encouragement to pray on behalf of others. Where charity abounds,
there is mutual forbearance with one another's faults and frailties,
the absence of suspicion and jealousy, no tendency to pass harsh and
rapid judgments on the conduct of others, a disposition to think the
best of each other, to share each other's trials, and bear each
other's burdens.

+III. There is a patient fidelity under suffering.+--"Your patience
and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that ye endure"
(ver. 4). These trials began with the first planting of the Gospel in
Thessalonica and seemed to have continued without cessation. The Jews
were the principal agents and instigators stirring up the populace
against the Christians and rousing the suspicions of the magistrates
who were specially jealous of religious innovations (Acts xvii. 5-8).
Their faith made them patient and uncomplaining under the pressure of
affliction; they believed the Gospel was still the power of God unto
salvation, though their profession of it brought on them sorrow and
suffering. The former warnings and teachings of the apostle were not
in vain; their faith triumphed over persecution. Suffering is the
opportunity for patience and the test of faith. Troubles come not
alone, but are like chain-shot, or like the billows of the sea,
linked one to another, each succeeding blow being more destructive
than the other. Patience without faith is simply dull, stupid,
stoical endurance. It is faith that renders the soul invincible and
triumphant.

+IV. There is ample ground for apostolic gratitude and
commendation.+--"We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren,
as it is meet; . . . so that we ourselves glory in you in the
Churches of God" (vers. 3, 4). Even the enemies of the Church are
sometimes constrained to admire and applaud the spirit of harmony,
the affection and enterprise which characterise its members. It is
also encouraging to have the approbation and good word of the
ministers of God, especially of those who have been instrumental in
converting men to the truth; but no Church could command the respect
of the good if it did not first secure the smile and blessing of God.
The apostle thanks God as the great Giver of all the grace which he
rejoices to see has done so much for the Thessalonians. God had
wrought this work of faith and love and patience in their hearts, and
He would make it prosper and increase. He had put this fire in them
and would make it burn; He had laid this leaven in the dough or meal
of their hearts, and He would make it heave and work till the whole
was leavened. The apostle felt it at once his duty and joy to thank
God on their behalf and to boast of their attainments to others. "We
are bound to thank God always for you, as it is meet; . . . we
ourselves glory in you in the Churches of God." It is a noble
Christ-like spirit to sympathise with the sufferings and rejoice in
the prosperities of the Church. A cheery word, a simple, hearty
prayer, an act of sympathy and kindness, will do much to animate and
encourage the struggling people of God. One lively Church is the
means of rousing the zeal and emulation of others.

+Lessons.+--1. _Vigorous Church-life is the result of an intelligent
and active faith in the truth._ 2. _Suffering is no sign of the
Divine displeasure, but often a means of spiritual prosperity._
3. _Those who rejoice in the success of the Church are most likely to
share in the blessings of that success._

_GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES._

Ver. 3. _Growth in Grace._

+I. Evidences of growth.+--1. _Taking increasing pleasure in God's
Word._ 2. _A growing attachment to the doctrines of Christ._
3. _Increasing acquaintance with the mind of God._ 4. _In love one to
another for the truth's sake._

+II. Importance of growth.+--1. _Brings glory to God._ 2. _Influences
the ministry of the Word._ 3. _Not to grow, our religion declines and
becomes doubtful.--Sketches._

Ver. 4. _Christian Fidelity_--

  +I. Is severely tested by tribulations.+

 +II. Is a stimulating example to others.+

+III. Is a theme of grateful boasting.+

_MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.--Verses_ 5-7.

_The Recompense of Suffering for the Truth._

It is not an uncommon spectacle to see vice prosperous and
triumphant, while virtue is ignored and oppressed. To a superficial
observer it would seem that all the great prizes of the
world--wealth, power, social status, gaiety, display, pleasure--were
thrown indiscriminately and with lavish abundance into the lap of the
wicked, and that the God-fearing few are left in obscurity to
struggle with hardships, penury, and affliction. Nor is it always an
easy matter to reconcile the sufferings of the good with the goodness
and justice of God. But all things come round to the patient man. We
must look to the future for the faithful redress of present
grievances. In this chapter the apostle ministers consolation to the
suffering Thessalonians by assuring them of a coming day in which
they would be abundantly recompensed for all they had to endure, and
in which the righteousness of God would be publicly vindicated.
Observe:--

+I. That the maintenance of the truth often entails considerable
suffering.+--"The kingdom of God, for which ye also suffer" (ver. 5).
They who will live godly in Christ Jesus must suffer persecution. The
world is violently opposed to the Church, and that opposition is full
of malignant hatred and cruelty. Socrates once said something like
this--that if goodness were to become incarnate in one man, so that
man would be perfectly good, the world would put him to death. What
Socrates said was realised in Christ. "If they have persecuted Me,"
said Christ to his followers, "they will also persecute you" (John
xv. 20). It is not the least among the trials of the good that they
are obliged to come in contact with evil in so many forms, and that
they are so savagely assailed and oppressed with it. Athanasius
regarded the suffering of persecution to be a special note of a
Christian man, observing: "It is the part of Christians to be
persecuted; but to persecute the Christians is the very office of
Pilate and Caiaphas."

+II. That suffering for the truth has a morally educating
influence.+--"That ye may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God"
(ver. 5). The believer has no worthiness in himself, nor can he
acquire any by the merit of his own works. This worthiness is but
another word for meetness--that meetness of state and character, as
sinners justified and sanctified, without which no man shall enter
the kingdom. Only to such has the kingdom been promised. And the
sufferings they endure on behalf of the kingdom, so far from
impairing their title, serve rather to confirm and illustrate it.
Every Christian grace is tested, developed, and trained by suffering.
"The least reproach augments our glory. Every tear is not only noted
and kept in the bottle but made as varnish to add to our brightness
and glorious splendour. No drop of our blood but wins us a river of
glory; effusion of it the whole ocean of beatitude." When Ignatius,
Bishop of Antioch, was cast to the lions, he exclaimed: "I am God's
wheat, and must be ground by the teeth of the wild beasts that I may
be found His pure bread."

+III. That suffering for the truth will be Divinely
recompensed.+--"Which is a manifest token of the righteous judgment
of God" (ver. 5)--_i.e._ their sufferings and the constancy with
which they endured them proved God's justice. A strange assertion!
The people of God have often been staggered by the fact that the
wicked persecute and prosper, and the poor saints are plagued and
oppressed (Ps. lxxiii. 1-14; Jer. xii. 1-4). But from this very fact
the apostle derives consolation. It is a proof to him of a future
state in which all this apparent inconsistency will be set right, in
which the saint and the persecutor will each receive his own proper
recompense.

1. _Suffering will be Divinely recompensed in the deliverance of the
sufferer._--"And to you who are troubled rest with us" (ver. 7). The
word "rest" really means _the slackening of strings that had been
pulled tight._ To the persecuted and afflicted Thessalonians, the
happiness of heaven is held out under the image of rest and relief
after suffering. It is, as it were, the relaxing of tension after
having been stretched on the rack. The keenest suffering for the
truth is limited in its duration; and the righteousness of God is
pledged to sustain and deliver His afflicted ones. The sweet rest of
heaven will be all the more enjoyable because shared with those who
have passed through a similar conflict.

2. _Suffering will be Divinely recompensed in the punishment of the
persecutor._--"Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense
tribulation to them that trouble you" (ver. 6). The punishment of the
persecutor is as just as the relief of the oppressed; and God has
both the intention and the power of accomplishing what He thinks
just. The law of retaliation will be rigidly enforced. The very
measure the persecutors have dealt they are to receive back again;
and the retaliation will be all the more terrible because of its
unanswerable justice. Truth must triumph over all its enemies. Its
watchword is "no surrender." The apostate Julian spent his strength
in trying to destroy the true Church; but when he fell on the
battle-field, as the blood was gushing from his breast and his eyes
were closing in death, he hissed between his setting teeth,
"Galilean, Thou hast conquered!" And the Galilean must and will
conquer, and all His enemies shall receive their just measure of
punishment.

+Lessons.+--1. _The sufferings of the good afford an opportunity for
the display of Divine justice._ 2. _Suffering is no evidence of
Divine displeasure._ 3. _The glory of the future will infinitely
outweigh the sufferings of the present life._

_GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES._

Vers. 6, 7. _Rest in Heaven for the Troubled._

+I. Our Lord's coming is called a revealing of Him.+--Here He is
revealed in the outer world and in the Gospel. There he will be
revealed in glory, without disguise or veil.

+II. Look at the troublers and their portion.+--"It is a righteous
thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you."
Sorrow of the acutest kind without comfort or alleviation.

+III. Look at the portion of the troubled.+--"Rest." A heaven of
quietness and repose, and yet of ceaseless and tireless activity in
praising God.

+IV. The righteousness of the Divine conduct.+--"It is a righteous
thing with God." The Lord's second coming is not on an errand of
mercy; His main business is to dispense justice.--_C. Bradley._

_MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.--Verses_ 7-10.

