^H OF ?mHcif5^ 3^0lOfilCAL St>^^ A '2 '■/ 0. 5 LECTURES ON ST. PAUL'S FIRST AND SECOND EPISTLES TO THE THESSALONIANS. PRINTED BY MORRISON AND UIBB, FOR T. & T. CLARK, EDINBURGH. LONDON, .... HAMILTON, ADAMS, AND CO. DUBLIN, . . . ' GEORGE HERBERT. NEW YORK, .... SCRIBNER AND WELFORD. LEOTUEBS CHIEFLY EXPOSITORY ON ST. PAUL'S FIRST AND SECOND EPISTLES TO THE THESSALOKIANS. Wh Hnt^s itittr Jlhtstrati0its. BY JOHN HUTCHISON, D.D., BONNIJJGTON, EDI]*S?UKGH. EDINBURGH: T. & T. CLAEK, 3 8 GEORGE STREET. 1884. " Ich bin iiberzeugt, dass die Bibel immer schbnet wird, Je mehr man sie versteht, d. h, je mehr man einsieht und anscliaut, dass Jedes Wort, das wir allgemein auffassen und im Besondern auf iins anwenden, nach gewissen Umstdnden, nach Zeit und Ortsuerhditnissen einen eigenen, besondern unmittelbar indiuiduellen Bezug gehabt hat." — Goetbe, Ethisclies. PREFACE. This volume, like that wliicli I have already published on Our Lord's Messages to the Seven Churches of Asia, is chiefly expository. In substance the Lectures have been used in the ordinary course of my ministry. They have, however, been remodelled so as to make them a continuous commentary. At the same time, I have purposely retained many passages of devotional and practical import. Indeed, I have been mindful through- out of Bengel's direction : " Te totum applica ad textum ; rem totam applica ad te." I am persuaded that the mingling, within due limits, of the homiletical with the expository is the most profitable way of studying Scripture. The volume is the product of study, carried on at intervals through several years. It has therefore been impossible for me to trace in all cases the hints received ; but yet I have endeavoured to acknowledge all indebted- ness to others. The growth of exegetical Literature is in itself an interesting study. Dr. Mark Pattison {Life of Isaac Casauhon, p. 515) has said: "The school commentaries of our day contain the result of four centuries of research ; what one has overlooked another supplies." Much more may it be said of New Testa- ment commentary that it is the result of all the VI PEEFACTE. Christian centuries. It is the stnicture,. still rising, which every age and countless students have combined to rear. I have made use of most of the commentaries on these Epistles, which English and German theological literature supplies, as well as such side-aids as were within my reach. I trust, however, it "will be ap- parent that I have tried to subject the course of the apostle's thought to the scrutiny of an independent judgment. I feel it needful to add, that while these Lectures profess to supply in their o^ti way a commentary, the commentary is in no sense scientific or complete. Many questions of historical and theological and critical interest have been only partially discussed. Even such questions as are prominent in these Epistles have been discussed not in all their aspects, but only in the particular aspects in which they there present themselves. I have carefully refrained from going beyond this. Personally, indeed, I feel most attracted to whatever in these Epistles throws light upon the character of the apostle and the varied duties of the Christian life. The notes and illustrations appended are ofiered, not as having any completeness in themselves, but as selections from material which has gathered around the subject in the course of reading and study. They do not occupy much space, and they may prove useful to some in the way of suggestion. As for the most part they appeal to the narrower circle of pro- fessional readers, I have allowed all quotations from PRE FACE. Vll the Latin and Greek and German to appear untrans- lated. I believe this, all things considered, to be the more satisfactory course. The book as a whole, however, is designed for general readers. It may serve to interest in these Epistles some who might be repelled by a formal commentary, and may thus lead them to learn in their own experi- ence that there is no more pleasant and profitable study than that of carefully tracing the course of apostolic thought and argument, and applying the lessons thereof to their own minds and hearts. I have to thank my brother, the Rev. M. B. Hut- chison, M.A., of Lincoln College, Oxford, Examining Chaplain to the Bishop of Glasgow and Galloway, for careful revision of the proof-sheets, and for many useful suggestions. Afton Lodge, Bonnington, 'A '"■' ' ' JAlM i OC Decemher 1, 1883. ''^v THE. '" CONTENTS. I.— 1 Thess. i. 1, 1 II.— 1 Thess. i. l-!?, 13 III.— 1 Thess. i. 4-6, 25 IV.— 1 Thess. i. 7-10, 88 v.— 1 Thess. ii. 1-4, 50 YI.— 1 Thess. ii. 5-9, 62 VII.— 1 Thess. ii. 10-12 75 VIII.— 1 Thess. ii. 13-16 84 IX.— 1 Thess. ii. 17-20 ) 94 X.— 1 Thess. iii. 1-5, 105 XI.— 1 Thess. iii. 6-10, 116 XII.— 1 Thess. iii. 11-13, 127 XIII.— 1 Thess. iv. 1-8, . 138 XIV.— 1 Thess. iv. 9-12, 150 XV.— 1 Thess. iv. 13-15, 163 XVI.— 1 Thess. iv. 16-18, 176 XVII.— 1 Thess. v. 1-8, . 189 XVIII.— 1 Thess. V. 9-15, . 201 XIX.— 1 Thess. V. 16-18, 216 XX.— 1 Thess. V. 19-22, 226 XXL— 1 Thess. v. 23-28, 238 XXII.— 2 Thess. i. 1-7, . 255 XXIII.— 2 Thess. i. 7-12, . 267 XXIV.— 2 Thess. ii. 1-4, , 280 XXV.— 2 Thess. ii. 5-12, . 292 XXVI.— 2 Thess. ii. 13-iii. 5, 308 XXVII.— 2 Thess. iii. 6-18, 322 Notes and Illustrations, 335 FIRST THESSALONIANS. 'A LECTUEE I. " Paulus war der Erste, der, indem er Christum uerkun- digte, zugleich Christliclie Theologie predigte. "— Rothe, Stille Stunden. " Paul, and Silvanus, and Timothy, unto the church of the Thcssalonians in God the Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ." — 1 Thess. i. 1. TN the Gospels, tlie fourfold memoirs of our Lord and Master, we see laid down the broad and firm foundations of all Christian truth. The whole structure of Biblical Theology rests thereon. In the Epistles, especially those of St. Paul, we see that structure gradually assuming shape and rising towards its com- pletion. Christ Himself could not, during His personal ministry, declare all that it was needful for His Church to know. He said to His immediate disciples, — and His words were the utterance of mingled compassion and reproof, of encouragement and promise, — " I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now." He thus led them to look for further illumina- tion — the opening up to their minds and hearts of the " many things" concerning Himself and His kingdom, which as yet were hidden from their view. In accord- ance, then, with the expectation which He Himself taught them to cherish, Christ's peoj)le turn to the Epistles as giving new significance to the Gospels. Thus emerging, as it were, from the perplexities — the mysteries which gather around the facts of His life, and 2 FIRST THESSALONIANS. [lECT. I. death, and resurrection — they can, with the eye of the understanding enlightened, get glimpses of " The mountain-tops, in cloudy air, The mountain-tops, where is the throne of truth." As Paul stands acknowledged as the great central figure of the Apostolic Church, overshadowing, it may almost be said, the prominent figures of Peter and John, so his Epistles take foremost rank as treasure- houses of Christian doctrine. His two Epistles to the Church of the Thessalonians are the earliest of a series of letters whose influence on Christian doctrine and practice has been felt in ever- increasing measure throughout the history of the Church, and can never cease to be a moulding power in all its future development. In the whole group of Pauline Epistles we feel that we are introduced into a new sphere of thought and experience, and yet one which is the necessary complement of that of the Gospels. As Canon Mosley puts it, " In his language Christ has left the historical sphere of the Gospels, and has entered into the human soul as its peace, righteous- ness, justification, and redemption " [Lecture on St. Paul's Teaching, an integral part of Holy Scripture). In the free and familiar utterances of these apostolic letters, in the mingling of prayers and thanksgivings, of reproofs and warnings, of encouragements and directions, we never fail to learn that if Christ Jesus be aught to us. He must stand in the closest personal relation to our individual souls. The Epistles to the Thessalonians are not the least interesting and instructive of the Pauline writings. Baur, indeed, in his assault upon their authenticity, has asserted that " in the whole collection of the Pauline Epistles there is none so deficient in the character and sub- LECT. I.] CHAP. I. VEK. 1. 3 stance of its materials as First Thessalonians," and that "a closer view of the Epistle betrays such dependence and such want of originality as is not to be found in any of the genuine Pauline writings." This position of the Tubingen school, with the whole array of arguments in support of it, has been well contested and overthrown by more than one critic, and very signally by Jowett and Llinemann. They have, with no common acuteness, vindicated the claim of these Epistles, against all opponents, to be considered the genuine work of Paul. So far from internal evidence pointing to their spurious- ness, there are Pauline characteristics woven into the very tissue of the thought and expression. These Epistles, further, are more than usually rich in the insight which they afford into the apostle's own mind and heart. They set him before us as " a man of ardent inward life, who, living ' in weakness, and fear, and much trembling,' yet had the gift of using his ardours and his fears alike as means of persuasion to others" {Essays, Theological and Literarij, J. H. Hutton, i. p. 299). In these Epistles, again, the simple common aspects of Christian ethics are with great amplitude and clearness expounded and enforced. Above all, their whole teaching circles around the com- ing of the Lord and the final triumph of His kingdom. We are fully warranted, then, in accepting these Epistles as those of St. Paul, and as the earliest of his which we have. They belong to that period which the apostle himself designates " the beginning of the gospel" — the very threshold of the history of the Christian Church. They are possibly even the earliest written records of Christianity. This first Epistle was penned at the close of the year a.d. 52, or some time in 53— at all events not later than 54. If this last date 4 FIRST THESSALONIANS. [LECT. I. be accepted, it is interesting to notice that it was the closing year of the Emperor Claudius' reign — a year specially memorable throughout the Roman Empire (vid. e.g. Tacitus, Annals, xii. 64) for many alarming j^ortents, which attracted universal attention, and disturbed the popular mind with gloomy forebodings. The prevalent mood produced by these portents, especially in such a city as Thessalonica, may have had its influence even in the consecrated company of Christ's believing people, and may help to account for the general excitement among the Thessalonian Christians, of which these Epistles take so much notice. Catching the general contagion — the current belief that some- thing very wonderful, some awful crisis, was about to happen, and giving it at the same time the colouring of their own Christian faith, connecting it more particularly with j)art of the apostle's teaching which they had heard but misunderstood — they were straining their eyes to catch, as it were, the first glimpse of their risen and glorified Saviour returning with the clouds as the dust of His feet. They were expecting, with mingled fear and confidence. His immediate appearance ; and in the expectation, the duties which pertain to Christian fellowship and to daily earthly toil alike were neglected and forgotten. Their thoughts were dwelling almost exclusively upon the day of their Lord's second coming, and as a consequence the ordinary business of life, with all its obligations, appeared to them of little or no account. Feverish anxiety, rather than quiet unhasting activity, had become the dominant character- istic of their social and ecclesiastical life. Thessalonica was a populous and wealthy city of Macedonia. As an important seaport, it was the meeting-place of Greek and Roman merchandise, and LECT. I.] CHAP. I. VER. 1, 5 consequently a centre of widespread and commanding influence. Eenan (Ilihhert Lecture, p. 29) speaks of it, along with the other oldest capitals of Christianity, Antioch, Ephesus, Corinth, and Rome, as a common city, that is to say, " a city after the fashion of modern Alexandiia, where all races flowed together, and where the marriage between man and the soil, which makes the nation, was entirely dissolved." Its subsequent history has all along been invested with more than usual interest. Its heroic age, however, belongs to the third century. " It was the bulwark of Constantinople in the shock of the barbarians ; and it held up the torch of the truth to the successive tribes who over- spread the country between the Danube and the ^gean, — the Goths and the Sclaves, the Bulgarians of the Greek Church and the Wallachians, whose language still seems to connect them with Philippi and the Roman colonies. Thus, in the mediaeval chroniclers, it has deserved the name of ' the Orthodox City (Conybeare and Howson, chap. ix.). At the present day, under the name of Saloniki, it ranks as second city after Constantinople, and as one of the oldest in European Turkey. It has at least seventy thousand inhabitants, of whom, as in apostolic times, a large proportion are Jews. We learn, from Acts xvii. 1-10, how the gospel came to be introduced into this city, — how a Christian Church was founded within it. Paul, with Silas and Timothy, tarried only a few weeks there — certainly not more than six or eight. For three of these he reasoned with his countrymen " out of the Scriptures ; opening and allcG^ing that Christ must needs have suff"ered, and risen again from the dead, and that this Jesus is Christ." He was cheered and recompensed by the 6 FIRST THESSALONIANS. [LECT. I. conversion of some of these Jews. But his success was still greater among the proselytes. There believed, " of the devout Greeks a great multitude, and of the chief women not a few." These proselytes, having less of prejudice, had more of preparation for the reception of the apostolic message. The Acts of the Apostles tells us nothing further, except that the hostility of the unbelieving Jews issued in uproar and assault. But when we turn to these Epistles, we learn that the apostle's preaching seems to have had its greatest suc- cess among the Gentiles. The church is there described as having turned " from idols to serve the living and true God." These words must be descriptive, not of Jews or proselytes, but of heathen. " The apostle may either have laboured among them on other days than the Sabbath, when he went to the synagogue ; or he may have for a brief period continued in the city and preached, after the synagogue had been shut to him " (Eadie). At all events, among these idolaters he reaped an abundant harvest. At that age the heathen religions were beginning to expire amid universal cor- ruption. Society was dissolving in impurity. But just because matters were at their worst, there were doubtless many, weary and disgusted with the un- broken monotony of evil everywhere prevailing, to whom Paul's preaching was as life from the dead. " On that hard Pagan world disgust And secret loathing fell ; Deep weariness and sated lust Made human life a hell." But even then and there God had His chosen ones, to whom the gospel " came not in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assur- ance." Here then was a Church formed. Some Jews, LECT. I.] CHAP. I. VER. 1. 7 some proselytes, many lieatlien, found "joy of the Holy Ghost" in its new fellowship — a little flock — "an execrable sect " in the eye of the world, but none the less " sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ, and called." It is hardly possible for us to realize in thought the position — the surroundings of this infant community of believers in such a city as Thessalonica. Conflicting habits of thought and life, conflicting interests and aims, must everywhere have been prevailing. Amid the grossest forms of licentious- ness there was the difiiculty ever felt by these early Christians of keeping themselves unspotted from the world. Amid the ever-shifting subtleties of a vain philosophy there was the difficulty of holding fast the form of sound words. Amid the undisguised contempt of the Gentiles, and the ceaseless, restless enmity of the Jews, there was the difficulty of " standing fast in the Lord." Amid the errors and disorders within their own bounds there was the difficulty of keeping " the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace." In a word, the world was against them, and they were against the world. Perhaps the most vivid portrayal of the city life of the ancient world in its contact with Christianity is to be found in Canon Kingsley's Hypatia. What is there depicted with so much of lifelike reality of Alex- andria in the fifth century, holds to a large extent true, in some of its aspects at least, of Thessalonica in the first. The only other preliminary inquiry we have to make is regarding the occasion of the Epistle. This is easily answered. Paul had twice attempted to revisit his Thessalonian friends, but he had failed. He had been prevented from personally seeing them. He therefore sent Timothy to make inquiries and report 6 FIRST THESSALONIANS. [lECT. I. as to their general condition (1 Tliess. iii. 1-5). Timothy brought back a favourable report of their Christian progress and stedfastness, and of their strong, ardent attachment to Paul. On receipt of these welcome tidings, the apostle now writes them in words which re- veal the thankfulness and the yearning love of his heart. But as there were certain unfavourable features in the report, — neglect of daily duty because of erroneous views about the second coming ; ignorant anxiety lest friends who had died should have no share in the glad- ness and glory of that advent ; wrong views about spiritual gifts, as in the church of Corinth ; danger of falling back into the mire of heathen profligacy ; prone- ness to faint in view of the persecution at the hands of their countrymen, — the apostle has also to use words of reproof, correction, and encouragement. These, intertwined with many reminiscences of his personal intercourse with them, are the sum and substance of an Epistle fraught with many similar counsels to us " upon whom the ends of the world are come." The Epistle is in the names of Paul and Silvanus and Timotheus. Paul wrote from Corinth (not from Athens, as the note appended to the English version has it). He was not alone there. There were with him two friends — comjDanions alike in labour and in tribulation. Silvanus, or as his name appears in the Acts, Silas, not Luke, as some think {yid. Journal of Sacred Lit. 1850, p. 328), but a Roman citizen, and, as his name would indicate, a Hellenistic Jew, and a prominent member of the Mother Church in Jerusalem. He is here placed before Timothy as probably the elder, and certainly the older associate of Paul. Timothy is the other,— the well-known convert, and Paul's son in the faith. They are mentioned here with propriety along with the LECT. I.] CHAP. I. VEE. 1. 9 apostle, as having been fellow-labourers with him in founding the Thessalonian Church, and as being now associated with him in Corinth. These two, however, are in no sense to be regarded as joint-authors with Paul of the Epistle. At the most, one of them may have acted as amanuensis — Paul's weak-sightedness rarely, indeed in no other case, permitting him to say, as he did to the Galatians : " Ye see how large a letter I have written unto you with mine own hand." Paul's thus associating others with himself is a striking instance of the humility and tenderness of his heart. It is also a lesson of the fellowship of brethren one with another, — of the brotherly kindness of one teacher towards another ; and last of all, of a teacher's familiar relation towards his scholar, his son in the faith. The apostle, however, may possibly have had a special aim in view in thus associating the names of Silas and Timothy with his own. His so doing invested these, his friends, with an authority and influence which would afterwards stand them in good stead, when, in his absence and acting as his representatives, they might revisit this church or others in the interests of truth. Or, again, he may have 23urposed in this way to furnish a needed guarantee for the integrity and authenticity of his own Epistles. Silas and Timothy being thus declared pre- sent with him, and associated with him in the writing of these letters, could be appealed to in after times if any doubt as to their genuineness arose. There is evidence (2 Thess. ii. 2) that the Tliessalonians were exposed to the danger of being imposed upon by forged Epistles — " by letter as from us." In this respect there was a peculiar fitness in the recording of Timothy's name here in Paul's first Epistle, and again in that to the Philippians, his last. Timothy long survived Paul. At 10 FIRST THESSALONIANS. [LECT. I. the time of the apostle's death he was still young. He held for many years an exalted station in the church. As Bishop of Ephesus, he may even have been the '' angel " of that church to whom the message from the risen and glorified Saviour Himself (Eev. ii. 1-7) is addressed, if, indeed, we adopt this meaning of the term "angel," which, to say the least of it, is very doubtful. What better witness, then, than he to the whole early Christian public of the genuineness of the Pauline writings ? Another point claiming notice at the threshold of this Epistle is, that Paul does not here designate him- self an apostle. And why ? Why has he here departed from his usual practice? Some say, because in the self-abnegation of his humility, and in his tender brotherliness towards his associates, he wished to put himself on an entire level with them. This reason, however respectful to him, savours of disrespect to them. It seems almost to imply that he sought to allay, or at least that he feared, their envy of his dignity. Nor, again, is the omission to be explained by his not yet having become accustomed to the title, or by his having no distinct rule in the matter. The most probable explanation is simply this, that his office and title were unquestioned by the Thessalonian con- verts. Whatever others might do, they at least lovingly acknowledged him. It is to be noticed that the apostolic greeting is sent, not to the brethren, the believers, the saints in Thessa- lonica, but " to the church." Only shortly before had the gospel been for the first time preached to them. But having individually received it, they at once crys- tallized into a church — the word here having its local and particular significance, not its universal — "the LECT. I.] CHAP. I. VER. 1. 11 Church of the Thessalonians." They became a united company — a visible corporation. " In brotherhood they met, the natural birth and kindred of each forgotten, the baptism alone remembered in which they had been born again to God and to each other" [Ecce Homo, p. 136). They as yet had no church building. They probably met together in the house of Jason. But they had a church organization. They had their set times of meeting ; they had their several duties. Thus, in the enthusiasm of united service, they, Jews and proselytes and Gentiles alike, " continued stedfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread and in prayers." But " the Church of the Thessalonians " is further described as being "in God the Father, and in the Lord Jesus Christ." Here we have the distinctive characteristic mark of a true Church. There were heathen assemblies in that city, numerous and powerful. But these existed for the worship of false gods. The only true Church was this recent, despised, persecuted one, which rejoiced in the knowledge of the Creator of heaven and earth as their heavenly Father through Jesus Christ. There was also in Thessalonica a congregation of Jews. A synagogue stood there for the worship of the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, the only living and true God. But its people, by rejection of the Messiah and persecution of His saints, had transformed it into " a synagogue of Satan." But the Church, which Paul had planted, and which he now exhorts, was " in the Lord Jesus Christ." It was a Christian community. It was " in God the Father," having been originated by Him, being his possession, receiving the tokens of His favour, and being governed by His laws. It was " in the Lord 12 FIEST THESSALONIANS. [LECT. I. Jesus Christ," its members having been gathered together in His name, being knit together in His love, existing for His service, and preserved for His glory {vid. Hoffmann, die Heilige Schrift Neuen Testaments, i. p. 156). Here, surely, we have an evidence of our Saviour's divinity. As the source of all grace and peace. His name stands co-ordinate with that of God the Father. Not only so ; it is not pressing the language unduly to say that in the little preposition " in " we have a testimony to the presence and energy of the Holy Spirit. Its New Testament use with " God " and " Christ " is of marked significance {vid. very good note in Webster and Wilkinson's Greek Test, ad loc). Believers are in God and in Christ Jesus in virtue of their having imparted to them a new nature, new motives and desires and aims, — all having as their centre God in Christ. They have their hidden spiritual life with Christ in God. This radical, all-pervading change is alone by the indwelling and energy of the Holy Spirit, who proceedeth from the Father and from the Son. They are in God and Christ, because the Holy Spirit is in them — in them individually and collectively. Thus the Saviour's words receive their fulfilment, " That they all may be one, as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee ; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that Thou hast sent Me." LECTURE 11. Then constant Faith and holy Hope shall One lost in certainty, and one in Joy ; Whilst thou, more happy power, fair Charity, Triumphant sister, greatest of the three, Thy office and thy nature still the same, Lasting thy lamp, and unconsum'd thy flame, Shalt still survive— Shalt stand before the host of heaven confess'd. For ever blessing, and for ever 6/esf.— Matthew Prioe. Hope, Faith, and Love at God's high altar shine, Lamp triple-branched, and fed with oil divine. Two of these triple lights shall once grow pale, They burn without, but Love within the ye//.— Trench. " Grace to you, and peace. TVe give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers ; remembering witbout ceasing your work of faith, and labour of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, before our God and Father." — 1 Thess. i. 1-3. TTERE we liave the apostolic greeting in its most ^^ usual form. Grace and peace — a blending of the ordinary Greek and Hebrew modes of salutation — " that union of Asiatic repose and European alacrity " which by apostolic use has become invested with a significance infinitely higher than that wdiich was implied in the common civilities of social life. These formulse of friendly intercourse familiar to the ancient world were like some jjrecious antique vases, prized for their beauty more than for their use. They had become empty of significance, or, at all events, entirely empty of blessing. But now they are lifted up into a higher service — consecrated to the noblest purpose — hence- forth brimful of holiest meaning — filled with the very 14 FIRST THESSALONIANS. [lECT. II. water of life. Grace, in the New Testament sense, is " quodvis Dei beneficium gratuitum conducens ad salutem seternam ; " peace is " Salus animse, quae inchoatur in hac vita et perse verantibus in justitia durat in seternum " (Bart. Petrus ; Dlisterdieck on 2 John 3). Or, to express it in another way, it is grace " quse est principium omnis boni ; peace, quae est finale bonorum omnium " (Thos. Aquinas ; EUicott on 2 Thess. i. 2). Grace being the peace which God has made with us in Christ ; peace, our happiness and joy in God resulting therefrom — grace representing gospel blessing as coming from the heart of God ; peace, gospel blessing as abiding in the heart of man ; they together embrace the fulness of salvation. These words, as thus under- stood, fall throughout the ages as the benison of heaven upon the struggling, fainting Church on earth. The right heart - reception of them brings "Pax interna conscientise, pax fraterna amicitise, pax superna glorise " (De Lyra). While the universal human heart, because of sin and its companion sorrow, " heaves moaning as the ocean," this benediction brings a great calm — the very peace of heaven. While the universal human life is disquietude, toil, pain, temptation, dangers, when this benediction falls upon it there is henceforth " no jangled discord, but sweet music in the life." While the universal human gaze turns anxiously at last to " the skeleton face of the world" and the terrors of the dark and silent land, this benediction is the promise of peace in the city of peace. " The peace of all the faithful, the calm of all the blest, inviolate, unvaried, divinest, sweetest, best." Such, then, is the all-embracing meaning of this apostolic greeting. It tells us of peace through divine grace — an inward possession, but one that is ever working outward, from the heart into the LECT, II.] CHAP. I. VERS. 1-3. 15 life, and ever rising upward, from the poor and imperfect life on earth to the glorified life in heaven. But this " grace and peace " is " from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ." It comes from God the Father as the primid source of all good, and it comes from Christ Jesus as the mediating source. Paul's favourite name of God, it has been said, is " the God of peace." Assuredly no other designation of Him brings Him more tenderly near to the heart of man — " the very God of peace." Peace never can come to, and dwell in, our soul of ourselves. One man cannot procure it for and bestow it upon another. It is a heavenly ■xap'-^H'"'- It is " the peace of God," and it is ours through " the Lord of peace " — " our Peace " — our Daysman, who reconciles things on earth and things in heaven. " Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ ; by whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God." It is therefore when God is our Father in heaven, by our having the adoption which is through Christ, that we can possess the peace " which passeth all understanding." Peace ! the very word in the original means that which binds, cements together. In the very term there thus lies a testimony to eternal truth, that man can be at peace alone, when all his varied interests and cares are " bound with gold chains about the feet of God." The multitude of the angelic host praising God at Jesus' birth sang of " peace on earth." The multitude of human worshippers at Christ's triumphal entry into the city of David sang responsive of " peace in heaven." Peace, then, is the sign and seal of Christ's kingdom. " Great peace have they which love Thy laws." Its subjects call 1 6 FIKST THESSALONIANS. [LECT. IL God Father, because they have first called Christ Jesus Lord. But passing from the apostolic greeting, let us look at the apostolic prayerfulness as it is here depicted. Paul proceeds from ver. 2 to the end of the chapter to record the grateful joy of his heart in the contempla- tion of the condition of the Thessalonian Church — the Christian graces which were ripening in their midst, as the result, under God, of his teaching — the good example they were showing to others, and the good report they had among the brethren. " Making men- tion of you in our prayers," he says (e7rt'= at the time of, and in connection with them, Jowett). The apostle's life was one of unexampled activity. There rested upon him the care of the infant churches. His many journeyings, his labouring with his own hands, his unwearied exertions for the good of others' souls — these stand out before us in every page of his biography. But he was not, as some in such circumstances might be deluded to think, too busy to pray. The busier the servant of Christ is, the more prayerful he needs to be. Work, to be in the right sense successful, must be carried on in the spirit of devotion. The arms of the Church, and of each individual soldier in " that war in which there is no discharge," are prayers. The Church militant is also the Church supplicant. Devotion and labour are but the two sides of the renewed life which is one. With the word the preacher influences the world ; with prayer he influences heaven. The clause seems to intimate that, in Paul's case, not only was prayerfulness the prevailing atmosphere in which he lived and moved, but he had also his stated, definite times of prayer. In the distribution of his busy hours he had his seasons for jDrivate devotion. This with LECT. II.] CIIAr. I. VERS. 1-3. 17 liim was " a very deliberate and serious business — lie had rules on the subject, and he strove, by God's help, to keep those rules" (Howson, Cliar. of Paul, p. IGl). In a word, his religion was a life, and the heart of it was prayer. It was said of him at his conversion, " Behold, he prayeth," and ever afterwards the words held good. But once more. In Paul's prayers there was one element never absent. There was always thanks- giving. " We give thanks to God always." And it is not too much to say, that no prayer can be complete and accepted if this element — this inseparable adjunct — be awanting. When we draw near to God, grateful acknowledgment of past mercies must blend with earnest petition for future. It has been justly observed (Wordsworth on Luke xvii. 19) that this thanksgiving is peculiarly a characteristic of Christian prayer. " There are some prayers in Homer's poems, but how few thanksgivings I " The Gentile world, whatever its relation to the unknown God, " glorified Him not, neither were they thankful." It is far otherwise with the Christian Church — the consecrated company of God's believing people. They know their covenant God as their Benefactor. They know that " every good and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights." They feel that while the stream of blessing is ever flowing to men throuo;li human channels, it has its source in God alone. To Him, therefore, rising beyond all secondary causes, does the ceaseless thanksgiving of their hearts ascend. But there is yet another aspect of the apostle's thanksgiving here which claims our special notice. It is thanksgiving to God on behalf of others. " We give thanks to God always for you." His gratitude springs from his loving contemplation of the gifts and graces 18 riRST THESSALONIANS. [LECT. II. which he sees in others. He thus appears fulfilling his own precept, " Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others." He thus appears as seeking to fulfil his Master's intercessory prayer "that they all may be one." There is a very needful lesson for us here. While prayer for others for one another — is common, thanksgiving for others is very rare, even in the Church of Christ. Yet the one implies the other. If it be indeed a duty and a privilege to supplicate God for the good of our fellow- Christians, it must equally be a duty and a privilege to praise Him when our prayers are heard. There is a brotherhood in true religion. " With true Christian hearts, Their mutual share in Jesus' blood An everlasting bond imparts Of holiest brotherhood." This community of interest must ever manifest itself in joyful thankfulness before God in view of one another's welfare — above all, in view of one another's soul-pro- sperity. In every grace shining forth in the character and conduct of the brethren, the whole household of faith rejoices that God is magnified. Once more, it is to be noticed that this ceaseless apostolic thanksgiving was in behalf of all in the Thessalonian Church — " for you all." It is not necessarily implied thereby that all without exception were indeed and in truth believers that the gospel had come with power — with saving grace to each individual heart. A passing survey of the Epistle would forbid the supposition. Doubtless there were there, as elsewhere, professions belied by practice — forms of godliness which denied its power. Yet none the less the apostle would not be scrupulously careful, in such a connection as this, to draw the line LECT. IL] CHAP. I. VERS. 1-3. 10 between the two classes. It is enough for his present ]Durpose to express his gratitude in regard to all, — they appear before his spirit's eye as one company, with common privileges, and work, and aspirations, — all within the influence of a preached gospel, and more or less profiting by it. In this glimpse which, in the beginning of his earliest Epistle, is opened to us into the apostle's heart, — this portrayal of himself as giving thanks for his converts at a throne of grace, not in any spirit of undue flattery, but in hearty loving recognition of their spiritual state, and in the earnest desire for their further progress, — in this we have him set before us like his Lord and ours. He has much to say by way of reproof and correction, yet he will begin his Epistle with praise. His gentle- ness will precede his severity. He will commend before he rebuke. So, too, is it wdth the Epistles to the seven churches of the apocalyptic vision — messages as they are from the very glory of the Saviour's throne. So, too, should it be with us. Let this same mind be in us that was in Christ Jesus. But we have now to examine what it specially was in the Thessalonian Church that called forth the apostle's thanksgiving and praise. Ver. 3 gives the ground of his commendation. " Eemembering without ceasing." It was a memory the fragrance of which pervaded his w^hole life, the comfort of which sweetened all his trials. It was the remembrance of " their faith, and love, and hope " — the three graces of the renewed life, never wanting therein, never separate, yet ever distinct. Let us try to distinguish them. " Faith hangs on the word of promise, love on that God who gives, hope on the promised inheritance. Faith receives and has, love gives, hope waits. Faith makes the heart firm^ love 20 FIRST THESSALONIANS. [LECT. II. makes it soft, hope expands it. Faith holds fast to what it has received, love gives up what it has re- ceived, hope triumphs over what is wanting. Faith capacitates us for dominion over this world, love for ministering to this world, hope for renunciation of this world. . . . Faith is the confidence in what one hopes for ; love, the proof of this, that one has faith ; hope, the taking possession, before we have reached the goal, of that which we have learned by faith to love and to yearn after. Faith is what it ceases to be in sight ; hope is what it ceases to be in full possession ; love is that which it never ceases to be, for God is love " (Harless, Christ. Ethics, Lee. ii. § 19). These graces, when the apostle speaks of their value, assume very naturally a different order. " Now abideth faith, hope, love, these three ; but the greatest of these is love." " Faith is child-like, hope is saint-like, but love is God-like " (Eadie). But these graces, in the connection of the passage, are described not as what they are in themselves, but as they manifest themselves in the life. Faith had its work, love its labour, hope its patience. These are the outward embodiments — the garments which we see them by. It is these which the apostle unceasingly remembers. It was " a faith," he would say, " which had its outward effects on your lives ; a love that spent itself in the service of others ; a hope which was no mere transient feeling, but was content to wait for the things unseen, when Christ should be revealed" (Jowett). Let us look at these more closely. " Your work of faith," that is, the work which faith produces — in other words, the Christian life in its proper development — personal religion, the work of advancino; sanctification. Wlierever faith exists, it works onward toward this. While it is God's LECT, II.] CHAP. I. VERS. 1-3. 21 work in us, it is none the less our own work. In all its parts it springs from faith, it is carried on by faith, and it at length crowns fiiith in full assurance. This work of faith is the believer's duty towards self. The next, " the labour of love," is his duty towards his neighbour. It represents the hard and exhausting yet cheerful toil which he is willino- to undero;o in minister- ing to others, and, if need be, in suffering for them. In the early Church, despised and persecuted alike, this self-sacrificing toil of love would naturally assume a prominence peculiarly its own. But there are after all no ages and no conditions of the Church's existence in which it is not needed and in which it is not to be found. Love is " infused by God and effused in good works." Every Christian exhibits that " gemina caritas," as the old Latin hymnology calls it — that twin love, by which Christ Jesus is loved for Himself, and our neighbour in Him and for His sake. The third clause, " patience of hope," represents duty in reference to the future and towards God — manly endurance under every form of trial, and stedfast expectation of a happy issue out of every trouble, when at length " the just and gentle Monarch shall come to terminate the evil and diadem the right." The child of this world — he who seeks his only substance in it, speaks too truly, when at last he declares as Heinrich Heine did, out of the bitterest experience, " Hope is a beautiful maiden with child-like countenance, but with withered breasts." But the children of the kingdom show by their patience that theirs is a hope which cannot make ashamed : it is ever young, it is ever sustaining, it is ever fruitful. We have not yet traversed the whole delineation of these apostolic graces. They are represented, all of them, as existing and proving their existence " in our 22 FIRST TIIESSALONIANS. [LECT. II. Lord Jesus Christ." This clause in its reference is most closely connected mth hope, but we may possibly hold that it is not confined to " the patience of hope," i.e. of the Saviour's second coming. It throws back its light upon all. All three " proceed from Him as their origin, and tend towards Him, and terminate in Him as their end" (Wordsworth). Without Him they could never have come into existence. Without His sustaining and guiding grace their existence would cease. They are fruits of the new life. They are seen only in those who are in Christ Jesus " God's husbandry." Yet again, they exist and prove their existence " in the sight of God and our Father." The connecting of this clause with the " remembering without ceasing," as do Eadie and others, making it to mean solemn prayer and earnest thanksgiving in the presence of God, is not the view which most readily commends itself. It seems more natural to take it as one of the apostle's sentences which (as Jowett well puts it) " grow under his hand, gaining force in each successive clause by the repetition and expansion of the preced- ing," each adding some new feature to the delineation of the Christian graces. These exist, grow, and come to perfection in the sight of God, i.e. in the conscious realization of the divine presence. Everything, good and evil alike, it is true, is in God's sight. "He is about our path and about our bed, and spieth out all our ways." Even worldly men — men utterly unspiritual — feel at times that "all around the heavens are watch- ing with their thousand eyes." But the thought brings no peace, no joy to their hearts. God is not in all their thoughts as their Father in heaven. It is other- wise with the new man in Christ Jesus. The realization of the divine presence is " the central thought of his LECT. II.] CHAP. I. VERS. 1-.3. 