ was King, Judge, and Saviour; the Christian's present\nduty was to love, trust, obey, and wait for Him.\n\nThis waiting includes everything. \"Ye come behind in no gift,\" Paul\nsays to the Corinthians, \"waiting for the revelation of our Lord Jesus\nChrist.\" That attitude of expectation is the bloom, as it were, of the\nChristian character. Without it, there is something lacking; the\nChristian who does not look upward and onward wants one mark of\nperfection. This is, in all probability, the point on which we should\nfind ourselves most from home, in the atmosphere of the primitive\nChurch. Not unbelievers only, but disciples as well, have practically\nceased to think of the Second Advent. The society which devotes itself\nto reviving interest in the truth uses Scripture in a fashion which\nmakes it impossible to take much interest in its proceedings; yet a\ntruth so clearly a part of Scripture teaching cannot be neglected\nwithout loss. The door of the unseen world closed behind Christ as He\nascended from Olivet, but not for ever. It will open again; and this\nsame Jesus shall so come in like manner as the apostles beheld Him go.\nHe has gone to prepare a place for those who love Him and keep His\nword; but \"if I go,\" He says, \"and prepare a place for you, I will\ncome again, and take you to Myself; that where I am, there ye may be\nalso.\" That is the final hope of the Christian faith. It is for the\nfulfilment of this promise that the Church waits. The Second Coming of\nChrist and His Resurrection stand and fall together; and it will not\nlong be possible for those who look askance at His return to receive\nin all its fulness the revelation of life which He made when He rose\nagain from the dead. This world is too much with us; and it needs not\nlanguor, but strenuous effort on the part of faith and hope, to make\nthe unseen world as real. Let us see that we come not behind in a\ngrace so essential to the very being of Christianity.\n\nThe last words of the verse describe the character in which the Son of\nGod is expected by Christians to appear--Jesus, our deliverer[4] from\nthe wrath to come (\u03c4\u1fc6\u03c2 \u1f40\u03c1\u03b3\u1fc6\u03c2 \u03c4\u1fc6\u03c2 \u1f10\u03c1\u03c7\u03bf\u03bc\u03ad\u03bd\u03b7\u03c2). There is, then,\naccording to apostolic teaching, a coming wrath--a wrath impending\nover the world, and actually on its way towards it. It is called the\nwrath to come, in distinction from anything of the same nature of\nwhich we have experience here. We all know the penal consequences\nwhich sin brings in its train even in this world. Remorse, unavailing\nsorrow, shame, fear, the sight of injury which we have done to those\nwe love and which we cannot undo, incapacity for service,--all these\nare part and parcel of the fruit which sin bears. But they are not the\nwrath to come. They do not exhaust the judgment of God upon evil.\nInstead of discrediting it, they bear witness to it; they are, so to\nspeak, its forerunners; the lurid clouds that appear here and there in\nthe sky, but are finally lost in the dense mass of the thunderstorm.\nWhen the Apostle preached the gospel, he preached the wrath to come;\nwithout it, there would have been a missing link in the circle of\nChristian ideas. \"I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ,\" he says.\nWhy? Because in it the righteousness of God is revealed, a\nrighteousness which is God's gift and acceptable in God's sight. But\nwhy is such a revelation of righteousness necessary? Because the wrath\nof God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and\nunrighteousness of men. The gospel is a revelation made to the world\nin view of a given situation, and the most prominent and threatening\nelement in that situation is the impending wrath of God. The apostles\ndo not prove it; they declare it. The proof of it is left to conscience,\nand to the Spirit of God reinforcing and quickening conscience; if\nanything can be added to this, it is the gospel itself; for if there\nwere no such thing as the wrath of God, the gospel would be\ngratuitous. We may, if we please, evade the truth; we may pick and\nchoose for ourselves among the elements of New Testament teaching, and\nreject all that is distasteful; we may take our stand upon pride, and\ndecline to be threatened even by God; but we cannot be honest, and at\nthe same time deny that Christ and His apostles warn us of wrath to\ncome.\n\nOf course we must not misconceive the character of this wrath. We must\nnot import into our thoughts of it all that we can borrow from our\nexperience of man's anger--hastiness, unreason, intemperate rage. The\nwrath of God is no arbitrary, passionate outburst; it is not, as wrath\nso often is with us, a fury of selfish resentment. \"Evil shall not\ndwell with Thee,\" says the Psalmist; and in that simple word we have\nthe root of the matter. The wrath of God is, as it were, the instinct\nof self-preservation in the Divine nature; it is the eternal\nrepulsion, by the Holy One, of all evil. Evil shall _not_ dwell with\nHim. That may be doubted or denied while the day of grace lasts, and\nGod's forbearance is giving space to the sinful for repentance; but a\nday is coming when it will no more be possible to doubt it--the day\nwhich the Apostle calls the day of wrath. It will then be plain to all\nthe world that God's wrath is no empty name, but the most terrible of\nall powers--a consuming fire in which everything opposed to His\nholiness is burnt up. And while we take care not to think of this\nwrath after the pattern of our own sinful passions, let us take care,\non the other hand, not to make it an unreal thing, without analogy in\nhuman life. If we go upon the ground of Scripture and of our own\nexperience, it has the same degree and the same kind of reality as the\nlove of God, or His compassion, or His forbearance. In whatever way we\nlawfully think of one side of the Divine nature, we must at the same\ntime think of the other. If there is a passion of Divine love, there\nis a passion of Divine wrath as well. Nothing is meant in either case\nunworthy of the Divine nature; what is conveyed by the word passion is\nthe truth that God's repulsion of evil is as intense as the ardour\nwith which He delights in good. To deny that is to deny that He is\ngood.\n\nThe apostolic preacher, who had announced the wrath to come, and\nawakened guilty consciences to see their danger, preached Jesus as the\ndeliverer from it. This is the real meaning of the words in the text;\nand neither \"Jesus which delivered,\" as in the Authorised Version,\nnor, in any rigorous sense, \"Jesus which delivereth,\" as in the\nRevised. It is the character of Jesus that is in view, and neither the\npast nor the present of His action. Every one who reads the words must\nfeel, How brief! how much remains to be explained! how much Paul must\nhave had to say about how the deliverance is effected! As the passage\nstands, it recalls vividly the end of the second Psalm: \"Kiss the Son,\nlest He be angry, and ye perish in the way, for His wrath will soon be\nkindled. Blessed are all they that put their trust in Him.\" To have\nthe Son a friend, to be identified with Jesus--so much we see at\nonce--secures deliverance in the day of wrath. Other Scriptures supply\nthe missing links. The atonement for sin made by Christ's death; faith\nwhich unites the soul to the Saviour, and brings into it the virtue of\nHis cross and resurrection; the Holy Spirit who dwells in believers,\nsanctifying them, and making them fit to dwell with God in the\nlight,--all these come into view elsewhere, and in spite of the brevity\nof this notice had their place, beyond doubt, in Paul's teaching at\nThessalonica.[5] Not that all could be explained at once: that was\nunnecessary. But from imminent danger there must be an instantaneous\nescape; and it is sufficient to say that it is found in Jesus Christ.\n\"Blessed are all they that put their trust in Him.\" The risen Son is\nenthroned in power; He is Judge of all; He died for all; He is able to\nsave to the uttermost all that come unto God by Him. To commit\neverything definitely to Him; to leave Him to undertake for us; to put\non Him the responsibility of our past and our future, as He invites us\nto do; to put ourselves for good and all at His side,--this is to find\ndeliverance from the wrath to come. It leaves much unexplained that we\nmay come to understand afterwards, and much, perhaps, that we shall\nnever understand; but it guarantees itself, adventure though it be;\nChrist never disappoints any who thus put their trust in Him.\n\nThis description in outline of conversion from paganism to the gospel\nshould revive the elementary Christian virtues in our hearts. Have we\nseen how high a thing it is to serve a living and true God? Or is it\nnot so, that even among Christians, a _godly_ man--one who lives in\nthe presence of God, and is conscious of his responsibility to Him--is\nthe rarest of all types? Are we waiting for His Son from heaven, whom\nHe raised from the dead? Or are there not many who hardly so much as\nform the idea of His return, and to whom the attitude of waiting for\nHim would seem strained and unnatural? In plain words, what the New\nTestament calls Hope is in many Christians dead: the world to come and\nall that is involved in it--the searching judgment, the impending\nwrath, the glory of Christ--have slipped from our grasp. Yet it was\nthis hope which more than anything gave its peculiar colour to the\nprimitive Christianity, its unworldliness, its moral intensity, its\ncommand of the future even in this life. If there were nothing else to\nestablish it, would not its spiritual fruits be sufficient?\n\n[4] The present participle here is simply equivalent to a substantive.\n\n[5] Much has been made, by writers who wish to trace the spiritual\ndevelopment of St. Paul, of the absence from his earliest epistles of\nexplicit teaching on the atonement and on justification by faith. But\nwe have to remember that the Epistles to the Thessalonians, like most\nof his writings, were incidental; their topics were provided, and\nlimited, by special circumstances. The doctrinal matter in 1\nThessalonians was not even the principal thing; the \u03bb\u03bf\u03b9\u03c0\u1f78\u03bd in iv. 1\nshows that by the end of chapter iii. the Apostle has done what he\nintended to do when he began; even the paragraphs on the Parousia are\ncasual and supplementary. But if we consider that Paul had now been\npreaching for perhaps seventeen years, and that within a few months he\ndelivered to the Corinthians (1 Cor. xv. 1-4) the one gospel known\nalike to him and to the twelve,--the gospel which had for its\nfundamental article \"that Christ died for our sins according to the\nScriptures,\"--we shall see how unreal it is to exclude this doctrine\nfrom his evangelistic work at Thessalonica. No doubt there, as at\nCorinth, he delivered this \"first of all.\"--See also chap. v. 10.\n\n\n\n\nV.\n\n_APOLOGIA PRO VITA SUA._\n\n\n \"For yourselves, brethren, know our entering in unto you, that it\n hath not been found vain: but having suffered before, and been\n shamefully entreated, as ye know, at Philippi, we waxed bold in our\n God to speak unto you the gospel of God in much conflict. For our\n exhortation _is_ not of error, nor of uncleanness, nor in guile: but\n even as we have been approved of God to be intrusted with the\n gospel, so we speak; not as pleasing men, but God which proveth our\n hearts. For neither at any time were we found using words of\n flattery, as ye know, nor a cloke of covetousness, God is witness;\n nor seeking glory of men, neither from you, nor from others, when we\n might have been burdensome, as apostles of Christ. But we were gentle\n in the midst of you, as when a nurse cherisheth her own children:\n even so, being affectionately desirous of you, we were well pleased\n to impart unto you, not the gospel of God only, but also our own\n souls, because ye were become very dear to us. For ye remember,\n brethren, our labour and travail: working night and day, that we\n might not burden any of you, we preached unto you the gospel of God.\n Ye are witnesses, and God _also_, how holily and righteously and\n unblameably we behaved ourselves toward you that believe: as ye know\n how we _dealt_ with each one of you, as a father with his own\n children, exhorting you, and encouraging _you_, and testifying, to\n the end that ye should walk worthily of God, who calleth you into\n His own kingdom and glory.\"--1 THESS. ii. 1-12 (R.V.).\n\nOur first impression, as we read these verses, is that they contain\nlittle that is new. They simply expand the statement of ch. i., ver.\n5: \"Our gospel came not unto you in word only, but in power, and in\nthe Holy Ghost, and in much assurance; even as ye know what manner of\nmen we showed ourselves toward you for your sake.\" But if their\nsubstance is the same, their tone is very different. It is obvious at\na glance that the Apostle has a definite purpose in view in appealing\nso pointedly as he does here to facts with which his readers were\nfamiliar. The truth is, he is standing upon his defence. Unless it\nwere so, he would not think of writing, as he does in ver. 5, that he\nhad never had recourse to flattery, nor sought to make gain out of his\napostleship; nor as he does in ver. 10, that God knows the entire\npurity of his life among them. Although he does not name them, it is\nquite plain that he was already suffering from those enemies who never\nceased to vex him while he lived. As we learn afterwards, these\nenemies were the Jews. When they had opportunity, they used open\nviolence; they roused the Gentile mob against him; they had him\nscourged and stoned. When his body was out of their reach, they\nassailed him through his character and affections. They crept into the\nchurches which his love and zeal had gathered here and there, and\nscattered injurious suspicions against him among his disciples. He was\nnot, they hinted, all that he seemed to be. They could tell stories\nabout his early days, and advised those who did not know him so well\nto be on their guard. Evangelising paid him quite as well as harder\nwork, and his paltry ambition was gratified by lording it over his\nignorant converts. Such messengers of Satan had apparently made their\nappearance in Thessalonica since Paul left, and this chapter is his\nreply to their insinuations.\n\nThere is something exquisitely painful in the situation thus created.\nIt would have been like a sword piercing the Apostle's heart, had his\nenemies succeeded in their attempt to breed distrust in the\nThessalonians toward him. He could not have borne to think that those\nwhom he loved so utterly should entertain the faintest suspicion of\nthe integrity of his love. But happily he is spared that pain. He\nwrites, indeed, as one who has felt the indignity of the charges\nbrought against him, but with the frankness and heartiness of a man\nwho is confident that his defence will be well received. From baseless\ninsinuations he can appeal to facts which are well known to all. From\nthe false character in which he has been dressed by his adversaries he\ncan appeal to the true, in which he lived and moved familiarly among\nthem.\n\nThe first point in his favour is found in the circumstances under\nwhich he had preached the gospel in Thessalonica. Had he been an\ninsincere man, with bye ends of his own to serve, he would never have\nfaced the career of an apostle. He had been scourged and put in the\nstocks at Philippi; and when he left that city for Thessalonica, he\nbrought his troubles with him. Here also he had much conflict; he was\nbeset on every hand with difficulties; it was only in the strength of\nGod that he had courage to preach at all. You yourselves, he says,\nknow that; and how, in spite of that, our coming to you was not vain,\nbut full of power; surely it needs no more to prove the\ndisinterestedness of our mission.\n\nFrom this point onward, the apology falls into two parts, a negative\nand a positive: the Apostle tells us what his gospel and the\nproclamation of it are not; and then he tells us what, at\nThessalonica, it had been.\n\nIn the first place, it is not of error. It does not rest on mistakes,\nor imaginations, or cunningly devised fables; in the fullest sense it\nis the truth. It would have taken the heart out of the Apostle, and\nmade him incapable of braving anything for its sake, had he been in\ndoubt of this. If the gospel were a device of man, then men might take\nliberties with it, handle it deceitfully, make their own account out\nof it; but resting as it does on facts and truth, it demands honest\ndealing in all its ministers. Paul claims here a character in\nagreement with the dispensation which he serves: can a minister of the\ntruth, he asks, be other than a true man?\n\nIn the next place, it is not of uncleanness; that is, it is not\nprompted by any impure motive. The force of the word here must be\ndetermined by the context; and we see that the impure motives\nspecially laid to the charge of Paul were avarice and ambition; or, to\nuse the words of the Apostle himself, covetousness, and the seeking of\nhonour from men. The first of these is so manifestly inconsistent with\nany degree of spirituality that Paul writes instinctively \"_a cloke_\nof covetousness\"; he did not make his apostolic labour a veil, under\ncover of which he could gratify his love of gain. It is impossible to\nexaggerate the subtle and clinging character of this vice. It owes its\nstrength to the fact that it can be so easily cloked. We seek money,\nso we tell ourselves, not because we are covetous, but because it is a\npower for all good purposes. Piety, charity, humanity, refinement,\nart, science--it can minister to them all; but when we obtain it, it\nis too easily hoarded, or spent in indulgence, display, and\nconformity to the world. The pursuit of wealth, except in an utterly\nmaterialised society, is always cloked by some ideal end to which it\nis to minister; but how few there are in whose hands wealth is merely\nan instrument for the furtherance of such ends. In many men the desire\nfor it is naked selfishness, an idolatry as undisguised as that of\nIsrael at Sinai. Yet all men feel how bad and mean it is to have the\nheart set on money. All men see how base and incongruous it is to make\ngodliness a source of gain. All men see the peculiar ugliness of a\ncharacter which associates piety and avarice--of a Balaam, for\ninstance, a Gehazi, or an Ananias. It is not ministers of the gospel\nonly, but all to whom the credit of the gospel is entrusted, who have\nto be on their guard here. Our enemies are entitled to question our\nsincerity when we can be shown to be lovers of money. At Thessalonica,\nas elsewhere, Paul had been at pains to make such calumny impossible.\nAlthough entitled to claim support from the Church in accordance with\nthe law of Christ that they who preach the gospel should live by the\ngospel, he had wrought night and day with his own hands that he might\nnot burden any of them. As a precaution, this self-denial was vain;\nthere can be no security against malice; but it gave him a triumphant\nvindication when the charge of covetousness was actually made.\n\nThe other impure motive contemplated is ambition. Some modern students\nof Paul's character--devil's advocates, no doubt--hint at this as his\nmost obvious fault. It was necessary for him, we are told, to be\nfirst; to be the leader of a party; to have a following of his own.\nBut he disclaims ambition as explicitly as avarice. He never sought\nglory from men, at Thessalonica or elsewhere. He used none of the arts\nwhich obtain it. As apostles of Christ--he includes his friends--they\nhad, indeed, a rank of their own; the greatness of the Prince whom\nthey represented was reflected on them as His ambassadors; they might\nhave \"stood upon their dignity,\"[6] had they chosen to do so. Their\nvery self-denial in the matter of money formed a new temptation for\nthem here. They might well feel that their disinterested service of\nthe Thessalonians entitled them to a spiritual pre-eminence; and\nindeed there is no pride like that which bases on ascetic austerities\nthe claim to direct with authority the life and conduct of others.\nPaul escaped this snare. He did not compensate himself for renouncing\ngain, with any lordship over souls. In all things he was the servant\nof those to whom he preached.\n\nAnd as his motives were pure, so were the means he used. His\nexhortation was not in guile. He did not manipulate his message; he\nwas never found using words of flattery. The gospel was not his own to\ndo what he pleased with: it was God's; God had approved him so far as\nto entrust it to him; yet every moment, in the discharge of his trust,\nthat same God was proving his heart still, so that false dealing was\nimpossible. He did not make his message other than it was; he did not\nhide any part of the counsel of God; he did not inveigle the\nThessalonians by any false pretences into responsibilities which would\nnot have been accepted could they have been foreseen.\n\nAll these denials--not of error, not of uncleanness, not of guile; not\npleasing men, not using words of flattery, not cloking over\ncovetousness--all these denials presuppose the contrary affirmations.\nPaul does not indulge in boasting but on compulsion; he would never\nhave sought to justify himself, unless he had first been accused. And\nnow, over against this picture, drawn by his enemies, let us look at\nthe true likeness which is held up before God and man.\n\nInstead of selfishness there is love, and nothing but love. We are all\nfamiliar with the great passage in the epistle to the Philippians\nwhere the Apostle depicts the mind which was in Christ Jesus. The\ncontrast in that passage between the disposition which grasps at\neminence and that which makes itself of no reputation, between\n\u1f01\u03c1\u03c0\u03b1\u03b3\u03bc\u1f78\u03c2 and \u03ba\u03ad\u03bd\u03c9\u03c3\u03b9\u03c2, is reproduced here. Paul had learned of\nChrist; and instead of seeking in his apostolic work opportunities for\nself-exaltation, he shrank from no service imposed by love. \"We were\ngentle in the midst of you, as when a nurse cherisheth her own\nchildren.\" \"Her own\" is to be emphasised. The tenderness of the\nApostle was that of a mother warming her babe at her breast. Most of\nthe ancient authorities, the R.V. tells us in the margin, read \"We\nwere _babes_ (\u03bd\u03ae\u03c0\u03b9\u03bf\u03b9) in the midst of you.\" If this were correct,\nthe thought would be that Paul stooped to the level of these infant\ndisciples, speaking to them, as it were, in the language of childhood,\nand accommodating himself to their immaturity. But though this is\nappropriate enough, the word \u03bd\u03ae\u03c0\u03b9\u03bf\u03b9 is not proper to express it.[7]\nGentleness is really what is meant. But his love went further than\nthis in its yearning over the Thessalonians. He had been accused of\nseeking gain and glory when he came among them; but his sole desire\nhad been not to get but to give. As his stay was prolonged, the\ndisciples became very dear to their teachers; \"we were well pleased to\nimpart unto you, not the gospel of God only, but also our own souls.\"\nThat is the true standard of pastoral care. The Apostle lived up to it\nalways. \"_Now_ we _live_,\" he writes in the next chapter, \"if ye stand\nfast in the Lord.\" \"Ye are in our hearts,\" he cries to the\nCorinthians, \"to live together and to die together.\" He not only kept\nback from them nothing of the whole purpose of God; he kept back no\npart of himself. His daily toil, his toil by night, his prayers, his\npreaching, his spiritual ardour, his very soul, were theirs. They knew\nhis labour and travail; they were witnesses, and God also, how holily\nand righteously and unblamably he had behaved toward them.\n\nAs the Apostle recalls these recent memories, he dwells for a\nmoment on another aspect of his love. It had not only the tender\nfondness of a mother's, but the educative wisdom of a father's. One\nby one he dealt with the disciples--which is not the way to gain\nglory--exhorting, encouraging, bearing solemn testimony to the truth\nof God. And his end in all this, as they knew, was ideal and\nspiritual, an end as remote as possible from any worldly interest of\nhis own; that they might walk worthily of God who was calling them\ninto His own kingdom and glory. How far from the rewards and\ndistinctions of the present must that man's mind be who sees, as Paul\nsaw steadily, the things that are invisible. If he who is blind to the\ngolden crown above his head grasps the muck rake tightly and clutches\neagerly all it brings within his reach, surely he whose eye is set\nupon the crown must be superior alike to the gain and the glory of the\nworld. That, at least, is the claim which the Apostle makes here.\nNothing could be more incongruous than that a man to whom the visible\nworld was transitory and unreal, and the invisible kingdom of God real\nand eternal, should be eager for money and applause, and forget the\nhigh calling with which he himself was calling men in Christ. So far\nthe apology of the Apostle.\n\nThe practical application of this passage is different, according as\nwe look at it in detail, or as a whole. It exhibits to us, in the\ncharges brought against Paul, those vices which even bad men can see\nto be rankly inconsistent with the Christian character. Covetousness\nis the foremost. No matter how we cloke it--and we always cloke it\nsomehow--it is incurably un-Christian. Christ had no money. He never\nwished to have any. The one perfect life that has been lived in this\nworld is the life of Him who owned nothing, and who left nothing but\nthe clothes he wore. Whoever names the name of Christ, and professes\nto follow Him, must learn of Him indifference to gain. The mere\nsuspicion of avarice will discredit, and ought to discredit, the most\npious pretensions. The second vice I have spoken of as ambition. It is\nthe desire to use others for one's own exaltation, to make them the\nstepping stones on which we rise to eminence, the ministers of our\nvanity, the sphere for the display of our own abilities as leaders,\nmasters, organisers, preachers. To put ourselves in that relation to\nothers is to do an essentially un-Christian thing. A minister whose\ncongregation is the theatre on which he displays his talents or his\neloquence is not a Christian. A clever man, to whom the men and women\nwith whom he meets in society are merely specimens of human nature on\nwhom he can make shrewd observations, sharpening his wits on them as\non a grindstone, is not a Christian. A man of business, who looks at\nthe labourers whom he employs as only so many instruments for rearing\nthe fabric of his prosperity, is not a Christian. Everybody in the\nworld knows that; and such men, if they profess Christianity, give a\nhandle to slander, and bring disgrace on the religion which they wear\nmerely as a blind. True Christianity is love, and the nature of love\nis not to take but to give. There is no limit to the Christian's\nbeneficence; he counts nothing his own; he gives his very soul with\nevery separate gift. He is as tender as the mother to her infant; as\nwise, as manly, as earnest as the father with his growing boy.\n\nLooked at as a whole this passage warns us against slander. It must\nneeds be that slander is spoken and believed; but woe to the man or\nwoman by whom it is either believed or spoken! None are good enough to\nescape it. Christ was slandered; they called Him a glutton and a\ndrunkard, and said He was in league with the devil. Paul was\nslandered; they said he was a very smart man, who looked well to his\nown interest, and made dupes of simple people. The deliberate\nwickedness of such falsehoods is diabolical, but it is not so very\nrare. Numbers of people who would not invent such stories are glad to\nhear them. They are not very particular whether they are true or\nfalse; it pleases them to think that an evangelist, eminent in\nprofession, gets a royalty on hymn-books; or that a priest, famous for\ndevotion, was really no better than he should have been; or that a\npreacher, whose words regenerated a whole church, sometimes despised\nhis audience, and talked nonsense impromptu. To sympathise with\ndetraction is to have the spirit of the devil, not of Christ. Be on\nyour guard against such sympathy; you are human, and therefore need\nto. Never give utterance to a suspicious thought. Never repeat what\nwould discredit a man, if you have only heard it and are not sure it\nis true; even if you are sure of its truth, be afraid of yourself if\nit gives you any pleasure to think of it. Love thinketh no evil; love\nrejoiceth not in iniquity.\n\n[6] So Alford renders \u03b4\u03c5\u03bd\u03ac\u03bc\u03b5\u03bd\u03bf\u03b9 \u1f10\u03bd \u03b2\u03ac\u03c1\u03b5\u03b9 \u03b5\u1f36\u03bd\u03b1\u03b9.\n\n[7] \u03bd\u03ae\u03c0\u03b9\u03bf\u03c2 always includes the idea of being undeveloped, unripe,\nand has often a shade of censure in Paul.\n\n\n\n\nVI.\n\n_IMPEACHMENT OF THE JEWS._\n\n\n \"And for this cause we also thank God without ceasing, that, when ye\n received from us the word of the message, _even the word_ of\n God, ye accepted _it_ not _as_ the word of men, but, as it is in\n truth, the word of God, which also worketh in you that believe. For\n ye, brethren, became imitators of the churches of God which are in\n Jud\u00e6a in Christ Jesus; for ye also suffered the same things of your\n own countrymen, even as they did of the Jews; who both killed the\n Lord Jesus and the prophets, and drave out us, and please not God,\n and are contrary to all men; forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles\n that they may be saved; to fill up their sins alway: but the wrath is\n come upon them to the uttermost.\"--1 THESS. ii. 13-16 (R.V.).\n\nThese verses complete the treatment of the subject with which this\nchapter opens. The Apostle has drawn a moving picture of his life and\nlabours in Thessalonica; he has pointed to it as his sufficient\nvindication from all the charges laid against him. Before carrying the\nwar into the enemies' camp, and depicting the traditions and the\nspirit of his traducers, he lingers again for a moment on the happy\nresults of his work. In spite of persecution and calumny, he has cause\nto thank God without ceasing when he remembers the reception of the\ngospel by the Thessalonians.\n\nWhen the message was brought to them, they accepted it, he says, not\nas the word of men, but as what it was in truth, the word of God. It\nis in this character that the gospel always presents itself. A word of\nmen cannot address men with authority; it must submit itself to\ncriticism; it must vindicate itself on grounds which man's understanding\napproves. Now, the gospel is not irrational; it is its own demand that\nthe Christian shall be ready to answer every one who demands a\nrational account of the hope that is in him. But neither does it, on\nthe other hand, come to us soliciting our approval; submitting itself,\nas a system of ideas, to our scrutiny, and courting approbation. It\nspeaks with authority. It _commands_ repentance; it preaches\nforgiveness on the ground of Christ's death--a supreme gift of God\nwhich may be accepted or rejected, but is not proposed for discussion;\nit exhibits the law of Christ's life as the law which is binding upon\nevery human being, and calls upon all men to follow him. Its decisive\nappeal is made to the conscience and the will; and to respond to it is\nto give up will and conscience to God. When the Apostle says, \"Ye\nreceived it as, what it is in truth, the word of God,\" he betrays, if\none may use the word, the consciousness of his own inspiration.\nNothing is commoner now than to speak of the theology of Paul as if it\nwere a private possession of the Apostle, a scheme of thought that he\nhad framed for himself, to explain his own experience. Such a scheme\nof thought, we are told, has no right whatever to impose itself on us;\nit has only a historical and biographical interest; it has no\nnecessary connexion with truth. The first result of this line of\nthought, in almost every case, is the rejection of the very heart of\nthe apostolic gospel; the doctrine of the atonement is no longer the\ngreatest truth of revelation, but a rickety bridge on which Paul\nimagined he had crossed from Pharisaism to Christianity. Certainly\nthis modern analysis of the epistles does not reflect the Apostle's\nown way of looking at what he called \"My gospel.\" To him it was no\ndevice of man, but unequivocally Divine; in very truth, the word of\nGod. His theology certainly came to him in the way of his experience;\nhis mind had been engaged with it, and was engaged with it continually;\nbut he was conscious that, with all this freedom, it rested at bottom\non the truth of God; and when he preached it--for his theology was the\nsum of the Divine truth he held, and he _did_ preach it--he did not\nsubmit it to men as a theme for discussion. He put it above discussion.\nHe pronounced a solemn and reiterated anathema on either man or angel\nwho should put anything else in its stead. He published it, not for\ncriticism, as though it had been his own device; but, as the word of\nGod, for the obedience of faith. The tone of this passage recalls the\nword of our Lord, \"Whoso shall not receive the kingdom of God as a\nlittle child shall in no wise enter therein.\" There are difficulties\nenough connected with the gospel, but they are not of a kind that\ndisappear while we stand and look at them, or even stand and think\nabout them; unquestioning surrender solves many, and introduces us to\nexperiences which enable us to bear the rest with patience.\n\nThe word of God, in other words the gospel, proved its Divine\ncharacter in the Thessalonians _after_ it was received. \"It also\nworketh,\" says Paul, \"in you that believe.\" The last words are not\nsuperfluous. The word preached, we read of an earlier generation, did\nnot profit, not being mixed with faith in them that heard. Faith\nconditions its efficacy. Gospel truth is an active force when it is\nwithin the heart; but it can do nothing for us while doubt, pride, or\nunacknowledged reserve, keep it outside. If we have really welcomed\nthe Divine message, it will not be inoperative; it will work within us\nall that is characteristic of New Testament life--love, joy, peace,\nhope, patience. These are the proofs of its truth. Here, then, is the\nsource of all graces: if the word of Christ dwell in us richly; if the\ntruth of the gospel, deep, manifold, inexhaustible, yet ever the same,\npossess our hearts,--the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose.\n\nThe particular gospel grace which the Apostle has here in view is\npatience. He proves that the word of God is at work in the\nThessalonians by pointing to the fact that they have suffered for His\nsake. \"Had you been still of the world, the world would have loved its\nown; but as it is, you have become imitators of the Christian churches\nin Jud\u00e6a, and have suffered the same things at the hands of your\ncountrymen as they from theirs.\" Of all places in the world, Jud\u00e6a was\nthat in which the gospel and its adherents had suffered most\nseverely. Jerusalem itself was the focus of hostility. No one knew\nbetter than Paul, the zealous persecutor of heresy, what it had cost\nfrom the very beginning to be true to the name of Jesus of Nazareth.\nScourging, imprisonment, exile, death by the sword or by stoning, had\nrewarded such fidelity. We do not know to what extremity the enemies\nof the gospel had gone in Thessalonica; but the distress of the\nChristians must have been great when the Apostle could make this\ncomparison even in passing. He has already told them (ch. i. 6) that\nmuch affliction, with joy of the Holy Ghost, is the very badge of\nGod's elect; and here he combines the same stern necessity with the\noperation of the Divine word in their hearts. Do not let us overlook\nthis. The work of God's word (or if you prefer it, the effect of\nreceiving the gospel), is in the first instance to produce a new\ncharacter, a character not only distinct from that of the unconverted,\nbut antagonistic to it, and more directly and inevitably antagonistic,\nthe more thoroughly it is wrought out; so that in proportion as God's\nword is operative in us, we come into collision with the world which\nrejects it. To suffer, therefore, is to the Apostle the seal of faith;\nit warrants the genuineness of a Christian profession. It is not a\nsign that God has forgotten His people, but a sign that He is with\nthem; and that they are being brought by Him into fellowship with\nprimitive churches, with apostles and prophets, with the Incarnate Son\nHimself. And hence the whole situation of the Thessalonians, suffering\nincluded, comes under that heartfelt expression of thanks to God with\nwhich the passage opens. It is not a subject for condolence, but for\ngratitude, that they have been counted worthy to suffer shame for the\nName.\n\nAnd now the Apostle turns from the persecuted to the persecutors.\nThere is nothing in his epistles elsewhere that can be compared with\nthis passionate outburst. Paul was proud with no common pride of his\nJewish descent; it was better in his eyes than any patent of nobility.\nHis heart swelled as he thought of the nation to which the adoption\npertained, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the\nlaw, and the service of God, and the promises; whose were the fathers,\nand of whom, as concerning the flesh, Christ came. Apostle of the\nGentiles though he was, he had great sorrow and unceasing pain in his\nheart, when he remembered the antagonism of the Jews to the gospel; he\ncould have wished himself anathema from Christ for their sakes. He was\nconfident, too, that in some glorious future they would yet submit to\nthe Messiah, so that all Israel should be saved. The turning of the\nheathen to God would provoke them to jealousy; and the Divine calling\nwith which the nation had been called in Abraham would reach its\npredestined goal. Such is the tone, and such the anticipation, with\nwhich, not very long afterwards, Paul writes in the epistle to the\nRomans. Here he looks at his countrymen with other eyes. They are\nidentified, in his experience, with a fierce resistance to the gospel,\nand with cruel persecutions of the Church of Christ. Only in the\ncharacter of bitter enemies has he been in contact with them in recent\nyears. They have hunted him from city to city in Asia and in Europe;\nthey have raised the populace against his converts; they have sought\nto poison the minds of his disciples against him. He knows that this\npolicy is that with which his countrymen as a whole have identified\nthemselves; and as he looks steadily at it, he sees that in doing so\nthey have only acted in consistency with all their past history. The\nmessengers whom God sends to demand the fruit of His vineyard have\nalways been treated with violence and despite. The crowning sin of the\nrace is put in the forefront; they slew the Lord, Jesus; but before\nthe Lord came, they had slain His prophets; and after He had gone,\nthey expelled His apostles. God had put them in a position of\nprivilege, but only for a time; they were the depositaries, or\ntrustees, of the knowledge of God as the Saviour of men; and now, when\nthe time had come for that knowledge to be diffused throughout all the\nworld, they clung proudly and stubbornly to the old position. They\npleased not God and were contrary to all men, in forbidding the\napostles to preach salvation to the heathen. There is an echo, all\nthrough this passage, of the words of Stephen: \"Ye stiffnecked and\nuncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost.\"\nThere are sentences in heathen authors, who repaid the contempt and\nhatred of the Jews with haughty disdain, that have been compared with\nthis terrible impeachment by the Apostle; but in reality, they are\nquite unlike. What we have here is not a burst of temper, though there\nis undoubtedly strong feeling in it; it is the vehement condemnation,\nby a man in thorough sympathy with the mind and spirit of God, of the\nprinciples on which the Jews as a nation had acted at every period of\ntheir history.\n\nWhat is the relation of God to such a situation as is here described?\nThe Jews, Paul says, did all this \"to fill up their sins at all\ntimes.\" He does not mean that that was their intention; neither does\nhe speak ironically; but speaking as he often does from that Divine\nstandpoint at which all results are intended and purposed results, not\noutside of, but within, the counsel of God, he signifies that this\nDivine end was being secured by their wickedness. The cup of their\niniquity was filling all the time. Every generation did something to\nraise the level within. The men who bade Amos begone, and eat his\nbread at home, raised it a little; the men who sought Hosea's life in\nthe sanctuary, raised it further; so did those who put Jeremiah in the\ndungeon, and those who murdered Zechariah between the temple and the\naltar. When Jesus was nailed to the cross, the cup was full to the\nbrim. When those whom He left behind to be His witnesses, and to\npreach repentance and remission of sins to an men, beginning at\nJerusalem, were expelled or put to death, it ran over. God could bear\nno more. Side by side with the cup of iniquity the cup of judgment had\nbeen filling also; and they overflowed together. Even when Paul wrote\nhe could say, \"The wrath is come upon them to the very end.\"[8]\n\nIt is not easy to explain the precise force of these words. They seem\nto point definitely[9] to some event, or some act of God, in which His\nwrath had been unmistakably made manifest. To suppose that the fall of\nJerusalem is meant is to deny that Paul wrote the words. All that is\ncertain is that the Apostle saw in the signs of the times some\ninfallible token that the nation's day of grace had come to an end.\nPerhaps some excess of a Roman procurator, now forgotten; perhaps one\nof those famines that desolated Jud\u00e6a in that unhappy age; perhaps the\nrecent edict of Claudius, expelling all Jews from Rome, and betraying\nthe temper of the supreme power; perhaps the coming shadow of an awful\ndoom, obscure in outline, but none the less inevitable, gave shape to\nthe expression. The Jews had failed, in their day, to recognise the\nthings that belonged to their peace; and now they were hid from their\neyes. They had disregarded every presage of the coming storm; and at\nlength the clouds that could not be charmed away had accumulated over\ntheir heads, and the fire of God was ready to leap out.\n\nThis striking passage embodies certain truths to which we do well to\ngive heed. It shows us that there is such a thing as a national\ncharacter. In the providential government of God a nation is not an\naggregate of individuals, each one of whom stands apart from the rest;\nit is a corporation with a unity, life and spirit of its own. Within\nthat unity there may be a conflict of forces, a struggle of good with\nevil, of higher with lower tendencies, just as there is in the\nindividual soul; but there will be a preponderance on one side or the\nother; and that side to which the balance leans will prevail more and\nmore. In the vast spirit of the nation, as in the spirit of each man\nor woman, through the slow succession of generations as in the swift\nsuccession of years, character gradually assumes more fixed and\ndefinite form. There is a process of development, interrupted perhaps\nand retarded by such conflicts as I have referred to, but bringing\nout all the more decisively and irreversibly the inmost spirit of the\nwhole. There is nothing which the proud and the weak more dread than\ninconsistency; there is nothing, therefore, which is so fatally\ncertain to happen as what has happened already. The Jews resented from\nthe first the intrusion of God's word into their lives; they had\nambitions and ideas of their own, and in its corporate action the\nnation was uniformly hostile to the prophets. It beat one and killed\nanother and stoned a third; it was of a different spirit from them,\nand from Him who sent them; and the longer it lived, the more like\nitself, the more unlike God, it became. It was the climax of its sin,\nyet only the climax--for it had previously taken every step that led\nto that eminence in evil--when it slew the Lord Jesus. And when it was\nripe for judgment, judgment fell upon it as a whole.\n\nIt is not easy to speak impartially about our own country and its\ncharacter; yet such a character there undoubtedly is, just as there is\nsuch a unity as the British nation. Many observers tell us that the\ncharacter has degenerated into a mere instinct for trade; and that it\nhas begotten a vast unscrupulousness in dealing with the weak. Nobody\nwill deny that there is a protesting conscience in the nation, a voice\nwhich pleads in God's name for justice, as the prophets pled in\nIsrael; but the question is not whether such a voice is audible, but\nwhether in the corporate acts of the nation it is obeyed. The state\nought to be a Christian state. The nation ought to be conscious of a\nspiritual vocation, and to be animated with the spirit of Christ. In\nits dealings with other powers, in its relations to savage or\nhalf-civilised peoples, in its care for the weak among its own\ncitizens, it should acknowledge the laws of justice and of mercy. We\nhave reason to thank God that in all these matters Christian sentiment\nis beginning to tell. The opium trade with China, the liquor trade\nwith the natives of Africa, the labour trade in the South Seas, the\ndwellings of the poor, the public-house system with its deliberate\nfostering of drunkenness, all these are matters in regard to which the\nnation was in danger of settling into permanent hostility to God, and\nin which there is now hope of better things. The wrath which is the\ndue and inevitable accompaniment of such hostility, when persisted in,\nhas not come on us to the very end; God has given us opportunity to\nrectify what is amiss, and to deal with all our interests in the\nspirit of the New Testament. Let no one be backward or indifferent\nwhen so great a work is in hand. The heritage of sin accumulates if it\nis not put away by well doing; and with sin, judgment. It is for us to\nlearn by the word of God and the examples of history that the nation\nand kingdom that will not serve Him shall perish.\n\nFinally, this passage shows us the last and worst form which sin can\nassume, in the words \"forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they\nshould be saved.\" Nothing is so completely ungodly, so utterly unlike\nGod and opposed to Him, as that spirit which grudges others the good\nthings which it prizes for itself. When the Jewish nation set itself\nrelentlessly to prohibit the extension of the gospel to the\nGentiles--when the word was passed round the synagogues from head\nquarters that this renegade Paul, who was summoning the pagans to\nbecome the people of God, was to be thwarted by fraud or violence--God's\npatience was exhausted. Such selfish pride was the very negation of\nHis love; the _ne plus ultra_ of evil. Yet nothing is more easy and\nnatural than for men who have occupied a position of privilege to\nindulge this temper. An imperial nation, which boasts of its freedom,\ngrudges such freedom to others; it seems to lose the very consciousness\nof being free, unless there is a subject people over which it can\ntyrannise. In many relations of minor consequence, political and\nsocial, we have cause to make this reflection. Do not think that what\nis good for you, is anything else than good for your neighbour. If you\nare a better man because you have a comfortable home, leisure,\neducation, interest in public affairs, a place in the church, so would\nhe be. Above all, if the gospel of Christ is to you the pearl above\nall price, take care how you grudge that to any human soul. This is\nnot an unnecessary caution. The criticism of missionary methods, which\nmay be legitimate enough, is interrupted too often by the suggestion\nthat such and such a race is not fit for the gospel. Nobody who knows\nwhat the gospel is will ever make such a suggestion; but we have all\nheard it made, and we see from this passage what it means. It is the\nmark of a heart which is deeply estranged from God, and ignorant of\nthe Golden Rule which embodies both gospel and law. Let us rather be\nimitators of the great man who first entered into the spirit of\nChrist, and discovered the open secret of His life and death,--the\nmystery of redemption--that the heathen should be heirs with God's\nancient people, and of the same body, and partakers of the same\npromises. \"Whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you, do ye even\nso to them.\"\n\n[8] Weiss renders \u03b5\u1f30\u03c2 \u03c4\u03ad\u03bb\u03bf\u03c2 \"im h\u00f6chsten Masse.\"\n\n[9] Observe the aorist \u1f14\u03c6\u03b8\u03b1\u03c3\u03b5\u03bd.\n\n\n\n\nVII.\n\n_ABSENCE AND LONGING._\n\n\n \"But we, brethren, being bereaved of you for a short season, in\n presence, not in heart, endeavoured the more exceedingly to see your\n face with great desire: because we would fain have come unto you, I\n Paul once and again; and Satan hindered us. For what is our hope, or\n joy, or crown of glorying? Are not even ye, before our Lord Jesus at\n His coming? For ye are our glory and our joy. Wherefore when we could\n not longer forbear, we thought it good to be left behind at Athens\n alone; and sent Timothy, our brother and God's minister in the gospel\n of Christ, to establish you, and to comfort you concerning your\n faith; that no man be moved by these afflictions; for yourselves know\n that hereunto we are appointed. For verily, when we were with you, we\n told you beforehand that we are to suffer affliction; even as it came\n to pass, and ye know. For this cause I also, when I could no longer\n forbear, sent that I might know your faith, lest by any means the\n tempter had tempted you, and our labour should be in vain.\"--1 THESS.\n ii. 17-iii. 5 (R.V.).\n\nThe Apostle has said all that he means to say of the opposition of the\nJews to the gospel, and in the verses before us turns to his own\nrelations to the Thessalonians. He had been compelled to leave their\ncity against his will; they themselves had escorted him by night to\nBer\u0153a. He cannot find words strong enough to describe the pain of\nseparation. It was a bereavement, although he hoped it would only last\nfor a short time. His heart was with them as truly as if he were still\nbodily present in Thessalonica. His strongest desire was to look upon\ntheir faces once more.\n\nHere we ought to notice again the power of the gospel to create new\nrelations and the corresponding affections. A few months before Paul\nhad not known a single soul in Thessalonica; if he had been only a\ntravelling tent-maker, he might have stayed there as long as he did,\nand then moved on with as little emotion as troubles a modern gipsy\nwhen he shifts his camp; but coming as a Christian evangelist, he\nfinds or rather makes brothers, and feels his enforced parting from\nthem like a bereavement. Months after, his heart is sore for those\nwhom he has left behind. This is one of the ways in which the gospel\nenriches life; hearts that would otherwise be empty and isolated are\nbrought by it into living contact with a great circle whose nature and\nneeds are like their own; and capacities, that would otherwise have\nbeen unsuspected, have free course for development. No one knows what\nis in him; and, in particular, no one knows of what love, of what\nexpansion of heart he is capable, till Christ has made real to him\nthose relations to others by which his duties are determined, and all\nhis powers of thought and feeling called forth. Only the Christian man\ncan ever tell what it is to love with all his heart and soul and\nstrength and mind.\n\nSuch an experience as shines through the words of the Apostle in this\npassage furnishes the key to one of the best known but least\nunderstood words of our Saviour. \"Verily I say unto you,\" said Jesus\nto the twelve, \"there is no man that hath left house, or wife, or\nbrethren, or parents, or children, for the Kingdom of God's sake, who\nshall not receive manifold more in this time, and in the world to come\neternal life.