_The Day of Judgment._

The apostle sought to comfort the persecuted and suffering Church at
Thessalonica by assuring them of a coming day of recompense, in which
the Divine righteousness would be satisfactorily cleared, His enemies
punished, and His people rewarded. He now proceeds to depict the
startling scenes of that promised day--"that day for which all other
days were made"--and to indicate the twofold aspect of severity and
mercy which will characterise the awards of the great Judge. In
dealing with a subject of such overwhelming import, and which affords
such scope for the play of the most powerful imagination, special
care should be taken to keep within the limits of the revealed Word.
These verses suggest:--

+I. That the day of judgment will be ushered in with awful
splendour.+--1. _The person of the Judge will be clothed with
dazzling brightness._ "The Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven
in flaming fire" (vers. 7, 8). The career of Christ on earth was one
of obscurity, humiliation, and suffering, relieved now and then with
outbursts of Divine glory; but when He comes the second time, He will
appear in all the unveiled charms of His peerless majesty, clad with
heavenly splendour and brilliant as a fiery flame. The revelation of
Jehovah is often referred to in the Old Testament under the emblem of
fire (Exod. xiii. 21; Num. ix. 15; Deut. iv. 24; Isa. x. 16, 17,
etc.). The glimpse caught by the seer of Patmos of the ineffable
beauty and glory of the God-man bowed him with astonishment and awe
(Rev. i. 13-17). And who shall stand before the flashing splendours
of the great and holy Judge! Heaven is too narrow for the full
display of the Divine majesty; it glances on every globe; it
irradiates the universe.

2. _The Judge will be attended by an angelic retinue._--"With His
mighty angels" (ver. 7). The pomp and state of the earthly judge, the
gaily decked chariot, the sounding trumpets, the accompanying
officers of justice, are but a feeble representation of the pomp and
state of the heavenly Judge, "who maketh the clouds His chariot, who
walketh upon the wings of the wind" (Ps. civ. 3), and whose gorgeous
train is composed of hosts of mighty angels, who attend to execute
His will, to punish the wicked, and to assist at the final
consummation (Matt. xiii. 41, 42). These angels of might are
ministers of His power, and by their agency He will make His power
felt. We have an illustration of the colossal mightiness of these
angelic messengers in the apparent ease with which one angel in a few
hours laid thousands of the Assyrians low (2 Kings xix. 35).

+II. That the day of judgment will be a time of punishment to the
disobedient.+--1. _The objects of punishment._ "Them that know not
God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ" (ver. 8).
Not that ample opportunity has not been given to all to acquire a
knowledge of God. To punish for not knowing what we cannot know would
be an injustice and a cruelty. God has given to all the double light
of His works and Word. He has also given the eyes of sense and
reason, and the help of His Holy Spirit to guide all to the knowledge
of Himself and of "the glorious gospel of the blessed God" (1 Tim.
i. 11). It is not the involuntary ignorance of the uninstructed that
is meant, but the wilful ignorance of the determined adversary, who
not only rejected the Gospel himself, but barbarously persecuted
those who received and obeyed it. Knowledge of God is of little value
if it does not lead to obedience. Confused, indistinct, inoperative
knowledge is no knowledge. To know and not to obey the Gospel
involves a heavier condemnation.

2. _The character of the punishment._--"Who shall be punished with
everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the
glory of His power" (ver. 9). Awful words! Who can fully explain what
they really involve? If destruction means annihilation, how can it be
everlasting? Besides, the notion of the absolute extinction of
anything God has made--the reduction to nothingness of either a
reasonable soul or a material atom--has as little support from the
teachings of revelation as of science. Again, it is urged that
"everlasting" does not always in Scripture mean what lasts for ever,
but sometimes what lasts only for a long period. But the utmost this
argument could prove would be that the present possibly may be, not
that it is, one of these peculiar cases. Were it the only fact in the
case, there would still be the terrible uncertainty. "But then
remember," says Dr. Lillie, "that if it had really been intended to
teach the eternity of future punishment, no stronger words, phrases,
and images could have been found for the purpose than those actually
employed." Whatever the punishment may be in itself, is it not
punishment enough to be for ever excluded "from the presence of the
Lord," driven, a moral wreck, "from the glory of His power"? Let the
words of this ninth verse be seriously weighed in private meditation,
and some sense of their awful signification cannot fail to be
realised.

+III. That the day of judgment will be a revelation of the glory and
blessedness of the faithful.+--1. _The glory of Christ is bound up
and reflected in His Church._ "When He shall come to be glorified in
His saints and to be admired in all them that believe in that day"
(ver. 10). The Church is the creation of Christ; for her He lived,
suffered, died, and triumphed, and into her He poured the glory of
His matchless character. "The glory which Thou gavest Me I have given
them" (John xvii. 22). His Church, like a mirror, shall reflect to
the gaze of an admiring universe the unutterable glory of the great
Redeemer. "The beauty of the Lord our God shall be upon her, and His
glory shall be seen upon her" (Ps. xc. 17). How great a change is
this from the sins, the struggles, the failures, the disappointments,
and sufferings of earth!

2. _A life of faith leads to a life of glory._--"Because our
testimony among you was believed" (ver. 10). Faith rests on testimony
and is vitally affected by the character of the testimony. Saving
faith relies on the infallible testimony of the Word of God
concerning Christ. The faith exercised in the midst of
discouragements and persecution is often tenacious and vigorous. The
Gospel is backed by evidence sufficient to convince every sane and
reasonable mind. All may believe it who will; none will be excluded
from glory but those who _will not_ believe. In ancient Athens were
two temples--a temple of Virtue and a temple of Honour--and none
could enter the temple of Honour but by passing through the temple of
Virtue. So, none can enter the temple of Glory who does not first
pass through the temple of Faith.

+Lessons.+--1. _The day of judgment, though future, is inevitable._
2. _The proceedings of that day will be in harmony with the holiest
principles of Divine justice._ 3. _That day should be solemnly
contemplated in its approach, in its attendant circumstances, and in
its final decisions._

_GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES._

Vers. 7, 8. _The Divine Judge_--

  +I. Has appointed a day of retribution.+

 +II. Will be revealed on that day in terrible majesty.+

+III. Will take vengeance on the disobedient.+

Vers. 9. 10. _Divine Retribution_--

  +I. Will be in strict harmony with the principles of universal
      righteousness.+

 +II. Means terrible punishment to the wicked.+

+III. Will bring unspeakable felicity to the good.+

 +IV. Will be recognised as faultlessly just.+

  +V. Will enhance the Divine glory.+

_MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.--Verses_ 11, 12.

_A Prayer for Completeness of Moral Character._

To meet Christ at His coming, and to dwell with Him in the bliss of
the future, demands a moral preparedness. To promote this should be
the constant, unwearied solicitude of both pastor and people. The
possession of any measure of Divine grace supplies the strongest
motives for seeking the highest possible degree of moral excellence.
In this passage observe:--

+I. That completeness of moral character is really the attainment of
the Divine ideal.+--"That our God would count you worthy of this
calling" (ver. 11). The tyro in religion pictures to himself a more
or less definite outline of what he may become and what he may do.
The charm of novelty, the enthusiasm of first love, the
indefiniteness of the untried and the unknown, throw a romantic
glamour over the Christian career, and the mind is elated with the
prospect of entering upon grand enterprises and winning signal
victories. But mature thought and experience and a more familiar
acquaintance with the Divine mind lead us to modify many of our
earlier views, and to readjust the main features of our own ideal of
the Christian character, so as to be more in harmony with the Divine
ideal. God calls us to purity of heart and life, and makes us worthy,
and gives us power to attain it. We have no worthiness in ourselves
or in our works. The fitness for heavenly glory is acquired by
following out the God-given inspiration to "live soberly,
righteously, and godly in the present world" (Tit. ii. 12).

+II. That completeness of moral character consists in the delighting
in goodness.+--"And fulfil all the good pleasure of His goodness"
(ver. 11) Some are influenced to be good because they are afraid of
the penalties attached to a life of sin. Others because of the
substantial rewards and benefits found in a life of probity and
uprightness. But the highest type is to love goodness for its own
sake, and to delight in it as goodness; to be wholly possessed with a
life-absorbing passion to find and to diffuse goodness everywhere.
This approaches nearest to the Divine ideal. "He hath pleasure in
uprightness, and hath no pleasure in wickedness" (1 Chron. xxix. 17;
Ps. v. 4). There is no pleasure like that we find in true goodness.
Severus, emperor of Rome, confessed on his deathbed, "I have been
everything, and now find that everything is nothing." Then, directing
that the urn should be brought to him, he said, "Little urn, thou
shalt contain one for whom the world was too little."

+III. That completeness of moral character is attained by the
exercise of a Divinely inspired faith.+--"And the work of faith with
power" (ver. 11). We have no innate righteousness. It is God-given.
It is received, maintained, and extended in the soul by faith in the
merits of the all-righteous Saviour. "While faith itself is the gift
of God, it is no less an exercise of the mind and heart of man. And
because, like everything else about man, it partakes of his great
weakness, it needs ever, as it walks in the light of the Divine Word,
to stay itself on the Divine hand." Faith is the mighty instrument by
which the Divine life is propagated in the soul, and by which the
loftiest blessings are secured.