23 wliole life. All the graces of liis character spring from that one root. Just as all life, animal or vege- table, forms round a nucleus, a centre, a mere point or speck at first, but containing the germ of the animal or plant which is developed from it, so the spiritual life of the believer all forms itself from this one centre, the realization of the presence of God" (Goulburn, Thoughts on Religion, p. 207). " I am the Almighty God ; walk before Me, and be thou perfect," that was the command given to the father of the faithful. It has its abiding meaning for all his spiritual seed. Wherever they are, they are to feel that they are before God. Faith, love, and hope can exist alone before God, and God as our Father in heaven reconciled, in the con- sciousness of His presence, in obedience to His law, in trust in His guidance. In conclusion, our exposition is in every part of it especially practical. The lessons hardly need to b(> suggested. The apostolic greeting suggests the inquiry, and as a congregation and as individuals we have to answer it — Is God's grace in Christ Jesus accepted by us, and is His peace the sure possession of our souls ? The apostolic thanksgiving suggests an example which it must be ours to imitate. Constant giving of thanks to God, that is a priestly function which every believer must discharge ; that offering must be laid on the altar of every renewed heart. Not at times only are we to thank God in our prayers on behalf both of ourselves and of others, but evermore. One of the old Puritans has said, " Grace {i.e. gratitude) is like a ring without end; and the diamond of this ring is con- stancy" (Adams' Serm. i. p. 124). And as for the apostolic graces, faith, and love, and hope, with their several manifestations in work, toil, 24 FIRST THESSALONIANS. [LECT. II. and patience, tliese suggest to us our duty and our dignity, till at length patience liave her perfect work. It is truly blessed to exemplify these " in our Lord Jesus Christ," and "in the sight of God and our Father." We thus have heaven's approving smile, a pledge and a foretaste of that heavenly rest, where toil and patience will be no longer needed, for they pertain to earth, where hope will be changed into sight, where love alone will remain, and the work of love will be true happiness and perfect j)eace. In view of all this let us be stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, — faint yet pursuing, — knowing that at last we shall enter into the peace of Heaven. LECTURE III. " The fundamental proposition, that the converting, enlight- ening, sanctifying actiuity of the Holy Ghost is indis- solubly connected with the operation of the Divine word, is a precious jewel of the Evangelical Church." — J. Mlller iu Oosterzeii's Cliriitiait, Duynuttirs. "Nihil magis admirabile, quia nihil magis natura; contra- rium est, quam in tribulatione gaudere. Solent enim affiicti plorare, murmurare, queri, desperare : sed Spiritus Sanctus, qui natura superior est, et per tribulationes, bona ccelestia et divina repromittit, efficit, ut homo h(BC bona sibi proponens in tribulatione, quo magis affligitur, eo magis yaudeat." — Cornelius a Lapide in loc. " Knowing, brethren beloved of God, your election, how that our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance ; even as ye know what manner of men we shewed ourselves toward you for your sake. And ye became imitators of us, and of the Lord, having received the word in much afiliction, with joy of the Holy Ghost." — 1 Thess. i. 4-6. rilHE apostle follows up what lie lias said about his -*- thauksgiviiiQ; for the grace manifested in the Thessalonian Church. He says: " Knowing, as we do, brethren beloved of God, your election." " Of God" is to be connected neither with the word " knowing " ( = scientes a Deo, i.e. ex Dei revelatione), nor with the word " election." The structure of the sentence and the course of thought alike set aside these interpreta- tions. The apostle alludes immediately afterwards to the ground of his knowledge. He knew their election by the fruits of his preaching in their midst. And to speak of their election by God, would imply that it was contrasted with some other kind of election either expressed or understood. The meaning rather is, that 26 FIRST THESSALONIANS. [LECT. III. this church was not only beloved of Paul and his fellow-labourers, — not only " brethren " with them, as in Christ Jesus having the common adoption of their heavenly Father, — but also "beloved q/*6^ocZ" — His dear children, " accepted in the beloved," Being a church " in God the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ," they are addressed here as " the Israel of the Lord beloved." And the proof of their being the subject of the divine love is their " election." The doctrinal significance of the word need not be unduly pressed here. It rather seems to mean in this connection their historical selec- tion (Hofmann) out of the Western world to be the earliest European recipients of the gospel. The narra- tive in Acts xvi. 6-10 is expository of it. Paul and his companions, Timothy and Silas, " were forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the word in Asia ; " again, " they assayed to go into Bithynia : but the Spirit suffered them not." Their course was otherwise determined — accurately defined for them. " A vision appeared to Paul in the night ; there stood a man of Macedonia, and prayed him, saying, Come over into Macedonia, and help us." Kecognising this calling from on high, he and his friends at once set out " to preach the gospel unto them." Now Thessalonica being the chief city of Macedonia, this vision was in effect the declaration to the Apostle of "the election" of its inhabitants to the privilege of having the gospel preached to them. That city was to be the first point of contact which the gospel was to have with Europe. The term " election " {eK\oyi]) is a rare one in Scripture, and is absent, except in this instance, from all Paul's earlier Epistles. It had been used, however, of Paul himself in the vision seen by Ananias, with special reference to his own similar selec- tion by miraculous means as an object of the divine LECT. III.] CHAP. I. VERS. 4-G. 27 favour. " He is ti clioscn vessel (vessel of election) unto Me." It means in both these cases selection for privilege, and also, as of necessity follows, for service — dignity and duty alike. This same election is cease- lessly seen in the wliole history of the Church of Christ — one continent, one nation, one city, one family, one individual, called before another. Many perplexities gather around us as we recognise this. The ultimate solution is, of course, to be found alone in the divine sovereignty. We can, however, none the less ofttimes see, at least in part, the explanation. In this case we can. There w\^s a fitness in the choice of the Thessa- lonians to be a centre of Christian influence — a point from which the word of the Lord might sound forth (ver. 8). Their city, from its maritime position, was a great emporium of commerce by sea. It lay also on the line of one of the great roads of the Roman Empire, and had consequently many inland communications. Thus " posita in gremio imperii Eomani," as Cicero describes it, it was elected for honourable and blessed service. It was blessed of God, that it might become a blessing to others. The apostle proceeds to show on what grounds his knowledge rested — his conviction of the Thessalonians' " election " — the fact and mode of their being chosen for privilege and duty. He was fully persuaded of it both on subjective and on objective grounds. The power and assurance with which he and his fellow- labourers preached in Thessalonica, on the one hand, and the eagerness and joyfulness with which the inhabitants of the city listened, on the other, these were to him evidences of divine grace working both in speaker and hearers — proofs of God's having marked them out above others for His favour and service. Let 28 FIEST THESSALONIANS. [LECT. III. US look at these grounds separately. Ver. 5 states the first — the way in which the apostle was enabled to preach to them : " For our gospel came not unto you in word only." " Our gospel " he calls it. This is not the only instance in which he thus speaks of it. There is implied in this designation of it personal heart- possession of it. He who preaches the gospel of the grace of God ought himself to be able to call it " my gospel " — good news accepted by his own appropriating faith ; a message not merely which he has to offer to others, but which he has also joyfully received into the keeping of his own breast. He must be able to say, " I believe, and therefore have I spoken." This is the first prerequisite of a faithful ministry ; for, as Melanch- thon used to say to his students, "it is the heart that makes the theologian." " All religion is in the change from he to thou. It is a mere abstraction as long as it is he ; only with the thou we know God " (Thomas Erskine of Linlathen's Letters, p. 164). We must go farther than this, and say that it is only with the "I, my," that we can possess God's gospel. But the word " our " here further implies apostolic commission. It defines the gospel not merely, or even chiefly, as the gospel on which his own heart's faith is resting, and which his own mind is holding fast, but also as that which has been committed to his keeping, that he may declare it to others. Paul thus describes himself and his companions as invested with the ofiice of " the ministry of reconciliation" (on various genitives used with evayyeXiov, vid. EUicott on Eph. i. 13). This gospel, we are told, came to the Thessalonians "not in word only." It did come in word, inasmuch as it was clothed in words. Cornelius was told in a vision to " call for Peter, who shall tell thee words whereby thou and all LECT. III.] CHAP. I. VERS. 4-G. 29 tliy house shall be saved." The gospel treasure is in these earthen vessels. These words further were pro- claimed hy the apostle's lips. Human instrumentality is employed in that work which in the strictest sense is God's work. But while the gospel was in word, it was not in word only. Often from the lips of good men — often even from the lips of the divine Son of Man Him- self, in the days of His earthly ministry — the message of goodness fell ineffectual — a word, and nothing more. Paul had doubtless had his own experience of this sad truth. In places he had previously visited, there were those who had received his preaching, listened to it merely as "a tale that is told," and he felt himself correspondingly straitened. But he delights to record, mth that gratitude which is the memory of the heart, that it was far otherwise with his friends — his " brethren beloved of God " in Thessalonica. His gospel as declared to them was " also in power." Not that his preaching was accompanied with aught of miraculous manifestation to attest and confirm it. That is not what is meant. He describes his preaching rather as having had a reality, an energy, an earnestness, a divine power of persuasiveness pervading it. While he spoke to them, he felt that his was no cold and formal performance of duty, but in a very exceptional degree heart-work. He had felt the power of sustaining grace while he delivered his Master's message. It was therefore, as the next clause has it, " in the Holy Ghost." The presence and energy of the Divine Spirit were recognised by him. Such was his sacred enthusiasm, that he felt his own words to be far more than the mere utterance of one earnest human spirit struggling to impress others ; to be indeed nothing less than the winged words of the Spirit Himself, the Spirit of all truth, witnessing through 30 FIRST THESSALONIANS. [LECT. III. him, in behalf of Christ and His salvation. Hence he further describes himself as having preached " in much assurance," the firm conviction, " the full assurance of understanding" that his message was one from the throne of heaven, the overture of grace, mercy, and peace to the children of men ; the idea also lying imbedded in the clause that he spoke with the assurance that his preaching was not in vain, but was lovingly accepted and rejoiced in by his hearers. The apostle, in thus describing the manner of his preaching (for it is this rather than its effects which is spoken of, though, in fact, the two aspects blend into one), is showing himself an example to others for all time. He elsewhere says : " My speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God." Here, however, we are specially to notice, that Paul is refer- ring to the manner of his ministry in Thessalonica as an evidence to his own mind — a ground for his knowing that those to whom he spoke were elected. He felt that the power of his own fervid utterance was experi- enced by them ; that the Holy Spirit, who guided him in speaking, was inclining them to hear; that the " much assurance" which sustained him, was becoming also a reality to them ; so he preached, and so they believed. He knew, therefore, that they were " ap- pointed to obtain salvation." We may learn a lesson here. Every minister at times — it may be very often — feels himself speaking in word only, powerless, un- aided by the Spirit ; perhaps, instead of having much assurance, oppressed with much of doubt. In such a case he is bound in duty to his Master, his people, and himself, to look within, to search for causes in his own LECT. III.] CHAP. I. VERS. 4-G. 31 heart. But lie is also entitled to look without ; to trace, it may be, the causes of his own feebleness in his hearers. Their carelessness and apathy may largely account for his feebleness and failure. If he would follow the example of Paul as here unfolded to us, he may even in certain cases conclude from his own inef- fective preaching to others, that they are not the chosen people of God. In other words, the feebleness of preaching may often be accounted for by the coldness and formality of hearing. Pulpit and pew act and react on one another. The words of Hosea have passed into a proverb. They represent a generalized experience : " Like people, like priest." The apostle further, not content with recording his own personal experience and conviction, appeals for confirmation of what he has been saying about his preaching to the Thessalonians themselves : "As ye know what manner of men we were among you." He hardly need remind them — they themselves knew full w^ell — what he and his fellow-labourers said, and did, and were when they were with them. " It is no self-eulogy, born of self-conceit " (Eadie), this confident appeal. It breathes nothing of this spirit. It is the utterance simply of conscientious honesty. Paul is so highly lifted up above the mean and petty jealousies of everyday life, that even his humility can use language regarding himself, which on the lips of any one of lower nature, would savour of repulsive self-assertion and vanity. But it is notice- able that the words here are more general than the preceding context requires. Paul says not " what manner of j^reac/z-m^," but " what manner of men." He calls to witness his whole bearing and conduct, as well as his words. He appeals to his life in all its variety and fulness. So also did Paul's Master and ours. Over 32 FIEST THESSALONIANS. [LECT. III. and over again do we find the Saviour of men appealing to His own spotless sinlessness. In the presence of His enemies He could say, " which of you convinceth Me of sin?" Paul could never speak in that way, any more than we can. At the most, he simply asserts the purity of his motives, the self-sacrifice of his conduct, the zeal of his ministering labour. He knew that, whatever his enemies might say, his friends, so far from calling these in question, could never be unmindful of them. Amid manifold imperfection, varied blemishes of character and conduct, he could still unhesitatingly claim that his life as well as his preaching was a witness for the gospel. " Labouring night and day lest he might be chargeable to any," as well as " teaching from house to house," he proved himself in their midst an apostle of the Lord. His person and his office were not distinct, but one. That is the picture, more or less accurate, of every one of Christ's commissioned servants — a faithful steward in all the relations of life. Personal influence in the advancement of Christ's cause is far more direct and eff'ective than mere official. Teaching truth by example must ever accompany and confirm the teaching of it by precept. Eecommending the truth wdll be of small avail, if there be not also a walking in it. An infidel friend once said to Fenelon, the Archbishop of Cambray, after residence with him for a time, and observing the exceeding beauty of his character : " If I stay here any longer, I shall become a Christian in spite of myself." Such is the unwilling testimony often forced from the children of the world to the beauty of holiness as seen in the life of the children of the kingdom. In view of it we have need, each one, to ponder the apostolic injunction : " Take heed to the ministry which thou hast received in the Lord, that thou fulfil it." LECT. III.] CHAP. I. VERS. 4-6. 33 But Paul adds here, "for your sakes." He would say, his whole bearing in their midst was in no sense a part assumed for self-interest. It could not be so. Since the risen and glorified Saviour met him on the way to Damascus, and declared him to be "a chosen vessel " (a vessel of election) to Himself, Paul's life had signally been one of self-abnegation. He sought not his own glory, though glory sought him, and crowned him for evermore. He sought not his own ease, nor did he ever find it till he entered into rest. He sought not his own interest. He seemed ever to be setting it aside, till at last he reached " the mark for the prize of the hio;h callinor of God in Christ Jesus." He did and sufiered all for the sake of others. His exertions had this one aim, to win men to the kingdom of Christ. He sought the glory of his Lord, and the joy of his own soul, in the salvation of his fellow-men. " For your sakes," therefore, he says, thus identifying his life with theirs in their spiritual good. We have thus a natural transition to the other evidence adduced for Paul's knowledge of the election of the Thessalonian Church — their selection for j^i'ivi- lege and duty. The first was subjective, the freedom, and fulness, and power in the Holy Ghost with which he felt he had preached to them. The other, as it is set before us in ver. 6, is objective, the eager, joyful readiness with which they had accepted his preaching. And after all these could not be separated. At all events, the first could have been no safe evidence to the apostle's mind without the second following upon it. " Ye," the word is emphatic, ye on your part, "became followers of us, and of the Lord, having re- ceived the word in much afiliction, with joy of the Holy Ghost." Their having been chosen of God is shown 34 FIRST THESSALONIANS. [lECT. III. by their having themselves chosen God's gospel as offered to them. They " received the word," and, as is said in chap. ii. 13, "not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in them that believe." The Holy Spirit, who enabled Paul to preach with power, enabled them to receive his message with all faithfulness of heart. It thus became "their gospel" as well as Paul's. But what is meant by "Ye became followers (imitators) of us and of the Lord" ? — " Of us whom ye observed and knew, and of the Lord whom we preached and taught " (Webster and Wilkinson). In what respect — in what point did this following, this imitation consist ? Not in their reception of the truth. They might be imitators of Paul in that, but they could not be of Christ Jesus. He is Himself the Personal Truth, and as such He came to men. We cannot speak of His receiving the truth, in the same sense, at least, as the words would apply to us, without at once destroying our very conception of Him as the Son of God — the Word made flesh. The difficulty is not removed by giving a turn to the thought in the way Calvin does : " Promptitudo recipiendi evangelii imi- tatio Dei vocatur : quia sicuti Deus liberaliter se Thes- salonicensibus obtulerat, sic illi voluntarie occurrerant." No, the freeness, the spontaneity of the gospel offer, and the willing acceptance of it by men, cannot very well be thus compared. The point of imitation is simply the joyful endurance in spirit under suffering (Alford), which they manifested when they became Christians. The apostle preached the gospel "in much affliction, with joy in the Holy Ghost." Christ Jesus Himself, indeed, wrought out the salvation which the gospel offers "in much affliction, with joy in the LECT. III.] CHAP. I. VERS. -l-C. 35 Holy Ghost." "He for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame" — and here it is declared that the Thessalonians received that gospel and its salvation " in much affliction, with joy in the Holy Ghost." In this sphere of trial, and of spiritual joy in the midst of it, Christ and His apostles and His people are one. Embracing Christ entailed suffering. The Acts of the Apostles and this very Epistle show this — suffering arising from manifold per- secutions at the hands of their heathen fellow-citizens, and especially of the Jews, the great and persistent foes of the early Church, But sorrow from without could not destroy their inward joy. Afflictions came from men, but joy from the Holy Ghost (genitive of originating agent). Their reception of the word was in much affliction. This was the outward element of their lives — this formed their surroundings w^hen they became believers. But their reception of the w^ord was with joy in the Holy Ghost, The joy, that is to say, was along with the word received — part and parcel of it — an inseparable adjunct of it. The gospel was never yet received, nor can it ever be without the receiving of its joy. Like the apostle himself, there- fore, these Thessalonians looked calmly upon present and impending trials, for their joy no man could take from them. " They rejoiced that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His name," They " took joyfully the s]3oiling of their goods, knowing in them- selves that they had in heaven a better and an endur- ing substance," Paul therefore would encourage and cheer them — nerve their spirits into greater endurance still. Like their Lord Himself and his, they " in this present evil world " both suffered and rejoiced, Li the contemplation of this condition of the Thessalonian 36 FIRST THESSALONIANS. [lECT. III. Churcli, Paul gladly, gratefully recognised the evidence — the proof of their election. " Much suffering," indeed, in itself proves nothing in regard to Christian character and attainment. But "much suffering, with joy in the Holy Ghost," does. They, of whom this can be said, "bear about in their body the marks of the Lord Jesus" — the sacred tattoo-marks, as it were, of His blessed service and of His ownership, and a pledge of the heavenly reward at last. Plato makes Socrates say to his friends, as he con- versed with them after drinking the poisoned cup : " How singular is the thing called pleasure, and how curiously related to pain, which might be thought to be the opposite of it ; for they never come to a man together, and yet he who possesses either of them is generally compelled to take the other ! They are two, and yet they grow together out of one head or stem ; and I cannot help thinking that if -^Esop had noticed them, he would have made a fable about God trying to reconcile their strife, and when He could not, He fastened their heads together, and this is the reason why when one comes the other follows" (Jowett's translation of the Phcedo). That is a heathen specu- lation on one of the great mysteries of human life. The mystery appears intensified in Christian life. The apostle thus describes it "as sorrowing yet alway rejoicing." Yet so far it is explained by that life's being an imitation of Christ. The believer, like his Master, being in a world of sin, is encom- passed with tribulation, but being a citizen of heaven, he is also "girded with gladness." He hears the voice of loving authority, and he yields to it loving obedi- ence, " If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me." He LECT. III.] CHAP. I. VERS. 4-G. 37 knows that the " via dolorosa " which he thus has to tread is a path of true joy, for he recognises his Saviour's steps in it. Hence he can " sing in the ways of the Lord," for fulness of consolation will be his at last. Melanchthon used to write in his students' note- books, " Kreutzesweg Lichtweg, — the path of the cross, the '^iiih. of light ;" and it was a favourite saying of Luther's, " If Christ wore a crown of thorns, why should His followers expect only a crown of roses ? " So far, then, the Christian in his reception of the gospel can understand that strange union, of "much affiction, with joy in the Holy Ghost." The stream of the renewed life on earth is of two currents. As near Geneva, at the junction of the Rhone and the Arve, the two rivers, though joined, yet appear distinct, — the blue stream of the one and the white stream of the other forming the one volume of w^ater, flowing within the same banks, at least for a time, towards the sea beyond, — so is it wdth the Christian life. Its stream has two currents, distinct yet united, of tribulation and joy, ever wending its course, troubled and calm, to the ocean of eternity beyond, — " When good and ill unmixed Flow on for ever, Each in its distant channel fixed, An everlasting river ; Where grief and joy, disjoined, The true and false entwined, Each to its destined place, At the stern sentence gone Shall dwell alone. Each on its far-off shore, And see each other's face No more." LECTURE IV. "As a sweet-smelling ointment keeps not its fragrance shut up in itself, but diffuses it afar, and scenting the air with its perfume, so conveys it also to the senses of the neighbours ; so, too, illustrious and admirable men do not shut up their virtue within themselves, but by their good report benefit others, and render them better. " — Chrvsostom in loo. "Ergo quisquls in vitce sanctce cursu perseverare volet, totam mentem applicet ad spem aduentus Christ!.'' — Calvin in loc. " So that ye became an ensample to all that believe in Macedonia and in Achaia. For from you hath sounded forth the word of the Lord, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but in every place your faith to God- ward is gone forth ; so that we need not to speak anything. For they themselves report concerning us what manner of entering in we had unto you ; and how ye turned unto God from idols, to serve a living and true God, and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivereth us from the wrath to come."— 1 TiiESS. i. 7-10. rpHE Thessalonian converts, having received the -^ gospel so heartily and held it so firmly, and havino; shown the influence which it exerted over their hearts and liA^es by their "joy of the Holy Ghost" in the midst even of " much affliction," became, ver. 7, " ensamples to all that believe in Macedonia and Achaia." The whole body of believers in these two Roman provinces, embracing Northern and Southern Greece, with their chief cities of Philippi and Corinth, had heard about the Thessalonian Church, and had learned to look up to it as an ensample. Collectively, for the word is in the singular, they were a pattern to others. Imitators or followers of the apostles, in so LECT. IV.] CHAP. I. VERS. 7-10. 39 far as these were followers of the Lord, they necessarily became themselves an ensample for others to imitate. This twofold aspect of the Christian life must never be forgotten. Christians individually and collectively are first followers, then leaders, — first imitators, then imitated. They look first to Him who is the Light of the World ; they then shine with the reflected lustre, becoming the lights of the world themselves. This is implied in the word used here for ensample (riiTro?). It means the impress of a seal — the stamp of a coin. Believers are stamped with Christ's likeness, and thus become a die for others. It is thus that truth spreads. This is the law of its communication and extension. Each Christian becomes himself another word of God, — a living Epistle, a new Bible, — ofttimes the only one the children of the world will read. Example brings home to most minds far more powerfully than precept the lessons of our most holy faith. Thus the word of God not only grows by prevailing, but we might also say (Acts xii. 24), growls and is multiplied. But in the case of the Thessalonians it is declared that they were so forward in good works, so conspicuous for their gifts and graces, that they even led the van in " the sacramental host of God's elect." Other churches looked up to them as their modeL " All that believe," as they turned their gaze upon them, found a new stimulus for themselves. " It requires higher grace, and is a more important duty, to be an example to believers than to the world" (Webster and Wilkinson), and this higher grace was theirs. Thessalonica was, as far as its Christian inhabitants were concerned, " a city set on a hill that cannot be hid." A noble dignity, a sacred duty, a constant danger, all this is implied in such a coveted post of honour. 40 riKST THESSALONIANS. [lECT. IV. This, their being an example to others, is explained and defined by ver. 8, "For from you sounded out the word of the Lord " in the region before mentioned. We are to understand by this, not the report of their conversion — the widespread rumour of their reception of the gospel ; nor does the clause mean " your bright example became itself a message from the Lord" (Alford), The language is not thus to be explained away. The simple meaning conveyed is, that the gospel which the Thessalonians had themselves received, they also earnestly diffused. By their energetic labour of love, by their missionary zeal, the word of the Lord was as the sound of a mighty trumpet, spreading, as echo-like it repeated itself, far and wide. This is the figure which lies imbedded in the word — a word used nowhere else in Scripture. The allusion may possibly be to the silver trumpets so conspicuous in the services of the Jewish ritual. Or the word may suggest, at least to us, the comparison of this early church with some high watch-tower from which, amid surrounding midnight darkness, swells forth, over town, and village, and plain, the watchman's voice or horn. More appro- priately still, the word may summon up before our inner eye some little humble church crowning the brow of an Alpine hill, and from it pealing forth the melody of bells, floating on the undulating air, over valley and mountain, and hamlets and lakes, summoning the children of men to prayer. But, it may be asked, is it possible to see in Paul's words an allusion to any special and direct missionary service on the part of the Thessalonian believers ? — any specific " labour of love " in the way of disseminating the truth ? Probably we may (vide Laurent in Studien mid Kritiken, 1 864, p. 5 1 1). As the fourth verse shows, LECT. IV.] CHAP. I. VERS. 7-10. 41 they had received an election for that very purpose. Paul, too, urged by the vision of the man of Macedonia, had been specially sent to them in preference to others, just that they might become a centre of commanding Christian influence. Now we have to remember that these two Epistles are the first which the apostle addressed to the Gentile world. Converts from the realms of heathenism needed such teaching ; and he adapted it to their need : he nowhere, for instance, in instructing them makes direct allusion to Old Testa- ment Scripture. They needed further, we may be sure, some historical record of their Lord's life — His words and works, His death and resurrection. It is not unlikely, therefore, that Luke's Gospel was pre- pared immediately for their use. That evangelist was the apostle's companion in Macedonia, and he had been left behind at Philippi. We may hazard the conjecture that he was thus left in order that he might write his Gospel, specially designed as it was for Gentile readers. Now Thessalonica was, from its situation and commercial connections, peculiarly suitable for the work of circulating that Gospel. Without any undue stretch of the imagination, then, we may surmise that •' the word of the Lord," which sounded out from Thessalonica into Macedonia and Achaia, was none other than the third Gospel or some part of it. (So substantially Words- worth, vid. his note on 2 Cor. viii. 18. But as opposed thereto, vid. Webster and Wilkinson.) In this noble and sacred " labour of love " the Thessalonian Church became widely known and honoured. The praise which the apostle (2 Cor. viii. 18) gave to Luke, for almost certainly the clause applies to him, was also peculiarly theirs, " The brother whose praise is in the Gospel throughout all the churches." There would be 42 FIRST THESSALONIANS. [lECT. IV. many travelling merchants, who had embraced the Christian faith, ceaselessly coming to and going from such a commercial centre. As the Waldensian pedlars of past centuries, and of the present too, wandered over the plains of Lombardy and Italy, carrying secretly many copies of the word of God, and offering them along with their merchandise wherever " an open door " presented itself, so possibly these early Christian traders carried coj^ies of Luke's Gospel with them from Thessalonica, and thus from thence sounded out the word of the Lord. The apostle has yet higher commendation to bestow upon his converts — his "brethren beloved of God." In the fulness of his heart's gratitude his language seems even to strain the limits of strict grammatical accuracy. He mixes up two constructions. He speaks not only of their ivorh in extending the knowledge of the truth to others, but also of that which was the motive power of their activity — their " faith to God- ward." (Had he been writing to Jewish converts only, he would probably have said Christward.) This their faith, he declares, was " in every place spread abroad" — every place, that is to say, where there were believers. The report of their personal piety had spread over a wider region even than had their direct exertions for the good of others ; not that the apostle himself had been the herald of this their praise (Bunsen), but that it had become the topic of general remark. Paul had ample opportunity of knowing this. He was now in Corinth, a great business centre of the ancient world, where the varied streams of travellers met. Aquila and Priscilla too, his special friends, had just come to Corinth from Eome (Acts xviii. 2). To be known in Rome was to be known everywhere (Ellicott). They then, having LECT. IV.] CHAP. I. VERS. 7-10. 43 heard about tlie Tliessalonians in the church situated in the capital of the world, would naturally tell the apostle, with all joyfulness and gladness, the good news which was now filling his heart with devout thankfulness and praise. He adds, " So that we need not speak anything." Common report spoke so fully that there was no need that he himself should say anything. Defence of his friends was an obligation he could never set aside. Praise of his friends was a pleasure he could not deny to himself or them. But here in the general commendation both were unneeded. The apostle gives us in these words a glimpse, as indeed he so constantly does in his Epistles, into the depths of his own loving heart. We see there his loyalty to his Master, his tenderness to his friends, his zeal for the truth, and his godly jealousy for his own heavenly reward. This good report, of which he makes mention, he delighted in, because it spoke of the progress of his Master's kingdom, because it spoke of the soul-prosperity of his Thessalonian brethren, because it was a testimony to the divine power of the gospel, and because it proved to him that his own labours were not in vain in the Lord. Comforted by the stedfast zeal of his converts he could say, "Ye are our glory and joy." Here, too, we have a glimpse into the nature of true fame, found where it is not sought, the natural reward of self-denying labour and abiding faith. " Hand semper errat fama ; aliquando et eligit " (Tacitus, Agricola, chap. x.). These Christians simply in doing their duty " left their name, A light — a landmark on the cliffs of fame." We find the apostle still carrying forward the thought. In his cumulative or chain style of diction he goes on 44 FIRST THESSALONIANS. [LECT. IV. to say " for," giving the reason why there is no need of his saying more — "they themselves," that is, the people in Macedonia, and Achaia, and elsewhere, " shew of us what manner of entering in we had nnto you." They did not need to be told about it either by Paul or by any others, for they themselves were always speak- ing of it, and noising it abroad ; and what they thus reported was about " us," that is, the apostle and his companions on the one hand, and the Thessalonians to whom he was writing on the other (Bengel, Llinemann), — how effectual and successful an entrance we had unto you. There is apparently here a reduplication upon ver. 5. He had spoken to them " in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance," and as he did so he felt that " a great door and effectual " had opened up before him — a door "opened of the Lord" (2 Cor. ii. 12), "a door of utterance to speak the mystery of Christ" (Col. iv. 3). Recognising abundant oppor- tunities of preaching the gospel there, he had felt that what the Risen and Glorified Head of the Church said to the church of PhiladeljDhia w^as also said to him, " Behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it." He, too, who had opened that door of usefulness for him had also granted him "a little strength " to enter in by it. All knew further how by this his entering in to them with the constraining, renewing influences of gospel truth, the Thessalonians had "turned to God from idols," a backward reference to ver. 6; as the foregoing words are to ver. 5. A description this particularly of the conversion of Gen- tiles. Paul's success had chiefly been among them : the Jews had refused his teaching. Thus they had become the first-fruits of the fulfilment of Isaiah's prophecy, a prophecy of the glory of Christ's Church in LECT. IV.] CHAP. I. VERS. 7-10. 45 the ingathering of the nations : " Thy gates shall be open continually ; they shall not be shut day nor night, that men may bring unto Thee the forces of the Gentiles." Observe in the word " idols " the signifi- cance of the plural, — many false gods. The gods of the heathen are a testimony to the many different forms which human error may take. But there is one God to whom alone all erring hearts must return. There is one God, one way of restoration to His favour, and need of " one heart " — a united heart in His service. Our prayer must ever be, " Unite my heart to fear Thy name." But this clause is descriptive of the conversion of each individual soul, as well as of the company of those who have been rescued from heathen darkness. The heart of every man serves idols ; everything away from God in which he seeks his satisfaction is a phantom, an image, not reality. Coleridge has said, " Could we emancipate ourselves from the bedimming influence of custom and the transforming witchcraft of early associations, we should see as numerous tribes of fetish -worshippers in the streets of London and Paris as we hear of on the coasts of Africa." This witness is emphatically true. We have need, therefore, at all times of the parting injunction of the apostle, the disciple whom Jesus loved, " Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen." From some form or other of manifold idolatry every new man in Christ Jesus turns to God as the one blissful centre of his renewed life. Hence the apostle proceeds to define the purpose of this conversion, or turnino; to God. It is twofold. It is first to " serve the living and true God," and second, " to wait for His Son from heaven." The one clause distinguishes the 46 FIRST THESSALONIANS. [lECT. IV. Thessalonian Church from the heathen, the other from the Jews. But they do more. They represent the universal Christian life in its two most prominent aspects, service and expectation. It is a life of ceaseless action, because it is also a life of patient waiting. It is a life of " much affliction " in the service of God, because it is also a life of "joy of the Holy Ghost," joyful looking forward to the coming of the " Son of God from heaven," bringing His reward with Him. It is this hope which, on the one hand, gives strength for service and perseverance in it, and it is the faithful engaging in this service which, on the other hand, justifies and consecrates this hope. Service without its accompanying hope would merge into dry and formal routine. Hope without its service — its ministry of love — would pass into indolent sentiment, or into restless and hysterical excitement. But while there is a sense in which waiting in hope is in all ages and in all circumstances one of the leading characteristics of the Church on earth and its individual members, there is no doubt that a more than usual prominence belonged to it in Thessalonica. The whole spirit of these two Epistles shows this. While the faithful there did not in any way lose sight of the Saviour's incarna- tion, and death, and resurrection, — for these are all implied as articles of their creed, — the " much afflic- tion " of their present lot led them to live much in the future ; to look and long for His coming again as " the just and gentle monarch, to terminate the evil and diadem the right." Paul's previous teaching had ofi'ered this comfort to them, and they held it fast. Thus the " manifold wisdom of God " has its meaning and preciousness for every type of Christian character and for every circumstance of Christian life. Being " the LECT, IV.] CHAP. I. VERS. 7-10. 47 common salvation," it is adapted to all, as well as the possession of all. This " Son of God from heaven," whom they waited for, is He "whom He raised from the dead." The promise of His coming again from heaven can only be held fast along with the assurance of His resurrection. He is " declared to be the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead." He cannot be con- ceived as coming from heaven, unless He is believed to have ascended thither. And this "Son of God" is " Jesus, who delivers us from the wrath to come." " Jesus ! " the name given the Incarnate Word, " for He shall save His people from their sins ; " the name He bore as He tabernacled among the children of men ; the name He bears still as Son of Man seated on the throne of His mediatorial glory ; the name He will bear as He comes again when every eye shall see Him. It was announced to the men of Galilee as they stood wondering on the mount of ascension. "This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen Him go into heaven." While He is represented as the coming One (o epxofievo';), He is represented as saving His people from the coming wi\ath. To understand this of any particular and predicted local catastrophe in this early history — as, for instance, the descent of the righteous judgment of God upon apostate Israel, the destruction of the temple at the siege of Titus, when Jerusalem perished in " blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke," and the entire abrogation of the Old Testament dispensation following thereupon— is in the highest degree jejune. AVe shall have ample occasion to refer to this view in the sequel; it is enough to say that this cyclone of judgment, of fiery indignation, that passed over Judea, 48 FIRST THESSALONIANS. [LECT. IV. while it affected, it is true, outlying regions as well, could by no possibility be the " dies irce " to^ which the apostle alludes in writing to Gentile Christians in Thessalonica. That destruction of the apostate city of David was indeed a manifestation of divine wrath, but at best only a faint foreshadowing of that holy wrath which at length is to be " revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men " in the great and terrible day of judgment. Now, our Lord is to be waited for as One who is delivering His people from this wrath. Between His ascension and coming again He is thus saving them " by His inter- cession consequent upon His resurrection, founded upon His death " (Webster and Wilkinson). The wrath to be revealed at the day of judgment is coming, and He is meanwhile rescuing them from it. The work is going on, and at last He will come from the heavens to take them thither, that they may be ever with Himself. While, then, Christians serve God and wait for His Son, He, their kinsman Eedeemer, is Himself working out their deliverance. Hence amid " much affliction " they have "joy of the Holy Ghost." They have this assurance, and the possession of it is peace, " God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him." Hence the sufferings of the present are to be regarded no longer as a mere yoke, but as a cross — a nobler word, speaking, as it does, of following Christ Jesus in suffering, till at last the cross be exchanged for the crown. The picture presented to us at the close of this chapter, of a united company of believers engaged in the worship and service of " a living and true God," LECT. IV.] CHAP. I. VERS. 7-10. 49 and strengtliened in their sadness by "the breath of Advent-tide " that hovered around them, in the midst of a heathen population whose idolatry they had for ever renounced, may well be illustrated by a striking passage in Cardinal Newman's Callista, a Sketch of the Third Century. It describes the thick atmosphere of evil that hung over the cities of pagan Rome. It represents a young convert entering the streets of Carthage, " threading its lanes or taking the circuit of its porticoes, amid sights which now shock and now allure ; fearful sights, not here and there, but on the stateliest structures and in the meanest hovels, in public offices and private houses, in central spots and at the corners of the streets, in bazaars and shops and house- doors, in the rudest workmanship and in the highest art, in letters, or in emblems or in paintings, the insignia and the pomp of Satan and of Belial, of a reign of corruption and a revel of idolatry, which you can neither endure nor escape. Wherever you go, it is all the same ; in the police-court on the right, in the military station on the left, in the crowd around the temple, in the procession wdth its victims and its worshippers who walk to music, in the language of the noisy market- people ; wherever you go, you are accosted, confronted, publicly, shamelessly, now as if a precept of religion, now as if a homage to nature, by all which, as a Christian, you shrink from and abjure." It was in such surroundings as these that the saints in Thessalonica waited for God's Son from heaven. They in their earnest expectation of His returning were " Faint for the flamiiif' of His adveut feet." LECTUEE V. "He has not learned the lesson of life who does not every moment surmount a fear." — Emerson. " nviufia Kvpiou kv^vos Ipiuvav ra, raf/,n7a, rrts yaffrfis. "liaifiiv 'TeJi lyiyui Iffriv, xcci on ouih XiXnhv airov Tuv iiivoiav tifiH/v evSi run ^lecXoynrfiiav av ^ciov//,i6a," — Clement i. Ep. ad Cok. xxi. "For yourselves, brethren, know our entering in unto you, that it hath not been found vain : but having suffered before, and been shame- fully entreated, as ye know, at Philippi, we waxed bold in our God to speak unto you the gospel of God in much conflict. For our exhortation is not of error, nor of uncleanness, nor in guile : but even as we have been approved of God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak ; not as pleasing men, but God, which proveth our hearts." — 1 Thess. ii. 1-4. TN the first chapter the apostle alludes with thank- -^ fulness to the way in which he had been able to preach the gospel in Thessalonica. He appeals, in regard to what he had there done and said, to the testimony of his own personal experience, and also to the testimony of believers in Macedonia and Achaia and elsewhere. He now appeals to the knowledge of his Thessalonian converts themselves. Eeverting in thought to the earlier part of chap. i. 9, he says : " For yourselves, brethren, know our entrance in unto you, that it was not in vain." He needs not to speak of what strangers reported. They themselves knew — the memory of their own grateful hearts had stored up that knowledge — that a " great door and effectual " LECT. v.] CHAP. II. VERS. 1-4. 51 had been opened up for them, that his entrance by the preaching of the gospel had not been empty, void of earnestness, or power, or success. The apostle lingers over this thought. It is a source of comfort and joy to himself, of praise and thanksgiving to God, and of lovino; cono;ratulation to the Thessalonian Church. His preaching had always been earnest ; but it had not been uniformly powerful. But, in this case, he records how his apostolic labours had been crowned with ful- ness of blessing. Paul's residence in Thessalonica was a bright spot on which his memory delighted to dwell. Every faithful servant in " the ministry of reconcilia- tion " has similar recollections — can recall times when his preaching was accompanied by a more than usual amount of fervour and assurance. He is happy, when he can also appeal to the memory of his hearers as con- firming his own convictions, for it is only when heart speaks to heart that the gospel has its " entrance." Ver. 2. " But," that is to say, on the contrary, so far from his entrance having been in vain, " even after that," or " although we had suffered before, and were shamefully entreated, as ye know, at Philippi, we were bold in our God to speak unto you the gospel of God with much contention," — a noble verse. It breathes throughout a spirit of true Christian faithfulness and enterprise — the heroism which pertains to the kingdom of God, "As ye know," the apostle says. They well knew the treatment meted out to Paul and Silas in Philippi just before their visit to Thessalonica. The slave-damsel with the evil spirit of divination, resorting to the river-side oratory in that city, coming in contact with Paul and Silas, had kept testifying, as she cried, to the truth of their mission. The constant repetition of her clamorous cries was a hindrance to the apostle's 52 FIRST THESSALONIANS. [LECT. V. work, had a disturbing influence, as lie talked to the other women by the river-side (vid. Dr. Plumptre in EUicott's N. T. Commentary) ; and besides, this preach- ing of the gospel, as in a sense it was, by a spirit of evil, was bitterly painful to the apostle, in whom dwelt the good Spirit of God. It was " a confession of truth by one for whom truth came too late" (Dr. Vaughan on Acts, vol. ii. p. 306). Paul, therefore, restored the woman to her true self. Having exor- cised her, he drew upon himself the fury of her sordid masters. A tumult was raised ; the apostle and his friend were summoned before the magistrates in the market-place, and were condemned to scourging. Bruised and bleeding, they were handed over to the jailor. They were thrust into the inner prison. "Those who have seen anything of the prisons of the Eoman Empire, as, e.g., the Mamertine dungeon at Rome itself, can picture to themselves the darkness and foulness of the den into which Paul and his friend were now thrust : the dark cavern-like cell below the ground, the damp and reeking walls, the companion- ship of the vilest outcasts. And, as if that were not enough, they were fastened in the stocks" (Dr. Plumptre). Thus, under a false charge, without legal trial, "with the burning sense of injustice fresh upon them, and the misery of present suff'ering keeping the wound open," they endured hardness. Yet, even then, Paul and Silas were bold. They could not preach to men, but they were free to pray and sing praises to God. Yet all this suffering (which the Thessalonians knew well about, and may have helped even to relieve, binding up the still fresh wounds of the apostle) did not deter these apostolic missionaries from further work. They were not false men, but true. Hence, no LECT. v.] CHAP. II. VERS. 1-4. 53 remembrance of sore and shameful treatment, nor any anticipation of its repetition, could make them faith- less. They were bold, confident of speech. Their courage stands forth conspicuous on the dark back- erround of their suffering-. Now, accordino; to Dean Howson [Lectures on the Character of St. Paul, p. 182), it is doubtful whether we can ascribe much of what is called physical courage to the apostle. He says, along with much else which goes to support his view, "we cannot confidently say that there was in Paul any lack of physical courage. Yet I doubt how far we can claim him for one of those fearless men of heroic mould whom it is our natural propensity to admire. The mode in which he gives a list of his sufierings (to quote no other passage), in the Second Ej)istle to the Corinthians (certainly no light cata- logue), seems to me to imply a considerable shrinking of the flesh from danger and from pain. Such a view, at least (this you will admit), is very consoling to us in our weak wincing under infinitely smaller trials and conflicts." When we remember, then, that Paul was well acquainted with literal fear, actual timidity, shrinkings of the flesh from pain and danger, his moral courage appears not obscured, but in all the stronger, clearer light ; we render the tribute of our admiration all the more heartily to his impetuous eagerness and cheerful activity in his Master's service. In view of what he had already undergone, and in anticipation of renewed suffering, he was "bold" in declaring in Thessalonica the whole counsel of God, keeping nothing back. He was all this, too, in the midst of "much contention," that is, much external conflict and danger from his Jewish and Gentile opponents, and also internal struggles. "Without 54 FIRST THESSALONIANS. [LECT, V. were fightings, and within were fears." vVhat was the secret of all this boldness ? It was his realizing of his message as " the gospel of God," — good news from God Himself, a message from God. Hence, even in the presence of this world's potentates, as God's aTibassador — " a legate of the skies " — he was bold. He relied on his credentials. He was emboldened by the thought of the trust committed to him. He spoke not his own things, but " the oracles of God." Thus his courage triumphed over his fear. Archbishop Whately once said, when a friend asked him whether he did not feel nervous about preaching, that he dared not : for nervousness implied thoughts of oneself, when we ought only to be thinking of God's message. It is in this way that Christ's servants become " bold in our God" — unconscious of self, because conscious of His presence, and relying upon His strength. It is the inner union of the soul with God which gives true confidence. The rig-ht fear of God delivers from o all other fear. This boldness, then, which is the characteristic, more or less marked, of all God's faithful people, is the result of divine grace strengthen- ing natural weakness. God-given faith is the secret of all Christian courage. All witnesses for Christ Jesus need this boldness. Gurnal has well said, " a minister without boldness is like a smooth file, a knife without an edge, a sentinel that is afraid to let off his gun. If men will be bold to sin, ministers must be bold to reprove." Neither regard to personal ease or interest on the one hand, nor regard to tenderness for the feelings and opinions of others on the other, must destroy, or even restrain, that boldness of speech, which is becoming in those who declare " the gospel of God," and to whom individually, as weU as to Moses, LECT. v.] CHAP. II. VERS. 1-4. 