\" These words might almost stand for a description of\nPaul. He had given up everything for Christ's sake. He had no home,\nno wife, no child; as far as we can see, no brother or friend among\nall his old acquaintances. Yet we may be sure that not one of those\nwho were most richly blessed with all these natural relations and\nnatural affections knew better than he what love is. No father ever\nloved his children more tenderly, fervently, austerely and\nunchangeably than Paul loved those whom he had begotten in the gospel.\nNo father was ever rewarded with affection more genuine, obedience\nmore loyal, than many of his converts rendered to him. Even in the\ntrials of love, which search it, and strain it, and bring out its\nvirtues to perfection--in misunderstandings, ingratitude, wilfulness,\nsuspicion--he had an experience with blessings of its own in which he\nsurpassed them all. If love is the true wealth and blessedness of our\nlife, surely none was richer or more blessed than this man, who had\ngiven up for Christ's sake all those relations and connections through\nwhich love naturally comes. Christ had fulfilled to him the promise\njust quoted; He had given him a hundredfold in this life, houses and\nbrothers and sisters and mothers and children. It would have been\nnothing but loss to cling to the natural affections and decline the\nlonely apostolic career.\n\nThere is something wonderfully vivid in the idea which Paul gives of\nhis love for the Thessalonians. His mind is full of them; he imagines\nall the circumstances of trial and danger in which they may be placed;\nif he could only be with them at need! He seems to follow them as a\nwoman follows with her thoughts the son who has gone alone to a\ndistant town; she remembers him when he goes out in the morning,\npities him if there are any circumstances of hardship in his work,\npictures him busy in shop or office or street, looks at the clock when\nhe ought to be home for the day; wonders where he is, and with what\ncompanions, in the evening; and counts the days till she will see him\nagain. The Christian love of the Apostle, which had no basis at all in\nnature, was as real as this; and it is a pattern for all those who try\nto serve others in the gospel. The power of the truth, as far as its\nministers are concerned, depends on its being spoken in love; unless\nthe heart of the preacher or teacher is really pledged to those to\nwhom he speaks, he cannot expect but to labour in vain.\n\nPaul is anxious that the Thessalonians should understand the strength\nof his feeling. It was no passing fancy. On two separate occasions he\nhad determined to revisit them, and had felt, apparently, some\npeculiar malignity in the circumstances which foiled him. \"Satan,\" he\nsays, \"hindered us.\"\n\nThis is one of the expressions which strike us as remote from our\npresent modes of thought. Yet it is not false or unnatural. It\nbelongs to that profound biblical view of life, according to which all\nthe opposing forces in our experience have at bottom a personal\ncharacter. We speak of the conflict of good and evil, as if good and\nevil were powers with an existence of their own, but the moment we\nthink of it we see that the only good force in the world is the force\nof a good will, and the only bad force the force of a bad will; in\nother words, we see that the conflict of good and evil is essentially\na conflict of persons. Good persons are in conflict with bad persons;\nand so far as the antagonism comes to a head, Christ, the New\nTestament teaches, is in conflict with Satan. These persons are the\ncentres of force on one side and on the other; and the Apostle\ndiscerns, in incidents of his life which have now been lost to us, the\npresence and working now of this, and now of that. An instructive\nillustration is really furnished by a passage in Acts which seems at\nthe first glance of a very different purport. It is in the 16th chap.,\nvv. 6-10, in which the historian describes the route of the Apostle\nfrom the East to Europe. \"They were _forbidden of the Holy Ghost_ to\nspeak the word in Asia\" ... \"they assayed to go into Bithynia; and\n_the Spirit of Jesus suffered them not_\" ... Paul saw a vision, after\nwhich they \"sought to go forth into Macedonia, _concluding that God\nhad called them_ to preach the gospel unto them.\" Here, we might\nalmost say, the three Divine Persons are referred to as the source of\nintimations directing and controlling the course of the gospel; yet it\nis evident, from the last mentioned, that such intimations might come\nin the shape of any event providentially ordered, and that the\ninterpretation of them depended on those to whom they came. The\nobstacles which checked Paul's impulse to preach in Asia and in\nBithynia he recognised to be of Divine appointment; those which\nprevented him from returning to Thessalonica were of Satanic origin.\nWe do not know what they were; perhaps a plot against his life, which\nmade the journey dangerous; perhaps some sin or scandal that detained\nhim in Corinth. At all events it was the doing of the enemy, who in\nthis world, of which Paul does not hesitate to call him the god, has\nmeans enough at his disposal to foil, though he cannot overcome, the\nsaints.\n\nIt is a delicate operation, in many cases, to interpret outward\nevents, and say what is the source and what the purpose of this or\nthat. Moral indifference may blind us; but those who are in the thick\nof the moral conflict have a swift and sure instinct for what is\nagainst them or on their side; they can tell at once what is Satanic\nand what is Divine. As a rule, the two forces will show in their\nstrength at the same time; \"a great door and effectual is opened unto\nme, and there are many adversaries:\" each is a foil to the other.\nWhat we ought to remark in this connection is the fundamental\ncharacter of all moral action. It is not a figure of speech to say\nthat the world is the scene of incessant spiritual conflict; it is the\nliteral truth. And spiritual conflict is not simply an interaction of\nforces; it is the deliberate antagonism of persons to each other. When\nwe do what is right, we take Christ's side in a real struggle; when we\ndo what is wrong, we side with Satan. It is a question of personal\nrelations; to whose will do I add my own? to whose will do I oppose my\nown? And the struggle approaches its close for each of us as our will\nis more thoroughly assimilated to that of one or other of the two\nleaders. Do not let us dwell in generalities which disguise from us\nthe seriousness of the issue. There is a place in one of his epistles\nin which Paul uses just such abstract terms as we do in speaking of\nthis matter. \"What fellowship,\" he asks, \"have righteousness and\niniquity? or what communion hath light with darkness?\" But he clinches\nthe truth by bringing out the personal relations involved, when he\ngoes on, \"And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what portion\nhath a believer with an unbeliever?\" These are the real quantities\nconcerned--all persons: Christ and Belial, believers and unbelievers;\nall that happens is at bottom Christian or Satanic; all that we do is\non the side of Christ or on the side of the great enemy of our Lord.\n\nThe recollection of the Satanic hindrances to his visit does not\ndetain the Apostle more than a moment; his heart overflows them to\nthose whom he describes as his hope and joy and crown of glorying in\nthe day of the Lord Jesus. The form of words[10] implies that these\ntitles are not the property of the Thessalonians only; yet at the same\ntime, that if they belong to anybody, they belong to them.\n\nIt is almost a pity to analyse words which are spoken out of the\nabundance of the heart; yet we pass over the surface, and lose the\nsense of their truth, unless we do so. What then does Paul mean when\nhe calls the Thessalonians his hope? Every one looks at least a\ncertain distance into the future, and projects something into it to\ngive it reality and interest to himself. That is his hope. It may be\nthe returns he expects from investments of money; it may be the\nexpansion of some scheme he has set on foot for the common good; it\nmay be his children, on whose love and reverence, or on whose\nadvancement in life, he counts for the happiness of his declining\nyears. Paul, we know, had none of these hopes; when he looked down\ninto the future he saw no fortune growing secretly, no peaceful\nretirement in which the love of sons and daughters would surround him\nand call him blessed. Yet his future was not dreary or desolate; it\nwas bright with a great light; he had a hope that made life abundantly\nworth living, and that hope was the Thessalonians. He saw them in his\nmind's eye grow daily out of the lingering taint of heathenism into\nthe purity and love of Christ. He saw them, as the discipline of God's\nprovidence had its perfect work in them, escape from the immaturity of\nbabes in Christ, and grow in the grace and in the knowledge of our\nLord and Saviour to the measure of the stature of perfect men. He saw\nthem presented faultless in the presence of the Lord's glory in the\ngreat day. That was something to live for. To witness that spiritual\ntransformation which he had inaugurated carried on to completion gave\nthe future a greatness and a worth which made the Apostle's heart leap\nfor joy. He is glad when he thinks of his children walking in the\ntruth. They are \"a chaplet of victory of which he may justly make his\nboast\"; he is prouder of them than a king of his crown, or a champion\nin the games of his wreath.\n\nSuch words might well be charged with extravagance if we omitted to\nlook at the connection in which they stand. \"What is our hope, or joy,\nor crown of glorying? Are not even ye, before our Lord Jesus at His\ncoming?\" _Before our Lord Jesus at His coming_: this is the presence,\nthis the occasion, with which Paul confronts, in imagination, his hope\nand joy and triumph. They are such as give him confidence and\nexultation even as he thinks of the great event which will try all\ncommon hopes and put them to shame.\n\nNone of us, it may be presumed, is without hope when he looks into the\nfuture; but how far does our future extend? For what situation is\nprovision made by the hope that we actually cherish? The one certain\nevent of the future is that we shall stand before our Lord Jesus, at\nHis coming; can we acknowledge there with joy and boasting the hope on\nwhich our heart is at present set? Can we carry into that presence the\nexpectation which at this moment gives us courage to look down the\nyears to come? Not every one can. There are multitudes of human hopes\nwhich terminate on material things, and expire with Christ's coming;\nit is not these that can give us joy at last. The only hope whose\nlight is not dimmed by the brightness of Christ's appearing is the\ndisinterested spiritual hope of one who has made himself the servant\nof others for Jesus' sake, and has lived to see and aid their growth\nin the Lord. The fire which tries every man's work of what sort it is,\nbrings out the imperishable worth of this. The Old Testament as well\nas the New tells us that souls saved and sanctified are the one hope\nand glory of men in the great day. \"They that be wise shall shine as\nthe brightness of the firmament, and they that turn many to\nrighteousness as the stars for ever and ever.\" It is a favourite\nthought of the Apostle himself: \"appear as lights in the world,\nholding forth the word of life, _that I may have whereof to glory in\nthe day of Christ_.\" Even the Lord Himself, as he looks at the men\nwhom He has gathered out of the world, can say, _I am glorified_ in\nthem. It is His glory, as the Father's servant, that He has sought and\nfound and sanctified His Church.\n\nWe ought not to pass by such fervent utterances as if they must mean\nless than they say. We ought not, because our own hold on the circle\nof Christian facts is weak, to glide over the qualification, \"before\nour Lord Jesus at His coming,\" as if it were without any solid\nmeaning. The Bible is verbally inspired at least in the sense that\nnothing in it is otiose; every word is meant. And we miss the main\nlesson of this passage, if we do not ask ourselves whether we have any\nhope which is valid on the grand occasion in question. Your future may\nbe secured as far as this world is concerned. Your investments may be\nas safe as the National debt; the loyalty and virtue of your children\nall that heart could wish; you are not afraid of poverty, loneliness,\nage. But what of our Lord Jesus, and His coming? Will your hope be\nworth anything before Him, at that day? You do not know how near it\nis. For some it may be very near. There are people in every\ncongregation who know they cannot live ten years. No one knows that he\nwill live so long. And all are summoned to take that great event into\ntheir view of the future, and to make ready for it. Is it not a fine\nthing to think that, if we do so, we can look forward to the coming of\nour Lord Jesus with hope and joy and triumph?\n\nThe intensity of Paul's love for the Thessalonians made his longing to\nsee them intolerable; and after being twice baffled in his attempts to\nrevisit them he sent Timothy in his stead. Rather than be without news\nof them he was content to be left in Athens alone. He mentions this as\nif it had been a great sacrifice, and probably it was so for him. He\nseems to have been in many ways dependent on the sympathy and\nassistance of others; and, of all places he ever visited, Athens was\nthe most trying to his ardent temperament. It was covered with idols\nand exceedingly religious; yet it seemed to him more hopelessly away\nfrom God than any city in the world. Never had he been left alone in a\nplace so unsympathetic; never had he felt so great a gulf fixed\nbetween others' minds and his own; and Timothy had no sooner gone than\nhe made his way to Corinth, where his messenger found him on his\nreturn.\n\nThe object of this mission is sufficiently plain from what has been\nalready said. The Apostle knew the troubles that had beset the\nThessalonians; and it was Timothy's function to establish them and to\ncomfort them concerning their faith, that no man should be moved by\nthese afflictions. The word translated \"moved\" occurs only this once\nin the New Testament, and the meaning is not quite certain. It may be\nquite as general as our version represents it; but it may also have a\nmore definite sense, viz., that of allowing oneself to be befooled, or\nflattered out of one's faith, in the midst of tribulations. Besides\nthe vehement enemies who pursued Paul with open violence, there may\nhave been others who spoke of him to the Thessalonians as a mere\nenthusiast, the victim in his own person of delusions about a\nresurrection and a life to come, which he sought to impose upon\nothers; and who, when affliction came on the Church, tried by appeals\nof this sort to wheedle the Thessalonians out of their faith. Such a\nsituation would answer very exactly to the peculiar word here used.\nBut however this may be, the general situation was plain. The Church\nwas suffering; suffering is a trial which not every one can bear; and\nPaul was anxious to have some one with them who had learned the\nelementary Christian lesson, that it is inevitable. The disciples had\nnot, indeed, been taken by surprise. The Apostle had told them before\nthat to this lot Christians were appointed; we are destined, he says,\nto suffer affliction. Nevertheless, it is one thing to know this by\nbeing told, and another to know it, as the Thessalonians now did, by\nexperience. The two things are as different as reading a book about a\ntrade, and serving an apprenticeship to it.\n\nThe suffering of the good because they are good is mysterious, in part\nbecause it has the two aspects here made so manifest. On the one hand,\nit comes by Divine appointment; it is the law under which the Son of\nGod Himself and all His followers live. But on the other hand, it is\ncapable of a double issue. It may perfect those who endure it as\nordained by God; it may bring out the solidity of their character, and\nredound to the glory of their Saviour; or it may give an opening to\nthe tempter to seduce them from a path so full of pain. The one thing\nof which Paul is certain is, that the salvation of Christ is cheaply\npurchased at any price of affliction. Christ's life here and hereafter\nis the supreme good; the one thing needful, for which all else may be\ncounted loss.\n\nThis possible double issue of suffering--in higher goodness, or in the\nabandonment of the narrow way--explains the difference of tone with\nwhich Scripture speaks of it in different places. With the happy issue\nin view, it bids us count it all joy when we fall into divers\ntemptations; blessed, it exclaims, is the man who endures; for when he\nis found proof, he shall receive the crown of life. But with human\nweakness in view, and the terrible consequences of failure, it bids us\npray, Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.\nThe true Christian will seek, in all the afflictions of life, to\ncombine the courage and hope of the one view with the humility and\nfear of the other.\n\n[10] \u03a4\u03af\u03c2 \u03b3\u1f70\u03c1 \u2026 \u1f22 \u03bf\u1f50\u03c7\u1f76 \u03ba\u03b1\u1f76 \u1f51\u03bc\u03b5\u1fd6\u03c2;\n\n\n\n\nVIII.\n\n_LOVE AND PRAYERS._\n\n\n \"But when Timothy came even now unto us from you, and brought us glad\n tidings of your faith and love, and that ye have good remembrance of\n us always, longing to see us, even as we also _to see_ you; for this\n cause, brethren, we were comforted over you in all our distress and\n affliction through your faith: for now we live, if ye stand fast in\n the Lord. For what thanksgiving can we render again unto God for you,\n for all the joy wherewith we joy for your sakes before our God; night\n and day praying exceedingly that we may see your face, and may\n perfect that which is lacking in your faith? Now may our God and\n Father Himself, and our Lord Jesus, direct our way unto you: and the\n Lord make you to increase and abound in love one toward another, and\n toward all men, even as we also _do_ toward you; to the end He may\n stablish your hearts unblameable in holiness before our God and Father,\n at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all His saints.\"--1 THESS. iii.\n 6-13 (R.V.).\n\nThese verses present no peculiar difficulty to the expositor. They\nillustrate the remark of Bengel that the First Epistle to the\nThessalonians is characterised by a kind of unmixed sweetness,--a\nquality which is insipid to those who are indifferent to the relations\nin which it is displayed, but which can never lose its charm for\nsimple, kindly, Christian hearts.\n\nIt is worth observing that Paul wrote to the Thessalonians the moment\nTimothy returned.[11] Such promptitude has not only a business value,\nbut a moral and Christian worth as well. It not only prevents arrears\nfrom accumulating; it gives those to whom we write the first and\nfreshest feelings of the heart. Of course one may write hastily, as\nwell as speak hastily; a living critic has had the audacity to say\nthat if Paul had kept the Epistle to the Galatians long enough to read\nit over, he would have thrown it into the fire; but most of our faults\nas correspondents arise, not from precipitation, but from undue\ndelay. Where our hearts prompt us to speak or to write, let us dread\nprocrastination as a sin. The letter of congratulation or condolence\nis natural and in place, and it will be inspired by true feeling, if\nit is written when the sad or joyful news has touched the heart with\ngenuine sympathy; but if it is put on till a more convenient season,\nit will never be done as it ought to be. How fervent and hearty is the\nlanguage in which Paul here expresses himself. The news that Timothy\nhas brought from Thessalonica is a veritable gospel to him. It has\ncomforted him in all his necessities and distresses; it has brought\nhim new life; it has been an indescribable joy. If he had not written\nfor a fortnight, we should have missed this rebound of gladness; and\nwhat is more serious, the Thessalonians would have missed it.\nCold-hearted people may think they would have survived the loss; but\nit is a loss which the cold hearted cannot estimate. Who can doubt\nthat, when this letter was read in the little congregation at\nThessalonica, the hearts of the disciples warmed again to the great\nteacher who had been among them, and to the message of love which he\nhad preached? The gospel is wonderfully commended by the manifestation\nof its own spirit in its ministers, and the love of Paul to the\nThessalonians no doubt made it easier for them to believe in the love\nof God, and to love one another. For good, as well as for evil, a\nlittle spark can kindle a great fire; and it would only be natural if\nthe burning words of this letter kindled the flame of love anew in\nhearts in which it was beginning to die.\n\nThere were two causes for Paul's joy,--one larger and more public; the\nother, proper to himself. The first was the faith and love of the\nThessalonians, or, as he calls it further on, their standing fast in\nthe Lord; the other was their affectionate and faithful remembrance of\nhim, their desire, earnestly reciprocated on his part, to see his face\nonce more.\n\nThe visitation of a Christian congregation by a deputy from Synod or\nAssembly is sometimes embarrassing: no one knows exactly what is\nwanted; a schedule of queries, filled up by the minister or the\noffice-bearers, is a painfully formal affair, which gives little real\nknowledge of the health and spirit of the Church. But Timothy was one\nof the founders of the church at Thessalonica; he had an affectionate\nand natural interest in it; he came at once into close contact with\nits real condition, and found the disciples full of faith and love.\nFaith and love are not easily calculated and registered; but where\nthey exist in any power, they are easily felt by a Christian man. They\ndetermine the temperature of the congregation; and a very short\nexperience enables a true disciple to tell whether it is high or low.\nTo the great joy of Timothy, he found the Thessalonians unmistakably\nChristian. They were standing fast in the Lord. Christ was the basis,\nthe centre, the soul of their life. Their faith is mentioned twice,\nbecause that is the most comprehensive word to describe the new life\nin its root; they still kept their hold of the Word of God in the\ngospel; no one could live among them and not feel that unseen things\nwere real to their souls; God and Christ, the resurrection and the\ncoming judgment, the atonement and the final salvation, were the great\nforces which ruled their thoughts and lives. Faith in these\ndistinguished them from their Pagan neighbours. It made them a\nChristian congregation, in which an Evangelist like Timothy at once\nfound himself at home. The common faith had its most signal exhibition\nin love; if it separated the brethren from the rest of the world, it\nunited them more closely to each other. Every one knows what love is\nin a family, and how different the spiritual atmosphere is, according\nas love reigns or is disregarded in the relations of the household. In\nsome homes, love does reign: parents and children, brothers and\nsisters, masters and servants, bear themselves beautifully to each\nother; it is a delight to visit them; there is openness and\nsimplicity, sweetness of temper, a willingness to deny self, a\nreadiness to be interested in others, no suspicion, reserve, or gloom;\nthere is one mind and one heart in old and young, and a brightness\nlike the sunshine. In others, again, we see the very opposite:\nfriction, self-will, captiousness, mutual distrust, readiness to\nsuspect or to sneer, a painful separation of hearts that should be\none. And the same holds good of churches, which are in reality large\nfamilies, united not by natural but by spiritual bonds. We ought all\nto be friends. There ought to be a spirit of love shed abroad in our\nhearts, drawing us to each other in spite of natural differences,\ngiving us an unaffected interest in each other, making us frank,\nsincere, cordial, self-denying, eager to help where help is needed and\nit is in our power to render it, ready to resign our own liking, and\nour own judgment even, to the common mind and purpose of the Church.\nThese two graces of faith and love are the very soul of the Christian\nlife. It is good news to a good man to hear that they exist in any\nchurch. It is good news to Christ.\n\nBut besides this more public cause for joy, which Paul shared to some\nextent with all Christian men, there was another more private to\nhimself,--their good remembrance of him, and their earnest desire to\nsee him. Paul wrought for nothing but love. He did not care for money\nor for fame; but a place in the hearts of his disciples was dear to\nhim above everything else in the world. He did not always get it.\nSometimes those who had just heard the gospel from his lips, and\nwelcomed its glad tidings, were prejudiced against him; they deserted\nhim for more attractive preachers; they forgot, amid the multitude of\ntheir Christian instructors, the father who had begotten them in the\ngospel. Such occurrences, of which we read in the Epistles to the\nCorinthians and Galatians, were a deep grief to Paul; and though he\nsays to one of these thankless churches, \"I will very gladly spend and\nbe spent for you, though the more abundantly I love you the less I be\nloved,\" he says also, \"Brethren, receive us; make room for us in your\nhearts; _our_ heart has been opened wide to _you_.\" He hungered\nand thirsted for an answer of love to all the love which he lavished\non his converts; and his heart leapt up when Timothy returned from\nThessalonica, and told him that the disciples there had good\nremembrance of him, that is, spoke of him with love, and longed to see\nhim once more. Nobody is fit to be a servant of Christ in any degree,\nas parent, or teacher, or elder, or pastor, who does not know what\nthis craving for love is. It is not selfishness: it is itself one side\nof love. Not to care for a place in the hearts of others; not to wish\nfor love, not to need it, not to miss it if it is wanting, does not\nsignify that we are free from selfishness or vanity: it is the mark of\na cold and narrow heart, shut up in itself, and disqualified for any\nservice the very essence of which is love. The thanklessness or\nindifference of others is not a reason why we should cease to serve\nthem; yet it is apt to make the attempt at service heartless; and if\nyou would encourage any who have ever helped you in your spiritual\nlife, do not forget them, but esteem them very highly in love for\ntheir works' sake.\n\nWhen Timothy returned from Thessalonica, he found Paul sorely in need\nof good news. He was beset by distress and affliction; not inward or\nspiritual troubles, but persecutions and sufferings, which befell him\nfrom the enemies of the gospel. So extreme was his distress that he\neven speaks of it by implication as death. But the glad tidings of\nThessalonian faith and love swept it at once away. They brought\ncomfort, joy, thanksgiving, life from the dead. How intensely, we are\ncompelled to say, did this man live his apostolic life! What depths\nand heights are in it; what depression, not stopping short of despair;\nwhat hope, not falling short of triumph. There are Christian workers\nin multitudes whose experience, it is to be feared, gives them no key\nto what we read here. There is less passion in their life in a year\nthan there was in Paul's in a day; they know nothing of these\ntransitions from distress and affliction to unspeakable joy and\npraise. Of course all men are not alike; all natures are not equally\nimpressible; but surely all who are engaged in work which asks the\nheart or nothing should suspect themselves if they go on from week to\nweek and year to year with heart unmoved? It is a great thing to have\npart in a work which deals with men for their spiritual interests--which\nhas in view life and death, God and Christ, salvation and judgment.\nWho can think of failures and discouragements without pain and fear?\nwho can hear the glad tidings of victory without heartfelt joy? Is it\nnot those only who have neither part nor lot in the matter?\n\nThe Apostle in the fulness of his joy turns with devout gratitude\ntoward God. It is He who has kept the Thessalonians from falling, and\nthe only return the Apostle can make is to express his thankfulness.\nHe feels how unworthy words are of God's kindness; how unequal even to\nhis own feelings; but they are the first recompense to be made, and he\ndoes not withhold them. There is no surer mark of a truly pious spirit\nthan this grateful mood. Every good gift and every perfect gift is\nfrom above; most directly and immediately are all gifts like love and\nfaith to be referred to God as their source, and to call forth the\nthanks and praise of those who are interested in them. If God does\nlittle for us, giving us few signs of His presence and help, may it\nnot be because we have refused to acknowledge His kindness when He has\ninterposed on our behalf? \"Whoso offereth praise,\" He says, \"glorifieth\nMe.\" \"In everything give thanks.\"\n\nPaul's love for the Thessalonians did not blind him to their\nimperfections. It was their faith which comforted him in all his\ndistress, yet he speaks of the deficiencies of their faith as\nsomething he sought to remedy. In one sense, faith is a very simple\nthing, the setting of the heart right with God in Christ Jesus. In\nanother, it is very comprehensive. It has to lay hold on the whole\nrevelation which God has made in His Son, and it has to pass into\naction through love in every department of life. It is related on the\none side to knowledge, and on the other to conduct. Now Timothy saw\nthat while the Thessalonians had the root of the matter in them, and\nhad set themselves right with God, they were far from perfect. They\nwere ignorant of much which it concerned Christians to know; they had\nfalse ideas on many points in regard to which God had given light.\nThey had much to do before they could be said to have escaped from the\nprejudices, the instincts, and the habits of heathenism, and to have\nentered completely into the mind of Christ. In later chapters we shall\nfind the Apostle rectifying what was amiss in their notions both of\ntruth and duty; and, in doing so, opening up to us the lines on which\ndefective faith needs to be corrected and supplemented.\n\nBut we should not pass by this notice of the deficiencies of faith\nwithout asking ourselves whether our own faith is alive and\nprogressive. It may be quite true and sound in itself; but what if it\nnever gets any further on? It is in its nature an engrafting into\nChrist, a setting of the soul into a vital connection with Him; and if\nit is what it should be, there will be a transfusion, by means of it,\nof Christ into us. We shall get a larger and surer possession of the\nmind of Christ, which is the standard both of spiritual truth and of\nspiritual life. His thoughts will be our thoughts; His judgment, our\njudgment; His estimates of life and the various elements in it, our\nestimates; His disposition and conduct, the pattern and the\ninspiration of ours. Faith is a little thing in itself, the smallest\nof small beginnings; in its earliest stage it is compatible with a\nhigh degree of ignorance, of foolishness, of insensibility in the\nconscience; and hence the believer must not forget that he is a\ndisciple; and that though he has entered the school of Christ, he has\nonly entered it, and has many classes to pass through, and much to\nlearn and unlearn, before he can become a credit to his Teacher. An\nApostle coming among us would in all likelihood be struck with\nmanifest deficiencies in our faith. This aspect of the truth, he would\nsay, is overlooked; this vital doctrine is not really a vital piece of\nyour minds; in your estimate of such and such a thing you are betrayed\nby worldly prejudices that have survived your conversion; in your\nconduct in such and such a situation you are utterly at variance with\nChrist. He would have much to teach us, no doubt, of truth, of right\nand wrong, and of our Christian calling; and if we wish to remedy the\ndefects of our faith, we must give heed to the words of Christ and His\nApostles, so that we may not only be engrafted into Him, but grow up\ninto Him in all things, and become perfect men in Christ Jesus.\n\nIn view of their deficiencies, Paul prayed exceedingly that he might\nsee the Thessalonians again; and conscious of his own inability to\novercome the hindrances raised in his path by Satan, he refers the\nwhole matter to God. \"May our God and Father Himself, and our Lord\nJesus Christ, direct our way unto you.\" Certainly in that prayer the\nperson directly addressed is our God and Father Himself; our Lord\nJesus Christ is introduced in subordination to Him; yet what a dignity\nis implied in this juxtaposition of God and Christ! Surely the name of\na merely human creature, even if such could be exalted to share the\nthrone of God, could not possibly appear in this connexion. It is not\nto be overlooked that both in this and in the similar passage in 2\nThess. ii. 16 f., where God and Christ are named side by side, the\nverb is in the singular number. It is an involuntary assent of the\nApostle to the word of the Lord, \"I and My Father are one.\" We can\nunderstand why He added in this place \"our Lord Jesus Christ\" to \"our\nGod and Father.\" It was not only that all power was given to the Son\nin heaven and on earth; but that, as Paul well knew from that day on\nwhich the Lord arrested him by Damascus, the Saviour's heart beat in\nsympathy with His suffering Church, and would surely respond to any\nprayer on its behalf. Nevertheless, he leaves the result to God; and\neven if he is not permitted to come to them, he can still pray for\nthem, as he does in the closing verses of the chapter: \"The Lord make\nyou to increase and abound in love one toward another, and toward all\nmen, even as we also do toward you; to the end He may stablish your\nhearts unblameable in holiness before our God and Father, at the\ncoming of our Lord Jesus with all His saints.\"\n\nHere it is distinctly Christ who is addressed in prayer; and what the\nApostle asks is that He may make the Thessalonians increase and abound\nin love. Love, he seems to say, is the one grace in which all others\nare comprehended; we can never have too much of it; we can never have\nenough. The strong words of the prayer really ask that the\nThessalonians may be loving in a superlative degree, overflowing with\nlove. And notice the aspect in which love is here presented to us: it\nis a power and an exercise of our own souls certainly, yet we are not\nthe fountain of it; it is the Lord who is to make us rich in love.\nThe best commentary on this prayer is the word of the Apostle in\nanother letter: \"The love of God hath been shed abroad in our hearts\nthrough the Holy Ghost which was given unto us.\" \"We love, because He\nfirst loved us.\" In whatever degree love exists in us, God is its\nsource; it is like a faint pulse, every separate beat of which tells\nof the throbbing of the heart; and it is only as God imparts His\nSpirit to us more fully that our capacity for loving deepens and\nexpands. When that Spirit springs up within us, an inexhaustible\nfountain, then rivers of living water, streams of love, will overflow\non all around. For God is love, and he that dwells in love dwells in\nGod, and God in him.\n\nPaul seeks love for his converts as the means by which their hearts\nmay be established unblameable in holiness. That is a notable\ndirection for those in search of holiness. A selfish, loveless heart\ncan never succeed in this quest. A cold heart is not unblameable, and\nnever will be; it is either pharisaical or foul, or both. But love\nsanctifies. Often we only escape from our sins by escaping from\nourselves; by a hearty, self-denying, self-forgetting interest in\nothers. It is quite possible to think so much about holiness as to put\nholiness out of our reach: it does not come with concentrating thought\nupon ourselves at all; it is the child of love, which kindles a fire in\nthe heart in which faults are burnt up. Love is the fulfilling of the\nlaw; the sum of the ten commandments; the end of all perfection. Do\nnot let us imagine that there is any other holiness than that which is\nthus created. There is an ugly kind of faultlessness which is always\nraising its head anew in the Church; a holiness which knows nothing of\nlove, but consists in a sort of spiritual isolation, in censoriousness,\nin holding up one's head and shaking off the dust of one's feet\nagainst brethren, in conceit, in condescension, in sanctimonious\nseparateness from the freedom of common life, as though one were too\ngood for the company which God has given him: all this is as common in\nthe Church as it is plainly condemned in the New Testament. It is an\nabomination in God's sight. Except your righteousness, says Christ,\nexceed this, ye shall in no wise enter into the kingdom of heaven.\nLove exceeds it infinitely, and opens the door which is closed to\nevery other claim.\n\nThe kingdom of heaven comes before the Apostle's mind as he writes.\nThe Thessalonians are to be blameless in holiness, not in the judgment\nof any human tribunal, but before our God and Father, at the coming of\nour Lord Jesus Christ with all His saints. At the end of each of these\nthree chapters this great event has risen into view. The coming of our\nLord Jesus Christ is a scene of judgment for some; of joy and glory\nfor others; of imposing splendour for all. Many think that the last\nwords here, \"with all His saints,\" refer to the angels, and Zech. xiv.\n5,--\"The Lord my God shall come, and all the saints with Thee,\"--in\nwhich angels are undoubtedly meant, has been quoted in support of this\nview; but such a use of \"saints\" would be unexampled in the New\nTestament.[12] The Apostle means the dead in Christ, who, as he\nexplains in a later chapter, will swell the Lord's train at His\ncoming. The instinctiveness with which Paul recurs to this great event\nshows how large a place it filled in his creed and in his heart. His\nhope was a hope of Christ's second coming; his joy was a joy which\nwould not pale in that awful presence; his holiness was a holiness to\nstand the test of those searching eyes. Where has this supreme motive\ngone in the modern Church? Is not this one point in which the\napostolic word bids us perfect that which is lacking in our faith?\n\n[11] \u1f0c\u03c1\u03c4\u03b9 is naturally taken with \u1f10\u03bb\u03b8\u03cc\u03bd\u03c4\u03bf\u03c2: as by Ellicott.\n\n[12] Yet see Jude 14, quoting from Enoch.\n\n\n\n\nIX.\n\n_PERSONAL PURITY._\n\n\n \"Finally then, brethren, we beseech and exhort you in the Lord Jesus,\n that, as ye received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God,\n even as ye do walk,--that ye abound more and more. For ye know what\n charge we gave you through the Lord Jesus. For this is the will of\n God, _even_ your sanctification, that ye abstain from fornication;\n that each one of you know how to possess himself of his own vessel in\n sanctification and honour, not in the passion of lust, even as the\n Gentiles which know not God; that no man transgress, and wrong his\n brother in the matter: because the Lord is an avenger in all these\n things, as also we forewarned you and testified. For God called us\n not for uncleanness, but in sanctification. Therefore he that\n rejecteth, rejecteth not man, but God, who giveth His Holy Spirit\n unto you.\"--1 THESS. iv. 1-8 (R.V.).\n\nThe \"finally\" with which this chapter opens is the beginning of the\nend of the Epistle. The personal matter which has hitherto occupied us\nwas the immediate cause of the Apostle's writing; he wished to open\nhis heart to the Thessalonians, and to vindicate his conduct against\nthe insidious accusations of his enemies; and having done so, his main\npurpose is fulfilled. For what remains--this is the meaning of\n\"finally\"--he has a few words to say suggested by Timothy's report\nupon their state.\n\nThe previous chapter closed with a prayer for their growth in love,\nwith a view to their establishment in holiness. The prayer of a good\nman avails much in its working; but his prayer of intercession cannot\nsecure the result it seeks without the co-operation of those for whom\nit is made. Paul, who has besought the Lord on their behalf, now\nbeseeches the Thessalonians themselves, and exhorts them in the Lord\nJesus, to walk as they had been taught by him. The gospel, we see\nfrom this passage, contains a new law; the preacher must not only do\nthe work of an evangelist, proclaiming the glad tidings of\nreconciliation to God, but the work of a catechist also, enforcing on\nthose who receive the glad tidings the new law of Christ. This is in\naccordance with the final charge of the Saviour: \"Go and make\ndisciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and\nof the Son and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things\nwhatsoever I have commanded you.\" The Apostle had followed this Divine\norder; he had made disciples in Thessalonica, and then he had taught\nthem how to walk and to please God. We who have been born in a\nChristian country, and bred on the New Testament, are apt to think\nthat we know all these things; our conscience seems to us a sufficient\nlight. We ought to know that, though conscience is universal in the\nhuman race, and everywhere distinguishes between a right and a wrong,\nthere is not one of our faculties which is more in need of\nenlightenment. No one doubts that men who have been converted from\nheathenism, like the Thessalonians, or the fruits of modern missions\nin Nyassaland or Madagascar, need to be _taught_ what kind of life\npleases God; but in some measure we all need such teaching. We have\nnot been true to conscience; it is set in our human nature like the\nunprotected compass in the early iron ships: it is exposed to\ninfluences from other parts of our nature which bias and deflect it\nwithout our knowledge. It needs to be adjusted to the holy will of\nGod, the unchangeable standard of right, and protected against\ndisturbing forces. In Thessalonica Paul had laid down the new law, he\nsays, _through the Lord Jesus_. If it had not been for Him, we should\nhave been without the knowledge of it altogether; we should have had\nno adequate conception of the life with which God is well pleased. But\nsuch a life is exhibited to us in the Gospels; its spirit and\nrequirements can be deduced from Christ's example, and are explicitly\nset forth in His words. He left us an example, that we should follow\nin His steps. \"Follow Me,\" is the sum of His commandments; the one\nall-embracing law of the Christian life.\n\nOne of the subjects of which we should gladly know more is the use of\nthe Gospels in the early Church; and this passage gives us one of the\nearliest glimpses of it. The peculiar mention of the Lord Jesus in the\nsecond verse shows that the Apostle used the words and example of the\nMaster as the basis of his moral teaching; the mind of Christ is the\nnorm for the Christian conscience. And if it be true that we still\nneed enlightenment as to the claims of God and the law of life, it is\nhere we must seek it. The words of Jesus have still their old\nauthority. They still search our hearts, and show us all things that\never we did, and their moral worth or worthlessness. They still reveal\nto us unsuspected ranges of life and action in which God is not yet\nacknowledged. They still open to us gates of righteousness, and call\non us to enter in, and subdue new territories to God. The man who is\nmost advanced in the life which pleases God, and whose conscience is\nmost nearly identical with the mind of Christ, will be the first to\nconfess his constant need of, and his constant dependence upon, the\nword and example of the Lord Jesus.\n\nIn addressing the Thessalonians, Paul is careful to recognise their\nactual obedience. Ye do walk, he writes, according to this rule. In\nspite of sins and imperfections, the church, as a whole, had a\nChristian character; it was exhibiting human life in Thessalonica on\nthe new model; and while he hints that there is room for indefinite\nprogress, he does not fail to notice their present attainments. That\nis a rule of wisdom, not only for those who have to censure or to\nteach, but for all who wish to judge soberly the state and prospects\nof the Church. We know the necessity there is for abounding more and\nmore in Christian obedience; we can see in how many directions,\ndoctrinal and practical, that which is lacking in faith requires to be\nperfected; but we need not therefore be blind to the fact that it is\nin the Church that the Christian standard is held up, and that\ncontinuous, and not quite unsuccessful efforts, are made to reach it.\nThe best men in a community, those whose lives come nearest to\npleasing God, are to be found among those who are identified with the\ngospel; and if the worst men in the community are also found in the\nChurch at times, that is because the corruption of the best is worst.\nIf God has not cast off His Church altogether, He is teaching her to\ndo His will.\n\n\"For this,\" the Apostle proceeds, \"is the will of God, even your\nsanctification.\" It is assumed here that the will of God is the law,\nand ought to be the inspiration, of the Christian. God has taken him\nout of the world that he may be His, and live in Him and for Him. He\nis not his own any longer; even his will is not his own; it is to be\ncaught up and made one with the will of God; and that is\nsanctification. No human will works apart from God to this end of\nholiness. The other influences which reach it, and bend it into accord\nwith them, are from beneath, not from above; as long as it does not\nrecognise the will of God as its rule and support, it is a carnal,\nworldly, sinful will. But the will of God, to which it is called to\nsubmit, is the saving of the human will from this degradation. For the\nwill of God is not only a law to which we are required to conform, it\nis the one great and effective moral power in the universe, and it\nsummons us to enter into alliance and co-operation with itself. It is\nnot a dead thing; it is God Himself working in us in furtherance of\nHis good pleasure. To tell us what the will of God is, is not to tell\nus what is against us, but what is on our side; not the force which we\nhave to encounter, but that on which we can depend. If we set out on\nan un-Christian life, on a career of falsehood, sensuality,\nworldliness, God is against us; if we go to perdition, we go breaking\nviolently through the safeguards with which He has surrounded us,\noverpowering the forces by which He seeks to keep us in check; but if\nwe set ourselves to the work of sanctification, He is on our side. He\nworks in us and with us, because our sanctification is His will. Paul\ndoes not mention it here to dishearten the Thessalonians, but to\nstimulate them. Sanctification is the one task which we can face\nconfident that we are not left to our own resources. God is not the\ntaskmaster we have to satisfy out of our own poor efforts, but the\nholy and loving Father who inspires and sustains us from first to\nlast. To fall in with His will is to enlist all the spiritual forces\nof the world in our aid; it is to pull with, instead of against, the\nspiritual tide.\n\nIn the passage before us the Apostle contrasts our sanctification with\nthe cardinal vice of heathenism, impurity. Above all other sins, this\nwas characteristic of the Gentiles _who knew not God_. There is\nsomething striking in that description of the pagan world in this\nconnection: ignorance of God was at once the cause and the effect of\ntheir vileness; had they retained God in their knowledge, they could\nnever have sunk to such depths of shame; had they shrunk from\npollution with instinctive horror, they would never have been\nabandoned to such ignorance of God. No one who is not familiar with\nancient literature can have the faintest idea of the depth and breadth\nof the corruption. Not only in writers avowedly immoral, but in the\nmost magnificent works of a genius as lofty and pure as Plato, there\nare pages that would stun with horror the most hardened profligate in\nChristendom. It is hardly an exaggeration to say that on the whole\nmatter in question the heathen world was without conscience: it had\nsinned away its sense of the difference between right and wrong; to\nuse the words of the Apostle in another passage, being past feeling\nmen had given themselves up to work all manner of uncleanness. They\ngloried in their shame. Frequently, in his epistles, Paul combines\nthis vice with covetousness,--the two together representing the great\ninterests of life to the ungodly, the flesh and the world. Those who\ndo not know God and live for Him, live, as he saw with fearful\nplainness, to indulge the flesh and to heap up gain. Some think that\nin the passage before us this combination is made, and that ver.\n6--\"that no man go beyond and defraud his brother in _any_\nmatter\"--is a prohibition of dishonesty in business; but that is\nalmost certainly[13] a mistake. As the Revised Version shows, the\nApostle is speaking of the matter in hand; in the Church especially,\namong brethren in Christ, in the Christian home, the uncleanness of\nheathenism can have no place. Marriage is to be sanctified. Every\nChristian, marrying in the Lord, is to exhibit in his home-life the\nChristian law of sanctification and noble self-respect.\n\nThe Apostle adds to his warning against sensuality the terrible\nsanction, \"The Lord is an avenger in all these things.\" The want of\nconscience in the heathen world generated a vast indifference on this\npoint. If impurity was a sin, it was certainly not a crime. The laws\ndid not interfere with it; public opinion was at best neutral; the\nunclean person might presume upon impunity. To a certain extent this\nis the case still. The laws are silent, and treat the deepest guilt as\na civil offence. Public opinion is indeed stronger and more hostile\nthan it once was, for the leaven of Christ's kingdom is actively at\nwork in society; but public opinion can only touch open and notorious\noffenders, those who have been guilty of scandal as well as of sin;\nand secrecy is still tempted to count upon impunity. But here we are\nsolemnly warned that the Divine law of purity has sanctions of its own\nabove any cognisance taken of offences by man. \"The Lord is an avenger\nin all these things.\" \"Because of these things cometh the wrath of God\nupon the sons of disobedience.\"\n\nIs it not true? They are avenged on the bodies of the sinful.\n\"Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.\" The holy law of\nGod, wrought into the very constitution of our bodies, takes care that\nwe do not violate it without paying the penalty. If it is not at the\nmoment, it is in the future, and with interest,--in premature old age;\nin the torpor which succeeds all spendthrift feats, excesses of man's\nprime; in the sudden break-down under any strain put on either\nphysical or moral courage. They are avenged in the soul. Sensual\nindulgence extinguishes the capacity for feeling: the profligate man\nwould love, but cannot; all that is inspiring, elevating, redeeming in\nthe passions is lost to him; all that remains is the dull sense of\nthat incalculable loss. Were there ever sadder lines written than\nthose in which Burns, with his life ruined by this very thing, writes\nto a young friend and warns him against it?\n\n  \"I wave the quantum o' the sin,\n    The hazard o' concealing;\n  But Och! it hardens a' within,\n    And petrifies the feeling.\"\n\nThis inward deadening is one of the most terrible consequences of\nimmorality; it is so unexpected, so unlike the anticipations of\nyouthful passion, so stealthy in its approach, so inevitable, so\nirreparable. All these sins are avenged also in the will and in the\nspiritual nature. Most men repent of their early excesses; some never\ncease to repent. Repentance, at least, is what it is habitually\ncalled; but that is not really repentance which does not separate the\nsoul from sin. That access of weakness which comes upon the back of\nindulgence, that break-down of the soul in impotent self-pity, is no\nsaving grace. It is a counterfeit of repentance unto life, which\ndeludes those whom sin has blinded, and which, when often enough\nrepeated, exhausts the soul and leaves it in despair. Is there any\nvengeance more terrible than that? When _Christian_ was about to\nleave the Interpreter's house, \"Stay,\" said the Interpreter, \"till I\nhave showed thee a little more, and after that thou shalt go on thy\nway.