+IV. That completeness of moral character promotes the Divine
glory.+--"That the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in
you, and ye in Him" (ver. 12). It will be seen at the last that
Christ has been more abundantly glorified by a humble, holy life than
by wealthy benefactions or by gigantic enterprises. The name now so
much despised, and for which those who now bear it suffer so much,
shall be magnified and exalted "above every name" (Phil. ii. 9). The
followers of Christ shall share in the glory of their Lord. Their
excellencies redound to His glory; and His glory is reflected on them
in such a way that there is a mutual glorification. "What a glory it
will be to them before all creatures that He who sits upon the throne
once shared their sorrows and died for them! What a glory that He
still wears their nature and is not ashamed to call them brethren!
What a glory to be for ever clothed with His righteousness! What a
glory to reign with Him and be glorified together!" (_Lillie_).

+V. That completeness of moral character is rendered possible by the
provisions of Divine grace.+--"According to the grace of our God and
the Lord Jesus Christ" (ver. 12). The source or all human goodness,
in all its varying degrees, is in the Divine favour. It is worthy of
note that Christ is here recognised as on an equality with the
Father, and as being with Him the fontal source of grace. The glory
which it is possible for sanctified humanity to reach is "according
to grace." The grace is "exceeding abundant" (1 Tim. i. 14); so is
the glory. There is a fathomless mine of moral wealth provided for
every earnest seeker after God.

+VI. That completeness of moral character should be the subject of
constant prayer.+--"Wherefore also we pray always for you" (ver. 11).
The Thessalonians where favoured in having the prayers of the
apostles. It is a beautiful example of the unselfishness of the
Christian spirit when we are so concerned for others as to pray for
them. We value that about which we pray the most. We have need of
prayer to help us to attend faithfully to the little things which
make up the daily duties of the Christian life. Attention to trifles
is the way to completeness of moral character. The great Italian
sculptor, Michelangelo, was once visited by an acquaintance, who
remarked, on entering his studio, "Why, you have done nothing to that
figure since I was here last?" "Yes," was the reply, "I have softened
this expression, touched off that projection, and made other
improvements." "Oh!" said the visitor, "these are mere trifles."
"True," answered the sculptor, "but remember that trifles make
perfection, and perfection is no trifle."

+Lessons.+--1. _It is important to have a lofty ideal of Christian
perfection constantly in view._ 2. _While humbled by failures we are
not to be disheartened._ 3. _Earnest, persevering prayer wins great
moral victories._

_GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES._

Vers. 11, 12. _Genuine Religion illustrated._

+I. Religion in its nature.+--It is a worthiness into which we are
called and with which we are invested.

+II. Religion in its source.+--The goodness of God. 1. _All present
religious views and feelings are the effect of Divine grace._ 2. _Man
has no rightful claim to Divine grace._ 3. _Religion has its true
source in the good pleasure of God._

+III. Religion in its principle.+--Faith. "The work of faith with
power." The producing and sustaining principle of religion.

+IV. Religion in its end.+--1. _The glory of the Redeemer._ "That the
name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you." 2. _The glory
of the redeemed._ "And ye in Him."

+V. Religion in its measure or rule of dispensation.+--"According to
the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ."--_Zeta._

Ver. 12. _Christ glorified in His People._--The bust of Luther was
shut out from the Walhalla, or German Westminster Abbey. The people
were indignant, but said, "Why need we a bust when he lives in our
hearts?" And thus the Christian ever feels when he beholds many
around him multiplying pictures and statues of Christ, and he can
say, "I need them not, for He is ever with me; He lives perpetually
in my heart."

       *       *       *       *       *       *       *       *

+CHAPTER II.+

_CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES._

Ver. 1. +Beseech . . . by the coming of our Lord.+--The English
reader who consults the similar phrase "to beseech by" in Rom. xii. 1
will be wholly astray. St. Paul begs his readers not to be thrown
into consternation or kept in a flutter of excitement over that
matter of the _Parousia,_ or "coming."

Ver. 2. +Not soon shaken.+--Like a house built on sand when the storm
breaks to fury, or like the _mobile vulgus_ in Thessalonica who were
only too willing to follow the lead of Jewish agitators (Acts
xvii. 13). +In mind.+--R.V. "from your mind." "Out of your wits"
expresses the apostle's meaning exactly. They are to behave like men
in whom reason is supreme--not like men in a panic. +Or be
troubled.+--The same word was used in reporting our Lord's counsels
on the same subject. "Be not troubled: . . . the end is not yet"
(Matt. xxiv. 6). +By epistle as from us.+--Either by
misinterpretation of something St. Paul had written, or by a forged
letter purporting to have come from him.

Ver. 3. +Let no man deceive.+--R.V. "beguile or cheat you." +A
falling away.+--Lit. "_the_ apostasy," a desertion from the army of
God; a recantation of faith in Christ. Our Master foretold that when
"iniquity shall abound the love of many shall be blown cool" (Matt.
xxiv. 12). +That man of sin.+--Another reading is "lawlessness." The
man in whom sin gathers itself up into a head--the last product of
sin. +The son of perdition+--_par excellence,_ sharing the title with
him whom Christ so named (John xvii. 12). Abaddon (Rev. ix. 11) may
claim him as his own ultimately.

Ver. 4. +Who opposeth and exalteth himself.+--The participle rendered
"who opposeth" is used twice by St. Luke in the plural as
"adversaries." So in the singular (1 Tim. v. 14). The compound word
for "exalteth himself" occurs (2 Cor. xii. 7), and is given as
"exalted-above-measure." +Above all that is called God.+--The shudder
of horror in these words reminds us how a monotheistic Jew must
regard the impious act. We can understand that a Roman emperor would
regard the God of Jew or Christian as a tutelary deity; but the acme
of profanity is reached in this act of Antichrist. +Or that is
worshipped.+--R.V. margin, "Gr. an object of worship." "The very name
_Sebastos,_ the Greek rendering of the imperial title _Augustus,_ to
which _Dieus_ was added at death (signifying 'the one to be
worshipped'), was an offence to the religious mind. . . . Later,
Cæsar or Christ was the martyr's alternative" (_Findlay_). +Showing
Himself that He is God.+--Or, as we would say, "representing Himself
to be God." Compare Herod's acceptance of the worship (Acts xii. 22).

Ver. 6. +What withholdeth.+--R.V. "that which restraineth." "A hint
was sufficient, _verbum sapientibus:_ more than a hint would have
been dangerous" (_Ibid._).

Ver. 7. +He who now letteth.+--R.V. "there is one that restraineth."
The old word for "obstruct" is found in Isa. xliii. 13: "I will work,
and who shall let (_i.e._ hinder) it?" "Where then are we to
look . . . for the check and bridle of lawlessness? Where but to law
itself? The fabric of civil law and the authority of the magistrate
formed a bulwark and breakwater against the excesses both of
autocratic tyranny and of popular violence" (_Ibid._).

Ver. 8. +And then shall that Wicked be revealed.+--R.V. "and then
shall be revealed the lawless one." Outward restraint being
withdrawn, there is no inward principle to keep him back: he is
"lawless." +And shall destroy.+--R.V. "bring to nought." It is the
same word as that which describes the effect of the revelation of the
Gospel on "death" in 2 Tim. i. 10--to render absolutely powerless.
+With the brightness of His coming.+--R.V. "by the manifestation of
His coming." Lit. "by the epiphany of His presence."

Ver. 9. +Even Him, whose coming, etc.+--These words look back to the
beginning of ver. 8. "The two comings--the _parousia_ of the Lord
Jesus and that of the Man of Lawlessness--are set in contrast. The
second forms the dark background to the glory of the first"
(_Ibid._). +Power and signs and lying wonders.+--Simulating the
supernatural evidences of the Gospel as the magicians of Egypt those
of Moses.

Ver. 10. +Deceivableness of unrighteousness.+--R.V. "deceit." The
deceit which is characteristic of unrighteousness, or marks its
methods. +They received not the love of the truth.+--The _sine qua
non_ for an answer to Pilate's question (John xviii. 38) is this love
of the truth.

Ver. 11. +God shall send them strong delusion.+--R.V. "God sendeth
them a working of error." "It is a just, but mournful result, that
rejecters of Christ's miracles become believers in Satan's, and that
atheism should be avenged by superstition. So it has been and will
be" (_Ibid._). One is reminded of the old saying that "the gods first
drive mad those whom they mean to destroy."

Ver. 12. +Believed not the truth, but had pleasure in
unrighteousness.+--Here again we have the mental rejection of truth
consequent on a liking for that which truth condemns. If "the heart
makes the theologian," the want of it makes the infidel.

Ver. 13. +We are bound to give thanks.+--The same form of expression
as in ch. i. 3, save that here "we" is expressed separately and
emphatically.

Ver. 15. +Stand fast.+--Ready for any shock which may come
unexpectedly through the insidious methods of Antichrist. +Hold the
traditions.+--As of the apostle said, keep a _strong_ hand on them.
Tradition is that which is handed over from one to another. Compare
1 Cor. xi. 23. "I received of the Lord . . . I delivered unto
you . . . He was betrayed." Here the words "delivered" and "betrayed"
represent a doing, of which the word for "tradition" is the act
completed. Paul handed over that which his Lord charged him to
transmit; Judas handed over Christ to the Jews.

Ver. 16. +Everlasting consolation and good hope.+--Consolation, or
comfort, is ministered by the Paraclete (John xiv. 16; Acts ix. 31),
who abides for ever with those who are Christ's.

_MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.--Verses_ 1-12.