55 the divine promise is vouchsafed, "Go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say." Thus self-reliance is found in relying upon God. The Church has never failed to exhibit instances of the boldness of speech (irappTjaca) which the proclama- tion of the gospel demands. Motley in his Dutch Republic has preserved for us one of the most signal of these. He tells us of the young Francis Junius, the pastor of the secret French congregation of Huguenots at Antwerp, how, when surrounded by the terrors of the Inquisition, his courage rose all the higher. " On one occasion he preached a sermon, advocating the doctrine of the Keformed Church, with his usual eloquence, in a room overlooking the market-place, where, at the very instant, the execution by fire of several heretics was taking place, while the light from the flames in which the brethren of their faith were burning was flickering through the glass windows of the conventicle." All such faithful witnesses can say with Paul, " God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power." The apostle further declares that he thus confidently declared the gospel to his Thessalonian friends, " for," ver. 3, " our exhortation was (rather is — he is describing its habitual characteristic) not of deceit, nor of unclean- ness, nor in guile." " Our exhortation." There is much implied in the choice of the term to represent the apostolic ministry of the word. It means more than simple teaching. It is teaching tinged with emotion — "passionum dulcetudine tinctum" (Bengel). "It is the earnest, practical preaching of the apostle bringing every motive to bear upon his audience, plying them with every argument, and working on them by every kind of appeal, in order to win them over to the gospel 56- riEST THESSALONIANS. [LECT. V. and to faith in Him wlio delivers from tlie wrath to come." This exhortation in the nature of things assumes different phases according to the varying necessities of the hearers. To sinners, careless and defiant, its voice is " flee from the wrath to come." To the awakened it is " believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." To the backsliding it is " beware, lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own stedfastness." To the ignorant it is instruction. To the sorrowing it is consolation. To each it ofi'ers a portion in due season. The word thus suggestive, as it is, of affectionate counsel and comfort, is specially adapted to the circum- stances of the Thessalonian believers. The apostle in the tenderness of his heart yearns over them in their dangers and trials. His sympathy breathes forth even from the very words he employs. But he is specially concerned, further, to vindicate himself against what appears to have been false charges brought against him by his own countrymen — the Jews " moved with envy." Self-defence, he doubtless felt, was doubly a duty, when there were mixed up with it the honour and the triumph of the gospel of God. His vindication of his teaching takes the form, first of all, of a threefold denial. It " was not of deceit, nor of uncleanness, nor in guile." " Eemovet malas intentiones respectu Dei, et sui et aliorum," as Bengel puts it ; or better still, as Calvin, " tria quae com- memorat, sic videntur posse distingui, ut impostura ad ipsam doctrinse substantiam referatur, immundities ad animi affectum, dolus ad moduni agendi." His teaching, with all its invitations and entreaties, was " not of deceit." It had not its source or its motive in error. The system of idolatry from which his ministry under LECT. v.] CHAP. II. VERS. 1-4. 57 God had rescued liis Gentile converts was delusion. Sorcery, oracles, omens, were all of deceit. No one could be more ready to acknowledge this than them- selves. Yet, doubtless, they were now and again tempted almost to harbour the suspicion that the faith they had just embraced — faith as it was on the man Christ Jesus, who not many years before had died as a malefactor on the cross — might itself be a delusion, a snare. Their Jewish opponents would not fail to be Satan's ready, eager instruments in plying them with such suggestions. They were therefore, we may con- clude, not without the need of this apostolic assurance, that thereby they might be established in the present truth. His exhortation, his whole ministry which he had exercised in their midst, had its origin and its motive power, not in the spirit of error, but in " the spirit of truth." In effect Paul says to them what Peter says to those whom he addresses, " We have not followed cunningly - devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." Further, his teaching w\as "not of uncleanness," impurity. There may possibly lie in this a hidden reference to the licentious teaching and practices connected with heathen w^orship. Paul was in Corinth as he wTote these words, and there he could not fail to hear and see much of this impurity. To Corinthianize, if we may so translate the Greek term, had passed into the common meaning " to be licentious." But upon the whole it seems better to assign to the word here chiefly the idea of moral impurity — impurity of motive, such as evinced itself so generally in the character and conduct of the many Sophists who visited Thessalonica. Contrasting himself with these, the apostle would say that his exhortation was in no 58 FIRST TIIESSALONIANS. [LECT. V. way prompted by covetousness, by desire of gain. If in Thessalonica, as apparently in Corinth (2 Cor. xi. 8 fF.), this unjust charge had been urged against him, he could indignantly repel it. He was not " greedy of filthy lucre." He preached '' in simplicity and godly sincerity," seeking not their substance, but their souls. Still further, as it was no imposture or error which he taught, and as it was in no impure state of mind that he taught it, so it was not " in guile," with the deliberate intention to deceive, that he carried on the work of the ministry. Even thus early in the Church's history there were " false apostles, deceitful workers, transform- ing themselves into the apostles of Christ" (2 Cor. xi. 13). But not such was he. He could say, " We are not as many, which corrupt the word of God ; but as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God speak we in Christ ; " or again, " Not walking in craftiness, nor hand- ling the word of God deceitfully ; but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man's con- science in the sight of God." In view of these apostolic declarations we may learn that in our work of witness- ing for Christ the truth must be spoken by us from right principles, with right aims, and in a right way. Thus " if any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God : if any man minister, let him do it as of the ability which God giveth ; that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and dominion for ever and ever. Amen." Not satisfied with his disclaiming all wrong, corrupt elements in his " exhortation," the apostle proceeds to describe positively the nature, the manner of his teaching (ver. 4). " But as we were allowed, i.e. approved of God, to be put in trust with the gospel, even so we speak." He claims for himself in these words a divine commission LECT. v.] CIIAl". II. VERS. 1-1. 59 — not that lie or any one can ever be cliosen of God to salvation and honour because of ability to stand the test of divine scrutiny. No. That scrutiny, that testing, can reveal nothing but unworthiness. All are found wanting in the presence of Him who is "6 Trai/reTroTTTT/? ©eo? " (l Clem, ad Cor. Iviii.) — the all-seeing God. Yet there is a sense in which God does scrutinize His own people, setting aside some and approving others for special work. Christ Jesus, the Captain of our salvation, had even in the little band of His devoted followers, the eKkcKToi tmv eKXexrcov — the inner circle of three disciples, Peter and James and John, wdio were nearest in posts of privilege and duty to Himself. So is it still. There are those wdio, being proved faithful in little, — in the strength granted from on high, having withstood trial and having accomplished work, — are exalted to higher posts of service, and also to greater exposure to danger. Thus it was with Paul : first proved, then approved, and so entrusted with the gospel. The reward of past labour and sujBfering is simply renewed opportunity for labour- ing and suffering the more. " Honos propter onus." Recognising this truth, all God's faithful servants say with Paul, " I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who hath enabled me, for that He counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry." In view of this commission received from God, Paul declares that he spoke in accordance with it. His speaking was such as became one who had received so high and holy a trust : hence, " not as pleasing men, but God, which trieth our hearts." Commendation of men, human favour and benefits, were not what he sought. The desire of these, however innocent and proper within certain limits in itself, was no motive power with him — could 60 FIRST THESSALONIANS. [LECT. V. heave no influence in moulding the substance or the form of his exhortation. Had he been in aught governed by such lower, and essentially selfish motives, he would have been ranked only with those who in reality, whatever their profession may be, " please not God, and are contrary to all men." To please men is not necessarily, or even usually, to profit them. But to profit them even at the cost of their displeasure is always to please God — that God who " trieth our hearts." We have parallels with this passage, e.g. in Solomon's dedication prayer, "Thou, even Thou only knowest the hearts of all the children of men ; " Ps. vii. 9, " The righteous God trieth the hearts and reins ; " and again, the glorified Lord Himself, speaking from the throne of His glory to the Church of Thyatira, declares, " I am He which searcheth the reins and hearts." No eye-service, then, dare be ofi'ered to Him who " does thoughts unveil in their dumb cradle." The heart is the centre alike of feeling and willing and thinking — in other words, the whole moral life within a man {vid. Ellicott on Phil. iv. 7). " Our hearts," that is, the hearts of Paul and his companions, Silvanus and Timotheus. The apostle evidently includes these friends of his, but the plural may be meant also to suggest a wider, a universal reference. It is God's prerogative to have the hearts of all the children of men naked and open in His sight. And they are thus naked and open before Him that He may try them. The word is the same as that rendered " allowed " in the earlier part of the verse. Yet it does not carry with it the same fulness of meaning. It is " approved " in the first case, as applied to Paul and his fellow-labourers. It is simply "proved," i.e. tested, tried, as applied generally in the second. When, LECT. v.] CHAP. II. VERS. 1-4. 61 therefore, we remember that God tries our hearts, we have also to remember that it lies with ourselves whether or not that trying, that proving, pass into approving, and so into acceptance at last. Let Paul's motto be also ours, in all the relations of life and its duties, " If I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ." LECTUKE VI. " Hochfhart verdirbts Demut envirbts J ""^'' ' Old German Adage. "Blame I can bear, though not blameworthiness." Browning, The Ring and the Bool: "For neither at any time were we found using words of flattery, as ye know, nor a cloke of covetousness ; God is witness : nor seeking glory of men, neither from you, nor from others, when we might have been burdensome, as apostles of Christ. But we were gentle in the midst of you, as when a nurse cherisheth her own children : even so being affectionately desirous of you, we were well pleased to impart unto you, not the gospel of God only, but also our own souls, because ye were become very dear to us. For ye remember, brethren, our labour and travail : working night and day, that we might not burden any of you, we preached unto you the gospel of God." — 1 Thess. ii. 5-9. rpHE apostle is very careful, in describing the -^ relation in which his ministry stood to the Thes- salonians, to defend himself against all false charges — all insinuations or suspicions of insincerity or impurity of motive. He was not deterred from his apostolic labours by any fear of suffering. He was bold of speech because he preached " the gospel of God," and because that God who gave the gospel was his God, the God of his own salvation. There was no element of imposture, or covetousness, or guile in his ministry. Accredited from on high, he pleased not men, but God. It was enough for him, in seeking the good of his fellow-men, to be approved of Him who proveth His servants' hearts. In confirmation of this characteristic LECT. VI.] CHAP. II. VERS. 5-9. 63 of his ministry, he had already appealed to his own personal convictions and experience — to general report — to the Thessalonians themselves. He now appeals directly to God. " For neither at any time used we flattering words." That is to say, we were not in the practice of using language such as flattery employs. This, first of all, he disclaims. His exhortation was rather the word of simple, unadulterated truth. Had his designs been self-seeking, he would have made use of flattery as one of the easiest keys for opening the door of the weak human heart. " Delicious essence ! " thus writes one of the greatest English humourists regarding it, " how refreshing art thou to Nature ! how strongly are all its powers and all its weaknesses on thy side ! how sweetly dost thou mix with the blood, and help it through the most difficult and tortuous passages to the heart ! " This description of flattery is too true. It is emphatically one man's meanness working on his neighbour's weakness, for the vilest purpose of self- interest. Hence, whenever its true character is recog- nised, every noble nature instinctively rises up against it, and feels that the w^ords of the wise man are true, " A man that flattereth his neighbour spreadeth a net for his feet." Not only this most degrading and loathsome form of flattery is here disclaimed, but also that other and less hateful kind of it, which at first sight may even appear the outcome of goodness of heart — that thoughtless insincerity of men who — "Paint their tcalk With colours of the heart which are not theirs." This, too, though it be not deeply tinged with malice, or selfishness, or spurious friendliness, is deeply tinged with sinfulness, and as such is disclaimed by Paul. 64 FIRST THESSALONIANS. [LECT. VI. Nor did his exhortation partake of flattery by his palliating the self-accusation of the awakened sinner's heart. In the case of many of his hearers, their souls, under the influence of his exhortation, had been doubt- less roused to a sense of the reality of sin and punish- ment. But he did not meet their anxiety and alarm, we may be sure, by laying the flattering unction to their souls that, after all, their inward state was not so bad as their fears would paint it. Nay, it was " sound doctrine," wholesome food, not deadly poison, which he offered them. His teaching had for its aim first to wound, that, like Ithuriel's spear, it might afterwards heal. It is a short and natural step for the apostle's thought to pass from flattery to that which is the essence, — the very soul of all flattery, — covetousness ; that form of self-interest which is sure to show itself in "flattering words." He disclaims, that is to say, in regard to his former ministry in Thessalonica, all pretexts such as avarice employs, — that master lust of the human heart which is never satisfied — " That satiate yet unsatisfied desire, that tub Both filled aud running " (Shakespeare, Cpnheline, i. 6 ; compare Plato, Gorgias, 493, where the desire of man is compared with a sieve or pierced vessel, which he is always trying to fill, but which is never full), — that vice which poten- tially includes all others (Cato, de Mo7^ihus, " Avaritia omnia vitia habet"). Among both the Gentiles and the Jews this vice seems often to have appeared among the teachers of the people. In the early Church itself, even in times of persecution, its corrupting presence could be too plainly detected. Suspicions about Paul's LECT. VI.] CHAP. II. VERS. 5-9. 65 conduct being tainted by it seem to have taken posses- sion of his opponents' minds. Hence his eagerness to disclaim it, and to disclaim it in the most emphatic way. He refuses to allow his fair reputation to be tarnished even by the passing breath of such suspicion. As to the Ephesians, he says, " I have coveted no man's silver, or gold, or apparel ; " and to the Corinthians, " I seek not yours, but you ; " so to the Thessalonians he declares, " nor a cloke of covetousness ; God is witness." The word "cloke" here is very significant. In this fallen world of ours there are some sins which men may even glory in, — many, the indulgence of which entails at least little or no shame. But this sin of covetousness is one which no man will ever dream of boasting of. Men, while they indulge in it, always try to hide it. " No man will profess himself covetous, be he never so wretchedly sordid within ; but he will for very shame cast as handsome a cloak as he can over it, — frugality, good husbandry, providence, — some cloak or other to hide the filthiness of it from the sight of others. But filthy it is still, be it cloaked never so honestly. God abhorreth it as a filthy thing. ' He speaketh well of the covetous, whom God abhorreth,' Ps. X. 3 " (Bishop Sanderson). It aj^pears then that this covetousness, however often it may evince its presence among men, must have its " cloke," its mask. AVere it at once and invariably to kythe in its real colours, even the children of the world would not endure it. It would be loathsome. But the apostle adds, " God is witness." (Compare Rom. i. 9 ; 2 Cor. i. 23 ; Phil. i. 8.) In reference to the language of fiattery, he says, " as ye know." Man can judge thereon. Hence he appeals to his readers. They themselves were good enough judges as to whether E 66 FIRST THESSALONIANS. [lECT. VI. he had ever flattered them. But it is otherwise with covetousness, and its mask — "Neither man nor angel can discern Hypocrisy, the only evil that walks Invisible, except to God alone, By His permissive will through heaven and earth." In regard to it, — the hypocrisy of covetousness, — there- fore, Paul lays bare his heart before the all-seeing eye. He appeals to God as if he had said, God knows, and what He knows, He will at length testify, so that you too may know, that with no plausible w^ords, but with words of sincerity and simplicity, I preached unto you. This form of solemn asseveration, arising from intense earnestness of motive, and aiming at the highest and holiest ends, is clearly not forbidden in Scripture. What is prohibited by the law and by Him who is the fulfiller of the law is the profane, the flippant, the aimless appeal to the omniscience of God. That is God-dishonouring and soul-debasing. A true man, having respect alike for self and for the name of God— " Honouriug his own word, As if it were his God's," will never throw discredit upon his own integrity by such unneedful oaths. But the apostle passes on to disclaim as an element in his exhortation aught of ambition — desire of glory. " Nor of men sought we glory." This naturally follows upon the allusion to covetousness, for as Calvin has well said of avarice and ambition, " Duo enim sunt isti fontes, ex quibus manet totius ministerii corruptio," — the one seeks to draw to itself the substance, the other seeks to draw to itself the praise of men. But Paul declares that his aim was not the honour of men, but LECT. VI.] CHAP. II. VERS. 5-9, 67 the approval of God. The scroll on the shield of the 7nan of this world is, "I foUov^r fame." On that of Paul it was, " Rather use than fame." His was the thorn-path of duty. Yet in the end it led to honour too. Whatever of glory, either from the Thessalonians or from others, came to him, he valued only as extend- ing the sphere of his activity in his Master's service. He could say — " Use gave me fame at first, And fame again Increasing gave me use." But here a difficulty of interpretation presents itself. The apostle and his companions did not seek applause- glory, either of the Thessalonian Christians or of any other church, or of the world, when they " might have been burdensome as the apostles of Christ ; " this may mean either, weighty in authority, or burdensome in requiring pecuniary support, as Christ's own apostles. The latter, though it be that of the authorized version, is probably wrong. Both the preceding and succeeding contexts seem to require this sense — though we might have been of weight (compare " weight of glory," 2 Cor, iv, 17) — stood upon our dignity and claimed honour as being Christ's apostles. His dignity and glory — the dignity and glory of His message — were in reality reflected on them. His ambassadors. They might therefore, had they been so minded, have assumed the trappings of outward pomp. They might have commanded with the sternness of authority, instead of entreated with the tenderness of aflection. But they had not so learned Christ. They could not so dishonour Him for the sake of any so-called honour accruing to themselves. They were willing to give up all self-assertion, all apostolical claims and pretensions, 68 FIRST THESSALONIANS. [lECT. VI. — ^no mention is made of these in the opening words of the Epistle, — that they might assert His gentle reign over the hearts of men. It is worth while here to pause that we may notice what seems to be a conspicuous trait in Paul's cha- racter — a keen sensitiveness to the good opinion of others. This appears from the very way in which he so often pleads in self-defence (vid. Howson's Lectures on St. Paul, p. 74). He betrays, even in his disclaim- ing all base motives, such as seeking honour of men, a sensitiveness to suspicion more than normal. If this be a correct estimate of the great apostle, do we not feel that so far from falling in our esteem, he is brought all the nearer to the sympathy of our hearts ? Jowett has a good note here : " Why should the apostle so repeatedly repudiate the imputation that he sought glory of men ? He was one of those who instinctively knew the impression produced by his character and conduct on the hearts of others. What was the motive of this ' vain babbler,' would be a common topic of conversation in the cities at which he preached. ' To get money, to make himself somebody,' would be the ordinary solution. Against this the apostle protests. His whole life and conversation were a disproof of it. It may have been that he was aware also of something in his manner which might have suggested such a thought. It was not good for him to glory, and yet he sometimes ' spake as a fool.' Eightly understood, this glorying was but an elevation of the soul to God and Christ, or at worst the assertion of himself in moments of depression or ill-treatment ; but to others he might have been conscious that it must have seemed a weak- ness, and may have been made a ground of imputations from his adversaries." It is in some such way as this LECT, VI.] CHAP. II. VERS. 5-9. CO that we are to account for the apostle's carefuhiess to set himself right in the eyes of others — all the more so as wrong imj)ressions about the messenger, haunting the minds of men, were active obstacles in the way of their receiving; the mcssao;e. But we are still in the middle of the apostle's self- defence. He has hitherto been describing his conduct, especially his ministry, as to what it was not. He proceeds now to show what it really was. He sets before us its positive side. Ver. 7. " But," that is to say, so far from that, " we w^ere gentle among you, even as a nurse cherisheth her (own) children." As a nursing mother, and her gentleness, so was he, and such were his mildness and tenderness in dealing with his converts. " Among you," he says, as one of your- selves, surrounded by you as my pupils, I showed not the spurious gentleness of flattery, but the true gentleness of an earnest teacher, — more than this, the yearning even of a loving mother's heart. The warmth of his affection forbade the assumption on his part even of his rightful authority. (Non agebant, quasi ex cathedra, quae Petri dicitur, et stilum curiae suse, apostolicum appellat. — Bengel.) His teaching and whole bearing towards them were suffused with the radiance of his Master's own character — the love which passeth understanding — that love which, turning aside from every form of self-assertion, expends, without lessening, itself in overflowing to others. " So," he consequently goes on to say, in this manner (ouTft)?), " being affectionately desirous of you," — no better rendering of a somewhat difficult word could be given than this, — going out towards you in the yearn- ings of our love. This affectionate yearning manifested itself first of all in active effort. It w^as no mere 70 FIRST THESSALONIANS. [LECT, VI. sentiment, listless, however laudable. It was an en- thusiasm which ever burst forth into energetic action. It had led the apostle to " impart the gospel unto them." To those whom he so ardently loved and longed for, he communicated the best gift in his pos- session — the knowledge of the truth. His love could find its satisfaction in no lesser gift. So it must ever be where true Christian life exists. Yet how often do we see, where other evidences of Christian character are not awanting, affection exhibited in every way rather than in this ! How often do we see, for instance, parents bound up in their children, willing to make any sacrifice for them, giving them, at the cost of infinite personal toil and self-denial, worldly comfort, education, eligible openings in life, fortunes — all these, but in criminal forgetfulness neglecting to " impart the gospel of God to them," — withholding from those whom they so dearly love that which alone can make them happy, prosperous for time and for eternity alike ! But the apostle's affectionate yearning towards his Thessalonian friends showed itself further in self- abnegation — in willingness to impart "also our own souls," — we had goodwill to distribute, as it were, among you, to each one his share, our very life. The figure appears still to be kept up. Paraphrased, Paul's words mean this : As the mother not only nourishes her new-born child with her milk, but also tends and guards it, and is even ready to offer her life in self-sacrifice for its welfare, so was he towards his spiritual children. He had given them "the sincere milk of the word," and in imparting it he was ready, if need be, to give up his own life — his very existence and all that pertained to it. In their service and for LECT. VI.] CIIAr. II. VEKS. 5-9. 71 their interests lie was willing to spend and to be spent. No sacrifice was too great for liini willingly, joyfully to face, so that the Master whom he served might be glorified in them. He once said in his unutterable yearning over his own countrymen : " I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost, that I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart. For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh." Hardly less strong — less emphatic — than these, are his words of tenderness in reference to the Gentiles — these Thessa- lonians to whom, as Christ's ambassador, he had been sent. This willingness he once more traces to its source, " because ye were (became) dear unto us." His love for them was in the gospel, he loved them for the Saviour's sake ; and now, having accepted of the salva- tion, they became dear to the apostle's heart — very dear, because they were now rejoicing together with him in " the common salvation." Such is, after all, the only firm basis on which true friendship and love can rest. What a picture have we here presented to us of Paul's character and conduct ! As his image rises up before us in its difl'erent aspects, from the pages of his own Epistle, we see him clinging, with passionate earnestness, to those who were his friends. That heart of his, which was restless till it rested in Christ, cease- lessly sent forth its love, henceforth sanctified in Christ's love, tow\ards others. Not only so, there are other aspects of His character and worth presented to us here. " What a picture of the true pastor ! Not lording it over God's heritage, not one having dominion over their faith, not one who rules, and censures, and 72 FIRST TIIESSALONIANS. [lECT. VI. threatens, but just a loving friend ; . . . a helper of their joy, the kind father, yea, the gentle mother also of his people" (Vaughan on Acts, ii. p. 329). He illustrated in himself the truth of the old Italian pro- verb, " The teacher is like the candle which gives light to others by consuming itself." The apostle, in ver. 9, proceeds to confirm what he had been declaring about the warm self-denial of his love. He adduces instances : " For ye remember, brethren." They themselves knew how his words were words of truth. "Our labour and travail" (or "weariness and painfulness," as the same words are rendered in 2 Cor. xi. 27, but first found in the Geneva Version) ; — these words are more than once in Scripture found together. They are not synony- mous. The one seems to represent work as entailing suffering, the other represents it as painfully wrestling with difficulties. Together they suggest very hard and exhausting toil — work which taxed every energy of body and of spirit, and was practically a giving up of his life for his friends' sake. It was largely manual labour, doubtless tent-making, as during the apostle's sojourn with Aquila and Priscilla. It was also long- continued labour, " labouring night and day," that is, to say, incessantly, not manual labour during night and preaching during day — the idea of long protracted exertion alone is implied. And why all this toil ? The answer follows, " Because we would not be charge- able unto any of you." In Thessalonica he refused to make, as he was entitled to do, the support of himself and his companions a burden to any one, — "any of you," seeming to imply that there were individuals among them who would willingly have taken upon themselves the honourable burden of his LECT. VI.] CHAP. 11. VEKS. 5-9. T3 support. It was thus that, in the midst of abounding proofs of self-denial and zeal, they "preached the gospel of God." It was the most glorious of all mes- sages which he proclaimed. It was the noblest and most exalted of all commissions which he held, not- ^vithstanding the outward meanness and the drudgery of his earthly surroundings. Here once again, and in yet another aspect, does the apostle of the Gentiles stand out before us. It was the saying of Kabbi Gamaliel, " He that hath a trade in his hand, to w^hat is he like ? He is like a vineyard that is fenced." The apostle had a trade in his hand, and now in the solitary midnight hours it ministered to the necessities of himself and others. It has been asked why, in this case, he set aside his privilege and right of receiving support from those whom he taught. Doubtless it was not because the Thessalonians were too poor to render him aught of aid. There is rather some evidence to the contrary. Still less likely is it that he wished " to keep his body under, and bring it into subjection." It was not as a religious exercise that he thus laboured. It may have been partly to distinguish himself from the many wandering sooth- sayers who overran Greece and Asia, "telling some new thing," and that for the sake of sordid gain. But after all, Paul's chief reason for his conduct lies plainly expressed in the Epistle itself (1 Thess. iv. 11, and especially in 2 Thess. iii. 6-12). Here it was desir- able to show the Thessalonian converts that there is no opposition between the reception of the gospel and the discharge of the ordinary duties of life. There were some in their midst who WTre " disorderly " and " busybodies," — ready to eat other men's bread for nought. By his own labour Paul placed himself in a 74 FIRST THESSALONIANS. [LECT. VI. position of autliority to read these a needful lesson. By teaching and example alike, he could enforce the command to " study to be quiet, and to work with their own hands," and that " if a man will not work, neither should he eat." Such is the picture of entire consecration in thought, and w^ord, and deed which is here set before us. Let us see that our contemplation of it be fruitful of new zeal and devotion in our own hearts and lives. Thus, whatever may be our burdens, — our weight of toils on earth, — ours will be at last " the exceeding weight of glory " in heaven. LECTURE VII. O lyyvs fiov iyyvs tou rrupo;- i oi /uaapa-v ocT if/.ou ficcx-fa-o a-xa rri; (ia/riXiiu;. — Traditional saying of our Lord cited in Westcott's Introductioii to the Gospels. " Honos propter onus." " Ye are witnesses, and God also, bow holily, and righteously, and iin- blameably we behaved ourselves toward you that believe : as ye know how we dealt with each one of you, as a father with his own children, exhorting you, and encouraging you, and testifying, to the end that ye should walk worthily of God, who calleth you into His own kingdom and glory." — 1 Thess. ii. 10-12. rpHE apostle having alluded to particular traits of his -^ own character and ministry, as these had appeared in his former labours in Thessalonica, proceeds now to give a general summary of them. He gathers up the several particulars about himself and his associates, and reaffirms them. "Ye are witnesses, and God also." He had previously made an appeal to his readers them- selves, and an appeal also to God, his God and theirs. He now blends these into one — naturally so. He calls the Thessalonians to witness, and God also, because the matter in hand regards both heart and life — the inner state of the heart, and the outward deeds of the life whereby it is manifested. He makes this double aj^peal because he is speaking of what in jjart was open before men, and in whole naked before Him who seeth in secret. He is speaking of " things honest, both in the sight of God and in the sio;ht of men." And what are 76 FIPtST THESSALONIANS. [lECT. VII. tliese ? " How holily, and justly, and unblameably we behaved ourselves." " Holily." The word represents the side of their behaviour which looks specially towards God. A common Biblical phrase is " holy to the Lord." The divine command is, " Be holy to your God," and the announcement is made, " The Lord will show who are His, and who is holy." The word is found in Scripture applied (a) to God, the Father, Son, and Spirit, as infinitely holy above His creatures — " the Holy One " — the source and end of all purity ; (6) to angels, as intelligent beings who rejoice un- ceasingly in the 'pure light of the divine presence ; and (c) lastly to saints, as being sanctified, set apart, con- secrated to a holy life by the renewing of the Spirit of holiness. All believers in this sense live holily. With their varying degrees of conformity to the will of God, they are all true men. Their devotion is sincere — their hearts turn towards God, as the flower opens itself and turns to the light of heaven. " Justly." This other word represents the side of the apostle's behaviour, and of that of his companions, which looks specially towards men. It means " righteously." It defines the believer's conduct as upright in all its connections and dealings with others. The term is sometimes found applied to God as well as to His people. In reference to the latter, it means that they are just in God's sight through the imputation of Christ's righteousness to them, and that they, thus standing in a new relation to God, strive to live and act in obedience to Christ's law of love. We often use the word in a narrow sense, when, for instance, we say of a man that he is just but not generous. But that is an undue and unwarrantable limitation of its proper significance. According to God's law, no man is really LECT. VII.] CHAP. II. VERS. 10-12. 77 just who is not also generous, kind, forbearing, helpful, affectionate towards his neighbour. In other words, a man is in the right sense of the term just only when he " loves his neighbour as himself," for that is a debt he always owes, and can never fully pay. " Owe no man anything, but to love one another." In this case, then, Paul does not say simply that he and his associates had acted honestly, but that they had also acted lovingly, neglecting no duty towards the brethren which Christ their elder brother has enjoined. Such, then, are the special meanings assigned to " holily and justly " here. They can be easily distinguished, and yet they necessarily and constantly overlap one another. It is to be noticed, however, that while they stand together representing two asj)ects of Christian life which cannot be severed, " holily " stands first, for it is only when the heart is right with God that it can be right in the full compass of its feeling towards our fellow-men. But the apostle, as if supposing it possible that these two words might be thought not to embrace every element of Christian conduct, adds yet another, " unblameably." Its significance is negative, and is on that account all the more comprehensive. The conduct of himself and his friends could not in any respect have the stigma of just blame attached to it. As servants of Christ Jesus, and called to special work in His Church, they gave " no ofi"ence in anything, that the ministry might not be blamed." He could con- sequently, being able to apply these three qualifying- words to himself and friends, speak not merely of a good heart and a good life, but also of a good name. And the wise man says, " a good name is better than precious ointment." " Whatsoever things are of good report," these he followed after, for " he who keeps 78 FIRST TIIESSALONIANS. [lECT. VII. his life clear from sin, does good to liimself, — he who keeps it clear of suspicion, is merciful to others" ("Wordsworth on Phil. iv. 8). The apostle is a pattern in all these respects to pastors and people. Yet none the less we Jiave ever to rise from mere human examples, even though they be apostolic, to that which is divine. Christ Jesus is repeatedly set before us in Scripture as " the Holy One " and " the Just One," and as to blamelessness. He could say, as no others can, " which of you convinceth Me of sin ? " And regarding Him the Eoman judge could testify, " 1 find no fault in Him." It is when His people sted- fastly and lovingly look towards Him that they come at length to "be holy and without blame before Him in love." Such was the behaviour of Paul and his associates " among you that believe " — that is, in the view, in the judgment of those who were believers. It was in this light that they appeared in the estimation of their friends. More than this the apostle could not assert ; for in the estimation of the Jewish and Gentile inhabit- ants of Thessalonica his character and conduct were maligned — furiously assailed (Acts xvii. ). He represents himself, therefore, as turning aside from the reproaches and enmity of the world, to the judgment of those who were his fellow-believers. In their hands his reputation is safe. Even w^hen he seems to be commending himself, he knows that their grateful, lovino- hearts will not wrong; him, or misunderstand his motives. So intent, so eager is he to justify the purity of his ministry, that not satisfied with the threefold charac- terizing of it already given, he appeals once more to his readers as to w^hat they personally and individually LECT. VII.] CHAP, II. VERS. 10-12. 79 knew about it, "as ye know how we exhorted, and comforted, and charged every one of you, as a father doth his (own) children." Ah-eady had he used the fio-ure of a nursino; mother in the tenderness of her self-sacrificino; devotion to her children. He now shifts the figure. It is here that of a father, the faithful instruction and training of paternal authority and affection. In both comparisons there breathe forth the warmth, the consuming zeal of apostolic love. There are two points to be noticed in this comparison instituted by Paul between his conduct and that of a father. (1) He could say, as a wise father suits his dealings, both in training and teaching, to the case, the requirements, of each child, so he acted towards his converts — " every one of you." It was no general relation in which he stood to them. He dealt with each individual soul. He adapted his teaching to each case, giving to " each a portion in due season." This was evidently the apostle's invariable procedure. AVe find him, for instance, reminding the elders of the Ephesian Church in his touching interview with them at Miletus, " I ceased not to warn every one of you night and day with tears." And to the Colossians he says, " Christ Jesus, the hope of glory ; whom we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom ; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus." It is perhaps worthy of observation here that Christianity has brought out into clearest light, and has assigned the greatest prominence to the worth — the unspeakable value of the individual soul. It is quite a commonplace with us to speak in this way. It was not so — it was far otherwise with the conceptions of the ancient world. The rulers, even the teachers of heathen society thought of men as a body — used them 80 FIRST THESSALONIANS. [lECT. VII. or influenced them in the mass, but seldom thought of the individual. But the religion of Christ Jesus takes account of each — tenderly deals with each, and thus advances till the number of His people be gathered in. Its foundation rests on individual conviction. Individualism, not multitudinism, is the word to represent the law of its growth. It makes its appeal to each separate conscience, and it is only in so far as it does so that it comes to leaven the whole mass of human society. But (2) the other point in the comparison here made is, as a father is eager, intensely earnest, in giving his children right guidance and instruction, so was Paul in his yearning care of his converts. As he had described his general behaviour by three terms, so he describes his ministry in a threefold way. He says " Exhorted, and comforted, and charged." There are difi"erent ways in which these may be distinguished ; for instance, it may be said that the exhortation is the mere general term, and describes the apostolic teaching as in- fluencing the mind and will, in other words, instruction ; that comforting is friendly persuasion, touching the feelings, and so leading the heart to Christ and His truth— consoling and inspiriting those who in midst of tribulation were doubting and desponding; and that charging or testifying is adjuring them with all solemnity, as in the sight of God (not as Hofmann represents, " den nachdrucklichen Ernst der Bede, wenn der Bedende flir das, was er sagt, mit seiner Person eintritt"). Or again it may be said (with Beno-el), " irapaKkva-L^, hortatio, mo vet, ut facias aliquid libenter ; irapa^vdiov, consolatio, ut cum gaudio ; to fiapTvpelaOai, contestatio, ut cum timore." Such were the characteristics of the apostle's ministry. LECT. VII.] CHAr. II. VERS. 10-12. 81 Each one brouglit under the range of his influence was dealt with in the way most suited to his case, that so all might " walk worthy of God, who hath called them unto His (own) kingdom and glory " — one member of the church needing exhortation, another comfort, a third solemn chargino;. But the end aimed at in them all is one and the same — a walking worthy of their calling from on high. By walking we are, of course, to understand the whole character and conduct of a man — his whole inner and outer life. The figure implies energetic movement, and movement in the way of progress. Hence in the fullest sense it represents the activity of the man who is renewed in the spirit of his mind — the man who walks with God. It is worthy walking only when the com- mand has been heard and obeyed, " walk before Me, and be thou perfect ; " " as ye have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him." Such walking is " worthy of God." It is activity of heart and life, becoming those who are God's " peculiar people " — worthy of their dignity as the objects of the divine calling. The w^ord " calling " is a favourite one with Paul. It means in his usage of it not merely God's invitation, but that invitation as accepted, hence effectual calling. His Church is called out of the bond- age, and corruption, and degradation of Egypt into the light and liberty of the gospel. We must then walk worthy of the dignity of such a calling by living as the Lord's freedmen. But this calling, represented always by the apostle as ceaselessly going forth to His people on the part of God, is " unto His own kingdom " — the dispensation of grace — the privileges and responsibilities of His Church on earth — the kingdom of heaven which Christ Jesus came to earth to procure for men and to F 82 FIRST THESSALONIANS. [LECT. VII. preach to tliem — " the kingdom of My Father," as He calls it. We are then to walk worthy of the duties which pertain to this kingdom. We are to exhibit faithful allegiance to Him who is King — ^joyful obedience to its laws — affectionate interest in all its subjects — valiant fighting in its service — co-operation in all good work, so that the words of Tacitus in regard to the ancient Britons may not be verified in Christian effort : " ita singuli pugnant, universi vincuntur," but rather the words : "In sedificio quippe lapis lapidem portat. Quia lapis super lapidem ponitur, et qui portat alterum, portatur ab altero, sic in sancta ecclesia unusquisque et portat alterum et portatur ab altero, nam vicissim se proxime tolerant, ut per eos caritatis sedificium surgat " (Gregor. M. in Ezech. ii. 2, 5, in Mone, Hymni Latini Medii ^vi, vol. i. p. 435). But the apostle adds " and glory." The meaning is not simply " His glorious kingdom." The idea is rather this, that while God is calling His people to the dignity and duties of His own kingdom. He is also at the same time calling them to its future rewards. Their destiny is glory. All true members of Messiah's kingdom are heirs of this eternal glory. This glory is what Paul elsewhere calls " the jprize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." There is a propriety in the " glory " being added by the apostle here. Hofmann says well : " w^o Gott ^aaCkev'i ist, da geschieht kein anderer wille, als der seine ; wer ihn aber thut, der hat Theil an der ^6^a dieses ^aaCkev^ ; um Beides auszudrticken, verbindet der Apostel beide Begriffe, welche also nicht vermengt sein woUen," This glory we even here know some- thing of. One of its elements — its chief one indeed — is likeness to Christ Jesus. " It doth not yet appear what we shall be ; but we know that when He shall LECT. VII.] CHAP. II. YEllS. 10-12. 83 appear, we shall be like Ilim ; for we shall see Him as He is." This glory then will be " the beauty of holiness." Another element in it is sharing Christ's sovereignty. His promise is, as uttered from the throne of His glory, " To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with Me on IMy throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with My Father on His throne." Believers walk worthy of this destiny of glory when they lovingly look forward to it — when they, in longing of heart, " Send hope before to grasp it, Till hope be lost iu sight." And we can rightly look forward to it only when we strive in divine strength to prepare for it. In a word, w^e are called first of all to " the kingdom and patience," and then to " the kingdom and glory." The one belongs to earth, the other to heaven. " We must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God." This twelfth verse, closing a section of the Epistle, very naturally closes it eschatologically. This glory the saints enjoy at the coming of the Lord, when He shall " be glorified in His saints, and admired in all them that believe." LECTUEE VIII. " Synagogas Judceorum, fontes pei-secutionum. " Tertdllian, Advers. Gnost. Scorp. x. " Why should the unturned, though burning bush, Be angry as the crackling thorn ? " COWPER. "And for this cause we also thank God without ceasing, that, when ye received from us the word of the message, even the word of God, ye accepted it not as the word of men, but, as it is in truth, the word of God, which also w^orketh in you that believe. For ye, brethren, became imitators of the churches of God which are in Judgea in Christ Jesus: for ye also suffered the same things of your own countrymen, even as they did of the Jews ; who both killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets, and drave out us, and please not God, and are contrary to all men ; forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they may be saved ; to fill up their sins alway : but the wrath is come upon them to the uttermost." — 1 TilESS. ii. 13-16. "DEGINNING a new paragrapli, in which he still -*-^ further assures the Thessalonians of his affec- tionate interest and sympathy, the apostle says, " for this cause" — that is, not because it is God who is calling you unto His kingdom and glory, but, seeing we have been showing such ardent interest in you in all our efforts, a motherly love in regard to your conversion, and a fatherly anxiety in regard to your Christian con- duct. " We also thank God without ceasing," we, that is, as well as ye yourselves. And thanks are rendered that Paul's labours were met by the Thessalonians in the same spirit as that which had prompted these labours. " The word of hearing " (compare Predigtwort, Botschaftswort, Lange) — the word as it was preached LECT. VIII.] CHAP. II. VERS. 13-16. 