1 Thessalonians 2 - The Biblical Illustrator

For yourselves, brethren, know our entrance in unto you, that it was not in vain

Essential elements of success in preaching: Boldness

Outsiders testified of the success of the gospel; and the apostles could confidently appeal to the converts in confirmation of the report.

“For yourselves,” etc. Dr. Lillie observes: “Paul’s entrance was no easy, random, careless matter--not at all an affair of rhetoric or ostentation--no holiday diversion or intellectual pastime; but a fact of the utmost gravity for him and for that renowned city--a crisis, an epoch in the history of both.” We trace in their ministerial endeavours four essential elements that are ever found in all successful preaching--boldness, sincerity, gentleness, moral consistency. Consider, first, their boldness.

I. This boldness manifested in the earnest declaration of the truth. “We are bold in our God,” etc.

1. Bold in their conception of the Divine origin and vast scope of the gospel, and its adaptation to the wants of man, they were not less hold in its faithful proclamation. Their deep conviction of the supreme authority of the truth gave them unusual courage. We see the same spirit in Paul, when his fearless words roused the ire of Festus, shook the conscience of the thoughtless Felix, or swayed the heart of Agrippa. We see it in Elijah as he rebuked the sins of the wicked Ahab or threw the baffled priests of Baal into maddening hysteria--himself the while unmoved and confident. We see it conspicuously in Him whose burning words assailed every wrong, and who denounced the leaders of a corrupt Church as “serpents!” “generation of vipers!”

2. “With much contention”--amid much conflict and danger. This kind of preaching provoked opposition, and involved them in great inward struggles. The faithful messenger of God fears not the most violent assault from without: but the thought of the fatal issues to those who obstinately reject and fight against the gospel fills him with agonizing concern.

II. This boldness no suffering could daunt. “Even after that we had suffered before,” etc. They had come fresh from a city where they had been cruelly outraged. But their sufferings only deepened their love for the gospel, and inflamed the passion to make it known. A German professor has lately made experiments with chalcedony, and other quartzose minerals, and he has demonstrated that when such stones are ground on large and rapidly revolving wheels, they exhibit a brilliant phosphorescent glow throughout their entire mass. So is it with the resolute worker. The more he is ground under the strong wheel of suffering and persecution, the more intensely will his character glow.

III. This boldness was Divinely inspired. “In our God.” It was not presumption or bravado; but tire calm, grand heroism of a profound faith in God. The prophet Jeremiah, in a moment of despondency, decided to “speak no more in the name of the Lord;” but when he could say, “The Lord is with me as a mighty terrible One,” his courage returned, and he obeyed implicitly the Divine mandate--“Thou shalt go,” etc. Similarly commissioned, Paul once exclaimed, “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.” Endowed with the like spirit Luther uttered his noble protest at the Diet of Worms--“Here I stand; I cannot do otherwise; God help me!” Lessons:

1. Boldness is indispensable in attacking the evils of the age--not in the mass, but in detail.

2. Boldness acquired only by studious and prayerful familiarity with God and His message. (G. Barlow.)

The true pulpit

I. Its sublime courage. “We were bold in our God.” True pulpit courage must not be con founded with that audacity, impudence, self-assurance, which, alas! is so prevalent. It is courage in God, and springs from--

1. Love for God’s character. Love is the soul of courage. Strong love absorbs all selfish fears and makes the soul heroic. Paul loved his God so strongly that he lost all selfish feelings in the passion.

2. Confidence in God’s gospel. Paul knew that the gospel he had received and that he preached was not of men, but of God. No infidel argument could shake his faith in this. It was to him a subject beyond question and debate, settled amongst the immoveable facts of his own consciousness. Boldness in God is what the pulpit wants now. Some preachers speak as if they were bold in their theology, in their sect, in their own capacities; but Paul was “bold in God.” He felt himself to be nothing.

II. Its transcendent theme. The glad tidings.

1. That God loves all men, although they are sinners. Nature shows that God loves all men as creatures; but the gospel alone reveals His love to sinners (John 3:16).

