voice! In these circumstances, it is of the utmost importance to maintain firmness and decision of character. "The fear of man bringeth a snare; but whoso putteth his trust in the Lord shall be safe," (Prov. xxix. 25.) The letters of this illustrious apostle are indeed (his enemies being judges) weighty and powerful What force of reasoning, beauty of sentiment, eloquence of style, and fervour of piety, are every where conspicuous! Yet, neither his talents nor his piety could secure him from the shafts of calumny; and he soon found, what every faithful preacher must expect to find, that the disciple is not above his Master, nor the servant above his Lord.

3. We are encouraged to hope for the universal diffusion of the Gospel. If we except miraculous gifts, the servants of Christ now go forth to assault the strong-holds of Satan, with the same weapons which were employed by the apostles. Shall we despair of success? We have no reason to do so. Christianity has already triumphed over the most powerful prejudices, and inveterate habits." Every valley shall be exalted, and every moun tain and hill shall be made low; and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain. And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it," (Isa. xl. 4, 5.) Has the Gospel subdued our proud reasonings and corrupt propensities? Let us ascribe the praise to God. And O may the Spirit of the Lord open the hearts of those who hear the word of Life, to attend to the things that are spoken; and bring the hardened infidel, the vain sceptic, and the thoughtless libertine, to submit to the authority of Christ, and to abandon all their refuges of lies!

SECTION SECOND.-VERSES 12-18.

THE PROPER RULE OF JUDGING.

THE Apostle had adverted to the mean opinion entertained of him by the factious teachers in the Corinthian church. They affected to despise his doctrine and his personal presence, while they boasted of their superior knowledge and eloquence. He

now observes, in a style of irony, that he would not presume to rank himself with persons of such eminent gifts and abilities as they pretended to be; or, seriously, he would not venture to follow their example, or to adopt their rule of judging, as it was both unreasonable and dangerous: 12. "For we dare not number (yxgva) or compare (n σvyga) ourselves with some who commend themselves; but they, measuring themselves by (or among, #) themselves, and comparing themselves with themselves, are not wise." Instead of comparing their doctrine and character with the standard of divine truth, and measuring their attainments and usefulness by those of the accredited ambassadors of Christ, and others of acknowledged eminence in the church, they set themselves up as a standard by which to judge both themselves and others, and compared their characters and labours only with those of individuals of their own stamp. This led them to entertain an undue conceit of themselves, and to form an erroneous estimate of other men, for it was evident “they did not understand” (ov σvnouri) their own character. There is not a more fruitful source of error, than to judge of persons and opinions by our own prejudices. It is said of an eastern prince, that he ridiculed the idea of water being rendered solid by freezing. We can easily conceive what inadequate conceptions a savage would form of the arts of civilized life, by comparing them with those of his own country. This remark is capable of extensive application. Every class of society forms an imaginary rule of conduct for itself. It has been remarked, that even robbers and murderers have certain notions of honour which they would deem it improper to transgress. How common is it for persons to judge of their religious character by the opinions and maxims of the world around them! But how different is the rule of God's word! How often do we hear individuals congratulating themselves, that they are free from certain vices, and are punctual in the observance of certain duties, who are, at the same time, utterly ignorant of the spirituality and extent of the divine law! They compare themselves with those of similar, or even of inferior, character; they vainly imagine, that because their own conduct is unimpeachable, in the view of man, they have nothing to fear from

See this thought forcibly illustrated in a discourse on this text by the Rev. Dr Chalmers.

the scrutiny of their final Judge; their prejudices will not suffer them to apply the true standard, or even to observe the superior attainments of many around them. Hence they remain stran gers to their real character and situation, as sinners exposed to the wrath of God; they labour to establish a righteousness of their own; they reject the free offers of the Gospel; they despise the great atonement, and treat the doctrine of regeneration by the Holy Spirit as irrational or absurd. This is the greatest barrier in the way of men's salvation. The Vulgate gives quite a different turn to the verse we have been considering: The last clause is rendered, “sed ipsi in nobis nosmetipsos metientes et comparantes nos metipsos nobis;" which is thus translated in the Rhemish version, "but we measure ourselves by ourselves, and compare ourselves with ourselves." Thus the words ou cuvi are entirely omitted, and the reciprocal pronoun is made to express the first person. According to this sense, the Apostle means to say, that he formed a correct estimate of himself, by making his actual attainments the standard of judging; but there is no authority for omitting the words before mentioned; and the former view is the more natural.