85 by the apostle and his coadjutors — possibly the spoken word here, in contrast with the written word, the third Gospel, which, as we have remarked on chap. i. 8, had possibly been entrusted to the keeping of the Thessa- lonian Church. This word, then, the Thessalonians heard from the lips of the apostle and his companions. But it was also God's word, though preached by them, and hence they, when they received it, accepted not the word of men, but " as it is in truth, the word of God." They gladly entertained and welcomed it, grasped it, and held it fast as God's gift. And, as such, it is described further " which " (not who, apply- ing to God, but which, referring to God's word), " also," that is, in addition to its being God's word, or perhaps better, in " contrast with its inoperative nature when merely heard and not believed " (EUicott), " effectually worketh in you that believe." Being "mixed with faith," it was a power not merely among the Thessalonians, but also in each believing heart. The word fell upon the ear from human lips, but it entered the heart as a divine power. These hearers felt their need of such a message, and they accepted it in childlike simplicity. " Und was kein Verstand der verstiindigen sieht, Das libet in Einfalt eiu kiudlich Gcmiitb." — Schiller. The bearing of this verse on the doctrine of the inspiration of the spoken word of the apostles, and of the New Testament as a whole, is very evident. This effectual working, — this energy, — which is ascribed to the divine word, is seen in its revealing to men both what they are by nature, and what they become by grace. It is, as it were, the mirror which, as legend has it, can alone slay the basilisk. That creature, 8G FIRST THESSALONIANS. [lECT. VIII. which neither fire nor sword can overcome, is destroyed at once so soon as, the mirror being set before it, it sees itself and its hideousness. The corruption of the natural man dies when it sees itself in the mirror of God's word. Not only so, that word is also like the fabled mirror, which the longer it is gazed upon, trans- forms and beautifies the beholder the more, till at last it reflects to all who bend lovingly over it the perfected beauty of holiness. Such an all-transforming energy pertains to God's word in the experience of all who believe. But the apostle proceeds to state the evidence of this effectual working of the word in the Thessalonian converts. The change it had wrought in them was genuine, "for" it withstood trial. That is the test of a right acceptance of the truth. Our Lord Himself has said, that the stony-place hearer, though he has received the word with joy, only " dureth for a while ; for when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, by and by he is offended." It was not so with Paul's converts — his "brethren," as he lovingly calls them, his heart going out towards them in tender- ness as he thinks of their trials. They were not " his brethren, his kinsmen according to the flesh." But they were his brethren in closer ties — they and he had one faith, and love, and hope — one Father in heaven, and one home towards which the eye of their hearts was ever turning. He specially recognises here their common brotherhood in their common suffering, just as John writes to the Seven Churches of the apocalyptic vision, " I, John, who also am your hrotlier and companion in tribulation" The world was against Paul at Corinth, its hostility being specially stirred up against him by the Jews. That same world, instigated LECT. VIII.] CHAP. II. VEHS. 13-16. 87 by the same Jewish hatred, was against the Thessa- lonian believers. They were thus closely bound to him by the strong link of common tribulation. " Ye became followers of the churches of God which in Judaea are in Christ Jesus." They had been already described as followers, or imitators of Paul, even of the Lord Himself (chap. i. 6) in " the much affliction " which characterized their reception of the word. They are now further portrayed in their unconscious imitation of the Christian churches of Judaea, in this same respect — the point of imitation here is not in their faith, or their activity in Christian service, though these may be implied, but in their patience and submissive endurance under persecution. " For ye also have suffered like things of your own countrymen, even as they have of the Jews." The Thessalonian Church was the earliest out of Palestine to testify their faithfulness in the furnace of affliction. Hence there is a peculiar propriety in the reference here. What the Jewish Christians had already experienced was now becoming their lot. Their suffering was the same — ^persecution. The cause of it was the same — their acceptance of the gospel. The persecutors were the same — their own countrymen. The church in Judaea had been violently opposed by the unbelieving Jews. There had been general and systematic persecu- tion under Herod Agrip]3a, when James was beheaded and Peter imprisoned. The church in Thessalonica was meeting with the same violent opposition at the hands of their unbelieving; fellow- citizens — Gentiles. Their Master had said, "Think not that I am come to send peace on earth. I am not come to send peace, but a sword ; and a man's foes shall be they of his own household." These converts were realizing the 88 FIRST THESSALONIANS. [lECT. VIII. meaning: of these words in all the bitterness of their own personal experience. Those of their own nation, and city, and families were ranged against them : and in presence of such experience Christ's people were eating the bread of tears. They were being exercised in what Melanchthon used to say was the best of the three schools in which a Christian must be trained — the school of suffering. Those of prayer and medita- tion, he said, were good, but that of trial was the most fruitful of them all. It was so in apostolic times. It was so in the times of the Reformation. It is so still. The way of cross-bearing is the way of light. Christ's people need to be taught how noble a thing it is to suffer and be strong. Yet none the less in such experi- ences, painful as they are — not "joyous, but grievous," the hearts of Christ's people, fainting and afraid, need sympathy. The giving of that sympathy is the con- ferrinor ofttimes of strength. Hence Paul's words of overflowing tenderness to his readers. He would thus comfort and stablish them, so that at last, earth's trials past, they might, having endured unto the end, enter into God's own " kingdom and glory." The apostle now turns aside from his theme. He makes a digression. He "goes off" (Jowett) upon the word " Jews," to describe the evil deeds and the merited doom of his own countrymen. How is this somewhat strange digression to be explained? Different explanations of this fearful indictment of the Jews, from one who himself had been a furious persecutor, have been given, and perhaps there is an amount of truth in them all. It is said, (1) that as the persecu- tion of believers in Thessalonica, though from the heathen, was yet directly instigated by the Jews, it was natural that Paul should turn aside to speak of LECT. VIII.] CHAP. II. VERS. 13-lG. 89 them and expose their wickedness. (2) That the apostle, at the very time of his writing this Epistle, was him- self suffering at the hands of his countrymen, the Jews (Acts xviii. 5, 6, 12). In Corinth, when with Silas and Timothy he preached in Christ's name, the Jews " o^^posed themselves and blasphemed," and even " brought him to the judgment-seat." His mind, we can therefore well conceive, was full of thoughts regarding; these Jewish misdeeds, and hence he bursts forth into utterances of sorrowful indignation. (3) That the Thessalonians were converts from Polytheism to a religion which was Monotheistic, and in a sense a growth out of Judaism. They could consequently hardly fail to be stumbled by seeing Jews everywhere its most violent opponents. They would be apt to reason in this way, when their faith was weak and their despondency prevailing — these Jews, who have all along been worshippers of the one true God, and who have seen the first beginnings of Christianity in their ovni midst, must surely be better judges than we Gentiles can be. What if, after all, they have the right of it ? Paul may have striven to meet this waver- ing state of mind by showing that the opposition of the Jews to the truth was in reality in strict accord with their whole previous character and conduct. The motive of this digression can easily be explained in one or other of these ways. Let us look now at the subject-matter of the digres- sion itself. The Jews not only, he would say, persecute you, but they are the men " who both killed the Lord Jesus and their own prophets, and have persecuted us." The culminating point in Jewish wickedness is the casting out and murder of their Messiah, the Son of God. Our Saviour Himself, in His parable, said. 90 FIRST THESSALONIANS. [lECT. VIII. *' Last of all, He sent His Son ; and Him they slew." In ignorance, it is true, they did it; for one of the voices which fell from the cross was this, " Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." Yet that ignorance was no justification of their sin, for the apostle adds here, "and their own prophets." Their divinely commissioned teachers during the years of the preparation, whose books the Jews still read and valued — these teachers who all alike testified of Jesus, for " the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy," the Jews had also slain. Such is the Old Testament indictment against the Jews. Such, very specially, is our Lord's own charge against them (Matt, xxiii. 29-39). The reproaches He there sadly utters against them, and the doom He pronounces upon them, are evidently, both as to language and sentiment, here present to the apostle's mind. His words are but an echo of his Master's. Seeing, then, that such was the past character and conduct of the Jewish people, Paul adds, as naturally following, " and have persecuted us." The persecution or banishing — driving forth, as the w^ord means — which they had meted out so often before to God's servants, it was to be expected would also be extended to Paul, and Silas, and Timotheus, — to the apostles as a whole, and even to the Thessalonians, and the general body of believers. Paul would speak of all as exposed to such sufi'ering at the hands of his unbelieving country- men — they are all embraced in the " us." Under new conditions, the old Jewish character would again assert itself. Hence he declares, " They please not God, and are contrary to all men." With what unutterable sadness must not Paul have given expression to this verdict ! Wherever his missionary labours had ex- LECT. VIII.] CHAP. II. VERS. 13-16. 91 tended, he had met with their most malignant hostility. The more he came in contact with Gentile-life, the more he must have observed the intense dislike, too, with which the Jews were everywhere regarded. Despising other nations, they were themselves only loathed by these nations in return ; and now that Paul's own feelings, since his conversion, had broadened and widened into the love of all mankind, and the seeking of all men's salvation, he could not but recognise his countrymen in their sullen rebellion against God, and supercilious isolation from their fellow-men, as showing what Tacitus calls " adversus omnes alios hostile odium" (vid. Eadie, for other pas- sages from Gentile writers, and for good note on this whole passage). The mark of God's anger had been set upon them, and the divine judgment had been ratified by men. In them had come to be illustrated and fulfilled our Lord's own saying in His inaugural Sermon on the Mount, " If the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted ? It is thenceforth good for nothing but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men." Eejected of God and despised of men — these two clauses represent what are often in human experience seen closely connected. There is a German adage which says, " When God loathes aught, men presently loathe it too." But here it is not so much the dislike felt by others towards the Jews"* that is specified, as the animosity of the Jews towards all others. And how did this opposition manifest itself? " Forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they might be saved." That is, they are opposed to all men, seeing that they hinder, or try to hinder (kq)\v6vtq)v), the servants of Christ from proclaiming the word of salvation to the heathen. Like their own 92 FIRST THESSALONIANS. [lECT. VIII. Pharisees, they would neither enter in themselves nor allow others to enter in. Jewish exclusiveness in earlier times had had its element of good. Indeed, they were exclusive by the express command of their covenant God. But now that which had once been dutiful had become specially sinful. They were, in meeting Christ's cause with hostility and blasphemy, displeasing God and doing infinite wrong to their fellow-men. They had been acting in this way in Corinth, where Paul was writing this Epistle. Their conduct was immediately before his own view as he wrote, and he is preparing his Thessalonian friends for a similar experience, already beginning, or soon to begin, in their own midst. But in thus standing in the way of the Gentiles' salvation, they were acting so as " to fill up their own sins alway." With fearful perseverance — " alway," alike before Christ Jesus came, when He came, and after He had gone, they had been filling up the measure of their guilt. And now, as the "sound of going in the tops of the mulberry trees" (1 Chron. xiv. 15) was the sign to David that God was going forth to smite the host of the Philistines, so there were premonitions, indications, many and clear, of coming disaster to the Jews. The archangel of judgment, with his sword-arm free, was already approaching — so near, indeed, that in anticipation the apostle could say, " For the wrath (the wrath so long foretold by the prophets and by Christ Himself — the wrath so justly merited) is come upon them to the uttermost." That wrath had already fallen upon the Jewish people when their sin reached its hideous culmination in the slaying of Him who had come unto His own. Its uttermost manifestation was already at hand. Hardly fourteen years after the date of this LECT. YIII.] CHAP. II, VERS. 13-16. 93 Epistle, it overtook them with a sudden surprise, it descended in the doom of fire upon the once siicred city, the entire overthrow and extinction of the Jewish state, the dispersion of the race, and the centuries of weary wandering appointed them, which are not yet closed. That was the " dies irce " for the Jews — a fore- shadowing of " the wrath to come." They who belong to God's own kingdom and glory, on the other hand, while they see in that fearful judgment which befell the Jews a distinct and manifest type of another and a final judgment, wait for "Jesus who is delivering them from the wrath to come.' LECTURE IX. M;i f/,cvov axo'TfovvTls to Jsa^ lavTov;, aXXa x,a.i to xscra Tov; 'ir'iXas. Kyu.'^rti yccp u.Xvi6ou; x.a) fiifiala.; ivTiti, ftri fiovov iavTcv 6iXuv traZ^zaiai, a.\Xa xoci vravTas rovs a.liX(povs. — MaETYRIUM S. PoLY- CARPI, I. " But we, Drethren, being bereaved of you for a short season, in presence, not in heart, endeavoured the more exceedingly to see your face with great desire : because we would fain have come unto you, I Paul once and again ; and Satan hindered us. For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of glorying? Are not even ye before our Lord Jesus at His coming? For ye are our glory and our joy." — 1 Thess. ii. 17-20. rpHE apostle now returns from his digression on tlie -*- character and conduct of the unbelieving Jews in regard to the gospel and its adherents, and the doom about to descend upon them. The third chapter, therefore, would better take its beginning from ver. 17, which resumes the previous course of thought. In ver. 14, Paul tenderly alludes to the trials which had befallen his Thessalonian friends on account of their acceptance of the truth. He now describes the anxiety — the anxious eagerness — with which he and his com- panions had sought to revisit them and to comfort them in their affliction, and the reason why they had not succeeded. They had been hindered from going to Thessalonica. The converts in that city were in trouble. To whom of all earthly friends could they look but to the apostle ! He was their counsellor and their stay. He had been, in his affectionate yearning over them, as LECT. IX.] CHAP. II. VERS. 17-20. 95 a very nursing mother (ver. 7). He had been, in the faithfuhiess of his instruction imparted to them, as their very father (ver. 11). He knew, from the intensity of his own longing, how desirous they on their part must have been of his presence, to comfort them concerning the faith. Hence he explains his absence. He tells them, not indeed in the tone of apology or self- exculpation, but in the language of simple natural solicitude, that his absence was in no way of his own choosing. It was against his express desire and intention. " But we, brethren, being taken from you for a short time in presence, not in heart, endeavoured the more abundantly to see your face with great desire." " Taken from you," literally, orphaned from you : the separation is represented by the word as being a constrained one. His removal from them, and the consequent loss of their company, made him feel bereaved. A sense of loneliness and desolation rested upon his heart as he thought of his absence from them. He was "comfortless" (John xiv. 18) as an orphan. All this lies imbedded in the word rendered " taken from you." Yet the figure suggested, of the orphan, is not by itself to be unduly pressed, for in the same clause he calls his converts " brethren ;" the leading idea is simply bereavement. Yet, painful as was this separation, it was only after all for a brief moment — for the season of an hour — a short time indeed in itself, and shorter still in the apostle's conception of it, so vivid was his remembrance of his sojourn in their midst. Indeed, his separation from them was in another aspect of it not a separation at all. It was " in presence (rather, in face), not in heart." It is the same word which is rendered " face " in the next clause. His heart had never ceased to be with them, though they no 96 FIKST THESSALONIANS. [lECT. IX. longer could see its yearning tenderness in the traits of his well-remembered countenance. Torn from them, as he was, he yet retracts, as it were, what he had said about his severance from them. It was not real. He had in a sense their society still, for as Goethe puts it — " Gar freundliche Gesellschaft leistet uns Ein ferner Freund, wenn wir ihn glucklich wissen." But though he was thus already and at all times one with them in union of sympathy and love and prayer, he " endeavoured the more abundantly to see your face with great desire." Why " the more abundantly " ? The clause has been filled up in many ways, e.g. more abundantly than usual (Olshausen), or because the absence was not in heart (Luther), or because the absence was so short, — the pain of parting being so recent and still so fresh, — that the desire to return was all the stronger (Ltinemann, Alford), or because the absence was constrained and not voluntary (Webster and Wilkinson). Perhaps it is better to seek the explana- tion of the words, " the more abundantly," in his having learned so much about their persecution. The more he heard about their trials, the more he yearned to see them — their face — once more (je mehr er von ihren Verfolgungen erfahren miisste, Bunsen's Bihelwerk). Paul knew that his counsels were specially needed by his Thessalonian friends, and that his personal presence would be a comfort to them in the midst of their anxieties and sufferings. He showed the sincerity of his friendship in this way, that it clung the more tenaciously to its object, the more that object was beset with trial. He was, in a word, a tried friend in need. LECT. IX.] CHAP. II. VERS. 17-20. 9 7 " Wherefore, " ver. 18, he goes on to say, on account of this our vehement longing to revisit you, " we would have come unto you," — we would fain have done so, and indeed intended to do it, — " even I, Paul, once and again." He, at least for himself, on two separate occasions had almost succeeded in carrying out his desire into action. It was no feeling of desire suddenly rising up within his bosom, and having only a passing seat there. He had, he assures them, twice expressly made the attempt to visit them, " but Satan hindered us." He was hindered : the word is a metaphor taken from military operations — the breaking up of roads, the destroying of bridges, and the interposing of varied obstacles, to cut off the enemy's approach or retreat. Or the metaphor may be that of the race- course, the upsetting of a chariot by being brought into violent contact with another. Either way we have a graphic description of hindrance — obstacles in the way of the apostle's advance. And these are directly ascribed by Paul himself to the agency of Satan. Just as an angel stood in the evil way of Balaam the apostate prophet to intercept him (Sia^aXXeiv avTov), so Satan is here represented as standing in the good way of Paul, the servant of the Most High God. It is worthy of notice that the personal spirit of evil is here mentioned by the Hebrew name, Satan, in this earliest Epistle of Paul's — an Epistle, too, addressed to a Gentile church — all the more noteworthy when we remember that these two Epistles to the Thessalonians contain no instance of direct quotation from Old Testament Scripture. How then, it has been asked, had these Gentile believers come to know the name and nature of the evil spirit ? Bishop Wordsworth answers, and with considerable plausibility, " By St. G 98 FIRST THESSALONIANS. [LECT. IX. Paul's oral teaching, and probably also by a written Gospel. And of all the Gospels there is none which speaks so clearly concerning the personality and operations of the tempter, under the name of Satan, as the Gospel written for the special use of the Greeks by St. Paul's fellow-traveller, St. Luke" Here we have therefore another incidental confirmation of the view that that Gospel may have been entrusted to the church of Thessalonica to disseminate. Such an allusion to the adversary of souls as this, and there are many such in New Testament Scripture, points us very directly to the doctrine of his personality. If we would take language in its simple and natural signi- ficance, we can come to no other conclusion than this, that there are " ascribed to him permissive powers and agencies of a frightful extent and multiplicity" (Ellicott). But can we specify with aught of pro- bability the form of Satanic hindrance to which the apostle alludes ? In what did the restraint in the present case consist ? We may surmise, but nothing more. It was not, however, we may be sure, any pressing load of apostolic labour. This Paul ' would have described not as sent of Satan, but rather as a burden of honour laid upon him by his Master. It may possibly have been the imminent danger to which he knew he would be exposed as he had been previously, if he repaired to Thessalonica. But it is difficult to conceive that any such obstacle as this could have bulked so very largely in his view, at the very time that he is so sympathetically alive to the selfsame danger besetting his much loved friends. Besides, such an obstacle could hardly be spoken of, as it is here, as abruptly and absolutely cutting off the possibility of his visit. It is more likely that the restraint arose LECT. IX.] CHAP. II. VEIIS. 17-20. 99 from trials befalling believers in the districts where Paul himself was. However desirous to go, he could not leave those who were his present and immediate care. But this view, too, is open to some extent to the objections already stated, and it receives not the slightest support from any hint supplied by the context. We are therefore thrown back upon another supposition, which upon the whole seems best to satisfy the requirements of the case, that this hindrance of Satan was Paul's thorn, or stake, in the flesh. The " even I, Paul," indicates that the restraint was one with which he himself pre-eminently was concerned. He makes something like a severance of himself from his companion in regard to it, and the " once and again " seems to point not to a habitual or prolonged state of hindrance, such as could arise from dangers besetting the church, but rather to some sudden, unexpected and overpowering obstacle such as bodily sickness, which had come upon him personally, and after passing away, had come once more. The common view is that Paul's thorn in the flesh, " the messenger of Satan sent to bufl"et him," was " chronic neuralgia of the head and face, or inflammation of the eye, perhaps, in some measure, the after consequences of the blindness at Damascus." There are many incidental indications that the brows and eyes were the seat of the apostle's suff'ering [vid. Dr. Plumptre for a good summation of the question in the New Testament Commentary for English Readers, 2 Cor. xii. 7). It seems probable that this affliction, of more than common severity, discipline though it were, working towards his good, was the interposing obstacle referred to in the text. Like the mysterious agony which now and again seized upon King Alfred in the midst of 100 FIRST THESSALONIANS. [lECT. IX. intensest activity, this thorn in the flesh was an interruption for the time being to all apostolic plans. Dean Stanley has well instituted this historical parallel. rt may be developed still further, though it does not specially pertain to the elucidation of our immediate theme. The character of Alfred, the English hero and saint, bears a remarkable resemblance to that of the apostle. In vivid, versatile energy, — thorough self- mastery, power of inspiring trust and love, craving for sympathy, and sensitiveness to wrong, — in such traits of character they stand very near each other, and far from all others. Green (History of English People, i. p. 75) thus portrays the early English king: "He combined, as no other man has ever combined, English practical energy, its patient and enduring force, its profound sense of duty, the reserve and self-control that steadies in it a wide outlook and a restless darino-, its temperance and fairness, its frank geniality, its sensitiveness to afl'ection, its poetic tenderness, its deep and passionate religion." That could well stand as a picture of Paul. It is interesting to notice that two men so alike in temperament, and also we may say with reverence, in their sphere of work, should both have suff"ered from some severe and mysterious bodily ailment, which was to them at once a messenger of Satan and a gift of God, hindering their self-sacrificing outward service on the one hand, but ministering to the right development of their inner life on the other. In the case of Paul, this hindrance, sent of Satan, as it is declared to be, was yet blessed of God to Paul himself, doubtless for the increase of his patience, for the purifying of his desires, for the quickening of his zeal, for his growth in grace. It was also blessed of LECT. IX.] CHAP. II. VEKS. 17-20. 101 God to others. To the apostle's enforced absence from his brethren in Thessalonica we owe this Epistle, fraught with its words of warning, and comforting, and direction for all time. But passing from this, we have, in ver. 19, the state- ment of the ultimate reason of Paul's desire to see his converts, " for what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing ? Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at His coming ? " — a very beautiful verse, representing the close relation both for time and for eternity existing between all faithful pastors and the people of their charge. The Thessalonian Christians were peculiarly the apostle's hope, being regarded by him not simply as a conspicuous part of the reward in glory which was in store for him (Hofmann), but also his hope in connection with his present earthly work. Their conversion — their stedfastness in the faith — was largely that on which he built his hopes, under God, of the further progress of the gospel in Europe. He hoped that yet increasingly from them would " sound out the word of the Lord." They were, further, his joy, inas- much as in their conversion and consistent Christian conduct he saw the evidence that his own labour had not been in vain in the Lord. They were a credit to him in the sight of God and men. Hence amid all his sorrows he felt that in them he could find his joy. They were even more to him. They were his crown of holy boasting, for they would prove at last his wreath (not SLdSr]fia, but are^avos:) of victory, — his chaplet of ceaseless rejoicing. In a sense his converts were this to him already. They were his gleaming aureola, invisible to the children of this world, but recognised by God's saints, " by principalities and powers in heavenly places." Indeed, unless this were true of them even on earth, it could 102 FIRST THESSALONIANS. [LECT. IX. not be said of them hereafter in heaven. Hence the apostle, his language catching the glow of his thought, exclaims, " are not even ye," is it not also you — you and others too, as, for instance, the sister Macedonian Church of Philippi, which the apostle characterizes in exactly similar terms (Phil. iv. 1) — " in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at His coming ? " Then, all persecution for ever past away, Satan's assaults ended — the struggle having passed into triumph, in the King's presence will the victor be crowned. Then will there be the public manifes- tation of his converts as the apostle's reward, when " the just and gentle Monarch " shall come to judgment. It is utterly tasteless to refer such a passage as this to the time of the destruction of Jerusalem, as if that were in any real sense " the crowning day of Christian hopes and aspirations, when they would ' inherit the kingdom,' and ' enter into the joy of their Lord ' " {vid. The Parousia, p. 163). Lingering over the thought, so full of consolation and spiritual strength, to himself and his readers, the apostle repeats the expression of it. He dwells on it with a holy, joyful contemplation, ver. 20, " for ye are our glory and joy" — the words come from his heart with a fulness of tender affection and enthusiastic hope. His converts, " dearly beloved and longed for," are " his glory." That one word gathers up all the rays of light which stream from the others into its focus. They are his halo of glory now and evermore. Believers are described in 2 Cor. viii. 23, or at least those who are specially engaged in His service, as " the glory of Christ." They are also in a lower sense the glory of LECT. IX.] CHAP. II. VERS. 17-20. 103 Christ's ministers. Heubner has a remark here which is full of solemn warning and encouragement, " The pastor will find in his congregation either his honour or his shame." It was the boast of the Jews {vicl Smith's Diet, of Bible, art. " Crown ") that to them had been given three crowns — the crown of the law, the crown of the priesthood, and the royal crown. These they highly prized, but they often added, better than these is the crown of a good name. Paul's crown of a good name in the presence of Christ Jesus was his converts — those who by his instrumentality had been brought to the knowledge of the truth. The same crown is offered to us all, and is in keeping for us all, if we be but faithful. History tells us that when in Philip II. 's reign a rebel claimed and gained the crown of Granada, he bore at the ceremony of coronation in his right hand a banner bearing the inscription, " More I could not desire, less would not have contented me." These words cease to be presumptuous, and become the utterance of truest wisdom, only when they are the Christian's, and refer to the crown of heavenly rejoicing, and when they are the legend of the banner under which he fights in " the sacramental host of God's elect." In view of this truth — that converts are the crown of boasting in store for all faithful witnesses for Christ Jesus — the words are invested ^udth a solemn significance, " ive live if ye stand fast in the Lord." " Now, little children, abide (ye) in Him, that when He shall appear ire may have confidence, and not be ashamed before Him at His coming." Another lesson is suggested in the gradation implied in the three words, hope, joy, crown. Andrew Fuller (vol. iv. p. 535) well says, " There are some who are our hope, who are not our joy ; and others who are our 104 *riKST THESSALONIANS. [lECT. IX. hope and joy too, for a time, who will never be our crown ; who hold not out to the end, and therefore will never be our rejoicing in the presence of the Lord at His coming. Some are under serious impressions, and excite a hope and joy, like that felt at the sight of blossoms in the spring, which yet are afterwards blighted. There are some that have even made a public profession, and yet, like the thorny and stony- ground hearers, produce no fruit. The object desired, therefore, is not only your setting out, but your holding on, walking in the truth, and holding fast your pro- fession to the end. Then, indeed, you will not only be our hope and joy, but our crown of rejoicing." LECTURE X. " Yes, without cheer of sister or of daughter, Yes, without stay of father or of son, Lone on the land, and homeless on the water. Pass I in patience till the work be done, " Fred. W. Mveks, Saint raid. uSXnrou TO "hifurSa,! xai vixav." — lONATlI i/p. (1(1 Pohjcarpum, i. " Wherefore, when we could no longer forbear, we thought it good to be left behind at Athens alone: and sent Timothy our brother, and God's minister in the gospel of Christ, to establish you, and to com- fort you concerning your faith ; that no man be moved by these afflictions ; for yourselves know that hereunto we are appointed. For verily, when we were with you, we told you beforehand that we are to suffer affliction ; even as it came to pass, and ye know. For this cause I also, when I could no longer forbear, sent that I might know your faith, lest by any means the tempter had tempted you, and our labour should be in vain." — 1 Thess. iii. 1-5. rpiIE apostle has just been declaring that his own -*- interest — his own happiness, both present and future — was insejjaral^ly bound up with the spiritual prosperity of his Thessalonian converts. " AVherefore," he goes on to say, because of this, our strong and abiding interest in you, and also because of the obstacles standing in the way of visiting you, " when we could no longer forbear," — when we could no longer " stave off the pressure of anxiety " (AVebster and Wilkinson) caused by absence from you, and the all- consuming longing to hear about you, "we thought it good," — decided "to be left at Athens alone, and sent Timotheus." His love for his friends could not rest till it received tidino;s of them, and towards this 106 FIRST THESSA.LONIANS. [lECT. X. end lie had been willing in the true spirit of self- sacrifice to be left alone. The apostle exhibits every- where in his life and Epistles, as a very pronounced feature of his character, a natural craving for personal sympathy. His was a nature which, with all its bold- ness and tenacity of purpose, needed to lean upon others, even though these others were greatly weaker than himself. The unconquerable faith of his heart craved for the interchange of human affection. Doubt- less this craving appeared with redoubled force at times when depression of spirits, another marked characteristic of his nature, prevailed. Such was pro- bably the state he is now describing, if the hindrance of Satan, before alluded to, be indeed the severe bodily malady — the thorn in the flesh to which he was sub- ject. Yet, notwithstanding all this, — conscious as he was of " the aching hollows of the heart," — he had been willing to be deprived of the society of his dearest friend. He had been willing that the Thessalonians should gain by his loss. For their sakes, therefore, he had decided for a time to be ''alone." An emphasis rests upon the w^ord. It seems to be the utterance of the wail of bereavement. Nor is this all. He was alone "at Athens." We sometimes speak of the solitude of great cities. To sensitive minds that solitude — the living, unknown and uncared for, amid the bustle and throng of a many-voiced city — becomes painfully oppressive. Paul felt this. But to him there were additional elements of pain. Athens ! How dif- ferent from Jerusalem, the city of God ! Wherever the solitary apostle turned his eyes, they rested upon manifestations of polytheism and its accompanying social pollution. The city was " wholly given to idolatry." It was crowded with idols. As he moved LECT. X.] CHAP. III. VErxS. 1-5. 107 in such a scene, he alone was a witness for God and Christ. It could be no slight trial to be alone in such a place and in such surroundings. " Signum ergo rari amoris est et anxii desiderii quod se omni solatio privare non recusat, ut subveniat Thessaloniensibus " (Calvin). To send Timothy away was to exhibit a self-abnegation which is the outcome and the evidence of a living faith. But, further, Paul would show that it was no inferior, no ordinary messenger, whom he had sent. In accordance with his common practice, he attaches to the name of Timothy epithets of honour — "our brother," — one, therefore, who in the fullest sense possessed the apostle's esteem and confidence — our brother, one of the household of faith, one of that blessed company of brethren, because they are " faith- ful and beloved, partakers of the benefit" (1 Tim. vi. 2). Timothy was peculiarly Paul's brother, both in labour and in suff'ering. But there is a yet more noble title conferred upon him. Paul adds, " a fellow- labourer with God." This is, at least, a not im- probable reading. The word does not mean a worker along with others in the service of God {vicl. Meyer on 1 Cor. iii. 9), but, literally, a worker along with God ; not, indeed, implying that human agency stands, as it were, alongside of divine, but that God who works through His servants lovingly gives them the dignity of being called sharers in His work. The last verse of Mark's Gospel is an exposition of the words, " They went forth and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following." That verse portrays the whole course of the Church's progress on earth. The mission entrusted to His people by God is to fight His battle against 108 FIEST THESSALONIANS. [lECT. X. sin and Satan. He desires, and because He has so decreed it, He needs, human instrumentality. He claims the loving, willing service of His " peculiar people." He abundantly rewards it too. The more His servants do good, the more good they get. In working for Him, He works the more for them. The first Napoleon used to say, " My power would fall were I not to support it by new achievements." This holds pre-eminently true of the Christian soldier's power. "In the gospel of Christ," -in this sphere of holiest service, in this holy war, the more we achieve the greater becomes our power. The Captain of our salvation has so willed it. He who is "a fellow- labourer with God in the gospel of Christ " holds an office in which speaking finds its noblest theme, its purest inspiration, its most important design, — in which the influence exerted bears powerfully for good, not only on the individual and social life of man, but also and directly on the eternal interests of the human race. In this work, which blends ceaselessly with the infinite, we are all, if we are Christ's, fellow-labourers with God. But why are these two titles specially given to Timothy in the present case ? Some sujDpose that objections were taken to his youth, e.g. in 1 Tim. iv. 12 he is expressly exhorted thus, "Let no man despise thy youth," and that the apostle considerately meets and sets aside such a possible objection on the part of the Thessalonians by these words of commen- dation. But this supposition has no support in the context. Nor does the explanation lie in the fact that Timothy was a subordinate of the apostle, and likely to be, on that account, lightly esteemed in Thessalonica. A better ex^^lanation lies in what is LECT. X.] CHAP. III. VERS. 1-5. 109 more than a conjecture, that Timothy's character had in it much of feminine tenderness and timidity (vid. Howson's Lectures on St. Paul, p. 42, and Alford and Stanley on 1 Cor. xvi. 10, 11). His early training in the retirement of home influences, and " his often infirmities," which may have made that training necessary, possibly developed such a type of character. This shrinking self - consciousness may have needed, or at least been the better of, Paul's words of hearty commendation. But, after all, the right ex- planation seems to lie quite at hand (vid. Hofmann). It is this. The Christians in Thessalonica were just as anxious to see Paul himself as he was to see them. Paul knew it would necessarily be some- thing of disappointment to them to receive only a messenger, however well commissioned. Hence, as he had just before shown that the parting with Timothy had cost his own heart a pang, so Timothy himself, so dear to him, was entitled to all honour from them. But what about the purpose of Timothy's mission ? It was "to establish" — to make them stedfast in the midst of persecution — to make them "rooted and grounded in love " — to make their very trials serve this all-important end, that they, as a Church, might " cast forth roots as Lebanon." This work of estab- lishing them is, strictly speaking, God's work. " To Him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ " (Rom. xvi. 25). But it is here none the less ascribed to Timothy — spoken of as his work, because he is called "a fellow- labourer with God." His ministry was to be the means of "imparting to them some spiritual gift, to the end they may be established." But the apostle adds, " and to comfort you concerning your faith," or 110 FIRST THESSALONIANS. [LECT. X ratlier to encourage you in behalf of, in the interest of, your faith, — faith here meaning not trust or fidelity, but belief objectively considered — the faith once delivered to the saints. This, too, is God's work. He is the " God of all consolation," and Christ Jesus the Saviour is "the consolation of Israel." But it is also His servant's work, as they exhort in His name. These two clauses, representing the purpose of Timothy's mission, are closely, indissolubly related. The one is explanatory of the other. True firmness — stedfastness of Christian character — is the outcome of heart-possession of the faith. The apostle in the following clause states what the theme, the subject- matter of Timothy's exhortation, was to be, ver. 3 : "That no man should be moved by these afflictions." There is considerable difficulty in apprehending the pre- cise meaning of the word rendered " moved." Many, perhaps most commentators, understand it in the sense of being disturbed — shaken — made to apostatize because of trials besetting the profession of Chris- tianity. It is, however, upon the whole better to understand the word as moved in the sense of being- flattered, soothed, and pleasantly cajoled — befooled into denying their Lord — possibly by the suggestions of their heathen neighbours, that in embracing Chris- tianity they had simpl}?- been deceived by Jewish adventurers (so Hofmann, compare chap. ii. 1-12). In the midst of their tribulations Paul feared lest they might be thus tempted — that such insinuations might prove too welcome to the weakness ol their faith. "Wordsworth well says here : " An example of the need of such a warning was seen in the case of Demas, who was allured by the love of this world, and for- sook Paul in his sufferings at Eome, and departed to LECT. X.] CHAP. III. VERS. 1-5. Ill Tliessalonica (2 Tim. iv. 10). Tlie devil is ofteu more to be feared when lie fawns than when he roars. The man of God from Judah overcame Satan at Bethel, but he was ensnared by him under the oak tree (1 Kings xiii. 14). David vanquished Satan in the battle- field (1 Sam. xvii. 49), but was vanquished by him in the cool of the evening on the house-top (2 Sam. xi. 2)." ' The reason for their stedfast endurance is given in the words which follow, " For yourselves know that we are appointed thereunto." This knowledge they had both from apostolic teaching and from their own personal experience — the knowledge that tribulation is the common lot of Christ's people. " Unto them it is given in the behalf of Christ not only to believe on Him, but also to suffer for His sake." The words of their Lord are, " If they have persecuted Me, they will also persecute you ; " and Paul has declared, as the statement of a general principle, " Yea, and all that wdll live godly shall suffer persecution." The world's scorn and enmity cannot fail to be excited by the Christian's character and conduct. The pilgrims towards the celestial city differ in raiment and speech and habits from the dwellers in Vanity Fair. Hence, holiness entails suffering as well as sin does, for sin will in some way or other persecute it. In the nature of things, therefore, believers acknowledge that, while " God has not appointed them to wrath," He has appointed them to affliction. But the word "appointed" has an element of meaning in it which ^ Compare with this, "Die tiickische Macht, die lauert, uns zu verderben, BiDgt ihr auserkorenes Opfer gern mit siissen Liedern und goldeuen Miir- chen in den Schlaf. Dagogen pocht der rettende Hinimelsbote oftmals scbarf und erschreckeud au unsern Thiir." — Undine, p. 135. 112 FIEST THESSALONIANS. [LECT. X. we ought not to overlook. It implies not so much the idea of something fixed and settled, as the idea of our willing submission — our lying prostrate before our heavenly Father's will. That must ever be the attitude of the renewed heart. Tribulation comes thus to be regarded as " the marks of the Lord Jesus," the stigmata which represent His ownership over them, and their consecration to His service. Their hearty, loyal submission, so hard, so impossible as it may appear to be, becomes easy when the uses of tribulation are understood and felt. God apjpoints His people to it for their own spiritual profit. The very word "tribulation" has been called (vid. Trench, Study of Words, p. 33) "a concentrated poem." It meant in its first Christian use the separa- tion of the chaff from the wheat in a man's character — the separating in him of what is useless from what is precious, as the threshing-roller separates the husks from the grain. Hence afflictions are beautifully called by George Wither, " the bruising-flails of God's cor- rections." Bishop Jewel has the following comment upon this verse : " Frankincense, when it is put in the fire, giveth the greater perfume ; spice, if it be pounded, smelleth the sweeter ; the earth, when it is torn up with the plough, becometh more fruitful ; the seed in the ground, after frost and snow, and winter storms, springeth the ranker ; the nigher the vine is pruned to the stock, the greater grape it yieldeth ; the grape, when it is most pressed and beaten, maketh the sweetest wine ; fine gold is the better when it is cast in the fire ; rough stones, with hewing, are squared and made fit for building. These are familiar examples to show the benefit and commodity which the children of God receive by persecution." Realizing LECT. X.] CHAP. III. VERS. 1-5. 