\" What was the sight without which Christian was not allowed to\nstart upon his journey? It was the Man of Despair, sitting in the\niron cage,--the man who, when Christian asked him \"How camest thou in\nthis condition?\" made answer: \"I left off to watch and be sober; I\nlaid the reins upon the neck of my lusts; I sinned against the light\nof the word and the goodness of God; I have grieved the Spirit, and He\nis gone; I tempted the devil, and he is come to me; I have provoked\nGod to anger, and He has left me; I have so hardened my heart that I\ncannot repent.\" This is no fancy picture: it is drawn to the life; it\nis drawn from the life; it is the very voice and tone in which many a\nman has spoken who has lived an unclean life under the cloak of a\nChristian profession. They who do such things do not escape the\navenging holiness of God. Even death, the refuge to which despair so\noften drives, holds out no hope to them. There remaineth no more a\nsacrifice for sin, but a fearful expectation of judgment.\n\nThe Apostle dwells upon God's interest in purity. He is the avenger of\nall offences against it; but vengeance is His strange work. He has\ncalled us with a calling utterly alien to it,--not based on\nuncleanness or contemplating it, like some of the religions in\nCorinth, where Paul wrote this letter; but having sanctification,\npurity in body and in spirit, for its very element. The idea of\n\"calling\" is one which has been much degraded and impoverished in\nmodern times. By a man's calling we usually understand his trade,\nprofession, or business, whatever it may be; but our calling in\nScripture is something quite different from this. It is our life\nconsidered, not as filling a certain place in the economy of society,\nbut as satisfying a certain purpose in the mind and will of God. It is\na calling _in Christ Jesus_; apart from Him it could not have\nexisted. The Incarnation of the Son of God; His holy life upon the\nearth; His victory over all our temptations; His consecration of our\nweak flesh to God; His sanctification, by His own sinless experience,\nof our childhood, youth, and manhood, with all their unconsciousness,\ntheir bold anticipations, their sense of power, their bent to\nlawlessness and pride; His agony and His death upon the Cross; His\nglorious resurrection and ascension,--all these were necessary before\nwe could be called with a Christian calling. Can any one imagine that\nthe vices of heathenism, lust or covetousness, are compatible with a\ncalling like this? Are they not excluded by the very idea of it? It\nwould repay us, I think, to lift that noble word \"calling\" from the\nbase uses to which it has descended; and to give it in our minds the\nplace it has in the New Testament. It is God who has called us, and He\nhas called us in Christ Jesus, and therefore called us to be saints.\nFlee, therefore, all that is unholy and unclean.\n\nIn the last verse of the paragraph the Apostle urges both his appeals\nonce more: he recalls the severity and the goodness of God.\n\n\"Therefore he that rejecteth, rejecteth not man, but God\". \"Rejecteth\"\nis a contemptuous word; in the margin of the Authorised Version it is\nrendered, as in some other places in Scripture, \"despiseth.\" There are\nsuch things as sins of ignorance; there are cases in which the\nconscience is bewildered; even in a Christian community the vitality\nof conscience may be low, and sins, therefore, be prevalent, without\nbeing so deadly to the individual soul; but that is never true of the\nsin before us. To commit this sin is to sin against the light. It is\nto do what every one in contact with the Church knows, and from the\nbeginning has known, to be wrong. It is to be guilty of deliberate,\nwilful, high-handed contempt of God. It is little to be warned by an\napostle or a preacher; it is little to despise him: but behind all\nhuman warnings is the voice of God; behind all human sanctions of the\nlaw is God's inevitable vengeance; and it is that which is braved by\nthe impure. \"He that rejecteth, rejecteth not man, but God.\"\n\nBut God, we are reminded again in the last words, is not against us,\nbut on our side. He is the Holy One, and an avenger in all these\nthings; but He is also the God of Salvation, our deliverer from them\nall, who _gives His Holy Spirit unto us_. The words put in the\nstrongest light God's interest in us and in our sanctification. It is\nour sanctification He desires; to this He calls us; for this He works\nin us. Instead of shrinking from us, because we are so unlike Him, He\nputs His Holy Spirit into our impure hearts, He puts His own strength\nwithin our reach that we may lay hold upon it, He offers us His hand\nto grasp. It is this searching, condescending, patient, omnipotent\nlove, which is rejected by those who are immoral. They grieve the Holy\nSpirit of God, that Spirit which Christ won for us by His atoning\ndeath, and which is able to make us clean. There is no power which can\nsanctify us but this; nor is there any sin which is too deep or too\nblack for the Holy spirit to overcome. Hearken to the words of the\nApostle in another place: \"Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor\nidolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves\nwith men, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor\nextortioners, shall inherit the Kingdom of God. And such were some of\nyou: but ye were washed, but ye were sanctified, but ye were justified\nin the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and in the Spirit of our God.\"\n\n[13] Still I do not feel quite certain (in spite of 2 Cor. ii. 11)\nthat \u03c0\u03bb\u03b5\u03bf\u03bd\u03b5\u03ba\u03c4\u03b5\u1fd6\u03bd and \u03c0\u03bb\u03b5\u03bf\u03bd\u03b5\u03be\u03af\u03b1 in St. Paul can refer to anything\nbut covetousness. This is the view taken by Schmidt, who refers to the\ncombination, in 1 Cor. v. 10, vi. 10, of \u03c0\u03bb\u03b5\u03bf\u03bd\u03ad\u03ba\u03c4\u03b7\u03c2 with \u1f05\u03c1\u03c0\u03b1\u03be\nand \u03ba\u03bb\u03ad\u03c0\u03c4\u03b7\u03c2. If it is correct, \u1f10\u03bd \u03c4\u1ff7 \u03c0\u03c1\u03ac\u03b3\u03bc\u03b1\u03c4\u03b9 must be translated\n\"in business\"; \"_dass in gesch\u00e4ftlichen Dingen Keiner ausschreite und\nseinen Bruder ausbeute_.\" Certainly the combination of sensuality and\navarice as the cardinal vices of heathendom is characteristic of the\nApostle.\n\n\n\n\nX.\n\n_CHARITY AND INDEPENDENCE._\n\n\n \"But concerning love of the brethren ye have no need that one write\n unto you: for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another;\n for indeed ye do it toward all the brethren which are in all\n Macedonia. But we exhort you, brethren, that ye abound more and more;\n and that ye study to be quiet, and to do your own business, and to\n work with your hands, even as we charged you; that ye may walk\n honestly toward them that are without, and may have need of\n nothing.\"--1 THESS. iv. 9-12 (R.V.).\n\nWhen the gospel first came abroad in the world, two characteristics of\nits adherents attracted general attention, namely, personal purity and\nbrotherly love. Amid the gross sensuality of heathenism, the Christian\nstood out untainted by indulgence of the flesh; amid the utter\nheartlessness of pagan society, which made no provision for the poor,\nthe sick, or the aged, the Church was conspicuous for the close union\nof its members and their brotherly kindness to each other. Personal\npurity and brotherly love were the notes of the Christian and of the\nChristian community in the early days; they were the new and\nregenerating virtues which the Spirit of Christ had called into\nexistence in the heart of a dying world. The opening verses of this\nchapter enforce the first; those at present before us treat of the\nsecond.\n\n\"Concerning love of the brethren ye have no need that one write unto\nyou: for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another.\" The\nprinciple, that is, of brotherly love is of the very essence of\nChristianity; it is not a remote consequence of it which might easily\nbe overlooked unless it were pointed out. Every believer is taught of\nGod to love the brother who shares his faith; such love is the best\nand only guarantee of his own salvation; as the Apostle John writes,\n\"We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love\nthe brethren.\" It is perhaps not unnecessary to remark that, in the\nNew Testament, brethren means fellow-Christians, and not fellow-men.\nWe _have_ duties to all men, which the Bible does not fail to\nrecognise and enforce; we are one with them in the nature God has\ngiven us, and the great alternatives life sets before us; and that\nnatural unity is the basis of duties which all owe to each other.\nHonour _all_ men. But the Church of Christ creates new relations\nbetween its members, and with these new relations mutual obligations\nstill more strong and binding. God Himself is the Saviour of all,\nspecially of them that believe; and Christians in like manner are\nbound, as they have opportunity, to do good unto all men, but\nspecially to those who are of the household of faith. This is not\nsufficiently considered by most Christian people; who, if they looked\ninto the matter, might find that few of their strongest affections\nwere determined by the common faith. Is not love a strong and peculiar\nword to describe the feeling you cherish toward some members of the\nChurch, brethren to you in Christ Jesus? yet love to the brethren is\nthe very token of our right to a place in the Church for ourselves.\n\"He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.\"\n\nThese words of John give us the key to the expression \"taught of God\nto love one another.\" It is not likely that they refer to anything so\nexternal as the words of Scripture, \"Thou shalt love thy neighbour as\nthyself.\" Even in the Old Testament, to be taught of God was something\nmore spiritual than this; it was the same thing as to have the law\nwritten on the heart. That is what the Apostle has in view here. The\nChristian has been born again, born of God; he has a new nature, with\nnew instincts, a new law, a new spontaneity; it is now native to him\nto love. Until the Spirit of God enters into men's hearts and\nrecreates them, life is a war of all against all; man is a wolf to\nman; but in the Church that internecine strife has ended, for its\nmembers are the children of God, and every one that loveth Him that\nbegat loveth him also that is begotten of Him. The selfishness of\nman's nature is veiled, and to some extent repressed, in other\nsocieties; but it is not, as a principle, exterminated except in the\nChurch and by the Spirit of Christ. A family ought to be an unselfish\nplace, ruled only by and fostering the spirit of love; yet if Christ\nbe not there, what selfish passions assert themselves in spite of all\nrestraint. Any association working for the common good--a town council\neven--ought to be an unselfish body; yet how often, in such places, is\nrivalry conspicuous and self-seeking, and envy, and detraction, and\nall that is unlike Christ. In the Church which has been taught of God,\nor, in other words, which has learned of Christ, we find at least some\nmanifestations of a better spirit. It does contain people who love one\nanother because they are Christians; who are unselfish, giving way to\neach other, esteeming each other, helping each other; if it contained\nnone such, it would not be a Church at all.\n\nThe brotherly love of the early Church was not only visible to the\nworld; it was its great recommendation in the world's eyes. It had\nbrought a new thing into being, a thing for which the world was\npining, namely, vital society. The poor people in the cities of Asia\nand Europe saw with wonder, joy, and hope, men and women united to one\nanother in a spiritual union, which gave scope to all their gifts for\nsociety, and satisfied all their desires for it. The early Christian\nchurches were little companies of people where love was at a high\ntemperature, where outward pressure very often tightened the inward\nbonds, and where mutual confidence diffused continual joy. Men were\ndrawn to them irresistibly by the desire to share this life of love.\nIt is the very same force which at this moment draws those who are\noutcasts from society into the Salvation Army. Whatever the failings\nof that organisation may be, its members are as brothers; the sense of\nunion, of mutual obligation, of mutual confidence, in one word, of\nbrotherly love, is very strong; and souls that pine for that\natmosphere are drawn to it with overpowering force. It is not good for\nman to be alone; it is vain for him to seek the satisfaction of his\nsocial instincts in any of the casual, selfish, or sinful associations\nby which he is often betrayed: even the natural affection of the\nfamily, pure and strong as it may be, does not answer to the width of\nhis spiritual nature; his heart cries out for that society founded on\nbrotherly love which only the Church of Christ provides. If there is\none thing more than another which explains the Church's failure in\nmissionary work, it is the absence of this spirit of love among her\nmembers. If men were compelled to cry still, as in the early days of\nthe gospel, \"Behold these Christians, how they love one another,\" they\nwould not be able to remain outside. Their hearts would kindle at the\nglow, and all that hindered their incorporation would be burned up.\n\nThe Apostle acknowledges the progress of the Thessalonians. They show\nthis brotherly love to all the brethren that are in all Macedonia; but\nhe beseeches them to abound more and more. Nothing is more\ninconsistent with the gospel than narrowness of mind or heart,\nhowever often Christians may belie their profession by such vices.\nPerhaps of all churches in the world, the church of our own country is\nas much in need of this admonition as any, and more than most. Would\nit not be higher praise than some of us deserve, to say that we loved\nwith brotherly cordiality all the Christian churches in Britain, and\nwished them God speed in their Christian work? And as for churches\noutside our native land, who knows anything about them? There was a\ntime when all the Protestant churches in Europe were one, and lived on\nterms of brotherly intimacy; we sent ministers and professors to\ncongregations and colleges in France, Germany, and Holland, and took\nministers and professors from the Continent ourselves; the heart of\nthe Church was enlarged towards brethren whom it has now completely\nforgotten. This change has been to the loss of all concerned; and if\nwe would follow the Apostle's advice, and abound more and more in this\nsupreme grace, we must wake up to take an interest in brethren beyond\nthe British Isles. The Kingdom of Heaven has no boundaries that could\nbe laid down on a map, and the brotherly love of the Christian is\nwider than all patriotism. But this truth has a special side connected\nwith the situation of the Apostle. Paul wrote these words from\nCorinth, where he was busily engaged in planting a new church, and\nthey virtually bespeak the interest of the Thessalonians in that\nenterprise. Christian brotherly love is the love which God Himself\nimplants in the heart; and the love of God has no limitations. It goes\nout into all the earth, even to the end of the world. It is an ever\nadvancing, ever victorious force; the territory in which it reigns\nbecomes continually wider and wider. If that love abounds in us more\nand more, we shall follow with live and growing interest the work of\nChristian missions. Few of us have any idea of the dimensions of that\nwork, and of the nature of its successes. Few of us have any\nenthusiasm for it. Few of us do anything worth mentioning to help it\non. Not very long ago the whole nation was shocked by the disclosures\nabout the Stanley expedition; and the newspapers were filled with the\ndoings of a few profligate ruffians, who, whatever they failed to do,\nsucceeded in covering themselves, and the country they belong to, with\ninfamy. One would fain hope that this exhibition of inhumanity would\nturn men's thoughts by contrast to those who are doing the work of\nChrist in Africa. The national execration of fiendish wickedness is\nnothing unless it passes into deep and strong sympathy with those who\nare working among the Africans in brotherly love. What is the merit of\nStanley or his associates, that their story should excite the interest\nof those who know nothing of Comber and Hannington and Mackay, and\nall the other brave men who loved not their lives to the death for\nChrist's sake and Africa's? Is it not a shame to some of us that we\nknow the horrible story so much better than the gracious one? Let\nbrotherly love abound more and more; let Christian sympathy go out\nwith our brethren and sisters in Christ who go out themselves to dark\nplaces; let us keep ourselves instructed in the progress of their\nwork; let us support it with prayer and liberality at home; and our\nminds and hearts alike will grow in the greatness of our Lord and\nSaviour.\n\nBrotherly love in the early Church, within the limits of a small\ncongregation, often took the special form of charity. Those who were\nable helped the poor. A special care was taken, as we see from the\nBook of Acts, of widows, and no doubt of orphans. In a later epistle\nPaul mentions with praise a family which devoted itself to ministering\nto the saints. To do good and to communicate, that is, to impart of\none's goods to those who had need, is the sacrifice of praise which\nall Christians are charged not to forget. To see a brother or a sister\ndestitute, and to shut up the heart against them, is taken as proof\npositive that we have not the love of God dwelling in us. It would be\ndifficult, one might mink, to exaggerate the emphasis which the New\nTestament lays on the duty and the merit of charity. \"Sell all that\nthou hast, and give to the poor,\" Christ said to the rich young man,\n\"and thou shalt have treasure in heaven.\" \"Give alms,\" He cried to the\nPharisees, \"of such things as ye have; and behold, all things are\nclean unto you.\" Charity sanctifies. Nor have these strong sayings\nbeen without their due effect. Charity, both organised and private, is\ncharacteristic of Christendom, and of Christendom only. The pagan\nworld made no provision for the destitute, the sick, the aged. It had\nno almshouses, no infirmaries, no orphanages, no convalescent homes.\nThe mighty impulse of the love of Christ has created all these, and to\nthis hour it sustains them all. Acknowledged or unacknowledged, it is\nthe force which lies behind every effort made by man for the good of\nhis fellows; wherever this disinterested love burns in a human bosom,\nit is the fire which Christ cast upon the earth, and He rejoices at\nits kindling. As a recent example, look at the great scheme of General\nBooth: it is the love of Christ which has inspired it; it is the love\nof Christ that must provide all the subordinate agents by whom it is\nto be administered, if it is ever carried into effect; it is on the\npublic conviction that he is animated by the love of Christ and has no\nby-ends of his own to secure, that General Booth depends for his\nfunds. It is only this Christ-enkindled love which gives charity its\nreal worth, and furnishes any sort of guarantee that it will confer\na double blessing, material and spiritual, on those who receive it.\n\nFor charity is not without its dangers, and the first and greatest of\nthese is that men learn to depend upon it. When Paul preached the\ngospel in Thessalonica, he spoke a great deal about the Second Advent.\nIt was an exciting subject, and some at least of those who received\nhis message were troubled by \"ill-defined or mistaken expectations,\"\nwhich led to moral disorder in their lives. They were so anxious to be\nready for the Lord when He came, that they neglected their ordinary\nduties, and became dependent upon the brethren. They ceased working\nthemselves, and so became a burden upon those who continued to work.\nHere we have, in a nutshell, the argument against a monastic life of\nidleness, against the life of the begging friar. All men must live by\nlabour, their own or some other's; and he who chooses a life without\nlabour, as the more holy, really condemns some brother to a double\nshare of that labouring life to which, as he fancies, the highest\nholiness is denied. That is rank selfishness; only a man without\nbrotherly love could be guilty of it for an hour.\n\nNow in opposition to this selfishness,--unconscious at first, let us\nhope,--and in opposition to the unsettled, flighty, restless\nexpectations of these early disciples, the Apostle propounds a very\nsober and humble plan of life. Make it your ambition, he says, to be\nquiet, and to busy yourselves with your own affairs, and to work with\nyour own hands, as we commanded you. There is a grave irony in the\nfirst words--make it your ambition to be quiet; set your honour in\nthat. The ordinary ambition seeks to make a noise in the world, to\nmake itself visible and audible; and ambition of that type is not\nunknown even in the Church. But it is out of place there. No Christian\nought to be ambitious of anything but to fill as unobtrusively as\npossible the place in life which God has given him. The less notorious\nwe are, the better for us. The necessities of our situation,\nnecessities imposed by God, require most of us to spend so many hours\na day in making our daily bread. The bulk of most men's strength, by\nan ordinance of God that we cannot interfere with, is given to that\nhumble but inevitable task. If we cannot be holy at our work, it is\nnot worth taking any trouble to be holy at other times. If we cannot\nbe Christians and please God in those common activities which must\nalways absorb so much of our time and strength, the balance of life is\nnot worth thinking about. Perhaps some of us crave leisure, that we\nmay be more free for spiritual work; and think that if we had more\ntime at our disposal, we should be able to render many services to\nChrist and His cause which are out of our power at present. But that\nis extremely doubtful. If experience proves anything, it proves that\nnothing is worse for most people than to have nothing to do but be\nreligious. Religion is not controlled in their life by any contact\nwith realities; in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred they do not know\nhow to be quiet, but are vain, meddlesome, impracticable, and\nsenseless. The man who has his trade or his profession to work at, and\nthe woman who has her household and social duties to attend to, are\nnot to be condoled with; they are in the very place in which religion\nis at once necessary and possible; they can study to be quiet, and to\nmind their own business, and to work with their own hands, and in all\nthis to serve and please God. But those who get up in the morning with\nnothing to do but to be pious, or to engage in Christian works, are in\na position of enormous difficulty, which very few can fill. The daily\nlife of toil, at the bench or the desk, in the shop, the study, or the\nstreet, does not rob us of the Christian life; it really puts it\nwithin our reach. If we keep our eyes open, it is easy to see that\nthis is so.\n\nThere are two reasons assigned by the Apostle for this life of quiet\nindustry, both of which are noticeable. First, \"That ye may walk\nhonestly toward them that are without.\" Honestly is too colourless a\nword in modern English; the corresponding adjective in different\nplaces is translated honourable and comely.[14] What the Apostle\nsignifies is, that the Church has a great character to sustain in the\nworld, and that the individual Christian has that character, to some\nextent, in his charge. Idleness, fussiness, excitability, want of\ncommon sense, these are discreditable qualities, inconsistent with the\ndignity of Christianity, and to be guarded against by the believer.\nThe Church is really a spectacle to the world; those who are without\nhave their eye upon it; and the Apostle would have it a worthy and\nimpressive spectacle. But what is there so undignified as an idle\nbusybody, a man or woman neglecting duty on the pretence of piety, so\nexcited by an uncertain future as to disregard the most crying\nnecessities of the present? Perhaps there is none of us who does\nanything so bad as this; but there are some in every church who are\nnot careful of Christian dignity. Remember that there is something\ngreat in true Christianity, something which should command the\nveneration of those who are without; and do nothing inconsistent with\nthat. As the sun breaks through the darkest cloud, so honour peereth\nin the meanest habit; and the lowliest occupation, discharged with\ndiligence, earnestness, and fidelity, gives scope enough for the\nexhibition of true Christian dignity. The man who does his common\nduties as they ought to be done will never lose his self-respect, and\nwill never discredit the Church of Christ.\n\nThe second reason for the life of quiet industry is, \"That ye may have\nlack of nothing.\" Probably the truer interpretation would be, That ye\nmay have lack of no one. In other words, independence is a Christian\nduty. This is not inconsistent with what has been said of charity, but\nis its necessary supplement. Christ commands us to be charitable; He\ntells us plainly that the need for charity will not disappear; but He\ntells us as plainly that to count upon charity, except in the case of\nnecessity, is both sinful and shameful. This contains, of course, a\nwarning to the charitable. Those of us who wish to help the poor, and\nwho try to do so, must take care to do it in such a way as not to\nteach them to depend on help; that is to do them a serious wrong. We\nare all familiar with the charges brought against charity; it\ndemoralises, it fosters idleness and improvidence, it robs those who\nreceive it of self-respect. These charges have been current from the\nbeginning; they were freely brought against the Church in the days of\nthe Roman Empire. If they could be made good, they would condemn what\npasses for charity as un-Christian. The one-sided enforcement of\ncharity, in the sense of almsgiving, in the Romish Church, has\noccasionally led to something like a glorification of pauperism; the\nsaint is usually a beggar. One would hope that in our own country,\nwhere the independence of the national character has been reinforced\nby the most pronounced types of Protestant religion, such a deformed\nconception of Christianity would be impossible; yet even among us the\ncaution of this verse may not be unnecessary. It _is_ a sign of grace\nto be charitable; but though one would not speak an unkind word of\nthose in need, it is _not_ a sign of grace to require charity. The\ngospel bids us aim not only at brotherly love, but at independence.\nRemember the poor, it says; but it says also, Work with your hands,\nthat you may preserve a Christian dignity in relation to the world,\nand have need of no one.\n\n[14] See 1 Cor. xii. 24; vii. 35; Acts xiii. 50; xvii. 12.\n\n\n\n\nXI.\n\n_THE DEAD IN CHRIST._\n\n\n \"But we would not have you ignorant, brethren, concerning them that\n fall asleep; that ye sorrow not, even as the rest, which have no\n hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them\n also that are fallen asleep in Jesus will God bring with Him. For\n this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we that are alive,\n that are left unto the coming of the Lord, shall in no wise precede\n them that are fallen asleep. For the Lord Himself shall descend from\n heaven, with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the\n trump of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we that\n are alive, that are left, shall together with them be caught up in\n the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with\n the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.\"--1 THESS.\n iv. 13-18 (R.V.).\n\nThe restlessness of the Thessalonians, which caused some of them to\nneglect their daily work, was the result of strained expectations of\nChrist's second coming. The Apostle had taught them that the Saviour\nand Judge of all might appear no one knew when; and they were consumed\nwith a feverish anxiety to be found ready when He came. How terrible\nit would be to be found unready, and to lose one's place in the\nheavenly kingdom! The Thessalonians were dominated by such thoughts as\nthese when death visited the church, and gave rise to new\nperplexities. What of the brethren who had been taken away so soon,\nand of their part in the glory to be revealed? Had they been robbed,\nby death, of the Christian hope? Had the inheritance which is\nincorruptible, undefiled, and imperishable, passed for ever beyond\ntheir grasp, because they had died before Christ came to take His\npeople to Himself?\n\nThis was what some of the survivors feared; and it is to correct\ntheir mistaken ideas, and to comfort them in their sorrow, that the\nApostle writes the words we are now to study. \"We would not have you\nignorant,\" he says, \"concerning them that fall asleep; that ye sorrow\nnot, even as the rest, which have no hope.\" The last words refer to\nthose who are away from Christ, and without God in the world. It is a\nfrightful thing to say of any man, and still more of the mass of men,\nthat they have no hope; yet it is not only the Apostle who says it; it\nis the confession, by a thousand voices, of the heathen world itself.\nTo that world the future was a blank, or a place of unreality and\nshades. If there were great exceptions, men who, like Plato, could not\ngive up faith in immortality and in the righteousness of God, even in\nthe face of death, these were no more than exceptions; and even for\nthem the future had no substance compared with the present. Life was\nhere, and not there. Wherever we can hear the pagan soul speak of the\nfuture, it is in this blank, heartless tone. \"Do not,\" says Achilles\nin the Odyssey, \"make light of death to me. Rather would I on earth be\na serf to another, a man of little land and little substance, than be\nprince over all the dead that have come to nought.\" \"Suns,\" says\nCatullus, \"may set and rise again. When once our brief light has set,\none unbroken night of sleep remains.\" These are fair specimens of the\npagan outlook; are they not fair enough specimens of the non-Christian\noutlook at the present day? The secular life is quite avowedly a life\nwithout hope. It resolutely fixes its attention on the present, and\navoids the distraction of the future. But there are few whom death\ndoes not compel, at some time or other, to deal seriously with the\nquestions the future involves. If we love the departed, our hearts\ncannot but go with them to the unseen; and there are few who can\nassure themselves that death ends all. For those who can, what a\nsorrow remains! Their loved ones have lost everything. All that makes\nlife is here, and _they_ have gone. How miserable is their lot, to\nhave been deprived, by cruel and untimely death, of all the blessings\nman can ever enjoy! How hopelessly must those who are left behind\nlament them!\n\nThis is exactly the situation with which the Apostle deals. The\nChristians in Thessalonica feared that their brethren who had died\nwould be shut out of the Messiah's kingdom; they mourned for them as\nthose mourn who have no hope. The Apostle corrects their error, and\ncomforts them. His words do not mean that the Christian may lawfully\nsorrow for his dead, provided he does not go to a pagan extreme; they\nmean that the hopeless pagan sorrow is not to be indulged by the\nChristian at all. We give their proper force if we imagine him saying:\n\"Weep for yourselves, if you will; that is natural, and God does not\nwish us to be insensible to the losses and sorrows which are part of\nHis providential government of our lives; but do not weep for _them_;\nthe believer who has fallen asleep in Christ is not to be lamented; he\nhas lost nothing; the hope of immortality is as sure for him as for\nthose who may live to welcome the Lord at His coming; _he_ has gone to\nbe with Christ, which is _far_, far better.\"\n\nThe 14th verse gives the Christian proof of this consoling doctrine.\n\"For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also\nthat are fallen asleep in Jesus will God bring with Him.\"[15] It is\nquite plain that something is wanting here to complete the argument.\nJesus did die and rise again, there is no dispute about that; but how\nis the Apostle justified in inferring from this that God will bring\nthe Christian dead again to meet the living? What is the missing link\nin this reasoning? Clearly it is the truth, so characteristic of the\nNew Testament, that there is a union between Christ and those who\ntrust Him so close that their destiny can be read in His. All that He\nhas experienced will be experienced by them. They are united to Him as\nindissolubly as the members of the body to the head; and being\nplanted together in the likeness of His death, they shall be also in\nthe likeness of His resurrection. Death, the Apostle would have us\nunderstand, does not break the bond between the believing soul and the\nSaviour. Even human love is stronger than the grave; it goes beyond it\nwith the departed; it follows them with strong yearnings, with wistful\nhopes, sometimes with earnest prayers. But there _is_ an impotence, at\nwhich death mocks, in earthly love; the last enemy does put a great\ngulf between souls, which cannot be bridged over; and there is no such\nimpotence in the love of Christ. He is never separated from those who\nlove Him. He is one with them in death, and in the life to come, as in\nthis life. Through Him God will bring the departed again to meet their\nfriends. There is something very expressive in the word \"bring.\"\n\"Sweet word,\" says Bengel: \"it is spoken of living persons.\" The dead\nfor whom we mourn are not dead; they all live to God; and when the\ngreat day comes, God will bring those who have gone before, and unite\nthem to those who have been left behind. When we see Christ at His\ncoming, we shall see also those that have fallen asleep in Him.\n\nThis argument, drawn from the relation of the Christian to the\nSaviour, is confirmed by an appeal to the authority of the Saviour\nHimself. \"For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord:\" as if he\nsaid, \"It is not merely a conclusion of our own; it is supported by\nthe express word of Christ.\" Many have tried to find in the Gospels\nthe word of the Lord referred to, but, as I think, without success.\nThe passage usually quoted (Matt. xxiv. 31: \"He shall send forth His\nangels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together\nHis elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other\"),\nthough it covers generally the subject with which the Apostle is\ndealing, does not touch upon the essential point, the equality of\nthose who die before the Second Advent with those who live to see it.\nWe must suppose that the word of the Lord referred to was one which\nfailed to find a place in the written Gospels, like that other which\nthe Apostle preserved, \"It is more blessed to give than to receive\";\nor that it was a word which Christ spoke to him in one of the many\nrevelations which he received in his apostolic work. In any case, what\nthe Apostle is going to say is not his own word, but the word of\nChrist, and as such its authority is final for all Christians. What,\nthen, does Christ say on this great concern?\n\nHe says that \"we that are alive, that are left unto the coming of the\nLord, shall in no wise precede them that are fallen asleep.\" The\nnatural impression one takes from these words is that Paul expected\nhimself to be alive when Christ came; but whether that impression is\njustifiable or not,[16] it is no part of the truth which can claim the\nauthority of the Lord. Christ's word only assures us that those who\nare alive at that day shall have no precedency over those that have\nfallen asleep; it does not tell us who shall be in the one class, and\nwho in the other. Paul did not know when the day of the Lord would be;\nbut as it was the duty of all Christians to look for and hasten it, he\nnaturally included himself among those who would live to see it. Later\nin life, the hope of surviving till the Lord came alternated in his\nmind with the expectation of death. In one and the same epistle, the\nEpistle to the Philippians, we find him writing (iv. 5), \"The Lord is\nat hand\"; and only a little earlier (i. 23), \"I have the desire to\ndepart and be with Christ; for it is very far better.\" Better,\ncertainly, than a life of toil and suffering; but not better than the\nLord's coming. Paul could not but shrink with a natural horror from\ndeath and its nakedness; he would have preferred to escape that dread\nnecessity, the putting off of the body; not to be unclothed, was his\ndesire, but to be clothed upon, and to have mortality swallowed up of\nlife. When he wrote this letter to the Thessalonians, I do not doubt\nthat this was his hope; and it does not impugn his authority in the\nleast that it was a hope destined not to be fulfilled. With the Lord,\na thousand years are as one day; and even those who are partakers in\nthe kingdom seldom partake to an eminent degree in the patience of\nJesus Christ. Only in the teaching of the Lord Himself does the New\nTestament put strongly before us the duration of the Christian era,\nand the delays of the Second Advent. How many of His parables, _e.g._,\nrepresent the kingdom as subject to the law of growth--the Sower, the\nWheat and the Tares which have both to ripen, the Mustard Seed, and\nthe Seed Growing Gradually. All these imply a natural law and goal of\nprogress, not to be interrupted at random. How many, again, like the\nparable of the Unjust Judge, or the Ten Virgins, imply that the delay\nwill be so great as to beget utter disbelief or forgetfulness of His\ncoming. Even the expression, \"The times of the Gentiles,\" suggests\nepochs which must intervene before men see Him again.[17] But over\nagainst this deep insight and wondrous patience of Christ, we must not\nbe surprised to find something of impatient ardour in the Apostles.\nThe world was so cruel to them, their love to Christ was so fervent,\ntheir desire for re-union so strong, that they could not but hope and\npray, \"Come quickly, Lord Jesus.\" Is it not better to recognise the\nobvious fact that Paul was mistaken as to the nearness of the Second\nAdvent, than to torture his words to secure his infallibility? Two\ngreat commentators--the Roman Catholic Cornelius \u00e0 Lapide, and the\nProtestant John Calvin--save Paul's infallibility at a greater cost\nthan violating the rules of grammar. They admit that his words mean\nthat he expected to survive till Christ came again; but, they say, an\ninfallible apostle could not really have had such an expectation; and\ntherefore we must believe that Paul practised a pious fraud in writing\nas he did, a fraud with the good intention of keeping the\nThessalonians on the alert. But I hope, if we had the choice, we would\nall choose rather to tell the truth, and be mistaken, than to be\ninfallible, and tell lies.\n\nAfter the general statement, on Christ's authority, that the living\nshall have no precedency of the departed, Paul goes on to explain the\ncircumstances of the Advent by which it is justified. \"The Lord\nHimself shall descend from heaven.\" In that emphatic _Himself_ we\nhave the argument of ver. 14 practically repeated: the Lord, it\nsignifies, who knows _all_ that are His. Who can look at Christ\nas He comes again in glory, and not remember His words in the Gospel,\n\"Because I live, ye shall live also;\" \"where I am, there shall also\nMy servant be\"? It is not another who comes, but He to whom all\nChristian souls have been united for ever. \"The Lord Himself shall\ndescend from heaven, with a shout, with the voice of the archangel,\nand with the trump of God.\" The last two of these expressions are in\nall probability the explanation of the first; the voice of the\narchangel, or the trumpet of God, is the signal-shout, or as the hymn\nexpresses it, \"the great commanding word,\" with which the drama of the\nlast things is ushered in. The archangel is the herald of the\nMessianic King. We cannot tell how much is figure in these\nexpressions, which all rest on Old Testament associations, and on\npopular beliefs amongst the Jews of the time; neither can we tell what\nprecisely underlies the figure. But this much is clearly meant, that a\nDivine summons, audible and effective everywhere, goes forth from\nChrist's presence; that ancient utterance, of hope or of despair, is\nfulfilled: \"Thou shalt call, and I will answer thee.\" When the signal\nis given, the dead in Christ rise first. Paul says nothing here of the\nresurrection body, spiritual and incorruptible; but when Christ comes,\nthe Christian dead are raised in that body, prepared for eternal\nblessedness, before anything else is done. That is the meaning of \"the\ndead in Christ shall rise _first_.\" It does not contrast the\nresurrection of the Christian dead with a second resurrection of all\nmen, either immediately afterwards, or after a thousand years; it\ncontrasts it as the first scene in this drama with the second, namely,\nthe rapture of the living. The first thing will be that the dead rise;\nthe next, that those that are alive, that are left, shall at the same\ntime, and in company with them, be caught up together in the clouds to\nmeet the Lord in the air. The Apostle does not look beyond this; so,\nhe says, shall we--that is, we all, those that live and those that are\nfallen asleep--be ever with the Lord.\n\nA thousand questions rise to our lips as we look at this wonderful\npicture; but the closer we look, the more plainly do we see the\nparsimony of the revelation, and the strictness with which it is\nmeasured out to meet the necessities of the case. There is nothing in\nit, for instance, about the non-Christian. It tells us the blessed\ndestiny of those who have fallen asleep in Christ, and of those who\nwait for Christ's appearing. Much of the curiosity about those who die\nwithout Christ is not disinterested. People would like to know what\n_their_ destiny is, because they would like to know whether there\nis not a tolerable alternative to accepting the gospel. But the Bible\ndoes not encourage us to look for such an alternative. \"Blessed,\" it\nsays, \"are the dead who die in the Lord\"; and blessed also are the\nliving who live in the Lord; if there are those who reject this\nblessedness, and raise questions about what a life without Christ may\nlead to, they do it at their peril.\n\nThere is nothing, again, about the nature of the life beyond the\nAdvent, except this, that it is a life in which the Christian is in\nclose and unbroken union with Christ--ever with the Lord. Some have\nbeen very anxious to answer the question, Where? but the revelation\ngives us no help. It does not say that those who meet the Lord in the\nair ascend with Him to heaven, or descend, as some have supposed, to\nreign with Him on earth. There is absolutely nothing in it for\ncuriosity, though everything that is necessary for comfort. For men\nwho had conceived the terrible thought that the Christian dead had\nlost the Christian hope, the veil was withdrawn from the future, and\nliving and dead alike revealed united, in eternal life, to Christ.\nThat is all, but surely it is enough. That is the hope which the\ngospel puts before us, and no accident of time, like death, can rob us\nof it. Jesus died and rose again; He is Lord both of the dead and the\nliving; and all will, at the great day, be gathered together to Him.\nAre _they_ to be lamented, who have this future to look forward\nto? Are we to sorrow over those who pass into the world unseen, as if\nthey had no hope, or as if we had none? No; in the sorrow of death\nitself, we may comfort one another with these words.\n\nIs it not a striking proof of the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that\nwe have, on the express authority of His word, a special revelation,\nthe exclusive aim of which is to comfort? Jesus knew the terrible\nsorrow of bereavement; He had stood by the bedside of Jairus'\ndaughter, by the young man's bier at Nain, by Lazarus' tomb. He knew\nhow inconsolable it was, how subtle, how passionate; He knew the dead\nweight at the heart which never passes away, and the sudden rush of\nfeeling which overpowers the strongest. And that all this sorrow might\nnot rest upon His Church unrelieved, He lifted the curtain that we\nmight see with our eyes the strong consolation beyond. I have spoken\nof it as if it consisted simply in union to Christ; but it is as much\na part of the revelation that Christians whom death has separated are\nre-united to each other. The Thessalonians feared they would never see\ntheir departed friends again; but the word of the Lord says, You will\nbe caught up, in company with them, to meet Me; and you and they shall\ndwell with Me for ever. What congregation is there in which there is\nnot need of this consolation? Comfort one another, the Apostle says.\nOne needs the comfort to-day, and another to-morrow; in proportion as\nwe bear each other's burdens, we all need it continually. The unseen\nworld is perpetually opening to receive those whom we love; but though\nthey pass out of sight and out of reach, it is not for ever. They are\nstill united to Christ; and when He comes in His glory He will bring\nthem to us again. Is it not strange to balance the greatest sorrow of\nlife against words? Words, we often feel, are vain and worthless; they\ndo not lift the burden from the heart; they make no difference to the\npressure of grief. Of our own words that is true; but what we have\nbeen considering are not our own words, but the word of the Lord. His\nwords are alive and powerful: heaven and earth may pass away, but they\ncannot pass; let us comfort one another with that.\n\n[15] There is a certain difficulty about the connection of the words\nin the last clause; it would probably be more correct to render them:\nEven so them also that are fallen asleep will God through Jesus bring\nwith Him.\n\n[16] It is easy to state the inference too strongly. Paul tell us\nexpressly that he did not know when Christ would come; he could not\ntherefore know that he himself would have died long before the Advent;\nand it was inevitable, therefore, that he should include himself here\nin the category of such as might live to see it.\n\n[17] On this subject see Bruce's _Kingdom of God_, chap. xii.\n\n\n\n\nXII.\n\n_THE DAY OF THE LORD._\n\n\n \"But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need\n that aught be written unto you. For yourselves know perfectly that\n the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. When they are\n saying, Peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon them,\n as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall in no wise escape.\n But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake\n you as a thief: for ye are all sons of light, and sons of the day: we\n are not of the night, nor of darkness; so then let us not sleep, as\n do the rest, but let us watch and be sober. For they that sleep sleep\n in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night. But\n let us, since we are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate\n of faith and love; and for a helmet, the hope of salvation. For God\n appointed us not unto wrath, but unto the obtaining of salvation\n through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that, whether we wake\n or sleep, we should live together with Him. Wherefore exhort one\n another, and build each other up, even as also ye do.\"--1 THESS. v.\n 1-11 (R.V.).\n\nThe last verses of the fourth chapter perfect that which is lacking,\non one side, in the faith of the Thessalonians. The Apostle addresses\nhimself to the ignorance of his readers: he instructs them more fully\non the circumstances of Christ's second coming; and he bids them\ncomfort one another with the sure hope that they and their departed\nfriends shall meet, never to part, in the kingdom of the Saviour. In\nthe passage before us he perfects what is lacking to their faith on\nanother side. He addresses himself, not to their ignorance, but to\ntheir knowledge; and he instructs them how to improve, instead of\nabusing, both what they knew and what they were ignorant of, in regard\nto the last Advent. It had led, in some, to curious inquiries; in\nothers, to a moral restlessness which could not bind itself patiently\nto duty; yet its true fruit, the Apostle tells them, ought to be hope,\nwatchfulness, and sobriety.\n\n\"The day of the Lord\" is a famous expression in the\nOld Testament; it runs through all prophecy, and is one of its most\ncharacteristic ideas. It means a day which belongs in a peculiar sense\nto God: a day which He has chosen for the perfect manifestation of\nHimself, for the thorough working out of His work among men. It is\nimpossible to combine in one picture all the traits which prophets of\ndifferent ages, from Amos downward, embody in their representations of\nthis great day. It is heralded, as a rule, by terrific phenomena in\nnature: the sun is turned into darkness and the moon into blood, and\nthe stars withdraw their light; we read of earthquake and tempest, of\nblood and fire and pillars of smoke. The great day ushers in the\ndeliverance of God's people from all their enemies; and it is\naccompanied by a terrible sifting process, which separates the sinners\nand hypocrites among the holy people from those who are truly the\nLord's. Wherever it appears, the day of the Lord has the character of\nfinality. It is a supreme manifestation of judgment, in which the\nwicked perish for ever; it is a supreme manifestation of grace, in\nwhich a new and unchangeable life of blessedness is opened to the\nrighteous. Sometimes it seemed near to the prophet, and sometimes far\noff; but near or far, it bounded his horizon; he saw nothing beyond.\nIt was the end of one era, and the beginning of another which should\nhave no end.\n\nThis great conception is carried over by the Apostle from the Old\nTestament to the New. The day of the Lord is identified with the\nReturn of Christ. All the contents of that old conception are carried\nover along with it. Christ's return bounds the Apostle's horizon; it\nis the final revelation of the mercy and judgment of God. There is\nsudden destruction in it for some, a darkness in which there is no\nlight at all; and for others, eternal salvation, a light in which\nthere is no darkness at all. It is the end of the present order of\nthings, and the beginning of a new and eternal order. All this the\nThessalonians knew; they had been carefully taught it by the Apostle.\nHe did not need to write such elementary truths, nor did he need to\nsay anything about the times and seasons[18] which the Father had kept\nin His own power. They knew perfectly all that had been revealed on\nthis matter, viz., that the day of the Lord comes exactly as a thief\nin the night. Suddenly, unexpectedly, giving a shock of alarm and\nterror to those whom it finds unprepared,--in such wise it breaks upon\nthe world. The telling image, so frequent with the Apostles, was\nderived from the Master Himself; we can imagine the solemnity with\nwhich Christ said, \"Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that\nwatcheth and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see\nhis shame.