_Antichrist Portrayed._

Various interpretations of this remarkable paragraph have been
attempted. Some modern German critics would divest it of any
prophetic significance and treat it as a representation of the
writer's own personal feelings and forebodings. Others would restrict
its application to the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans, and to
persons, principles, and events that preceded that catastrophe. The
commonly received Protestant interpretation is to identify the Man of
Sin and his doings with the Papacy; and there are certainly many
points of that interpretation that accord very remarkably with the
prophecy. But there are serious objections to all these views. We
believe the revelation of the Antichrist here depicted is yet future,
though the elements of his power are now in preparation. From the
whole passage we gather the following suggestions:--

+I. That Antichrist will be embodied in some living personality.+--He
is called "that man of sin, the son of perdition": "that
Wicked"--_the lawless one_ (vers. 3-8). The fathers of the early
Church, for at least three centuries after the apostolic age, while
differing on some minor details, seemed unanimous in understanding by
the Man of Sin, not a system of deceit and wickedness, or a
succession of individuals at the head of such a system, but some one
man, the living personal Antichrist, the incarnation of Satanic craft
and energy, who should put forth his power to weaken and destroy the
Church.

1. _He will arrogantly assume Divine prerogatives._--"Who opposeth
and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is
worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing
himself that he is God" (ver. 4). In these words we note Antichrist's
intrusion into the special dwelling-place of God, his usurping
session there, and his blasphemous and ostentatious assumption of
Divinity. The wildest excesses of pride and audacity cannot exceed
this.

2. _His advent will be accompanied with remarkable displays of
Satanic power._--"Whose coming is after the working of Satan with all
power and signs and lying wonders" (ver. 9). Antichrist as the
masterpiece of Satan will be endowed with extraordinary qualities.
The devil will tax his prodigious abilities to the utmost in making
this great adversary of the Church as potent for mischief as
possible. We know how readily the man of science can impose upon the
ignorant with his experiments. And how easy it is for Satan, with his
vast knowledge and resources, to delude thousands with his
simulations of the miraculous! The advent of Antichrist is to be a
fiendish caricature and audacious mockery of the glorious coming of
the Son of God!

+II. That Antichrist will work deplorable mischief in human
souls.+--1. _He seeks by secret methods to promote apostasy from the
Church of God._  "A falling away first" (ver. 3). "The mystery of
iniquity doth already work" (ver. 7). Here we detect the germs and
preparation of the antichristian curse that is to work such havoc.
The primitive Church of apostolic times was not such a model of
perfection as we sometimes imagine. The leaven of iniquity, of
_lawlessness,_ the essence of all sin, was already working. Observe
the sorrowing references of the apostles to the many evils of the
different Churches: Tit. i. 11; 1 Tim. vi. 5; 2 Cor. xi. 26; Philem.
9; 2 Tim. i. 15; 1 John ii. 18-20; 2 John 7; 3 John 9. _Passim._ The
most disastrous apostasies have been the result of long, secret
endeavours.

2. _He begets a dislike to saving truth._--"With all deceivableness
of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the
love of the truth that they might be save" (ver. 10). The truth was
revealed, its saving benefits were offered; they had but to accept
the truth and they were safe. But they rejected the truth; they loved
it not. Their treatment of the Gospel rendered them more easy victims
to the deceptions of Antichrist; fascinated by his unrighteous
glamour, they recede from the truth and cherish a bitter hostility
towards it.

3. _His victims are abandoned to self-delusion and
condemnation._--"And for this cause God shall send them strong
delusion that they should believe a lie; that they all might be
damned"--might be _judged_ according to their individual character
and works--"who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in
unrighteousness" (vers. 11, 12). See here the fearful consequences of
a hatred to and rejection of the truth! The soul takes delight in
sinning--has "pleasure in unrighteousness." It is, then, not only
abandoned to its iniquity, but its delusions are intensified so as to
embrace the most palpable falsehoods as truth. It shall then be
judged on its own merits, so that God shall be justified in His
speaking and clear in His judging. Terrible indeed is the fate of the
victims who fall under the spell of Antichrist.

+III. That the coming of Antichrist is for a time restrained.+--"And
now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his
time. . . . Only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out
of the way" (vers. 6, 7). There is an external power with an
individual at its head which holds back the power of Antichrist until
the proper season comes. What that power is is not revealed; but God
can use any power for this purpose, until the Divinely appointed time
shall come for the revelation and overthrow of Antichrist.

+IV. That Antichrist shall be summarily destroyed.+--"Whom the Lord
shall consume with the spirit of His mouth"--as insects wither on the
mere approach of fire--"and shall destroy with the brightness of His
coming" (ver. 8)--with the _appearing_ of His coming, as it were the
first gleaming dawn of His advent. For a time Antichrist shall reign
in pomp and splendour and delude many to their ruin; but at the
coming of the true Lord of the Church the great impostor shall be
dethroned and utterly abolished. "It is enough," says Chrysostom,
"that He be present, and all these things perish. He will stay the
deception simply by appearing."

+V. That the followers of Christ need not be afraid of losing any
benefits to be conferred by His second coming.+--"Now we beseech you,
brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our
gathering together unto Him, that ye be not soon shaken in mind, or
be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from
us, as that the day of Christ is at hand" (vers. 1, 2)--_on hand, has
already come._ When Paul wrote the first epistle, the Thessalonians
"were sorrowing by the graves of their departed friends, and the
grief of nature was enhanced by the apprehension that their beloved
ones might suffer loss at the coming of the Lord. But now, should
they hear that He had come and had not called for them, a yet deeper,
more agitating motion must seize them, lest they themselves had
forfeited their share in the glory of the kingdom." These words would
allay their fears. Christ has yet to come, and before that coming
Antichrist is to arise and reign. Wait patiently, labour diligently,
and be not harassed with too great an eagerness to know future
events. All the blessings of Christ's second coming shall be shared
by you and by all who are to be gathered together unto Him.

+Lessons.+--1. _There are trying times ahead._ 2. _The only safety
for the soul is to hold fast the truth._ 3. _At the darkest moment of
the Church's trial the glory of God will appear._

_GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES._

Vers. 1-6. _A Warning against Imposition._

+I. The danger.+--1. _Their faith was imperilled._ 2. _Daily duties
were interfered with._

+II. Signs of the coming end.+--1. _By a great apostasy._ 2. _The
appearance of Antichrist as the man of sin and son of perdition._
3. _The proud pretensions of Antichrist._ (1) Opposing Christ.
(2) Substituting error for truth. (3) Overweening self-exaltation.

+III. Hindrances to the spread of truth+ (ver. 6)--1. _The civil
powers of that day._ 2. _The machinations of Satan at all times._
3. _The unfaithfulness of God's people._

Vers. 1-3. _A False Alarm_--

+I. May arise from a misconception+ +of an important
truth.+--"Concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our
gathering together unto Him" (ver. 1).

+II. Is aggravated by unwarrantable deceptions.+--"Let no man deceive
you by any means" (ver. 3). "Neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by
letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is come" (ver. 2).

+III. Is the cause of much real suffering.+--"Shaken in
mind--troubled" (ver. 2)--like a ship escaped from its moorings,
tossed in a rolling sea.

+IV. Is allayed by the affectionate entreaty of competent
teachers.+--"We beseech you, brethren" (ver. 1).

Ver. 5. _Memory_--

  +I. Is freighted with treasures of precious truth.+--"I told you
      these things."

 +II. Associates the presence and character of the teacher with the
      truth taught.+--"When I was yet with you."

+III. Is often vividly reminded of the value of its
      possession.+--"Remember ye not."

Vers. 7-10. _The Mystery of Iniquity_--

  +I. Is the deepest and most subtle form of error.+

 +II. Is propagated with great cunning and persistency.+

+III. Is embodied in a powerful and wicked personality+ (vers. 7, 8).

 +IV. Is Satanic in its origin and manifestation+ (vers. 9, 10).

Vers. 10-12. _The Destructive Subtlety of Sin._

+I. It has manifold methods of deception.+--"With all deceivableness
of unrighteousness" (ver. 10).

+II. It incites the soul to a hatred of saving truth.+--"That
received not the love of the truth that they might be saved" (ver.
10).

+III. It abandons its victims to judicial self-deception.+--"God
shall send them strong delusion that they should believe a lie" (ver.
11).

+IV. It leads to inevitable condemnation.+--"That they all might be
damned" (ver. 12).

+V. It encourages sin for the love of sin.+--"Who believed not the
truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness" (ver. 12).

Vers. 11, 12. _Strong Delusions._

  +I. Believing a lie as truth.+

 +II. Sent as a judgment for not believing the truth.+

+III. Are brought on by those who have pleasure in sin.+

_MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.--Verses_ 13, 14.

_Salvation a Divine Act._

When the air is thick with antichristian theories, sincere inquirers
after truth are perplexed, the grasp of the hesitating is loosened,
and the fidelity of the strongest severely tested. Only those who
fully yield themselves up to the teaching and guidance of the Divine
spirit are safe. A clever inventor has recently constructed a
fireproof dress, which enables him to walk about unharmed in the
midst of the fiercest fire. Experimental godliness is a fireproof
dress, and the soul clothed with this is safely guarded from the
fiery darts of the wicked and will pass unscathed through the
fiercest fires of temptation. We never know what it is to be really
saved till we personally experience the sanctifying power of the
truth. These verses teach that salvation is a Divine act.