113 such profit from tribulation, God's people can even rejoice that " they are appointed thereto," The aj)ostle in ver. 4, proceeds to appeal to what he had himself taught the Thessalonians, and to the confirmation of it by their own experience, " for verily, when we were with you, we told you before, that we should sufibr persecution ; even as it came to pass, and ye know." There is the addition in this verse of an allusion to the apostle's own sufferings as well as to theirs. Having the same Lord — rejoicing in "the common salvation," he and they were in closest sympathy with one another. He could say to them, as did John to the seven churches of the apocalyptic vision, " I who also am your brother, and companion in tribula- tion, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ." But the apostle, while he trusted that good would result from the trials which his converts were under- going, had also his fears, his misgivings in regard to them ; what if some of his friends should turn out, under the winnowing of persecution, only false pro- fessors after all 1 Hence he says, ver. 5, " For this cause," because of this, his anxiety about them, "when I could no longer forbear," He had used the very same words before (ver. 1), but he repeats them now with a more special and direct application to himself, " I sent to know your faith, lest by some means the tempter have tempted you, and our labour be in vain." Timothy's mission, therefore, was a double one. On the one hand, he had been sent to stablish — to confirm and encourage the Thessa- lonians, and, on the other hand, to learn how matters stood with them, and to satisfy Paul by sending him intelligence about them. The apostle knew that the tempter had tempted them, but he did not know, and H 114 FIRST THESSALONIANS. [lECT. X. could not be at rest till he knew, whether the allure- ments of the prince of this world had led to their apostasy or not. If the issue turned out to be disastrous, then had his own labour in their midst proved vain. Notwithstanding all the comfort Paul had in them — though he could speak of them as his "hope and joy and crown of rejoicing," he yet con- templates the possibility of their falling away, and the consequent failure of his own labour for their benefit. There is a lesson for us in this. No man on earth knows absolutely whether his labours in the case of any individual soul will be ultimately successful or in vain. He looks forward to the great day alone for the final declaration. The allusion to the tempter here, further, is full of instruction. In chap. ii. 18, Satan is spoken of as hindering Paul's projects — blocking up his way. Outward obstacles he may interpose be- tween a servant of God and his purposes. He may absolutely hinder a course which we propose to pursue. But he cannot absolutely make us to sin. He can be no more than a tempter, and the very idea of tempta- tion implies the power in the tempted of resistance. Chrysostom has said, the devil did not cast Christ down from the pinnacle of the temple ; he only made the suggestion, "Cast Thyself down." So, too, is it with his assaults upon the Christian. Whosoever falls, casts himself down. He cannot be compelled. So St. Bernard, "It is the devil's part to suggest : ours not to consent. As oft as we resist him, so often we overcome him ; as often as we overcome him, so often we bring joy to the angels, and glory to God ; who opposeth us, that we may contend ; and assisteth us, that we may conquer." We are entitled to go even farther than this, and LECT. X.] CHAP. III. VERS. 1-.5. 115 say that in every case of resistance of the tempter, there is new accession of spiritual strength to the believer himself. In fightino; the good fig-ht of faith — in overcoming the wicked one, we gain new power. As the South Sea Islanders imagine that the prowess and valour of the enemies they slay in battle pass over into themselves, so in truth is it with the soldier of the cross. The very force and strength of the temptations which he overthrows become his own. " The strength which lay in the temptation has shifted his seat, and passed over into the man who has over- come the temptation " {;vid. Trench's Studies in the Gospels for this and some interesting patristic and mediaeval illustrations. The Temptation). Hence, "in all these things, i.e. all these trials, we are more than conquerors (virepvtKcbfjbev, Rom viii. 37) through Him that loved us." The victory, so far from being accom- panied with loss, is found to have been won with positive gain. The conqueror is strengthened by every such victory for further and final triumph. Therefore the exhortation of Ignatius in his Epistle to Polycarp has a meaning for all time, " Stand firm as the anvil under its repeated blows ; for a great combatant must not only be buffeted, but must also prevail," There is, however, one caution especially which every much-tried Christian needs. There is the danger of regarding trials in the light of " stipendia Jidei," as an old writer calls them,— imposts or dues, that is to say, which believers owe to God, because He has made them better than others. Such a spirit of self- complacency will not indeed lessen trials, but it will empty them of all blessing in regard both to the life that now is and to that which is to come. It will make them, indeed, burdens too heavy to be borne. LECTURE XL " To St Paul specially was it given to preach to the world, who knew the world; he subdued the heart, who understood the heart. It was his sympathy that was his means of influence ; it was his affectionateness which was his title and instrument of empire."— ^^.v/taxv. " But when Timothy came even now unto us from you, and brought us glad tidings of your faith and love, and that ye have good remembrance of us always, longing to see us, even as we also to see you ; for this cause, brethren, we were comforted over you in all our distress and affliction through your faith ; for now we live if ye stand fast in the Lord. For what thanksgiving can we render again unto God for you, for all the joy wherewith we joy for your sakes before our God ; night and day praying exceedingly that we may see your face, and may perfect that which is lacking in your faith," — 1 Thess. iii. 6-10. rpHE apostle now tells us, that on Timothy's return -^ from his mission, bearing good tidings of the Thessalonian Church, he had been comforted. The new-born joy, the tender love of his heart, lies like a gleam of light upon the very words he employs. (Sta.tim sub Timothei adventum, recenti gaudio, ten- errimo amore hsec scribit, Bengel.) " But when Timotheus just now {apn) came from you unto us, and brought us good tidings," — tidings which were a gospel, and message of peace and gladness to our fainting hearts. These good tidings were, first of all, about their faith, — the root-grace of the Christian life, — the foundation upon which all the graces of the renewed nature are to be built (2 Pet. i. 5, 6). The apostle gives chief prominence to this — the attitude LECT. XI.] CHAP. III. VERS. G-10. 117 of their hearts towards God in Christ Jesus He was comforted to learn that amid all the darkness of their tribulation, their faith, like the night-blooming ceres- flower, lived and spread abroad its fragrance. But the good tidings brought by Timothy referred further to their charity, their love, — that grace which is the evidence of faith, and by which faith works. These are never separate in the divine life. Ignatius of Antioch, in writing to the Ephesian Church, well says : " Your faith is the guide, but your love is the way which leads to God" {" v Be ttIcttl^ v/mmv dvay(oy€vut it was otherwise in regard to brotherly love. The very position of the Thessalonian Church was greatly favourable to their cultivation of this Christian grace. The world being against them, all the tendencies of the age and society being repugnant to them, they would naturally be thrown very constantly and closely into each other's fellowship. The bonds which united them were bonds not merely of a common faith, but also of common trial. They were brethren and companions in tribula- tion. In Him who is their Kins7nan-B,edeGmQT, His people felt, as they must ever do, that they in the highest sense are of one kindred, and that feeling, that conviction, ever shows itself in brotherly kindness. It is said here that the Thessalonian Christians abounded in this grace. It was their crown of glory. There was no need for Paul or any other to write to them about it. By this somewhat rhetorical mode of address — one w^hich is characteristic of his style (vid. 2 Cor. ix. 1 ; Philem. 19) — he would gently urge them the more. While commending them for what they had already attained to, he would, in so doing, recommend progress — higher attainment still. He says, in effect, to them, "Let brotherly love continue" (Heb. xiii. 1). But he adds, " For ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another." Our Lord has said (John vi. 45) : 152 FIRST THESSALONIANS. [lECT. XIV, "It is written in the prophets : and they shall be all taught of God." The covenant which God made with His people was this : "I will put My laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts" (Jer. xxxi. 33 ; Heb. viii. 10). The fulness of the blessing embraced in this covenant is the possession of the New Testa- ment Church. Its members are taught of God by the influences of the Holy Spirit guiding them into all truth, — enabling them to believe on the name of God's Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another, as He gave them commandment, — enabling them to accept the Saviour's words, "A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another ; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another." It is divine teaching this. It is illustrated and enforced by divine example. It is accepted and acted out by divine aid vouchsafed. God Himself is love, and what His people learn of Him must consequently be love too. Hence the exhortation, taking the form of argument, " Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another." And in the only instance where we are directly enjoined to be followers, — imitators of God, — it is love that is the sphere in which this imitation is to be shown. " Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children, and walk in love, as Christ also has loved us " (Eph. v. 1, 2. It is instructive, further, to notice that this injunction, just as in our passage, stands in closest connection with warnings against uncleanness and covetousness). We may say then with Bengel, " Doctrinse divinse vis confluit in (eZ?) amorem." Now all true love translates itself into action. It did so eminently in the case of the Thessalonians. Hence the apostle goes on to confirm his good opinion of them in this respect by alluding to the evidence on which it rested. Ver. 10, LECT. XIV.] CIIAr. IV. VEi:S. 9-12. 153 " And indeed ye do it toward all the Lretliren which are in all Macedonia." The word " do" stands opposed to the word "taught." In Christian morals there can never be sanctioned any divorce between theory and practice. In earthly things we often have to contrast knowing and doing — the speculative and the practical. But it is otherwise in things heavenly. To know the truth is itself the obligation to do the truth. No man has learned anything of God, if his life fails to afford evidence of it. Indeed, knowing and doing act upon each other. Knowing is fruitful of good deeds, and doing, on the other hand, is fruitful of good thoughts. " If any man will do His will, he shall hnoiv of the doctrine, whether it be of God." Our Lord has declared that the wise man alone is he who " heareth these sayings of Mine, and doeth them." His house alone rests upon the rock. Isaac Taylor [Saturday Evening, xiii.) has well said: "Celestial truth is a jewel in a l)ix ; but unless it be worn by its possessor, it might as well have rested in its quarry." " If ye Jcnow these things, happy are ye if ye do them." But this doing of the Thessalonians had a wide range. Their love had a wide s^^here for its activity. All their brother Christians throuohout the wJwle of Macedonia had been revived and comforted by it. Throuohout the whole of Northern Greece the mem- bers of the several Christian churches, probably those in Philippi and Beroea specially, had enjoyed com- munion with one another. Paul learned this, doubtless, from Timothy's report. But what form did this brotherly intercourse assume ? Possibly the circulation of Luke's Gospel, in whole or in part, to which honourable work, as we have already seen, Thessalonica appears to have been directly called. We read (chap. i. 8), "From 154 FIRST THESSALONIANS. [lECT. XIV. you sounded out the word of the Lord in Macedonia and Achaia." If the supposition be well founded, that this Gospel was already in the hands of Christians in Thessalonica, we cannot conceive of their having brotherly love and yet withholding it from others — that would have been at once unfaithfulness to their Master and callousness towards their fellow-men. But this brotherly love also manifested itself — and the allusion seems most to point in this direction — in pecuniary assistance rendered to those who were in want. Indeed, the common word for "fellowship" (Koivcovia), when it came to be lifted up to a place in Christian literature, was almost immediately tinged with the beauty of a new meaning. In the early dawn of Christianity the word signified communicat- ing of one's substance — contributing to one another's necessities. This is just what we might expect. Kejoicing together in Christ's salvation, the first l)elievers felt — with an intensity which, owing to the very progress of Christianity, has now been largely lost — the obligation of mutual sympathy and aid. In all this ministry of love, then, the Thessalonians were conspicuous. The hearts of many brethren in Mace- donia were blessing their benevolence. None the less, Paul wrote to them : " But we beseech (rather, exhort, as in ver. 1) you, brethren, that ye increase (rather, abound, as in ver. l) more and more." He had prayed thus on their behalf, and now he adds exhortation to prayer (chap. iii. 12). Their brotherly love was to show its life in continuous growth. There can be no halting point in this, or in any other Christian grace. Christ's people must " go on unto perfection." We have in these two verses suggested to us the strong bond of union existing in LECT. XIV.] CHAP. IV. VERS. 9-12. 155 the early Clinrcli between Christian commimities which were yet geographically apart from one another. As having the same dangers to encounter, the same battle to fight, the same Captain of their salvation to lead them, the same triumph to win, they are seen taking an earnest and active interest in each other's welfare. As the ancient Greek colonists practised the rite of cherishing on the altars of their public halls the per- petual fire that had first been kindled at the parent hearth of home — the mother-city of Athens ; so, we may say, it was with these scattered sections of the early Church. Separate though they were, they yet felt they were one in sympathy and interest. The triple flame of faith, and love, and hope burned more or less brightly in them all. They thus claimed the same origin, held the same truth, and sought the same ends. Together they formed the one " holy nation," and looked forward to the one ideal city, the " Jerusalem which is above, and is free, and is the mother of us all." No relio;ion but that of Christ could sjive birth to such a commonwealth, of which the heathen satirist, Lucian, has said, that their Lawgiver had actually persuaded its members that they were all brethren — one in the bonds of a friendship stronger than death itself. But passing from this aspect of Christian life and work, on which he delights to linger, so frequently has he reverted to it, the apostle now turns (ver. 11) to allude to what appears to have been an abuse of even this Godlike Christian grace. Wherever there is light, there is shadow — there is always in the fairest embroidery work what has been called " the wrong side of the stufi*." So it is ever in Christian morals, — so apparently was it in Thessalonica. The very abund- 156 FIRST THESSALONIANS. [LECT, XIV. ance of Cliristian liberality had engendered a tendency on tlie part of those who showed it to be restless, fussy, meddling ; and a corresponding tendency on the part of those who were the recipients of bounty to be idle and dependent. We know that such evil results, unless they be carefully guarded against, are sure to spring up in circumstances such as those which are here de- scribed. They seem to have been further intensified by the erroneous views commonly entertained regarding the nearness of the Lord's coming, to which direct reference is immediately afterwards made. A similar state of disorder, and panic, and idleness has not been unknown in subsequent periods of the Church's history. Towards the close of the ninth century especially, we find something like a parallel with this prevalent mood of the Thessalonian Church. There was then a current belief that in the year 1000 the Saviour would appear, and that with His appearance the day of judgment and the end of the world would arrive. In view thereof a general panic set in. Men's minds became unsettled, and in many cases altogether unhinged. " Many abandoned their homes and their families, and repaired to the Holy Land ; others made over their lands to the Church, or permitted them to lie un- cultivated, and the whole course of ordinary life was violently disturbed and deranged " {vid. Waddington's Church History, cited by the author of The Parousia). The new world, too, even within living memory, has seen the same phenomenon. In the year 1843 some districts in the United States of America were thrown into fanatical excitement and idle disorder by the belief having laid hold of the popular mind that the day of the Lord was at hand. Hence, in the presence of agitation, arising from erroneous fixing of "the LECT. XIV.] CHAP. IV. VERS. 9-12, 157 times and the seasons," the apostle gives a caution and a command, needed in his own days, and, as we have seen, not unneeded in the days which have followed : " that ye study to be quiet." Christians are to endeavour — make it a matter of personal honour — to be quiet. " Be ambitious to be unambitious " (Cony- beare and Howson). The love of glory, the spirit of restless ambition, was a very passion in the Greek mind. Paul would show his readers that Christian ambition is a real thing too. But it shows itself not in the exciting pursuit of fame, or dignity, or power, but in stillness ; not in unquiet bustle, not in " walking disorderly " (2 Thess. iii. 11), but in tranquillity, in sedateness of heart and life. There is no commenda- tion here of listlessness, of unfeeling indifference, of wilful isolation from the activities of human toil — not these, but " a calm, steady, regular way of proceeding, within the bounds and measures prescribed by reason, justice, and charity, modesty and sobriety : such a motion as the heavenly bodies do keep, which so move that they seem ever to stand still, and never disturb one another" (Barrow). Such is the exhortation which the apostle gives to the Thessalonians. " He turns the eager stream of their vainglorious activity, loving ever to be seen, and exulting in the foam and spray of its own restlessness, into a quiet lake of religious life, clear and deep, reflecting in its peaceful mirror the calmness of heaven" (Wordsworth ad loc). This injunction is not without its meaning in these later days. Earnestness and excitement are not synonymous. The promise still holds good, " In quietness and con- fidence shall be your strength." Be it ours then to make the motto of our lives what Eothe took as his, " Nicht nacli Kuhe sehne ich mich, aber nach Stille," 158 FIRST THESSALONIANS. [lECT. XIV. or that favourite saying of President Garfield's in regard to every post of usefulness, even tlie humblest, which he adorned, " My work, my heart, my duty is here." Further, the verse runs, " and to do your own business." It was the well-known characteristic of these Greek populations to be busy-bodies. This spirit would easily insinuate itself within the Christian Church, more especially in a time of prevalent expecta- tion of the end of the world. Hence the need of the injunction that each one do the duties of his own station, not interfering with those of others — never encroach- ing upon the rights and peace of others, interposing only in the sense of " bearing one another's burdens," and so fulfilling the law of Christ, Once more, " And to work with your own hands." The members of the church in Thessalonica were doubtless chiefly of the working classes, toiling on from day to day in the narrow lanes of life, even although among them there were " of the chief women not a few." Besides, there is ample evidence in history that there was, at this very time, widespread poverty prevailing. Compared with that of Corinth, this Christian community especi- ally was in extreme penury (vid. 2 Cor. viii. l). This, after all, may have been the chief reason why Paul, when he sojourned with them, " wrought with labour and travail night and day, that he might not be charge- able to any one of them." In such a state of general depression and poverty the very benevolence of some would give rise to the indolence of others. Hence this exhortation ; and there is implied in it the dignity of labour. Our Lord Himself has made it honourable, He has sanctified it in the carpenter's shop of Nazareth. Justin Martyr says that ploughs and yokes were 23re- served which Christ wrouoht while He was amouo* LECT. XIV.J CHAP. IV. VEKS. 9-12. 159 men (vid. Westcott, Study of Gospels, p. 432). The poor man's daily toil has thus been ennobled. " Man is God's image, but a poor man is Christ's image to boot." This manual toil, too, is commended, not merely by the apostle's words, but also by his own example. The two dignities of a worker with his hands and a teacher blended in him — " toiling outwardly for the lowest of man's wants, and toiling inwardly for the highest," — the daily bread and the bread of life alike. (See a beautiful passage in Carlyle's Sartor Resartus, b. iii. c. 4, it might stand almost as a picture of Paul himself.) The " fervent in spirit," then, must be " diligent in business," in the matter of their daily callings. Work done in a Christian spirit can never have auo;ht of meanness clingino; to it. A servant with this clause Makes drudgery divine : Who sweeps a room as for Thy laws, Makes that and the action fine." These lines of George Herbert are but the expan- sion of the older words of Luther, " Wenn eine Magd die Stube auskehrt, kann sie ein Werk in Gott thun." Nor is this all. Paul is evidently giving this ex- hortation in the immediate interest of his converts' sanctification. Idleness is a foe to all growth in grace. Spenser speaks of " sluggish idlenesse, the nurse of sinne." It is the very cancer of the soul. Activity, on the other hand, if it be in the line of duty, ever means progress. " The man that bestirs himself is not a lost man. God helps the worker and looks after him. It is incredible how much lies in the mere fact of activity." (" Der mencli, der sicli rlihrt, ist nicht 160 FIRST THESSALONIANS. [lECT. XIV. verloren. Dem Thiltigen hilft Gott und sieht ilim vieles nach. Es ist unglaublicli, wie viel schon in (lem Thatigseyn an und flir sich liegt," Sclielling's Clara, p. 46.) In view of this, therefore, we may say— " Whoever fears God fears to sit at ease." So long as the day of our earthly existence lasts, un- hasting, unresting, we must work in the sphere in which infinite wisdom has placed us, till — " Death's mild curfew shall from work assoil." " As we commanded you." Paul teaches things new and old. He reminds his readers that there is nothing to discourage or startle them in these precepts. They had heard them all before, when he had taught in their midst. Now he is but "stirring up their pure minds by w\ay of -remembrance." But he adds a motive, or rather two motives, for their obeying his earnest entreaties, — motives bearing upon their in- fluence for good on others, and upon their own 23er- sonal character alike. Ver. 12, First, "that ye may walk honestly toward them that are without." This has reference to the first clause of ver. 11, — the studying to be quiet, and to do their own business. He pleads that their conduct may be orderly, decent, comely, — for that is the meaning of the w^ord rendered " honestly,"- — in the presence of those who are without the pale of the Church — the unbelieving Jews and Gentiles around them. Such decorous and creditable living on the part of Christ's followers would prove an influence more potent than precept in bringing outsiders to the joy of His salvation. But here there meets us one of those so-called undesigned coincidences LECT, XIV.] CHAP. IV. VEKS. 9-12. IGl wliicli are always full of interest and instruction. Bishop Wordsworth calls attention to it. When Paul and his companions were in Thessalonica, they had been accused of causing a tumult (Acts xvii. G, 7). Jason and certain brethren had been brought before the Gentile authorities, and the accusation brought ao;ainst them was this : " These have turned the world upside down." Paul, apparently recalling this incident, cautions his friends now all the more earnestly so to act, so to take heed unto their ways, that their Gentile enemies might not be able, with all their malice, to accuse them of such an offence. Here is an interesting instance of apostolic considerateness and prudence. But a second motive adduced is, " that ye may have need of nothing," — rather, "of no man." This has reference to the second clause of ver. 11 — the duty of working with their own hands. They are so to work, each one for himself, that they may not be dependent upon others, whether Christian or heathen, for support. The religion of Christ Jesus, while it makes men brethren, develops and enjoins the be- coming spirit of independence and its consequent self-respect. Whatever community of goods there was, temporarily and locally, in the early Church, — whatever exercise of charity there was, — the words held good, and do so evermore. " If any provide not for his own, and especially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel." The rule, then, is this : the Christian must be ever ready to assist others, but he must never be ready unnecessarily to be assisted by others. Others' needs he must recognise as his own personal burden, L 1G2 FIRST THESSALONIANS. [lECT. XIV. but liis own personal burden be is not to be eager to put upon others. Thus, "not slothful in business, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord," we are to await His coming, that we may receive His "Well done, good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord." LECTURE XV. " To thy daih land these heedless go; But there was One Who searched it quite through, to and fro, ; And then, returning, like the sun, Discovered all that there is done. "And since His death we thoroughly see All thy dark way; Thy shades but thin and narrow be *- Which His first looks will quickly fray ; Mists made but triumphs for the day." Henry Vaughan. "Ohne den Tod wcire das Leben nichts Rechtes," RoiHE, Stillc Stunden. '' But we would not have you ignorant, brethren, concerning them that fall asleep ; that ye sorrow not, even as the rest, which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also that are fallen asleep in Jesus will God bring with Him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we that are alive, that are left unto the coming of the Lord, shall in no wise precede them that are fallen asleep." — 1 Thess. iv. 13-15. rpHE apostle lias just spoken of brotherly love, and -^ the specific duties which arise out of it — the living in quietness — the conscientious diligence which ought to characterize each servant of Christ in his own individual calling. Thus is an example to he set to those who are without — thus is a spirit of self-respect and independence to be maintained. He now turns to speak of Christian hope. It is a transition to a new and all-important theme, — the hope of the Christian in regard to the saints at the second coming of their Lord. This coming of the glorified Saviour is as it were the red thread running through the whole tissue 164 FIRST THESSALONIANS. [LECT. XV. of these two Epistles. It is more or less prominent in all its parts, giving the whole its colouring and plan. We have noticed its presence frequently before ; e.g. in i. 10, conversion is described as a turning from idols to serve God, and to wait for His Son from heaven. In ii, 12, Christian conduct is spoken of as a walking worthy of God who has called His people into His own kingdom and glory. In ii. 19, the apostle's own joy over his converts finds utterance in the exclamation, " Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at His coming ? " and in iii. 13, His prayer is that their hearts may be stablished " unblameable in holiness before God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all His saints," and more such references still await us. The apostle would teach us here what part is to be taken in this future of glory by believers, who, before that future comes, shall have passed away from earth. He would draw aside the veil, not in the interest of an idle curiosity (for there are many cognate questions for which he has no answer), but for the purpose of comforting anxious mourning hearts, correcting erroneous opinions which had become wide- spread, and so enabling those who receive the comfort and correction to do the more faithfully and cheerfully the duties of present daily life. We have thus a pattern set before us as to the right method and aim in which all eschatological questions ought to be discussed. " But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope." Allusion is made to the hopeless sorrowing of the others, i.e. " those that are without," the phrase including the Sadducseic Jews, but very specially pointing to the heathen. The heathen are described as " having no hope, and without LECT. XV.] CIIAr. IV. VERS. 13-15. 165 God in the world" (Epli. ii. 12). As for the Jews, they, it is true, had hope, but it is only the Christian Church which, as it were, possesses this hope in actual fruition. It would be a very easy thing to multiply quotations from heathen literature which speak of hope- lessness in the presence of death. They may be all gathered up in the typical saying of Theocritus : iXirlBe^i ev ^Q)otaiv, dvekirLCTOL he Oav6vT€<; — hopes are with thc living, but the dead are hopeless. Not, indeed, that the heathen had no conception of another world — no dim gropings after immortality, but that at best these, however eagerly cherished, did not rise up to the dignity of comfort-bringing hope. " A future state, it has been said, was discovered by the ancient world, like the Copernican system, as one guess among many. Rather say it w^as a shadow, a thought, a hope, a poetical fimcy, to which the tradition of ages had given a sort of reality. It would be idle to talk of it as a subject of belief. That the mythology which had lost its hold on this world should have retained it in reference to the shadowy forms of another, would be, indeed, incredible. Even Socrates knew not whether he was laughing at himself or others in speaking of a world to come, and of the souls of just men made perfect" (Jowett ad loc). The Greek mind of antifj[uity, in all its varying moods, tried to shun the thought of death altogether. In a very instructive article on the Greek mind in presence of death {Nineteenth Century, December 1877), Mr. Percy Gardner says : "It is certain that throughout Greece, in antiquity, the future life was by the common people looked upon with distaste, if not with dread, and that they had no doctrine tending to soften its repulsion." If we study their tombs, with their sculptures and ^ 166 FIKST THESSA.LONIANS. [lECT. XV. inscriptions, we find that even in mourning tliey almost invariably turn the thought to tlie life that is past rather than to that which might be beginning. They turn uneasily from the future to the past. They shudder at the thought of a future life, at best the ghostly shadow of the present, as it rises before their view. Their mourning in bereavement finds frequent vent thus : XPV^'^^ X'^'-P^ — farewell, lost friend. Their deepest sorrow utters itself in the wail : " salve seternum milii . . . 9Bternumque vale " (Virgil, JEn. xi. 97). Now there is no more striking contrast to this anywhere existing than what is presented when we turn to the grave- inscriptions of the early Christians {'vid. Dr. Piper, Evangelisclier Kalender, 1855 ; Die Grah-Inschriften der cdten Christen). We at once stand in a new world of thought. The day of the martyrs' death is described as their birthday into true life. Death appears to them as a friend. Every memorial stone bears the words " in peace ; " the ark of Noah — the palm branch of victory, are the ever-recurring symbols. Their burying-places are cemeteries, and the word speaks of rest in sleep and a future awakening from it. The symbol also of two hands clasped together, with the words " zum wiedersehen," so frequently seen in modern German God's acres, could never have been graven by heathen hands. We see then that by the gospel, received in faith, in the case of all Gentile converts — " Hope rose within them, like a summer's morn." The gospel has revealed to men the immortality of the soul, the resurrection of the body, and the reunion in heaven of long-divided hearts. The apostle thus exhorts believers to cherish feelings in regard to their LECT. XV.] CHAP, IV. VERS. 13-15. 16 7 departed friends of a far different kind from those which took gloomy possession of heathen breasts. Believers, indeed, are not to set aside all sorrow. They are not, in a spirit of stoicism, to put it violently away from them. Weeping for the dead is not denied them as a sacred privilege — a kind of chastened joy. Tlie gospel rather turns their tearful gaze to Him who was " the Man of Sorrows, and acquainted with grief," as He wept Himself at the grave of His friend Lazarus. It is, His examj^le and our own hearts being witness, in the highest sense right, for it is truly human, to sorrow when the body, which once was the dwelling-place of an unseen but much-loved spirit, has become desolate, and falls a prey to corruption — "a worn-out fetter which the soul has broken and thrown away." But wdiile all this is true, Christian sorrow is not the same as heathen sorrow. Christ's people are "as sorrowing, yet alway rejoicing." The eye of their faith can see " the bright light in the cloud" of even the heaviest earthly trial. They do not refuse to shed tears, but they also do not refuse to dry them at their Saviour's bidding. He is ever near them, speaking peace to — " The breaking heart that will not break," and turning " the shadow of death into the morning." The apostle gives one reason why Christian sorrow in presence of death is to be different from that of the others. It lies in the threefold repetition in this passage of the word "asleep," as api)lied to the Christian dead — a figure possibly suggested here by our Lord's own parable of the ten virgins, the imagery in both passages being the same. The heathen mind, indeed, was not altogether unfamiliar with this repre- 168 FIRST THESSALONIANS. [lECT, XV. seutation of death. Hesiod, for instance, speaks of tlie death of men in the golden age ( Works and Days, 115) thus— juid this is only one instance out of many which might easily be gathered out of pagan literature. But the image of " death and his brother sleejD " (Shelley, " Consanguineus leti sopor ") did not mean much in such passages as these. They are rather to be interpreted by a Greek epitaph on one Nicodemiis {vid. Nineteenth Century, as above) — the dreariest that can be inscribed upon the portals of the tomb — " clad in wakeless sleep." But the word " asleep," applied to bodily dissolution in Scripture, has become invested with a new and infinitely precious meaning. It is a euphemism of most blessed signifi- cance. Those who " sleep in Jesus " are " somno compositi " — laid to sleep, lulled into the blissful slumber of Christian death. It is a favourite word on the lips of Him who is the Life (Mark v. 39 ; John xi. 11, 14). He "in behalf of mankind has taken away the sting of death, and changed its iron band for a thread of silken slumber" (Gladstone, Homer and the Homeric Age, ii, 104). Hence, trust- ing in His death, — His laying His life down of Him- self, — His people can say, " Saviour, it is enough that Thou tellest us death is no other than sleep ; that which was wont to pass for the cousin of death is now itself ! " (Bishop Hall's Contemplations). Now this description of those believers who had died in Thessalonica is all the more striking, all the more (comforting, if we suppose, as w^e may with good reason do, that some, perhajjs many of them, had like LECT. XV.] CHAP. IV. VERS. 13-15. 169 Stephen l)cen Christian martyrs. Like him, they may liave fallen asleep in the anguish of bodily suffering — amid the taunts and scoffs of their enemies — and out- wardly Ijeset by everything which rendered death terrible ; yet, even in such a case, it was but a falling asleep for them — a retiring to rest at the close of the day, after its tearful and painful toil — a falling into undisturbed repose — a resting to be followed by a blissful arisins; to the fulness of the resurrection lif(\ John in Patmos heard a voice — a voice in all prol)a- bility of a glorified saint — one who had "kept the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus " — it fell, it falls still, as a new beatitude from the very heights of heaven into the valley of Aclior : " Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord. Even so, saith the Spirit, for they rest from their labours, and their works do follow them." ^ But while a purpose of comfort lies in the repeated use of the image of sleep — a reason why violent, pro- longed, and heathenlike demonstrations of grief should be unknown in the Church of Christ, we have not yet drawn near to the special meaning of the passage. The peculiar sorrow of the Thessalonians did not arise from the loss of friends which they had sustained by death. Nor did their sorrow spring from any doubts which they cherished regarding the resurrection of their departed friends. If this had been their point of view, the apostle would have reproved them be- cause of their ignorance and unbelief — he would have ' "Wordsworth (Knight's edition, vol. iv.) has the lines on Michael Angelo in reply to a passage upon his statue of Night sleeping, — Come, gentle Sleep, Death's image tho' thou ait, (]ome share my couch, nor speedily depart ; How sweet thus living without life to lie, Then without death how sweet it is to die ! 170 FIRST THESSALONIANS. [LECT. XV. reminded tliem that there is a resurrection from the dead, and that they ought to have remembered this — a doctrine as it was which could not possibly have been absent from his previous instruction. But he does not do so. On the contrary, he goes on to unfold to them some aspects of doctrine which were quite new, and could not but be new to them. It is simply inconceivable that a whole Christian congregation could be sorrowing because they thought the dead would not rise again. True, in 2 Tim. ii. 17, 18, two false teachers, Hymenseus and Philetus, are branded by name as, " concerning the truth, having erred, saying that the resurrection is past already, and overthrow- ing the faith of some." True, as we learn from 1 Cor. XV. 12, there were some in Corinth who said, " there is no resurrection of the dead " — men who in the wisdom of this world were stag;o;ered at this new doctrine of the gospel, — one that was so entirely alien to the whole spirit of Gentile thought, — and were thus led to identify the resurrection with the spiritual renewal of the soul by the truth, causing it "to burst forth from the sepulchre of the old man " {vid. Dr. Fairbairn, Pastoral Epistles, ad loc). It is therefore quite possible that some such Christian Sadducees may have been existing also in Thessalonica. Yet, none the less, it is utterly inconceivable that a whole Church, and such an one as that of Thessalonica, so conspicuous in Christian attainment, could be in such thick spiritual darkness — a Church which was an ensample to all Macedonia — the very eye of the country — fatally wrong on a fundamental point of Christian doctrine. What then was the particular point — the erroneous view, which the apostle here touches ? It was this. It was generally thought in LECT. XT.] CHAP. IV. VERS. 13-15. l7l their midst, that at the Lord's second and glorious advent, the departed saints — the resurrection not having then taken place — would not have a share in the peculiar joys of meeting with Him and greeting Him on His return to earth. They knew quite well, indeed, that all the faithful who had departed by death would have eternal life with Christ Jesus in heaven. But they feared that one joy would be with- held from these — the joy of participating in the blessed triumph of Christ's Church when He came to present it spotless to Himself. That joy they thought w^ould only be shared in by the living. Now this error, a very natural one, was, we might almost say, a credit to them. It sprung out of the very closeness and liveliness of their personal relation to the Saviour. We satisfy our- selves easily, too easily, wdth the hope of a happy death, and the life of glory beyond. But wdth these believers of the first days it was otherwise ; their thoughts closed so completely around the Person of Christ, rather than the blessings which He gives, that they laid special stress upon their being part of that happy company, who would say to Him as He approached, "Even so, come. Lord Jesus." They grieved that their departed brethren in Christ should be, as they thought, debarred from this privilege. Now to meet, and so remove this mistaken apprehen- sion, the apostle proceeds to partially draw aside the veil that shrouds the future. His previous teaching had perhaps not been sufficiently explicit. At all events, it had been misunderstood. He would speak now with more precision. Thus the Thessalonians' errors have become the occasion of the instruction of the universal Church on some aspects of the doctrine of the second coming. They were not hopelessly to 172 FIRST THZSSALONLAJS'S. [lECT. XY. be sunk in sorrow about tlieir absent friends. If these had been amonor those on earth \vho had ckmg; through reproach to the crucified One, they would assuredly not be torn from His fellowship when He came in glory. If they had been among those who saw — recognised in Him, even " in the form of a ser- vant," a King of infinite majesty, He on His part would not leave them behind in His triumph. They would be at no disadvantage, compared with those who were stiU alive and waiting with oil in their lamps, when the cry came at last to be heard, " Behold, the bridegroom cometh." "For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him." " If," he says, not implying any element of doubt, but rather assuming the impossibility of doubt, — if we believe, as of course we do, that " Jesus," the human name of the Saviour, representing Him as the Kinsman-Eedeemer, " died," not here " fell asleep : " His death is in no case spoken of in that way. His death was real, awful — death -^ith its sting, and it has thus made His people's death a sleep. His death, as the early Fathers love to put it, is "the death of death." "And rose again," — His resurrection is the other pillar of the Christian faith. If we believe these two great facts, our belief makes our union with the Saviour, and that union can never be dissolved, and we must believe, as a consequence, that those who have been laid to sleep by Jesus — sleeping the calm and blissful sleep, through d}4ng in the Lord — "will God bring with Him," that is, with Jesus. In the closest union {(Tvv) and fellowship with Him will they be brought in His approach. They are not severed from their Lord now ; they cannot be severed from Him when LECT. XV.] CHAP. IV. VERS. IS-lo. l73 He comes again. In the fulness of its meaning, His words will hold good then, as now, and evermore : "Father, I will that they also whom Thou hast given Me, be with Me where I am ; that they may behold My glory." He will then come " with all His saints," not one awantins;. The fifteenth verse is a further unfoldiuo; of what immediately precedes. " For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord." He speaks as one commissioned to announce some special revelation which had been given him — one which the troubled hearts of his con- verts needed — one which would suffuse their whole lives with the very joy of heaven. He had said before, with special emphasis, " I would not have you to be ignorant." Now, with increasing solemnity, he says, " We say unto you by the word of the Lord." The apostle was not teaching on his own authority, nor was it any doctrine of Eabbinical lore which he was advancing ; here he felt that he had a special commission to speak in his Master's name. His authority rested upon His Lord's express revelation. As to the prophets, so to Paul "the word of the Lord came." We need not inquke specially to what the allusion directly is. Whether to any of our Lord's sayings recorded in the Gospels, as, for instance, the parable of the ten virgins, or to some part of His teaching during the forty days between His resurrec- tion and ascension. It is better to leave such inquiries unanswered, as indeed they must be : we have no sure ground on which to proceed. It is enough that it is the word of the Lord which declares " that we which are alive, and remain unto the coming of the Lord, shall not prevent them which are asleep" — shall not go before, so as to gain the advantage over — shall not share in 174 FIRST TnESSALONIA.NS, [lECT. XV. the joys of the Saviour's advent before the others, or more than the others. The word " we," however, suggests an important question. Does Paul teach that he himself expected to be alive at Christ's coming — and that therefore that coming was very near at hand ? It is very com- monly held that the apostle was in error here ; more especially since Dr. Arnold {Christian Life and Character, p. 490) somewhat rashly and dogmatically declared, " We may safely and reverently say, that St. Paul, in this instance, entertained and expressed a belief which the event did not justify." Now, if he were indeed in error, then the error was a very serious one. It is an error fallen into at the very time when he was declaring that he was speaking " by the word of the Lord." But this is not all. In 2 Thess., an Epistle written not long after this one, some say even a little before it, the apostle expressly warns the Thessalonians against being troubled " as if the day of the Lord was at hand," and explains that that day will not come till the " man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition." Besides, in 1 Cor. vi. 14 we read, " God hath both raised up the Lord, and will also raise up xts by His own power ; " and in 2 Cor. iv. 14, "Knowing that He which raised uj) the Lord Jesus shall also raise up us also by Jesus, and shall present us with you." It is there implied that Paul assuredly expected that he would be among the dead at Christ's coming. Setting these passages alongside of those in Thessalonians, we find that in regard to any view as to the apostle's personal expectation, they neutralize one another. Besides, if we press the " we," it follows that all the Thessalonian believers addressed would, without exception, be kept alive on earth till Christ LECT. XV.] CHAP. IV. VERS. 13-15. l75 came (vid. Hoffmann m loc). Paul's " we," therefore, as the clauses connected with it show, is to be under- stood simply as a broad, universal "we," which each age may, or rather must, apply to itself. The doctrine taught is put (as Luthardt, Die Lehre von den letzten Dingen, p. 142, has it) in the form of personal interest, not simply the living and the dead, but, w^e the living, and they, the dead. There is a lesson impressed upon the universal Church in this. The certainty of the coming and the uncertainty of the time are alike pre- sented to view. As Augustine says: "Ergo latet ilia dies, ut observentur omnes dies." LECTURE XVI. " Tuba, mirum spargens sonum Per sepulchra regionum, Coget omnes ante thronum." Thomas of Cklano. " The Son gaue signal high To the bright minister that watched ; he blew His trumpet, heard in Oreb since perhaps When God descended; and perhaps once more To sound at general doom." Milton, Paradise Lost, xi. For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven, with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God : and the dead in Christ shall rise first : then we that are alive, that are left, shall together with them be caught up in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air : and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words." — 1 Thess. iv. lG-18. rpHE apostle draws aside yet more the curtain of -^ futurity. He increases and confirms the com- fort which, " by the word of the Lord," he offers to believers, by revealing additional truth about the resurrection day. His words, of course, are to be understood as " verba allegorica." He uses the lan- guage of symbol — the only language which can convey to us on earth any conception of things in heaven. The manner of the coming of the Lord, the subsequent resurrection of those who have fallen asleep in Him, the joyous meeting of those who " are alive and re- main" with their brethren in Christ, the meeting of the one united company with Him in the air, and their final dwelling for ever with Him in glory, in " Bliss, past man's power to paint it, time's to close," — all this is depicted for us here. LECT. XVI.] CHAP. IV. VERS. lG-18. 