2. That God’s love for sinners is so great that He gave His only begotten Son. This is God’s gospel; and what a transcendent theme for the preacher! This Paul preached: not theology, science, philosophy, metaphysical theories. (D. Thomas, D. D.)

True courage

is cool and calm. The bravest of men have least of a brutal bullying insolence, and in the very time of danger are found the most serene and free. Rage, we know, can make a coward forget himself, and fight. But what is done in fury or anger can never be placed to the account of courage. (Shaftesbury.)

Ministerial boldness

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. (J. Hutchinson, D. D.)

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. (W. Gurnal.)

Influence of character

The daily influence of Christ-like ministers streams into the character of their people as the imponderable sunlight enters into the solid substance of vegetation. (Boston Review.)

Christian devotion

Rev. Mr. Johnson, a Baptist missionary in China, relates this fact of a native convert who, when trying to persuade his countrymen to give up their idols and believe in Christ, was ridiculed and scorned, and at last pelted with mud and stones till his face was red with the blood that flowed from the cuts in his temples. Mr. Johnson meeting him said, “You have had bad treatment today.” He smilingly replied, “They may kill me if they will love Jesus.”

A courageous preacher

Mr. Moody tells us that there was a celebrated preacher in one of the Southern States of America, who went to a place where they told him if he dared to speak they would rotten-egg him. But he went right on. He said he wanted to tell them a story. A man in Texas went to town and sold a drove of cattle; he put the money in his saddlebags, got on his horse and started for home, his dog with him. He got tired after awhile, and laid down under a tree and went to sleep, laying the saddlebags by him. After awhile he awoke, took up the bags, got on his horse and rode off. But his dog kept barking and running back, and would not go along with him and keep quiet. So he finally, in his anger, took out his revolver and shot the dog, and rode on. But the more he thought about what he had done, the more he was troubled. He turned his horse and rode back, and found that the dog had dragged himself along until he had reached the tree where he had slept. There he was, dying; but by his side was his master’s bundle of money, which he had dropped and was going off without, and which his faithful dog had lost his life in trying to save. “Now,” said the minister, “I am here like that dog, to tell you of the treasure you are losing. Rotten-egg me if you want to.” But they didn’t; they heard him gladly.

Not in vain

A young man was engaged in teaching a class of rather wild lads in a Sabbath school: He thought that he was not qualified to make any impression upon them, and got much discouraged. By the inducements of his fellow teachers and superintendent, he was prevailed upon to keep at the work for years, till at last he absolutely refused to continue it longer. Many years afterward an eminent missionary wrote home: “Is that gentleman who taught in the Sabbath school still living? If he is, please let him know that there is at least one living who dates his conversion to Christ from the lessons received in his class.” So you see that, although the teacher gave up his work because he saw no fruit, yet the seed sown was not lost; one soul, if not more, was saved, and used as God’s means for saving many others.

For our exhortation was not of deceit, nor of uncleanness, nor in guile

Exhortation

The whole gospel preaching and message is so called, as permeated by, and living in, an atmosphere of gentle, soothing affection.

Religion has been defined as “morality tinctured by emotion.” Much more truly is the whole gospel a system “tinctured by emotion,” i.e., a paraklesis. Hence two different shades of meaning are blended in the word. As addressed to the careless, slothful, tempted, fallen, it is exhortation; as addressed to the sad and seeking it is solace and comfort. It is the gospel exhortation, which is never without a certain soothing, sympathetic sweetness. The two senses of paraklesis exhortation and consolation, so easily passing into one another (1 Thessalonians 2:11) are suggestive of the external state of the early Church, sorrowing amid the evils of the world, and needing as its first lesson to be comforted, and not less suggestive of the first lesson of the gospel to the individual soul of peace in believing. (Prof. Jowett.)

Essential elements of success in preaching: sincerity

This is no less essential than courage. As the mountain turn reflects the clear light of the stars so the preacher reflects in his conduct the motives by which he is sustained.

I. Sincerity in motive (1 Thessalonians 2:3). The Apostle disclaims the harbouring of evil intentions.

1. In relation to God. “Not of deceit.” Having received the truth from God and about God, he transmits it in all its integrity without error or imposture.