+I. Salvation is an act of the Divine will.+--1. _The Divine will is
actuated by Divine love._ "Brethren _beloved_ of the Lord, God hath
from the beginning chosen you to salvation" (ver. 13). When we
examine the sources of salvation, we find them not in ourselves, but
in some power outside of ourselves. We are saved, not because we are
good, or better than others, or more favourably circumstanced, but
because God has chosen us. And if we ask still further how it is that
God should lavish the grace of His salvation on sinful man, we are
reduced, in the final analysis, to this answer: Such is the Divine
will--a will swayed in all its mighty potentialities by infinite love.

     "Love, strong as death; nay, stronger--
        Love mightier than the grave;
      Broad as the earth, and longer
        Than ocean's widest wave.
      This is the love that sought us,
      This is the love that bought us,
      This is the love that brought us,
        To gladdest day from saddest night,
        From deepest shame to glory bright,
        From depths of death to life's fair height,
        From darkness to the joy of light."--_Bonar._

2. _The Divine will provides the means of salvation._--"Whereunto He
called you by our gospel" (ver. 14). The Gospel is God's method of
salvation, and it is through this Gospel He "will have all men to be
saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth" (1 Tim. iii. 4).
If the Gospel were but a human expedient, it would fail; but, as it
was originated and devised in the Divine mind, so it is backed and
made forceful by the operation of the Divine will.

+II. Salvation as a Divine act is in harmony with individual
freedom.+--1. _Salvation implies personal holiness._ "Through
sanctification of the Spirit" (ver. 13). The Spirit sanctifies the
individual soul, and the soul, in the exercise of its voluntary
power, co-operated with the Spirit. The soul feels the need of being
sanctified, is willing to be sanctified, earnestly desires to be
sanctified, and gives free, unrestricted scope to the Spirit in His
sanctifying work.

2. _Salvation implies personal faith._--"And belief of the truth"
(ver. 13). This clause brings out distinctly that the sanctification
of the Spirit is not wrought on a passive and unresponsive agent.
Faith is the gift of God, but it is an act of man. It is a
self-giving; the surrender of his own freedom to secure the larger
freedom that salvation confers on the soul that trusts. Without God's
gift there would be no faith, and without man's exercise of that gift
there is no salvation. It is not faith that saves, but the Christ
received by faith. Erskine puts it thus: "As it is not the laying on
the plaster that heals the sore, but the plaster itself that is laid
on, so it is not the faith, or receiving of Christ, but Christ
received by faith that saves us. It is not our looking to the brazen
serpent mystical, but the mystical brazen serpent looked unto by
faith--Christ received by faith--that saves us."

+III. Salvation as a Divine act aims at securing for the soul the
highest blessedness.+--"To the obtaining of the glory of our Lord
Jesus Christ" (ver. 14). The saved soul aspires after glory, but it
is glory of the loftiest type. It is not the changeful glory of
worldly magnificence. It is not the glory of Paul, or of the greatest
human genius. It is "the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ." When the
soul catches a glimpse of the splendour of this Divine blessedness,
it can be satisfied with no lower aims. "Paint and canvas," said
Guthrie, "cannot give the hues of a rainbow or of the beams of the
sun. No more can words describe the Saviour's glory. Nay, what is the
most glowing and ecstatic view that the highest faith of a soul,
hovering on the borders of another world, ever obtained of Christ,
compared with the reality? It is like the sun changed by a frosty
fogbank into a dull, red copper ball--shorn of the splendour that no
mortal eyes can look upon." As it is Christ's glory that we seek, so
it is Christ's glory we shall share.

+IV. Salvation as a Divine act affords matter for unceasing
gratitude.+--"But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you"
(ver. 13). The mercy of God in our salvation is ever providing
fruitful themes for gratitude on earth: the glory of Christ as
revealed in heaven will be the song of everlasting thankfulness and
praise. Every added trophy of saving power augments the gratitude and
joy of the faithful.

+Lessons.+--1. _The rejection of the truth is the rejection of
salvation._ 2. _Salvation brings the highest good to man and the
greatest glory to God._ 3. _Salvation will be the exhaustless theme
of the heavenly song._

_GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES._

Ver. 13. _The Holy Ghost the Sanctifier._

+I. Connect the Divine purpose and agency that the nature and effect
of the latter may be more apparent.+--To collect a people out of the
wreck of human life has been God's purpose from the first. To
sanctify them is to separate them to God in fact and in effect. The
Holy Ghost is given by Christ to sever the once dead in sins from the
dead around them.

+II. The scope of this agency.+--God's work is perfect. It has its
stages; but the Holy Ghost conducts it from first to last.
Sanctification is progressive. The end of sanctification is salvation.

+III. The ordinary means through which the Holy Ghost
operates.+--Through belief of the truth, the Gospel. The Spirit
sanctifies through the truth.--_H. T. Lumsden._

Ver. 14. _The Glory of Sainthood_--

  +I. Is the object of the Gospel to promote.+--"Whereunto He hath
      called you by our gospel."

 +II. Is a conscious personal possession.+--"To the obtaining of the
      glory."

+III. Is a sharing of the glory of Christ.+--"Of the glory of our
      Lord Jesus Christ."

_What Saints should be._--In the cathedral of St. Mark, Venice, a
marvellous building lustrous with an Oriental splendour beyond
description, there are pillars said to have been brought from
Solomon's temple; these are of alabaster, a substance firm and
endurable as granite, and yet transparent, so that the light glows
through them. Behold an emblem of what all true pillars of the Church
should be--firm in their faith and transparent in their character;
men of simple mould, ignorant of tortuous and deceptive ways, and yet
men of strong will, not readily to be led aside or bent from their
uprightness.--_Spurgeon._

_MAIN HOMILETICS OF VERSE_ 15.

_Christian Steadfastness._

In all ages the people of God have been assailed with the weapons of
a subtle and plausible philosophy which has sought to supplant the
simple truth of the Gospel with human opinions. The evil heart of man
chafes under the righteous restrictions of the truth, and in its
angry and delirious opposition has sought to rid itself of God and of
all the laws that bind it to a life of obedience and holiness. And
when it fancies it has succeeded in demolishing the truths it hated
and against which it rebelled, it is aghast at the desolation it has
wrought and recoils in alarm from the dark, horrible gulf to the
brink of which it has forced itself. Stricken with bewilderment and
despair, man strives to construct a religion for himself, and he
seeks to substitute his own wild ravings for the truths of Divine
revelation. It is the attempt of a bold, impious infidelity to put
error in the place of truth, philosophy in the place of religion,
human opinion in the place of God. The exhortation of this verse is
always timely.

+I. Christian steadfastness is an important and ever-present
duty.+--1. _It is_ _necessary to growth and maturity in personal
piety._ Trees must grow or die. So it is with piety; it must grow or
perish. No plant or tree can thrive that is being perpetually plucked
up and transplanted; nor can the soul prosper unless it is
steadfastly rooted in the soil of truth. Darwin describes a marine
plant--the _Macrocystis pyrifera_--that rises two hundred feet from
the depths of the Western Ocean and floats for many fathoms on the
surface, uninjured among the waves and breakers, which no masses of
rock, however hard, can long withstand. It maintains its strength by
clinging tenaciously to the rocks far down below the surface of the
sea. So personal piety grows and flourishes by maintaining a firm
hold of the Rock of Ages.

2. _It is necessary in bearing witness for Christ._--The value of a
lighthouse or a landmark to the mariner is, that he can rely on
always finding it in the same place. And the value of a Christian
testimony is that it is not erratic and changeful, but stable and
reliable: it hesitates not to witness for Christ in any place. Fifty
years ago at a dinner-party in the west end of London, the
conversation was dishonouring to Christ. One guest was silent, and
presently asked that the bell might be rung. On the appearance of the
servant he ordered his carriage, and with polished courtesy
apologised to his host for his enforced departure, saying, _for I am
still a Christian._ This gentleman was the late Sir Robert Peel.

3. _It is a stimulating example to the weak and faltering._--There
are timid, feeble followers of Christ who, until they become well
grounded, lean on others; and if their exemplars vacillate and
change, so do they. Few have the courage to break away from a
pernicious example. When travelling on the Continent, Dr. Duff made
the acquaintance of Cardinal Wiseman, and for some time travelled
with him; but when at Antwerp he saw the cardinal prostrate himself
before the Virgin, he courteously but firmly bade him "good-bye."

+II. Christian steadfastness is shown in an unflinching maintenance
of apostolic doctrine.+--"Hold the traditions which ye have been
taught, whether by word, or our epistle." These traditions were the
doctrines preached by the apostles. For some years after the
ascension of Christ, there was no written Gospel or epistle. The
truth was taught orally by those who were living witnesses of the
facts on which the doctrines--or traditions--were based.

1. _Apostolic doctrine must be clearly apprehended._--It must
therefore be diligently studied, and the truth sifted from the mass
of errors with which false teachers surround it. What is not
intelligently comprehended cannot be firmly held.

2. _Apostolic doctrine must be earnestly embraced._--Not simply
discussed, not simply admired and praised, but prayerfully and
cordially accepted--taken in as spiritual food, and systematically
fed upon to give strength and stamina to the soul.