177 " For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven," not, " He, the Lord," but He, and no other. He in His own august personal presence, — in that same human body, too, with which He has ascended into heaven. It was announced by angelic lips to the wondering men of Galilee, as they stood on the brow of Mount Olivet, gazing up into heaven, "This same Jesus shall so come in like manner as ye have seen Him go into heaven." The word " Himself " therefore would imply that "in qua carne ascendit in coelum, et in qua sedit ad dexteram Patris, descensurus est ad judicium " (Augustin). He will be the same Lord and Master then to His disciples as He was once to the little band of His followers, when the world regarded Him wdth scorn. And yet, while Himself unchanged, how changed in His surroundings ! He will descend from heaven, not again in humiliation to tabernacle with men, but to take His j)epple to be with Himself in heaven. He will come, not emptied of His glory in the feebleness and helplessness of infancy, but with the symbols of regal majesty and divine power. Some of these symbols are specified. There are three accompaniments of His coming. (l) A shout, an authoritative shout, one that indicates command. As commentators generally have pointed out, the word is used of a charioteer's call to his steed, of a huntsman's call to his dogs, of the call, by voice or sign, of the boatswain giving time to his rowers. The word further designates the music played to set an army or a fleet in motion. Something of this sense possibly appears here. The angelic host and the company of the spirits of just men made perfect are compared to a vast and splendid army, and He, the Captain of salvation, is described as by His word of command setting it in motion, and it in the alacrity of joyful obedience M 178 FIRST THESSALONIANS. [lECT. XVI. thereupon accompanies Him to judgment. Enoch (Jude ver. 14) prophesied, saying, "Behold, the Lord Cometh with ten thousands of His saints to execute judgment." But may we discover what that shout will be ? Our Lord Himself possibly has signified it to us in the parable of the ten virgins — that parable which in its imagery so closely resembles this passage. He says, "At midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bride- groom Cometh ; go ye out to meet him." Here the shout spoken of by the apostle seems rendered by the Lord HimseJf into articulate speech. Here we have the very command which once uttered must be obeyed — the command which not only musters the retinue of angels and of glorified saints, but also summons and assembles all men, of every age and race, to meet their God. (2) The next accompaniment is "the voice of the archangel." Some hold that the shout of command is itself the voice of the archangel, and further that the archangel is none other than the Lord Himself. Light- foot, for instance (in a sermon on " Michael your prince," Dan. x. 21), says, " That by ' Michael ' is meant ' Christ,' this very place evidenceth, in that he is called ' your prince.' For who is the prince of the Church but Christ ? And chap. xii. 1, he is called ' the great prince.' And in Eev. xii. mention is made of Michael and the dragon ; that is, Christ and Satan. He is called the 'archangel,' Jude ver. 9. And so 1 Thess. iv. 16, ' The Lord shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel ; ' which elsewhere (John V. 25) is expressed, ' shall hear the voice of the Son of God.' He is the archangel in two respects ; either as the chief angel or messenger that ever God employed, LECT. XVI.] ■ CHAP. IV. VERS. lG-18. 179 or as cliicf or head of tlie angels." There is nothing to justify this view. "The Lord Himself" and "the archangel " cannot be identified ; the whole structure of the sentence forbids it. Here and in Jude ver. 9, the only other New Testament parallel passage, the word archangel designates rather a leader of the angelic hosts, by whom the Lord will be attended — one of the mightiest of " His mighty angels," pre-eminent in office and authority and rank — " prince of the celestial army." We need not concern ourselves with Jewish specula- tions regarding these glorious beings. " They are some- times said to be seven, ' the seven lamps ' burning before the throne, and sometimes ten ; and in the Jewish writings four are especially named, correspond- ing to the ' thrones, dominions, principalities, and powers' in Eph. i. 2L The names also of these serving angels have thus been given : Michael and his company stand on the right hand of the throne, and Gabriel similarly on the left, Uriel in front, and Eaphael behind, the Shechinah being in the centre " (Eadie). But turning from such mystic speculations to what Scripture teaches, we find at least that angels have been already, and will be yet again, Christ's ministering spirits. They visited the earth in order to foretell and glorify His incarnation, to attend Him after His temptation and after His agony in the garden, and to announce His resurrection and ascension. They are represented, too, as ascending and descending upon the Son of man in the advancement of His cause in the world. As then they are the Saviour's ministers of grace now, it is declared that they are to be His ministers of judgment hereafter. In regard to the voice of the archangel here. Scripture gives us no hint. It may be the shout of command caught up by him 180 FIRST THESSALONIANS. [LECT. XVI. from the lips of the Lord Himself and repeated to the gathering hosts. (3) The last-mentioned accompaniment of our Lord's coming is thus described, " and with the trump of God." AVe are to understand by this not " tuba Dei, adeoque magna " (Bengel), but more simply and natu- rally, the trumpet belonging to God, used in His service, — perhaps that which is alluded to in Rev. xi. 15, "the seventh angel sounded." Under the old dispensation there is special prominence assigned to the trumpet as an instrument consecrated to religious uses. By it the congregations were called together for holy meetings, and for the journeyings of the camps. Its notes sounded the alarm of war, and ushered in the begin- nino-s of the months, and of the solemn days, and of the year of jubilee {vid. Pusey on Joel ii. 1). Our Lord Himself further tells us that when time shall be no more, He, the Son of man, " shall send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet," and the purpose thereof, in accordance with its previous uses on earth, will then be "to gather together His elect from the four w^inds, from one end of heaven to the other." We cannot tell what reality this symbol may represent, w^hether or not it be " the crash of worlds," the passing away of the heavens " with a great noise." Thus in Zech. ix. 14, where it is said that "the Lord God shall blow the trumpet," the allusion, as appears from the context, is to thunder, which is elsewhere called the voice of God (so "Webster and Wilkinson). It is evident, however, that while there may be no direct reference in Paul's Epistles to the teaching of our Lord in the Gospels, his eschatology is " based on a knowledge of at least the substance of the great prophetic discourse recorded in the Gospels " {vid. Dr. Plumptre on Matt. LECT. XVI.] CHAP. IV. VERS. 16-18. 181 xxiv. 31, in Ellicott's New Testament Commentary). This "last trump," as Paul calls it in 1 Cor. xv. 52, will gather up into itself the meanings of all the others. It will call together the rejoicing saints into the heavenly Zion. It will also, like Joshua's trumpets, sounding doom around the walls of Jericho, be the signal of dismay to the city of destruction and its children. It will be a signal of weal or of woe, accord- ing to the character of those who hear. Those, then, who have listened to the silver trumpet of the gospel on earth, can say : — " Oh, when judgment-trumpet clear Awakes me from the grave, Still iu its echoes may I hear 'Tis Christ, He comes to save." — Lyra Apostolica. Thus that day will be stripped of its terrors. It will be a day of gladness. It is instructive to notice that the giving of the law on Mount Sinai has evidently been ordained to j)re- figure the circumstances of the second advent of the Divine Lawgiver and Fulfiller of the law, and of the last judgment. If we compare Ex. xix. 16-20, we shall find the same prominent elements common to both. The thick cloud, the flaming fire (2 Thess. i. 8), the voice of the trumpet, exceeding loud, sounding long, and waxing louder and louder, and " the ministry of angels" (Gal. iii. 19). These pertain to both. We are thus reminded of the close — the essential, insepar- able connection existing between law and judgment. Those therefore who, like the awestruck Israelitish camp, tremble in presence of God's law now, will not be found trembling before His frown at the great day of assize. The description passes on to the resurrec- tion and change of Christ's people at His coming. 182 FIRST THESSALONIANS. [LECT. XVI. Power, omnipotent power, is to go forth from the Lord. In obedience to that power, and in virtue of it, " the dead in Christ shall rise first." Their bodies, which rest in " The wide -winding caverns of the peopled tomb," shall be raised up. This is the "first" act in the mighty drama. The emphasis rests upon the word "first." The word is designed by the apostle to bring comfort to the Thessalonian mourners. Their departed friends, so far from being at a disadvantage in relation to the Saviour's advent, were to occupy a position of privilege. They were " first " to rise ! Then, as speedily, immediately following upon the resurrection of those who are asleep, "we which are alive and remain," that is, those wdio are not departed from the body, but are the living saints on earth when the Lord comes, "shall be caught up." There is nothing said about their previous change. It has been often asked, must not these also taste of death ? Are we not told that "it is appointed unto all men once to die " ? Our passage is silent on this point. But Paul else- where fills up the gap : " Behold, I show you a mystery ; we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed" It would appear therefore that those Chris- tians who are living in these latter days on earth will not be unclothed of their bodies, but will rather at once be clothed upon with immortality. Their change will be a kind of death and resurrection in one. Their body of this flesh will be transformed, transfigured, into a spiritual body — a body made meet for the kingdom of heaven. Thus changed, these "shall be caught up together with them," that is, along with and at the same time as the others, in one united and LECT. XVI.] CHAP. IV. VERS. lG-18. 133 rejoicing company. This assurance w\as fitted to allay all the disquietude in the Thessalonian Church. The living and the dead are declared to be alike as to future privilege. Those who live in Christ cherish a good hope. Those who die in Christ can say, " My flesh shall rest in hope." The same lot awaits both. But the apostle does not content himself with simply removing his friends' fears ; he proceeds to confirm their hopes. He goes on to speak of the joyful meeting appointed to take place between the Lord and both classes of His people at His coming. He will come to meet them. " He shall descend from heaven," and by His power they shall ascend to meet Him. They " shall be caught up " with a quick and resistless rapture, as the word implies — rising from the troubled and im- perfect earth — changed and sublimated, as the blossom of the fabled Indian tree, transformed into a bird, flies upwards towards heaven (vid. Schelling's Clara, p. 91). It is added " in the clouds," — " rapt in a balmy cloud " (Milton), — not into the clouds, not in clusters, or as a cloud for multitude, but as if in a triumphal chariot {" Tanquam in curru triumphali," Grotius), on which they will be upborne. There is something to l)e learned from the frequent reference to clouds in connection with the coming of the Son of man. There is, per- haps, nothing in all nature more beautiful or more awful, and, whether the one or the other, more mysterious than the clouds. Ruskin, who has dis- coursed so much and with such surpassing eloquence on cloud scenery, has said (Modern Painters, v. p. 145), " Few of us, perhaps, have thought, in watching the career of the rain-cloud across our own mossy hills, or listening to the murmur of the springs amidst the mountain quietness, that the chief masters of the 184 FIRST THESSALONIANS. [lECT. XVI. human imagination owed, and confessed that they owed, the force of their noblest thoughts, not to the flowers of the valley, nor the majesty of the hill, but to the flying cloud." So, similarly, it has been said (Smith's Diet, of Bible), " Being the least sub- stantial of all visible forms, undefined in shape and unrestrained in position, the cloud is the one of material things which suggests most easily spiritual being. Hence it is, so to speak, the recognised machinery by which supernatural appearances are introduced, or the veil between things visible and invisible ; but more especially, a mysterious and super- natural cloud is the symbolical presence itself." In accordance with such thoughts, the clouds would pro- bably mean not the attending angels " having at the distance the appearance of clouds which attend the sun ; " still less would they mystically signify " His saints, formed of the waters of baptism and the breath of the Spirit," or " the clouds of ministering spirits, prophets, apostles, and saints, who make manifest His comings and goings " (vid. Isaac Williams, Devotional Commentary on the Gosp. Narr., The Holy Week, p. 296). Nor do the clouds represent a veiling of the whole aw^ful transaction (Riggenbach). They simply supply an imagery which lends grandeur, mystery, awe to that event, w^hich in itself is awful beyond all human languaoe and thought. The next clause is — " to meet the Lord in the air." We very naturally place alongside of this description the ascension of Elijah, " Behold, there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven ; " or more naturally still, the Saviour's ow^n ascension, when He was parted from His disciples, and a cloud received Him out of their LECT. XVI.J CHAP. lY. VERS. 16-18. 185 sight. In this, as in all else, He has gone before His people, and pointed out for them the way. It is, how- ever, noticeable that the rapture, the assumption of Elijah, is essentially different from that of the Saviour. In the prophet's case there is the symbol of the purifying fire, whereby the dross of earth and sin are purged away. In the ascension of Him who was the Friend of sinners, yet separate from sin, that element is awanting. It could have no meaning there : His was a sinless humanity. "In the air" — that is, not the atmosphere but indefinite space, as opposed to the earth. It was a well - known fancy of the ancient heathen mythology that the milky-way, so often seen above us in the calm of the starlit evening, in " the beauty and the fearfulness of night," is the path trod by the immortals to the palace or judgment - hall of the Supreme King. That fable is, like so many others, but a broken and distorted reflection of the truth which the apostle, " by the word of the Lord," reveals. What it fancied, apostolic truth declares — a pathway in the skies, along which the saints, clothed with immortality, are yet to pass to meet their Lord, that so they may enter with Him into the palace of fade- less splendour — the house of many mansions — which He is even now preparing for all who love His appear- ing. But in the severe reticence of the apostle's lan- guage there stands out before us not the grandeur, not even the solemnity of the event, but chiefly the joy and gladness which belong to it — it is the meeting with the Lord — the going forth with loving loyalty to greet Him in His advent as King and Lord of all. Hitherto the prophetic description is minute, specific in its details. But now in the last clause it is other- wise. The apostle's immediate purpose was to show 186 FIRST THESSALONIANS. [LECT. XVI. that no disadvantage belonged to those who had fallen asleep in Jesus. This purpose was served in what he had been enabled to disclose. Hence he now breaks off the description, or rather he gathers up the rest of it in the short yet all-embracing clause, " And so shall we ever be with the Lord." "And so," that is to say, such a change and gathering together, and meeting with Him having taken place, " we," that is, both classes — those who " are alive and remain," and those who "are asleep" — "shall be ever with the Lord." Less than this can never satisfy Christ's saints ; more than this they cannot desire or conceive. There are implied in being ever with Him perfect security, sinlessness, happiness, and glory. The question what is the end to be, is one that slumbers deep in every believer's breast. Ever and anon with anxiety and wonder an answer to it is sought. But while the wings of human life are " plumed with the feathers of death," in the case of the Christian they are plumed rather with the hope of immortality of bliss. The saints of every age, although knowing only in part, are satisfied meanwhile to obey the apostolic command given to those of the first age, " Wherefore comfort one another with these words." The thought of being with the Lord — that heavenly home-sick- ness — " Lies like a flower upon the heart, And draws around it other thoughts, like bees For multitude and thirst of sweetness." In regard to this whole section, vv. 16-18, it is necessary to bear in mind that it treats of that which in the nature of things can be set forth only partially, and that too only in language of figure. Dean Alford, indeed, has penned a very strongly -worded caution LECT. XVI.] CHAP. IV. VERS. lG-18. 187 against this view. He speaks of "literal details, strict matter of fact." He says, " Either these details must be received by us as matter of practical expectation, or we must set aside the apostle as one divinely empowered to teach the Church." So he argues against Jowett. Yet surely what Jowett says is only what the most believino- student of the word must be willing to accept : " Where the things of which we are speaking are such as eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man to conceive, which can only be expressed in figures of speech and types of the Old Testament, it is vain to attempt to define exactly the meaning of particular words, or to fill up the figures by which the general meaning is conveyed. Such an attempt is like painting a picture of the scenes in the Apocalypse, which, the moment they are brought together, are seen to have a prophetic and symbolical meaning, not an artistic unity." In our present state we cannot expect more — more, indeed, would be actually less, because it would be unintelligible. We can only say, as we look to the future — " I thirst for truth, But shall not drink it till I reach the source." It is worth while appending to the exposition of this section Bishop Alexander's note on ver. 16, " Of all the solemn associations connected with the verse, few can surpass the following, recorded in many of the foreign papers of the day : At the earthquake of IManilla, the cathedral fell upon the clergy and congregation. The mass of ruin overhead and around the doomed assem- blage was kept for a time from crushing down upon them by some peculiarity of construction. Those out- side wTre able to hear what was going on in the church, 188 FIRST THESSALONIANS. [LECT. XVI. without the slightest possibility of clearing away the ruins, or of aiding those within, upon whom the build- ing must evidently fall before long. A low, deep, bass voice, doubtless that of the priest officiating, was heard uttering the words, 'Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord.' As this sentence came forth, the multitude burst into a j^assion of tears, which was soon choked. For some deep groans issued from within, apparently wrung from the speaker by intense pain, and then the same voice spoke in a calm and even tone, as if addressing a congregation, and all heard the words, ' The Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first.' " An incident of this kind shows us how, in every age of the Church's history, and in circumstances of the most awful extremity, the comfort which the apostle offers to the Thessalonians has in no way lost its ]30wer. LECTURE XVII. "Is this a time to steep Thy brains in wasteful slumbers ? Up, and rouse Thy leaden spirit ; is this a time to sleep ? " QUARLES, Emblems. " Es ist nothwendig, dass wir stets beuiaffnet wider unsere Feinde, die Sunde, wie Hannibal wider den Scipio, zu Feld liegen, und alien Schlaf aus den Augen treiben. Oenn wenn der Mensch unterliegt, und seine Feinde, die Luster, die Oberhand nehmen, ach so verdirbt die Seele!" Abraham a Sancta Clara, Wintergriin. " blessed Hope, sole boon of man : whereby, on his strait prison walls, are painted beautiful far-stretching land- scapes ; and into the night of very Death is shed holiest dawn! Thou art to all an indefeasible possession in this God's-world ; to the wise a sacred Constantine's- banner, written on the Eternal shies ; under which they SHALL conquer, for the battle itself is victory." Carlyle, French Revolution. " But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that anght be written unto you. For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. When they are saying. Peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child ; and they shall in no wise escape. But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief : for ye are all sons of light, and sons of the day : we are not of the night, nor of darkness ; so then let us not sleep, as do the rest, but let us watch and be sober. For they tliat sleep, sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night. But let us, since we are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love ; and for a helmet, the hope of salvation." — 1 Thess. v. 1-8. rpHE apostle having disclosed much in the fore- -*- going verses about the Lord's second coming, and the respective shares in its glory which are to fall to those of His people who are then asleep, and those of them who are then alive, and remain, and having 190 FIRST THESSALONIANS. [LECT. XVII. shown tliat tlie one class will not be more liigtly favoured than the other, proceeds now to declare to his readers that, having such assured knowledge, they have enough. It is not for them in a spirit of mere curiosity to pry into " the times and seasons " when these things shall be. "Times and seasons" — these words appear frequently together, but the combination in the New Testament is peculiar to the writings of Luke and Paul. How are they to be distinguished ? The words stand related to one another much in the same way as the words space and place. The one is time in and by itself conceived. The other is definite periods of time — critical epochs of time. They are well rendered sections of time and points of time, much better than "day and hour." In the present phrase they apj)ear invariably in the plural ; and this is not without its significance. The apostle sets before us a connected series of events. Under no delusion himself as to the Lord's coming during his own gene- ration, Paul rather looks down through the long dim vista of coming years. He thinks of " the times and the seasons." He knew not, indeed, what these were. But we, perhaps, to a certain extent do. Looking back on the past, we can mark some of these epochs which have come and gone — for instance, and very pre- eminently, the destruction of Jerusalem — next, the recognition of the religion of Christ by the Roman Empire — the conversion of the Germanic tribes — the Crusades — the Reformation, — possibly the recent assumption of infallibility by the Bishop of Rome, and it may be that we can anticipate yet another epoch — the appearance of some future Roman Pontiff", who will claim not merely the one divine attribute of infallibility, but will kythe as Antichrist, the man LECT. XVII.] CHAP. V. VERS. 1-8. 191 of sin, in claiming to be actually identified with Jesus Christ — the last incarnation {yid. Mason in Ellicott's N. T. Com. for English Readers, iii. p. 170). This at all events we know, when we think of the various stages in the history of Christ's kingdom, and notice how they are links in the one chain, that the end of them all is the second advent of the Lord. More than this we cannot and need not know. The way of the Eternal God " as mirrored in this world of time " is dark, for " God's instant men call years." It is hidden from us, in this " hour-girt life " of earth, which hour is to be the last, that the voice may be always heard by the ear of faith — that voice which echoes " through the long - resounding corridors of time," "Be ye also ready, for in such an hour as ye think not, the Son of man cometh." Archer Butler has well said (sermon on " The practical uses of the uncertainty of Christ's Coming"), "Of this future coming, — of this true advent season of eternity, — though much is known, much too is hidden. There are secrets the Divine Bridegroom whispers not ; that the 'Spirit and the Bride' may still say, 'Come.' Between the Church and the Church's Head there still subsists, even in this intimate union, a mysterious separation ; and on the period of that separation a holy reserve. It has already lasted for ages, and we cannot dare to predict at what epoch it is to close. The veil that hangs before the celestial sanctuary is still undrawn ; and it is vain for us to ' marvel,' as of old the expectants of Zacharias, that the High Priest of our profession ' tarrieth so long in the temple.' He has willed it that, certain of His eventual arrival, we should remain in uncertainty as to its destined moment. ' The times and the seasons which the 192 FIRST TIIESSALONIANS. [LECT. XVII Father hath put in His own power,' He would have us desire, and expect and conjecture, but not dare to define." This mingling of ignorance and knowledge on the part of Christ's people is best suited to keep alive in their breasts that hope whose breathed utter- ance ever is, " Even so, come. Lord Jesus." About " the times and the seasons," the apostle says, " Ye have no need that I write unto you," or rather, " to be written unto." There was no occasion for their eagerly and anxiously inquiring about the exact time, " for yourselves," that is, not the Thessalonian brethren, as opposed to Paul himself and his com- panions, but the Thessalonians and all believers, as opposed to "the rest" (chap. iv. 13), the children of the night and of darkness, " know perfectly," that is, accurately, exactly, by means, probably, of the apostle's previous oral instruction, and also by means of the written Gospel of Luke, which, as we have seen, may have been placed shortly before this time in their hands — that Gospel which preserves for us much of our Lord's own teaching on this very doctrine of the last things. They had accurate knowledge of this, "that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night," — knowledge, in other words, that the time cannot be known — knowledge of men's absolute ignor- ance on the point. The day of the Lord means un- doubtedly the day of the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, involving in it also the idea of coming judgment. It is the day, not of the imminent destruction of Jeru- salem, nor of each individual's death, — though these are not excluded, — but of the coming of the Lord at the end of the days. While the time of His approach is declared to be hidden, the mode — the manner of it is revealed. " As a thief : " here we have a very LECT. XVII.] CHAP. V. VERS. 1-8. 193 striking comparison — one which to all appearance had passed into a well-recognised formula, and yet one which, we may hold, no Christian would have dared to use, had it not itself been first suggested and hallowed by Christ's own lips. And so we find it first of all in His own parable (Matt. xxiv. 43 and Luke xii. 39, 40) ; next we find it caught up and used by His disciple and apostle, Peter (2 Pet. iii. 10), "The day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night." Then we find it adopted by Paul ; and last of all we hear the same Saviour, but now risen and ascended and glorified, speaking from His throne to the angel of the Church of Sardis, " If thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee " (Rev. iii. 3) ; or, more to the point still (Rev. xvi. 15), "Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth." The words are therefore a regular and familiar scriptural simile — one which had taken firm hold of the mind and heart of the Apostolic Church. They had crystallized into the formula by which the doctrine of the second coming was set forth. What is the truth to be taken out of it ? This first, that His coming will be stealthy, under cover, as it were, of darkness, and therefore unexpected. He will come when the children of the night and of darkness — the dreamers (Jude ver. 8) — do not, in the slumber of carnal security, even momentarily think of His approach. But surely there is more than this implied in the simile of the thief. If this were all, we should be entitled to say, that there is not much of aptness, and still less of dignity, in it. But this further truth seems to be suggested, that as the thief comes not only unexpectedly, but also to steal, so the day of the Lord 194 FIEST THESSALONIANS. [lECT. XVII. comes to take away by force the so-called goods — the possessions of the worldling. The children of night have their most valued substance snatched from them. They are robbed — they are robbed of their soul. The robber comes to kill and destroy. This seems borne out by the parallel already quoted, Eev. xvi. 15, " Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keejjeth his gaiments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame." Vigilance is needed that the garments may be kept, — not torn from him, — that he may not be found robbed of the robe of the Eedeemer's righteousness, but clothed therewith, and so accepted at last. The idea is further expanded in the words which follow: "For when they shall say, Peace and safety" — when the children of this world cherish the feeling of comfort and security within their breasts, and dread no interference with their safety from without — when they are neither looking nor preparing for the crisis, then "sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child " (altpvtSio'i is used only in one other passage in the New Testament of Christ's coming, and that is in the Gospel of Luke xxi. 34 ; perhaps a slight support of the view that the Thessalonians possessed that Gospel). This sudden destruction is vividly represented as standing over those who are not thinking of its approach, and it is described by a not uncommon Oriental comparison {vid. Hos. xiii. 13, Pusey thereon) as violent, and irresistible as well as sudden. "And they shall not escape," that is, the travail — the sudden destruction. This they shall in nowise {ou fir]) be able to avoid. Thus in words and illustrations of unusual power and solemnity is depicted to us the surprise of the LECT. XYII.] CHAP. V. VEKS. 1-8. l95 world when " tliat day " comes, and the fearful loss which it brings to those who look not for it. There is a striking picture in the Wisdom of Solo- mon (ii. 1-9) of those who falsely say, " Peace and safety." They exclaim, " Let us enjoy the good things that are present ; and let us speedily use the creatures, like as in youth, let us fill ourselves with costly wine and ointments ; and let no flower of the spring pass by us. Let us crown ourselves with rose- buds, before they be withered ; let us leave tokens of joyfulness in every place ; for this is our portion, and our lot is in this." Such is a true picture of those whose so-called peace looks on Christ Jesus as an enemy, and springs from ignoring Him, His invita- tions, and His warnings, and whose so-called safety lies not in the removal of danger, but in indifference towards it. All such there await sudden confusion, dismay, destruction. To Christians themselves there will be the suddenness, but nothing; more — not the destruction. " This present state of things, ' the pre- sent distress,' as St. Paul calls it, is ever close upon the next world, and resolves itself into it. As when a man is given over, he may die any moment, yet lingers ; as an implement of war may any moment explode, and must at some time ; as we listen for a clock to strike, and at length it surprises us ; as a crumbling arch hangs, we know not how, and is not safe to pass under, — so creeps on this feeble weary world, and one day, before we know where we are, it will end " (Newman, sermon, " AVaiting for Christ," voL \i. p. 241). " But ye, brethren, are not in darkness," as the others are, " that that day should overtake you as a thief." The apostle thus retracts what he has just 196 F1I13T THESSALONTAyS. [LECT. XYII. been saying, so far as it applies to his brethren in Christ Jesus. Light and darkness, especially as used by our Lord Himself and by Hls beloved disciple John, are words very commonly employed in Scripture to represent opposite moral states. The realm of natural darkness is used here as a natural and fitting symbol of a spiritual state — the state of a soul away from God as He has revealed Himself in Christ — " Statum ignorantiae et ^itii " (Turretin), — blind- ness of understanding and heart and will. There is implied in it ignorance of God : that is a walkinof in darkness ; — vAckedness : Christ says, " Men have loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil ; for every one that doeth. evil hateth the light ;" — misery : we read of times of sorrow described as days of darkness. There was such thick darkness resting over Thessalonica — a darkness which was the shadow of death. But the little Christian community in its midst was a bright point — an ever-expanding centre of light. Joyfully does the apostle acknowledge this, " Ye are all the children of light, and the chil- dren of the day : we are not of the night, nor of darkness." He recognises no exceptions, no inner dis- tinctions, among the members of the Church ; all stand alike so far as grace, privileges, and duties are con- cerned. They are all declared to be children (a Hebrseism) of the light — claiming it, as it were, as their parent, standing in the relation of kinship to it. To them darkness is alien and repulsive. Theirs LS a state of knowledge ; they are " enlightened," having turned the eye of their heart to Him who is the Light of the world ; — of holiness, as God is clothed with light as with a garment, so are His people clothed even now with the white robe ; — of happiness, " Joy LECT. XVII.] CHAP. Y. VERS. 1-8. 197 cometli in tlie morning ; " — of future glory, when in God's light they shall see light clearly. Their path — the path of the just — is " as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day." Tliis^ then, being the^state of Christ's people, it cannot be that that day should overtake them as a thief ; the day of the Lord, loved and longed for, can neyej actually come upon them as something imwelcome — disliFedj^dre aded. The very statement of their character and privilege is thus on the part of the apostle an earnest appeal addressed to them. Not for them " will the day of the Lord be darkness," "therefore let us not sleep as do others" — just as the rest do. It is in accordance with the character and condition of the children of the night, that they " sleep in the night." Jude speaks of them as " dreamers," and the prophet calls sin " a dream of a night- vision." The sinner is, as it were, in an unreal state. " Reason retires Into her private cell when nature rests." —Par. Lost, v. 112. So when the soul sleeps, reason ceases to guide and to restrain. It is under the sway of corrupt imaginations. The sinner further is in a state of partial insensibility, hearincr not the threatening; of God's law, nor the invitation of His grace. But the servants of Christ are not in such a state of spiritual torpor and death. They are to sustain their character as the children of the day by being awake and watchful — watchful over self — watchful against Satan — watchful for their Lord and Master. While they look within and around, they are to look forward, so that they may catch the first glimpse of the purple dawn. But the apostle adds, 108 FIEST THESSALONIANS. [LECT. XVII. "and be sober." Sobriety is here associated, as it is by Peter, with vigilance. Paul says, " Tliey that be drunken are drunken in the night." The men of this world, being children of the night, are simply acting out their proper character when they surrender them- selves to the intoxication of pleasure and power and pride — every form of self-gratification. They are thus asleep, and consequently insensible to duty as well as to danger. They say, "My Lord delayeth His coming, and begin to beat their fellow-servants, and to eat and drink with the drunken." But the children of the day, the servants of the Lord, subject themselves to self- restraint. They do as Paul did, who said, " I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection, lest I should be a castaway." They cannot wilfully dishonour their Lord and endanger their own safety by any form of sinful self-indulgence. They are temperate, self- restrained in all things ; sober in the use of this world's blessings — in the hold they have of earthly things ; sober in their bearing of this world's sorrows ■ — not grieving beyond measure over losses or bereave- ments, knowing that by so doing they would be unnerved for right exertion in the Master's cause ; sober even in their religious enthusiasm — earnest and active indeed, but never fanciful and fanatical. This was one of the dangers besetting the Thessalonian Church, and liable to beset every one in connection with the doctrine of the Lord's coming. They were therefore to be tranquil and peaceful, not " walking disorderly," but studying to be quiet, and to do each one his own work. They were to give heed to the exhortation, " Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand." But the apostle adds, "Let us, who are of the day, LECT. XVII.] CHAP. V. VERS. 1-8. 199 be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love ; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation." The figure is still kept up and carried forward. Those who are of the day are clothed. They are not like others, unclad y and asleep. They are awake in readiness ; and their attire corresponds with their attitude of watching, lest they should be surprised by the enemy. Vigilance alone cannot avail. Sobriety alone is not enough. There must be a putting on of " the whole armour of God." They are the children of light, and this armour of theirs is appropriately called in Scripture " the armour of light." As to its nature, it is also designated " the armour of riajhteousness." This is one of Paul's favourite similes, and we have it most fully wrought out in Eph. vi. It is elsewhere spoken of as a putting on of the new man — the putting on of Christ — the robe of His righteousness ; that garment which is w^hite and glistering with the radiance of heaven even now, and which grows in purity till it becomes the white robe worn by the ransomed above. But it is notice- able here that believers are represented not as going forth to conquer, not in their aggressive continuous conflict with evil, but rather as standing on the defensive, ready to meet a sudden and unexpected attack. Hence reference is made only to that part of the panoply of heaven which is needed for protection — defensive armour alone. This is the three leading Christian graces — faith, love, and hope. These are *' the weapons of our warfare " in the matter of defence. Every arrow of assault falls from off these as from enchanted armour. The believer's faith and love, His trust in God's goodness and guidance, his love to God and to men, these form for him a breastplate — a cuirass — *' stronger than triple steel." His heart 200 FIRST THESSALONIANS. [lECT. XVII, cannot be pierced through by the fire-tipped darts of the enemy, so long as he is encased in mail of faith and love,- and wears " for an helmet the hope of salvation ; " the headpiece is the hope of deliverance, final and full, when the Lord cometh to reward His servants accord- ing as their works shall be. This hope is called the helmet, "as borne in front and on high, the most prominent and conspicuous piece of armour, and most of all the object of observation and attack. Our ' hope of salvation' bears with it our badge of service, our distinction of character, our challenge to the world" (Webster and Wilkinson), and we may also say, our pledge of victory. He who has his head thus " covered in the day of battle" will at last have his head crowned in the day of triumph. To those who are thus watchful, sober, armed, the Saviour's own promise will at length be fulfilled when He comes in His glory, " I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice ; and your joy no man taketh from you." The realization of that day, however distant, may be near. At least we can say that the progress of the gospel is "as the morning spread upon the mountains ; " and the inquiry is eagerly made, in the words of the burden of Dumah — the inquiry from the land of silence — " Watchman, what of the night ? Watchman, what of the night ? " How much of it is gone ; how much still remains ? The only answer as yet audible is one of mingled comfort and warning — one of weal or woe, according to our respective states, according as we are of the light or of the darkness — " The morning cometh, but also the night." The believer's attitude in this mingled certainty and uncertainty is ever that of waiting for that "Dim hour, that sleeps on pillowing clouds afar." LECTURE XVIII. " This world is like a 'Prosdora ' to the next; 'Prepare thy- self in the hall, that thou mayest be admitted into the palace,' or, 'Jhis world is lihe a roadside inn, but the world to come is like the real home.'" — Dkutsch, The Talmud. "Die Seele ist nicht, wo sie ist, sondern wo sie liebt, und das wahrste Heimweh ist wohl das nach dem andern Leben." — ScHELLiNO, Clara. "And on thy brow there sits eternally A look of deep yet somewhat anxious bliss. With a wild light that nestles in thine eye, As though its home were not a world like this." Faber, Hope. " For God appointed us not unto wrath, but unto the obtaining of salva- tion through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him. Wherefore exhort one another, and build each other up, even as also ye do. But we beseech you, brethren, to know them that labour among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you ; and to esteem them exceed- ing highly in love for their work's sake. Be at peace among yourselves. And we exhort you, brethren, admonish the disorderly, encourage the faint-hearted, support the weak, be long-suffering toward all. See that none render unto any one evil for evil ; but alway follow after that which is good, one toward another, and toward all." — 1 Thess. v. 9-15. rr^IIE apostle, passing on from the contemplation of -^ "the hope of salvation" as the helmet of the believer, while he stands sentinel-like, waiting for his Lord's comincr, and watchful against all assaults and sur- prises of the enemy, assigns the reason why that helmet may be of right assumed. " For," ver. 9, the particle is confirmatory, not of the duty of watchfulness, but of the duty of hopefulness — " God hath not appointed us 202 FIRST TIIESSALONIANS. [lECT. XVIII. to wrath." In this clause there lies a negative descrip- tion of the believer's future lot. While there are those who are designated " the children of wrath," men of whom it may be said that the shadow of God's wrath is already falling upon them, in warning premonition of judgment to come, those who "wait for His Son from heaven " are in character and conduct and destiny " the children of light." They are animated by different principles, traversing a different path, and nearing a different end. They are not of " them which perish," but of "them which are saved." God has appointed them to obtain salvation. The word "appointed" {eOero) marks out something fixed and settled, and the middle form of the verb implies that He who has so fixed has an aim, a purpose of His own in view. There is thus a reference to the counsels of the Most High (at what time in their relation to man we need not inquire), whereby He has destined, redeemed, and separated (destinavit, redemit, segregavit ab infidelibus. Corn, a Lapide) His people for Himself. This appoint- ment has as its design and end the obtaining of salva- tion. The mystery and consequent perplexity which the word "appointed" suggests are so far lightened or counterbalanced by the word " obtain." It implies acquisition by personal efi"ort — a making of a thing one's own (1 Tim. iii. 13; Acts xx. 28; Eph. i. 14 ; Heb. X. 39). Thus freewill and predestination poise one another. Dr. Dodds [in loc. Popular Commentary on N. T.) well says, "The truest parallel to the expres- sion ' appointed' is that of Peter (1 Pet. ii. 8) where he speaks of the disobedience of the rejecters of Christ, and adds, 'whereunto also they were appointed,' set apart, as it were, in the purpose of God to this end. This end was also the eager choice of their own will ; LECT. XVIII.] ciiAr. V. VEKS. 9-15. 20: tlioiigli liow those two determining motives both find room we cannot tell." This, however, we must firmly hold, that even those who stand " on the incline, earth's edge, that's next to hell," may yet be " appointed to obtain salvation." The obtaining further implies that salvation is regarded in the aspect of a future blessing, — the new life, not in its beginnings, not in its progress, but in its completion — the deliverance which pertains to " the kingdom and glory." But the idea of salvation, strictly and in itself, gives only a negative description of the future of Christ's people. It simply declares what is already stated, that they are " not appointed to wrath." They are delivered from that condemnation. Hence the aflirmative clause which follows, "that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him." So far from being " punished with everlasting destruction from the pre- sence of the Lord, and from the glory of His power," they are " to live." Salvation, future and final, is life — that which alone is worthy of the name of life — that which is opposed to death, spiritual, temporal, and eternal. It cannot be otherwise, for it is life with Christ Jesus. The word "with" is a strong one; it expresses conjunction, innermost union, — the closest fellowship with the Saviour, the immediate and constant enjoyment of His gracious presence. Even on earth the believer's life is a life with Him. Its first breath- ings are from Him ; it is ceaselessly upheld by Him ; to Him alone it is consecrated. Hence its completion and crown consist in being hereafter ever with Him. But even this is not all ; when we transfer the word "together" to its proper place in the sentence, we further learn that in living with Him, His people are also to live with one another. They are to be one 204 FIRST THESSALONIANS. [lECT. XVIII. company in Him their only King. The apostle says "that, whether we wake or sleep, we together should live with Him." Waking and sleeping are not to be taken in the ethical sense, as signifying alive to spiritual realities on the one hand, and sunk in the sullen slumber of sin on the other. Nor are they to be understood literally, as suggesting that the advent may be either in the daytime, or, as the early Church imagined, in the darkest watches of the night. Un- questionably they mean simply sleeping the sleep of death, and still living upon earth, awake to the duties of life, with the further element of ivatching for the coming of the Lord. To whichever of these classes believers may belong at "that day," they are all to be alike in the privileges and joys which pertain to it. " Together" they are to live with Him. But while this section speaks of salvation, and of that in which it consists, it has imbedded in it the clause, " By our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us." Its paramount importance must not be overlooked. While the other clauses teach us to look forward, this directs us to look backward. And we must ever in our religious experience do both. " Past and future are the wings On whose support, harmoniously conjoined, Moves the great spirit of human knowledge." These lines of Wordsworth have a deeper meaning when applied to spiritual things. We cannot look forward, reading our " title clear to mansions in the skies," without looking to the past. The Christian, as he contemplates the future of bliss, remembers his Saviour's past of woe. Deliverance comes from Him who was " delivered for our offences." Life together with Him is ours, because He died for us. LECT. XVIII.] CHAP. V. VERS. 9-15. 