2. In relation to himself. “Not of uncleanness.” Pure in his own affection and purpose, he preached a gospel that was pure in itself, in its tendency, and in its experienced results.

3. In relation to others. “Not in guile.” He sought not to propagate the gospel by fraudulent wiles or false representations. He descended not to hypocrisy to catch men. “Hypocrites,” says Bernard, “desire to seem, not to be good; not to seem, but to be evil; they care not to follow or practice virtue, but to colour vice, by putting in it the painted complexion of virtue.” The life of a man whose motives are sincere, will be transparent as the light. A certain king of Castile, who had only been too familiar with the duplicity of mankind, once arrogantly said, “When God made man, He left one capital defect: He ought to have set a window in his breast.” The sincere man opens a window in his breast, by the whole tenor of his words and actions, so that his innermost thoughts are apparent.

II. In speech.

1. They speak under a solemn sense of responsibility. “But as we were allowed,” etc. (1 Thessalonians 2:4). To their charge, as men tested and approved of God, was committed the precious treasure of the gospel; and conscious of its riches they were solicitous to distribute them in all faithfulness and sincerity.

2. They sought chiefly the Divine approval. “Not as pleasing men,” etc. There is much in the gospel distasteful to the natural man--its humiliating exposure of our depravity and helplessness, its holiness, its mysteries, the unbending severity of its law, and the absolute character of its claims. The temptation is sometimes great to temper, and modify the truth to carnal prejudice, and sacrifice faithfulness to popularity. But the apostles risked everything, so that they secured the Divine approval.

3. They practised neither adulation nor deception. “For neither at any time used we flattering words,” etc. (1 Thessalonians 2:5). “Flattery,” says Plutarch, “has been the ruin of most states.” But alas! who can tell the souls it has forever undone!

III. Of aim (1 Thessalonians 2:6). Seen--

1. In the generous suppression of the authority with which they were armed. “When we might have been burdensome,” etc. Whether in foregoing their legitimate claim of maintenance, or, as restraining the exhibition of the dignity and power of their apostleship as generally admitted--it was equally honourable to the pure and disinterested character of their highest aim.

2. In the absence of all selfish ambition. “Nor of men sought we glory.” They could conscientiously aver--“we seek not yours but you.” “I love a serious preacher,” says Fenelon, “who speaks for my sake, and not for his own: who seeks my salvation and not his own glory.” It is said of one of the ancient fathers that he would weep at the applause given to his discourses. “Would to God,” said he, “they had rather gone away silent and thoughtful!” It is a sorry end to preach for mere ephemeral human praise. Such a man may sink into the grave with the touching lament of Grotius--“Alas! I have lost my life in doing nothing with great labour!”

Lessons--

1. Sincerity in proclaiming the truth can be acquired only by a personal experience of its power.

2. Sincerity is deepened by a conscious Divine commission.

3. Sincerity is unmistakeably evidenced in word and deed.

4. Sincerity is satisfied only in aiming at the highest results in preaching. (G. Barlow.)

The gospel and its preachers

I. The Gospel.

1. It belongs to God; hence it is denominated, “the Gospel of God.” He indeed was its author; and because He is good, He bestows His gospel on men for their good.

2. It claims universal acceptance. If it is not received in the love of it, there is no other gospel for mankind; it is the only star by which men can navigate the sea of life, and securely gain the shores of eternity.

3. It is benedictive in its influence.

II. The preachers of the Gospel.

1. They were men and not angels. Angels know nothing experimentally of human failings and regrets--human difficulties and trials, therefore are incompetent to preach the gospel. It must be preached by such men as Paul and Silas--“men of like passions with ourselves.” They are on the same footing with the Thessalonians and all of humankind.

2. They were holy men. In the Divine order of things the blessing of conversion precedes the call to the ministry as surely as the morning star precedes the orb of day. In other words--men are not preachers first and then true Christians, but true Christians and then preachers.

3. They were sincere and bold. They had suffered acutely for the gospel at Philippi, had been shamefully ill-treated by its citizens; but many waters could neither quench their love for the gospel nor for the souls the gospel could save. So they preached it at Thessalonica with the same burning zeal they had done at Philippi. (J. Cumming, D. D.)