3. _Apostolic doctrine must be firmly held and stoutly defended
against all errors._--"Hold the traditions." Believe them when
tempted to disbelieve; defend them when assailed by the enemy. A
brave Athenian, who wrought deeds of valour in the battle of
Marathon, seized with his right hand a stranded galley filled with
Persians. When his right hand was cut off, he seized the boat with
his left, and when that was smitten, he held on with his teeth till
he died. The grasp of truth by a Christian believer should not be
less tenacious than the dogged heroism of a heathen warrior.

+III. Christian steadfastness is emphatically enforced.+--"Therefore,
brethren, stand fast." Though misunderstood and misrepresented,
though savagely opposed by the enemies of the truth, stand fast. As
the wings of the bird are strengthened by the resistance of the
atmosphere in which it floats, so your graces will be strengthened by
the opposition with which you resolutely contend. In order that your
own personal piety may be matured, that your witnessing for Christ
may be unmistakable, and that your example may be a stimulating
encouragement to others, "stand fast, and hold the traditions which
ye have been taught."

+Lessons.+--1. _The unstable are the prey of every passing
temptation._ 2. _The Word of God is the unfailing source of moral
strength._

_MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.--Verses_ 16, 17.

_Prayer an Expression of Ministerial Anxiety._

The apostle had warned the Thessalonians of the errors that were
becoming rife among them. Indeed, the existence of these errors, and
the grave injury they threatened to the faith of the new converts,
prompted him to write these epistles--the first in a series of
magnificent apostolic polemics. The apostle knew that if the
simplicity of the Gospel was vitiated at the beginning of its
world-wide mission, unspeakable disaster would ensue, as the
checkered history of the Church in the early centuries unhappily
proved. Hence his anxiety, not only to clearly state, but with all
his resources of logic and persuasion, resolutely to defend the
cardinal principles of the Gospel. He not only argues but prays.
These verses teach that _prayer is the expression of ministerial
anxiety._

+I. It recognises the need of spiritual consolation.+--"Now our
Lord . . . comfort your hearts" (vers. 16, 17). You have sorrowed
over the loss of friends and harassed yourselves as to their
condition in another world. I have pointed out to you that your fears
were groundless (1 Thess. iv. 13-18). Now, I commend you God as the
Source and Giver of all consolation and pray that He may specially
comfort you. "It is God's presence," says Burroughs, "that
constitutes the saint's morning. As the stars may impart some light,
and yet the brightness of all combined cannot form the light of day,
but when the sun appears there is day forthwith, so God may make some
comfort arise to a soul from secondary and inferior means; but it is
He Himself alone who, by the shining of His face and the smiles of
His countenance, causes morning." A comfort that is made up of our
fancies is like a spider's web that is weaved out of its bowels and
is gone and swept away with the turn of a besom.

+II. It recognises the perils that beset the path of
obedience.+--"And establish you in every good word and work" (ver.
17)--or, according to the Revised Version, "every good _work and
word._" Work is better than speech, deeds more eloquent than words,
though both are necessary. The best safeguard against temptation is
to be employed. "The busy man is tempted by one devil, the idle man
by a thousand." The force of gunpowder is not known till some spark
falls on it; so the most placid natures do not reveal the evil that
is in them till they are assailed by some fierce and sudden
temptation. Excellence in anything can only be reached by hard work;
so stability in grace is attained only by being diligently engaged in
God's service. Steadfastness is not dull quiescence: it is
self-absorbing activity. If you would be strong, you must work.

+III. It recognises the Divine source of all spiritual
help.+--1. _That this help is the outcome of Divine love._ "Our Lord
Jesus Christ Himself and God even our Father, which hath loved us"
(ver. 16). God helps because He loves. His love evokes the best and
noblest in us, as the master-musician brings out melodies from an
instrument that inferior players have failed to produce.

                       "Love is a passion
     Which kindles honour into noblest acts."

     "O let Thy love constrain us
        To give our hearts to Thee;
      Let nothing henceforth pain us
        But that which paineth Thee.

     "Our joy, our one endeavour,
        Through suffering, conflict, shame,
      To serve Thee, gracious Saviour,
        And magnify Thy name."

2. _That this help meets every possible exigency of the Christian
life._--"And hath given us everlasting consolation and good hope
through grace" (ver. 16). The consolation refers to everything in the
present, the good hope to everything in the future. The consolation
is constant, _everlasting,_ as flowing from inexhaustible sources,
and is ever available in all the changes and needs of life; and the
hope turns our fears into confidence and our sorrows into joy. When
the frail barques of the Portuguese went sailing south, they found
the sea so stormy at the southern point of Africa that they named it
the Cape of Storms; but after it had been well rounded by bolder
navigators, they named it the Cape of Good Hope. So, by the Divine
help afforded us, many a rough cape of storms has been transformed
into a cape of good hope. All spiritual help is given "through
grace"--the free, unmerited favour of God--and is therefore a fitting
subject of prayer.

+Lessons.+--1. _Every minister should be emphatically a man of
prayer._ 2. _Prayer for others has a reflex benefit on the
suppliant._ 3. _An anxious spirit finds relief and comfort in prayer._

_GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES._

Vers. 16, 17. _St. Paul's Prayer for the Thessalonians._

+I. The objects the apostle addressed.+--1. _God, even our Father._
2. _Our Lord Jesus Christ._

+II. The gifts the apostle acknowledged.+--1. _The manifestation of
Divine love._ 2. _The communication of saving grace._ 3. _The
bestowment of Christian hope._

+III. The blessings the apostle requested.+--1. _Increasing felicity
in the Lord._ 2. _Persevering stability in the truth.--Eta._

Ver. 16. _A Good Hope through Grace._

+I. The grace of hope.+--1. _Refers to the resurrection of the body._
2. _To eternal life to be enjoyed by both soul and body._
3. _Pre-requisites of this hope._--Conviction of sin. An experimental
acquaintance with the Gospel.

+II. The excellency of this hope.+--"A good hope." 1. _In opposition
to the hopes of worldly men._ 2. _It is a lively hope._ 3. _The
object of it is an infinite and eternal good._ 4. _It has a good
foundation._ 5. _It produces good effects._

+III. The source of this hope.+--"Through grace." 1. _Man is the
subject of infinite demerit._ 2. _Christ alone possesses infinite
merit._ 3. _The Scripture warns against all self-dependence.--Helps
for the Pulpit._

       *       *       *       *       *       *       *       *

+CHAPTER III.+

_CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES._

Ver. 1. +Have free course and be glorified.+--Probably St. Paul took
this image from the Old Testament. In Ps. cxlvii. 15 the word of the
Lord is said to "run very swiftly."

Ver. 2. +Unreasonable and wicked men.+--The word for "unreasonable"
only occurs twice besides in the New Testament: once, the malefactor
on the cross says, "This man has done nothing amiss," or out of
place; and again the barbarians "beheld nothing amiss" come to Paul
when the viper had fashioned on his hand. The thief is a good
commentator here. Men who by their vagaries hold even their friends
in painful suspense, and especially such as are indifferent to
morality, seem to be meant.

Ver. 3. +And keep you from evil.+--"Keep" here is a military word
reminding of the psalmist's name for God--"Shield." The Revisers add
"one" after "evil," as in the Lord's Prayer.

Ver. 5. +Direct your hearts.+--The same word for "direct" again
occurs only in 1 Thess. iii. 11 and Luke i. 79. A similar phrase in
the LXX. of 1 Chron. xxix. 18 (R.V. "prepare"). +Into the patient
waiting for Christ.+--A.V. margin and R.V. text, "into the patience
of Christ." "The Thessalonians were eagerly awaiting His return: let
them wait for it in His patient spirit" (_Findlay_).

Ver. 6. +Walketh disorderly.+--Falling out of the ranks and desertion
of the post of duty are grave faults, which if the _esprit de corps_
does not prevent it must be punished by treating the defaulter as one
who has discredited his comrades in arms.

Ver. 7. +We behaved not ourselves disorderly among you.+--"We never
lived an undisciplined life among you." Men will bear the sharp
rebukes of a martinet, even when they observe that he is as much
under discipline as he would have the youngest recruit, as the lives
of men like Havelock and Gordon testify.

Ver. 10. +If any would not work, neither should he eat.+--"A stern,
but necessary and merciful rule, the neglect of which makes charity
demoralising" (_Ibid._). It is parasitism which is condemned.

Ver. 11. +Working not at all, but are busybodies.+--"Not working, but
working round people," as we might represent St. Paul's play on the
words. "Their only business is to be busybodies."

Ver. 13. +Be not weary in well-doing.+--Such bad behaviour under
cover of the Christian name is abhorrent to St. Paul. "The loveliness
of perfect deeds" must be worthily sustained. Well-doing here points
to that which is admirable in conduct rather than that which is
beneficent.

Ver. 14. +Have no company with him.+--The difference between this
treatment of a delinquent and excommunication may be more in idea
than fact. He would feel himself tabooed in either case. But this
agrees better with the notion of Christians as being separated.
_"Come out from among them."_ Cf. Tit. ii. 10. +That he may be
ashamed.+--Not, of course, that he may become a laughing-stock, but
that, feeling abashed, he may quickly put himself right with the
community.

