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LECTURE LI.

1853.

2 CORINTHIANS, vii. 11-16. -For behold this selfsame thing, that ye sorrowed after a godly sort, what carefulness it wrought in you. yea, what clearing of yourselves, yea. what indignation, yea, what fear, yea, what vehement desire, yea, what zeal, yea, what revenge! In all things ye have approved yourselves to be clear in this matter. Wherefore, though I wrote unto you, I did it not for his cause that had done the wrong, nor for his cause that suffered wrong, but that our care for you in the sight of God might appear unto you. - Therefore we were comforted in your comfort: yea, and exeeedingly the more joyed we for the joy of Titus, because his spirit was refreshed by you all. For if I have boasted anything to him of you, I am not ashamed; but as we spake all things to you in truth, even so our boasting, which I made before Titus, is found a truth. And his inward affection is more abundant toward you, whilst he remembereth the obedience of you all, how with fear and trembling ye received him. I rejoice therefore that I have confidence in you in all things."

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TO-DAY we touch upon the last of those notices respecting St. Paul's treatment of the incestuous Corinthian, which have so repeatedly interwoven themselves with the argument of the First and Second Epistles. The general subject has successively brought before us the nature of human punishment, as not being merely reformatory, nor exemplary, nor for safety's sake, but also as being declarative of the indignation of society, and through society, of the indignation of God against sin. Again, it has taught us to consider excommunication and absolution, and what these ecclesiastical words express; and also to consider the power of binding and loosing lodged in Humanity - an actual and awful power, often used with fearful injustice and evil results as when a person, cut off for ever from return, is driven to despair, "swallowed up with overmuch sorrow." Now these are real powers, dispute as men may about the ecclesiastical meaning to be given to them.

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Every one daily, and often unconsciously, exercises them and to do this rightly is no easy task: for it is difficult to punish wisely, and it is equally difficult to forgive wisely. It is rare even that we rebuke in a true and prudent spirit. Hence, the whole history of St. Paul's 's dealing with this offender is one of exceeding value, being so full of wisdom, firmness, justice, and exquisite tenderness. Most truly it is an inexhaustible subject!

The portion of it which we shall consider to-day, is the Christian manner of rebuke. We take two points:

I. The spirit of apostolical rebuke.

II. The apostolical doctrine of repentance.

I. The spirit of apostolical rebuke.

First: It was marked by unflinching severity: "I do not repent; ... for I perceive that the same epistle hath made you sorry, though it were but for a season. Now I rejoice, not that ye were made sorry, but that ye sorrowed to repentance: for ye were made sorry after a godly manner, that ye might receive damage by us in nothing." St. Paul rejoiced then, in the pain he had inflicted his censure had not been weak: severely, truthfully he had rebuked. Let us inquire the reason of this joy. St. Paul rejoiced because the pain was transitory, while the good was permanent; because the sorrow was for a time, but the blessing for ever; because the suffering was in this world, but the salvation for eternity for the sinner had been delivered to "Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus." The criminal had undergone public shame and public humiliation; his had been private grief, and many searchings of heart; and all this had not only taught him a lesson, which never could be forgotten, and strengthened him by terrible discipline against future weakness, but also had set up for the Corinthians a higher standard, and vindicated the purity of Christian life and the

dignity of the Christian Church. This was the pain, and these were its results. Seeing these results, St. Paul steadily contemplated the necessary suffering.

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Let us now infer from this a great truth the misfortune of non-detection. They who have done wrong congratulate themselves upon not being found out. Boys sin by disobedience; men commit crimes against society and their natural impulse is to hush all up, and if what they have done is undiscovered, to consider it a happy escape. Now the worst misfortune that can happen is to sin, and to escape detection; shame and sorrow do God's work, as nothing else can do it. We can readily conceive that, if this shame and scandal had been hushed up, then the offender would have thought it a fortunate escape, and sinned again. A sin undetected is the soil out of which fresh sin will grow. Somehow, like a bullet wound, the extraneous evil must come out in the face of day, be found out, or else be acknowledged by confession. I do not say it should be disclosed publicly. It suffices if a few or even one person only have known it, and then condemned and absolved the offender.