\"[19] The New Testament tells us everywhere that men will be\ntaken at unawares by the final revelation of Christ as Judge and\nSaviour; and in so doing, it enforces with all possible earnestness\nthe duty of watching. False security is so easy, so natural,--looking\nto the general attitude, even of Christian men, to this truth, one is\ntempted to say, so inevitable,--that it may well seem vain to urge the\nduty of watchfulness more. As it was in the days of Noah, as it was in\nthe days of Lot, as it was when Jerusalem fell, as it is at this\nmoment, so shall it be at the day of the Lord. Men will say, Peace and\nsafety, though every sign of the times says, Judgment. They will eat\nand drink, plant and build, marry and be given in marriage, with their\nwhole heart concentrated and absorbed in these transient interests,\ntill in a moment suddenly, like the lightning which flashes from east\nto west, the sign of the Son of Man is seen in heaven. Instead of\npeace and safety, sudden destruction surprises them; all that they\nhave lived for passes away; they awake, as from deep sleep, to\ndiscover that their soul has no part with God. It is too late then to\nthink of preparing for the end: the end has come; and it is with\nsolemn emphasis the Apostle adds, \"They shall in no wise escape.\"\n\nA doom so awful, a life so evil, cannot be the destiny or the duty of\nany Christian man. \"Ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day\nshould overtake you as a thief.\" Darkness, in that saying of the\nApostle, has a double weight of meaning. The Christian is not in\nignorance of what is impending, and forewarned is forearmed. Neither\nis he any longer in moral darkness, plunged in vice, living a life the\nfirst necessity of which is to keep out of God's sight. Once the\nThessalonians had been in such darkness; their souls had had their\npart in a world sunk in sin, on which the day-spring from on high had\nnot risen; but now that time was past. God had shined into their\nhearts; He who is Himself light had poured the radiance of His own\nlove and truth into them till ignorance, vice, and wickedness had\npassed away, and they had become light in the Lord. How intimate is\nthe relation between the Christian and God, how complete the\nregeneration, expressed in the words, \"Ye are all _sons_ of light,\nand _sons_ of the day; we are not of the night, nor of darkness\"!\nThere _are_ shady things in the world, and shady persons, but they\nare not in Christianity, nor among Christians. The true Christian\ntakes his nature, all that characterises and distinguishes him, from\nlight. There is no darkness in him, nothing to hide, no guilty secret,\nno corner of his being into which the light of God has not penetrated,\nnothing that makes him dread exposure. His whole nature is full of\nlight, transparently luminous, so that it is impossible to surprise\nhim or take him at a disadvantage. This, at least, is his ideal\ncharacter; to this he is called, and this he makes his aim. There are\nthose, the Apostle implies, who take their character from night and\ndarkness,--men with souls that hide from God, that love secrecy, that\nhave much to remember they dare not speak of, that turn with\ninstinctive aversion from the light which the gospel brings, and the\nsincerity and openness which it claims; men, in short, who have come\nto love darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil. The\nday of the Lord will certainly be a surprise to them; it will smite\nthem with sudden terror, as the midnight thief, breaking unseen\nthrough door or window, terrifies the defenceless householder; it will\noverwhelm them with despair, because it will come as a great and\nsearching light,--a day on which God will bring every hidden thing to\nview, and judge the secrets of men's hearts by Christ Jesus. For those\nwho have lived in darkness the surprise will be inevitable; but what\nsurprise can there be for the children of the light? They are\npartakers of the Divine nature; there is nothing in their souls which\nthey would not have God know; the light that shines from the great\nwhite throne will discover nothing in them to which its searching\nbrightness is unwelcome; Christ's coming is so far from disconcerting\nthem that it is really the crowning of their hopes.\n\nThe Apostle demands of his disciples conduct answering to this ideal.\nWalk worthy, he says, of your privileges and of your calling. \"Let us\nnot sleep, as do the rest, but let us watch and be sober.\" \"Sleep\" is\ncertainly a strange word to describe the life of the worldly man. He\nprobably thinks himself very wide awake, and as far as a certain\ncircle of interests is concerned, probably is so. The children of this\nworld, Jesus tells us, are wonderfully wise for their generation. They\nare more shrewd and more enterprising than the children of light. But\nwhat a stupor falls upon them, what a lethargy, what a deep\nunconscious slumber, when the interests in view are spiritual. The\nclaims of God, the future of the soul, the coming of Christ, our\nmanifestation at His judgment seat, they are not awake to any concern\nin these. They live on as if these were not realities at all; if they\npass through their minds on occasion, as they look at the Bible or\nlisten to a sermon, it is as dreams pass through the mind of one\nasleep; they go out and shake themselves, and all is over; earth has\nrecovered its solidity, and the airy unrealities have passed away.\nPhilosophers have amused themselves with the difficulty of finding a\nscientific criterion between the experiences of the sleeping and the\nwaking state, _i.e._, a means of distinguishing between the kind of\nreality which belongs to each; it is at least one element of sanity to\nbe able to make the distinction. If we may enlarge the ideas of sleep\nand waking, as they are enlarged by the Apostle in this passage, it is\na distinction which many fail to make. When they have the ideas which\nmake up the staple of revelation presented to them, they feel as if\nthey were in dreamland; there is no substance to them in a page of St.\nPaul; they cannot grasp the realities that underlie his words, any\nmore than they can grasp the forms which swept before their minds in\nlast night's sleep. But when they go out to their work in the world,\nto deal in commodities, to handle money, then they are in the sphere\nof real things, and wide awake enough. Yet the sound mind will reverse\ntheir decisions. It is the visible things that are unreal and that\nultimately pass away; the spiritual things--God, Christ, the human\nsoul, faith, love, hope--that abide. Let us not face our life in that\nsleepy mood to which the spiritual is but a dream; on the contrary,\nas we are of the day, let us be wide awake and sober. The world is\nfull of illusions, of shadows which impose themselves as substances\nupon the heedless, of gilded trifles which the man whose eyes are\nheavy with sleep accepts as gold; but the Christian ought not to be\nthus deceived. Look to the coming of the Lord, Paul says, and do not\nsleep through your days, like the heathen, making your life one long\ndelusion; taking the transitory for the eternal, and regarding the\neternal as a dream; that is the way to be surprised with sudden\ndestruction at the last; watch and be sober; and you will not be\nashamed before Him at His coming.\n\nIt may not be out of place to insist on the fact that \"sober\" in this\npassage means sober as opposed to drunk. No one would wish to be\novertaken drunk by any great occasion; yet the day of the Lord is\nassociated in at least three passages of Scripture with a warning\nagainst this gross sin. \"Take heed to yourselves,\" the Master says,\n\"lest haply your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and\ndrunkenness, and cares of this life, and that day come on you suddenly\nas a snare.\" \"The night is far spent,\" says the Apostle, \"the day is\nat hand.... Let us walk honestly as in the day; not in revelling and\ndrunkenness.\" And in this passage: \"Let us, since we are of the day,\nbe sober; they that be drunken are drunken in the night.\" The\nconscience of men is awakening to the sin of excess, but it has much\nto do before it comes to the New Testament standard. Does it not help\nus to see it in its true light when it is thus confronted with the day\nof the Lord? What horror could be more awful than to be overtaken in\nthis state? What death is more terrible to contemplate than one which\nis not so very rare--death in drink?\n\nWakefulness and sobriety do not exhaust the demands made upon the\nChristian. He is also to be on his guard. \"Put on the breastplate of\nfaith and love; and for a helmet, the hope of salvation.\" While\nwaiting for the Lord's coming, the Christian waits in a hostile world.\nHe is exposed to assault from spiritual enemies who aim at nothing\nless than his life, and he needs to be protected against them. In the\nvery beginning of this letter we came upon the three Christian graces;\nthe Thessalonians were commended for their work of faith, labour of\nlove, and patience of hope in the Lord Jesus Christ. There they were\nrepresented as active powers in the Christian life, each manifesting\nits presence by some appropriate work, or some notable fruit of\ncharacter; here they constitute a defensive armour by which the\nChristian is shielded against any mortal assault. We cannot press the\nfigure further than this. If we keep our faith in Jesus Christ, if we\nlove one another, if our hearts are set with confident hope on that\nsalvation which is to be brought to us at Christ's appearing, we need\nfear no evil; no foe can touch our life. It is remarkable, I think,\nthat both here and in the famous passage in Ephesians, as well as in\nthe original of both in Isaiah lix. 17, salvation, or, to be more\nprecise, the hope of salvation, is made the helmet. The Apostle is\nvery free in his comparisons; faith is now a shield, and now a\nbreastplate; the breastplate in one passage is faith and love, and in\nanother righteousness; but the helmet is always the same. Without\nhope, he would say to us, no man can hold up his head in the battle;\nand the Christian hope is always Christ's second coming. If He is not\nto come again, the very word hope may be blotted out of the New\nTestament. This assured grasp on the coming salvation--a salvation\nready to be revealed in the last times--is what gives the spirit of\nvictory to the Christian even in the darkest hour.\n\nThe mention of salvation brings the Apostle back to his principal\nsubject. It is as if he wrote, \"for a helmet the hope of salvation;\nsalvation, I say; for God did not appoint us to wrath, but to the\nobtaining of salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.\" The day of the\nLord is indeed a day of wrath,--a day when men will cry to the\nmountains and to the rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of\nHim that sitteth upon the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb; for\nthe great day of their wrath is come. The Apostle cannot remember it\nfor any purpose without getting a glimpse of those terrors; but it is\nnot for these he recalls it at this time. God did not appoint\nChristians to the wrath of that day, but to its salvation,--a\nsalvation the hope of which is to cover their heads in the day of\nbattle.\n\nThe next verse--the tenth--has the peculiar interest of containing the\nonly hint to be found in this early Epistle of Paul's teaching as to\nthe mode of salvation. We obtain it through Jesus Christ, who died for\nus. It is not who died instead of us, nor even on our behalf\n(\u1f51\u03c0\u03ad\u03c1), but, according to the true reading, who died a death in\nwhich we are concerned. It is the most vague expression that could\nhave been used to signify that Christ's death had something to do with\nour salvation. Of course it does not follow that Paul had said no more\nto the Thessalonians than he indicates here; judging from the account\nhe gives in 1st Corinthians of his preaching immediately after he left\nThessalonica, one would suppose he had been much more explicit;\ncertainly no church ever existed that was not based on the Atonement\nand the Resurrection. In point of fact, however, what is here made\nprominent is not the mode of salvation, but one special result of\nsalvation as accomplished by Christ's death, a result contemplated\nby Christ, and pertinent to the purpose of this letter; He died for\nus, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should together live with Him.\nThe same conception precisely is found in Rom. xiv. 9: \"To this end\nChrist died, and lived again, that He might be Lord of both the dead\nand the living.\" This was His aim in redeeming us by passing through\nall modes of human existence, seen and unseen. It made Him Lord of\nall. He filled all things. He claims all modes of existence as His\nown. Nothing separates from Him. Whether we sleep or wake, whether we\nlive or die, we shall alike live with Him. The strong consolation, to\nimpart which was the Apostle's original motive in approaching this\nsubject, has thus come uppermost again; in the circumstances of the\nchurch, it is this which lies nearest to his heart.\n\nHe ends, therefore, with the old exhortation: \"Comfort one another,\nand build each other up, as also ye do.\" The knowledge of the truth is\none thing; the Christian use of it is another: if we cannot help one\nanother very much with the first, there is more in our power with\nregard to the last. We are not ignorant of Christ's second coming; of\nits awful and consoling circumstances; of its final judgment and final\nmercy; of its final separations and final unions. Why have these\nthings been revealed to us? What influence are they meant to have in\nour lives? They ought to be consoling and strengthening. They ought\nto banish hopeless sorrow. They ought to generate and sustain an\nearnest, sober, watchful spirit; strong patience; a complete\nindependence of this world. It is left to us as Christian men to\nassist each other in the appropriation and application of these great\ntruths. Let us fix our minds upon them. Our salvation is nearer than\nwhen we believed. Christ is coming. There _will be_ a gathering\ntogether of all His people unto Him. The living and the dead shall be\nfor ever with the Lord. Of the times and the seasons we can say no\nmore than could be said at the beginning; the Father has kept them in\nHis own power; it remains with us to watch and be sober; to arm\nourselves with faith, love, and hope; to set our mind on the things\nthat are above, where our true country is, whence also we look for the\nSaviour, the Lord Jesus Christ.\n\n[18] \"_The times_ (\u03c7\u03c1\u03cc\u03bd\u03bf\u03b9) are, in Augustine's words, 'ipsa spatia\ntemporum,' and these contemplated merely under the aspect of their\nduration, over which the Church's history should extend; but _the\nseasons_ (\u03ba\u03b1\u03b9\u03c1\u03bf\u1f76) are the joints or articulations in these times,\nthe critical epoch-making periods foreordained of God (\u03ba\u03b1\u03b9\u03c1\u03bf\u1f76\n\u03c0\u03c1\u03bf\u03c4\u03b5\u03c4\u03b1\u03b3\u03bc\u03ad\u03bd\u03bf\u03b9, Acts xvii. 26; cf. Augustine, _Conf._, xi., 13: 'Deus\noperator temporum'); when all that has been slowly, and often without\nobservation, ripening through long ages is mature and comes to the\nbirth in grand decisive events, which constitute at once the close of\none period and the commencement of another.\"--Trench, _Synonyms_, p.\n211.\n\n[19] Rev. xvi. 15.\n\n\n\n\nXIII.\n\n_RULERS AND RULED._\n\n\n \"But we beseech you, brethren, to know them that labour among you,\n and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you; and to esteem them\n exceeding highly in love for their work's sake. Be at peace among\n yourselves. And we exhort you, brethren, admonish the disorderly,\n encourage the fainthearted, support the weak, be longsuffering toward\n all. See that none render unto any one evil for evil; but alway\n follow after that which is good, one toward another, and toward\n all.\"--1 THESS. v. 12-15 (R.V.).\n\nAt the present moment, one great cause of division among Christian\nchurches is the existence of different forms of Church government.\nCongregationalists, Presbyterians, and Episcopalians are separated\nfrom each other much more decidedly by difference of organisation than\nby difference of creed. By some of them, if not by all, a certain form\nof Church order is identified with the existence of the Church itself.\nThus the English-speaking bishops of the world, who met some time ago\nin conference at Lambeth, adopted as a basis, on which they could\ntreat for union with other Churches, the acceptance of Holy Scripture,\nof the Sacraments of Baptism and the Lord's Supper, of the Apostles'\nand Nicene creeds, and of the Historic Episcopate. In other words,\ndiocesan bishops are as essential to the constitution of the Church as\nthe preaching of the Word of God and the administration of the\nSacraments. That is an opinion which one may say, without offence, has\nneither history nor reason on its side. Part of the interest of this\nEpistle to the Thessalonians lies in the glimpses it gives of the\nearly state of the Church, when such questions would simply have been\nunintelligible. The little community at Thessalonica was not quite\nwithout a constitution--no society could exist on that footing--but\nits constitution, as we see from this passage, was of the most\nelementary kind; and it certainly contained nothing like a modern\nbishop.\n\n\"We beseech you,\" says the Apostle, \"to know them that labour among\nyou.\" \"To labour\"[20] is the ordinary expression of Paul for such\nChristian work as he himself did. Perhaps it refers mainly to the work\nof catechising, to the giving of that regular and connected\ninstruction in Christian truth which followed conversion and baptism.\nIt covers everything that could be of service to the Church or any of\nits members. It would include even works of charity. There is a\npassage very like this in the First Epistle to the Corinthians, (xvi.\n15 f.), where the two things are closely connected: \"Now I beseech\nyou, brethren (ye know the house of Stephanas, that it is the\nfirstfruits of Achaia, and that they have set themselves to minister\nunto the saints), that ye also be in subjection unto such, and to\nevery one that helpeth in the work and laboureth.\" In both passages\nthere is a certain indefiniteness. Those who labour are not\nnecessarily official persons, elders, or, as they are often called in\nthe New Testament, bishops, and deacons; they may have given\nthemselves to the work without any election or ordination at all. We\nknow that this is often the case still. The best workers in a church\nare not always or necessarily found among those who have official\nfunctions to perform. Especially is it so in churches which provide no\nrecognition for women, yet depend for their efficiency as religious\nagencies even more on women than on men. What would become of our\nSunday Schools, of our Home Missions, of our charities, of our\nvisitation of the sick, the aged, and the poor, but for the labour of\nChristian women? Now what the Apostle tells us here is, that it is\n_labour_ which, in the first instance, is entitled to respect. \"Know\nthem that labour among you,\" means \"Know them for what they are\";\nrecognise with all due reverence their self-denial, their\nfaithfulness, the services they render to you, their claim upon your\nregard. The Christian labourer does not labour for praise or flattery;\nbut those who take the burden of the church upon them in any way, as\npastors or teachers or visitors, as choir or collectors, as managers\nof the church property, or however else, are entitled to our\nacknowledgment, and ought not to be left without it. There is no doubt\na great deal of unknown, unheeded, unrequited labour in every church.\nThat is inevitable, and probably good; but it should make us the more\nanxious to acknowledge what we see, and to esteem the workers very\nhighly in love because of it. How unseemly it is, and how unworthy of\nthe Christian name, when those who do not work busy themselves with\ncriticising those who do,--inventing objections, deriding honest\neffort, anticipating failure, pouring cold water upon zeal. That is\nbad for all, but bad especially for those who practise it. The\nungenerous soul, which grudges recognition to others, and though it\nnever labours itself has always wisdom to spare for those who do, is\nin a hopeless state; there is no growth for it in anything noble and\ngood. Let us open our eyes on those who labour among us, men or women,\nand recognise them as they deserve.\n\nThere are two special forms of labour to which the Apostle gives\nprominence: he mentions as among those that labour \"them that are over\nyou in the Lord, and admonish you.\" The first of the words here\nemployed, the one translated \"them that are over\" you, is the only\nhint the Epistle contains of Church government. Wherever there is a\nsociety, there must be order. There must be those through whom the\nsociety acts, those who represent it officially by words or deeds. At\nThessalonica there was not a single president, a minister in our\nsense, possessing to a certain extent an exclusive responsibility; the\npresidency was in the hands of a plurality of men, what Presbyterians\nwould call a Kirk Session. This body, as far as we can make out from\nthe few surviving indications of their duties, would direct, but not\nconduct, the public worship, and would manage the financial affairs,\nand especially the charity, of the church. They would as a rule be\nelderly men; and were called by the official name, borrowed from the\nJews, of elders. They did not, in the earliest times, preach or teach;\nthey were too old to learn that new profession; but what may be called\nthe administration was in their hands; they were the governing\ncommittee of the new Christian community. The limits of their\nauthority are indicated by the words \"in the Lord.\" They are over the\nmembers of the church in their characters and relations as church\nmembers; but they have nothing to do with other departments of life,\nso far as these relations are unaffected by them.\n\nSide by side with those who preside over the church, Paul mentions\nthose \"who admonish you.\" Admonish is a somewhat severe word; it means\nto speak to one about his conduct, reminding him of what he seems to\nhave forgotten, and of what is rightly expected from him. It gives us\na glimpse of discipline in the early Church, that is, of the care\nwhich was taken that those who had named the Christian name should\nlead a truly Christian life. There is nothing expressly said in this\npassage about doctrines. Purity of doctrine is certainly essential to\nthe health of the Church, but rightness of life comes before it. There\nis nothing expressly said about teaching the truth; that work belonged\nto apostles, prophets, and evangelists, who were ministers of the\nChurch at large, and not fixed to a single congregation; the only\nexercise of Christian speech proper to the congregation is its use in\nadmonition, _i.e._, for practical moral purposes. The moral ideal of\nthe gospel must be clearly before the mind of the Church, and all who\ndeviate from it must be admonished of their danger. \"It is difficult\nfor us in modern times,\" says Dr. Hatch, \"with the widely different\nviews which we have come to hold as to the relation of Church\ngovernment to social life, to understand how large a part discipline\nfilled in the communities of primitive times. These communities were\nwhat they were mainly by the strictness of their discipline.... In the\nmidst of 'a crooked and perverse nation' they could only hold their\nown by the extreme of circumspection. Moral purity was not so much a\nvirtue at which they were bound to aim as the very condition of their\nexistence. If the salt of the earth should lose its savour, wherewith\nshould it be salted? If the lights of the world were dimmed, who\nshould rekindle their flame? And of this moral purity the officers of\neach community were the custodians. 'They watched for souls as those\nthat must give account.'\" This vivid picture should provoke us to\nreflection. Our minds are not set sufficiently on the practical duty\nof keeping up the Christian standard. The moral originality of the\ngospel drops too easily out of sight. Is it not the case that we are\nmuch more expert at vindicating the approach of the Church to the\nstandard of the non-Christian world, than at maintaining the necessary\ndistinction between the two? We are certain to bring a good deal of\nthe world into the Church without knowing it; we are certain to have\ninstincts, habits, dispositions, associates perhaps, and likings,\nwhich are hostile to the Christian type of character; and it is this\nwhich makes admonition indispensable. Far worse than any aberration in\nthought is an irregularity in conduct which threatens the Christian\nideal. When you are warned of such a thing in your conduct by your\nminister or elder, or by any Christian, do not resent the warning.\nTake it seriously and kindly; thank God that He has not allowed you to\ngo on unadmonished; and esteem very highly in love the brother or\nsister who has been so true to you. Nothing is more un-Christian than\nfault-finding, nothing is more truly Christian than frank and\naffectionate admonishing of those who are going astray. This may be\nespecially commended to the young. In youth we are apt to be proud and\nwilful; we are confident that we can keep ourselves safe in what the\nold and timid consider dangerous situations; we do not fear\ntemptation, nor think that this or that little fall is more than an\nindiscretion; and, in any case, we have a determined dislike to being\ninterfered with. All this is very natural; but we should remember\nthat, as Christians, we are pledged to a course of life which is not\nin all ways natural; to a spirit and conduct which are incompatible\nwith pride; to a seriousness of purpose, to a loftiness and purity of\naim, which may all be lost through wilfulness; and we should love and\nhonour those who put their experience at our service, and warn us\nwhen, in lightness of heart, we are on the way to make shipwreck of\nour life. They do not admonish us because they like it, but because\nthey love us and would save us from harm; and love is the only\nrecompense for such a service.\n\nHow little there is of an official spirit in what the Apostle has been\nsaying, we see clearly from what follows. In one way it is specially\nthe duty of the elders or pastors in the Church to exercise rule and\ndiscipline; but it is not so exclusively their duty as to exempt the\nmembers of the Church at large from responsibility. The Apostle\naddresses the whole congregation when he goes on, \"Be at peace among\nyourselves. And we exhort you, brethren, admonish the disorderly,\nencourage the fainthearted, support the weak, be longsuffering toward\nall.\" Let us look more closely at these simple exhortations.\n\n\"Admonish,\" he says, \"the disorderly.\" Who are they? The word is a\nmilitary one, and means properly those who leave their place in the\nranks. In the Epistle to the Colossians (ii. 5) Paul rejoices over\nwhat he calls the solid front presented by their faith in Christ. The\nsolid front is broken, and great advantage given to the enemy, when\nthere are disorderly persons in a church,--men or women who fall short\nof the Christian standard, or who violate, by irregularities of any\nkind, the law of Christ. Such are to be admonished by their brethren.\nAny Christian who sees the disorder has a right to admonish them; nay,\nit is laid upon his conscience as a sacred duty tenderly and earnestly\nto do so. We are too much afraid of giving offence, and too little\nafraid of allowing sin to run its course. Which is better--to speak to\nthe brother who has been disorderly, whether by neglecting work,\nneglecting worship, or openly falling into sin: which is better, to\nspeak to such a one as a brother, privately, earnestly, lovingly; or\nto say nothing at all to him, but talk about what we find to censure\nin him to everybody else, dealing freely behind his back with things\nwe dare not speak of to his face? Surely admonition is better than\ngossip; if it is more difficult, it is more Christlike too. It may be\nthat our own conduct shuts our mouth, or at least exposes us to a rude\nretort; but unaffected humility can overcome even that.\n\nBut it is not always admonition that is needed. Sometimes the very\nopposite is in place; and so Paul writes, \"Encourage the\nfainthearted.\" Put heart into them. The word rendered \"fainthearted\"\nis only used in this single passage; yet every one knows what it\nmeans. It includes those for whose benefit the Apostle wrote in chap.\niv. the description of Christ's second coming,--those whose hearts\nsunk within them as they thought they might never see their departed\nfriends again. It includes those who shrink from persecution, from the\nsmiles or the frowns of the un-Christian, and who fear they may deny\nthe Lord. It includes those who have fallen before temptation, and are\nsitting despondent and fearful, not able to lift up so much as their\neyes to heaven and pray the publican's prayer. All such timid souls\nneed to be heartened; and those who have learned of Jesus, who would\nnot break the bruised reed nor quench the smoking flax, will know how\nto speak a word in season to them. The whole life of the Lord is an\nencouragement to the fainthearted; He who welcomed the penitent, who\ncomforted the mourners, who restored Peter after his triple denial, is\nable to lift up the most timid and to make them stand. Nor is there\nany work more Christlike than this. The fainthearted get no quarter\nfrom the world; bad men delight to trample on the timid; but Christ\nbids them hope in Him, and strengthen themselves for battle and for\nvictory.\n\nAkin to this exhortation is the one which follows, \"Support the weak.\"\nThat does not mean, Provide for those who are unable to work; but, Lay\nhold of those who are weak in the faith, and keep them up. There are\npeople in every congregation whose connection with Christ and the\ngospel is very slight; and if some one does not take hold of them,\nthey will drift away altogether. Sometimes such weakness is due to\nignorance: the people in question know little about the gospel; it\nfills no space in their minds; it does not awe their weakness, or\nfascinate their trust. Sometimes, again, it is due to an unsteadiness\nof mind or character; they are easily led away by new ideas or by new\ncompanions. Sometimes, without any tendency to lapsing, there is a\nweakness due to a false reverence for the past, and for the traditions\nand opinions of men, by which the mind and conscience are enslaved.\nWhat is to be done with such weak Christians? They are to be supported.\nSome one is to lay hands upon them, and uphold them till their\nweakness is outgrown. If they are ignorant, they must be taught. If\nthey are easily carried away by new ideas, they must be shown the\nincalculable weight of evidence which from every side establishes the\nunchangeable truth of the gospel If they are prejudiced and bigoted,\nor full of irrational scruples, and blind reverence for dead customs,\nthey must be constrained to look the imaginary terrors of liberty in\nthe face, till the truth makes them free. Let us lay this exhortation\nto heart. Men and women slip away and are lost to the Church and to\nChrist, because they were weak, and no one supported them. Your word\nor your influence, spoken or used at the right time, might have saved\nthem. What is the use of strength if not to lay hold of the weak?\n\nIt is an apt climax when the Apostle adds, \"Be longsuffering toward\nall.\" He who tries to keep these commandments--\"Admonish the\ndisorderly, encourage the fainthearted, support the weak\"--will have\nneed of patience. If we are absolutely indifferent to each other, it\ndoes not matter; we can do without it. But if we seek to be of use to\neach other, our moral infirmities are very trying. We summon up all\nour love and all our courage, and venture to hint to a brother that\nsomething in his conduct has been amiss; and he flies into a passion,\nand tells us to mind our own business. Or we undertake some trying\ntask of teaching, and after years of pains and patience some guileless\nquestion is asked which shows that our labour has been in vain; or we\nsacrifice our own leisure and recreation to lay hold on some weak one,\nand discover that the first approach of temptation has been too strong\nfor him after all. How slow, we are tempted to cry, men are to respond\nto efforts made for their good! Yet we are men who so cry,--men who\nhave wearied God by their own slowness, and who must constantly appeal\nto His forbearance. Surely it is not too much for us to be\nlongsuffering toward all.\n\nThis little section closes with a warning against revenge, the vice\ndirectly opposed to forbearance. \"See that none render unto any one\nevil for evil; but alway follow after that which is good, one toward\nanother, and toward all.\" Who are addressed in this verse? No doubt, I\nshould say, all the members of the Church; they have a common interest\nin seeing that it is not disgraced by revenge. If forgiveness is the\noriginal and characteristic virtue of Christianity, it is because\nrevenge is the most natural and instinctive of vices. It is a kind of\nwild justice, as Bacon says, and men will hardly be persuaded that it\nis not just. It is the vice which can most easily pass itself off as\na virtue; but in the Church it is to have no opportunity of doing so.\nChristian men are to have their eyes about them; and where a wrong has\nbeen done, they are to guard against the possibility of revenge by\nacting as mediators between the severed brethren. Is it not written in\nthe words of Jesus, \"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be\ncalled sons of God?\" We are not only to refrain from vengeance\nourselves, but we are to see to it, as Christian men, that it has no\nplace among us. And here, again, we sometimes have a thankless task,\nand need to be longsuffering. Angry men are unreasonable; and he who\nseeks the blessing of the peacemaker sometimes earns only the ill name\nof a busybody in other men's matters. Nevertheless, wisdom is\njustified of all her children; and no man who wars against revenge,\nout of a heart loyal to Christ, can ever be made to look foolish. If\nthat which is good is our constant aim, one toward another, and toward\nall, we shall gain the confidence even of angry men, and have the joy\nof seeing evil passions banished from the Church. For revenge is the\nlast stronghold of the natural man; it is the last fort which he holds\nagainst the spirit of the gospel; and when it is stormed, Christ\nreigns indeed.\n\n[20] Those \"who toil among you and preside over you and admonish you\"\nare identified by Wight (_Composition of the Four Gospels_, p. 12) as\n\"the catechists, the presbyters, and evangelists.\" The third case is\ncertainly doubtful; and the fact that the article is used only once\nmakes the whole attempt at such a discrimination of officials\nillegitimate.\n\n\n\n\nXIV.\n\n_THE STANDING ORDERS OF THE GOSPEL._\n\n\n \"Rejoice alway; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks: for\n this is the will of God in Christ Jesus to you-ward.\"--1 THESS. v.\n 16-18 (R.V.).\n\nThe three precepts of these three verses may be called the standing\norders of the Christian Church. However various the circumstances in\nwhich Christians may find themselves, the duties here prescribed are\nalways binding upon them. We are to rejoice alway, to pray without\nceasing, and in everything to give thanks. We may live in peaceful or\nin troubled times; we may be encompassed with friends or beset by\nfoes; we may see the path we have chosen for ourselves open easily\nbefore us, or find our inclination thwarted at every step; but we must\nalways have the music of the gospel in our hearts in its own proper\nkey. Let us look at these rules in order.\n\n\"Rejoice alway.\" There are circumstances in which it is natural for us\nto rejoice; whether we are Christians or not, joy fills the heart till\nit overflows. Youth, health, hope, love, these richest and best\npossessions, give almost every man and woman at least a term of unmixed\ngladness; some months, or years perhaps, of pure light-heartedness,\nwhen they feel like singing all the time. But that natural joy can\nhardly be kept up. It would not be good for us if it could; for it\nreally means that we are for the time absorbed in ourselves, and\nhaving found our own satisfaction decline to look beyond. It is quite\nanother situation to which the Apostle addresses himself. He knows\nthat the persons who receive his letter have had to suffer cruelly for\ntheir faith in Christ; he knows that some of them have quite lately\nstood beside the graves of their dead. Must not a man be very sure of\nhimself, very confident of the truth on which he stands, when he\nventures to say to people so situated, \"Rejoice alway\"?\n\nBut these people, we must remember, were Christians; they had received\nthe gospel from the Apostle; and, in the gospel, the supreme assurance\nof the love of God. We need to remind ourselves occasionally that the\ngospel is good news, glad tidings of great joy. Wherever it comes, it\nis a joyful sound; it puts a gladness into the heart which no change\nof circumstances can abate or take away. There is a great deal in the\nOld Testament which may fairly be described as doubt of God's love.\nEven the saints sometimes wondered whether God was good to Israel;\nthey became impatient, unbelieving, bitter, foolish; the outpourings\nof their hearts in some of the psalms show how far they were from\nbeing able to rejoice evermore. But there is nothing the least like\nthis in the New Testament. The New Testament is the work of Christian\nmen, of men who had stood quite close to the supreme manifestation of\nGod's love in Jesus Christ. Some of them had been in Christ's company\nfor years. They knew that every word He spoke and every deed He\nwrought declared His love; they knew that it was revealed, above all,\nby the death which He died; they knew that it was made almighty,\nimmortal, and ever-present, by His resurrection from the dead. The\nsublime revelation of Divine love dominated everything else in their\nexperience. It was impossible for them, for a single moment, to forget\nit or to escape from it. It drew and fixed their hearts as\nirresistibly as a mountain peak draws and holds the eyes of the\ntraveller. They never lost sight of the love of God in Christ Jesus,\nthat sight so new, so stupendous, so irresistible, so joyful. And\nbecause they did not, they were able to rejoice evermore; and the New\nTestament, which reflects the life of the first believers, does not\ncontain a querulous word from beginning to end. It is the book of\ninfinite joy.\n\nWe see, then, that this command, unreasonable as it appears, is not\nimpracticable. If we are truly Christians, if we have seen and\nreceived the love of God, if we see and receive it continually, it\nwill enable us, like those who wrote the New Testament, to rejoice\nevermore. There are places on our coast where a spring of fresh water\ngushes up through the sand among the salt waves of the sea; and just\nsuch a fountain of joy is the love of God in the Christian soul, even\nwhen the waters close over it. \"As sorrowful,\" says the Apostle, \"yet\nalway rejoicing.\"\n\nMost churches and Christians need to lay this exhortation to heart. It\ncontains a plain direction for our common worship. The house of God is\nthe place where we come to make united and adoring confession of His\nname. If we think only of ourselves, as we enter, we may be despondent\nand low spirited enough; but surely we ought to think, in the first\ninstance, of Him. Let God be great in the assembly of His people; let\nHim be lifted up as He is revealed to us in Jesus Christ, and joy will\nfill our hearts. If the services of the Church are dull, it is because\nHe has been left outside; because the glad tidings of redemption,\nholiness, and life everlasting are still waiting for admission to our\nhearts. Do not let us belie the gospel by dreary, joyless worship: it\nis not so that it is endeared to ourselves or commended to others.\n\nThe Apostle's exhortation contains a hint also for Christian temper.\nNot only our united worship, but the habitual disposition of each of\nus, is to be joyful. It would not be easy to measure the loss the\ncause of Christ has sustained through the neglect of this rule.\nA conception of Christianity has been set before men, and especially\nbefore the young, which could not fail to repel; the typical Christian\nhas been presented, austere and pure perhaps, or lifted high above the\nworld, but rigid, cold, and self-contained. That is not the Christian\nas the New Testament conceives him. He is cheerful, sunny, joyous; and\nthere is nothing so charming as joy. There is nothing so contagious,\nbecause there is nothing in which all men are so willing to partake;\nand hence there is nothing so powerful in evangelistic work. The joy\nof the Lord is the strength of the preacher of the gospel. There is an\ninteresting passage in 1 Cor. ix., where Paul enlarges on a certain\nrelation between the evangelist and the evangel. The gospel, he tells\nus, is God's free gift to the world; and he who would become a\nfellow-worker with the gospel must enter into the spirit of it, and\nmake his preaching also a free gift. So here, one may say, the gospel\nis conceived as glad tidings; and whoever would open his lips for\nChrist must enter into the spirit of his message, and stand up to\nspeak clothed in joy. Our looks and tones must not belie our words.\nLanguor, dulness, dreariness, a melancholy visage, are a libel upon\nthe gospel. If the knowledge of the love of God does not make us glad,\nwhat does it do for us? If it does not make a difference to our\nspirits and our temper, do we really know it? Christ compares its\ninfluence to that of new wine; it is nothing if not exhilarating; if\nit does not make our faces shine, it is because we have not tasted it.\nI do not overlook, any more than St. Paul did, the causes for sorrow;\nbut the causes for sorrow are transient; they are like the dark clouds\nwhich overshadow the sky for a time and then pass away; while the\ncause of joy--the redeeming love of God in Christ Jesus--is permanent;\nit is like the unchanging blue behind the clouds, ever-present,\never-radiant, overarching and encompassing all our passing woes. Let\nus remember it, and see it through the darkest clouds, and it will not\nbe impossible for us to rejoice evermore.\n\nIt may seem strange that one difficult thing should be made easy when\nit is combined with another; but this is what is suggested by the\nsecond exhortation of the Apostle, \"Pray without ceasing.\" It is not\neasy to rejoice alway, but our one hope of doing so is to pray\nconstantly. How are we to understand so singular a precept?\n\nPrayer, we know, when we take it in the widest sense, is the primary\nmark of the Christian. \"Behold, he prayeth,\" the Lord said of Saul,\nwhen He wished to convince Ananias that there was no mistake about his\nconversion. He who does not pray at all--and is it too much to suppose\nthat some come to churches who never do?--is no Christian. Prayer is\nthe converse of the soul with God; it is that exercise in which we\nhold up our hearts to Him, that they may be filled with His fulness,\nand changed into His likeness. The more we pray, and the more we are\nin contact with Him, the greater is our assurance of His love, the\nfirmer our confidence that He is with us to help and save. If we once\nthink of it, we shall see that our very life as Christians depends on\nour being in perpetual contact and perpetual fellowship with God. If\nHe does not breathe into us the breath of life, we have no life. If He\ndoes not hour by hour send our help from above, we face our spiritual\nfoes without resources.\n\nIt is with such thoughts present to the mind that some would interpret\nthe command, \"Pray without ceasing.\" \"Cherish a spirit of prayer,\"\nthey would render it, \"and make devotion the true business of life.\nCultivate the sense of dependence on God; let it be part of the very\nstructure of your thoughts that without Him you can do nothing, but\nthrough His strength all things.\" But this is, in truth, to put the\neffect where the cause should be. This spirit of devotion is itself\nthe fruit of ceaseless prayers; this strong consciousness of\ndependence on God becomes an ever-present and abiding thing only when\nin all our necessities we betake ourselves to Him. Occasions, we must\nrather say, if we would follow the Apostle's thought, are never\nwanting, and will never be wanting, which call for the help of God;\ntherefore, pray without ceasing. It is useless to say that the thing\ncannot be done, before the experiment has been made. There are few\nworks that cannot be accompanied with prayer; there are few indeed\nthat cannot be preceded by prayer; there are none at all that would\nnot profit by prayer. Take the very first work to which you must set\nyour mind and your hand, and you know it will be better done if, as\nyou turn to it, you look up to God and ask His help to do it well and\nfaithfully, as a Christian ought to do it for the Master above. It is\nnot in any vague, indefinite fashion, but by taking prayer with us\nwherever we go, by consciously, deliberately, and persistently lifting\nour hearts to God as each emergency in life, great or small, makes its\nnew demand upon us, that the apostolic exhortation is to be obeyed. If\nprayer is thus combined with all our works, we shall find that it\nwastes no time, though it fills all. Certainly it is not an easy\npractice to begin, that of praying without ceasing. It is so natural\nfor us not to pray, that we perpetually forget, and undertake this or\nthat without God. But surely we get reminders enough that this\nomission of prayer is a mistake. Failure, loss of temper, absence of\njoy, weariness, and discouragement are its fruits; while prayer brings\nus without fail the joy and strength of God. The Apostle himself knew\nthat to pray without ceasing requires an extraordinary effort; and in\nthe only passages in which he urges it, he combines with it the duties\nof watchfulness and persistence (Eph. vi. 15; Col. iv. 2; Rom. xii.\n12). We must be on our guard that the occasion for prayer does not\nescape us, and we must take care not to be wearied with this incessant\nreference of everything to God.\n\nThe third of the standing orders of the Church is, from one point of\nview, a combination of the first and second; for thanksgiving is a\nkind of joyful prayer. As a duty, it is recognised by every one within\nlimits; the difficulty of it is only seen when it is claimed, as here,\nwithout limits: \"In everything give thanks.\" That this is no\naccidental extravagance is shown by its recurrence in other places. To\nmention only one: in Phil. iv. 6 the Apostle writes, \"In everything by\nprayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made\nknown to God.\" Is it really possible to do this thing?\n\nThere are times, we all know, at which thanksgiving is natural and\neasy. When our life has taken the course which we ourselves had\npurposed, and the result seems to justify our foresight; when those\nwhom we love are prosperous and happy; when we have escaped a great\ndanger, or recovered from a severe illness, we feel, or say we feel,\nso thankful. Even in such circumstances we are possibly not so\nthankful as we ought to be. Perhaps if we were our lives would be a\ngreat deal happier. But at all events we frankly admit that we have\ncause for thanksgiving; God has been good to us, even in our own\nestimate of goodness; and we ought to cherish and express our grateful\nlove toward Him. Let us not forget to do so. It has been said that an\nunblessed sorrow is the saddest thing in life; but perhaps as sad a\nthing is an unblessed joy. And every joy is unblessed for which we do\nnot give God thanks. \"Unhallowed pleasures\" is a strong expression,\nwhich seems proper only to describe gross wickedness; yet it is the\nvery name which describes any pleasure in our life of which we do not\nrecognise God as the Giver, and for which we do not offer Him our\nhumble and hearty thanks. We would not be so apt to protest against\nthe idea of giving thanks in everything, if it had ever been our habit\nto give thanks in anything. Think of what you call, with thorough\nconviction, your blessings and your mercies,--your bodily health, your\nsoundness of mind, your calling in this world, the faith which you\nrepose in others and which others repose in you; think of the love of\nyour husband or wife, of all those sweet and tender ties that bind our\nlives into one; think of the success with which you have wrought out\nyour own purposes, and laboured at your own ideal; and with all this\nmultitude of mercies before your face, ask whether even for these you\nhave given God thanks. Have they been hallowed and made means of grace\nto you by your grateful acknowledgment that He is the Giver of them\nall? If not, it is plain that you have lost much joy, and have to\nbegin the duty of thanksgiving in the easiest and lowest place.\n\nBut the Apostle rises high above this when he says, \"In everything\ngive thanks.\" He knew, as I have remarked already, that the\nThessalonians had been visited by suffering and death: is there a\nplace for thanksgiving there? Yes, he says; for the Christian does not\nlook on sorrow with the eyes of another man. When sickness comes to\nhim or to his home; when there is loss to be borne, or disappointment,\nor bereavement; when his plans are frustrated, his hopes deferred, and\nthe whole conduct of his life simply taken out of his hands, he is\nstill called to give thanks to God. For he knows that God is love. He\nknows that God has a purpose of His own in his life,--a purpose which\nat the moment he may not discern, but which he is bound to believe\nwiser and larger than any he could purpose for himself. Every one who\nhas eyes to see must have seen, in the lives of Christian men and\nwomen, fruits of sorrow and of suffering which were conspicuously\ntheir best possessions, the things for which the whole Church was\nunder obligation to give thanks to God on their behalf. It is not\neasy at the moment to see what underlies sorrow; it is not possible to\ngrasp by anticipation the beautiful fruits which it yields in the long\nrun to those who accept it without murmuring: but every Christian\nknows that all things work together for good to them that love God;\nand in the strength of that knowledge he is able to keep a thankful\nheart, however mysterious and trying the providence of God may be.\nThat sorrow, even the deepest and most hopeless, has been blessed, no\none can deny. It has taught many a deeper thoughtfulness, a truer\nestimate of the world and its interests, a more simple trust in God.\nIt has opened the eyes of many to the sufferings of others, and\nchanged boisterous rudeness into tender and delicate sympathy. It has\ngiven many weak ones the opportunity of demonstrating the nearness and\nthe strength of Christ, as out of weakness they have been made strong.\nOften the sufferer in a home is the most thankful member of it. Often\nthe bedside is the sunniest spot in the house, though the bedridden\none knows that he or she will never be free again. It is not\nimpossible for a Christian in everything to give thanks.\n\nBut it is only a Christian who can do it, as the last words of the\nApostle intimate: \"This is the will of God _in Christ Jesus_ to\nyou-ward.\" These words may refer to all that has preceded: \"Rejoice\nalway; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks\"; or they may\nrefer to the last clause only. Whichever be the case, the Apostle\ntells us that the ideal in question has only been revealed in Christ,\nand hence is only within reach of those who know Christ. Till Christ\ncame, no man ever dreamt of rejoicing alway, praying without ceasing,\nand giving thanks in everything. There were noble ideals in the world,\nhigh, severe, and pure; but nothing so lofty, buoyant, and exhilarating\nas this. Men did not know God well enough to know what His will for\nthem was; they thought He demanded integrity, probably, and beyond\nthat, silent and passive submission at the most; no one had conceived\nthat God's will for man was that his life should be made up of joy,\nprayer, and thanksgiving. But he who has seen Jesus Christ, and has\ndiscovered the meaning of His life, knows that this is the true ideal.