St. Paul’s ministry--Described

I. Negatively.

1. No of deceit. The word thus translated, as distinguished from “guile,” denotes mental error without respect to any bad design (see Proverbs 14:8). It was no false theory, wild vagary, empty speculation, that Paul preached.

2. Not of uncleanness. To understand by this fraud or imposture would not only introduce needless tautology, but would interfere with the acknowledged ethical sense of the word, which is bad morals, especially sensuality. The Apostle affirms that he and his associates did not preach a doctrine which warranted or connived at vice, and did not seek, by preaching, to gratify any sensual passions of their own. The contrary character is exemplified in Jezebel (Revelation 2:20), and in the persons described in 2 Peter 2:1-22; Judges 4:10-13; Judges 4:16-19.

3. Not in guile. They had not acted the part of imposters or hypocrites.

II. Positively.

1. Paul and Silas were--

(1) “Allowed of God”--a term denoting a much stronger idea than that of bare per mission, viz., distinct choice or positive approbation.

(2) “To be put in trust with the gospel,” a phrase which not only represents their actual admission to the ministerial office, but sets forth their responsibility as ministers.

2. They spoke in a manner corresponding to the twofold fact of their vocation by God and their responsibility to Him, “Not as pleasing men,” etc.

(1) They neither acknowledged nor applied what was pleasing to men as a safe and satisfactory standard by which to regulate their ministerial conduct.

(2) They recognized such a standard in what was pleasing to God. They saw cause for special vigilance, and for habitual reference to Him in the fact that “He searcheth the heart and trieth the reins,” and was intimately acquainted with their secret thoughts and feelings.

(3) Prompted by such considerations they asked of Him, “What wilt Thou have me to do.” (A. S. Patterson, D. D.)

Deceit an unsafe element in moral building

It is difficult to maintain falsehood. When the materials of a building are solid blocks of stone, very rude architecture will suffice; but a structure of rotten materials needs the most careful adjustment in order to make it stand. (Archbishop Whately.)

Advantages sometimes acquired by guile

Advantages may sometimes be acquired by craft. A fox got into a hen roost one night, and so gorged himself that he could not make his exit through the narrow hole by which he entered. So he lay down pretending to be dead when the hen wife came to look for her fowls. Thinking reynard was really dead, in her vexation for the loss of her hens, she took him by his brush and threw him outside, when he scampered off. Sixtus, Pope of Rome, owed his election to his cleverly counterfeiting sickness and old age; so he got most votes, as other cardinals, who probably hoped to be pope, thought he would soon die. (H. K. Burton.)

But as we were allowed of God to be put in trust with the Gospel.

I. What does the word “allowed” mean? The Greek word means--

1. To try.

2. To approve.

3. To see fit.

As in Romans 1:25, the heathen, it is said, did not like to retain God in their knowledge, i.e., they did not see fit to do it. Allowed does not mean to judge fit, in the sense that Paul was made a minister on account of his own merits, nor on the ground of the foresight of what he would be, but it was an act of God’s sovereign grace. So in the account of his conversion (1 Timothy 2:13) he gives thanks to Christ. In 1 Corinthians 7:25, he says he had obtained mercy to be found faithful. He regarded his being put in the ministry as a great and undeserved mercy.

II. What is the Gospel? The glad news of salvation revealed in the Scriptures. It is not a code of morals, nor a cultus, nor a life; it is the system of doctrines concerning God and man and Christ. It is called the wisdom of God, so contrasted with the wisdom of men, i.e., what God has revealed as opposed to what reason teaches. Hence to be put in trust with the gospel means to be a steward of the mysteries, i.e., the truths revealed by God. Two things are included in the gospel: the truth and its proclamation. The gospel is a report--something heard.