Ver. 15. +Yet count him not as an enemy.+--When Christ says the
impenitent brother is to be regarded as a Gentile, He gives no
sanction to the way in which the Jew too often regarded the Gentile.
+Admonish him as a brother.+--Who, though in error, has not
sacrificed his claim to gentle treatment and consideration.

Ver. 16. +Now the Lord of peace Himself give you peace always.+--The
Church at Thessalonica had been passing through stormy waters. The
apostle prays that God may give them to--

     "Feel His halcyon rest within
      Calming the storms of dread and sin."

Ver. 17. +The salutation . . . the token.+--As though he said, "This
that I am about to write is my sign-manual."

Ver. 18. +The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you
all.+--Whatever St. Paul's handwriting may have been, it could not
well be more characteristic than this word "grace," as certainly he
could not have chosen a more beautiful word to engrave on his seal.

_MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.--Verses_ 1, 2.

_Prayer for Ministers._

Prayer should not be all on one side. It is a mutual obligation and
privilege. The Thessalonians are reminded how often they were the
subject of anxious prayer, and they are now asked to remember their
own ministers at the throne of grace. Mutual prayer intensifies
mutual sympathy and affection and deepens the interest of both
parties in promoting the success of the Gospel. Note:--

+I. That prayer for ministers is apostolically enjoined.+--"Brethren,
pray for us" (ver. 1). True prayer is spontaneous. It does not wait
to be formally authorised. A loving heart loves to pray.
Nevertheless, there are laggards in this duty, and they may be
prompted to the exercise by employing all the weight of apostolic
authority and example. If apostles felt the need of prayer, how much
more should we! Ministers are but men; but by the use of the word
"brethren" the writer indicates that ministers and people have common
privileges, common wants, and common dangers. The ministerial office
has also its special responsibilities and perils, and nothing helps
more vitally the efficient discharge of its duties than the constant
prayers of an appreciative and devoted people.

+II. That prayer for ministers should have special reference to the
success of the Gospel.+--1. _The Gospel is Divine._ "The word of the
Lord" (ver. 1). The Gospel is a message to man, but it is more than a
human message. It is the voice of God speaking to man through man. If
it had been simply of human origin, it would have been forgotten and
superseded by the changing theories ever teeming from the fertile
brain of man. Every human institution is liable to be supplanted by
another. There is nothing permanent in philosophy, government, or
morals that is not based on eternal truth. The Gospel is abiding,
because it rests on unchanging truth. It is the "word of the Lord."

2. _The spread of the Gospel is beset with difficulties._--"That the
word of the Lord may have free course" (ver. 1). The pioneers of the
Gospel in Thessalonica had to contend with the malignant hatred of
the unbelieving Jews, with the seductive theories of the Grecian
philosophy, and with the jealous opposition of the Roman power. All
hindrances to the Gospel have a common root in the depravity of the
human heart--hence the difficulties occasioned by the inconsistencies
of half-hearted professors, the paralysing influence of scepticism,
and the violence of external persecution. The chief difficulty is
spiritual, and the weapon to contend against it must be
spiritual--the weapon of _all-prayer._ Savonarola once said, "If
there be no enemy, no fight; if no fight, no victory; if no victory,
no crown." We are to pray that the Gospel "may have free course"--may
run, not simply creep, or loiter haltingly on the way, but speed
along as a swift-footed messenger. "Take courage from thy cause: thou
fightest for thy God, and against His enemy. Is thy enemy too potent?
fear not. Art thou besieged? faint not. Art thou routed? fly not.
Call aid, and thou shalt be strengthened; petition, and thou shalt be
relieved; pray, and thou shalt be recruited."

3. _The glory of the Gospel is to change men's hearts and ennoble
men's lives._--"And be glorified, even as it is with you" (ver. 1).
You Thessalonians, notwithstanding your imperfect views and defective
conduct, are samples of what the Gospel can do in changing the heart
and giving a lofty purpose to the life. Pray that its triumph may be
more complete in you, and that its uplifting influence may be
realised by others. "That which Plato was unable to effect," says
Pascal, "even in the case of a few select and learned persons, a
secret power, by the help only of a few words, is now wrought upon
thousands of uneducated men."

+III. That prayer for ministers should be offered that their lives
may be preserved from the violence of cruel and unbelieving
enemies.+--"And that ye may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked
men: for all men have not faith" (ver. 2). _Not all have faith,_ even
among those who profess to have it, and it is certainly true of all
those who scout and reject the Gospel. The unbelieving are perverse
and wicked, and it is from this class that the minister is met by the
most unreasonable and malicious opposition. Perhaps the most
dangerous foes with which a minister has to contend are those who
make some profession of religion, but in heart and practice deny it.
"Men will write for religion, fight for it, die for it--anything but
live for it." The minister, girded with the prayers of his people, is
screened from the plots and attacks of the wicked.

+Lessons.+--1. _The success of the Gospel is a signal demonstration
of its Divine authorship._ 2. _Ministers of the Gospel have need of
sympathy and help in their work._ 3. _The grandest spiritual results
are brought about by prayer._

_GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES._

Ver. 1. _The Ministerial Request._

+I. The request presented.+--1. _That the power of religion may be
eminently experienced in our own souls._ 2. _That we may be preserved
from the official dangers to which we are exposed._ 3. _That we may
be able ministers of the New Testament._ 4. _That prudence and
fidelity may distinguish our labours._

+II. The grounds on which it rests.+--1. _It rests on the mutual
connection which subsists between ministers and people._ 2. _On the
law of love._ 3. _On its advantage to yourselves._ 4. _On the
prevalency of fervent prayer._ 5. _On its connection with the
salvation of souls.--Sketches._

Ver. 2. _Unbelief_--

  +I. Abandons the guide of reason.+

 +II. Leads to a vicious life and causes trouble to others.+

+III. We should pray to be delivered from its evil results.+

_MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.--Verses_ 3, 4.

_The Faithfulness of God._

From the want of faith in man, referred to in the preceding verse,
the writer, as if to show the contrast, naturally glides into the
subject of the Divine faithfulness. Unbelief may abound, but God can
be relied on; man may be fickle and unreasonable, but the fidelity of
God is inviolate.

+I. The faithfulness of God is a fact established by abundant
testimonies.+--"But the Lord _is_ faithful" (ver. 3). He is faithful
to His own nature. He cannot deny Himself. He is faithful to His
purpose, to His Word, to every promise, and every threatening too.
The whole history of God's dealings with the Jewish people is a
suggestive and impressive commentary on His inflexible faithfulness.
The fact that the Church of God exists to-day, notwithstanding
defection within and persecution without, is an unanswerable
testimony to His fidelity. "You may be faint and weary, but my God
cannot. I may fluctuate and alter as to my frames and feelings; but
my Redeemer is unchangeably the same. I might utterly fail and come
to nothing, if left to myself. But I cannot be so left to myself. He
is rich to relieve and succour me in all my wants. He is faithful to
perform and perfect all His promises" (_Ambrose Serle_).

+II. The faithfulness of God is practically manifested in
establishing His people in all good and in keeping them safe from all
evil.+--"Who shall stablish you and keep you from evil" (ver. 3). The
people of God do not perpetuate themselves. He perpetuates. His
faithful guardianship gives persistency to His people, so that in
every age and in the darkest times there has been a bright succession
of living witnesses of His unchanging character. He preserves them,
not because of any inherent grace or self-deserving, but because He
is faithful. "Janet," said a Scottish minister to a Christian woman
of great faith, whom he was visiting, "suppose, after all, God were
to let you drop into hell!" "Even as He will," was her reply; "but if
He does, He will lose mair than I'll do." A single flaw in the Divine
fidelity would shatter the faith of the universe.

+III. The faithfulness of God inspires confidence in the fidelity of
the obedient.+--"And we have confidence in the Lord touching you that
ye both do, and will do the things which we command you" (ver. 4).
Because God is faithful, we know that you can be kept faithful, if
you are willing and seeking to be so kept. Moreover, you will
assuredly be kept faithful, while you observe in the future, as you
have done in the past, "the things which we command you," and in
commanding which we have the Divine authority. Consider these things,
let them sink into your hearts; then act accordingly. Let obedience
follow conviction, and we have no fear about the result. Von Moltke,
the great German strategist and general, chose for his motto, _"Erst
wagen, dann wagen,"_--_"First weigh, then venture"_; and it was to
this he owed his great victories and successes. Slow, cautious,
careful in planning, but bold, daring, even seemingly reckless in
execution, the moment his resolve was made. Vows thus ripen into
deeds, decision must go on to performance. The final perseverance of
the saint depends on the Divine perseverance; his faithfulness on the
Divine faithfulness. If we had no living Saviour to pilot our ship,
no promise on which to rely, we might have cause to fear. The Divine
faithfulness is unquestionable; our faithfulness is maintained only
by obedience.