\nFor Jesus came into our world, and lived among us, that we might know\nGod; He manifested the name of God that we might put our trust in it;\nand that name is Love; it is Father. If we know the Father, it is\npossible for us, in the spirit of children, to aim at this lofty\nChristian ideal; if we do not, it will seem to us utterly unreal. The\nwill of God in Christ Jesus means the will of the Father; it is only\nfor children that His will exists. Do not put aside the apostolic\nexhortation as paradox or extravagance; to Christian hearts, to the\nchildren of God, he speaks words of truth and soberness when he says,\n\"Rejoice alway; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks.\" Has\nnot Christ Jesus given us peace with God, and made us friends instead\nof enemies? Is not that a fountain of joy too deep for sorrow to\ntouch? Has He not assured us that He is with us all the days, even to\nthe end of the world? Is not that a ground upon which we can look up\nin prayer all the day long? Has He not told us that all things work\ntogether for good to them that love God? Of course we cannot trace His\noperation always; but when we remember the seal with which Christ\nsealed that great truth; when we remember that in order to fulfil the\npurpose of God in each of us He laid down His life on our behalf, can\nwe hesitate to trust His word? And if we do not hesitate, but welcome\nit gladly as our hope in the darkest hour, shall we not try even in\neverything to give thanks?\n\n\n\n\nXV.\n\n_THE SPIRIT._\n\n\n \"Quench not the Spirit: despise not prophesyings: (but) prove all\n things: hold fast that which is good; abstain from every form of\n evil.\"--1 THESS. v. 20-22 (R.V.).\n\nThese verses are abruptly introduced, but are not unconnected with\nwhat precedes. The Apostle has spoken of order and discipline, and of\nthe joyful and devout temper which should characterise the Christian\nChurch; and here he comes to speak of that Spirit in which the Church\nlives, and moves, and has her being. The presence of the Spirit is, of\ncourse, presupposed in all that he has said already: how could men,\nexcept by His help, \"rejoice alway, pray without ceasing, and in\neverything give thanks\"? But there are other manifestations of the\nSpirit's power, of a more precise and definite character, and it is\nwith these we have here to do.\n\n_Spiritus ubi est, ardet._ When the Holy Spirit descended on the Church\nat Pentecost, \"there appeared unto them tongues parting asunder, like\nas of fire; and it sat upon each one of them\"; and their lips were\nopened to declare the mighty works of God. A man who has received this\ngreat gift is described as fervent, literally, boiling (\u03b6\u03ad\u03c9\u03bd) with\nthe Spirit. The new birth in those early days _was_ a new birth; it\nkindled in the soul thoughts and feelings to which it had hitherto\nbeen strange; it brought with it the consciousness of new powers; a\nnew vision of God; a new love of holiness; a new insight into the Holy\nScriptures, and into the meaning of man's life; often a new power of\nardent, passionate speech. In the First Epistle to the Corinthians\nPaul describes a primitive Christian congregation. There was not one\nsilent among them. When they came together every one had a psalm, a\nrevelation, a prophecy, an interpretation. The manifestation of the\nSpirit had been given to each one to profit withal; and on all hands\nthe spiritual fire was ready to flame forth. Conversion to the\nChristian faith, the acceptance of the apostolic gospel, was not a\nthing which made little difference to men: it convulsed their whole\nnature to its depths; they were never the same again; they were new\ncreatures, with a new life in them, all fervour and flame.\n\nA state so unlike nature, in the ordinary sense of the term, was sure\nto have its inconveniences. The Christian, even when he had received\nthe gift of the Holy Ghost, was still a man; and as likely as not a\nman who had to struggle against vanity, folly, ambition, and\nselfishness of all kinds. His enthusiasm might even seem, in the first\ninstance, to aggravate, instead of removing, his natural faults. It\nmight drive him to speak--for in a primitive church anybody who\npleased might speak--when it would have been better for him to be\nsilent. It might lead him to break out in prayer or praise or\nexhortation, in a style which made the wise sigh. And for those\nreasons the wise, and such as thought themselves wise, would be apt to\ndiscourage the exercise of spiritual gifts altogether. \"Contain\nyourself,\" they would say to the man whose heart burned within him,\nand who was restless till the flame could leap out; \"contain yourself;\nexercise a little self-control; it is unworthy of a rational being to\nbe carried away in this fashion.\"\n\nNo doubt situations like this were common in the church at\nThessalonica. They are produced inevitably by differences of age and\nof temperament. The old and the phlegmatic are a natural, and,\ndoubtless, a providential, counterweight to the young and sanguine.\nBut the wisdom which comes of experience and of temperament has its\ndisadvantages as compared with fervour of spirit. It is cold and\nunenthusiastic; it cannot propagate itself; it cannot set fire to\nanything and spread. And because it is under this incapacity of\nkindling the souls of men into enthusiasm, it is forbidden to pour\ncold water on such enthusiasm when it breaks forth in words of fire.\nThat is the meaning of \"Quench not the Spirit.\" The commandment\npresupposes that the Spirit can be quenched. Cold looks, contemptuous\nwords, silence, studied disregard, go a long way to quench it. So does\nunsympathetic criticism.\n\nEvery one knows that a fire smokes most when it is newly kindled; but\nthe way to get rid of the smoke is not to pour cold water on the fire,\nbut to let it burn itself clear. If you are wise enough you may even\nhelp it to burn itself clear, by rearranging the materials, or\nsecuring a better draught; but the wisest thing most people can do\nwhen the fire has got hold is to let it alone; and that is also the\nwise course for most when they meet with a disciple whose zeal burns\nlike fire. Very likely the smoke hurts their eyes; but the smoke will\nsoon pass by; and it may well be tolerated in the meantime for the\nsake of the heat. For this apostolic precept takes for granted that\nfervour of spirit, a Christian enthusiasm for what is good, is the\nbest thing in the world. It may be untaught and inexperienced; it may\nhave all its mistakes to make; it may be wonderfully blind to the\nlimitations which the stern necessities of life put upon the generous\nhopes of man: but it is of God; it is expansive; it is contagious; it\nis worth more as a spiritual force than all the wisdom in the world.\n\nI have hinted at ways in which the Spirit is quenched; it is sad to\nreflect that from one point of view the history of the Church is a\nlong series of transgressions of this precept, checked by an equally\nlong series of rebellions of the Spirit. \"Where the Spirit of the Lord\nis,\" the Apostle tells us elsewhere, \"there is liberty.\" But liberty\nin a society has its dangers; it is, to a certain extent, at war with\norder; and the guardians of order are not apt to be too considerate of\nit. Hence it came to pass that at a very early period, and in the\ninterests of good order, the freedom of the Spirit was summarily\nsuppressed in the Church. \"The gift of ruling,\" it has been said,\n\"like Aaron's rod, seemed to swallow up the other gifts.\" The rulers\nof the Church became a class entirely apart from its ordinary members,\nand all exercise of spiritual gifts for the building up of the Church\nwas confined to them. Nay, the monstrous idea was originated, and\ntaught as a dogma, that they alone were the depositaries, or, as it is\nsometimes said, the custodians, of the grace and truth of the gospel;\nonly through them could men come into contact with the Holy Ghost. In\nplain English, the Spirit was quenched when Christians met for\nworship. One great extinguisher was placed over the flame that burned\nin the hearts of the brethren; it was not allowed to show itself; it\nmust not disturb, by its eruption in praise or prayer or fiery\nexhortation, the decency and order of divine service. I say that was\nthe condition to which Christian worship was reduced at a very early\nperiod; and it is unhappily the condition in which, for the most part,\nit subsists at this moment. Do you think we are gainers by it? I do\nnot believe it. It has always come from time to time to be\nintolerable. The Montanists of the second century, the heretical sects\nof the middle ages, the Independents and Quakers of the English\nCommonwealth, the lay preachers of Wesleyanism, the Salvationists, the\nPlymouthists, and the Evangelistic associations of our own day,--all\nthese are in various degrees the protest of the Spirit, and its right\nand necessary protest, against the authority which would quench it,\nand by quenching it impoverish the Church. In many Nonconformist\nchurches there is a movement just now in favour of a liturgy. A\nliturgy may indeed be a defence against the coldness and incompetence\nof the one man to whom the whole conduct of public worship is at\npresent left; but our true refuge is not this mechanical one, but the\nopening of the mouths of all Christian people. A liturgy, however\nbeautiful, is a melancholy witness to the quenching of the Spirit: it\nmay be better or worse than the prayers of one man; but it could never\ncompare for fervour with the spontaneous prayers of a living Church.\n\nAmong the gifts of the Spirit, that which the Apostle valued most\nhighly was prophecy. We read in the Book of Acts of prophets, like\nAgabus, who foretold future events affecting the fortunes of the\ngospel, and possibly at Thessalonica the minds of those who were\nspiritually gifted were preoccupied with thoughts of the Lord's\ncoming, and made it the subject of their discourses in the church; but\nthere is no necessary limitation of this sort in the idea of\nprophesying. The prophet was a man whose rational and moral nature had\nbeen quickened by the Spirit of Christ, and who possessed in an\nuncommon degree the power of speaking edification, exhortation, and\ncomfort. In other words, he was a Christian preacher,[21] endued with\nwisdom, fervour, and tenderness; and his spiritual addresses were\namong the Lord's best gifts to the Church. Such addresses, or\nprophesyings, Paul tells we are not to despise.\n\nNow despise is a strong word; it is, literally, to set utterly at\nnaught, as Herod set at naught Jesus, when he clothed Him in purple,\nor as the Pharisees set at naught the publicans, even when they came\ninto the Temple to pray. Of course, prophecy, or, to speak in the\nlanguage of our own time, the preacher's calling, may be abused: a man\nmay preach without a message, without sincerity, without reverence for\nGod or respect for those to whom he speaks; he may make a mystery, a\nprofessional secret, of the truth of God, instead of declaring it even\nto little children; he may seek, as some who called themselves\nprophets in early times sought, to make the profession of godliness a\nsource of gain; and under such circumstances no respect is due. But\nsuch circumstances are not to be assumed without cause. We are rather\nto assume that he who stands up in the Church to speak in God's name\nhas had a word of God entrusted to him; it is not wise to despise it\nbefore it is heard. It may be because we have been so often disappointed\nthat we pitch our hopes so low; but to expect nothing is to be guilty\nof a sort of contempt by anticipation. To despise not prophesyings\nrequires us to look for something from the preacher, some word of God\nthat will build us up in godliness, or bring us encouragement or\nconsolation; it requires us to listen as those who have a precious\nopportunity given them of being strengthened by Divine grace and\ntruth. We ought not to lounge or fidget while the word of God is\nspoken, or to turn over the leaves of the Bible at random, or to look\nat the clock; we ought to hearken for that word which God has put\ninto the preacher's mouth for us; and it will be a very exceptional\nprophesying in which there is not a single thought that it would repay\nus to consider.\n\nWhen the Apostle claimed respect for the Christian preacher, he did\nnot claim infallibility. That is plain from what follows; for all the\nwords are connected. Despise not prophesyings, but put all things to\nthe test, that is, all the contents of the prophesying, all the\nutterances of the Christian man whose spiritual ardour has urged him\nto speak. We may remark in passing that this injunction prohibits all\npassive listening to the word. Many people prefer this. They come to\nchurch, not to be taught, not to exercise any faculty of discernment\nor testing at all, but to be impressed. They like to be played upon,\nand to have their feelings moved by a tender or vehement address; it\nis an easy way of coming into apparent contact with good. But the\nApostle here counsels a different attitude. We are to put to the proof\nall that the preacher says.\n\nThis is a favourite text with Protestants, and especially with\nProtestants of an extreme type. It has been called \"a piece of most\nrationalistic advice\"; it has been said to imply \"that every man has a\nverifying faculty, whereby to judge of facts and doctrines, and to\ndecide between right and wrong, truth and falsehood.\" But this is a\nmost unconsidered extension to give to the Apostle's words. He does\nnot say a word about every man; he is speaking expressly to the\nThessalonians, who were Christian men. He would not have admitted that\nany man who came in from the street, and constituted himself a judge,\nwas competent to pronounce upon the contents of the prophesyings, and\nto say which of the burning words were spiritually sound, and which\nwere not. On the contrary, he tells us very plainly that some men have\nno capacity for this task--\"The natural man receiveth not the things\nof the Spirit\"; and that even in the Christian Church, where all are\nto some extent spiritual, some have this faculty of discernment in a\nmuch higher degree than others. In 1 Cor. xii. 10, \"discernment of\nspirits,\" this power of distinguishing in spiritual discourse between\nthe gold and that which merely glitters, is itself represented as a\ndistinct spiritual gift; and in a later chapter he says (xiv. 29),\n\"Let the prophets speak by two or three, and let the others\" (that is,\nin all probability, the other prophets) \"discern.\" I do not say this\nto deprecate the judgment of the wise, but to deprecate rash and hasty\njudgment. A heathen man is no judge of Christian truth; neither is a\nman with a bad conscience, and an unrepented sin in his heart; neither\nis a flippant man, who has never been awed by the majestic holiness\nand love of Jesus Christ,--all these are simply out of court. But the\nChristian preacher who stands up in the presence of his brethren\nknows, and rejoices, that he is in the presence of those who can put\nwhat he says to the proof. They _are_ his brethren; they are in the\nsame communion of all the saints with Christ Jesus; the same Christian\ntradition has formed, and the same Christian spirit animates, their\nconscience; their power to prove his words is a safeguard both to them\nand to him.\n\nAnd it is necessary that they should prove them. No man is perfect,\nnot the most devout and enthusiastic of Christians. In his most\nspiritual utterances something of himself will very naturally mingle;\nthere will be chaff among the wheat; wood, hay, and stubble in the\nmaterial he brings to build up the Church, as well as gold, silver,\nand precious stones. That is not a reason for refusing to listen; it\nis a reason for listening earnestly, conscientiously, and with much\nforbearance. There is a responsibility laid upon each of us, a\nresponsibility laid upon the Christian conscience of every\ncongregation and of the Church at large, to put prophesyings to the\nproof. Words that are spiritually unsound, that are out of tune with\nthe revelation of God in Christ Jesus, ought to be discovered when\nthey are spoken in the Church. No man with any idea of modesty, to say\nnothing of humility, could wish it otherwise. And here, again,\nwe have to regret the quenching of the Spirit. We have all heard the\nsermon criticised when the preacher could not get the benefit; but\nhave we often heard it spiritually judged, so that he, as well as\nthose who listened to him, is edified, comforted, and encouraged? The\npreacher has as much need of the word as his hearers; if there is a\nservice which God enables him to do for them, in enlightening their\nminds or fortifying their wills, there is a corresponding service\nwhich they can do for him. An open meeting, a liberty of prophesying,\na gathering in which any one could speak as the Spirit gave him\nutterance, is one of the crying needs of the modern Church.\n\nLet us notice, however, the purpose of this testing of prophecy.\nDespise not such utterances, the Apostle says, but prove all: hold\nfast that which is good, and hold off from every evil kind. There is a\ncurious circumstance connected with these short verses. Many of the\nfathers of the Church connect them with what they consider a saying of\nJesus, one of the few which is reasonably attested, though it has\nfailed to find a place in the written gospels. The saying is, \"Show\nyourselves approved money-changers.\" The fathers believed, and on such\na point they were likely to be better judges than we, that in the\nverses before us the Apostle uses a metaphor from coinage. To prove is\nreally to assay, to put to the test as a banker tests a piece of\nmoney; the word rendered \"good\" is often the equivalent of our\nsterling; \"evil,\" of our base or forged; and the word which in our old\nBibles is rendered \"appearance\"--\"Abstain from all appearance of\nevil\"--and in the Revised Version \"form\"--\"Abstain from every form of\nevil\"--has, at least in some connections, the signification of mint or\ndie. If we bring out this faded metaphor in its original freshness, it\nwill run something like this: Show yourselves skilful money-changers;\ndo not accept in blind trust all the spiritual currency which you find\nin circulation; put it all to the test; rub it on the touchstone; keep\nhold of what is genuine and of sterling value, but every spurious coin\ndecline. Whether the metaphor is in the text or not,--and in spite of\na great preponderance of learned names against it, I feel almost\ncertain it is,--it will help to fix the Apostle's exhortation in our\nmemories. There is no scarcity, at this moment, of spiritual currency.\nWe are deluged with books and spoken words about Christ and the\ngospel. It is idle and unprofitable, nay, it is positively pernicious,\nto open our minds promiscuously to them; to give equal and impartial\nlodgment to them all. There is a distinction to be made between the\ntrue and the false, between the sterling and the spurious; and till we\nput ourselves to the trouble to make that distinction, we are not\nlikely to advance very far. How would a man get on in business who\ncould not tell good money from bad? And how is any one to grow in the\nChristian life whose mind and conscience are not earnestly put to it\nto distinguish between what is in reality Christian and what is not,\nand to hold to the one and reject the other? A critic of sermons is\napt to forget the practical purpose of the discernment here spoken of.\nHe is apt to think it his function to pick holes. \"Oh,\" he says, \"such\nand such a statement is utterly misleading: the preacher was simply in\nthe air; he did not know what he was talking about.\" Very possibly;\nand if you have found out such an unsound idea in the sermon, be\nbrotherly, and let the preacher know. But do not forget the first and\nmain purpose of spiritual judgment--hold fast that which is good. God\nforbid that you should have no gain out of the sermon except to\ndiscover the preacher going astray. Who would think to make his\nfortune only by detecting base coin?\n\nIn conclusion, let us recall to our minds the touchstone which the\nApostle himself supplies for this spiritual assaying. \"No one,\" he\nwrites to the Corinthians, \"can say Jesus is Lord except by the Holy\nGhost.\" In other words, whatever is spoken in the Holy Ghost, and is\ntherefore spiritual and true, has this characteristic, this purpose\nand result, that it exalts Jesus. The Christian Church, that community\nwhich embodies spiritual life, has this watchword on its banner,\n\"Jesus is Lord.\" That presupposes, in the New Testament sense of it,\nthe Resurrection and the Ascension; it signifies the sovereignty of\nthe Son of Man. Everything is genuine in the Church which bears on it\nthe stamp of Christ's exaltation; everything is spurious and to be\nrejected which calls that in question. It is the practical recognition\nof that sovereignty--the surrender of thought, heart, will, and life\nto Jesus--which constitutes the spiritual man, and gives competence to\njudge of spiritual things. He in whom Christ reigns judges in all\nspiritual things, and is judged by no man; but he who is a rebel to\nChrist, who does not wear His yoke, who has not learned of Him by\nobedience, who assumes the attitude of equality, and thinks himself at\nliberty to negotiate and treat with Christ, _he_ has no competence,\nand no right to judge at all. \"Unto Him that loveth us, and loosed us\nfrom our sins by His blood; ... to Him be the glory and the dominion\nfor ever and ever. Amen.\"\n\n[21] The contrast drawn by Dr. Hatch in his Hibbert Lectures between\nthe early Christian prophet and the modern Christian preacher--the\n\"rhetorical religionist,\" as he calls him--is, like every other\ncontrast in that notable book, strained till it becomes utterly false.\nIt would not be true to say that there was no difference between the\nprophet and the preacher; but it would be far truer than to say that\nthere was no likeness. The prophet was one who spoke, as Paul tells\nus, edification, exhortation, and comfort; and as that, we may hope,\nis what most preachers try to do, the ideal of the callings is\nidentical. And it is only by their ideals that they ought to be\ncompared or criticised.\n\n\n\n\nXVI.\n\n_CONCLUSION._\n\n\n \"And the God of peace Himself sanctify you wholly; and may your\n spirit and soul and body be preserved entire, without blame at the\n coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is He that calleth you, who\n will also do it. Brethren, pray for us. Salute all the brethren with\n a holy kiss. I adjure you by the Lord that this epistle be read unto\n all the brethren. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with\n you.\"--1 THESS. v. 23-28 (R.V.).\n\nThese verses open with a contrast to what precedes, which is more\nstrongly brought out in the original than in the translation. The\nApostle has drawn the likeness of a Christian church, as a Christian\nchurch ought to be, waiting for the coming of the Lord; he has\nappealed to the Thessalonians to make this picture their standard, and\nto aim at Christian holiness; and conscious of the futility of such\nadvice, as long as it stands alone and addresses itself to man's\nunaided efforts, he turns here instinctively to prayer: \"The God of\npeace Himself\"--working in independence of your exertions and my\nexhortations--\"sanctify you wholly.\"\n\nThe solemn fulness of this title forbids us to pass it by. Why does\nPaul describe God in this particular place as the God of peace? Is it\nnot because peace is the only possible basis on which the work of\nsanctification can proceed? I do not think it is forced to render the\nwords literally, the God of the peace, _i.e._, the peace with which\nall believers are familiar, the Christian peace, the primary blessing\nof the gospel. The God of peace is the God of the gospel, the God who\nhas come preaching peace in Jesus Christ, proclaiming reconciliation\nto those who are far off and to those who are near. No one can ever be\nsanctified who does not first accept the message of reconciliation. It\nis not possible to become holy as God is holy, until, being justified\nby faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. This\nis God's way of holiness; and this is why the Apostle presents his\nprayer for the sanctification of the Thessalonians to the God of\npeace. We are so slow to learn this, in spite of the countless ways in\nwhich it is forced upon us, that one is tempted to call it a secret;\nyet no secret, surely, could be more open. Who has not tried to\novercome a fault, to work on a vicious temper, to break for good with\nan evil habit, or in some other direction to sanctify himself, and\nwithal to keep out of God's sight till the work was done? It is of no\nuse. Only the God of Christian peace, the God of the gospel, can\nsanctify us; or to look at the same thing from our own side, we cannot\nbe sanctified until we are at peace with God. Confess your sins with a\nhumble and penitent heart; accept the forgiveness and friendship of\nGod in Christ Jesus; and then He will work in you both will and deed\nto further His good pleasure.\n\nNotice the comprehensiveness of the Apostle's prayer in this place. It\nis conveyed in three separate words--wholly (\u1f41\u03bb\u03bf\u03c4\u03b5\u03bb\u03b5\u1fd6\u03c2), entire\n(\u1f41\u03bb\u03cc\u03ba\u03bb\u03b7\u03c1\u03bf\u03bd), and without blame (\u1f00\u03bc\u03ad\u03bc\u03c0\u03c4\u03c9\u03c2). It is intensified by\nwhat has, at least, the look of an enumeration of the parts or\nelements of which man's nature consists--\"your spirit and soul and\nbody.\" It is raised to its highest power when the sanctity for which\nhe prays is set in the searching light of the Last Judgment--in the\nday of our Lord Jesus Christ. We all feel how great a thing it is\nwhich the Apostle here asks of God: can we bring its details more\nnearly home to ourselves? Can we tell, in particular, what he means by\nspirit and soul and body?\n\nThe learned and philosophical have found in these three words a\nmagnificent field for the display of philosophy and learning; but\nunhappily for plain people, it is not very easy to follow them. As the\nwords stand before us in the text, they have a friendly Biblical look;\nwe get a fair impression of the Apostle's intention in using them; but\nas they come out in treatises on Biblical Psychology, though they are\nmuch more imposing, it would be rash to say they are more strictly\nscientific, and they are certainly much less apprehensible than they\nare here. To begin with the easiest one, everybody knows what is meant\nby the body. What the Apostle prays for in this place is that God\nwould make the body in its entirety--every organ and every function of\nit--holy. God made the body at the beginning; He made it for Himself;\nand it is His. To begin with, it is neither holy nor unholy; it has no\ncharacter of its own at all; but it may be profaned or it may be\nsanctified; it may be made the servant of God or the servant of sin,\nconsecrated or prostituted. Everybody knows whether his body is being\nsanctified or not. Everybody knows \"the inconceivable evil of\nsensuality.\" Everybody knows that pampering of the body, excess in\neating and drinking, sloth and dirt, are incompatible with bodily\nsanctification. It is not a survival of Judaism when the Epistle to\nthe Hebrews tells us to draw near to God \"in full assurance of faith,\nhaving our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies\nwashed with pure water.\" But sanctification, even of the body, really\ncomes only by employment in God's service; charity, the service of\nothers for Jesus' sake, is that which makes the body truly His. Holy\nare the feet which move incessantly on His errands; holy are the hands\nwhich, like His, are continually doing good; holy are the lips which\nplead His cause or speak comfort in His Name. The Apostle himself\npoints the moral of this prayer for the consecration of the body when\nhe says to the Romans, \"Present your members as servants to\nrighteousness unto sanctification.\"\n\nBut let us look, now, at the other two terms--spirit and soul.\nSometimes one of these is used in contrast with body, sometimes the\nother. Thus Paul says that the unmarried Christian woman cares for the\nthings of the Lord, seeking only how she may be holy in body and in\nspirit,--the two together constituting the whole person. Jesus, again,\nwarns His disciples not to fear man, but to fear Him who can destroy\nboth soul and body in hell; where the person is made to consist, not\nof body and spirit, but of body and soul. These passages certainly\nlead us to think that soul and spirit must be very near akin to each\nother; and that impression is strengthened when we remember such a\npassage as is found in Mary's song: \"My soul doth magnify the Lord,\nand my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour\"; where, according to\nthe laws of Hebrew poetry, soul and spirit must mean practically the\nsame thing. But granting that they do so, when we find two words used\nfor the same thing, the natural inference is that they give us each a\ndifferent look at it. One of them shows it in one aspect; the other in\nanother. Can we apply that distinction here? I think the use of the\nwords in the Bible enables us to do it quite decidedly; but it is\nunnecessary to go into the details. The soul means the life which is\nin man, taken simply as it is, with all its powers; the spirit means\nthat very same life, taken in its relation to God. This relation may\nbe of various kinds: for the life that is in us is derived from God;\nit is akin to the life of God Himself; it is created with a view to\nfellowship with God; in the Christian it is actually redeemed and\nadmitted to that fellowship; and in all those aspects it is spiritual\nlife. But we may look at it without thinking of God at all; and then,\nin Bible language, we are looking, not at man's spirit, but at his\nsoul.\n\nThis inward life, in all its aspects, is to be sanctified through and\nthrough. All our powers of thought and imagination are to be\nconsecrated; unholy thoughts are to be banished; lawless, roving\nimaginings, suppressed. All our inventiveness is to be used in God's\nservice. All our affections are to be holy. Our heart's desire is not\nto settle on anything from which it would shrink in the day of the\nLord Jesus. The fire which He came to cast on the earth must be\nkindled in our souls, and blaze there till it has burned up all that\nis unworthy of His love. Our consciences must be disciplined by His\nword and Spirit, till all the aberrations due to pride and passion and\nthe law of the world have been reduced to nothing, and as face answers\nface in the glass, so our judgment and our will answer His. Paul prays\nfor this when he says, May your whole soul be preserved blameless. But\nwhat is the special point of the sanctification of the spirit? It is\nprobably narrowing it a little, but it points us in the right\ndirection, if we say that it has regard to worship and devotion. The\nspirit of man is his life in its relation to God. Holiness belongs to\nthe very idea of this; but who has not heard of sins in holy things?\nWhich of us ever prays as he ought to pray? Which of us is not weak,\ndistrustful, incoherent, divided in heart, wandering in desire, even\nwhen he approaches God? Which of us does not at times forget God\naltogether? Which of us has really worthy thoughts of God, worthy\nconceptions of His holiness and of His love, worthy reverence, a\nworthy trust? Is there not an element in our devotions even, in the\nlife of our spirits at their best and highest, which is worldly and\nunhallowed, and for which we need the pardoning and sanctifying love\nof God? The more we reflect upon it, the more comprehensive will this\nprayer of the Apostle appear, and the more vast and far-reaching the\nwork of sanctification. He seems himself to have felt, as man's\ncomplex nature passed before his mind, with all its elements, all its\nactivities, all its bearings, all its possible and actual profanation,\nhow great a task its complete purification and consecration to God\nmust be. It is a task infinitely beyond man's power to accomplish.\nUnless he is prompted and supported from above, it is more than he can\nhope for, more than he can ask or think. When the Apostle adds to his\nprayer, as if to justify his boldness, \"Faithful is He that calleth\nyou, who will also do it,\" is it not a New Testament echo of David's\ncry, \"Thou, O Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, hast revealed to Thy\nservant, saying, I will build thee an house: therefore hath Thy\nservant found in his heart to pray this prayer unto Thee\"?\n\nTheologians have tried in various ways to find a scientific expression\nfor the Christian conviction implied in such words as these, but with\nimperfect success. Calvinism is one of these expressions: its\ndoctrines of a Divine decree, and of the perseverance of the saints,\nreally rest upon the truth of this 24th verse,--that salvation is of\nGod to begin with; and that God, who has begun the good work, is in\nearnest with it, and will not fail nor be discouraged until He has\ncarried it through. Every Christian depends upon these truths,\nwhatever he may think of Calvinistic inferences from them, or of the\nforms in which theologians have embodied them. When we pray to God to\nsanctify us wholly; to make us His in body, soul, and spirit; to\npreserve our whole nature in all its parts and functions blameless in\nthe day of the Lord Jesus, is not our confidence this, that God has\ncalled us to this life of entire consecration, that He has opened the\ndoor for us to enter upon it by sending His Son to be a propitiation\nfor our sins, that He has actually begun it by inclining our hearts to\nreceive the gospel, and that He may be depended upon to persevere in\nit till it is thoroughly accomplished? What would all our good\nresolutions amount to, if they were not backed by the unchanging\npurpose of God's love? What would be the worth of all our efforts and\nof all our hopes, if behind them, and behind our despondency and our\nfailures too, there did not stand the unwearying faithfulness of God?\nThis is the rock which is higher than we; our refuge; our stronghold;\nour stay in the time of trouble. The gifts and calling of God are\nwithout repentance. We may change, but not He.\n\nWhat follows is the affectionate desultory close of the letter. Paul has\nprayed for the Thessalonians; he begs their prayers for himself. This\nrequest is made no less than seven times in his Epistles--including the\none before us: a fact which shows how priceless to the Apostle was the\nintercession of others on his behalf. So it is always; there is\nnothing which so directly and powerfully helps a minister of the\ngospel as the prayers of his congregation. They are the channels of\nall possible blessing both for him and those to whom he ministers. But\nprayer for him is to be combined with love to one another: \"Salute all\nthe brethren with a holy kiss.\"[22] The kiss was the ordinary greeting\namong members of a family; brothers and sisters kissed each other\nwhen they met, especially after long separation; even among those who\nwere no kin to each other, but only on friendly terms, it was common\nenough, and answered to our shaking of hands. In the Church the kiss\nwas the pledge of brotherhood; those who exchanged it declared\nthemselves members of one family. When the Apostle says, \"Greet one\nanother with a holy kiss,\" he means, as holy always does in the New\nTestament, a Christian kiss; a greeting not of natural affection, nor\nof social courtesy merely, but recognising the unity of all members of\nthe Church in Christ Jesus, and expressing pure Christian love. The\nhistory of the kiss of charity is rather curious, and not without its\nmoral. Of course, its only value was as the natural expression of\nbrotherly love; where the natural expression of such love was not\nkissing, but the grasping of the hand, or the friendly inclination of\nthe head, the Christian kiss ought to have died a natural death. So,\non the whole, it did; but with some partial survivals in ritual, which\nin the Greek and Romish Churches are not yet extinct. It became a\ncustom in the Church to give the kiss of brotherhood to a member newly\nadmitted by baptism; that practice still survives in some quarters,\neven when children only are baptized. The great celebrations at\nEaster, when no element of ritual was omitted, retained the kiss of\npeace long after it had fallen out of the other services. At Solemn\nMass in the Church of Rome the kiss is ceremonially exchanged between\nthe celebrant and the assistant ministers. At Low Mass it is omitted,\nor given with what is called an osculatory or Pax. The priest kisses\nthe altar; then he kisses the osculatory, which is a small metal\nplate; then he hands this to the server, and the server hands it to\nthe people, who pass it from one to another, kissing it as it goes.\nThis cold survival of the cordial greeting of the Apostolic Church\nwarns us to distinguish spirit from letter. \"Greet one another with a\nholy kiss\" means, Show your Christian love one to another, frankly and\nheartily, in the way which comes natural to you. Do not be afraid to\nbreak the ice when you come into the church. There should be no ice\nthere to break. Greet your brother or your sister cordially and like a\nChristian; assume and create the atmosphere of home.\n\nPerhaps the very strong language which follows may point to some lack\nof good feeling in the church at Thessalonica: \"I adjure you by the\nLord that this epistle be read unto _all_ the brethren.\" Why\nshould he need to adjure them by the Lord? Could there be any doubt\nthat everybody in the church would hear his Epistle? It is not easy to\nsay. Perhaps the elders who received it might have thought it wiser\nnot to tell all that it contained to everybody; we know how\ninstinctive it is for men in office--whether they be ministers of the\nchurch or ministers of state--to make a mystery out of their business,\nand, by keeping something always in reserve, to provide a basis for a\ndespotic and uncontrolled authority. But whether for this or some\nother purpose, consciously or unconsciously influencing them, Paul\nseems to have thought the suppression of his letter possible; and\ngives this strong charge that it be read to all. It is interesting to\nnotice the beginnings of the New Testament. This is its earliest book,\nand here we see its place in the Church vindicated by the Apostle\nhimself. Of course when he commands it to be read, he does not mean\nthat it is to be read repeatedly; the idea of a New Testament, of a\ncollection of Christian books to stand side by side with the books of\nthe earlier revelation, and to be used like them in public worship,\ncould not enter men's minds as long as the apostles were with them;\nbut a direction like this manifestly gives the Apostle's pen the\nauthority of his voice, and makes the writing for us what his personal\npresence was in his lifetime. The apostolic word is the primary\ndocument of the Christian faith; no Christianity has ever existed in\nthe world but that which has drawn its contents and its quality from\nthis; and nothing which departs from this rule is entitled to be\ncalled Christian.\n\nThe charge to read the letter to _all_ the brethren is one of the\nmany indications in the New Testament that, though the gospel is a\n_mysterion_, as it is called in Greek, there is no mystery about\nit in the modern sense. It is all open and aboveboard. There is not\nsomething on the surface, which the simple are to be allowed to\nbelieve; and something quite different underneath, into which the wise\nand prudent are to be initiated. The whole thing has been revealed\nunto babes. He who makes a mystery out of it, a professional secret\nwhich it needs a special education to understand, is not only guilty\nof a great sin, but proves that he knows nothing about it. Paul knew\nits length and breadth and depth and height better than any man; and\nthough he had to accommodate himself to human weakness, distinguishing\nbetween babes in Christ and such as were able to bear strong meat, he\nput the highest things within reach of all; \"Him we preach,\" he\nexclaims to the Colossians, \"warning every man, and teaching every man\nin every wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ.\"\nThere is no attainment in wisdom or in goodness which is barred\nagainst any man by the gospel; and there is no surer mark of\nfaithlessness and treachery in a church than this, that it keeps its\nmembers in a perpetual pupilage or minority, discouraging the free use\nof Holy Scripture, and taking care that all that it contains is not\nread to all the brethren. Among the many tokens which mark the Church\nof Rome as faithless to the true conception of the gospel, which\nproclaims the end of man's minority in religion, and the coming to age\nof the true children of God, her treatment of Scripture is the most\nconspicuous. Let us who have the Book in our hands, and the Spirit to\nguide us, prize at its true worth this unspeakable gift.\n\nThis last caution is followed by the benediction with which in one\nform or another the Apostle concludes his letters. Here it is very\nbrief: \"The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.\" He ends with\npractically the same prayer as that with which he began: \"Grace to you\nand peace, from God the Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.\" And\nwhat is true of this Epistle is true of all the rest: the grace of the\nLord Jesus Christ is their \u0391 and their \u03a9, their first word and\ntheir last. Whatever God has to say to us--and in all the New\nTestament letters there are things that search the heart and make it\nquake--begins and ends with grace. It has its fountain in the love of\nGod; it is working out, as its end, the purpose of that love. I have\nknown people take a violent dislike to the word grace, probably\nbecause they had often heard it used without meaning; but surely it is\nthe sweetest and most constraining even of Bible words. All that God\nhas been to man in Jesus Christ is summed up in it: all His\ngentleness and beauty, all His tenderness and patience, all the holy\npassion of His love, is gathered up in grace. What more could one soul\nwish for another than that the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ should\nbe with it?\n\n[22] Is it a fair inference from these words that the Epistle was to\nbe delivered to the elders or ruling body in the church? In other\nplaces the Apostle writes, \"Greet one another.\"\n\n\n\n\nTHE SECOND EPISTLE TO THE\n\nTHESSALONIANS.\n\n\n\n\nI.\n\n_SALUTATION AND THANKSGIVING._\n\n\n \"Paul, and Silvanus, and Timothy, unto the church of the\n Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ; Grace to\n you and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.\n\n \"We are bound to give thanks to God alway for you, brethren, even as\n it is meet, for that your faith groweth exceedingly, and the love of\n each one of you all toward one another aboundeth; so that we\n ourselves glory in you in the churches of God for your patience and\n faith in all your persecutions and in the afflictions which ye\n endure.\"--2 THESS. i. 1-4 (R.V.).\n\nIn beginning to expound the Second Epistle to the Thessalonians, it is\nnecessary to say a few words by way of introduction to the book as a\nwhole. Certain questions occur to the mind whenever such a document as\nthis is presented to it; and it will put us in a better position for\nunderstanding details if we first answer these. How do we know, for\ninstance, that this Epistle is really the _second_ to the\nThessalonians? It has been maintained that it is the earlier of the\ntwo. Can we justify its appearance in the place which it usually\noccupies? I think we can. The tradition of the church itself counts\nfor something. It is quite unmistakable, in other cases in which there\nare two letters addressed to the same people,--_e.g._, the\nEpistles to the Corinthians and to Timothy,--that they stand in the\ncanon in the order of time. Presumably the same is the case here. Of\ncourse a tradition like this is not infallible, and if it can be\nproved false must be abandoned; but at the present moment, the tendency\nin most minds is to under-estimate the historical value of such\ntraditions; and, in the instance before us, tradition is supported by\nvarious indications in the Epistle itself. For example, in the other\nletter, Paul congratulates the Thessalonians on their reception of the\ngospel, and the characteristic experiences attendant upon it; here it\nis the wonderful growth of their faith, and the abounding of their\nlove, which calls forth his thanksgiving,--surely a more advanced\nstage of Christian life being in view. Again, in the other Epistle\nthere are slight hints of moral disorder, due to misapprehension of\nthe Lord's Second Coming; but in this Epistle such disorder is broadly\nexposed and denounced; the Apostle has heard of unruly busybodies, who\ndo no work at all; he charges them in the name of the Lord Jesus to\nchange their conduct, and bids the brethren avoid them, that they may\nbe put to shame. Plainly the faults as well as the graces of the\nchurch are seen here at a higher growth. Once more, in chap. ii. 15 of\nthis letter, there is reference to instruction which the Thessalonians\nhave already received from Paul in a letter; and though he may quite\nconceivably have written them letters which no longer exist, still the\nnatural reference of these words is to what we call the First Epistle.\nIf anything else were needed to prove that the letter we are about to\nstudy stands in its right place, it might be found in the appeal of\nchap. ii. 1. \"Our gathering together unto Him\" is the characteristic\nrevelation of the other, and therefore the earlier letter.\n\nBut though this Epistle is certainly later than the other, it is not\nmuch later. The Apostle has still the same companions--Silas and\nTimothy--to join in his Christian greeting. He is still in Corinth or\nits neighbourhood; for we never find these two along with him but\nthere. The gospel, however, has spread beyond the great city, and\ntaken root in other places, for he boasts of the Thessalonians and\ntheir graces in _the churches_ of God. His work has so far\nprogressed as to excite opposition; he is in personal peril, and asks\nthe prayers of the Thessalonians, that he may be delivered from\nunreasonable and evil men. If we put all these things together, and\nremember the duration of Paul's stay in Corinth, we may suppose that\nsome months separated the second Epistle from the First.\n\nWhat, now, was the main purpose of it? What had the Apostle in his\nmind when he sat down to write? To answer that, we must go back a\nlittle way.\n\nA great subject of apostolic preaching at Thessalonica had been the\nSecond Advent. So characteristic was it of the gospel message, that\nChristian converts from heathenism are defined as those who have\nturned to God from idols, to serve the living and true God, and to\nwait for His Son from heaven. This waiting, or expectation, was the\ncharacteristically Christian attitude; the Christian's hope was\nhidden in heaven, and he could not but look up and long for its\nappearing. But this attitude became strained, under various\ninfluences. The Apostle's teaching was pressed, as if he had said, not\nonly that the day of the Lord was coming, but that it was actually\nhere. Men, affecting to speak through the Spirit, patronised such\nfanaticism. We see from chap. ii. 2 that pretended words of Paul were\nput in circulation; and what was more deliberately wicked, a forged\nepistle was produced, in which his authority was claimed for this\ntransformation of his doctrine. Weak-minded people were carried off\ntheir feet, and bad-hearted people feigned an exaltation they did not\nfeel; and both together brought discredit on the church, and injured\ntheir own souls, by neglecting the commonest duties. Not only decorum\nand reputation were lost, but character itself was endangered. This\nwas the situation to which Paul addressed himself.\n\nWe do not need to be fastidious in dealing with the Apostle's teaching\non the Second Advent; our Saviour tells us that of the day and the\nhour no man knows, nor angel; nay, not even the Son, but the Father\nonly. Certainly St. Paul did not know; and almost as certainly, in the\nardour of his hope, he anticipated the end sooner than it was actually\nto arrive. He spoke of himself as one who might naturally enough\nexpect to see the Lord come again; and it was only as experience\nbrought him new light that in his later years he began to speak of a\ndesire to depart, and to be with Christ. Not to die, had been his\nearlier hope, but to have the mortal being swallowed up of life; and\nit was this earlier hope he had communicated to the Thessalonians.\nThey also hoped not to die; as the sky grew darker over them with\naffliction and persecution, their heated imaginations saw the glory of\nChrist ready to break through for their final deliverance. The present\nEpistle puts this hope, if one may say so, to a certain remove. It\ndoes not fix the date of the Advent; it does not tell us when the day\nof the Lord shall come; but it tells us plainly that it is not here\nyet, and that it will not be here till certain things have first\nhappened. What these things are is by no means obvious; but this is\nnot the place to discuss the question. All we have to notice is this:\nthat with a view to counteracting the excitement at Thessalonica,\nwhich was producing bad consequences, St. Paul points out that the\nSecond Advent is the term of a moral process, and that the world must\nrun through a spiritual development of a particular kind before Christ\ncan come again. The first Advent was in the fulness of the times; so\nwill the second be; and though he might not be able to interpret all\nthe signs, or tell when the great day would dawn, he could say to the\nThessalonians, \"The end is not yet.\"\n\nThis, I say, is the great lesson of the Epistle, the main thing which\nthe Apostle has to communicate to the Thessalonians. But it is\npreceded by what may be called, in a loose sense, a consolatory\nparagraph, and it is followed up by exhortations, the same in purport\nas those of the First Epistle, but more peremptory and emphatic. The\ntrue preparedness for the Lord's Second Coming is to be sought, he\nassures them, not in this irrational exaltation, which is morally\nempty and worthless, but in diligent, humble, faithful performance of\nduty; in love, faith, and patience.\n\nThe greeting with which the Epistle opens is almost word for word the\nsame as that of the First Epistle. It is a church which is addressed;\nand a church subsisting in God the Father and in the Lord Jesus\nChrist. The Apostle has no other interest in the Thessalonians than as\nthey are Christian people. Their Christian character and their\nChristian interests are the only things he cares for. One could wish\nit were so among us. One could wish our relation to God and His Son\nwere so real and so dominant, that it gave us an unmistakable\ncharacter, in which we might naturally address each other, without any\nconsciousness or suspicion of unreality. With every desire to think\nwell of the Church, when we look to the ordinary tone of conversation\nand of correspondence among Christians, we can hardly think that this\nis so. There is an aversion to such directness of speech as was alone\nnatural to the Apostle. Even in church meetings, there is a\ndisposition to let the Christian character fall into the background;\nit is a sensible relief to many to be able to think of those about\nthem as ladies and gentlemen, rather than as brothers and sisters in\nChrist. Yet it is this last relation only in virtue of which we form a\nchurch; it is the interests of this relation that our intercourse with\none another as Christians is designed to serve. We ought not to look\nin the Christian assembly for what it was never meant to be,--for a\nsociety to further the temporal interests of its members; for an\neducational institution, aiming at the general enlightenment of those\nwho frequent its meetings; still less, as some seem to be inclined to\ndo, for a purveyor of innocent amusements: all these are simply beside\nthe mark; the Church is not called to any such functions; her whole\nlife is in God and Christ; and she can _say_ nothing and _do_ nothing\nfor any man until his life has been brought to this source and centre.