III. In what sense is the Gospel a trust. Two things are included in a trust or two duties of a trustee.

1. The safe custody of what is committed to his care.

2. Right administration. As to the first, it must he preserved in safety and preserved from deterioration. If gold is committed to a man, he must not deposit it in an insecure place; he must defend and preserve it. He can’t substitute worthless paper for it. The gospel is the most precious treasure, far more so than gold or power. The minister is bound to preserve it, and not substitute the worthless products of his own brain for it. He must use it, not keep it hid in a napkin. He must use it for the purpose for which it is designed, not for his own advantage. Paul says of himself, that he acted--

(1) Not as pleasing men, but God.

(2) Not using flattery.

(3) Not covetously.

(4) Not seeking glory of men.

The guilt of an unfaithful trustee is great. His doom dreadful. The reward and blessedness of a faithful minister the greatest conceivable. (C. Hodge, D. D.)

The Christian ministry

I. Its privilege--“allowed of God.”

II. Its sublime responsibility--“put in trust.”

III. Its faithful administration--“even so we speak.”

IV. Its awful scrutiny--“God which trieth the hearts.” (W. Bengo Collyer, D. D.)

I. The apostle’s reasons for preaching the Gospel.

1. He was a steward, “put in trust with the gospel.” It was therefore not the Gospel of Paul, but the Gospel of God. All ministers of it have a great honour put upon them and trust committed to them. They must not dare to corrupt the pure Word of God, but diligently make use of what is intrusted with them, knowing they will he called to give an account of it.

2. His design was to please God and not man. God is a God of truth, and requireth truth in the inward parts. The gospel is not accommodated to the vain fancies and lusts of men; but, on the contrary, it was designed for the mortifying their corrupt affections, and delivering them from the power of fancy, that they might be brought under the power of faith.

3. He acted under the consideration of God’s omniscience. This is indeed the great motive to sincerity--to consider God not only seeth all that we do, but knoweth our thoughts afar off, and searcheth the heart; and it is from God that we must receive our reward.

II. The evidences of the apostle’s sincerity.

1. He avoided flattery. He and his fellow labourers preached Christ and Him crucified, and did not aim to gain an interest in men’s affections for themselves, by glorying, and fawning, and wheedling them: they were far from that. Nor did they flatter men in their sins, or tell them that if they would be of their party, they might live as they listed. They did not build them up with vain hopes, nor indulge them in any evil work or way, promising them life, and so daubing with untempered mortar.

2. He avoided covetousness. He did not make the ministry a cloak or covering for this carnal desire, as God was witness. He would not enrich himself by preaching the gospel; so far from that, he did not burden them for bread. He did out in anywise like the false apostles, who “through covetousness with vain words made merchandise” of the people.

3. He avoided ambition and vain glory. He neither expected people’s purses nor their caps, neither to be caressed or adored by them, and called rabbi. He might have used greater authority as an apostle, and expected greater esteem, and demanded maintenance; but some might perhaps have thought all this too great a burden for them to bear, and hence he avoided all mention of such things. He thought ever of his Divine Lord, and seldom of himself. (R. Fergusson.)

The minister’s trust, faithfulness, and trials

I. The minister’s trust.

1. Its basis. The Divine permission--“allowed of God.” This is the minister’s prerogative and authority.

2. Its subject--the gospel.

(1) In its wonderful disclosures of the grace of God.

(2) In its operative power upon the heart and life.

(3) In its presentation of the Person and work of Christ.

3. Its object--the salvation, edification, comfort, and eternal blessedness of men.

II. The minister’s faithfulness.

1. The minister who is conscious of his responsibility speaks as one who will have to render an account of his stewardship, thoughtfully, cautiously, humbly, prayerfully, boldly.

2. This faithfulness is expressed in the singleness and sacredness of its object. “Not as pleasing men,” etc. (1 Corinthians 2:1-5).

3. This singleness of purpose in pleasing God rather than man is also a test of our fidelity. The faithful minister is content to labour without human applause.

III. The minister’s trials.

1. He is subject not only to those trials which are common to all men, but to those which are peculiar to his office: discouragement, anxiety for souls, doubts as to past labours, a sense of his unworthiness in His sight who trieth the heart.

2. But God trieth the heart for wise and benevolent ends--

(1) To make us purer.

(2) More sympathetic.

(3) More efficient. (W. D. Horwood, M. A.)