205 "By our Lord Jesus Christ" is to be connected not with " appointed," but with " obtain." The salvation which His people make their own is one that has been wrought out, purchased for them by Him. " The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." Nor is this all. The apostle adds " who died." Indeed, Christ's death is in this passage more closely connected with His people's resurrection-life than perhaps any- where else. His teaching, His living, are here lost sight of in the central thought of His death. Still further we read " who died /or us" — on our behalf, for our interests, that so we might escape the coming wrath, and enter into the final bliss. Christ Jesus is the Saviour by His death, and that death was for those who are dead in trespasses and in sins. They who from the heart call Him "our Lord Jesus Christ" are delivered from the wrath to come. Such, then, is the outlook into the future opened up to Christian hope, when Christian faith turns to Him who died. Those who are His, while they may be scorned and ridiculed as dreamers by those who believe only in so far as they see, yet, like Columbus amid similar unbelief, steer onwards in full assured confi- dence to the land unseen — the haven of rest. Cherishing " one faith against a whole earth's unbelief, one soul against the flesh of all mankind," they labour and they wait. This passage, vv. 9-10, has its interest and value as showing us that the earliest and the latest of the Pauline Epistles are all at one in regard to the central doctrines of salvation through Christ. It is no un- common thing to find it asserted that the apostle in his writino;s of later date has advanced far from the vague and unformed views of his earlier Epistles. There 206 FIRST THESSALONIANS. [lECT. XVIII. is nothing in support of such a supposition. In this passage we have wrapped up in few words indeed, but none the less really contained in them, his one uniform declaration of salvation through Christ, and His atoning death. " Wherefore " — seeing that such a future, such an inheritance of bliss is in store — " comfort yourselves together," by lovingly meditating upon it, by reminding one another of it, by helping one another in preparing for it — and so " edify one another." The latter word means to instruct, build up. An illustration lies in it — one which the apostle more than once employs. For instance, in writing to the Corinthians, whose city was renowned for the splendour of its public buildings, he appropriately declares, "ye are God's building." Christians are represented as built upon Christ Jesus, the only sure foundation, and in their spiritual progress as growing "to a holy temple in the Lord." The metaphor is used also by Peter (l Pet. ii. 5), and implied, though not worked out, in the words of Jude, " building up yourselves on your most holy faith." Their work is to rear a fabric, firm and solid, not a tent pitched one day and struck the next, but a structure endurino; unto everlasting; life. The idea of progress too, as well as of stability, is implied. One stage of this spiritual masonry rises upon another. Cease- lessly is the work carried on, till at length the perfec- tion of beauty be attained, when toil being past, the " work shall abide." Our Lord Himself has consecrated this metaphor by His owm use of it. In His inaugural Sermon on the Mount (Matt. vii. 24-27) He has set before us the " ruinosa sedificatio " (Calvin on 1 Cor. viii. 10) of the foolish man, and the safe and enduring w^ork of the wise master-builder whose house is " founded LECT. XVIII.] CHAP. V. VERS. 9-15. 207 upon a rock." Here, then, is work assigned to Christ's people, and diligence is required of them in it, for, as the wise man has said (Eccles. x. 18), "by much sloth- fulness the building decayeth ; and through idleness of the hands the house droppeth through." But in the present passage each believer is represented not as a building, a temple complete in itself, but rather as part of the one building — the Church of God. Each man is to edify not merely himself, but every one his neighbour. As a Christian community — as a structure, one stone of which rests upon the other — they are bound together in love ; and as Paul elsewhere says, "Charity (love) edifieth." It is "the bond of perfect- ness." The clause is added, " even as also ye do." Lest the exhortation might appear to his friends to have some slight tinge of reproof in it, the apostle closes it with words of praise, and this praise — this grateful, hearty recognition of their Christian conduct, — is a further appeal to them yet more to abound in this good work. And now, in accordance with his usual practice, the apostle draws his Epistle to a fitting close by a series of general but not miscellaneous directions, — exhor- tations as to details of conduct, suggested probably by the knowledge he had of certain defects in the Thessalonian community. The relation in which believers as a whole are to stand to the officials of the Church is first of all alluded to. These office-bearers are described by three participles, descriptive of their work, (a) " Them which labour among you." The word is frequently used of apostolic and ministerial toil (Eom. xvi. 12; 1 Cor. xv. 10; Gal. iv. 11 ; 1 Tim. iv. 10). The service, with the duties and responsibilities of which they are clothed, is a laborious service. It \ 208 FIRST THESSALONIANS. [LECT. XVIII.' demands painful and exhausting toil. In all its parts it needs exertion, and that exertion brings suffering and pain. The next clause is (6) " and are over you in the Lord." The elders of the Church are portrayed in the aspect of their official dignity. As overseers, they bear rule "in the house of God, which is the Church of the living God." They are at the head of the church in the matter of taking charge of its affairs, and guiding and sustaining in efficiency its various departments of work. The last descriptive clause is (c) " and admonish you " — train you by word of encouragement or remonstrance or reproof, so that you may walk in the way of the Lord. By these three clauses the work of Christ's ministering servants is described. In its relation to themselves it is toil — in its relation to the Church it is responsibility — in its relation to the hearts and lives of men it is admonition and direction. Those, therefore, to whom this office, in any of its functions, belongs, are to be acknowledged. The apostle says, " We beseech you, brethren, to know ' them" (iiriyivcoaKeiv, 1 Cor. xvi. 18). They are to be distinguished from all false teachers, recognised as ministers of Christ, and so approved and prized. They are to be sustained by willing support, hearty S3^m- patliy, and earnest prayer. This obligation resting upon believers in regard to their spiritual teachers is yet more fully enforced, " and to esteem them very highly in love for their work's sake." Their work, in its very nature, commends them to the heartfelt regard of all who love Christ. It does so, first of all, because of its difficulty. Trials, discouragements, sorrows per- tain to it. It does so, further, because of its import- ance. " Est autem opus hoc aedificatio ecclesiae, seterna animarum salus, mundi reparatio, denique LECT. XVIII.] CHAr. V. VERS. 9-15. 209 regnum Dei et Cliristi. Hujiis operis insestimabilis est excellcntia ac dignitas ; ergo quos tantae rei minis- tros facit Deus, nobis eximios esse oportet" (Calvin). It does so, last of all, because of its dignity and responsibility. It is not their work, but Christ's. They are ambassadors for Him, They are fellow- labourers with God. " They watch for souls as they that must give account." The apostle adds, "And be at peace among your- selves." He thus in effect says to his Thessalonian friends that they cannot act rightly towards Christ's office-bearers in the Church unless they also act rightly tow^ards one another. They are therefore to cherish Christian regard for one another. " We, being many, are one body in Christ ; and every one members one of another." " Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love, in honour preferring one another." There can be no edifying one another (ver, 11) unless there be this peace, the peace of God ruling in their hearts. In a truly prosperous Christian community there reigns no spirit of contention, — there exists even no so-called " rerum concordia discors," — but rather that blissful harmony of thought and feeling and action which is the evidence of the indwelling Spirit, and a pledge of the peace of heaven. Christ's people alone are in the essential meaning of the word " peace- makers." The disposition which follows jDcace with all men is always the outcome of faith in Him w^lio has " made peace through the blood of His cross." It is only when a man has the consciousness of a new relationship of j)eace with God that all the discords within his own breast become silenced, and he is enabled to manifest his own inward peace in outward acts of peace toward his brother. Knowing tliat 210 FIRST THESSALONIANS. [LECT. XVIII. "God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints," His people seek " the bond of peace," as that which guards and preserves the unity of the Spirit. Beholding the image of their common Lord and Master in one another's character, they cannot but love one another as belonging to the one Church of Christ, wherein dwells His peace. Their words are therefore the healing words of wisdom and meekness and brotherly love ; they thus "make peace." In a word, they strive to realize in their own experience the Saviour's own beatitude, " Blessed are the peace- makers, for they shall be called the children of God." Thus it is, to use the illustration of Ignatius (Ignat. Ep. ad Ephes. iv. and ad Philad. i.), that believers are as the many-stringed lyre, alike touched by the Master's hand, and so in different notes, but with perfect concord, yielding the melody of praise to God. Such is the ideal of Christian character and conduct. But the Thessalonians had not attained to it. There was that which was lacking in regard to it. Hence the need of the apostolic injunction, "Be at peace among yourselves." "Now we exhort you, brethren;" this is addressed, doubtless, not to those in authority in the Church, as some hold, but to the whole body of the hrethre^i {aheK^oi), to the entire company of believers. The duties which are in the following clauses enjoined are duties binding upor all who belong to the household of faith. And what are these duties ? " Warn (admonish) them that are unruly." The Church of Thessalonica, Paul himself being witness, was in many respects an exemplary one ; its members " were ensamples to all that believe in Macedonia and Achaia" (1 Thess. i. 7). Notwithstanding this, there were in LECT. XVIII.] CHAP. V. VERS. 9-15. 211 tlieir midst some who were insubordinate, unruly. The term is only once found in New Testament Scrip- ture (though its cognate verb appears in 2 Thess. iii. 7), and it is a military one. It means out of place, out of the ranks. Here it represents men who, while they bore the name of Christian, and professed to be or in reality wore fighting on Christ's side, were yet ill-ordered, insubordinate in their relation to the general body of believers. The expectation of the near approach of Christ, an expectation held erroneously, had bred mis- chief in the region of daily Christian duty. Some were found to be neglecting the claims of their individual callings, and apparently also invading the rights and obligations of others in regard to Christian work ; individual cases of disorder were manifesting; them- selves, which, were they not checked by the apostle, would spread, and at last issue in universal defeat. Hence, in the very word he uses, he would remind them that in the ranks of the Christian army there must be no setting aside of discipline, else there would be too surely a courting of disaster. Each one in the army of the living God has a post — his own post too. He must not complain of it ; he must not desert it ; he must not exchange it for another. It has been assigned to him by the Head of the Church, and "it is required that a man be found faithful." Each Christian must, " Armed at his station, wait till his Lord be at the gate." " Comfort the feeble-minded," or as Wycliffe renders it, " the men of little heart." We have here the original of Bunyan's Mr. Feeblemind. The Thessa- lonian Church was strong in faith, and yet there were some of its members timorous, faint - hearted, of a 212 FIRST THESSALONIANS. [LECT. XVIII. desponding and sorrowful spirit. This feeble-minded- ness sprang, there is every reason to conclude, not from want of faith in the divine mercy in Christ Jesus, not from the danger of persecution to which they were exposed, but from the failing to lay hold of the assurance that the dead in Christ are safe in His keeping, and assured of an interest in His coming. The feeble-minded are simply those who " were sorrow- ing as those who had no hope." These needed words of encouragement, and their brethren of stronger faith and clearer views were to find in comforting them the meaning of the saying, "A word spoken in due season, how good is it." The next clause is " Support the weak ;" not, cer- tainly, the weak in the matter of bodily health, but (as in Rom. xiv. 1) the weak in faith, — those who w^ere defective, not in will, but rather in strength, to carry out in all its fulness the precepts of Christian truth, because their consciences were not fully enlightened, — " those who had not yet attained that robust common sense and breadth of conscience which discriminates between truths and superstitions, necessities and expediencies ; who were not yet ripe enough Christians to be sure of standing in persecutions " (Mason). Now, in regard to all such, it is God's grace alone that can offer them secure support ; yet, none the less, those of stronger faith are to support them by directing them to that grace, bearing with their infirmities, and while bearing Tvith them, trying to have them removed. Though "babes in Christ," they are none the less precious in His sight ; and those who have attained to a nearer approach to His stature are to bear their burdens for His sake. Paul says to the Corinthians, " To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain LECT. XVIII.] CHAP. V. VERS. 9-15. 213 the weak ; " and all believers must seek to make this declaration their own. " Be patient toward all men," or, as Ellicott, " Be long-suffering to all." Be gentle, forbearing, patient, slow to anger ; and that, too, not merely towards the unruly and feeble-minded and weak among the brethren, but towards all men. This is the function of a true and ardent Christian love. " Charity suffereth long and is kind; beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things." Ver. 15. "See," see to it ; take special care "that none render evil for evil unto any man." The exhortation has its parallel in Eom. xii. 17, "Recompense to no man evil for evil." It is a very distinct and emphatic prohibition of the spirit of revenge. It was the characteristic of the heathen, among whom these Thessalonian Christians dwelt, to cherish this spirit. While a few of their nobler teachers, it is true, dis- couraged it, their teaching was of little avail. But the religion of Christ Jesus " has kindled that spirit of kindness and goodwill in the breast of man (which could not be extinguished even towards an enemy) until it became a practical principle. It has preached as a rule of life for all what had previously been the supreme virtue, or the mere theory of philosophers" (Jowett in loc). The inculcation upon all of the duty of forgiveness, and the making of that duty easy, is one of the crowns of Christian morals. The Saviour, in contrasting His teaching even with the current views of the Jewish people, has said, " Ye have heard that it hath been said. An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth. But I say unto you that ye resist not evil." His people speak not of the sweetness of revenge, but of the sweetness of forgiveness. They, if theirs be 214 FIRST THESSALONIANS. [LECT. XVIII. the mind of Christ, can say (Starke in Lange), " To requite good with evil is devilish ; to requite evil with evil is heathenish ; to requite good with good is praise- worthy ; to requite evil with good is Christian." This latter is the ideal stage of moral perfection. It is the highest stage, and no lower one can be accounted Christian. In so far as we rise up to it, we become "imitators of God" — followers of Christ Jesus, "Who, when He was reviled, reviled not again ; when He suffered, He threatened not, but committed Himself to Him that judgeth righteously." The obligation to obey this precept is, the apostle would here show, resting on every one {m rt?). There can be no setting of it aside on the part of any believer. Recently rescued from heathenism as these Thessalonian Chris- tians were, and still surrounded as they were by the evil influences of heathen society, they all needed this caution. They had to " see " to it that the desire of revenge found no harbour in their breasts. But this is not all. So far the exhortation is nega- tive. It merely points out what believers are not to do. But now it becomes positive. " But ever follow that which is good, both among yourselves and to all men." The aim set before the Christian is "that which is good ; " good in the full compass of the word — the spiritual and also the temporal good of others — every- thing that in reality can be beneficial to them. The sphere in which this aim is to be first sought is the household of faith, — the consecrated company of the saints, — but it is wider than this, — " to all men." The believer's love is one which must embrace the world. His charity must ever expand, till it be lost in the fulness of the bliss of heaven. Then, once more, this good is to be aimed at by active exertion. " Follow," LECT, XVIII.] CHAP. Y. VERS. 9-15. 215 the apostle says. It is a Pauline figure, taken from the racecourse. We are to run after — eagerly to seek opportunity of doing good to others — not listlessly waiting for opportunities, but rather determined to find them out. And, last of all, this aim must be a con- stant one. " Ever follow that which is good." Our following must not only be eager, it must be regular, persistent, ceaseless. The discharge of this duty is the Christian's highest privilege. He prizes it as such, till at last, both those who do good and those wdio get good rejoice together in the kingdom of heaven, where patience is no longer needed, for no imperfection exists for its exercise — where there are none " unruly, feeble- minded, weak," but all are happy, because holy, being all one in Christ. LECTURE XIX. "It is but little we can receive here, some drops of joy that enter into US, but there WE shall enter into joy, as vessels put into a sea of happiness." Archbishop Leighton. " Oratio est temperantice custodia, iracundice frenum, animi elati repressio, odii medicina, recta legum jurisque con- stitutio, regni potentia, trophceum atque uexillum belli, tutela pads, uirginitatis sigillum, fides nuptiarum, via- torum prcBsidium, dormientium custos, agricolarum fertilitas, nauigantium salus, reorum patrona, moerentium consolatio, Icetantium jucunditas, lugentium solamen, mori- entium sepultura." S. Ephrem, Tract, de Oratione, in Com. a Lapide. "Wherefore I crie, and crie again; And in no quiet canst Thou be Till I a thanhfull heart obtain Of Thee. Not thanhfull, when it pleaseth me, As if Thy blessings had spare dayes. But such a heart, whose pulse shall be Thy praise." George Herbert. "Rejoice alway ; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus to you-ward." — 1 Thess. v. 16-18. TIT'E come now to a group of short sentences with which the Epistle hastens on to its close. Like the corresponding group in Rom. xii. 9 fF., they are simple and direct statements of Christian duty, well fitted to pass readily from mouth to mouth, and to be easily and permanently remembered. They may have been immediately addressed to those who had ofiicial position in the Church, and as such they LECT. XIX.] CHAP. V. VERS. 16-18. 217 would be received as texts on which, in their usual exhortations, the teachers would gladly enlarge. They are thus to be regarded as "goads," to stimulate thought and feeling and practice, as "nails fastened by the masters of assemblies, which are given from one shepherd." They can never lose their preciousness and beauty. They are jewels " That on the stretched forefinger of all time sparkle for ever." The first of this group is, " Eejoice evermore." The Thessalonian converts were living in the sphere of sorrow. The apostle exhorts them to be " girded with gladness." This rejoicing, being " in the Lord," is opposed to that spurious joy which is the posses- sion of sinners. Solomon has said, "Folly is joy to him that is destitute of wisdom." Men turn to " the magic cup, that fills itself anew," but it tastes in the end of bitterness and death. " Wickedness is sweet in the mouth, yet it is gall of asps within them." The word "evermore" has no meaning except in con- nection with w^hat is "joy of heart" — one of the fruits of the Spirit. This rejoicing before God is the deep, calm deliofht of the soul in communion with the Saviour. It is called "a joy of the Holy Ghost," being wrought by His influences as the Comforter. It is called "My joy " by Christ Himself: He gives it, and earth can never take it away. The son of Sirach's words are always realized in the case of the believer, " If a man have a good heart toward the Lord, he shall at all times rejoice with a cheerful countenance." This rejoicing springs out of the three Christian graces which this Epistle so strongly emphasizes — faith, love, and hope. Faith has respect to the divine mercy in Christ Jesus. It accepts that 218 FIRST THESSALONIANS. [LECT. XIX. mercy, and the acceptance thereof brings joy. Love makes us partakers of the divine nature. Those, then, who are loved of God, and love Him in return, cannot but be glad in Him. The Psalmist has said, "They that love Thy name shall be joyful in Thee." Hope — " a lively hope," as Scripture calls it — translates us into an ideal world — a world which to the Christian is the highest reality. Living, then, in such a world into which the sorrows of earth cannot enter, he cannot but be happy. He finds, the stronger and brighter his hope is, that " the hope of the righteous shall be gladness." Hence we find in the Book of the Psalms — the truest and fullest record of the inner history of the soul in all the range of its experiences — that the all-pervading tone is that of holy exultation : "Let the righteous be glad; let them rejoice before God; yea, let them exceedingly rejoice." That same book further shows us that this true, enduring joy grows alone out of sorrow. In the natural world the rose, the fairest of flowers, is seen expanding, not on the soft, green lap of the earth, not on the pliant and graceful stalk, but on the rough and prickly thorn. Its loveliness rises out of roughness. So is it in the spiritual world, the flower of the new life, joy in the Holy Ghost, ever unfolding the freshness of new beauty, grows alone out of the hard and thorny stalk of godly sorrow. "Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted." " Qui non gemit peregrinus, non gaudebit civis" (August. Epist.). It is interesting to notice how in the earliest days of Christianity this joyfulness was a prominent element of religious life. The first believers, " con- tinuing daily in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and LECT. XIX.] CHAP. V. VERS. lC-18. 219 singleness of heart, praising God, and having favour with all the people" (Acts ii. 46); and in later and more sorrowful times this characteristic was not wanting. If we turn to the Roman catacombs and question them, we find them strikingly testifying to this. In the earliest chamber, that of Sts. Nereus and Achilleus, — dating back to the beginning of the second century, — we stand face to face with evidences of brightness and gladness. Dean Stanley (Christian Institutions, p. 250) thus describes it : " Everything is cheerful and joyous. This to a certain degree per- vades all the catacombs. Although some of them must have been made in times of persecution, yet even in these the nearest approach to images of distress and suffering is in the figures of the Three Children in the Fire, Daniel in the Lion's Den, and Jonah naked under the Gourd. But of the mournful emblems which belong to nearly all the later ages of Christianity, almost all are wanting in almost all the catacombs. There is neither the cross of the fifth or sixth cen- turies, nor the crucifix or the crucifixion of the twelfth or thirteenth, nor the tortures and martyrdoms of the seventeenth, nor the skeletons of the fifteenth, nor the cypresses and death's heads of the eighteenth. There are, instead, wreaths of roses, winged genii, children playing. This is the general ornamentation. It is a variation not noticed in ordinary ecclesiastical history. But it is there. There are two words used in the very earliest account of the very earliest Christian community to which the English language furnishes no exact equivalent ; one is their exulting, bounding gladness [a'yaWida-i'i) ; the other, their sim- plicity and smoothness of feeling, as of a plain without stones, of a field without furrows [cKpeXorr]^). These 220 FIRST THESSALONIANS. [lECT. XIX. two words from the record of the first century (Acts ii. 46) represent to us what appears in the second century in the Eoman catacombs. It may be doubted whether they have ever been equally represented at any subsequent age." " Pray without ceasing," is the second in the group of exhortations. It has its natural connection with the first. If a man desires to enjoy the privilege and to discharge the duty of rejoicing evermore, he must be careful to obey the command, " Pray without ceasing," for prayerfulness is the atmosphere in which all things appear bright and joyous. The apostle takes for granted that none of his readers will call in question the duty of prayer. What he enjoins is constancy in prayer. The emphasis lies on the words, " without ceasing." They are not to be weakened or explained away. They are to be taken in their simple, literal meaning. Like the corresponding passages, " Con- tinuing instant in prayer ; continue in prayer ; men ought always to pray ; I will that men pray every- where, lifting up holy hands," this declares that there must be no cessation, no interruption even, of the believer's prayerfulness. His whole life is to be one of continuous supplication. It is evident, then, that reference is made not to particular times and forms of this duty, but to the proper state of heart without which these times and forms are vain. It has some- times been wrongly inferred from this and similar precepts that the state of feeling is everything, and that its expression may be left to itself, or even systematically ignored. Emerson, for instance, has not hesitated to say, " As soon as a man is at one with God, he will not beg. He will then see prayer in aU action. The prayer of the farmer, kneeling in his LECT. XIX.] CHAP. V. VERS. lC-18. 221 field to weed it ; the prayer of the rower, kneeling with the stroke of his oar, are true prayers, heard throughout nature, though for cheap ends." There is a snare lurking in such an utterance, all the more that the utterance has much of truth in it. All work done by the Christian in the spirit of Christ is indeed worship, 5^et the old English poet, Donne, is far nearer the right when he says, — " In noue but us are such mixed engines found, As hands of double office ; for the ground We till with them ; and them to heaven we raise ; Who prayerless labours, or without this, prays, Doth but one half, that's none." Prayerfulness, apart from its regular and frequent expression, tends, if we can conceive of it as existing at all, to pass away altogether. But, on the other hand, the so-called saying of prayers, without the con- scious effort to retain the ever-present spirit of prayer, tends to formalism, which is unblessed to ourselves and an offence to God. Robertson of Brighton has pithily put it thus, " Wherever prayer degenerates into saying prayers, or when prayer becomes prayers — measured and counted — acts instead of utterances, it is no more a spiritual exercise than the Calmuck's rotation of a metal plate, on which his prayers are inscribed." This ceaseless prayerfulness, prescribed by the apostle, has its reasonableness in the nature of the renewed life. That life is regarded in Scripture as communion Tvdth God. " Truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ." The only conceivable way in which, on our part, this communion can be maintained, is the lifting up of the heart in con- scious dependence and petition. That life further is 222 FIRST THESSALONIANS. [LECT. XIX. described as work for God. It is a warfare. The weapon of all prayer, then, is that by which alone the victory can be won. Activity in the sphere of the religious life can be rightly directed and sustained only by the spirit of devotion. The Saviour has said, " Men ought alway to pray, and not to faint." To guard, therefore, against fainting, in the way either of weariness in the work or of cowardice in the battle, prayer must be ceaseless. The Church militant must ever be the Church supplicant. Hence, "steady till the going down of the sun " must each soldier of the cross lift up holy hands of prayer. The life in Christ last of all and above all is regarded as a life. Guizot has called man "the only praying being upon earth." In the highest sense these words apply to the believer. Prayer is the very beating of the pulse of his inner life. Life without it would cease to be. Newman (sermon on the text) gathers up this aspect of the matter thus: "A man cannot really be religious one hour and not religious the next. We might as well say he could be in a state of good health one hour and in bad health the next. A man who is religious is religious morning, noon, and night ; his religion is a certain character, a mould in which his thoughts, words, and actions are cast, all forming parts of one and the same whole. He sees God in all things ; every course of action he directs towards those spiritual objects which God has revealed to him ; every occur- rence of the day, every event, every person met with, all news which he hears, he measures by the standard of God's will. And a person who does this may be said almost literally to pray without ceasing; for, knowing himself to be in God's presence, he is con- tinually led to address Him reverently, whom he LECT. XIX.] CHAP. V. VERS. lG-18. 223 sets always before him, in tlie inward language of prayer and praise, of humble confession and joyful trust." These words lead us up naturally to the third of this group of exhortations. " In everything give thanks ; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you." We may probably understand the first direction as the more general, the second and third as the more particular, showing how habitual joyfulness can be attained. It exists only in the sphere of prayerfulness and thankfulness. Thankful- ness, further, is exhibited here, as well as in other parts of the Epistle, as an inseparable adjunct of prayerful- ness. In all heart-communion with God there must be the acknowledgment and the adoration of Him as " the Father of lights," the giver of " every good and perfect gift." It is, besides, thankfulness in everything which is here enjoined— a habit of mind and heart which delights to say, " I will bless the Lord at all times, His praise shall continually be in my mouth." It is the " giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ" (Eph. v. 20). If possible, the clause "in everything" is stronger than these others. It seems to suggest not merely that the heart is at all times and for all things to be grateful, but that the gratitude is to overflow into every action of the life — thanks- giving and thanks-living — " qui dicit Deo gratias, gratias agit Deo" (August.). Thankfulness is a lively sense of benefits received, and a corresponding desire to requite them. Requital ! that word has, it is true, no significance in relation to our thanksgiving to God. Yet here is a sense in which we are evermore to pay back, as it were, in active service, what we receive 224 FIRST THESSALONIANS. [LECT. XIX. from Him. That debt ever due — never cancelled, we have ceaselessly to pay, and in paying it to find our highest joy. The apostle adds, "for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you." The clause is not to be restricted to the thanksgiving. It embraces also the joyfulness and prayerfulness. The three together represent the believer's privilege and duty in regard to personal piety — joy of heart blossoming out from prayer and thanksgiving. It is God's will that it should be so. It is His will " to you-ward," in regard, that is to say, to His people. He claims this offering at their hands. They are distinguished in this from the heathen. Ingratitude especially was the characteristic of the Gentile world. Of them it is said, "When they knew God, they glorified Him not as God, neither were thankful" (Rom. i. 21). This will of God, further, has been disclosed to His people "in Christ Jesus." In the realms of nature and of providence we can see His will revealed to us, His will claiming that we should be joyful. He has opened up exhaustless springs of happiness to His intelligent creatures, which to their own loss they themselves so frequently close. In these same realms we can see His will claiming also that we should be prayerful. Everywhere in His works and in His dealings we learn the lesson of our dependence and of our need of His sustaining and protecting and guiding care. In these same realms, further, we can see His will calling upon us to be thankful. He crowns the children of men with tokens of His good- ness. Yet alongside of such indications, the realms of nature and of providence show to us many things which, in and by themselves considered, can make men only sorrowful, stolid, — it may with reverence be said, LECT. XIX.] CHAP. V. VERS. 16-18. 225 even ungrateful. But God's will is revealed in clearer, brighter characters in redemption, in the gift of His Son. In Him we have "joy unspeakable and full of glory." In Him we stand in new relationship to the Father of our spirits : He is also our Father reconciled. In Him we have all things and abound. " We know that all thing-s work tosfether for o;ood to them that love God, to them w^ho are the called accordino; to His purpose." Hence the divine will, which comes revealed and lovingly sealed to us in Christ Jesus, is also obeyed in Him. Constant joyfulness is " in the Lord." Ceaseless prayerfulness is in His name. All-embracing thankfulness lives in the recognition of Him as heaven's best gift, — the gift of a love w^hich is ever saying to those who accept it, "All things are yours." LECTURE XX. "0 Lux beatissima, Reple cordis intima, , Tuorum fidelium 1 Sine tuo numine Nihil est in homine, Niiiil est innoxium." Kino Robert II. of France, Hymnus de S. Spiritu. "Quicunque sub magisterio Spiritus sancti projicere cupit, Prophetarum ae ministerio doceri sustineat." Calvin in 1 Thess. v. 20. " 'Eff^Xoi fiiv yap a'TrXu;, •rxvToox'prei/; it xccxoi. — Arist. id est, est simplex virtus, omnigenum vitium. Facile enim est a scopo aberrare, sed scopum attingere difficile." — Erasmus, Adages. " Quench not the Spirit ; despise not prophesyings ; prove all things ; hold fast that which is good ; abstain from every form of evil." — 1 Thess. V. 19-22. rpHE apostle has been speaking of Christian joy, and -^ that joy is one of the fruits of the Spirit. He has been urging his readers to the duty of prayer ; and it is the Spirit who enables them to cry Abba, Father. Those who pray aright, pray in the Holy Ghost. He has been enforcing the duty of continual thanksgiving, and that duty can be discharged only when the Spirit, the Comforter, has His abode in the heart. It is therefore a natural transition from joy and prayer and thanksgiving to Him who is the source of these, the Spirit, whose influences we are not to disregard and discourage and destroy. Such is the LECT. XX.] CHAP. V. VERS. 19-22. 227 connection with the preceding context. The apostle, however, appears further to be passing from the con- tempkition of the duties of strictly personal religion, to those which belong to Christian life in the fellow- ship of the Church. The precepts which follow point more or less directly to Church life. The metaphor underlying the first precept is not difficult to explain. The Holy Spirit is spoken of not strictly in respect of His Person, but in respect of His energizing power in and on the heart. His workings, the apostle would say, may be so counteracted as to become ineffectual. They may be quenched as the flame that is kindled for a time, but being neglected, sooner or later expires. Rain, dew, wind, fire, these mysterious agencies of nature, are in Scripture the fitting and effective emblems of the Holy Spirit's power in the hearts and lives of men. It is the last of these emblems which Paul here employs. The Spirit in His influences is as the fire. As " the Spirit of wisdom and revelation," He is the Enlightener : He illumines "what in us is dark." He is also the Ptirifier : it may be said of His coming, as of that of the Messiah, that it is " like a refiner's fire." He is, further, the Comforter: those w^ho receive Him "walk in the comfort of the Holy Ghost." Such are the three leading aspects of the Spirit's work which are here suggested. Pardon, purity, peace are His gifts, and they are all more or less clearly symbolized by the metaphor of fire. But the particular significance of the injunction in the present case is this, that those who are already believers are, in regard to their advancing sanctification, to cherish His manifestations. As fire may be extinguished by simple neglect, or by throwing upon it whatever tends in its nature to 228 FIRST THESSALONIANS. [LECT. XX. quench, so by disregarding Him or opposing Him we may frustrate His goodwill towards us. By relapse into sinful indulgences, the follower of Christ Jesus quenches the spirit of grace within his heart. He " grieves the Holy Spirit of God, whereby he is sealed unto the day of redemption. By habitual disregard of His manifestations, persistent stifling of the convictions which He produces, the believer may "resist the Holy Ghost," — "resist the truth,"— till at last the conscience becomes "seared as with a hot iron," and the state is reached which is described in the fearful words "past feeling." The quenching of the Spirit, however, against which the Thessalonian converts are particularly warned, is apparently that which is efl'ected by error of judgment. There can be little doubt that the reference here is to the extra- ordinary manifestations of the Spirit in the early Church. These are alluded to in 1 Cor. xii. as gifts of healing, working of miracles, prophecy, discerning of spirits, divers kinds of tongues, interpretation of tongues, and other miraculous gifts. These were present, we may conclude, in the Church of Thessa- lonica as well as in that of Corinth. While, therefore, not overvaluing these, believers were not to look upon them with suspicion and distrust. They had their uses in the earliest days of Christianity ; and the natural and proper dread of undue enthusiasm and excitement was not to be permitted to blind men to their value. " They were given to profit withal." Those who failed to recognise the proper place of these gifts in the economy of the Church of the first days, were in the ranks of "those that oppose them- selves," and were either wilfully or unwittingly quenching the Spirit. To guard against such danger LECT. XX.] CHAP. V. VERS. 19-22. 229 aiul guilt, believers were ratlier to be ''fervent in Spirit," each one obeying the command, " Stir up the gift that is in thee." Thus, so for from c_[uenching the Spirit, they were to be "able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one." The next precept follows naturally. So far from neglecting the Spirit's manifestations, or frustrating His operations, or despising His gifts, the Christian community is enjoined to prize the chief of these, " Despise not prophesyings." The Spirit is the divine power, prophesyings are the human instrumentality. If men would be kept from quenching the one, they must be kept from thinking meanly of the other. The Spuit is the divine light ; if they would retain it, they must be careful to preserve prophesyings, the lamp in which it is placed. But what, strictly speaking, were these prophesyings ? The subject is invested with some perplexity and uncertainty. Still, with the light thrown upon it in 1 Cor., we can attain to something like definite views regarding it. In the primitive Church, the prophets were those who spoke a message from God and for God in the presence of the assembled people. They were supernaturally guided preachers of divine truth. They exhorted under the immediate impulse of the Holy Spirit, and their utter- ances supplemented and enforced the teaching of the apostles. " Apostles planted, and prophets watered ; the germs engrafted by the one were nurtured and matured by the other" (Eaclie on Eph. iv. 11). Hence the Church is described as being "built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets." Their office, however, was inferior in every way to that of the apostles. Their words have in no case been preserved as part of Scripture. They spoke only for their own 230 FIRST TIIESSALONIANS. [LECT. XX. age, not, as did the apostles, for all time. By these prophesyings, then, we are to understand inspired utterance, oracular announcement of God's will in the assembly of the saints. Of all the spiritual gifts belonging to the early Church, that of prophesying was to be most highly valued. Unlike the gift of tongues, it tended directly to " edification and exhor- tation and comfort" (1 Cor. xiv. 3), and it was "for a sign, not for them that believe not, but for them that believe" (1 Cor. xiv. 22); and still further, by its exercise the secrets of the heart were made manifest, and thus the hearer, "falling down on his face, will worship God, and report that God is in you of a truth" (1 Cor. xiv. 25). This much-prized spiritual gift (a gift " not of prediction, but of inspired preaching ; of forth-telling, not of foretelling ; p)rcEclicandi, not prcedicendi" — Dr. Vaughan on Rom. xii. 6), while it was capable of being regulated by those who possessed it, was yet, in certain cases, associated with confusion, disorderly manifestations (1 Cor. xiv. 32, 33). It came often to be abused. The adage thus received its illustration, the corruption of the best things is itself the worst of all corruptions. Genuine enthusiasm might fail at times to be restrained within its proper bounds, and actual imposture might use the gift of prophesying as " a cloke of covetousness." Jowett has said here, "In an Eastern country, in the hour of ecstasy or conversion, such manifestations would be likely to be very diflferent from the form which they would exhibit among colder tempers. That weakness or imposture would easily mix itself up with them is self-evident, even if it were not indicated in 2 Thess. ii. 2 ; 1 John iv. 1. Hence the apostle, while exhort- ing his converts not to despise them, as elsewhere he LECT. XX.] CHAP. V. VERS. 19-22. 231 places them first among spiritual gifts (1 Cor. xiv. 1), adds in both places the exhortation to try them." These words give the true motif of this injunction, " despise not prophesyings." The precept was needed in Thessalonica, not because the converts there, like those in Corinth, were undervaluing prophesyings as compared with the more brilliant, showy gift of tongues, but because they had experience of certain abuses in prophesyings, and were consequently in danger of reasoning from such abuses against the right and profitable use. So far, then, from setting prophesyings at nought, they were to " covet to prophesy" — they were to give all due heed to the utterances of those in their midst who spoke " as the oracles of God." It is no unwarrantable stretching of this command to apply it to the ordinary ministry of the word in the Church of Christ. Christianity is pre-eminently what the Arabs call it, the " religion of the Book," and its prophets now are the expositors of that book. To despise their utterances, by entire neglect of them, or by listless attention to them, is to set at nought the divinely-appointed means of grace. The Church of Christ needs still and must ever need edification — instruction in the things which pertain to the king- dom ; exhortation — the receiving of new impulses towards the activities of Christian service ; comfoi't — the consolation of the gospel amid trials and sorrows. These words represented the aims of prophesyings in the primitive Church (l Cor. xiv. 3) ; and they repre- sent the aims of the Christian ministry still and ever- more. Hence the exposition and enforcement of Scripture truth dare never be undervalued or set aside. It is man's agency in one sense, and therefore 232 FIRST THESSALONIANS. [lECT. XX. the children of the world despise it ; but it does God's work, and therefore the children of the kingdom do not fail to honour it. They know how to recognise the whisperings of the Divine Spirit even in the stammering lips of men. The next clause links itself on to that which precedes it — " (But) prove all things ; hold fast that which is good." So far from undervaluing or spurning pro- phesyings, believers are urged to test them. There were prophets whose teaching was full of error. These false prophets thus brought discredit upon the true. In these circumstances there was the call for cautious and candid judging. There was need of the injunction of the Apostle John, a close parallel with this of Paul, " Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God : because many false prophets are gone out into the world." The unwritten saying of our Lord, " Become ye approved money-changers," or as it is otherwise rendered, " Be ye skilful triers of coin " (ylveaOe SoKifiot Tpaire^lrai), has often been cited in this connection. It serves as a fitting illustration. It speaks thus : — as there are counterfeits of the truth in circulation, it is wise on the part of all who would " buy the truth " to test it, to submit it to careful examination, so that they may not be deceived, but may become possessors of that priceless treasure, " gold tried in the fire," that finest gold which alone can make truly rich. The " all things " are of course to be understood as limited by the subject in hand, — all the manifestations or utterances connected with the prophesyings. The duty of proving these is not to be restricted, as EUicott suggests, to a special class in the Church — those who had the gift of " discerning of spirits." The precept, like all the others in the LECT. XX.] CHAP. V. VERS. 19-22. 233 group, applies to the general body of believers, as does the corresponding precept in 1 John iv. 1. It holds good of all who are within Christ's Church, that to them pertain the duty and privilege of holding fast what Paul so often calls "sound doctrine," and this can be done only when there is the rejection of all " that is contrary to sound doctrine." Those who have themselves been proved by the Spirit of God, have the Spirit who " searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God." In the case of the apostolic Church, there were tests at hand by which the " all things " might be proved. The first of these was apostolic teaching already received (1 Thess. ii. 2); a second was the general consensus of teaching given by these prophets. These prophets were to judge and discern as to the value of any individual utterance (1 Cor. xiv. 29) ; yet another test was the central conviction that " Jesus Christ is come in the flesh." Every utterance which in any way was at variance with the confession of that truth was self-condemned, and at once to be rejected (1 John iv. 1-3; vicl. Diisterdieck ad loc). The injunction "Prove all things" has its abiding meaning in the Church. It is the duty and privilege of all Christians to judge in religious matters. They " have an unction from the Holy One," that they may " know all things." They are also furnished wdth the requisite test or rule for the discharge of this duty. They have the Scriptures of truth — " the reed like unto a rod," with which they are to "rise and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that worship therein" (Kev. xi. 1). There are, of course, limitations here to be laid down and enforced. The command, for instance, does not set aside the recognised 234 FIRST THESSALONIANS. [lECT. XX. ministry of the word. It rather implies it. It is its teaching which is to be proved. Nor does the command give any foundation for that system of so-called Eationalism in which reason is declared to be the sole judge of revelation. Dryden's couplet is the statement of Christian truth — " Reveal' d religion first inform'd the sight, And reason saw not, till faith sprung the light." It is the Christian irvevfia in the believer which enables him to " compare spiritual things with spiritual," whereas " the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God : for they are foolishness unto him ; neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned " (Diese von Paulus empfohlene Prlifung ist also nicht Glaubensprlifung, sondern setst den Glauben vorans, De Wette ad loc). Then, further, as to Scripture, the only infallible rule of faith and practice as it is, the caution is ever needed in testing it, that it be not our own, and it may be, simply traditional expositions, which we apply, as fixed and unerring. In this way it is that Christ's people in growing enlighten- ment attain to growing sanctification. They "by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil." Such discernment is the aim in view. Hence the apostle says here, "Hold fast that which is good." Proving leads to finding "that which is good," and finding issues in holding it fast. " Whatsoever things are true, honest, just, pure, lovely, and of good report " — these are all implied in the word " good," and they are to be held fast with a tenacity of purpose which can be exhibited only by those who cling to Him who is good, and in possession of whom they possess all good, for time and for eternity alike. LECT. XX.] CHAP. V. VERS. 19-.'2. 