Let me ask, then, who here is congratulating himself, is whispering to his own heart, My sin is not known, I shall not be disgraced, nor punished? Think you, that because undetected, you will escape with impunity? No - never! Your sin is there rankling in your heart: your wound is not probed, but only healed over falsely; and it will break out in the future, more corrupted, and more painful than before.

Secondly: The Apostle's rebuke was marked by the desire of doing good. It is a thing common enough to be severe. We are severe enough on one another, both in our view of public punishment and in our condemnation of one another's faults. But the question is, What is at the bottom of this zeal? It is no rare thing to find men who can be severe in rebuke: but the thing which is uppermost is evidently themselves—their own fidelity, courage, and truthfulness. They tell you of your faults, but you feel it is not your reformation, but

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their own vain-glory they are trying to secure. Now St. Paul was not thinking of himself, but of the Corinthians. This is manifest from several verses in this

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chapter. Take the ninth verse: "That ye might receive damage by us in nothing; or the eleventh: "In all things ye have approved yourselves to be clear in this matter;" or the sixteenth: "I rejoice, therefore, that I have confidence in you in all things." The Apostle was not delivering his own soul, but he was trying to save their souls.

Let us, therefore, examine ourselves. We blame, and find fault, and pass judgment upon our neighbor freely; we boldly condemn public men. Why is this? Is it to show to ourselves, and others, how good we are -how we cannot abide sin? or is it to do good? It is often a duty to express disapprobation strongly and severely, to discountenance vice most earnestly; but then we do it not in St. Paul's spirit, unless it is done for the sake of amelioration.

Thirdly: The Apostle's rebuke was marked by a spirit of justice. We refer to the twelfth verse: "Wherefore, though I wrote unto you, I did it not for his cause that had done the wrong, nor for his cause that suffered wrong, but that our care for you in the sight of God might appear unto you." That is, his interference was not partisanship. There was in it no taking of a side, no espousing the cause of the injured, nor mere bitterness against the criminal: but a holy, godly zeal, full of indignation, but not of vindictiveness. In one word, it was Justice. Now this is exactly what some of the best amongst us find most difficult — those especially of us who possess quick, sensitive, right, and generous feelings. We can be charitable, we can be indignant, we can forgive; but we are not just. Especially is this the case with women: the natural sensitiveness and quick nature of their feelings, particularly in their conceptions of right and wrong, hinder them from looking at things calmly enough to judge correctly Again: this justice is most difficult when religious interests are involved: as, for example, in the quarrel

between the Roman Catholic and the Protestant, who judges fairly? To be just is not easy for many qualities go to make up justice. It is founded on forbearance, self-control, patience to examine both sides, and freedom from personal passion.

Fourthly: St. Paul's rebuke was marked by joyful sympathy in the restoration of the erring. Very beautiful is the union of the hearts of Paul and Titus in joy over the recovered-joy as of the angels in heaven over one sinner that repenteth."

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II. The apostolic doctrine of repentance.

St. Paul rejoiced because the Corinthians sorrowed : but in doing so, he carefully distinguished the kind of sorrow which he rejoiced to have caused. In order to follow him, we must see what different kinds of sorrow there are.

1. The sorrow of the world, which is not desirable, because it is of the world. There is an anxiety about loss, about the consequences of mis-doing, about a ruined reputation, about a narrowed sphere of action. Now sin brings all these things; but to sorrow for them is not to sorrow before God. To sorrow for such things is only a worldly grief, because it is only about worldly things. Observe, therefore, that pain, simply as pain, does no good; that sorrow, merely as sorrow, has in it no magical efficacy: shame may harden into effrontery, punishment may rouse into defiance. Again, pain selfinflicted does no good. It is a great error when men, perceiving that God's natural penalties and hardships strengthen and purify the spirit, think to attain to a similar good by forcing such penalties and hardships upon themselves.

It is true that fire, borne for the sake of Truth, is martyrdom; but the hand burnt in ascetic severity does not give the crown of martyrdom, nor even inspire the martyr's feeling. Fastings, such as St. Paul bore from inability to get food, give spiritual strength; but fastings endured for mere exercise, often do no more than produce feverishness of temper. This holds good, like

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