Trustees for God

I. The trustees.

1. Christian ministers are trustees for God. They have a charge to keep other than that which is common to Christians. It matters little by what channel the Great Head of the Church has communicated His will to the individual; it is enough that he is “allowed of God.”

2. A trustee is chosen as being a man of character, one who can be relied upon to administer his trust fairly, Generally he is a friend chosen because of his superior qualifications. And, whatever may be said about truth being independent of the preacher, yet as light is tinged and refracted by the window through which it passes, so it is impossible to separate a man from the system he advocates. It is difficult to believe that to be good which expresses the feelings of a bad man. “Take heed unto thyself and unto the doctrine.” Self modifies doctrine. Men universally recognize this, and the first necessity of success is to give no occasion for slanderous lies. That which is culpable in an ordinary Christian is doubly so in a minister.

3. But while as trustees we do well to look to ourselves, yet that does not mean that we should be burdened with the sense of our own importance. It has been the reproach of priests in all ages that they have been more anxious to magnify than to use their office. Without falling back on the exploded fallacy of apostolical succession we may find a platform sufficiently strong and broad in the priceless value of what has been committed to our trust. The trustee of a prince, heir to an ancient throne, is necessarily charged with more responsibility than a homeless wanderer.

II. Their trust. That one word “Gospel” suggests the nature of it. Not simply the proclamation of a sovereign to his subjects, though that would involve a heavy responsibility; but the revelation of the very nature of Deity, and how that nature has wrought his working for the salvation of men.

1. Even with the Bible in t when Christ shall come?

III. In knowing that when Christ comes it will not be as the crucified Nazarene, but as the Son of God. Our daily prayer will then be answered, and His will done.

IV. In holding communion even here with a Redeemer out of sight; for our highest joys are only a foretaste of the fulness of joy to be revealed when we shall see Him as He is.

V. In the recollection that time hurries on to the great consummation. Every hour brings the time of the Church’s marriage and glorification nearer.

VI. In the thought that every grace we attain will give our Lord pleasure when He comes. Wealth and social pleasure will then go for nothing. In relation to the future these can give us no comfort.

VII. In knowing that fidelity is all that Christ requires till He comes. (C. S. Robinson, D. D.)

Christian comfort

I. Christians are often in circumstances to need comfort.

1. In time of persecution (2 Timothy 3:12).

2. In the season of affliction (Job 5:7).

3. In the prospect of death.

II. The words of Scripture are peculiarly calculated to give comfort (1 Thessalonians 4:13-17). Here is promised--

1. A resurrection.

2. A triumph with Christ.

3. Rest in eternity.

III. This comfort should be mutually administered. (T. Massey, B. A.)

Words of comfort

Comfort means help as well as consolation. When the Saviour was anointed to comfort all that mourn, it was not to speak words of kindness only, but to reach forth the hand of beneficence so that sorrow might not only be soothed but turned into joy. This also is the office of the Paraclete; and Christianity calls us to be fulfillers of the law of Christ by bearing one another’s burdens. Whilst we mourn the departure of Christian friends, let us remember--

I. That death is no strange thing. “It is appointed unto men once to die.” Were death of rare occurrence, if some only were singled out by the arrows of the last enemy, then our sorrow might admit of no mitigation, but it is not so; Flesh and blood cannot enter the kingdom of God.

II. That death is the Lord’s messenger summoning the saints to His presence. “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints.” It may be difficult to see the hand of God in the departure of those we love. Our selfish hearts would have prolonged their stay, forgetting that death is gain to them.

III. That death terminates the toil and warfare of this life. Whilst they were in this tabernacle they groaned, being burdened; now the burden is lifted and they have entered into rest. Here they fought the good fight of faith; there they are crowned as conquerors. Here they suffered; there they enter into the joy of their Lord.

IV. That death is the beginning of perfection. The best and happiest of saints were here imperfect; now they are “the spirits of just men made perfect” in holiness and happiness; for they are like Christ, because they see Him as He is.