ου συνουσι

The Apostle next compares the preachers of the Gospel to labourers, who have a certain portion of work marked out to each by their overseer, and whose duty it is to keep within the boundary line, so as neither to neglect their own part, nor to interfere with the portion of their fellow-labourers. In what Paul was about to say on the subject of his own exertions, he would carefully observe the measure which had been assigned to him by the Lord of the vineyard: 13. "But we will not boast of things not measured (ausga), but according to the measure of the line (xavovos) which God hath distributed (or allotted, sugs) to us, a measure to reach even unto you." The God of measure (as some translate the words tos pergov), had commissioned him to preach to the Gentiles; and the Corinthians, among others, were included within the line measured out to him. In claiming them, therefore, as a part of his allotted work, he did not go beyond his line, for he could appeal to themselves that he had travelled as far as to Corinth, and had first planted Christianity in that city: 14. "For we stretch not ourselves beyond (our bounds, gixTour) as not reaching to you; for we are come as far as to you also, in preaching the Gospel of Christ (or with the Gospel, To way

ya)." Moreover, in extending his labours thus far, he had not been neglectful of the intervening country. As he observes in his Epistle to the Romans, (chap. xv. 19.) "From Jerusalem round about unto Illyricum, he had fully preached the Gospel of Christ." He was not, like the false teachers, easily discouraged with the difficulties which they met with in new places, and rather disposed to leave their work unfinished, and to intrude into those stations where the Gospel was already introduced. Thus they entered on other men's labours, and then boasted of their success, as if they had been the first to proclaim the word of life in those places. But the Apostle so aimed to preach the Gospel where it was before unknown, and "not where Christ was named, lest he should build on another man's foundation," Rom. xv. 20.; and he indulged the hope, that, after they had been further instructed and established in the faith, he might, with safety, leave them to the care of their ordinary pastors, and pursue his labours in more distant countries, such as Italy and Spain, whither he intended to go. In the execution of this undertaking, he expected that the Corinthians would afford him encouragement and assistance, by their prayers and contributions, so as to enable him to avail himself of the full measure of his line: 15, 16. "We do not boast of things not measured, in other men's labours (v λTELOIS xos), but we have hope, that when your faith is increased (αυξανομένης της πιστεως ύμων), we shall be enlarged (μελαγυνθηται) by you, according to our rule, abundantly to preach the Gospel in the (regions) beyond you (ing), and not to boast in another man's line, (or boundary, xavon) of things already prepared (roi)." Thus he would carefully avoid interfering with the exertions of other christian brethren, and would not seek to deprive them of the credit of their own labour. It is the mark of a party spirit to intrude into places where the Gospel is already fully and faithfully preached, in order to draw away disciples from pious and zealous pastors. Thus divisions are unnecessarily multiplied, and the hands of faithful ministers are weakened. It is a dishonourable thing thus to take the praise of another man's labours. In this view, those preachers are most honoured who are called to go forth among heathen nations. These can enter into the true spirit of this passage. But we are surely not to infer, from what is here said, that wherever men are nominally under the ministry of

others, it is wrong to use any further means for their conversion. Their religious instruction, may be wilfully neglected, or they may be taught erroneous doctrine, or it may be impossible, from the extent of the parish, for the ordinary minister to reach the full measure of his line. The question to be considered is, are they ignorant of the way of salvation? Are they living without God in the world? Then they must not be left to perish in ignorance-there Christ, in fact, is not named. It is not the interest of a party, but the salvation of souls that is then sought. This is undeniably the situation of thousands in our own country, and renders the labours of itinerants highly necessary and useful.

Paul, however, did not wish to ascribe any praise to himself in what he had done. He was only an instrument in the hand of God. Therefore he would ascribe all the honour to Him who had rendered his ministry effectual. He gloried in Christ as his all-sufficient Saviour, the foundation of his hope, and the Author of all his gifts and usefulness: And, as a general rule, he would recommend the renunciation of every other object of confidence, whether wealth, honour, learning, talents, or benevolent dispositions. 17." But let him that glorieth (or boasteth), glory in the Lord." We have already considered this sentiment, which is quoted from Isaiah xlv. 25., when discoursing on the first epistle, (chap. i. 30, 31.) It is of the same import with Gal. vi. 14. "God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world." Finally, he observes, that self-commendation will never prove a man acceptable to God; they only are approved whom the unerring Judge shall commend: 18. "For not he that commendeth himself is approved (doxos) but whom the Lord commendeth." Alas! how many are there who are ready to commend themselves. This seems to have been the case with the factious teachers in the church at Corinth; but it is equally true of the self-righteous pharisee-the proud speculatist-the lukewarm professor of the Gospel-and the cold formalist. Even the gay libertine "blesses himself in his heart, saying, I shall have peace, though I walk in the imagination of mine heart, to add drunkenness to thirst," (Deut. xxix. 19.) Thus they put the evil day far from them, and go down to the grave with a lie in their right hand. But who are they who are approved of God?