\nAn apostolic interest in the Church is the interest of one who cares\nonly for the relation of the soul to Christ; and who can say no more\nto those he loves best than John says to Gaius, \"Beloved, I pray that\nin all things thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul\nprospereth.\"\n\nIt is in accordance with this Spirit that the Apostle wishes the\nThessalonians not any outward advantages, but grace and peace. Grace\nand peace are related as cause and effect. Grace is God's unmerited\nlove, His free and beautiful goodness to the sinful; and when men\nreceive it, it bears the fruit of peace. Peace is a far bigger word in\nthe Bible than in common usage; and it has its very largest sense in\nthese salutations, where it represents the old Hebrew greeting\n_Sh\u0101l\u014dm_. Properly speaking, it means completeness, wholeness,\nhealth--the perfect soundness of the spiritual nature. This is what\nthe Apostle wishes for the Thessalonians. Of course, there is a\nnarrower sense of peace, in which it means the quieting of the\nperturbed conscience, the putting away of the alienation between the\nsoul and God; but that is only the initial work of grace, the first\ndegree of the great peace which is in view here. When grace has had\nits perfect work, it results in a more profound and steadfast\npeace,--a soundness of the whole nature, a restoration of the shattered\nspiritual health, which is the crown of all God's blessings. There is\na vast difference in the degrees of bodily health between the man who\nis chronically ailing, always anxious, nervous about himself, and\nunable to trust himself if any unexpected drain is made upon his\nstrength, and the man who has solid, unimpaired health, whose heart is\nwhole within him, and who is not shaken by the thought of what may be.\nIt is this radical soundness which is really meant by peace; thorough\nspiritual health is the best of God's blessings in the Christian life,\nas thorough bodily health is the best in the natural life. Hence the\nApostle wishes it for the Thessalonians before everything else; and\nwishes it, as alone it can come, in the train of grace. The free love\nof God is all our hope. Grace is love imparting itself, giving itself\naway, as it were, to others, for their good. Only as that love comes\nto us, and is received in its fulness of blessing into our hearts, can\nwe attain that stable spiritual health which is the end of our\ncalling.\n\nThe salutation is followed, as usual, by a thanksgiving, which at the\nfirst glance seems endless. One long sentence runs, apparently without\ninterruption, from the third verse to the end of the tenth. But it is\nplain, on a more attentive glance, that the Apostle goes off at a\ntangent; and that his thanksgiving is properly contained in the third\nand fourth verses: \"We are bound to give thanks to God alway for you,\nbrethren, even as it is meet, for that your faith groweth exceedingly,\nand the love of each one of you all toward one another aboundeth; so\nthat we ourselves glory in you in the churches of God for your\npatience and faith in all your persecutions and in the afflictions\nwhich ye endure.\" It is worthy of remark that the mere existence of\nfaults in a church never blinded the Apostle to its graces. There was\nmuch in this congregation to rectify, and a good deal to censure;\nthere were ignorance, fanaticism, falsehood, sloth, unruliness; but\nthough he knew of them all, and would rebuke them all before he had\ndone, he begins with this grateful acknowledgment of a Divine work\namong them. It is not merely that Paul was constitutionally of a\nbright temperament, and looked naturally on the promising side of\nthings,--I hardly think he was,--but he must have felt it was\nundutiful and unbecoming to say anything at all to Christian people,\nwho had once been pagans, without thanking God for what He had done\nfor them. Some of us have this lesson to learn, especially in regard\nto missionary and evangelistic work and its results. We are too ready\nto see everything in it except what is of God,--the mistakes made by\nthe worker, or the misconceptions in new disciples that the light has\nnot cleared up, and the faults of character that the Spirit has not\novercome; and when we fix our attention on these things, it is very\nnatural for us to be censorious. The natural man loves to find fault;\nit gives him at the cheapest rate the comfortable feeling of\nsuperiority. But it is a malignant eye which can see and delight in\nnothing but faults; before we comment on deficiencies or mistakes\nwhich have only become visible against the background of the new life,\nlet us give thanks to God that the new life, in however lowly and\nimperfect a form, is there. It need not yet appear what it shall be.\nBut we are bound, by duty, by truth, by all that is right and seemly,\nto say, Thanks be to God for what He has begun to do by His grace.\nThere are some people who should never see half-done work; perhaps the\nsame people should be forbidden to criticise missions either at home\nor abroad. The grace of God is not responsible for the faults of\npreachers or of converts, but it is the source of their virtues; it is\nthe fountain of their new life; it is the hope of their future; and\nunless we welcome its workings with constant thanksgiving, we are in\nno spirit in which it can work through us.\n\nBut let us see for what fruit of grace the Apostle gives thanks here.\nIt is because the faith of the Thessalonians grows exceedingly, and\ntheir mutual love abounds. In a word, it is for their progress in the\nChristian character. Here is a point of the first interest and\nimportance. It is the very nature of life to grow; when growth is\narrested, it is the beginning of decay. I would not like to fall into\nthe very fault I have been exposing, and speak as if there were no\nprogress, among Christians in general, in faith and love; but one of\nthe discouragements of the Christian ministry is undoubtedly the\nslowness, or it may be the invisibility, not to say the absence, of\ngrowth. At a certain stage in the physical life, we know, equilibrium\nis attained: we are at the maturity of our powers; our faces change\nlittle, our minds change little; the tones of our voices and the\ncharacter of our handwriting are pretty constant; and when we get past\nthat point, the progress is backward. But we can hardly say that this\nis an analogy by which we may judge the spiritual life. It does not\nrun its full course here. It has not a birth, a maturity, and an\ninevitable decay, within the limits of our natural life. There is room\nfor it to grow and grow unceasingly, because it is planned for\neternity, and not for time. It should be in continual progress, ever\nimproving, advancing from strength to strength. Day by day and year by\nyear Christians should become better men and better women, stronger in\nfaith, richer in love. The very steadiness and uniformity of our\nspiritual life has its disheartening side. Surely there is room, in a\nthing so great and expansive as life in Jesus Christ, for fresh\ndevelopments, for new manifestations of trust in God, for new\nenterprises prompted and sustained by brotherly love. Let us ask\nwhether we ourselves, each in his own place, face the trials of our\nlife, its cares, its doubts, its terrible certainties, with a more\nunwavering faith in God than we had five years ago? Have we _learned_\nin that interval, or in all the years of our Christian profession, to\ncommit our life more unreservedly to Him, to trust Him to undertake\nfor us, in our sins, in our weakness, in all our necessities, temporal\nand spiritual? Have we become more loving than we were? Have we\novercome any of our irrational and un-Christian dislikes? Have we made\nadvances, for Christ's sake and His Church's, to persons with whom we\nwere at variance, and sought in brotherly love to foster a warm and\nloyal Christian feeling in the whole body of believers? God be\nthanked, there are some who know what faith and love are better than\nthey once did; who have learned--and it needs learning--what it is to\nconfide in God, and to love others in Him; but could an Apostle thank\nGod that this advance was universal, and that the charity of every one\nof us all was abundant to all the rest?\n\nThe apostolic thanksgiving is supplemented in this particular case by\nsomething, not indeed alien to it, yet on a quite different level--a\nglorying before men. Paul thanked God for the increase of faith and\nlove at Thessalonica; and when he remembered that he himself had been\nthe means of converting the Thessalonians, their progress made him\nfond and proud; he boasted of his spiritual children in the churches of\nGod. \"Look at the Thessalonians,\" he said to the Christians in the\nsouth; \"you know their persecutions, and the afflictions they endure;\nyet their faith and patience triumph over all; their sufferings only\nserve to bring their Christian goodness to perfection.\" That was a\ngreat thing to be able to say; it would be particularly telling in\nthat old pagan world, which could meet suffering only with an inhuman\ndefiance or a resigned indifference; it is a great thing to be able to\nsay yet. It _is_ a witness to the truth and power of the gospel,\nof which its humblest minister may feel justly proud, when the new\nspirit which it breathes into men gives them the victory over sorrow\nand pain. There is no persecution now to test the sincerity or the\nheroism of the Church as a whole; but there are afflictions still; and\nthere must be few Christian ministers but thank God, and would do it\nalways, as is meet, that He has allowed them to see the new life\ndevelop new energies under trial, and to see His children out of\nweakness made strong by faith and hope and love in Christ Jesus. These\nthings are our true wealth and strength, and we are richer in them\nthan some of us are aware. They are the mark of the gospel upon human\nnature; wherever it comes, it is to be identified by the combination\nof affliction and patience, of suffering and spiritual joy. That\ncombination is peculiar to the kingdom of God: there is not the like\nfound in any other kingdom on earth. Blessed, let us say, be the God\nand Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has given us such proofs of\nHis love and power among us; He only doeth such wondrous things; let\nthe earth be filled with His glory.\n\n\n\n\nII.\n\n_SUFFERING AND GLORY._\n\n\n \"A manifest token of the righteous judgment of God; to the end that\n ye may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which ye also\n suffer: if so be that it is a righteous thing with God to recompense\n affliction to them that afflict you, and to you that are afflicted\n rest with us, at the revelation of the Lord Jesus from heaven with\n the angels of His power in flaming fire, rendering vengeance to them\n that know not God, and to them that obey not the gospel of our Lord\n Jesus: who shall suffer punishment, _even_ eternal destruction\n from the face of the Lord and from the glory of His might, when He\n shall come to be glorified in His saints, and to be marvelled at in\n all them that believed (because our testimony unto you was\n believed[23]) in that day. To which end we also pray always for you,\n that our God may count _you_ worthy of your calling, and fulfil\n every desire of goodness, and (every) work of faith, with power; that\n the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and ye in Him,\n according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.\"--2 THESS.\n i. 5-12 (R.V.).\n\nIn the preceding verses of this chapter, as in the opening of the\nFirst Epistle, the Apostle has spoken of the afflictions of the\nThessalonians, and of the Christian graces which they have developed\nunder them. To suffer for Christ's sake, he says, and at the same time\nto abound in faith and love and spiritual joy, is to have the mark of\nGod's election on us. It is an experience so truly and characteristically\nChristian that the Apostle cannot think of it without gratitude and\npride. He gives thanks to God on every remembrance of his converts. He\nboasts of their progress in all the churches of Achaia.\n\nIn the verses before us, another inference is drawn from the\nafflictions of the Thessalonians, and their gospel patience under\nthem. The whole situation is a proof, or manifest token, of the\nrighteous judgment of God. It has this in view, that the Thessalonians\nmay be deemed worthy of the (heavenly) kingdom of God, on behalf of\nwhich they suffer. Here, we see, the Apostle sanctions with his\nauthority the argument from the injustices of this life to the coming\nof another life in which they will be rectified. God is just, he says;\nand therefore this state of affairs, in which bad men oppress the\ninnocent, cannot last for ever. It calls aloud for judgment; it\nproclaims its approach; it is a prognostic, a manifest token of it.\nThe suffering which is here in view cannot be an end in itself. Even\nthe graces which come to perfection in maintaining themselves against\nit, do not explain the whole meaning of affliction; it would remain a\nblot upon God's justice if it were not counterbalanced by the joys of\nHis kingdom. \"Blessed are ye when men shall reproach you, and\npersecute you, and say all manner of evil against you falsely, for My\nsake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in\nheaven.\" This is the gracious side of the judgment. The suffering\nwhich is borne with joy and brave patience for Christ's sake proves\nhow dear Christ is to the sufferer; and this love, tried with fire, is\nrequited in due time with an answer in love that makes him forget it\nall.\n\nThis is one of the doctrines of Scripture that untroubled times find\nit easy to dispense with. There is even an affectation of superiority\nto what is called the moral vulgarity of being good for the sake of\nsomething beyond goodness. It is idle to enter on any abstract\ndiscussion of such a question. We are called by the gospel to a new\nlife under certain definite conditions, one of them being the\ncondition of suffering for its sake. The more thoroughly that\ncondition is accepted, the less disposition will there be to criticise\nthe future blessedness which is its counterpoise and compensation. It\nis not the confessors and martyrs of the Christian faith--the men who\ndie daily, like Paul, and share in the tribulations and patience of\nJesus Christ, like John--who become weary of the glory which is to be\nrevealed. And it is such only who are in a position to judge of the\nvalue of this hope. If it is dear to them, an inspiration and an\nencouragement, as it certainly is, it is surely worse than vain for\nthose who are living an easier and a lower life to criticise it on\nabstract grounds. If we have no need of it, if we can dispense with\nany sight or grasp of a joy beyond the grave, let us take care that it\nis not owing to the absence from our life of that present suffering\nfor Christ's sake, without which we cannot be His. \"The connection,\"\nBishop Ellicott says, \"between holy suffering and future blessedness\nis mystically close and indissoluble\"; we _must_ through great\ntribulations enter into the kingdom of God; and all experience proves\nthat, when such tribulation comes and is accepted, the recompense of\nreward here spoken of, and the Scriptures which give prominence to\nit, rise to the highest credit in the mind of the Church. It is not a\ntoken of our enlightenment and moral superiority, if we undervalue\nthem; it is an indication that we are not drinking of the Lord's cup,\nor being baptized with His baptism.\n\nBut the reward is only one side of the righteous judgment foretold by\nthe suffering of the innocent. It includes punishment as well. \"It is\na righteous thing with God to recompense affliction to them that\nafflict you.\" We see here the very simplest conception of God's\njustice. It is a law of retribution, of vindication; it is the\nreaction, in this particular case, of man's sin against himself. The\nreaction is inevitable: if it does not come here, it comes in another\nworld; if not now, in another life. The hope of the sinner is always\nthat in some way or other this reaction may never take place, or that,\nwhen it does take place, it may be evaded; but that hope is doomed to\nperish. \"If it were done when 'tis done,\" he says as he contemplates\nhis sin in prospect; but it never _is_ so done; it is exactly\nhalf done when he is finished with it; and the other half is taken in\nhand by God. Punishment is the other half of sin; as inseparable from\nit as heat from fire, as the inside of a vessel from the outside. \"It\nis a righteous thing with God to recompense affliction to them that\nafflict you.\" \"Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.\"\n\nOne of the favourite pastimes of some modern historians is the\nwhitewashing of persecutors. A dispassionate interest in the facts\nshows, we are told, in many cases, that the persecutors were not so\nblack as they have been painted, and that the martyrs and confessors\nwere no better than they should have been. Where fault is found at\nall, it is laid rather at the door of systems than of individuals;\njudgment is passed on institutions and on centuries that persons and\ntheir actions may go free. Practically that comes to writing history,\nwhich is the story of man's moral life, without recognising the place\nof conscience; it may sometimes have the look of intelligence, but at\nbottom it is immoral and false. Men must answer for their actions. It\nis no excuse for murdering the saints that the murderers think they\nare doing God service; it is an aggravation of their guilt. Every man\nknows that it is wicked to afflict the good; if he does not, it is\nbecause he has quite corrupted his conscience, and therefore has the\ngreater sin. Moral blindness may include and explain every sin, but it\njustifies none; it is itself the sin of sins. \"It is a righteous thing\nwith God to recompense affliction to those who afflict.\" If they\ncannot put themselves by sympathy into the place of others--which is\nthe principle of all right conduct--God will put them in that place,\nand open their eyes. His righteous judgment is a day of grace to the\ninnocent sufferers; He rewards their trouble with rest; but to the\npersecutor it is a day of vengeance; he eats the fruit of his doings.\n\nIt is characteristic of this Epistle, and of the preoccupation of the\nApostle's mind when he wrote it, that he here expands his notice of\nthe time when this judgment is to take place into a vivid statement of\nits circumstances and issues. The judgment is executed at the\n_revelation_ of the Lord Jesus from heaven, with the angels of\nHis power, in flaming fire. \"At this moment,\" he would say, \"Christ is\nunseen, and therefore by wicked men ignored, and sometimes by good men\nforgotten; but the day is coming when every eye shall see Him.\" The\nApostle Peter, who had seen Christ in the flesh, as Paul had never\ndone, and who probably felt His invisibility as few could feel it, is\nfond of this word \"revelation\" as a name for His reappearing. He\nspeaks of faith which is to be found unto praise and honour and glory\nat the _revelation_ of Jesus Christ. \"Be sober,\" he says, \"and\nhope to the end for the grace that is being brought to you at the\n_revelation_ of Jesus Christ.\" And in another passage, much in\nkeeping with this of St. Paul's, he says, \"Inasmuch as ye are\npartakers of Christ's sufferings, rejoice; that at the _revelation_\nof His glory also ye may rejoice with exceeding joy.\" It is one of the\ngreat words of the New Testament; and its greatness is heightened in\nthis place by the accompanying description. The Lord is revealed,\nattended by the angels of His power, in flaming fire. These\naccessories of the Advent are borrowed from the Old Testament; the\nApostle clothes the Lord Jesus at His appearing in all the glory of\nthe God of Israel.[24]\n\nWhen Christ is thus revealed, it is in the character of a Judge: He\nrenders vengeance to them that know not God, and to them that obey not\nthe gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. Two classes of guilty men are\nquite plainly distinguished by these words; and as plainly, though the\nEnglish alone would not enable us to lay stress upon it, those two\nclasses are the heathen and the Jews. Ignorance of God is the\ncharacteristic of paganism; when Paul wishes to describe the Gentiles\nfrom the religious point of view, he speaks of them as the Gentiles\nwhich know not God. Now, with us, ignorance is usually regarded as an\nexcuse for sin; it is an extenuating circumstance, which calls for\ncompassion rather than condemnation; and we are almost astonished in\nreading the Bible to find it used as a summary of the whole guilt and\noffence of the heathen world. But we must remember what it is that men\nare said not to know. It is not theology; it is not the history of the\nJews, or the special revelations it contains; it is not any body of\ndoctrines; it is God. And God, who is the fountain of life, the only\nsource of goodness, does not hide Himself from men. He has His\nwitnesses everywhere. There is something in all men which is on His\nside, and which, if it be regarded, will bring their souls to Him.\nThose who know not God are those who have stifled this inner witness,\nand separated themselves in doing so from all that is good. Ignorance\nof God means ignorance of goodness; for all goodness is from Him. It\nis not a lack of acquaintance with any system of ideas about God that\nis here exposed to the condemnation of Christ; but the practical lack\nof acquaintance with love, purity, truth. If men are familiar with the\nopposites of all these; if they have been selfish, vile, bad, false;\nif they have said to God, \"Depart from us; we desire not the knowledge\nof Thy ways; we are content to have no acquaintance with Thee\"--is it\nnot inevitable that, when Christ is revealed as Judge of all, they\nshould be excluded from His kingdom? What could they do in it? Where\ncould they be less in place?\n\nThe difficulty which some have felt about the ignorance of the\nGentiles can hardly be raised about the disobedience of the Jews. The\nelement of wilfulness, of deliberate antagonism to the good, to which\nwe give such prominence in our idea of sin, is conspicuous here. The\nwill of God for their salvation had been fully made known to this\nstubborn race; but they disobeyed, and persisted in their\ndisobedience. \"He that being often reproved hardeneth his neck\"--so\nran their own proverb--\"shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without\nremedy.\" Such was the sentence to be executed on them in the day of\nChrist.\n\nWhen it is said that ignorance of God and disobedience to the gospel\nare here presented as the characteristics respectively of Gentile and\nJew, it is not said that the passage is without significance for us.\nThere may be some of us who are sinking day by day into an ever deeper\nignorance of God. Those who live a worldly and selfish life, whose\ninterests and hopes are bounded by this material order, who never\npray, who do nothing, give nothing, suffer nothing for others, they,\nwhatever their knowledge of the Bible or the catechism may be, do not\nknow God, and fall under this pagan condemnation. And what of\ndisobedience to the gospel? Notice the word which is here used by the\nApostle; it implies a conception of the gospel which we are apt, in\nmagnifying the grace of God, to overlook. We speak of receiving the\ngospel, believing it, welcoming it, and so forth; it is equally\nneedful to remember that it claims our obedience. God not only\nbeseeches us to be reconciled, He commands us to repent. He makes a\ndisplay of His redeeming love in the gospel--a love which contains\npardon, renewal, and immortality; and He calls on all men for a life\nin correspondence with that love. Salvation is not only a gift, but a\nvocation; we enter into it as we obey the voice of Jesus, \"Follow Me\";\nand if we disobey, and choose our own way, and live a life in which\nthere is nothing that answers to the manifestation of God as our\nSaviour, what can the end be? Can it be anything else than the\njudgment of which St. Paul here speaks? If we say, every day of our\nlife, as the law of the gospel rings in our ears, \"No: we will not\nhave this Man to reign over us,\" can we expect anything else than that\nHe will render vengeance? \"Do we provoke the Lord to anger? Are we\nstronger than He?\"\n\nThe ninth verse describes the terrible vengeance of the great day.\n\"Such men,\" says the Apostle, \"shall pay the penalty, everlasting\ndestruction, away from the face of the Lord and from the glory of His\nmight.\" These are awful words, and it is no wonder that attempts have\nbeen made to empty them of the meaning which they bear upon their\nface. But it would be false to sinful men, as well as to the Apostle,\nand to the whole of New Testament teaching, to say that any art or\ndevice could in the least degree lessen their terrors. It has been\nboldly asserted, indeed, that the word rendered everlasting does not\nmean everlasting, but age-long; and that what is in view here is \"an\nage-long destruction from the presence and glory of Christ, _i.e._,\nthe being shut out from all sight of and participation in the triumphs\nof Christ during _that_ age\" [\"the age perhaps which immediately\nsucceeds this present life\"]. And this assertion is crowned by\nanother, that those thus excluded nevertheless \"abide in His presence\nand share His glory in the ages beyond.\"[25] Anything more gratuitous,\nanything less in keeping with the whole tone of the passage, anything\nmore daring in its arbitrary additions to the text, it would be\nimpossible even to imagine. If the gospel, as conceived in the New\nTestament, has any character at all, it has the character of finality.\nIt is God's _last word_ to men. And the consequences of accepting or\nrejecting it are final; it opens no prospect beyond the life on the\none hand, and the death on the other, which are the results of\nobedience and disobedience. Obey, and you enter into a light in which\nthere is no darkness at all: disobey, and you pass eventually into a\ndarkness in which there is no light at all. What God says to us in\nall Scripture, from beginning to end, is not, Sooner or later? but,\nLife or death? These are the alternatives before us; they are\nabsolutely separate; they do not run into one another at any time, the\nmost remote. It is necessary to speak the more earnestly of this\nmatter, because there is a disposition, on the plea that it is\nimpossible for us to divide men into two classes, to blur or even to\nobliterate the distinction between Christian and non-Christian. Many\nthings prompt us to make the difference merely one of quantity--a more\nor less of conformity to some ideal standard--in which case, of\ncourse, a little more, or a little less, is of no great account. But\nthat only means that we never take the distinction between being right\nwith God, and being wrong with God, as seriously as God takes it; with\nHim it is simply infinite. The difference between those who obey, and\nthose who do not obey, the gospel, is not the difference of a little\nbetter and a little worse; it is the difference of life and death. If\nthere is any truth in Scripture at all, this is true--that those who\nstubbornly refuse to submit to the gospel, and to love and obey Jesus\nChrist, incur at the Last Advent an infinite and irreparable loss.\nThey pass into a night on which no morning dawns.\n\nThis final ruin is here described as separation from the face of the\nLord and the glory of His might. In both the Old Testament and the\nNew, the vision of God is the consummation of blessedness. Thus we\nread in one psalm, \"Before Thy face is fulness of joy\"; in another,\n\"As for me, I shall behold Thy face in uprightness: I shall be\nsatisfied, when I awake, with Thy likeness.\" In one of the Gospels,\nour Saviour says that in heaven the angels of the little ones do\nalways behold the face of their Father who is in heaven; and in the\nBook of Revelation it is the crown of joy that His servants shall\nserve Him and shall see his face. From all this joy and blessedness\nthey condemn themselves to exclusion who know not God, and disobey the\ngospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. Far from the face of the Lord and the\nglory of His power, their portion is in the outer darkness.\n\nBut in vivid contrast with this--for the Apostle does not close with\nthis terrible prospect--is the lot of those who have chosen the good\npart here. Christ is revealed taking vengeance on the wicked, as has\njust been described; but He comes also to be glorified in His saints\nand to be admired in all them that believed--including those\nChristians at Thessalonica. This is the Lord's and the Christian's\ninterest in the great day. The glory that shines from Him is mirrored\nin and reflected from them. If there is a glory of the Christian even\nwhile he wears the body of his humiliation, it will be swallowed up in\na glory more excellent when his change comes. Yet that glory will not\nbe his own: it will be the glory of Christ which has transfigured him;\nmen and angels, as they look at the saints, will admire not them, but\nHim who has made them anew in the likeness of himself. All this is to\ntake place \"on that day\"--the great and terrible day of the Lord. The\nvoice of the Apostle rests with emphasis upon it; let it fill our\nminds and hearts. It is a day of revelation, above all things: the day\non which Christ comes, and declares which life is eternally of worth,\nand which for ever worthless; the day on which some are glorified, and\nsome pass finally from our view. Do not let the difficulties and\nmysteries of this subject, the problems we cannot solve, the decisions\nwe could not give, blind our eyes to what Scripture makes so plain: we\nare not the judges, but the judged, in this whole scene; and the\njudgment is of infinite consequence for us. It is _not_ a question of\nless or more, of sooner or later, of better or worse; what is at stake\nin our attitude to the gospel is life or death, heaven or hell, the\nouter darkness or the glory of Christ.\n\n[23] \"It seems hopeless to find an intelligible meaning for \u1f10\u03c6'\n\u1f51\u03bc\u1fb6\u03c2 in connection with \u1f10\u03c0\u03b9\u03c3\u03c4\u03b5\u03cd\u03b8\u03b7. Apparently, as conjectured by\nMarkland, \u1f10\u03c0\u03b9\u03c3\u03c4\u03b5\u03cd\u03b8\u03b7 is a primitive corruption of \u1f10\u03c0\u03b9\u03c3\u03c4\u03ce\u03b8\u03b7, suggested by\nthe preceding \u03c0\u03b9\u03c3\u03c4\u03b5\u03cd\u03c3\u03b1\u03c3\u03b9\u03bd, as well as by the familiarity of \u03c0\u03b9\u03c3\u03c4\u03b5\u03cd\u03c9 and\nits _prima-facie_ appropriateness to \u03bc\u03b1\u03c1\u03c4\u03cd\u03c1\u03b9\u03bf\u03bd. The reference is\nprobably to vv. 4, 5: the Christian testimony of suffering for the\nfaith had been confirmed and sealed upon the Thessalonians. Cf. 1 Cor.\ni. 6: \u039a\u03b1\u03b8\u1f7c\u03c2 \u03c4\u1f78 \u03bc\u03b1\u03c1\u03c4\u03cd\u03c1\u03b9\u03bf\u03bd \u03c4\u03bf\u1fe6 \u03a7\u03c1\u03b9\u03c3\u03c4\u03bf\u1fe6 \u1f10\u03b2\u03b5\u03b2\u03b1\u03b9\u03ce\u03b8\u03b7 \u1f10\u03bd \u1f51\u03bc\u1fd6\u03bd; also Ps. xciii.\n(xcii.) 4, 5: \u0398\u03b1\u03c5\u03bc\u03b1\u03c3\u03c4\u1f78\u03c2 \u1f10\u03bd \u1f51\u03c0\u03c3\u03b7\u03bb\u03bf\u1fd6\u03c2 \u1f41 \u039a\u03cd\u03c1\u03b9\u03bf\u03c2\u00b7 \u03c4\u1f70 \u03bc\u03b1\u03c1\u03c4\u03cd\u03c1\u03b9\u03ac \u03c3\u03bf\u03c5\n\u1f10\u03c0\u03b9\u03c3\u03c4\u03ce\u03b8\u03b7\u03c3\u03b1\u03bd \u03c3\u03c6\u03cc\u03b4\u03c1\u03b1; and for an analogous use of \u03c0\u03b9\u03c3\u03c4\u03bf\u1fe6\u03c3\u03b8\u03b1\u03b9 followed by\n\u1f10\u03c0\u1f76 with the accusative, 1 Chr. xvii. 23; 2 Chr. i. 9.\"--F.J.A. HORT.\n\n[24] For an excellent and instructive study of the relations of Jewish\nand Christian eschatology, see Stanton's _Jewish and Christian\nMessiah_.\n\n[25] The quotations are from Cox's _Salvator Mundi_, 13th Edition, pp.\n128-9. When the time import of \u1f00\u03b9\u03ce\u03bd\u03b9\u03bf\u03c2 is in view, many writers\nrender it, like Dr. Cox, age-long, intending thereby to signify that\n\u00e6onian time has an end; its finitude, in fact, is the one thing of\nwhich Dr. Cox consents to think. But the very point of the meaning is\nthat no end is visible. \u00c6onian time is time that fills the mind and\nimagination to the furthest horizon and beyond it; there is no\nulterior prospect.\n\n\n\n\nIII.\n\n_THE MAN OF SIN._\n\n\n \"Now we beseech you, brethren, touching the coming of our Lord Jesus\n Christ, and our gathering together unto Him; to the end that ye be\n not quickly shaken from your mind, nor yet be troubled, either by\n spirit, or by word, or by epistle as from us, as that the day of the\n Lord is _now_ present; let no man beguile you in any wise: for\n _it will not be_, except the falling away come first, and the\n man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition, he that opposeth and\n exalteth himself against all that is called God or that is\n worshipped; so that he sitteth in the temple of God, setting himself\n forth as God. Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told\n you these things?\"--2 THESS. ii. 1-5 (R.V.).\n\nIn the first chapter of this Epistle Paul depicted the righteous\njudgment of God which accompanies the advent of Christ. Its terrors\nand its glories blazed before his eyes as he prayed for those who were\nto read his letter. \"With this in view,\" he says, \"we also pray always\nfor you, that our God would count _you_ worthy of the calling.\"\nThe emphatic word in the sentence is _you_. Among all believers\nin whom Christ was to be glorified, as they in Him, the Thessalonians\nwere at this moment nearest to the Apostle's heart. Like others, they\nhad been called to a place in the heavenly kingdom; and he is eager\nthat they should prove worthy of it. They will be worthy only if God\npowerfully carries to perfection in them their delight in goodness,\nand the activities of their faith. That is the substance of his\nprayer. \"The Lord enable you always to have unreserved pleasure in\nwhat is good, and to show the proof of faith in all you do. So you\nshall be worthy of the Christian calling, and the name of the Lord\nshall be glorified in you, and you in Him, in that day.\"\n\nThe second chapter seems, in our English Bibles, to open with an\nadjuration: \"Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord\nJesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto Him.\" If that were\nright, we might suppose Paul's meaning to be: As you long for this\ngreat day, and anticipate its appearing as your dearest hope, let me\nconjure you not to entertain mischievous fancies about it; or, as you\ndread the day, and shrink from the terrible judgment which it brings,\nlet me adjure you to think of it as you ought to think, and not\ndiscredit it by unspiritual excitement, bringing reproach on the\nChurch in the eyes of the world. But this interpretation, though apt\nenough, is hardly justified by the use of the New Testament, and the\nRevised Version is nearer the truth when it gives the rendering\n\"touching the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.\" It is of it the\nApostle wishes to speak; and what he has to say is, that the true\ndoctrine of it contains nothing which ought to produce unsettlement or\nvague alarms. In the First Epistle, especially in chap. v., he has\nenlarged on the moral attitude which is proper to those who cherish\nthe Christian hope: they are to watch and be sober; they are to put\noff the works of darkness, and put on, as children of the day, the\narmour of light; they are to be ready and expectant always. Here he\nadds the negative counsel that they are not to be quickly shaken from\ntheir mind, as a ship is driven from her moorings by a storm, nor yet\nupset or troubled, whether by spirit, or by word or letter purporting\nto be from him. These last expressions need a word of explanation. By\n\"spirit\" the Apostle no doubt means a Christian man speaking in the\nchurch under a spiritual impulse. Such speakers in Thessalonica would\noften take the Second Advent as their theme; but their utterances were\nopen to criticism. It was of such utterances that the Apostle had said\nin his earlier letter, \"Despise not prophesyings; but prove all that\nis said, and hold fast that which is good.\" The spirit in which a\nChristian spoke was not necessarily the spirit of God; even if it\nwere, it was not necessarily unmixed with his own ideas, desires, or\nhopes. Hence discernment of spirits was a valued and needful gift, and\nit seems to have been wanted at Thessalonica. Besides misleading\nutterances of this kind in public worship, there were circulated words\nascribed to Paul, and if not a forged letter, at all events a letter\npurporting to contain his opinion, none of which had his authority.\nThese words and this letter had for their substance the idea that the\nday of the Lord was now present--or, as one might say in Scotch, just\nhere. It was this which produced the unspiritual excitement at\nThessalonica, and which the Apostle wished to contradict.\n\nA great mystery has been made out of the paragraph which follows, but\nwithout much reason. It certainly stands alone in St. Paul's writings,\nan Apocalypse on a small scale, reminding us in many respects of the\ngreat Apocalypse of John, but not necessarily to be judged by it, or\nbrought into any kind of harmony with it. Its obscurity, so far as it\nis obscure, is due in part to the previous familiarity of the\nThessalonians with the subject, which allowed the Apostle to take much\nfor granted; and in part, no doubt, to the danger of being explicit in\na matter which had political significance. But it is not really so\nobscure as it has been made out to be by some; and the reputation for\nhumility which so many have sought, by adopting St. Augustine's\nconfession that he had no idea what the Apostle meant, is too cheap to\nbe coveted. We must suppose that St. Paul wrote to be understood, and\nwas understood by those to whom he wrote; and if we follow him word by\nword, a sense will appear which is not really questionable except on\nextraneous grounds. What, then, does he say about the delaying of the\nAdvent?\n\nHe says it will not come till the falling away, or apostasy, has come\nfirst. The Authorised Version says \"_a_\" falling away, but that is\nwrong. The falling away was something familiar to the Apostle and his\nreaders; he was not introducing them to any new thought. But a falling\naway of whom? or from what? Some have suggested, of the members of the\nChristian Church from Christ;[26] but it is quite plain from the\nwhole passage, and especially from ver. 12f., that the Apostle is\ncontemplating a series of events in which the Church has no part but\nas a spectator. But the \"apostasy\" is clearly a religious defection;\nthough the word itself does not necessarily imply as much, the\ndescription of the falling away does; and if it be not of Christians,\nit must be of the Jews; the Apostle could not conceive of the heathen\n\"who know not God\" as falling away from him. This apostasy reaches its\nheight, finds its representative and hero, in the man of sin, or, as\nsome MSS. have it, the man of lawlessness. When the Apostle says _the\nman_ of sin, he means the _man_,--not a principle, nor a system, nor a\nseries of persons, but an individual human person who is identified\nwith sin, an incarnation of evil as Christ was of good, an\nAntichrist. The man of sin is also the son of perdition; this name\nexpressing his fate--he is doomed to perish--as the other his nature.\nThis person's portrait is then drawn by the Apostle. He is the\nadversary _par excellence_, he who sets himself in opposition, a human\nSatan, the enemy of Christ. The other features in the likeness are\nmainly borrowed from the description of the tyrant king Antiochus\nEpiphanes in the Book of Daniel: they may have gained fresh meaning to\nthe Apostle from the recent revival of them in the insane Emperor\nCaligula. The man of sin is filled with demoniac pride; he lifts\nhimself on high against the true God, and all gods, and all that men\nadore; he seats himself in the temple of God; he would like to be\ntaken by all men _for_ God. There has been much discussion over the\ntemple of God in this passage. It is no doubt true that the Apostle\nsometimes uses the expression figuratively, of a church and its\nmembers--\"The temple of God is holy, which temple ye are\"--but it is\nsurely inconceivable that a _man_ should _take his seat_ in _that_\ntemple; when these words were fresh, no one could have put that\nmeaning on them. The temple of God is, therefore, the temple at\nJerusalem; it was standing when Paul wrote; and he expected it to\nstand till all this was fulfilled. When the Jews had crowned their\nguilt by falling away from God; in other words, when they had finally\nand as a whole decided against the gospel, and God's purpose to save\nthem by it; when the falling away had been crowned by the revelation\nof the man of sin, and the profanation of the temple by his impious\npride, _then_, and not till then, would come the end. \"Do you not\nremember,\" says the Apostle, \"that when I was with you I used to tell\nyou this?\"\n\nWhen Paul wrote this Epistle, the Jews were the great enemies of the\ngospel; it was they who persecuted him from city to city, and roused\nagainst him everywhere the malice of the heathen; hostility to God was\nincarnated, if anywhere, in them. They alone, because of their\nspiritual privileges, were capable of the deepest spiritual sin.\nAlready in the First Epistle he has denounced them as the murderers of\nthe Lord Jesus and of their own prophets, a race that please not God\nand are contrary to all men, sinners on whom the threatened wrath has\ncome without reserve. In the passage before us the course is outlined\nof that wickedness against which the wrath was revealed. The people of\nGod, as they called themselves, fall definitely away from God; the\nmonster of lawlessness who rises from among them can only be pictured\nin the words in which prophets pourtrayed the impiety and presumption\nof a heathen king; he thrusts God aside, and claims to be God himself.\n\nThere is only one objection to this interpretation of the Apostle's\nwords, namely, that they have never been fulfilled. Some will think\nthat objection final; and some will think it futile: I agree with the\nlast. It proves too much; for it lies equally against every other\ninterpretation of the words, however ingenious, as well as against the\nsimple and natural one just given. It lies, in some degree, against\nalmost every prophecy in the Bible. No matter what the apostasy, and\nthe man of sin, are taken to be, nothing has ever appeared in history\nwhich answers exactly to Paul's description. The truth is that\ninspiration did not enable the apostles to write history before it\nhappened; and though this forecast of the Apostle's has a spiritual\ntruth in it, resting as it does on a right perception of the law of\nmoral development, the precise anticipation which it embodies was not\ndestined to be realised. Further, it must have changed its place in\nPaul's own mind within the next ten years; for, as Dr. Farrar has\nobserved, he barely alludes again to the Messianic surroundings (or\nantecedents) of a second personal advent. \"He dwells more and more on\nthe mystic oneness with Christ, less and less on His personal return.\nHe speaks repeatedly of the indwelling presence of Christ, and the\nbeliever's incorporation with Him, and hardly at all of that visible\nmeeting in the air which at this epoch was most prominent in his\nthoughts.\"\n\nBut, it may be said, if this anticipation was not to be fulfilled, is\nit not altogether deceptive? is it not utterly misleading that a\nprophecy should stand in Holy Scripture which history was to falsify?\nI think the right answer to that question is that there is hardly any\nprophecy in Holy Scripture which has not been in a similar way\nfalsified, while nevertheless in its spiritual import true. The\ndetails of this prophecy of St. Paul were not verified as he\nanticipated, yet the soul of it was. The Advent was _not_ just\nthen; it was delayed till a certain moral process should be\naccomplished; and this was what the Apostle wished the Thessalonians\nto understand. He did not know when it would be; but he could see so\nfar into the law of God's working as to know that it would not come\ntill the fulness of time; and he could understand that, where a final\njudgment was concerned, the fulness of time would not arrive till evil\nhad had every opportunity, either to turn and repent, or to develop\nitself in the most utterly evil forms, and lie ripe for vengeance.\n\nThis is the ethical law which underlies the Apostle's prophecy; it is\na law confirmed by the teaching of Jesus Himself, and illustrated by\nthe whole course of history. The question is sometimes discussed\nwhether the world gets better or worse as it grows older, and\noptimists and pessimists take opposite sides upon it. Both, this law\ninforms us, are wrong. It does not get better only, nor worse only,\nbut both. Its progress is not simply a progress in good, evil being\ngradually driven from the field; nor is it simply a progress in evil,\nbefore which good continually disappears: it is a progress in which\ngood and evil alike come to maturity, bearing the ripest fruit,\nshowing all that they can do, proving their strength to the utmost\nagainst each other; the progress is not in good in itself, nor in evil\nin itself, but in the antagonism of the one to the other. This is the\nsame truth which we are taught by our Lord in the parable of the wheat\nand the tares: \"Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the\ntime of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather up first the tares,\"\netc. _In the time of harvest_: not till all is ripe for judgment, not\ntill the wheat and the tares alike have shown all that is in them,\nwill the judgment come. This is what St. Paul understood, and what the\nThessalonians did not understand; and if his ignorance of the scale of\nthe world, and the scale of God's purposes, made him apply this law to\nthe riddle of history hastily, with a result which the event has not\njustified, that is nothing to the prejudice of the law itself, which\nwas true when he applied it with his imperfect knowledge, and is true\nfor application still.\n\nOne other remark is suggested by the description of the character in\nwhich sin culminates, viz., that as evil approaches its height it\nassumes ever more spiritual forms. There are some sins which betray\nman on the lower side of his nature, through the perversion of the\nappetites which he has in common with the brutes: the dominance of\nthese is in some sense natural; they are not radically and essentially\nevil. The man who is the victim of lust or drunkenness may lose his\nsoul by his sin, but he is its _victim_; there is not in his guilt\nthat malignant hatred of good which is here ascribed to the man of\nsin. The crowning wickedness is this demoniac pride: the temper of one\nwho lifts himself on high above God, owning no superior, nay, claiming\nfor himself the highest place of all. This is rather spiritual than\nsensual: it may be quite free from the gross vices of the flesh,\nthough the connection between pride and sensuality is closer than is\nsometimes imagined; but it is more conscious, deliberate, malignant,\nand damnable than any brutality could be. When we look at the world in\nany given age--our own or another--and make inquiry into its moral\ncondition, this is a consideration which we are apt to lose sight of,\nbut which is entitled to the utmost weight. The collector of moral\nstatistics examines the records of criminal courts; he investigates\nthe standard of honesty in commerce; he balances the evidences of\npeace, truth, purity, against those of violence, fraud, and\nimmorality, and works out a rough conclusion. But that material\nmorality leaves out of sight what is most significant of all--the\nspiritual forms of good and of evil in which the opposing forces show\ntheir inmost nature, and in which the world ripens for God's judgment.\nThe man of sin is not described as a sensualist or a murderer; he is\nan apostate, a rebel against God, a usurper who claims not the palace\nbut the temple for his own. This God-dethroning pride is the utmost\nlength to which sin can go. The judgment will not come till it has\nfully developed; can any one see tokens of its presence?\n\nIn asking such a question we pass from the interpretation of the\nApostle's words to their application. Much of the difficulty and\nbewilderment that have gathered about this passage are due to the\nconfusion of these two quite different things.[27] The interpretation\ngives us the meaning of the very words the Apostle used. We have seen\nwhat that is, and that in its precise detail it was not destined to be\nfulfilled. But when we have passed behind the surface meaning, and\nlaid hold on the law which the Apostle was applying in this passage,\nthen we can apply it ourselves. We can use it to read the signs of\nthe times in our own or in any other age. We may see developments of\nevil, resembling in their main features the man of sin here depicted,\nin one quarter or another, and in one person or another; and if we do,\nwe are bound to see in them tokens that a judgment of God is at hand;\nbut we must not imagine that in so applying the passage we are finding\nout what St. Paul meant. That lies far, far behind us; and our\napplication of his words can only claim our own authority, not the\nauthority of Holy Scripture.\n\nOf the multitude of applications which have been made of this passage\nsince the Apostle wrote it, one only has had historical importance\nenough to be of interest to us--I mean that which is found in several\nProtestant confessions, including the Westminster Confession of Faith,\nand which declares the Pope of Rome, in the words of this last, to be\n\"that Antichrist, that man of sin, and son of perdition, that exalteth\nhimself in the Church against Christ, and all that is called God.\" As\nan interpretation, of course, that is impossible; the man of sin is\none man, and not a series, like the Popes; the temple of God in which\na man sits is a temple made with hands, and not the Church; but when\nwe ask whether or not it is a fair _application_ of the Apostle's\nwords, the question is altered. Dr. Farrar, whom no one will suspect\nof sympathy with the Papacy, is indignant that such an uncharitable\nidea should ever have crossed the mind of man. Many in the churches\nwhich hold by the Westminster Confession would agree with him. Of\ncourse it is a matter on which every one is entitled to judge for\nhimself, and, whether right or wrong, ought not to be in a confession;\nbut for my own part I have little scruple in the matter. There have\nbeen Popes who could have sat for Paul's picture of the man of sin\nbetter than any characters known to history--proud, apostate, atheist\npriests, sitting in the seat of Christ, blasphemously claiming His\nauthority, and exercising His functions. And individuals apart--for\nthere have been saintly and heroic Popes as well, true servants of the\nservants of God--the hierarchical system of the Papacy, with the\nmonarchical priest at its head, incarnates and fosters that very\nspiritual pride of which the man of sin is the final embodiment; it is\na seed-bed and nursery of precisely such characters as are here\ndescribed. There is not in the world, nor has ever been, a system in\nwhich there is less that recalls Christ, and more that anticipates\nAntichrist, than the Papal system. And one may say so while\nacknowledging the debt that all Christians owe to the Romish Church,\nand while hoping that it may somehow in God's grace repent and reform.