V. That death is a revival of sacred friendships, and an introduction to the general assembly and Church of the first born. Most of us as we look into the heavenly world can recognize a sacred kindred there. When you pass away it will be to meet with old associates, and the whole company of the redeemed. Compared with such fellowship as this, what can earth offer?

VI. That death will be a season of reunion for us. They have only gone before, a little in advance. The great gulf will be crossed at the Master’s call, and our communion recommence, never to be disturbed again.

VII. That every death is part of that process which will issue in the dispensation of the fulness of times. Heaven is enriched by the departure of every saint. (R. W. Betts.)

The duty of comforting one another

I. The persons--“One another.”

1. One man is the image of another, because the image of God is upon all. One man interprets another. We are as glasses, and one sees in another what he is and what he himself may also be. He may see himself in another’s fear, grief, complaints. In another’s sickness, he may see the disease which may sieze on himself; in another’s poverty, his own riches with wings; in another’s death, his own mortality. They are also a silent but powerful appeals to his compassion to do as he would be done by in like ease.

2. “One another” takes in the whole world. One is diverse from another, yet we can hardly distinguish them, they are so like.

(1) From the same rock are hewn out the feeble and the strong. Of the same extraction are the poor and rich. He that made the idiot made the scribe. Who then shall separate?

(2) Besides this, the God of nature has also imprinted our natural inclination which carries us to love and comfort one another. One man is as another, by himself weak and indigent, needing the help and supply of others (1 Corinthians 12:4-5), and so provided. One man excels in wisdom, another in wealth, another in strength, that they may serve one another in love (Galatians 5:13).

3. A nearer relation binds men together--their relation in Christ. In Him they are called to the same faith, filled with the same grace, ransomed with the same price, and shall be crowned with the same glory. And being one in these, they must join hand in hand to uphold one another, and so advance one another to the common glory (Matthew 22:38-39; 1 Corinthians 12:12). As each man, so each Christian is as a glass to another. I see my sorrow in my brother’s eyes; I cast a beam of comfort upon him, and he reflects a blessing upon me. And in our daily prayer,” Our Father” takes in “one another,” even the whole Church.

II. The act.

1. Comfort is of large signification. It may be to be eyes to the blind and feet to the lame, to clothe the naked and feed the hungry. Speak and do something that may heal a wounded heart, and rouse a drooping spirit.

2. To comfort is a work of charity which is inward and outward. What a poor thing is a thought or word without a hand; and what an uncharitable thing is comfort without compassion. Then I truly comfort my brother when my actions correspond with my heart. And if they be true they will never be severed; for if the bowels yearn, the hand will stretch itself forth.

3. We must look to the motive. Our comfort may proceed from a hollow heart; then it is Pharisaical; it may be ministered through a trumpet, and then it is lost in the noise; it may be the product of fear. All these are false principles, and charity issues through them as water through mud--defiled. Christ is our motive and pattern (Mark 9:41).

4. Let us be ambitious to comfort, for we have great occasions. Every day presents some object. Here is an empty mouth; why do we not fill it? Here is a naked body; why do we not part with our superfluities to cover it? Here God speaks, man speaks, misery speaks; and are our hearts so hard that they will not open, and so open mouth and hands.

III. The manner or methods--“with these words.”

1. In every action we must have a right method. He that begins amiss is yet to begin, as the further he goes the further he is from the end. As James speaks of prayer (James 4:3), so we seek comfort and find not because we seek amiss. Our fancy is our physician. We ask ourselves counsel, and are fools that give it; we ask of others and they are miserable comforters. In poverty we seek for wealth; and that makes us poorer than we were. Wealth is no cure for poverty, nor enlargement for restraint, nor honour for discontent. Thus it is also in spiritual evils. When conscience holds up the whip we fly from it; when it is angry we flatter it. We are as willing to forget sin as to commit it. We comfort ourselves by ourselves and by others, by our own weakness and others’ weakness, and by sin itself. But the antidote is poison, or, at best, a broken cistern.

2. The apostle’s method is--

(1) In general, the Word of God. For the Scripture is a common shop of comfort, where you may buy it without money and without price. The comforts of Scripture are--

(a) Abiding (1 Peter 1:23)--its hope (1 Peter 1:3); its joy (John 16:22); its peace (Psalms 72:7); so all its comforts (2 Corinthians 1:20). All else is perishing.