235 Tins holding fast of the good exists only where there is an abhorrino; of that which is evil. Hence follows the closing exhortation, "Abstain from all appearance of evil." Considerable contention has gathered around the word rendered " ajipearance." It certainly does mean shape, fashion, sight, but in such cases there underlies the idea of inherent reality. It does not represent appearance as opposed to reality, although such is the rendering which the authorized version seems to give it. This, therefore, however defended by some leading commentators, must be set aside. So far from avoiding the appearance of evil, it may sometimes be a duty to cling to it. We are, it is true, never ourselves to give an appearance of evil to what is good, but others may do this for us ; and in all such cases it is the part of high-minded loyalty to the ]\Iaster not to shrink from attachment to that which for the time being, and in certain surroundings, seems evil, provided in reality it be known to be good. Besides, the antithesis requires a different rendering. The contrast is not between the good which wx are to keep, and the semblance of evil which we are to shun. It is between what is really good and no less really evil. Discarding, therefore, the rendering " appearance," what other are we to adopt in its place *? Owen (vol. vi. p. 194) translates thus: " Keep yourselves from every figment or idea of sin in the heart." This is entirely unwarranted. The word means in no way a phantasm or image which lays hold of the mind. Besides, the balancing of the clause with its predecessor would in such a rendering be altogether lost. Hilgenfeld suggests a still more unlikely view. Eegarding the word in its primary sense of spectacle or figure, he sees in it the corrupting 236 FIRST THESSALONIANS. [LECT. XX. theatrical exliibitions of the heathen world, ag-ainst which the Christian community is solemnly warned. This view is entirely fantastic and far-fetched. At best it takes in a part instead of the whole. Another view, first given forth by Hansel in the Studien und Kritihen for 1836, has been usually noticed by com- mentators ; but while its ingenuity has been acknow- ledged, it has failed to meet with general approval. His suggestion is, that the apostle having before his mind the unwritten saying of our Lord's, already quoted in this lecture, "Be ye approved money- changers," works it out into this precept. Retaining the figurative form of speech, for the saying is a sort of compressed parable, the apostle would thus in eff'ect say, Prove all prophesyings as you would test current coin ; keep all the good, and every kind of counterfeit reject, — have nothing to do with. Like money- changers with coin, be ye careful to shun whatever is false in doctrine. This view substantially brings out the truth of the passage ; but it is liable to the charge of being fanciful, in so far as its supposed allusion to the Lord's unwritten saying is involved. The decidedly most simple and natural rendering is that of the revised version, " Abstain from every form of evil." The contrast is to be noticed; "that which is good " is one ; evil on the other hand has many forms — Proteus-like it takes to itself many shapes, and all are to be recognised and shunned. The precept, too, as its form implies, extends beyond the preceding context. While its first reference is to evil elements, which might appear in the prophesyings, it purposely expands so as to embrace every kind of evil into contact with which the follower of Christ may be brought. In regard to all moral evil, he is enjoined " to keep him- LECT. XX.] CHAP, V. VERS. 19-22. 23 7 self unspotted from the world." Thus in its all- embracing caution the precept fitly closes the Epistle. " Every evil work " is to be abjured by those who have " put on Christ," and every evil thought is to be subdued — "bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ." Thus alone can believers look forward to " the white radiance of eternity," in which they shall be like Him in holiness, and walk with Him in white, being worthy. LECTUEE XXL '^!JX''f a5r«X£(Ti>i/ff'>7j ovx iffTiv. OiKOi yap to irufici •^v^ri;- ■xviufji.oi.TOi %\ ■^J-u;^*! oinos. ' — JuSTIN Martyr, Frafjmenta. " Neque enim plasmatio carnis ipsa secundum se homo perfectus est ; sed corpus hominis, et pars hominis. Neque enim et anima ipsa secundum se homo ; sed anima hominis, et pars hominis. Neque spiritus homo. Spiritus enim, et non homo vacatur. Com- mixtio autem et unitio horum omnium, perfectum hominem efficif'—lRET^jEVs, Contra Ucereses. " And the God of peace Himself sanctify you -wholly ; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved entire, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is he that calleth you, who will also do it. Brethren, pray for us. Salute all the brethren with a holy kiss. I adjure you by the Lord that tliis Epistle be read unto all the brethren. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you." — 1 Thess. v. 23-28. /CHRISTIAN joy has been described as the habitual ^ frame of mind and heart which believers are enjoined to cherish ; and this joy can be theirs only when it has its source and manifestation in unceasing prayerfulness, and in all-pervading thankfulness. In order to the attainment of these, care must be taken that the influences of the Holy Spirit be not quenched. His manifestations are not to be neglected ; His opera- tions are not to be frustrated ; His gifts are not to be despised. On the contrary, Christ's people must be " fervent in spirit," they must prize prophesyings and profit by them ; using the means of grace provided LECT. XXL] CUM'. V. VEIIS. 23-28. 239 for them, accepting the preaching of the word as the appointed channel through which the Spirit's influences are to reach the heart. Instead of undervaluing pro- phesyings, they are exhorted to prove, to test " all things " — to " try the spirits," that so they may be strono; to hold fast whatever is good, and to shrink with loathing from every kind of evil. Such is the closing statement of Christian duty ; and following thereupon we have the utterance on the part of the apostle of earnest intercessory prayer. There is much of instruction and of comfort in this apostolic prayer. The blessing prayed for is that the Thessalonian believers may be sanctified wholly — that their spirit and soul and body may be preserved. In these words we are confronted with the well-worn controversy regarding the Scripture doctrine of the nature of man. Have we here a distinct testimony to the tripartite nature — what is called trichotomy, or the doctrine of the threefold substance in human nature ? There are those who hold that, whatever be the rig-ht view in regard to this question, this verse at all events gives no utterance thereon. For instance, De Wette sees in it simply a rhetorical enumeration ; and Jowett has this note, " Had St. Paul a distinct thought attached to each of these words ? Probably not. He is not writing; a treatise on the soul, but pouring forth, from the fulness of his heart, a prayer for his converts. Language thus used should not be too closely analyzed. His words may be compared to similar expressions among ourselves, e.g. ' with my heart and soul.' Who would distinguish between the two ? Neither did the age in which St. Paul lived admit of any great accuracy in speaking of the human soul ; nor does the fluctuating use of such terms in 240 FIRST THESSALONIANS. [LECT. XXI. other parts of Scripture imply any precise or exact distinction." But it is surely legitimate to reply to this note, that language like this of the apostle, while it does breathe a special elevation and fervour, is none the less marked by an equally special exactness and minuteness, and therefore has a peculiarly evidential value. Nor is its testimony to be disparaged because it does not appear in a treatise or section dealing with the nature of the soul. If we follow a canon of this kind, we must remodel our whole mode of exegesis. And once more, while it is true that " heart and soul," and similar expressions, are in use in common daily language, without implying in those who use them any exactness of definition, their very use implies that a distinction, essentially recognised, does lie behind them. And last of all, whatever may have been the fluctuating characteristics of the philosophy of Paul's age, we are surely not on that account to deny the possibility of finding a Pauline psychology at all. But there are also theologians of a very diff'erent school from that of De Wette or Jowett, who make light of this passage, so far as its evidence as to the nature of man is concerned. Dr. Marcus Dodds (iY. T. Commentary, edited by Dr. Schaff" ) cites Jowett's note with apparent approval, and Dr. Hodge (Systemat. Theol. ii. p. 49) says that the apostle " only uses a periphrasis for the whole man," and classes the passage with others, such as Luke i. 46, 47, x. 27; Heb. iv. 12; Phil. i. 27, where he seeks to show that no distinction between soul and spirit can be afiirmed. But not to speak of these passages, which are quite capable of another exposition than that which Dr. Hodge gives {vid. Ellicott's Destiny of the Creatui^e, sermon on the " Threefold Nature of Man," and notes), and while it is LECT. XXL] CHAP. V. VERS. 23-28. 2 41 true that Paul not infrequently speaks of body and soul, or body and spirit, as representing simply the visible and invisible in man, we feel that we cannot be warranted in lightly setting aside the testimony of such a passage as this. It has been generally acknow- ledged that, with something like marked precision, it sets forth "the mysterious economy of our being." This, too, appears the more probable when we look carefully at the structure of the clauses. " The posi- tion of the epithet ivhole shows that the prayer is not that the ivhole spirit, soul, and body, the three associated together, may be preserved, but — that each part may be preserved in its completeness. Not mere associated preservation, but preservation in an indi- vidually complete state, is the burden of the apostle's prayer. The prayer is, in fact, threefold : first, that they may be sanctified by God, the God of peace — for sanctification is the condition of outward and inward peace — wholly (oXoreXet?), in their collective powers and constituents ; next, that each constituent may be preserved to our Lord's coming ; and lastly, that each, so preserved, may be entire and complete in itself, not mutilated or disintegrated by sin ; that the body may retain its uneffaced image of God, and its unimpaired aptitude to be a living sacrifice to its Maker ; the appetitive soul, its purer hopes and nobler aspira- tions ; the spirit, its ever-blessed associate, the Holy and eternal Spirit of God" (Ellicott, Destiny of Creature, p. 107). The apostle, then, does adopt the trichotomy which in some form or other may be said to belong to almost all systems of philosophy. " Body, soul, spirit — it is the combination of these three which makes up our nature ; it is the due relations between these three which constitute our Q 242 FIRST TIIESSALONIANS. [LECT. XXI. sole possible happiness ; it is the right training of these three that is the object of that life-long educa- tion which should begin with our earliest years, and end only with the grave" (Farrar's In the Days of my Youth, sermon on " The Triple Sanctification "). But how are these properly to be distinguished ? Spirit is the highest, the noblest part of our being, that part which is formed to look upwards, which connects man with God and heavenly things — that part which the regenerating Spirit of God first touches, being that to which divine truth directly makes its appeal. Hence the renewed man is the spiritual man (o TrvevfiaTiKos:). Soul is the living principle, the seat of the personality, including the intellect, the aff"ections, and the will. This soul in fallen man is corrupt. Hence the un- renewed man, being " sensual, having not the Spirit " (Jude ver. 19), is the animal man (o ylrvxiKo-;). Body, the corporeal frame, is the casement of the soul and spirit, the tabernacle in which they dwell, " the gar- ment we see them by," their servant in honour and dishonour. This doctrine of the threefold nature of man has often been looked upon with peculiar suspicion. In early times it was estimated, not on its own merits or demerits, but simply rejected, largely because of heresies which had unjustly been grafted upon it. The Gnostics held that the spirit, being part of the divine essence, was sinless. The followers of Apollinaris held that our Lord, while He possessed a human body and soul, had no human spirit. Hence the doctrine which was erroneously supposed to favour those views came to be discredited in the Eastern Church. In the Western Church also the teaching of TertuUian and Augustine moulded general theological opinion against LECT. XXI.] CHAP. V. VERS. 23-28. 243 it. More candid views, however, have now to a large extent prevailed. And wdiile the exposition of this passage, which we have adopted, is very generally accepted as right, it is vindicated from the charge of giving support to doctrinal views which are wrong. In the case, then, of Christ's people, the apostle's prayer is that body, soul, and spirit be preserved "entire, without blame," being sanctified wholly — each in its complete measure and perfect proportions. Delivered from the dominion of sin and Satan, they are in God's keeping unto holiness. The whole man is to become wholly man of God.^ Archer Butler (sermon, " The Faith of Man and the Faithfulness of God ") thus writes : " The entire of our feeble humanity is sheltered under this canopy of divine protection. The ' body ' is subdued into its place as humble minister to the soul ; the ' soul ' is guarded from its own special corruptions ; and the ' spirit ' — the element that, given from heaven, is still nearest to heaven — is preserved undecayed amid a hostile world. Here is a defence for this triple nature of man. And, of a surety, the mystic Trinity that occupies the throne of heaven will not forget this humble image of their ineffable mystery (for so the divines of old were wont to regard it) which the apostle has thus assigned to our inferior being ! Surely ' the soul ' will be preserved by that creative Deity who first infused it into the frame ; the ' body,' by that Eternal Son who was pleased to assume it ; and the ' spirit,' by that ever-blessed Spirit who Him- 1 Ohue lebcnsetzendcs Trviv/A.cc ware der Monsch iiicht lebeudig, ohne stoffliches i!U[A,ot ware sein Leben kein leibliches, und ohne -^vxy) wiire er kein selbststiindig lebendiges Einzelwesen. — Hofinann. 244 FIRST THESSALONIANS. [LECT. XXL self bestows it, and well may guard His own inestim- able gift." It is worthy of notice, before leaving this part of the subject, how the religion of Christ Jesus has ennobled even the human body. The Alexandrian philosophy breathed throughout a spirit of lofty ascetic contempt of the body. Perfection was to be attained through self-denial, and that alone through the unnatural subjection of the body. Thus there arose very naturally a state of mind in which " the material frame became an object of disgust and detestation, as interfering with the completeness of all contemplative effort. Plotinus refused to permit his picture to be taken, because it would unduly perpetuate the image of a body he deplored ; and avoided all mention of the date or locality of his birth, as too dark and miserable an epoch to be remembered " (Archer Butler's Lectures on History of Ancient Philosophy, p. 519). Chris- tianity, whatever false, forms it may have assumed in the history of the Church, inculcates no such teaching. While it commends those who " mortify the deeds of the body," and who " keep under the body, a,nd bring it into subjection," it assigns to the body, in and by itself considered, its due honour, and, as this passage shows, assigns to it a future state of perfection and glory. We have seen what the blessing is which the apostle desires for his brethren in Christ. But what is the ultimate purpose to be served by its bestowal ? He desires them to be sanctified and preserved entire and blameless "at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." It is the pure in heart alone who are to see God. Those only who are "preserved in Jesus Christ and called " can " enter in throuo;h the o-ates into the LECT. XXI.] CHAP. V. VERS. 23-28. 245 city." "Witliout are dogs" and "everything that defileth." Whence comes this entire sanctification — this pre- servation of body and soul and s^^irit ? It is of God : it is His work. Men cannot make themselves whole tand meet for heaven. "God Himself" the apostle says, suggesting possibly a contrast between man's own unaided efforts and the all - transforming efficacy of divine grace. "This is the will of God, even your sanctification." In this connection, too, it is to be noticed, He is expressly called " the God of peace." He is so in Himself, in the nature and design of His gospel, in " the constitution and administration of His Church." He is the God of peace, inasmuch as He manifests His divine nature and power in making peace a reality, an abiding possession in the hearts of His people. (Compare the parallel title, " God of hope," in Rom. xv. 13.) Peace and purity in their source and issue are one and the same. They cannot l)e severed. Hence in this passage, and also in Heb. xiii, 20, this favourite Pauline designation of God {Lwhlingsname Gottes, Delitzsch, Heb. xiii. 20) — " the God of peace," appears in the same connection of thought — the making of His people perfect. He who offers to men peace in Christ Jesus, who is " our Peace," can give it only in pardon and purity, in reconciliation with Himself. It is only in this saving union with Him that men can have completeness — that wholeness which is holiness, and without which they cannot see Him. But prayer, on behalf either of ourselves or others, lor increase and perfection of lioliness, implies trust. Hence, in order that this trustfulness may be strength- ened and increased, the apostle adds, " Faithful is He 246 FIRST THESSALONIANS. [lECT. XXI. that calletli you, who also will do it." " Faith in man and faithfulness in God are the two members of one spiritual harmony," We cannot think of the one without also thinking of the other. And here we have God's faithfulness declared to us in the most blessed of all connections — in regard to our sanctifi- cation and entire preservation without blame at the coming of our Saviour, The reference is not in any way to temporal comfort and ease and safety. No allusion is made to immunity from trial, God's faith- fulness towards His people, it is true, will not fail them when they are compassed about with sufferings. But the allusion is to that which is infinitely better and higher than deliverance from these. God is faith- ful in the matter of His people's sanctification, and that is the main point with every regenerated soul. God's faithfulness, further, is declared in relation to His own gracious covenant. " He that calleth you ; " the present participle represents the calling as being a continuous work of grace. He who gives this calling from on high will prove faithful to His own purpose, His design in making His people " meet for the in- heritance of the saints in light," He cannot suffer His own calling to become null and void. There lies therefore in His calling a blissful guarantee of their final sanctification, for His faithfulness is allied with infinite power. Having thus presented this fervent prayer on behalf of his Thessalonian friends, Paul now turns aside, very characteristically, to ask their pleadings with that same "God of peace" on behalf of himself and his fellow- labourers. " Brethren, pray for us " — about us (Trept) ; that is to say, make us the subject of your supplica- tions. Our persons, our circumstances, — above all, our LECT. XXI.] CHAP. V. VERS. 23-28. 247 apostolic work, — let tliese be remembered in your approaches to a throne of grace, and this, too, particu- larly (for the words which follow imply it) in the jjublic intercessions of the sanctuary. Paul, as he dictated these words, was in special need of such prayers. In his labours, night and day, in the workshop, in his prolonged and eager discussions in the synagogue, in his being " pressed in spirit " while he was in Corinth, in liis " weakness and fear and much trembling," he felt his need of divine help ; and while he sought it by leaning upon the arm of strength, he leaned also on the sympathy and prayers of his converts them- selves, weak and troubled like himself as they were. He who was giving thanks always for them all, making mention of them in his prayers (1 Thess. i. 2), in the yearning; love of his heart now asks them to make mention of himself in their prayers. Such is Christian fellowship. The apostolic teacher turns from instruc- tion and exhortation and warning to supplication for help — not man's help indeed, but God's, yet God's help l)rought near to him through the intercessory prayer of God's own people. In ver. 26 we have the apostle's earnest and affec- tionate entreaty and exhortation to dwell together in unity : " Greet all the brethren with an holy kiss." This kiss, " the kiss of charity" as it is called in 1 Pet. V. 14, was "an hohj kiss." But the word "holy" does not (as Calvin and Philippi on Eom. xvi. IG hold) explain the injunction away by giving it a purely spiritual significance. It was a ceremonial kiss, which was holy in this sense, that it was the expression and seal of sacred fellowship — brotherhood in Christ Jesus. It is called holy, further, inasmuch as it was the sym- bolic declaration that all worldly distinctions are lost 248 FIKST THESSALONIANS, [lECT. XXI. sight of in the company of those who possess " the common salvation." Chrysostom (on 1 Cor. xvi. 20) says that " the kiss doth not only unite those that are divided, but it likewise makes an equality between those that are unequal ; which is a necessary thing to all friendship." By this peace, he says (on Kom. xvi. 16 — "The Peace" was the technical name for the holy kiss), " the apostle takes away all that disquieted them, and makes that the great will not despise the less, nor the less envy the great ; but both pride and envy will be cast out — this kiss being of that nature that it sweetens, smooths, and equals all things." This " kiss of peace," in the earliest times so essential a part of social worship that to omit it was an indication of heavy sorrow, has mostly passed away. It lingered in the Western Church till the close of the thirteenth century. Dean Stanley [Christian Institutions, p. 57) notices that " this primitive practice now exists only in the small Scottish sect of the Glassites or Sande- manians." In the Eastern Church it still to some extent remains. " In the Eussian Church, perhaps in other Eastern Churches, the clergy kiss each other during the recital of the Nicene Creed, to show that charity and orthodoxy should always go together, not, as is too often the case, parted asunder. In the Coptic Church, the most primitive and conservative of all Christian Churches, it still continues in full force." Ver. 27. " I charge you by the Lord that this Epistle be read unto all the holy brethren." If the word " holy " be retained (but the weight of authority is upon the whole against it), it possibly throws back the thought to the sanctification referred to in ver. 23. The brethren, for whose sanctification Paul so fervently prays, he even now calls saints. The charge LECT. XXI.] CHAP. V. VERS. 23-28. 240 is given, in the nature of the case, to the office-bearers ■ — the overseers of the Christian community (ver. 12), and it is given with peculiar solemnity. It is emphasized by the uncommon clause, " by the Lord." They are adjured in the name of Him who rules over His own Church, and is to come as judge. " He lioldeth the seven stars in His right hand, and walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks." The burden of this solemn charge is, that this Epistle be read in public to the whole body of the Christian people. And why? Various answers have been given. For instance, it has been said that Paul feared, because of dissension among the elders in Thessalonica, that his letter might remain unread. There is, however, no reason to think so unworthily of these rulers and teachers. Again, it has been said, that having desired so earnestly to see himself, they might disregard his letter as a somewhat poor and unwelcome substitute for his personal visit. But surely the very opposite conclusion should be reached. If their vehement desire to see his face was ungratified, they would all the more gladly prize and peruse his written words. The simple and natural explanation of this solemn adjuration is, that the apostle had written a letter of direction and comfort to those whose hearts were heavy with sorrow — to those whose sorrow arose from earlier words of his own, which they had misunderstood. He would then, with all the urgency of his affection, enjoin the attentive listen- ing to his counsel upon all the believers. He would have them all share in its message of consolation and warning. We are entitled, however, to go beyond the immediate reference, and to see in this command an injunction 250 FIRST THESSALONIANS. [lECT. XXI. laid upon tlie faithful Church of all time to the regular reading and systematic study of Scripture, of which Paul's own Epistles are no unimportant part. The Church of Rome has fallen from this obligation. What the apostle has with such solemn adjuration enjoined, that Church has, at least so far as the ver- nacular is concerned, with solemn anathema forbidden (Quod Paulus cum adjuratione jubet, id Roma sub anathemate prohibet, Bengel). The closing words of Bishop Jewel's Commentary, slightly tinged as they are with a controversial colouring, may therefore well be had in perpetual remembrance. " How agreeth Paul in this charge with them that in no case would have the people read the Scriptures ? that say, ignor- ance is the mother of devotion ? It is the word of God the Father; why should not the people of God understand it ? It is the w^ater that springeth out to everlasting life ; why should the people of God be driven aw^ay, and not suffered to drink thereof? It is the light of the world ; why should the people be hoodwinked, and kept that they should not look up and see it ? Why should they sit and perish in the darkness of death ? It is the will of God that all should know Him, from the least to the greatest among them. St. Paul saith : ' Whatsoever things are written aforetime, are written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope.' Christ saith : ' This is life eternal, to know Thee to be the only very God, and whom Thou hast sent, Jesus Christ.' Let us not forget these words of St. Paul. ' I charge you in the Lord,' by His death, by His cross, by His blood, by the day of His appearance, that this Epistle be read to the learned and unlearned, to the wise and simple, to the LECT. XXI.] CILVr. V. VKliS. 23-28. 251 masters and to the servants, to all our brethren, to all the sons of God." Ver. 28. " The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you." In all the variations in which it appears in the Pauline Epistles, this benediction never has the word " grace " a wanting. It is the central word, giving life and preciousness to all the rest. It is j^eculiarly the apostle's own mark — his badge of cogniz- ance, as it has been called. Having himself received so signally this grace, he loves to use the word as his very sign-manual — " which is the token in every Epistle, so I write." This, his first Epistle, fittingly beg;ins and closes with that word, which above all others reveals the summed sweetne ss of ^the wh plp GespeL_^ Those who have this " grace of oiitJLoiA_^ Jesus Christ" with thenijDn earth, cannot fail to have glory with Him hereafter in heaven. "Amen." The word has no rightful place in the text. It must, however, be used as the utterance of what has a place in our hearts. We are called upon to give our joyful assent to the benediction, as its peace falls upon our spirit. The Talmudic saying- represents a Christian truth, " Whosoever says Amen, to him the gates of Paradise are open." SECOND THESSALONIANS. LECTURE XXII. "In via virtutis qui non proficit, deficit." "0 life, death, world, time, graue, where all things flow, 'Tis yours to make our lot sublime With your great weight of woe. Though sharpest anguish hearts may wring, Though bosoms torn may be, Yet suffering is a holy thing ; Without it what were we ? " Trench. "Oft in life's stillest shade reclining. In desolation unrepining. Without a hope on earth to find A mirror in an answering mind. Meek souls there are, who little deem Their daily strife an angel's theme. Or that the rod they take so calm, Shall prove in heaven a martyr's palm." Keble. "Paul, and Silvanus, and Timothy, unto the Church of the Thcssalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ ; grace to you and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. We are bound to give thanks to God alway for you, brethren, even as it is meet, for that your faitli groweth exceedingly, and the love of each one of you all toward one another aboundeth ; so that we ourselves glory in you in the churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecu- tions, and in the afflictions which ye endure ; which is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God ; to the end that ye may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which ye also suffer ; if so be that it is a righteous thing witli God to recompense affliction to them that afflict you, and to you that are afflicted rest with us." — 2 Thess. i. 1-7. TT has been supposed by a few commentators of ■*- recent times that this so-called Second Epistle to the Thcssalonians is in reality the First, having had assigned to it the second place simply on the ground that it is the shorter of the two. It has also been held 256 SECOND TIIESSALONIANS. [lECT. XXII. by some critics, who do not hesitate to acknowledge the genuineness of the first Epistle, that this, the second, must be declared un-Pauline. These decidedly erratic views have been very frequently discussed and so generally set aside, that the tendency of late has been to disreo-ard them altoo-ether. The arguments in support of them have hardly even the semblance of strength. We have every reason to conclude that this Epistle was penned by Paul while he was still in Corinth, and only a few months later than the first. In the interval, he had been in receipt of further tidings regarding his converts in Thessalonica. These were tidings both of good and of evil. He rejoiced on learning of their progress in Christian life and work. He mourned on learning of their restless and disorderly idleness. He asserted his apostolical authority on learning of the fraudulent, or at least unwarranted, use which had been made of his name in support of erroneous doctrine. This Epistle then gives utterance to his thankfulness in view of the good, his anxiety in view of the evil ; his just self-assertion in view of the false teaching which was leading his converts astray. In range of subject, and in structure and style, this second letter bears a close resemblance to the first. In general outline the two are almost the same. Indeed, of Paul's Epistles as a whole it may be said, " Nothing is more remarkable than the way in which they com- bine a singular uniformity of method with a rich exuberance of detail. In this respect they are the reflex of a life infinitely varied in its adventures, yet swayed by one simple and supremely dominant idea. Except when special circumstances, as in the Epistles to the LECT. XXII.] CHAP. I. VERS. 1-7. 257 Corinthians, modify his ordinary plan, his letters con- sist, as a rule, of six parts, viz. : 1. A solemn saluta- tion ; 2. An expression of thankfulness to God for His work among those to whom he is WTiting ; 3. A section devoted to religious doctrine ; 4. A section devoted to practical exhortation ; 5. A section composed of per- sonal details and greetings ; and 6. The final autograph- benediction, which served to mark the authenticity of the Epistle" (Farrar's St. Paul, i. p. 605). The scheme thus stated is followed in the present Epistle, the transitions from one part to another being apparent on the very surface. While in subject-matter and form the two Epistles are so much alike, the second is in some respects clearly a continuation of its predecessor ; and in addi- tion to many minor points which are peculiarly its own, its outstanding characteristic is its doctrine of the rise and fall of Antichrist, and this in so far as it stands in immediate connection with the advent of the Lord. This Epistle opens with the mention of the same apostolic group as does the first. Paul was not alone ; Silvanus and Timotheus were still with him in closest fellowship of toil and sufi'ering. The salutation which, in his own name and in that of his friends, he addresses to the Thessalonian Church is the same as in the earlier h'tter. The Church, too, is described in the same way. The blessing pronounced upon it is in its terms the same, and is represented as coming from the same divine source. Still further, the apostle gives expres- sion, as before, so again, to his devout thankfulness to God for the graces of the new life which his con- verts exhibit. Ver. 3, "We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is meet." Thanks- 258 SECOND THESSALONIANS. [lECT. XXII. giving appears in all tlie apostle's writings as a duty, the performance of which was his constant delight. It was a dutiful thing to render thanks on behalf of his converts ; and in this case it was pre-eminently a becoming thing, because his prayers for their spiritual welfare — prayers to which in the first Epistle he makes direct reference — had very signally been answered. "Because," rather, for that, "your faith groweth exceedingly." The expression, as is generally noticed, is an enthusiastic one. It is no cold and measured statement. It is the joyful acknowledgment of a generous heart. Their faith, which at first may have been as " a grain of mustard seed," had kept on grow- ing. Its life was evinced by its growth, and that growth was regular and rapid (vTrepav^dvei). " And the charity of every one of you all toward each other aboundeth." There lies in this a backward allusion to 1 Thess. iii. 12. Paul had prayed that this abounding, expanding love might be the ever-increasing possession of the Thessalonian believers, and that prayer, he now declares, had been heard. Their faith, which rested on Christ Jesus Himself, was accompanied and manifested by a love which, in the case of each individual believer, went out towards the brethren. It was a love which spent itself ungrudgingly and unceasingly in acts of mutual burden-bearing and service. So far from there being any decline in these graces, there was conspicuous progress. In the Christian life it ought always to be so. True stedfastness is a stand- ing fast, but it can never be a standing still. Con- tinuance in all the elements of prosperity of soul, as regards both the individual and the community, is ensured only by advancement in them. While the apostle contemplates the increase of these graces in his LECT. XXII.] CHAP. I. VERS. 1-7. 259 friends, he also recognises it as a special token of divine goodness to liimself. His heart had been full of anxious solicitude about each convert, and he thanks God that his fears were now dispelled, and his hopes almost more than realized. But he does more. He says, ver. 4, "So that we ourselves glory in you in the churches of God." "We ourselves," that is, not we glory in you, as opposed to glorying in ourselves, as some have strangely construed the words ; but we, as well as others, — we, who have so direct an interest in your Christian character, making you the subject of our constant prayers, and regarding you as " our glory and joy" (1 Thess. ii. 19, 20), speak of you with a holy pride. There may lie in the expression, " we our- selves," an allusion also to what had been written in the earlier Epistle. In the tender refinement of his praise, he had said (1 Thess. i. 8) that "in every place" their faith to Godward was so "spread abroad," that there was no need that he himself should make it known. But now, with equal tenderness of language, he, as it were, retracts what he had said. He says, we ourselves cannot help now joining in the common com- mendation. " In the churches of God," in Corinth and the surrounding district, and indeed wherever his missionary journeys might tend, he spoke of them, and would continue to speak of them, as eminent trophies, from heathenism, of the cross of Christ. This meed of praise was their due, and the rendering of it was a benefit to others. Paul's glorying in them was the setting of them forth to others as an example by which these might profit. In primitive times, when the cor- rupting influences of heathen life were everywhere surging around them, the little scattered Christian communities could not but take the deepest interest in 260 SECOND THESSALONIANS. [lECT. XXII. learning of each other's welfare, and could not but gain new accessions of spiritual strength by each other's example. It was then as a pattern to others that the apostle gloried in the Thessalonian believers, because of their patient endurance and trustfulness amid trials from without — "persecutions" from Jewish and Gentile malignity, and " tribulations," the varied sufferings arising therefrom. A new outbreak of hostility appears at this very time to have taken place, for the apostle says, " which ye are enduring " {ah dvi'^eade). The Church in the midst of it was " beset with leaguer of stern foes," and in its stedfastness they were showing what a noble thing it is to suffer and be strong. Under adverse influences, the Church was able "to grow as the lily and cast forth roots as Lebanon." Patience was as the lily in the white blamelessness of its character. Faith was as the cedars of Lebanon, even as Lebanon itself in the stability of its strength. The exhibition of these graces was a conclusive evidence of the sincerity of the Christian profession which they adorned. But it was an evidence of some- thing more. Ver. 5, " Which is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God." The way in which suffering was endured was an evidence of the divine moral government. In this passage the demands of grammatical precision are hardly satisfied. We find instances of similar disregard of form, if we may so call it, in the writings of the apostle, more especially at times when his thought has caught fire from the emotions of his heart. In this respect it may be said that no writer has more strikingly illustrated the dictum of Heinrich Heine than he, " The style is the man himself" ("Der Stil ist der Mensch selber "). The words "which is" might with profit give way to LECT. XXII.] CHAP. I. VERS. 1-7. 2G1 a simple dash ; tlie clause which they introduce is in apposition to the whole preceding clause, " Your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribu- lations which ye endure." The exhibition of these graces on the dark background of suffering was not merely an example — it was not only a spectacle which the heathen had never seen before, for their acts of heroic endurance had no root in patience and faith. It was distinctly a setting forth, an exhibition to all who have the eyes of their understanding enlightened, of the rectitude of God's dealings. Suffering under a just God would indeed be an enigma apart from the stern reality of sin. But looked at in the lurid light of sin, it comes in part to be explained. Suffering in this sinful world is a manifest token that God reigns in justice. The divine wrath (op77?) rises up in righteous judgment against transgression. AVere it not so, God's moral govern- ment would cease to be. But in the present passage the reference is to suffering endured not by the wicked, but by those who are God's own people. Is there no perplexity involved in such a fact ? How are we to explain the relation of Christians to the world as one of affliction 1 Simply in this way, that their character and conduct excite its hostility. Christians, being witness-bearers against sin, being a living con- science to the world, understand why it is that in the world they have tribulation. Their Master has said, " If they have persecuted Me, they will also persecute you ; " and in 1 Thess. iii. 3 we read, " Yourselves know that we are appointed thereunto." But how, it is further to be asked, is suffering on the part of God's people, when borne with patience and faith, " a mani- fest token of the righteous judgment of God " ? The 2G2 SECOND THESSALOKIANS. [LECT. XXII. apostle gives answer, " That ye may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which ye also suffer." That is to say, in regard to this life, this " righteous ^ judgment of God " is seen to tend to account them and declare them worthy of " the kingdom and glory," for which even now they are suffering tribulation. Thus in their patience making their souls their own, they are accounted meet at last — '' With all their being rearranged, Pass'd through the crucible of time " — to enter into the rest of eternity. Thus, too, the genuineness of Christian character being proved by patience in tribulation, Satan's calumny about good men not serving God for nought (Job i. 8-12) is re|)elled, and the ways of God to men are justified. But we have not yet reached the chief point of the apostle's argument. Ver. 6 shows that it is the future, not this present life, which is brought into connection with " the righteous judgment of God " — " seeino- it is a righteous thing; with God to recom- pense tribulation to them that trouble you, and to you who are troubled rest with us." What appeals to men's sense of right in their dealings with one another, holds good in regard to God's dealings with them. Exemption from suffering on the part of the wicked in this life suggests the thought to men, — it has always done so, even when no revelation has been present to teach, — that there is a future, when incon- sistencies, as they appear to be, will be done away with, and an adjustment of all moral relations will be made. God's just judgment will mete out just recom- pense (compare Ps. xxxvii, 34-38). There is a very solemn parallel with our passage, in the words of the LECT. XXII.] CHAP. I. VEES. 1-7. 263 Saviour Himself, in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus (Luke xvi. 25), " Abraham said, Son, remem- ber that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things ; but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented." There is yet another parallel in Phil. i. 28, "In nothing terrified by your adversaries, which is to them an evident token (evSet^L^) of perdition, but to you of salvation, and that of God." We have there poised, much in the same way as in the present passage, these two things : per- dition to the persecutor, salvation to the persecuted. The "justitia Dei remuneratrix " has to do with both of these. The eye that is ever watchful is " as a flame of fire." There is yet another passage which throws its light upon this, 1 Pet. iv. 17-19, "If judgment first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God? And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear? Wherefore let them that suff'er according to the will of God commit the keep- ing of their souls to Him in well-doing, as unto a faithful Creator." If even God's people endure so much suffering now, what must be in reserve for His enemies hereafter ! In the apostle's language there is a studied repeti- tion of the word, which the Authorized Version has failed to preserve. The Revised Version, however, has restored it, "Affliction to them that afilict you." " With what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again." The last words of the Dutch patriot, von Straalen, as he bowed his neck to the executioner's stroke, were words of bitter disappointment as he thought of his unrequited work, "For faithful service, evil recom- 264 SECOND THESSALONIANS, [LECT. XXII. pense." So is it often in this world's injustice. It is never so with " the righteous judgment of God." It metes out indeed trouble to troublers ; but to the troubled, rest, — relief from overstrain, as the word pro- perly means, — the Sabbatism of heaven, when earth's week-day work is done. The apostle says further, "Rest with us." That is to say, not with us, Jewish Christians, — the Thessalonians, who were Gentiles, being thus declared as sharing in the same privileges with their Jewish brethren ; nor is it, with us, the whole company of believers, without limitation or distinc- tion, for all believers were not at that time troubled. " With us," simply means with Paul and Silvanus and Timotheus. These three fellow-labourers were them- selves eminent sufferers for the truth's sake, and Paul classes his Thessalonian friends along with himself and them. They are all one in their faith and troubles, and so shall they be in their final and full rewards. Thus we see the apostle, while he longed himself for rest, comforting others with the prospect of it. Suffer- ing had not sealed up within his heart the fountain of sympathy for others ; it made it all the more to overflow. He was " able to comfort them which are in trouble, by the comfort wherewith he himself was comforted of God." By the word "rest," Paul directs the thoughts of his reader forward and upward, "all but opening heaven already by his word" (Chrysostom). There is, indeed, a power in the word to comfort and sus- tain those in whose hearts " burns the hot fever of unrest." It is a word of promise to all faithful but weary workers in every noble cause. Erasmus once wrote {De ratione concionandi, Ep. Dedic), "No one will easily believe how anxiously, for a long time, I LECT. XXII.] CHAP. I. VERS. 1-7. 265 have wished to retire from these kbours into a scene of tranquillity, and, for the rest of my life (dwindled, it is true, to the shortest span), to converse only with Him who once cried, and who still does cry, ' Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.' In this turbulent and, I may say, raging world, amid so many cares, which the state of the times heaps upon me in public, or which declin- ing years and infirmity cause me in private, nothing do I find on which my mind can more comfortably repose than on this secret communion with God." The pathetic longing of these words for a repose that comes not at man's call is yet to attain to satisfac- tion. When earth and time have passed away, " there remaineth a rest to the people of God." " Resting, but not in slumbrous ease, Working, but not in wild unrest, Still ever blessing, ever blest. They see us as the Father sees." The author of The Christian Scholar, in his " Classi- cal Complaints and Scriptural Remedies," has very touchingly contrasted the unrest of the heathen world with the rest which is the lot of believers. He describes the Temple of Rest (Livy, iv. 41) standing outside of the city of Rome, and the true rest which is within the city of God. " Rest had no place amid tliat throng, Where multitudinous rise Rome's stately temples, which belong To evil deities. " Her Temple is without the gate, Beyond the Esquiline ; No rest but is beyond the state Wherein the dead recline." 266 SECOND THESSALONIANS. [lECT. XXII. Sucli is tlie classical complaint ; the scriptural remedy is — " Many the gold-paved streets Divine By meek obedience trod, But rest is as the inmost shrine In city of our God. " "Within — within — yea, farther still By energy of woes, By prayers, and alms, and bearing ill, We find in Christ repose." LECTURE XXIII. " So shall the world go on, To good malignant, to bad men benign, Under her own weight groaning, till the day Appear of respiration to the just, And vengeance to the wiched, at return Of him 80 lately promised to thy aid, The woman's seed obscurely then foretold, Now amplier known thy Saviour and thy Lord, Last in the clouds from heav'n to be reveal'd In glory of the Father, to dissolve Satan with his perverted world, then raise From the conflagrant mass, purg'd and refin'd, New heau'ns, new earth, ages of endless date Founded in righteousness and peace and love. To bring forth fruits Joy and eternal bliss." Milton, Paradise Lost, xii. 537. "At the revelation of the Lord Jesiis from heaven with the angels of His power in flaming fire, rendering vengeance to them that know not God, and to them that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus ; who shall suffer punishment, even eternal destruction from the face of the Lord and from the glory of His might, when He shall come to be glorified in His saints, and to be marvelled at in all them that believed (because our testimony unto you was believed) in that day. To which end Ave also pray always for you, that our God may count you worthy of your calling, and fulfil every desire of goodness and every work of faith, with power ; that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and ye in Him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ." — 2 Thess. i. 7-12. rilHE rest awaiting Christ's troubled saints is in tlie fullest sense to be their possession " at the revela- tion of the Lord Jesus." He who is emphatically the Coming One (o ipx6fJievo