\n\nIt would ill become us, however, to close the study of so serious a\nsubject with the censure of others. The mere discovery that we have\nhere to do with a law of moral development, and with a supreme and\nfinal type of evil, should put us rather upon self-scrutiny. The\ncharacter of our Lord Jesus Christ is the supreme and final type of\ngood; it shows us the end to which the Christian life conducts those\nwho follow it. The character of the man of sin shows the end of those\nwho obey not His gospel. They become, in their resistance to Him, more\nand more identified with sin; their antagonism to God settles into\nantipathy, presumption, defiance; they become gods to themselves, and\ntheir doom is sealed. This picture is set here for our warning. We\ncannot of ourselves see the end of evil from the beginning; we cannot\ntell what selfishness and wilfulness come to, when they have had their\nperfect work; but God sees, and it is written in this place to startle\nus, and fright us from sin. \"Take heed, brethren, lest haply there\nshall be in any one of you an evil heart of unbelief, in falling away\nfrom the living God: but exhort one another day by day, so long as it\nis called To-day; lest any one of you be hardened by the deceitfulness\nof sin.\"\n\n[26] There are indications of such a thing in various words of Jesus.\n\"Many false prophets shall arise, and shall lead many astray. And\nbecause iniquity shall be multiplied, the love of the many shall wax\ncold.\"--Matt. xxiv. 11f. \"There shall arise false Christs, and false\nprophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; so as to lead\nastray, if possible, even the elect.\"--Matt. xxiv. 24. \"When the Son\nof Man cometh, shall He find faith on the earth?\"--Luke xviii. 8. What\nanswers to these in St. Paul's writings we see in Acts xx. 29f.; Eph.\niv. 14; 1 Tim. iv. 1. But these passages belong to the very latest\nyears in his life, and they are not connected with any such\nanticipations as are characteristic of the Thessalonian Apocalypse.\nThe history of the Church, as Paul foresaw it, did not include in\nitself a phenomenon which could be described as \u1f21 \u1f00\u03c0\u03bf\u03c3\u03c4\u03b1\u03c3\u03af\u03b1.\n\n[27] A conspectus of the historical interpretations, most of which are\nreally applications, of this passage, is given in most commentaries.\nThe fullest is L\u00fcnemann's, which is followed by Alford. Farrar's\nAppendix is briefer.\n\n\n\n\nIV.\n\n_THE RESTRAINT AND ITS REMOVAL._\n\n\n \"And now ye know that which restraineth to the end that he may be\n revealed in his own season. For the mystery of lawlessness doth\n already work: only _there is_ one that restraineth now, until he\n be taken out of the way. And then shall be revealed the lawless one,\n whom the Lord Jesus shall slay with the breath of His mouth, and\n bring to nought by the manifestation of His coming; _even he_,\n whose coming is according to the working of Satan with all power and\n signs and lying wonders, and with all deceit of unrighteousness for\n them that are perishing; because they received not the love of the\n truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God sendeth them\n a working of error, that they should believe a lie: that they all\n might be judged who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in\n unrighteousness.\"--2 THESS. ii. 6-12 (R.V.).\n\nChrist cannot come, the Apostle has told us, until the falling away\nhas first come, and the man of sin been revealed. In the verses before\nus, we are told that the man of sin himself cannot come, in the full\nsense of the word, he cannot be revealed in his true character of the\ncounter-Christ, till a restraining force, known to the Thessalonians,\nbut only obscurely alluded to by the Apostle, is taken out of the way.\nThe Last Advent is thus at two removes from the present. First, there\nmust be the removal of the power which holds the man of sin in check;\nthen the culmination of evil in that great adversary of God; and not\ntill then the return of the Lord in glory as Saviour and Judge.\n\nWe might think that this put the Advent to such a distance as\npractically to disconnect it from the present, and make it a matter of\nlittle interest to the Christian. But, as we have seen already, what\nis significant in this whole passage is the spiritual law which\ngoverns the future of the world, the law that good and evil must ripen\ntogether, and in conflict with each other; and it is involved in that\nlaw that the final state of the world, which brings on the Advent, is\nlatent, in all its principles and spiritual features, in the present.\nThat day is indissolubly connected with this. The life that we now\nlive has all the importance, and ought to have all the intensity,\nwhich comes from its bearing the future in its bosom. Through the eyes\nof this New Testament prophet we can see the end from the beginning;\nand the day on which we happen to read his words is as critical, in\nits own nature, as the great day of the Lord.\n\nThe end, the Apostle tells us, is at some distance, but it is\npreparing. \"The mystery of lawlessness doth already work.\" The forces\nwhich are hostile to God, and which are to break out in the great\napostasy, and the insane presumption of the man of sin, are even now\nin operation, but secretly. They are not visible to the careless, or\nto the infatuated, or to the spiritually blind; but the Apostle can\ndiscern them. Taught by the Spirit to read the signs of the times, he\nsees in the world around him symptoms of forces, secret, unorganised,\nto some extent inscrutable, yet unmistakable in their character. They\nare the beginnings of the apostasy, the first workings, fettered as\nyet and baffled, of the power which is to set itself in the place of\nGod. He sees also, and has already told the Thessalonians, of another\npower of an opposite character. \"Ye know,\" he says, \"that which\nrestraineth ... only _there is_ one that restraineth now, until he be\ntaken out of the way.\" This restraining power is spoken of both in the\nneuter and the masculine, both as a principle or institution, and as a\nperson; and there is no reason to doubt that those fathers of the\nChurch are right who identified it with the Empire of Rome and its\nsovereign head. The apostasy was to take place among the Jews; and the\nApostle saw that Rome and its Emperor were the grand restraint upon\nthe violence of that stubborn race. The Jews had been his worst\nenemies, ever since he had embraced the cause of the Nazarene Messiah\nJesus; and all that time the Romans had been his best friends. If\ninjustice had been done him in their name, as at Philippi, atonement\nhad been made; and, on the whole, he had owed to them his protection\nagainst Jewish persecution. He felt sure that his own experience was\ntypical; the final development of hatred to God and all that was on\nGod's side could not but be restrained so long as the power of Rome\nstood firm. That power was a sufficient check upon anarchic violence.\nWhile it held its ground, the powers of evil could not organise\nthemselves and work openly; they constituted a mystery of iniquity,\nworking, as it were, underground. But when this great restraint was\nremoved, all that had been labouring so long in secret would come\nsuddenly to view, in its full dimensions; the lawless one would stand\nrevealed.\n\nBut, it may be asked, could Paul imagine that the Roman power, as\nrepresented by the Emperor, was likely to be removed within any\nmeasurable time? Was it not the very type and symbol of all that was\nstable and perpetual in man's life? In one way, it was; and as at\nleast a temporary check on the final eruption of wickedness, it is\nhere recognised to have a degree of stability; but it was certainly\nnot eternal. Paul may have seen plainly enough in such careers as\nthose of Caligula and Claudius the impending collapse of the Julian\ndynasty; and the very obscurity and reserve with which he expresses\nhimself amount to a distinct proof that he has something in his mind\nwhich it was not safe to describe more plainly. Dr. Farrar has pointed\nto the remarkable correspondence between this passage, interpreted of\nthe Roman Empire, and a paragraph in Josephus, in which that historian\nexplains the visions of Daniel to his pagan readers. Josephus shows\nthat the image with the head of gold, the breast and arms of silver,\nthe belly and thighs of brass, and the ankles and feet of iron,\nrepresents a succession of four empires. He names the Babylonian as\nthe first, and indicates plainly that the Medo-Persian and the Greek\nare the second and third; but when he comes to the fourth, which is\ndestroyed by the stone cut out without hands, he does not venture, as\nall his countrymen did, to identify it with the Roman. That would have\nbeen disloyal in a courtier, and dangerous as well; so he remarks,\nwhen he comes to the point, that he thinks it proper to say nothing\nabout the stone and the kingdom it destroys, his duty as a historian\nbeing to record what is past and gone, and not what is yet to come. In\na precisely similar way does St. Paul here hint at an event which it\nwould have been perilous to name. But what he means is: When the Roman\npower has been removed, the lawless one will be revealed, and the Lord\nwill come to destroy him.\n\nWhat was said of the man of sin in the last lecture has again its\napplication here. The Roman Empire did _not_ fall within any such\nperiod as Paul anticipated; nor, when it did, was there any such\ncrisis as he describes. The man of sin was not revealed, and the Lord\ndid not come. But these are the human elements in the prophecy; and\nits interest and meaning for us lie in the description which an\ninspired writer gives of the final forms of wickedness, and their\nconnection with principles which were at work around him, and are at\nwork among us. He does not, indeed, come to these at once. He passes\nover them, and anticipates the final victory, when the Lord shall\ndestroy the man of sin with the breath of His mouth, and bring him to\nnought by the appearance of His coming; he would not have Christian\nmen face the terrible picture of the last workings of evil until they\nhave braced and comforted their hearts with the prospect of a crowning\nvictory. There _is_ a great battle to be fought; there _are_ great\nperils to be encountered; there is a prospect with something in it\nappalling to the bravest heart; but there is light beyond. It needs\nbut the breath of the Lord Jesus; it needs but the first ray of His\nglorious appearing to brighten the sky, and all the power of evil is\nat an end. Only after he has fixed the mind on this does St. Paul\ndescribe the supreme efforts of the enemy.\n\nHis coming, he says--and he uses the word applied to Christ's advent,\nas though to teach us that the event in question is as significant for\nevil as the other for good--his coming is according to the working of\nSatan. When Christ was in the world, His presence with men was\naccording to the working of God; the works that the Father gave Him to\ndo, the same He did, and nothing else. His life was the life of God\nentering into our ordinary human life, and drawing into its own mighty\nand eternal current all who gave themselves up to Him. It was the\nsupreme form of goodness, absolutely tender and faithful; using all\nthe power of the Highest in pure unselfishness and truth. When sin\nhas reached its height, we shall see a character in whom all this is\nreversed. Its presence with men will be according to the working of\nSatan; not an ineffective thing, but very potent; carrying in its\ntrain vast effects and consequences; so vast and so influential, in\nspite of its utter badness, that it is no exaggeration to describe its\ncoming (\u03c0\u03b1\u03c1\u03bf\u03c5\u03c3\u03af\u03b1), its \"appearing\" (\u1f10\u03c0\u03b9\u03c6\u03ac\u03bd\u03b5\u03b9\u03b1), and its \"revelation\"\n(\u1f00\u03c0\u03bf\u03ba\u03ac\u03bb\u03c5\u03c0\u03c3\u03b9\u03c2), by the very same words which are applied to Christ\nHimself. If there is one word which can characterise this whole\nphenomenon, both in its principle and in its consummation, it is\nfalsehood. The devil is a liar from the beginning, and the father of\nlies; and where things go on according to the working of Satan, there\nis sure to be a vast development of falsehood and delusion. This is a\nprospect which very few fear. Most of us are confident enough of the\nsoundness of our minds, of the solidity of our principles, of the\njustice of our consciences. It is very difficult for us to understand\nthat we can be mistaken, quite as confident about falsehood as about\ntruth, unsuspecting victims of pure delusion. We can see that some men\nare in this wretched plight, but that very fact seems to give us\nimmunity. Yet the falsehoods of the last days, St. Paul tells us, will\nbe marvellously imposing and successful. Men will be dazzled by them,\nand unable to resist. Satan will support his representative by power\nand signs and wonders of every description, agreeing in nothing but in\nthe characteristic quality of falsehood. They will be lying miracles.\nYet those who are of the truth will not be left without a safeguard\nagainst them, a safeguard found in this, that the manifold deceit of\nevery kind which the devil and his agents employ, is deceit of\nunrighteousness. It furthers unrighteousness; it has evil as its end.\nBy this it is betrayed to the good; its moral quality enables them to\npenetrate the lie, and to make their escape from it. However plausible\nit may seem on other grounds, its true character comes out under the\ntouchstone of conscience, and it stands finally condemned.\n\nThis is a point for consideration in our own time. There is a great\ndeal of falsehood in circulation--partly superstitious, partly\nquasi-scientific--which is not judged with the decision and severity\nthat would be becoming in wise and good men. Some of it is more or\nless latent, working as a mystery of iniquity; influencing men's souls\nand consciences rather than their thoughts; disinclining them to\nprayer, suggesting difficulties about believing in God, giving the\nmaterial nature the primacy over the spiritual, ignoring immortality\nand the judgment to come. The man knows very little, who does not know\nthat there is a plausible case to be stated for atheism, for\nmaterialism, for fatalism, for the rejection of all belief in the\nlife beyond the grave, and its connection with our present life; but\nhowever powerful and plausible the argument may be, he has been very\ncareless of his spiritual nature, who does not see that it is a deceit\nof unrighteousness. I do not say that only a bad man could accept it;\nbut certainly all that is bad in any man, and nothing that is good,\nwill incline him to accept it. Everything in our nature that is\nunspiritual, slothful, earthly, at variance with God; everything that\nwishes to be let alone, to forget what is high, to make the actual and\nnot the ideal its portion; everything that recalls responsibilities of\nwhich such a system would discharge us for ever, is on the side of its\ndoctrines. But is not that itself a conclusive argument against the\nsystem? Are not all these most suspicious allies? Are they not, beyond\ndispute, our very worst enemies? and can it be possible that a way of\nthinking is true, which gives them undisputed authority over us? Do\nnot believe it. Do not let any plausibility of argument impose upon\nyou; but when the moral issue of a theory is plainly immoral, when by\nits working it is betrayed to be the leaven of the Sadducees, reject\nit as a diabolical deceit. Trust your conscience, that is, your whole\nnature, with its instinct for what is good, rather than any dialectic;\nit contains far more of what you are; and it is the whole man, and not\nthe most unstable and self-confident of his faculties, that must\njudge. If there is nothing against a spiritual truth but the\ndifficulty of conceiving how it can be, do not let that mental\nincapacity weigh against the evidence of its fruits.\n\nThe Apostle points to this line of thought, and to this safeguard of\nthe good, when he says that those who come under the power of this\nvast working of falsehood are those who are perishing, because they\nreceived not the love of the truth that they might be saved. But for\nthis clause we might have said, Why expose men, defenceless, to such a\nterrific trial as is here depicted? Why expect weak, bewildered,\nunstable creatures to keep their feet, when falsehood comes in like a\nflood? But such queries would show that we mistook the facts. None are\ncarried away by the prevailing falsehood but those who received not\nthe love of the truth that they might be saved. It is a question, we\nsee, not of the intelligence simply, but of the whole man. He does not\nsay, They received not the truth; that might have been due to some\ncause over which they had no control. They might never have had so\nmuch as a good look at the truth; they might have got an incurable\ntwist in their education, a flaw in their minds like a flaw in a\nmirror, that prevented them from ever seeing what the truth was like.\nThese would be cases to stand apart. But he says, \"They received not\nthe love of the truth.\" That truth which is presented for our\nacceptance in the gospel is not merely a thing to scrutinise, to\nweigh, to judge by the rules of the bench or the jury box: it is a\ntruth which appeals to the heart; from cultured and uncultured, from\nthe clear-headed and the puzzle-headed; from the philosopher and the\nmessage boy, it demands the answer of love. It is this which is the\ntrue test of character--the answer which is given, not by the brain,\ndisciplined or undisciplined, but by the whole man, to the revelation\nof the truth in Jesus Christ. Intelligence, by itself, may be a very\nlittle matter; all that some men have is but a tool in the hands of\ntheir passions; but the love of the truth, or its opposite, shows\ntruly what we are. Those who love it are safe. They cannot love\nfalsehood at the same time; all the lies of the devil and his agents\nare powerless to do them any harm. Satan, we see here, has no\nadvantage over us that we do not first give him. The absence of\n_liking_ for the truth, want of sympathy with Christ, a disposition to\nfind less exacting ways than His, a _resolution_ to find them or to\n_make_ them, ending in a positive antipathy to Christ and to all the\ntruth which He teaches and embodies,--these give the enemy his\nopportunity and his advantage over us. Put it to yourself in this\nlight if you wish to discern your true attitude to the gospel. You\nmay have difficulties and perplexities about it on one side or\nanother; it runs out into mystery on every hand; but these will not\nexpose you to the danger of being deceived, as long as you receive the\nlove of it in your heart. It _is_ a thing to command love; the truth\nas truth is in Jesus. All that is good in us is enlisted in its\nfavour; not to love it is to be a bad man. A recent Unitarian lecturer\nhas said that to love Jesus is not a religious duty; but that is\ncertainly not a New Testament doctrine. It is not only a religious\nduty, but the sum of all such duties; to do it, or not to do it, is\nthe decisive test of character, and the arbiter of fate. Does not He\nHimself say--He who is the Truth--\"He that loveth father or mother\nmore than Me is not worthy of Me\"? Does not His Apostle say, \"If any\nman love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be anathema?\" Depend upon\nit, love to Him is all our goodness, and all our defence against the\npowers of evil. To grow cold and indifferent is to give the enemy of\nour souls an opening against us.\n\nThe last two verses in this passage are very striking. We have seen\nalready two agents in the destruction of men's souls. They perish by\ntheir own agency, in that they do not welcome and love the truth; and\nthey perish by the malevolence of the devil, who avails himself of\nthis dislike to the truth to befool them by falsehood, and lead them\never further and further astray. But here we have a third agent, most\nsurprising of all, God Himself. \"For this cause God sendeth them a\nworking of error, that they should believe a lie: that they all might\nbe judged who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in\nunrighteousness.\" Is God, then, the author of falsehood? Do the\ndelusions that possess the minds of men, and lead them to eternal\nruin, owe their strength to Him? Can He intend anybody to believe a\nlie, and especially a lie with such terrific consequences as are\nhere in view? The opening words--\"for this cause\"--supply the answer\nto these questions. For this cause, _i.e._, because they have not\nloved the truth, but in their liking for evil have turned their backs\nupon it, for this cause God's judgment comes upon them, binding them\nto their guilt. Nothing is more certain, however we may choose to\nexpress it, than the word of the wise man: \"His own iniquities shall\ntake the wicked himself, and he shall be holden with the cords of his\nsin.\" He chooses his own way, and he gets his fill of it. He loves the\ndeceit of unrighteousness, the falsehood which delivers him from God\nand from His law; and by God's righteous judgment, acting through the\nconstitution of our nature, he comes continually more and more under\nits power. He believes the lie, just as a good man believes the truth;\nhe becomes every day more hopelessly beclouded in error; and the end\nis that he is judged. The judgment is based, not on his intellectual,\nbut on his _moral_ state. It is true he has been deluded, but his\ndelusion is due to this, that he had pleasure in unrighteousness. It\nwas this evil in him which gave weight to the sophistries of Satan.\n\nAgain and again in Scripture this is represented as the punishment of\nthe wicked, that God gives them their own way, and infatuates them in\nit. The error works with ever greater power in their souls, till they\ncannot imagine that it is an error; none can deliver himself, or say,\nIs there not a lie in my right hand? \"My people would not hearken to\nMy voice, and Israel would none of Me. So I gave them up unto their\nown hearts' lust: and they walked in their own counsels.\" \"When they\nknew God, they glorified Him not as God, neither were thankful; ...\nwherefore God gave them up to uncleanness.\" \"They changed the truth of\nGod into a lie; ... for this cause God gave them up unto vile\naffections.\" \"They did not like to retain God in their knowledge....\nGod gave them over to a reprobate mind.\" \"They received not the love\nof the truth: and for this cause God sendeth unto them a working of\nerror.\" Sin bears its punishment in itself; when it has had its\nperfect work, we see that it has been executing a judgment of God more\nawful than anything we could conceive. If you would have Him on your\nside, your ally and not your adversary, receive the love of the truth.\n\nThis is the final lesson of the passage. We do not know all the forces\nthat are at work in the world in the interest of error; but we know\nthere are many. We know that the mystery of iniquity is already in\noperation. We know that falsehood, in this spiritual sense, has much\nin man which is its natural ally; and that we need to be steadily on\nour guard against the wiles of the devil. We know that passion is\nsophistical, and reason often weak, and that we see our true selves in\nthe action of heart and conscience. Be faithful, therefore, to God at\nthe core of your nature. Love the truth that you may be saved. This\nalone is salvation. This alone is a safeguard against all the\ndelusions of Satan; it was one who knew God, who lived in God, who did\nalways the works of God, who loved God as the only begotten Son the\nFather, who could say, \"The prince of this world cometh, and hath\nnothing in Me.\"\n\n\n\n\nV.\n\n_THE THEOLOGY OF PAUL._\n\n\n \"But we are bound to give thanks to God alway for you, brethren\n beloved of the Lord, for that God chose you from the beginning unto\n salvation in sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth:\n whereunto He called you through our gospel, to the obtaining of the\n glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. So then, brethren, stand fast, and\n hold the traditions which ye were taught, whether by word, or by\n epistle of ours.\n\n \"Now our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and God our Father which loved us\n and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace, comfort your\n hearts and stablish them in every good work and word.\"--2 THESS. ii.\n 13-17 (R.V.).\n\nThe first part of this chapter is mysterious, awful, and oppressive.\nIt deals with the principle of evil in the world, its secret working,\nits amazing power, its final embodiment in the man of sin, and its\ndecisive overthrow at the Second Advent. The characteristic action of\nthis evil principle is deceit. It deludes men, and they become its\nvictims. True, it can only delude those who lay themselves open to its\napproach by an aversion to the truth, and by delight in\nunrighteousness; but when we look round us, and see the multitude of\nits victims, we might easily be tempted to despair of our race. The\nApostle does not do so. He turns away from that gloomy prospect, and\nfixes his eyes upon another, serene, bright, and joyful. There\n_is_ a son of perdition, a person doomed to destruction, who will\ncarry many to ruin in his train; but there is a work of God going on\nin the world as well as a work of evil; and it also has its triumphs.\nLet the mystery of iniquity work as it will, \"_we_ are bound to give\nthanks alway to God for _you_, brethren beloved of the Lord, for that\nGod chose you from the beginning _unto salvation_.\"\n\nThe thirteenth and fourteenth verses of this chapter are a system of\ntheology in miniature. The Apostle's thanksgiving covers the whole\nwork of salvation from the eternal choice of God to the obtaining of\nthe glory of our Lord Jesus Christ in the world to come. Let us\nobserve the several points which it brings out. As a thanksgiving, of\ncourse, God is the main subject in it. Every separate clause only\nserves to bring out another aspect of the fundamental truth that\nsalvation is of the Lord. What aspects, then, of this truth are\npresented in turn?\n\n(1) In the first place, the original idea of salvation is God's. He\nchose the Thessalonians to it from the beginning. There are really two\nassertions in this simple sentence--the one, that God chose them; the\nother, that His choice is eternal. The first of these is obviously a\nmatter on which there is an appeal to experience. These Christian men,\nand all Christian men, could tell whether it was true or not that they\nowed their salvation to God. In point of fact, there has never been\nany doubt about that matter in any church, or, indeed, in any\nreligion. All good men have always believed that salvation is of the\nLord. It begins on God's side. It can most truly be described from His\nside. Every Christian heart responds to the word of Jesus to the\ndisciples: \"Ye have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you.\" Every\nChristian heart feels the force of St. Paul's words to the Galatians:\n\"After that ye have known God, or rather were known of God.\" It is His\ntaking knowledge of us which is the original, fundamental, decisive\nthing in salvation. That is a matter of experience; and so far the\nCalvinist doctrine of election, which has sometimes an unsubstantial,\nmetaphysical aspect, has an experimental basis. We are saved, because\nGod in His love has saved us; that is the starting-point. That also\ngives character, in all the Epistles, to the New Testament doctrine of\nelection. The Apostle never speaks of the elect as an unknown\nquantity, a favoured few, hidden in the Church, or in the world,\nunknown to others or to themselves: \"God,\" he says, \"chose\n_you_,\"--the persons addressed in this letter,--\"and you\n_know_ that He did.\" So does every one who knows anything of God\nat all. Even when the Apostle says, \"God chose you from the\nbeginning,\" he does not leave the basis of experience. \"Known unto God\nare all His works from the beginning of the world.\" The purpose of\nGod's love to save men, which comes home to them in their reception of\nthe gospel, is not a thing of to-day or yesterday; they know it is\nnot; it is the manifestation of His nature; it is as eternal as\nHimself; they can count on it as securely as they can on the Divine\ncharacter; if God has chosen them at all, He has chosen them from the\nbeginning. The doctrine of election in Scripture is a religious\ndoctrine, based upon experience; it is only when it is separated from\nexperience, and becomes metaphysical, and prompts men to ask whether\nthey who have heard and received the gospel are elect or not--an\nimpossible question on New Testament ground--that it works for evil in\nthe Church. If you have chosen God, you know it is because He first\nchose you; and His will revealed in that choice is the will of the\nEternal.\n\n(2) Further, the means of salvation for men are of God. \"He chose\nyou,\" says the Apostle, \"in sanctification of the Spirit and belief of\nthe truth.\" Perhaps \"means\" is not the most precise word to use here;\nit might be better to say that sanctification wrought by the Spirit,\nand belief of the truth, are the state in which, rather than the means\nby which, salvation is realised. But what I wish to insist upon is,\nthat both are included in the Divine choice; they are the instruments\nor the conditions of carrying it into effect. And here, when we come\nto the accomplishment of God's purpose, we see how it combines a\nDivine and a human side. There is a sanctification, or consecration,\nwrought by the Spirit of God upon the spirit of man, the sign and seal\nof which is baptism, the entrance of the natural man into the new and\nhigher life; and coincident with this, there is the belief of the\ntruth, the acceptance of God's message of mercy, and the surrender of\nthe soul to it. It is impossible to separate these two things, or to\ndefine their relation to each other. Sometimes the first seems to\ncondition the second; sometimes the order is reversed. Now it is the\nSpirit which opens the mind to the truth; again it is the truth which\nexercises a sanctifying power like the Spirit. The two, as it were,\ninterpenetrate each other. If the Spirit stood alone, man's mind would\nbe baffled, his moral freedom would be taken away; if the reception of\nthe truth were everything, a cold, rationalistic type of religion\nwould supplant the ardour of the New Testament Christian. The eternal\nchoice of God makes provision, in the combination of the Spirit and\nthe truth, at once for Divine influence and for human freedom; for a\nbaptism of fire and for the deliberate welcoming of revelation; and it\nis when the two are actually combined that the purpose of God to save\nis accomplished. What can we say here on the basis of experience? Have\nwe believed the truth which God has declared to us in His Son? Has its\nbelief been accompanied and made effectual by a sanctification wrought\nby His Spirit, a consecration which has made the truth live in us, and\nmade us new creatures in Christ? God's choice does not become\neffective apart from this; it comes out in this; it secures its own\naccomplishment in this. His chosen are not chosen to salvation\nirrespective of any experience; _none_ are chosen except as they\nbelieve the truth and are sanctified by His Spirit.\n\n(3) Once more, the execution of the plan of salvation in time is of\nGod. To this salvation, says Paul, _He_ called you by our gospel.\nThe apostles and their companions were but messengers: the message\nthey brought was God's. The new truths, the warnings, the summonses,\nthe invitations, all were His. The spiritual constraint which they\nexercised was His also. In speaking thus, the Apostle magnifies his\noffice, and magnifies at the same time the responsibility of all who\nheard him preach. It is a light thing to listen to a man speaking his\nown thoughts, giving his own counsel, inviting assent to his own\nproposals; it is a solemn thing to listen to a man speaking truly in\nthe name of God. The gospel that we preach is ours, only because we\npreach it and because we receive it; but the true description of it\nis, the gospel of God. It is His voice which proclaims the coming\njudgment; it is His voice which tells of the redemption which is in\nChrist Jesus, even the forgiveness of our trespasses; it is His voice\nwhich invites all who are exposed to wrath, all who are under the\ncurse and power of sin, to come to the Saviour. Paul had thanked God\nin the First Epistle that the Thessalonians had received his word,\nnot as the word of man, but as what it was in truth, the word of the\nliving God; and here he falls back again on the same thought in a new\nconnection. It is too natural for us to put God as far as we can out\nof our minds, to keep Him for ever in the background, to have recourse\nto Him only in the last resort; but that easily becomes an evasion of\nthe seriousness and the responsibilities of our life, a shutting of\nour eyes to its true significance, for which we may have to pay dear.\n_God_ has spoken to us all in His word and by His Spirit,--God, and\nnot only some human preacher: see that ye despise not Him that\nspeaketh.\n\n(4) Lastly, under this head, the end proposed to us in obeying the\ngospel call is of God. It is the obtaining of the glory of our Lord\nJesus Christ. Paul became a Christian and an Apostle, because he saw\nthe Lord of Glory on the way to Damascus; and his whole conception of\nsalvation was shaped by that sight. To be saved meant to enter into\nthat glory into which Christ had entered. It was a condition of\nperfect holiness, open only to those who were sanctified by Christ's\nSpirit; but perfect holiness did not exhaust it. Holiness was\nmanifested in glory, in a light surpassing the brightness of the sun,\nin a strength superior to every weakness, in a life no longer\nassailable by death. Weak, suffering, destitute--dying daily for\nChrist's sake--Paul saw salvation concentrated and summed up in the\nglory of Christ. To obtain this was to obtain salvation. \"When Christ\nwho is our life shall appear,\" he says elsewhere, \"then shall ye also\nappear with Him in glory.\" \"This corruptible must put on incorruption,\nand this mortal must put on immortality.\" If salvation were anything\nlower than this, there might be a plausible case to state for man as\nits author; but reaching as it does to this immeasurable height, who\ncan accomplish it but God? It needs the operation of the might of His\npower which He wrought in Christ when He raised Him from the dead.\n\nOne cannot read these two simple verses without wondering at the new\nworld which the gospel created for the mind of man. What great\nthoughts are in them--thoughts that wander through eternity, thoughts\nbased on the most sure and blessed of experiences, yet travelling back\ninto an infinite past, and on into immortal glory; thoughts of the\nDivine presence and the Divine power interpenetrating and redeeming\nhuman life; thoughts addressed originally to a little company of\nworking people, but unmatched for length and breadth and depth and\nheight by all that pagan literature could offer to the wisest and the\nbest. What a range and sweep there is in this brief summary of God's\nwork in man's salvation. If the New Testament is uninteresting, can\nit be for any other reason than that we arrest ourselves at the words,\nand never penetrate to the truth which lies beneath?\n\nOn this review of the work of God the Apostle grounds an exhortation\nto the Thessalonians. \"So then, brethren,\" he writes, \"stand fast, and\nhold the traditions which ye were taught, whether by word, or by\nepistle of ours.\" The objection that is brought against Calvinism is\nthat it destroys every motive for action on our part, by destroying\nall need of it. If salvation is of the Lord, what is there for us to\ndo? If God conceived it, planned it, executes it, and alone can\nperfect it, what room is left for the interference of man? This is a\nspecies of objection which would have appeared extremely perverse to\nthe Apostle. Why, he would have exclaimed, if God left it to us to do,\nwe might well sit down in despair and do nothing, so infinitely would\nthe task exceed our powers; but since the work of salvation is the\nwork of God, since He Himself is active on that side, there is reason,\nhope, motive, for activity on our part also. If we work in the same\nline with Him, toward the same end with Him, our labour will not be\ncast away; it will be triumphantly successful. God _is_ at work;\nbut so far from that furnishing a motive to non-exertion on our part,\nit is the strongest of all motives to action. Work out your own\nsalvation, not because it is left to you to do, but because it is God\nwho is working in you both will and deed in furtherance of His good\npleasure. Fall in, the Apostle virtually says in this place, with the\npurpose of God to save you; identify yourselves with it; stand fast,\nand hold the traditions which ye were taught.\n\n\"Traditions\" is an unpopular word in one section of the Church,\nbecause it has been so vastly abused in another. But it is not an\nillegitimate word in any church, and there is always a place for what\nit means. The generations are dependent on each other; each transmits\nto the future the inheritance it has received from the past; and that\ninheritance--embracing laws, arts, manners, morals, instincts,\nreligion--can all be comprehended in the single word tradition. The\ngospel was handed over to the Thessalonians by St. Paul, partly in\noral teaching, partly in writing; it was a complex of traditions in\nthe simplest sense, and they were not to let any part of it go.\nExtreme Protestants are in the habit of opposing Scripture to\ntradition. The Bible alone, they say, is our religion; and we reject\nall unwritten authority. But, as a little reflection will show, the\nBible itself is, in the first instance, a part of tradition; it is\nhanded down to us from those who have gone before; it is delivered to\nus as a sacred deposit by the Church; and as such we at first regard\nit. There are good reasons, no doubt, for giving Scripture a\nfundamental and critical place among traditions. When its claim to\nrepresent the Christianity of the apostles is once made out, it is\nfairly regarded as the criterion of everything else that appeals to\ntheir authority. The bulk of so-called traditions in the Church of\nRome are to be rejected, not because they are traditions, but because\nthey are not traditions, but have originated in later times, and are\ninconsistent with what is known to be truly apostolic. We ourselves\nare bound to keep fast hold of all that connects us historically with\nthe apostolic age. We would not disinherit ourselves. We would not\nlose a single thought, a single like or dislike, a single conviction\nor instinct, of all that proves us the spiritual posterity of Peter\nand Paul and John. Sectarianism destroys the historical sense; it\nplays havoc with traditions; it weakens the feeling of spiritual\naffinity between the present and the past. The Reformers in the\nsixteenth century--the men like Luther, Melanchthon, and Calvin--made\na great point of what they called their catholicity, _i.e._, their\nclaim to represent the true Church of Christ, to be the lawful\ninheritors of apostolic tradition. They were right, both in their\nclaim, and in their idea of its importance; and we will suffer for it,\nif, in our eagerness for independence, we disown the riches of the\npast.\n\nThe Apostle closes his exhortation with a prayer. \"Now our Lord Jesus\nChrist Himself, and God our Father which loved us and gave us eternal\ncomfort and good hope through grace, comfort[28] your hearts and\nstablish them in every good work and word.\" All human effort, he seems\nto say, must be not only anticipated and called forth, but supported,\nby God. He alone it is who can give steadfastness to our pursuit of\ngood in word and deed.\n\nIn his prayer the Apostle goes back to great events in the past, and\nbases his request on the assurance which they yield: \"God,\" he says,\n\"who _loved_ us and _gave_ us eternal comfort and good hope\nthrough grace.\" When did God do these gracious things? It was when He\nsent His Son into the world for us. He does love us now; He will love\nus for ever; but we go back for the final proof, and for the first\nconviction of this, to the gift of Jesus Christ. There we see God who\n_loved_ us. The death of the Lord Jesus is specially in view.\n\"Hereby know we love, because He laid down His life for us.\" \"Herein\nis love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son\nto be the propitiation for our sins.\" The eternal consolation is\nconnected in the closest possible way with this grand assurance of\nlove. It is not merely an unending comfort, as opposed to the\ntransitory and uncertain joys of earth; it is the heart to exclaim\nwith St. Paul, \"Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall\ntribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or\nperil, or sword?... Nay, in all these things we are more than\nconquerors through Him that loved us.\" Here, and now, this eternal\nconsolation is given to the Christian heart; here, and now, rather, it\nis enjoyed; it _was_ given, once for all, on the cross at Calvary.\nStand there, and receive that awful pledge of the love of God, and see\nwhether it does not, even now, go deeper than any sorrow.\n\nBut the eternal consolation does not exhaust God's gifts. He has also\nin His grace given us good hope. He has made provision, not only for\nthe present trouble, but for the future uncertainty. All life needs an\noutlook; and those who have stood beside the empty grave in the garden\nknow how wide and glorious is the outlook provided by God for the\nbeliever in Jesus Christ. In the very deepest darkness, a light is\nkindled for him; in the valley of the shadow of death, a window is\nopened to him in heaven. Surely God, who sent His Son to die for us\nupon the Cross; God, who raised Him again from the dead on our behalf,\nand set Him at His own right hand in heavenly places,--surely He who\nhas been at such cost for our salvation will not be slow to second all\nour efforts, and to establish our hearts in every good work and word.\n\nHow simply, one is tempted to say, it all ends--good works and good\nwords; are these the whole fruits which God seeks in His great work of\nredemption? Does it need consolation so wonderful, hope so\nfar-reaching, to secure patient continuance in well-doing? We know\nonly too well that it does. We know that the comfort of God, the hope\nof God, prayer to God, are all needed; and that all we can make of all\nof them combined is not too much to make us steadily dutiful in word\nand deed. We know that it is not a disproportionate or unworthy moral,\nbut one befitting the grandeur of his theme, when the Apostle\nconcludes the fifteenth chapter of 1st Corinthians in a tone very\nsimilar to that which rules here. The infinite hope of the\nResurrection is made the basis of the commonest duties. \"Therefore, my\nbeloved brethren,\" he says, \"be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always\nabounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your\nlabour is not in vain in the Lord.\" That hope is to bear fruit on\nearth--in patience and loyalty, in humble and faithful service. It is\nto shed its radiance over the trivial round, the common task; and the\nApostle does not think it wasted if it enables men and women to do\nwell and not weary.\n\nThe difficulty of expounding this passage lies in the largeness of the\nthoughts; they include, in a manner, every part and aspect of the\nChristian life. Let each of us try to bring them near to himself. God\nhas called us by His gospel: He has declared to us that Jesus our Lord\nwas delivered for our offences, and that He was raised again to open\nthe gates of life to us. Have we believed the truth? That is where the\ngospel begins for us. Is the truth within us, written on hearts that\nGod's Spirit has separated from the world, and devoted to a new life?\nor is it outside of us, a rumour, a hearsay, to which we have no vital\nrelation? Happy are those who have believed, and taken Christ into\ntheir souls, Christ who died for us and rose again: they have the\nforgiveness of sins, a pledge of love that disarms and vanquishes\nsorrow, an infallible hope that outlives death. Happy are those to\nwhom the cross and the empty tomb give that confidence in God's love\nwhich makes prayer natural, hopeful, joyful. Happy are those to whom\nall these gifts of grace bring the strength to continue patiently in\nwell-doing, and to be steadfast in every good work and word. All\nthings are theirs--the world, and life, and death; things present and\nthings to come; everlasting consolation and good hope; prayer,\npatience, and victory: all are theirs, for they are Christ's, and\nChrist is God's.\n\n[28] For the verb in the singular, and its import, compare 1st Epistle\niii. 11.\n\n\n\n\nVI.\n\n_MUTUAL INTERCESSION._\n\n\n \"Finally, brethren, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may run\n and be glorified, even as also _it is_ with you; and that we may\n be delivered from unreasonable and evil men; for all have not faith.\n But the Lord is faithful, who shall stablish you, and guard you from\n the evil _one_. And we have confidence in the Lord touching you,\n that ye both do and will do the things which we command. And the Lord\n direct your hearts into the love of God, and into the patience of\n Christ.\"--2 THESS. iii. 1-5 (R.V.).\n\nThe main part of this letter is now finished. The Apostle has\ncompleted his teaching about the Second Advent, and the events which\nprecede and condition it; and nothing remains to dispose of but some\nminor matters of personal and practical interest.\n\nHe begins by asking again, as at the close of the First Epistle, the\nprayers of the Thessalonians for himself and his fellow-workers. It\nwas a strength and comfort to him, as to every minister of Christ, to\nknow that he was remembered by those who loved him in the presence of\nGod. But it is no selfish or private interest that the Apostle has in\nview when he begs a place in their prayers; it is the interest of the\nwork with which he has identified himself. \"Pray for us, that the word\nof the Lord may run and be glorified.\" This was the one business and\nconcern of his life; if it went well, all his desires were satisfied.\n\nHardly anything in the New Testament gives us a more characteristic\nlook of the Apostle's soul than his desire that the word of the Lord\nshould _run_. The word of the Lord is the gospel, of which he is the\nprincipal herald to the nations; and we see in his choice of this word\nhis sense of its urgency. It was glad tidings to all mankind; and how\nsorely needed wherever he turned his eyes! The constraint of Christ's\nlove was upon his heart, the constraint of men's sin and misery; and\nhe could not pass swiftly enough from city to city, to proclaim the\nreconciling grace of God, and call men from darkness unto light. His\neager heart fretted against barriers and restraints of every\ndescription; he saw in them the malice of the great enemy of Christ:\n\"I was minded once and again to come unto you, but Satan hindered me.\"\nHence it is that he asks the Thessalonians to pray for their removal,\nthat the word of the Lord may run. The ardour of such a prayer, and of\nthe heart which prompts it, is far enough removed from the common\ntemper of the Church, especially where it has been long established.\nHow many centuries there were during which Christendom, as it was\ncalled, was practically a fixed quantity, shut up within the limits of\nWestern European civilisation, and not aspiring to advance a single\nstep beyond it, fast or slow. It is one of the happy omens of our own\ntime that the apostolic conception of the gospel as an ever-advancing,\never-victorious force, has begun again to take its place in the\nChristian heart. If it is really to us what it was to St. Paul--a\nrevelation of God's mercy and judgment which dwarfs everything else, a\npower omnipotent to save, an irresistible pressure of love on heart\nand will, glad tidings of great joy that the world is dying for--we\nshall share in this ardent, evangelical spirit, and pray for all\npreachers that the word of the Lord may run very swiftly. How it\npassed in apostolic times from land to land and from city to\ncity--from Syria to Asia, from Asia to Macedonia, from Macedonia to\nGreece, from Greece to Italy, from Italy to Spain--till in one man's\nlifetime, and largely by one man's labour, it was known throughout the\nRoman world. It is easy, indeed, to over-estimate the number of the\nearly Christians; but we can hardly over-estimate the fiery speed with\nwhich the Cross went forth conquering and to conquer. Missionary zeal\nis one note of the true Apostolic Church.\n\nBut Paul wishes the Thessalonians to pray that the word of the Lord\nmay be glorified, as well as have free course. The word of the Lord is\na glorious thing itself. As the Apostle calls it in another place, it\nis the gospel of the glory of the blessed God. All that makes the\nspiritual glory of God--His holiness, His love, His wisdom--is\nconcentrated and displayed in it. But its glory is acknowledged, and\nin that sense heightened, when its power is seen in the salvation of\nmen. A message from God that did nothing would not be glorified: it\nwould be discredited and shamed. It is the glory of the gospel to lay\nhold of men, to transfigure them, to lift them out of evil into the\ncompany and the likeness of Christ. For anything else it does, it may\nnot fill a great space in the world's eye; but when it actually brings\nthe power of God to save those who receive it, it is clothed in glory.\nPaul did not wish to preach without seeing the fruits of his labour.\nHe did the work of an evangelist; and he would have been ashamed of\nthe evangel if it had not wielded a Divine power to overcome sin and\nbring the sinful to God. Pray that it may always have this power. Pray\nthat when the word of the Lord is spoken it may not be an ineffective,\nfruitless word, but mighty through God.\n\nThere is an expression in Titus ii. 10 analogous to this: \"Adorning\nthe doctrine of God our Saviour in all things.\" That expression is\nless fervent, spoken at a lower level, than the one before us; but it\nmore readily suggests, for that very reason, some duties of which we\nshould be reminded here also. It comes home to all who try to bring\ntheir conduct into any kind of relation to the gospel of Christ. It is\nonly too possible for us to disgrace the gospel; but it is in our\npower also, by every smallest action we do, to illustrate it, to set\nit off, to put its beauty in the true light before the eyes of\nmen. The gospel comes into the world, like everything else, to be\njudged on its merits; that is, by the effects which it produces in the\nlives of those who receive it. We are its witnesses; its character, in\nthe general mind, is as good as our character; it is as lovely as we\nare lovely, as strong as we are strong, as glorious as we are\nglorious, and no more. Let us seek to bear it a truer and worthier\nwitness than we have yet done. To adorn it is a calling far higher\nthan most of us have aimed at; but if it comes into our prayers, if\nits swift diffusion and powerful operation are near our hearts in the\nsight of God, grace will be given us to do this also.\n\nThe next request of the Apostle has more of a personal aspect, yet it\nalso has his work in view. He asks prayer that he and his friends may\nbe delivered from unreasonable and wicked men: for all men, he says,\nhave not faith. The unreasonable and wicked men were no doubt the Jews\nin Corinth, from which place he wrote. Their malignant opposition was\nthe great obstacle to the spread of the gospel; they were the\nrepresentatives and instruments of the Satan who perpetually hindered\nhim. The word here rendered unreasonable is a rare one in the New\nTestament. It occurs four times in all, and in each case is\ndifferently translated: once it is \"amiss,\" once \"harm,\" once\n\"wickedness,\" and here \"unreasonable.\" The margin in this place\nrenders it \"absurd.