(b) Universal. Nothing, no one is hid from the light of them. But we must be careful how we apply them and prepare ourselves to receive them. God’s mercy is over all His works, but it will not cover the impenitent. Nevertheless, the covetous comforts himself by the ant in Proverbs (Proverbs 6:6); the ambitious by that good ointment in Ecclesiastes (Ecclesiastes 7:1); the contentious man by the quarrel of Paul and Barnabas; the lethargic in God’s forbearance; and thus turn wholesome medicine into poison by misapplication.

(2) In particular, the doctrine of the resurrection and the coming of Christ. These are the sum of all comforts, the destruction of all ills. (A. Farindon, B. D.)

A child’s faith

A gentleman walking in one of the metropolitan cemeteries observed kneeling beside a tombstone a little girl about ten years of age. In her hand she held a wreath, which she placed upon the grave. Going up to her, he asked if any one very dear to her lay there. “Yes,” she replied, “my mother is buried here.” “Have you a father, or sisters, or brothers, little one?” inquired the stranger. “No, they are all dead, and I am the only one left. Every Saturday afternoon I come here, and bring flowers to lay on mother’s grave. Then I talk to her, and she talks to me.” “But, dear child, if she be in heaven, how can she talk to you?” “I don’t know,” was the artless reply, “but she does, and tells me to be truthful, and do what is right, so that one day Jesus will take me to live with her in heaven.”

The gospel telescope

What the telescope does for science, the gospel does for those who believe it. It converts hazy conjecture into immovable certainty, and interprets the feeble hopes and dreams which glimmer in the eye of reason into demonstrated and well-defined truths. “Oh, that all my brethren,” said Rutherford, when dying, “may know what a Master I have served, and what peace I have this day. This night shall close the door and put my anchor within the veil.”

An exulting prospect

Rowland Hill, when very aged, preached for the Rev. George Clayton, of Walworth. The services exhausted him, and while going feebly down the aisle, after all the congregation had gone, Mr. Clayton heard him repeating softly to himself the hymn he most delighted in during his last years:--

“And when I’m to die, receive me I’ll cry,

For Jesus has loved me, I cannot tell why;
But this I can find, we two are so joined,

That He’ll not be in glory and leave me behind.”

“To my heart,” said Mr. Clayton, “this was a scene of unequalled solemnity; nor can I ever recur to it without a revival of that tender and hallowed sympathy which it originally awakened.”

Preparing for heaven

Some years ago a traveller, who had recently returned from Jerusalem, discovered, in conversation with Humboldt, that he was as thoroughly conversant with the streets and houses of Jerusalem as he himself was; whereupon, he asked the aged philosopher how long it was since he visited Jerusalem. He replied, “I have never been there, but I expected to go sixty years since, and I prepared myself.” Should not the heavenly home be as familiar to those who expect to dwell there eternally?

Heavenly comfort

It is rarely we read anything more touchingly beautiful than the way in which Catherine Tait, wife of the late Archbishop of Canterbury, tried to comfort her own heart and the heart of her husband after they were suddenly deprived by death of “five blessed little daughters.” Other parents, who mourn because of empty cradles and desolate places by the fireside, may be strengthened by their example. Mrs. Tait writes:--“Now, constantly, with our daily prayers, we say the thanksgiving and commemoration for them: ‘Lord, Thou hast let Thy little ones depart in peace. Lord Jesus, Thou hast received their spirits, and hast opened unto them the gate of everlasting glory. Thy loving Spirit leads them forth in the land of righteousness, into Thy holy hill, into Thy heavenly kingdom. Thou didst send Thy angels to meet them and to carry them into Abraham’s bosom. Thou hast placed them in the habitation of light and peace--of joy and gladness. Thou hast received them into the arms of Thy mercy, and given them an inheritance with the saints in light. There they reign with Thy elect angels and Thy blessed saints departed, Thy holy prophets and glorious apostles, in all joy, glory, felicity, and blessedness, forever and ever. Amen.’”.