\" What it literally means is, \"out of place\"; and\nthe Apostle signifies by it, that in the opposition of these men to\nthe gospel there was something preposterous, something that baffled\nexplanation; there was no reason in it, and therefore it was hopeless\nto reason with it. That is a disposition largely represented both in\nthe Old Testament and the New, and familiar to every one who in\npreaching the gospel has come into close contact with men. It was one\nof the great trials of Jesus that He had to endure the contradiction\nof those who were sinners against themselves; who rejected the counsel\nof God in their own despite; in other words, were unreasonable men.\nThe gospel, we must remember, is good news; it is good news to all\nmen. It tells of God's love to the sinful; it brings pardon, holiness,\nimmortal hope, to every one. Why, then, should anybody have a quarrel\nwith it? Is it not enough to drive reason to despair, that men should\nwantonly, stubbornly, malignantly, hate and resist such a message? Is\nthere anything in the world more provoking than to offer a real and\nindispensable service, out of a true and disinterested love, and to\nhave it contemptuously rejected? That is the fate of the gospel in\nmany quarters; that was the constant experience of our Lord and of St.\nPaul. No wonder, in the interests of his mission, the Apostle prays to\nbe delivered from unreasonable men. Are there any of us who come\nunder this condemnation? who are senselessly opposed to the gospel,\nenemies in intention of God, but in reality hurting no one so much as\nourselves? The Apostle does not indicate in his prayer any mode of\ndeliverance. He may have hoped that in God's providence his\npersecutors would have their attention distracted somehow; he may have\nhoped that by greater wisdom, greater love, greater power of\nadaptation, of becoming all things to all men, he might vanquish their\nunreason, and gain access to their souls for the truth. In any case,\nhis request shows us that the gospel has a battle to fight that we\nshould hardly have anticipated--a battle with sheer perversity, with\nblind, wilful absurdity--and that this is one of its most dangerous\nfoes. \"O that they were wise,\" God cries of His ancient people, \"O\nthat they understood.\" He has the same lament to utter still.\n\nWe ought to notice the reason appended to this description of Paul's\nenemies: absurd and evil men, he says; for all men have not faith.\nFaith, of course, means the Christian faith: all men are not believers\nin Christ and disciples of Christ; and therefore the moral unreason\nand perversity of which I have spoken actually exist. He who has the\nfaith is morally sane; he has that in him which is inconsistent with\nsuch wickedness and irrationality. We can hardly suppose, however,\nthat the Apostle meant to state such a superfluous truism as that all\nmen were not Christians. What he does mean is apparently that not all\nmen have affinity for the faith, have aptitude or liking for it; as\nChrist said when He stood before Pilate, the voice of truth is only\nheard by those who are _of_ the truth. So it was when the apostles\npreached. Among their hearers there were those who were _of_ the\ntruth, in whom there was, as it were, the instinct for the faith; they\nwelcomed the message. Others, again, discovered no such natural\nrelation to the truth; in spite of the adaptation of the message to\nhuman needs, they had no sympathy with it; there was no reaction in\ntheir hearts in its favour; it was unreasonable to them; and to God\nthey were unreasonable. The Apostle does not explain this; he simply\nremarks it. It is one of the ultimate and inexplicable facts of human\nexperience; one of the meeting-points of nature and freedom which defy\nour philosophies. Some _are_ of kin to the gospel when they hear it;\nthey have faith, and justify the counsel of God, and are saved: others\nare of _no_ kin to the gospel; its wisdom and love wake no response in\nthem; they have not faith; they reject the counsel of God to their own\nruin; they are preposterous and evil men. It is from such, as\nhinderers of the gospel, that Paul prays to be delivered.\n\nIn the two verses which follow, he plays, as it were, with this word\n\"faith.\" All men have not faith, he writes; but _the Lord_ is\nfaithful, and _we_ have _faith_ in the Lord touching you. Often the\nApostle goes on thus at a word. Often, especially, he contrasts the\ntrustworthiness of God with the faithlessness of men. Men may not take\nthe gospel seriously; but the Lord does. He is in indubitable earnest\nwith it; He may be depended upon to do His part in carrying it into\neffect. See how unselfishly, at this point, the Apostle turns from his\nown situation to that of his readers. The Lord is faithful who will\nstablish _you_, and keep you from the evil one. Paul had left the\nThessalonians exposed to very much the same trouble as beset himself\nwherever he went; but he had left them to One who, he well knew, was\nable to keep them from falling, and to preserve them against all that\nthe devil and his agents could do.\n\nAnd side by side with this confidence in God stood his confidence\ntouching the Thessalonians themselves. He was sure in the Lord that\nthey were doing, and would continue to do, the things which he\ncommanded them; in other words, that they would lead a worthy and\nbecoming Christian life. The point of this sentence lies in the words\n\"in the Lord.\" Apart from the Lord, Paul could have had no such\nconfidence as he here expresses. The standard of the Christian life is\nlofty and severe; its purity, its unworldliness, its brotherly love;\nits burning hope, were new things then in the world. What assurance\ncould there be that this standard would be maintained, when the small\ncongregation of working people in Thessalonica was cast upon its own\nresources in the midst of a pagan community? None at all, apart from\nChrist. If _He_ had left them along with the Apostle, no one could\nhave risked much upon their fidelity to the Christian calling. It\nmarks the beginning of a new era when the Apostle writes, \"We have\nconfidence _in the Lord_ touching you.\" Life has a new element now, a\nnew atmosphere, new resources; and therefore we may cherish new hopes\nof it. When we think of them, the words include a gentle admonition to\nthe Thessalonians, to beware of forgetting the Lord, and trusting to\nthemselves; that is a disappointing path, which will put the Apostle's\nconfidence toward them to shame. But it is an admonition as hopeful as\nit is gentle; reminding them that, though the path of Christian\nobedience cannot be trodden without constant effort, it is a path on\nwhich the Lord accompanies and upholds all who trust in Him. Here\nthere is a lesson for us all to learn. Even those who are engaged in\nwork for Christ are too apt to forget that the only hope of such work\nis the Lord. \"Trust no man,\" says the wisest of commentators, \"left to\nhimself.\" Or to put the same thing more in accordance with the spirit\nof the text, there always is room for hope and confidence when the\nLord is not forgotten. _In the Lord_, you may depend upon those who\n_in themselves_ are weak, unstable, wilful, foolish. In the Lord, you\nmay depend on them to stand fast, to fight their temptations, to\novercome the world and the wicked one. This kind of assurance, and the\nactual presence and help of Christ which justified it, are very\ncharacteristic of the New Testament. They explain the joyous, open,\nhopeful spirit of the early Church; they are the cause, as well as the\neffect, of that vigorous moral health which, in the decay of ancient\ncivilisation, gave the Church the inheritance of the future. And still\nwe may have confidence in the Lord that all whom He has called by His\ngospel will be able by His spiritual presence with them to walk worthy\nof that calling, and to confute alike the fears of the good and the\ncontempt of the wicked. For the Lord is faithful, who will stablish\nthem, and preserve them from the evil one.\n\nOnce more the Apostle bursts into prayer, as he remembers the\nsituation of these few sheep in the wilderness: \"The Lord direct your\nhearts into the love of God, and into the patience of Christ.\" Nothing\ncould be a better commentary than one of Paul's own affectionate\nEpistles on that much discussed text, \"Pray without ceasing.\" Look,\nfor instance, through this one with which we are engaged. It begins\nwith a prayer for grace and peace. This is followed by a thanksgiving\nin which God is acknowledged as the Author of all their graces. The\nfirst chapter ends with a prayer--an unceasing prayer--that God would\ncount them worthy of His calling. In the second chapter Paul renews\nhis thanksgiving on behalf of his converts, and prays again that God\nmay comfort their hearts and stablish them in every good work and\nword. And here, the moment he has touched upon a new topic, he\nreturns, as it were by instinct, to prayer. \"The Lord direct your\nhearts.\" Prayer is his very element; he lives, and moves, and has his\nbeing, in God. He can do nothing, he cannot conceive of anything being\ndone, in which God is not as directly participant as himself, or those\nwhom he wishes to bless. Such an intense appreciation of God's\nnearness and interest in life goes far beyond the attainments of most\nChristians; yet here, no doubt, lies a great part of the Apostle's\npower.\n\nThe prayer has two parts: he asks that the Lord may direct their\nhearts into the love of God, and into the patience of Christ. The love\nof God here means love to God; this is the sum of all Christian\nvirtue, or at least the source of it. The gospel proclaims that God is\nlove; it tells us that God has proved His love by sending His Son to\ndie for our sins; it shows us Christ on the cross, in the passion of\nthat love with which He loved us when He gave Himself for us; and it\nwaits for the answer of love. It comprehended the whole effect of the\ngospel, the whole mystery of its saving and re-creating power, when\nthe Apostle exclaimed, \"The love of Christ constraineth us.\" It is\nthis experience which in the passage before us he desires for the\nThessalonians. There is no one without love, or at least without the\npower of loving, in his heart. But what is the object of it? On what\nis it actually directed? The very words of the prayer imply that it is\neasily misdirected. But surely if love itself best merits and may best\nclaim love, none should be the object of it before Him who is its\nsource. God has earned our love; He desires our love; let us look to\nthe Cross where He has given us the great pledge of His own, and yield\nto its sweet constraint. The old law is not abolished, but to be\nfulfilled: \"Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and\nwith all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind.\"\nIf the Lord fix our souls to Himself by this irresistible attraction,\nnothing will be able to carry us away.\n\nLove to God is naturally joyous; but life has other experiences than\nthose which give free scope for its joyous exercise; and so the\nApostle adds, \"into the patience of Jesus Christ.\" The Authorised\nVersion renders, \"the patient waiting for Christ,\" as if what the\nApostle prayed for were that they might continue steadfastly to hope\nfor the Last Advent; but although that idea is characteristic of\nthese Epistles, it is hardly to be found in the words. Rather does he\nremind his readers that in the difficulties and sufferings of the path\nwhich lies before them, no strange thing is happening to them, nothing\nthat has not already been borne by Christ in the spirit in which it\nought to be borne by us. Our Saviour Himself had need of patience. He\nwas made flesh, and all that the children of God have to suffer in\nthis world has already been suffered by Him. This prayer is at once\nwarning and consoling. It assures us that those who will live godly\nwill have trials to bear: there will be untoward circumstances; feeble\nhealth; uncongenial relations; misunderstanding and malice;\nunreasonable and evil men; abundant calls for patience. But there will\nbe no sense of having missed the way, or of being forgotten by God; on\nthe contrary, there will be in Jesus Christ, ever present, a type and\na fountain of patience, which will enable them to overcome all that is\nagainst them. The love of God and the patience of Christ may be called\nthe active and the passive sides of Christian goodness,--its free,\nsteady outgoing to Him who is the source of all blessing; and its\ndeliberate, steady, hopeful endurance, in the spirit of Him who was\nmade perfect through suffering. The Lord direct our hearts into both,\nthat we may be perfect men in Christ Jesus.\n\n\n\n\nVII.\n\n_THE CHRISTIAN WORTH OF LABOUR._\n\n\n \"Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,\n that ye withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh\n disorderly, and not after the tradition which they received of us.\n For yourselves know how ye ought to imitate us: for we behaved not\n ourselves disorderly among you; neither did we eat bread for nought\n at any man's hand, but in labour and travail, working night and day,\n that we might not burden any of you: not because we have not the\n right, but to make ourselves an ensample unto you, that ye should\n imitate us. For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, If\n any will not work, neither let him eat. For we hear of some that walk\n among you disorderly, that work not at all, but are busybodies. Now\n them that are such we command and exhort in the Lord Jesus Christ,\n that with quietness they work, and eat their own bread. But ye,\n brethren, be not weary in well-doing. And if any man obeyeth not our\n word by this epistle, note that man, that ye have no company with\n him, to the end that he may be ashamed. And yet count him not as an\n enemy, but admonish him as a brother.\"--2 THESS. iii. 6-15 (R.V.).\n\nThis passage is very similar in contents to one in the fourth chapter\nof the First Epistle. The difference between the two is in tone; the\nApostle writes with much greater severity on this than on the earlier\noccasion. Entreaty is displaced by command; considerations of\npropriety, the appeal to the good name of the church, by the appeal to\nthe authority of Christ; and good counsel by express directions for\nChristian discipline. Plainly the moral situation, which had caused\nhim anxiety some months before, had become worse rather than better.\nWhat, then, was the situation to which he here addresses himself so\nseriously? It was marked by two bad qualities--a disorderly walk and\nidleness.\n\n\"We hear,\" he writes, \"of some that walk among you disorderly.\" The\nmetaphor in the word is a military one; the underlying idea is that\nevery man has a post in life or in the Church, and that he ought to be\nfound, not away from his post, but at it. A man without a post is a\nmoral anomaly. Every one of us is part of a whole, a member of an\norganic body, with functions to discharge which can be discharged by\nno other, and must therefore be steadily discharged by himself. To\nwalk disorderly means to forget this, and to act as if we were\nindependent; now at this, now at that, according to our discretion or\nour whim; not rendering the community a constant service, in a place\nof our own--a service which is valuable, largely because it can be\ncounted on. Every one knows the extreme unsatisfactoriness of those\nmen who never can keep a place when they get it. Their friends plague\nthemselves to find new openings for them; but without any gross\noffence, such as drunkenness or dishonesty, they persistently fall out\nof them; there is something about them which seems to render them\nincapable of sticking to their post. It is an unfortunate\nconstitution, perhaps; but it is a grave moral fault as well. Such men\nsettle to nothing, and therefore they render no permanent service to\nothers; whatever they might be worth otherwise, they are worth nothing\nin any general estimate, simply because they cannot be depended upon.\nWhat is more, they are worth nothing to themselves; they never\naccumulate moral, any more than material, capital; they have no\nreserve in them of fidelity, sobriety, discipline. They are to be\npitied, indeed, as all sinners are to be pitied; but they are also to\nbe commanded, in the name of the Lord Jesus, to lay their minds to\ntheir work, and to remember that steadfastness in duty is an\nelementary requirement of the gospel. Among the Thessalonians it was\nreligious excitement that unsettled men, and made them abandon the\nroutine of duty; but whatever be the cause, the evil results are the\nsame. And, on the other hand, when we are loyal, constant, regularly\nat our post, however humble it be, we render a real service to others,\nand grow in strength of character ourselves. It is the beginning of\nall discipline and of all goodness to have fixed relations and fixed\nduties, and a fixed determination to be faithful to them.\n\nBesides this disorderly walk, with its moral instability, Paul heard\nof some who worked not at all. In other words, idleness was spreading\nin the church. It went to a great and shameless length. Christian men\napparently thought nothing of sacrificing their independence, and\neating bread for which they had not wrought. Such a state of affairs\nwas peculiarly offensive at Thessalonica, where the Apostle had been\ncareful to set so different an example. If any one could have been\nexcused for declining to labour, on the ground that he was preoccupied\nwith religious hopes and interests, it was he. His apostolic ministry\nwas a charge which made great demands upon his strength; it used up\nthe time and energy which he might otherwise have given to his trade:\nhe might well have urged that other work was a physical impossibility.\nMore than this, the Lord had ordained that they who preached the\ngospel should live by the gospel; and on that ground alone he was\nentitled to claim maintenance from those to whom he preached. But\nthough he was always careful to safeguard this right of the Christian\nministry, he was as careful, as a rule, to refrain from exercising it;\nand in Thessalonica, rather than prove a burden to the church, he had\nwrought and toiled, night and day, with his own hands. All this was an\nexample for the Thessalonians to imitate; and we can understand the\nseverity with which the Apostle treats that idleness which alleges in\nits defence the strength of its interest in religion. It was a\npersonal insult.\n\nOver against this shallow pretence, Paul sets the Christian virtue of\nindustry, with its stern law, \"If any man _will_ not work, neither let\nhim eat.\" If he claims to lead a superhuman angelic life, let him\nsubsist on angels' food. What we find in this passage is not the\nexaggeration which is sometimes called the gospel of work; but the\nsoberer and truer thought that work is essential, in general, to the\nChristian character. The Apostle plays with the words when he writes,\n\"That work not at all, but are busybodies\"; or, as it has been\nreproduced in English, who are busy only with what is not their\nbusiness. This is, in point of fact, the moral danger of idleness, in\nthose who are not otherwise vicious.[29] Where men are naturally bad,\nit multiplies temptations and opportunities for sin; Satan finds some\nmischief still for idle hands to do. But even where it is the good who\nare concerned, as in the passage before us, idleness has its perils.\nThe busybody is a real character--a man or a woman who, having no\nsteady work to do, which must be done whether it is liked or disliked,\nand which is therefore wholesome, is too apt to meddle in other\npeople's affairs, religious or worldly; and to meddle, too, without\nthinking that it _is_ meddling; an impertinence; perhaps a piece of\ndownright, stone-blind Pharisaism. A person who is not disciplined and\nmade wise by regular work has no idea of its moral worth and\nopportunities; nor has he, as a rule, any idea of the moral\nworthlessness and vanity of such an existence as his own.\n\nThere seem to have been a good many fussy people in Thessalonica,\nanxious about their industrious neighbours, concerned for their lack\nof interest in the Lord's coming, perpetually meddling with them--and\nliving upon them. It is no wonder that the Apostle expresses himself\nwith some peremptoriness: \"If any man will not work, neither let him\neat.\" The difficulty about the application of this rule is that it has\nno application except to the poor. In a society like our own, the\nbusybody may be found among those for whom this law has no terror;\nthey are idle, simply because they have an income which is independent\nof labour. Yet what the Apostle says has a lesson for such people\nalso. One of the dangers of their situation is that they should\nunder-estimate the moral and spiritual worth of industry. A retired\nmerchant, a military or naval officer on half-pay, a lady with money\nin the funds and no responsibilities but her own,--all these have a\ndeal of time on their hands; and if they are good people, it is one of\nthe temptations incident to their situation, that they should have\nwhat the Apostle calls a busybody's interest in others. It need not be\na spurious or an affected interest; but it misjudges the moral\ncondition of others, and especially of the labouring classes, because\nit does not appreciate the moral content of a day full of work. If the\nwork is done honestly at all, it is a thing of great price; there are\nvirtues embedded in it, patience, courage, endurance, fidelity, which\ncontribute as much to the true good of the world and the true\nenrichment of personal character as the pious solicitude of those who\nhave nothing to do but be pious. Perhaps these are things that do not\nrequire to be said. It may rather be the case in our own time that\nmere industry is overvalued; and certainly a natural care for the\nspiritual interests of our brethren, not Pharisaic, but Christian, not\nmeddlesome, but most earnest, can never be in excess. It is the\nbusybody whose interference is resented; the brother, once he is\nrecognised as a brother, is made welcome.\n\nConvinced as he is that for mankind in general \"no work\" means \"no\ncharacter,\" Paul commands and exhorts in the Lord Jesus all such as he\nhas been speaking of to work with quietness, and to eat their own\nbread. Their excitement was both unnatural and unspiritual. It was\nnecessary for their moral health that they should escape from it, and\nlearn how to walk orderly, and to live at their post. The quietness of\nwhich he speaks is both inward and outward. Let them compose their\nminds, and cease from their fussiness; the agitation within, and the\ndistraction without, are equally fruitless. Far more beautiful, far\nmore Christlike, than any busybody, however zealous, is he who works\nwith quietness and eats his own bread. Probably the bulk of the\nThessalonian Church was quite sound in this matter; and it is to\nencourage them that the Apostle writes, \"But ye, brethren, be not\nweary in well-doing.\" The bad behaviour of the busybodies may have\nbeen provoking to some, infectious in the case of others; but they are\nto persevere, in spite of it, in the path of quiet industry and good\nconduct. This has not the pretentiousness of an absorbed waiting for\nthe Lord, and a vaunted renunciation of the world; but it has the\ncharacter of moral loveliness; it exercises the new man in the powers\nof the new life.\n\nAlong with his judgment on this moral disorder, the Apostle gives the\nChurch directions for its treatment. It is to be met with reserve,\nprotest, and love.\n\nFirst, with reserve: \"Withdraw yourselves from every brother that\nwalketh disorderly, and not after the tradition which they received of\nus; ... note that man, that ye have no company with him.\" The\nChristian community has a character to keep, and that character is\ncompromised by the misconduct of any of its members. To such\nmisconduct, therefore, it cannot be, and should not be, indifferent:\nindifference would be suicidal. The Church exists to maintain a moral\ntestimony, to keep up a certain standard of conduct among men; and\nwhen that standard is visibly and defiantly departed from, there will\nbe a reaction of the common conscience in the Church, vigorous in\nproportion to her vitality. A bad man may be quite at home in the\nworld; he may find or make a circle of associates like himself; but\nthere is something amiss, if he does not find himself alone in the\nChurch. Every strong life closes itself against the intrusion of what\nis alien to it--a strong moral life most emphatically of all. A wicked\nperson of any description ought to feel that the public sentiment of\nthe Church is against him, and that as long as he persists in his\nwickedness he is virtually, if not formally, excommunicated. The\nelement of communion in the Church is spiritual soundness; \"If we walk\nin the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with\nanother.\" But if any one begins to walk in darkness, he is out of the\nfellowship. The only hope for him is that he may recognise the justice\nof his exclusion, and, as the Apostle says, be ashamed. He is shut out\nfrom the society of others that he may be driven in upon himself, and\ncompelled, in spite of wilfulness, to judge himself by the Christian\nstandard.\n\nBut reserve, impressive as it may be, is not enough. The erring\nbrother is to be admonished; that is, he is to be gravely spoken to\nabout his error. Admonition is a difficult duty. Not every one feels\nat liberty, or _is_ at liberty, to undertake it. Our own faults\nsometimes shut our mouths; the retort courteous, or uncourteous, to\nany admonition from us, is too obvious. But though such considerations\nshould make us humble and diffident, they ought not to lead to\nneglect of plain duty. To think too much of one's faults is in some\ncircumstances a kind of perverted vanity; it is to think too much of\noneself. We have all our faults, of one kind or another; but that does\nnot prohibit us from aiding each other to overcome faults. If we avoid\nanger, and censoriousness; if we shun, as well as disclaim, the spirit\nof the Pharisee, then with all our imperfections God will justify us\nin speaking seriously to others about their sins. We do not pretend to\njudge them; we only appeal to themselves to say whether they are\nreally at ease when they stand on one side, and the word of God and\nthe conscience of the Church on the other. In a sense, this is\nspecially the duty of the elders of the Church. It is they who are\npastors of the flock of God, and who are expressly responsible for\nthis moral guardianship; but there is no officialism in the Christian\ncommunity which limits the interest of any member in all the rest, or\nexempts him from the responsibility of pleading the cause of God with\nthe erring. How many Christian duties there are which seem never to\nhave come in the way of some Christians.\n\nFinally, in the discipline of the erring, an essential element is\nlove. Withdraw from him, and let him feel he is alone; admonish him,\nand let him be convinced he is gravely wrong; but in your admonition\nremember that he is not an enemy, but a brother. Judgment is a\nfunction which the natural man is prone to assume, and which he\nexercises without misgiving. He is so sure of himself, that instead of\nadmonishing, he denounces; what he is bent upon is not the\nreclamation, but the annihilation, of the guilty. Such a spirit is\ntotally out of place in the Church; it is a direct defiance of the\nspirit which created the Christian community, and which that community\nis designed to foster. Let the sin be never so flagrant, the sinner is\na brother; he is one for whom Christ died. To the Lord who bought him\nhe is inexpressibly valuable; and woe to the reprover of sin who\nforgets this. The whole power of discipline which is committed to the\nChurch is for edification, not for destruction; for the building up of\nChristian character, not for pulling it down. The case of the offender\nis the case of a brother; if we are true Christians, it is our own. We\nmust act toward him and his offence as Christ acted toward the world\nand its sin: no judgment without mercy, no mercy without judgment.\nChrist took the sin of the world on Himself, but He made no compromise\nwith it; He never extenuated it; He never spoke of it or treated it\nbut with inexorable severity. Yet though the sinful felt to the depth\nof their hearts His awful condemnation of their sins, they felt that\nin assenting to that condemnation there was hope. To them, as opposed\nto their sins, He was winning, condescending, loving. He received\nsinners, and in His company they sinned no more.\n\nThus it is that in the Christian religion everything comes back to\nChrist and to the imitation of Christ. He is the pattern of those\nsimple and hardy virtues, industry and steadfastness. He wrought at\nhis trade in Nazareth till the hour came for Him to enter on His\nsupreme vocation; who can undervalue the possibilities of goodness in\nthe lives of men who work with quietness and eat their own bread, that\nremembers it was over a village carpenter the heavenly voice sounded,\n\"This is My beloved Son\"? Christ is the pattern also for Christian\ndiscipline in its treatment of the erring. No sinner could feel\nhimself, in his sin, in communion with Christ: the Holy One\ninstinctively withdrew from him, and he felt he was alone. No offender\nhad his offence simply condoned by Jesus: the forgiveness of sins\nwhich He bestows includes condemnation as well as remission; it is\nwrought in one piece out of His mercy and His judgment. But neither,\nagain, did any offender, who bowed to Christ's judgment, and suffered\nit to condemn him, find himself excluded from His mercy. The Holy One\nwas the sinner's friend. Those whom He at first repelled were\nirresistibly drawn to Him. They began, like Peter, with \"Depart from\nme, for I am a sinful man, O Lord\"; they ended, like him, with \"Lord,\nto whom shall we go?\" This, I say, is the pattern which is set before\nus, for the discipline of the erring. This includes reserve,\nadmonition, love, and much more. If there be any other commandment, it\nis summarily comprehended in this word, \"Follow Me.\"\n\n[29] _Cf._ 1 Tim. v. 13: \"And withal they learn also to be idle, going\nabout from house to house; and not only idle, but tattlers also and\nbusybodies, speaking things which they ought not.\"\n\n\n\n\nVIII.\n\n_FAREWELL._\n\n\n \"Now the Lord of peace Himself give you peace at all times in all\n ways. The Lord be with you all.\n\n \"The salutation of me Paul with mine own hand, which is the token in\n every epistle: so I write. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with\n you all.\"--2 THESS. iii. 16-18 (R.V.).\n\nThe first verse of this short passage is taken by some as in close\nconnection with what goes before. In the exercise of Christian\ndiscipline, such as it has been described by the Apostle, there may be\noccasions of friction or even of conflict in the Church; it is this\nwhich he would obviate by the prayer, \"The Lord of peace Himself give\nyou peace always.\" The contrast is somewhat forced and disproportioned;\nand it is certainly better to take this prayer, standing as it does at\nthe close of the letter, in the very widest sense. Not merely freedom\nfrom strife, but peace in its largest Christian meaning, is the burden\nof his petition.\n\nThe Lord of peace Himself is Christ. He is the Author and Originator\nof all that goes by that name in the Christian communion. The word\n\"peace\" was not, indeed, a new one; but it had been baptized into\nChrist, like many another, and become a new creation. Newman said that\nwhen he passed out of the Church of England into the Church of Rome,\nall the Christian ideas, were so to speak, magnified; everything\nappeared on a vaster scale. This is a very good description, at all\nevents, of what one sees on passing from natural morality to the New\nTestament, from writers so great even as Epictetus and Marcus Aurelius\nto the Apostles. All the moral and spiritual ideas are magnified--sin,\nholiness, peace, repentance, love, hope, God, man, attain to new\ndimensions. Peace, in particular, was freighted to a Christian with a\nweight of meaning which no pagan could conceive. It brought to mind\nwhat Christ had done for man, He who had made peace by the blood of\nHis Cross; it gave that assurance of God's love, that consciousness of\nreconciliation, which alone goes to the bottom of the soul's unrest.\nIt brought to mind also what Christ had been. It recalled that life\nwhich had faced all man's experience, and had borne through all a\nheart untroubled by doubts of God's goodness. It recalled that solemn\nbequest: \"Peace I leave with you; My peace I give unto you.\" In every\nsense and in every way it was connected with Christ; it could neither\nbe conceived nor possessed apart from Him; He was Himself the Lord of\nthe Christian peace.\n\nThe Apostle shows his sense of the comprehensiveness of this blessing\nby the adjuncts of his prayer. He asks the Lord to give it to the\nThessalonians uninterruptedly and in all the modes of its\nmanifestation. Peace may be lost. There may be times at which the\nconsciousness of reconciliation passes away, and the heart cannot\nassure itself before God; these are the times in which we have somehow\nlost Christ, and only through Him can we have our peace with God\nrestored. \"Uninterruptedly\" we must count upon Him for this first and\nfundamental blessing; He is the Lord of Reconciling Love, whose blood\ncleanses from all sin, and makes peace between earth and Heaven for\never. Or there may be times at which the troubles and vexations of\nlife become too trying for us; and instead of peace within, we are\nfull of care and fear. What resource have we then but in Christ, and\nin the love of God revealed to us in Him? His life is at once a\npattern and an inspiration; His great sacrifice is the assurance that\nthe love of God to man is immeasurable, and that all things work\ntogether for good to them that love Him. When the Apostle prayed this\nprayer, he no doubt thought of the life which lay before the\nThessalonians. He remembered the persecutions they had already\nundergone at the hands of the Jews; the similar troubles that awaited\nthem; the grief of those who were mourning for their dead; the deeper\npain of those on whose hearts rushed suddenly, from time to time, the\nmemory of days and years wasted in sin; the moral perplexities that\nwere already rising among them,--he remembered all these things, and\nbecause of them he prayed, \"The Lord of peace Himself give you peace\nat all times in every way.\" For there are many ways in which peace may\nbe possessed; as many ways as there are disquieting situations in\nman's life. It may come as penitent trust in God's mercy; it may come\nas composure in times of excitement and danger; as meekness and\npatience under suffering; as hope when the world would despair; it may\ncome as unselfishness, and the power to think of others, because we\nknow God is taking thought for us,--as \"a heart at leisure from\nitself, to soothe and sympathise.\" All these are peace. Such peace as\nthis--so deep and so comprehensive, so reassuring and so\nemancipating--is the gift of Christ alone. He can give it without\ninterruption; He can give it with virtues as manifold as the trials of\nthe life without or the life within.\n\nHere, properly speaking, the letter ends. The Apostle has communicated\nhis mind to the Thessalonians as fully as their situation required;\nand might end, as he did in the First Epistle, with his benediction.\nBut he remembers the unpleasant incident, mentioned in the beginning\nof ch. ii., of a letter purporting to be from him, though not really\nhis; and he takes care to prevent such a mistake for the future. This\nEpistle, like almost all the rest, had been written by some one to the\nApostle's dictation; but as a guarantee of genuineness, he closes it\nwith a line or two in his own hand. \"The salutation of me Paul with\nmine own hand, which is the token in every epistle: so I write.\" What\ndoes \"so I write\" mean? Apparently, \"You see the character of my\nwriting; it is a hand quite recognisable as mine; a few lines in this\nhand will authenticate every letter that comes from me.\"\n\nPerhaps \"every letter\" only means every one which he would afterwards\nwrite to Thessalonica; certainly attention is not called in all the\nEpistles to this autographic close. It is found in only two\nothers--1st Corinthians (xvi. 21) and Colossians (iv. 18)--exactly as\nit stands here, \"The salutation of me Paul with mine own hand\"; in\nothers it may have been thought unnecessary, either because, like\nGalatians, they were written throughout in his own hand; or, like 2nd\nCorinthians and Philemon, were conveyed by persons equally known and\ntrusted by the Apostle and the recipients. The great Epistle to the\nRomans, to judge from its various conclusions, seems to have been from\nthe very beginning a sort of circular letter; and the personal\ncharacter, made prominent by the autograph signature, was less in\nplace then. The same remark applies to the Epistle to the Ephesians.\nAs for the pastoral Epistles, to Timothy and Titus, they may have been\nautographic throughout; in any case, neither Timothy nor Titus was\nlikely to be imposed upon by a letter falsely claiming to be Paul's.\nThey knew their master too well.\n\nIf it was possible to make a mistake in the Apostle's lifetime, and to\ntake as his an Epistle which he never wrote, is it impossible to be\nsimilarly imposed upon now? Have we reasonable grounds for believing\nthat the thirteen Epistles in the New Testament, which bear his name\nupon their front, really came from his hand? That is a question which\nin the last hundred years, and especially in the last fifty, has been\nexamined with the amplest learning and the most minute and searching\ncare. Nothing that could possibly be alleged against the authenticity\nof any of these Epistles, however destitute of plausibility, has been\nkept back. The references to them in early Christian writers, their\nreception in the early Church, the character of their contents, their\nstyle, their vocabulary, their temper, their mutual relations, have\nbeen the subject of the most thorough investigation. Nothing has ever\nbeen more carefully tested than the historical judgment of the Church\nin receiving them; and though it would be far from true to say that\nthere were no difficulties, or no divergence of opinion, it is the\nsimple truth that the consent of historical critics in the great\necclesiastical tradition becomes more simple and decided. The Church\ndid not act at random in forming the apostolic canon. It exercised a\nsound mind in embodying in the New Testament of our Lord and Saviour\nthe books which it did embody, and no other. Speaking of Paul in\nparticular, one ought to say that the only writings ascribed to him,\nin regard to which there is any body of doubtful opinion, are the\nEpistles to Timothy and Titus. Many seem to feel, in regard to these,\nthat they are on a lower key than the undoubtedly Pauline letters;\nthere is less spirit in them, less of the native originality of the\ngospel, a nearer approach to moral commonplace; they are not unlike a\nhalf-way house between the apostolic and the post-apostolic age. These\nare very dubious grounds to go upon; they will impress different minds\nvery differently; and when we come to look at the outward evidence for\nthese letters, they are almost better attested, in early Christian\nwriters, than anything else in the New Testament. Their semi-legal\ncharacter, and the positive rules with which they abound, inferior as\nthey make them in intellectual and spiritual interest to high works of\ninspiration like Romans and Colossians, seem to have enabled simple\nChristian people to get hold of them, and to work them out in their\ncongregations and their homes. All that Paul wrote need not have been\non one level; and it is almost impossible to understand the authority\nwhich these Epistles immediately and universally obtained, if they\nwere not what they claimed to be. Only a very accomplished scholar\ncould appreciate the historical arguments for and against them; yet I\ndo not think it is unfair to say that even here the traditional\nopinion is in the way, not of being reversed, but of being confirmed.\n\nThe very existence of such questions, however, warns us against\nmistaken estimates of Scripture. People sometimes say, if there be one\npoint uncertain, our Bible is gone. Well, there _are_ points\nuncertain; there are points, too, in regard to which an ordinary\nChristian can only have a kind of second-hand assurance; and this of\nthe genuineness of the pastoral Epistles is one. There is no doubt a\nvery good case to be made out for them by a scholar; but not a case\nwhich makes doubt impossible. Yet our Bible is not taken away. The\nuncertainty touches, at most, the merest fringe of apostolic teaching;\nnothing that Paul thought of any consequence, or that is of any\nconsequence to us, but is abundantly unfolded in documents which are\nbeyond the reach of doubt. It is not the letter, even of the New\nTestament, which quickens, but the Spirit; and the Spirit exerts its\npower through these Christian documents as a whole, as it does through\nno other documents in the world. When we are perplexed as to whether\nan apostle wrote this or that, let us consider that the most important\nbooks in the Bible--the Gospels and the Psalms--do not name their\nauthors at all. What in the Old Testament can compare with the\nPsalter? Yet these sweet songs are practically anonymous. What can be\nmore certain than that the Gospels bring us into contact with a real\ncharacter--the Son of Man, the Saviour of sinners? Yet we know their\nauthors only through a tradition, a tradition indeed of weight and\nunanimity that can hardly be over-estimated; but simply a tradition,\nand not an inward mark such as Paul here sets on his letter for the\nThessalonians. \"The Church's one Foundation is Jesus Christ her Lord;\"\nas long as we are actually brought into connection with Him through\nScripture, we must be content to put up with the minor uncertainties\nwhich are inseparable from a religion which has had a birth and a\nhistory.\n\nBut to return to the text. The Epistle closes, as the Apostle's custom\nis, with a benediction: \"The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with\nyou all.\" Grace is pre-eminently a Pauline word; it is found alike in\nthe salutations with which Paul addresses his churches, and in the\nbenedictions with which he bids them farewell; it is the beginning and\nthe end of his gospel; the element in which Christians live, and move,\nand have their being. He excludes no one from his blessing; not even\nthose who had been walking disorderly, and setting at nought the\ntradition they had received from him; their need is the greatest of\nall. If we had imagination enough to bring vividly before us the\ncondition of one of these early churches, we would see how much is\ninvolved in a blessing like this, and what sublime confidence it\ndisplays in the goodness and faithfulness of our Lord. The\nThessalonians, a few months ago, had been heathens; they had known\nnothing of God and His Son; they were living still in the midst of a\nheathen population, under the pressure of heathen influences both on\nthought and conduct, beset by numberless temptations; and if they were\nmindful of the country from which they had come forth, not without\nopportunity to return. Paul would willingly have stayed with them to\nbe their pastor and teacher, their guide and their defender, but his\nmissionary calling made this impossible. After the merest introduction\nto the gospel, and to the new life to which it calls those who receive\nit, they had to be left to themselves. Who should keep them from\nfalling? Who should open their eyes to understand the ideal which the\nChristian is summoned to work out in his life? Amid their many\nenemies, where could they look for a sufficient and ever-present ally?\nThe Apostle answers these questions when he writes, \"The grace of our\nLord Jesus Christ be with you all.\" Although he has left them, they\nare not really alone. The free love of God, which visited them at\nfirst uncalled, will be with them still, to perfect the work it has\nbegun. It will beset them behind and before; it will be a sun and a\nshield to them, a light and a defence. In all their temptations, in\nall their sufferings, in all their moral perplexities, in all their\ndespondencies, it will be sufficient for them. There is not any kind\nof succour which a Christian needs which is not to be found in the\ngrace of the Lord Jesus Christ.\n\nHere, then, we bring to a close our study of the two earliest Epistles\nof St. Paul. They have given us a picture of the primitive apostolic\npreaching, and of the primitive Christian Church. That preaching\nembodied revelations, and it was the acceptance of these revelations\nthat created the new society. The Apostle and his fellow-evangelists\ncame to Thessalonica telling of Jesus, who had died and risen again,\nand who was about to return to judge the living and the dead. They\ntold of the impending wrath of God, that wrath which was revealed\nalready against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, and was to\nbe revealed in all its terrors when the Lord came. They preached Jesus\nas the Deliverer from the coming wrath, and gathered, through faith in\nHim, a Church living in God the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ.\nTo an uninterested spectator, the work of Paul and his companions\nwould have seemed a very little thing; he would not have discovered\nits originality and promise; he would hardly have counted upon its\npermanence. In reality, it was the greatest and most original thing\never seen in the world. That handful of men and women in Thessalonica\nwas a new phenomenon in history; life had attained to new dimensions\nin them; it had heights and depths in it, a glory and a gloom, of\nwhich the world had never dreamed before; all moral ideas were\nmagnified, as it were, a thousandfold; an intensity of moral life was\ncalled into being, an ardent passion for goodness, a spiritual fear\nand hope, which made them capable of all things. The immediate\neffects, indeed, were not unmixed; in some minds not only was the\ncentre of gravity shifted, but the balance utterly upset; the future\nand unseen became so real to them, or were asserted to be so real,\nthat the present and its duties were totally neglected. But with all\nmisapprehensions and moral disorders, there was a new experience; a\nchange so complete and profound that it can only be described as a new\ncreation. Possessed by Christian faith, the soul discovered new powers\nand capacities; it could combine \"much affliction\" with \"joy of the\nHoly Ghost\"; it could believe in inexorable judgment and in infinite\nmercy; it could see into the depths of death and life; it could endure\nsuffering for Christ's sake with brave patience; it had been lost, but\nhad found itself again. The life that had once been low, dull, vile,\nhopeless, uninteresting, became lofty, vast, intense. Old things had\npassed away; behold, all things had become new.\n\nThe Church is much older now than when this Epistle was written; time\nhas taught her many things; Christian men have learned to compose\ntheir minds and to curb their imaginations; we do not lose our heads\nnowadays, and neglect our common duties, in dreaming on the world to\ncome. Let us say that this is gain; and can we say further that we\nhave lost nothing which goes some way to counterbalance it? Are the\nnew things of the gospel as real to us, and as commanding in their\noriginality, as they were at the first? Do the revelations which are\nthe sum and substance of the gospel message, the warp and woof of\napostolic preaching, bulk in our minds as they bulk in this letter? Do\nthey enlarge our thoughts, widen our spiritual horizon, lift to their\nown high level, and expand to their own scale, our ideas about God and\nman, life and death, sin and holiness, things visible and invisible?\nAre we deeply impressed by the coming wrath and by the glory of\nChrist? Have we entered into the liberty of those whom the revelation\nof the world to come enabled to emancipate themselves from this? These\nare the questions that rise in our minds as we try to reproduce the\nexperience of an early Christian church. In those days, everything was\nof inspiration; now, so much is of routine. The words that thrilled\nthe soul then have become trite and inexpressive; the ideas that gave\nnew life to thought appear worn and commonplace. But that is only\nbecause we dwell on the surface of them, and keep their real import at\na distance from the mind. Let us accept the apostolic message in all\nits simplicity and compass; let us believe, and not merely say or\nimagine we believe, that there is a life beyond death, revealed in the\nResurrection, a judgment to come, a wrath of God, a heavenly glory;\nlet us believe in the infinite significance, and in the infinite\ndifference, of right and wrong, of holiness and sin; let us realise\nthe love of Christ, who died for our sins, who calls us to fellowship\nwith God, who is our Deliverer from the coming wrath; let these truths\nfill, inspire, and dominate our minds, and for us, too, faith in\nChrist will be a passing from death unto life.\n\n\n\n\nThe EXPOSITOR'S BIBLE\n\n _Edited_ by W. ROBERTSON NICOLL, D.D., LL.D.\n _New and Cheaper Edition. Printed from original plates_\n _Complete in every detail. Uniform with this volume_\n Price 50 cents per volume. (If by mail add 10 cents postage)\n\nOLD TESTAMENT VOLUMES\n\n GENESIS. By Rev. Prof. Marcus Dods, D.D.\n EXODUS. By Very Rev. G. A. Chadwick, D.D., Dean of Armagh.\n LEVITICUS. By Rev. S. H. Kellogg, D.D.\n NUMBERS. By Rev. R. A. Watson, D.D.\n DEUTERONOMY. By Rev. Prof. Andrew Harper, B.D.\n JOSHUA. By Rev. Prof. W. G. Blaikie, D.D., LL.D.\n JUDGES AND RUTH. By Rev. R. A. Watson, D.D.\n FIRST SAMUEL. By Rev. Prof. W. G. Blaikie, D.D., LL.D.\n SECOND SAMUEL. By same author.\n FIRST KINGS. By F. W. Farrar, D.D., Dean of Canterbury.\n SECOND KINGS. By same author.\n FIRST AND SECOND CHRONICLES. By Rev. Prof. W. H. Bennett.\n EZRA, NEHEMIAH, AND ESTHER. By Rev. Prof. W. F. Adeney.\n JOB. By Rev. R. A. Watson, D.D.\n PSALMS. In 3 vols. Vol. I., Chapters I.-XXXVIII.; Vol. II., Chapters\n   XXXIX.-LXXXIX.; Vol. III., Chapters XC.-CL. By Rev. Alexander\n   Maclaren, D.D.\n PROVERBS. By Rev. R. F. Horton, D.D.\n ECCLESIASTES. By Rev. Samuel Cox, D.D.\n SONG OF SOLOMON AND LAMENTATIONS. By Rev. Prof. W. F. Adeney.\n ISAIAH. In 2 vols. Vol I., Chapters I.-XXXIX.; Vol. II., Chapters\n   XL-LXVI. By Prof. George Adam Smith, D.D., LL.D.\n JEREMIAH. Chapters I.--XX. With a Sketch of his Life and Times. By\n   Rev. C. J. Ball.\n JEREMIAH. Chapters XXI.--LII. By Rev. Prof. W. H. Bennett.\n EZEKIEL. By Rev. Prof. John Skinner.\n DANIEL. By F. W. Farrar, D.D., Dean of Canterbury.\n THE TWELVE (Minor) PROPHETS. In 2 vols. By Rev. George Adam Smith,\n   D.D., LL.D.\n\nNEW TESTAMENT VOLUMES\n\n ST. MATTHEW. By Rev. J. Monro Gibson, D.D.\n ST. MARK. By Very Rev. G. A. Chadwick, D.D., Dean of Armagh.\n ST. LUKE. By Rev. Henry Burton.\n GOSPEL OF ST. JOHN. In 2 vols. Vol. I., Chapters I.-XI.; Vol. II.,\n   Chapters XII.-XXI. By Rev. Prof. Marcus Dods, D.D.\n THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES. In 2 vols. By Rev. Prof. G. T. Stokes, D.D.\n ROMANS. By Rev. Handley C. G. Moule, D.D.\n FIRST CORINTHIANS. By Rev. Prof. Marcus Dods, D.D.\n SECOND CORINTHIANS. By Rev. James Denney, D.D.\n GALATIANS. By Rev. Prof. G. G. Findlay, D.D.\n EPHESIANS. By same author.\n PHILIPPIANS. By Rev. Principal Robert Rainy, D.D.\n COLOSSIANS AND PHILEMON. By Rev. Alexander Maclaren, D.D.\n THESSALONIANS. By Rev. James Denney, D.D.\n PASTORAL EPISTLES. By Rev. A. Plummer, D.D.\n HEBREWS. By Rev. Principal T. C. Edwards, D.D.\n ST. JAMES and ST. JUDE. By Rev. A. Plummer, D.D.\n ST. PETER. By Rev. Prof. J. Rawson Lumby, D.D.\n EPISTLES OF ST. JOHN. By Rt. Rev. W. Alexander, Lord Bishop of Derry.\n REVELATION. By Prof. W. Milligan, D.D.\n INDEX VOLUME TO ENTIRE SERIES.\n\n_New York_: HODDER & STOUGHTON, _Publishers_","title":"The Expositor's Bible: The Epistles to the Thessalonians","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":87003}