+Lessons.+--1. _The faithfulness of God is the guarantee of the
believer's safety._ 2. _The faithfulness of God should encourage the
exercise of implicit faith in Him._ 3. _The faithfulness of God
demands undeviating obedience to His laws._

_GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES._

Ver. 3. _The Divine Faithfulness_--

  +I. An incontrovertible fact.+

 +II. A guarantee of personal establishment in the truth.+

+III. An invulnerable protection from evil and all its works.+

Ver. 4. _Christian Obedience_--

  +I. Is a voluntary and constant activity.+

 +II. Is based on well-understood and authoritative precepts.+

+III. Is the pathway of blessing.+

 +IV. Inspires confidence in others.+

_MAIN HOMILETICS OF VERSE_ 5.

_Divine Love and Patience._

Again, the apostle is on his knees. How beautifully the habitual
devoutness of the apostle's spirit comes out in the side-lights
thrown from passages in his writings like this verse! He lives and
breathes in the electric atmosphere of prayer. All the time he is
reasoning, expounding, warning, and persuading he is also praying.
Prayer is a powerful aid to the preacher. It keeps his soul in
sympathy with the realm of spiritual realities, gives him clearer
insight into truth, and intensifies his experience of the Divine. We
learn from this verse:--

+I. That Divine love and patience are conspicuous elements in man's
redemption.+--"The love of God and the patient waiting for
Christ"--_the patience of Christ_ (R.V.). The love of God devised and
the patience of Christ carried out the great plan of human salvation.
The Gospel is a grand revelation of the Divine love and patience in
Christ Jesus; and the history of the Gospel in its world-wide
progress is a many-sided illustration of these two conspicuous
virtues in the Divine character and operations. After the last French
war, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Paris was imprisoned. His cell
had a window shaped like a cross, and with a pencil he wrote upon the
arms of the cross that they denoted the height, length, breadth, and
depth of God's love. That man knew something of the love of God. The
patience of Christ in suffering for mankind was sustained and
sublimated by the love of God, and was an object-lesson to the world,
teaching, in a way that appealed to the most callous, the power and
universality of that love.

+II. That Divine love and patience are the distinguished privilege of
human experience.+--"Direct your hearts into the love of God and
patience of Christ." The love we are to enjoy is no mere human
passion, fickle and evanescent; the patience, no mere grim stoical
endurance. We are admitted into the sacred adoption of the Divine
mysteries; we share in their spiritual ecstasy and unruffled calm,
the very love and patience of God! The Divine in us becomes more
growingly evident to ourselves and to others. Love gives
staying-power to and teaches us how to suffer without murmuring, to
endure without retaliating. "Sire," said Beza in his reply to the
king of Navarre, "it belongs to God's Church rather to suffer blows
than to strike them; but let it be your pleasure to remember that the
Church is an anvil which has worn out many a hammer." With time and
patience the mulberry leaf becomes satin.

+III. That Divine love and patience are more fully enjoyed by the
soul that prays.+--"And the Lord direct your hearts." The prayerful
apostle had realised the blessedness of a personal participation in
the love and patience of God. But for the love of God he would never
have ventured upon his evangelistic mission, and but for the patience
of Christ he would not have continued in it. Now he prays that the
hearts of the Thessalonians may enjoy the same grace or be set in the
direct way of attaining it. It is of vital consequence that the
current of the heart's outgoings should be set in the right
direction. This brief petition shows what we ought to ask for
ourselves. The best way to secure a larger degree of love and
patience is to ardently pray for them.

     "What grace, O Lord, and beauty shone
        Around Thy steps below!
      What patient love was seen in all
        Thy life and death of woe!

     "Oh! give us hearts to love like Thee--
        Like Thee, O Lord, to grieve
      Far more for others' sins, than all
        The wrongs that we receive."

+Lessons.+--1. _The Christian life is a sublime participation in the
nature of God._ 2. _Love and patience reveal the God-like character._
3. _Prayer is at its best when engaged with the loftiest themes._

_GERM NOTES ON THE VERSE._

Ver. 5. _Waiting for the Second Advent._

+I. The love of God a preparation for the Redeemer's
coming.+--1. _The love of God is the love of goodness._ 2. _The love
of God is the love of man expanded and purified._ The love of man
expanded into the love of Him, of whom all that we have seen of
gentle and lovely, of true and tender, of honourable and bright in
human character, are but the shadows and the broken, imperfect lights.

+II. Patient waiting another preparation for the Redeemer's
coming.+--1. _The Christian attitude of soul is an attitude of
expectation._--Every gift of noble origin is breathed upon by hope's
perfect breath.

2. _It is patient waiting._--Every one who has ardently longed for
any spiritual blessing knows the temptation to impatience in
expecting it.--_F. W. Robertson._

_MAIN HOMILETICS ON THE PARAGRAPH.--Verses_ 6, 7.

_Christian Consistency._

The apostle commended with a warm-hearted eulogy whatever was good in
the Thessalonians, but he was not less faithful in administering
rebuke when it was needed. A number of the converts, not sufficiently
pondering the words of the writer, were carried away with the
delusion that the second advent of Christ would take place
immediately, and they abandoned all interest in the practical duties
of life--an error that has been often repeated since, with similar
results. Fearing the mischief would spread, and seeing that all
pervious warnings were disregarded, the apostle in these verses
treats the mistaken enthusiasts with unsparing condemnation. Disorder
must be crushed, and consistency preserved.

+I. Christian consistency is in harmony with the highest
teaching.+--"After the tradition which he [or they] received of us"
(ver. 6). The rules of Christian consistency were clearly laid down
in the traditions or doctrines taught by the apostles and were
enforced with all the weight and sanction of Divine authority. To
violate these rules is to "walk disorderly"--to break the ranks, to
fall out of line. The value of the individual soldier is the degree
in which he keeps in order and acts in perfect harmony and precision
with the rest of the regiment. A breach of military rule creates
disaster. Let the believer keep the Divine law, and the law will keep
him.

     "The heavens themselves, the planets and this centre,
      Observe degree, priority, and place,
      Insisture, course, proportion, season, form,
      Office and custom, in all line of order."--_Shakespeare._

+II. Christian consistency is enforced by apostolic example.+--"For
yourselves know how ye ought to follow us: for we behaved not
ourselves disorderly among you" (ver. 7). The apostles illustrated
what they taught, by a rigid observance of the rules they imposed on
others. Precept was enforced by practice. While the preachers
laboured among the Thessalonians, the influence of their upright
examples kept the Church in order. Much depends upon the conduct of a
leader in Church or State. It is said of a certain military commander
on taking charge of an army that had been somewhat lax in discipline:
"The presence of a master-mind was quickly visible in the changed
condition of the camp. Perfect order now reigned. He was a rigid
disciplinarian, and yet as gentle and kind as a woman. He was the
easiest man in our army to get along with pleasantly, so long as one
did his duty, but as inexorable as fate in exacting its performance.
He was as courteous to the humblest private who sought an interview
for any purpose as to the highest officer under his command."

+III. Christian consistency is to be maintained by separation from
the lawless.+--"Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord
Jesus Christ, that ye withdraw yourselves from every brother that
walketh disorderly" (ver. 6). If all efforts to recover the
recalcitrant fail, then the Church has the highest authority for
separating completely from the society and fellowship of such.
Continued communion with them would not only seem to condone their
offence, but destroy discipline, and put an end to all moral
consistency. Such a separation from the unruly would be more marked
in the early Church, when there was only one Christian community, and
when the brethren were noted for their affectionate attachment to
each other.

+Lessons.+--_Christian consistency_--1. _Is defined by the highest
law._ 2. _Avoids association with evil._ 3. _Is a reproof and pattern
to the unbelieving._

_GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES._

Vers. 6, 7. _The Disorderly in Church Life_--

  +I. Violate the rules that give compactness and strength to all
      Church organisation.+

 +II. Ignore the highest examples of moral consistency.+

+III. Should be faithfully warned and counselled.+

 +IV. If incorrigible, should be excluded from the privileges of
      Christian fellowship.+

_MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.--Verses_ 8, 9.

_Self-denying Labour._

Pioneer work involves hard toil and much patience and self-denial.
The character and surroundings of the people whose highest good is
sought must be studied. The apostle took his measure of the
Thessalonian converts, and, perhaps foreseeing the extravagances to
which they would yield, he and his co-labourers determined to set
them an example of unselfish industry, even to the extent of
surrendering their just rights.

+I. Here we see self-denying labour carried on amidst weariness and
suffering.+--"Neither did we eat any man's bread for nought; but
wrought with labour and travail night and day" (ver. 8). Work is a
pleasurable exercise to the strong and healthy, but it becomes a
hardship when carried to excess. The devoted missionaries worked when
they were weary--worked when they should have been resting. After a
hard day's toil in teaching and visiting, they laboured far on into
the night, so as to maintain themselves independent of help from
their converts. Much as we hear of the dignity of labour, the toiler,
whether by hand or brain, in the weariness and pain that overtake
him, feels that some portion of the original curse still clings to
his handiwork. The best work is often accomplished in the midst of
acute suffering. The unique histories of England were written by
J. R. Green while the shadow of death was consciously hovering over
his desk; and the exquisite Christian lyrics of H. F. Lyte were
penned while he felt that every moment his heart was throbbing
"funeral marches to the grave."

+II. Here we see self-denying labour declining the maintenance that
might be legitimately claimed.+--"That we might not be chargeable to
any of you: not because we have not power" (vers. 8, 9)--right,
authority. While the apostle forbears to urge their just right to
ministerial support by the people, he gives them clearly to
understand it is their right. Their self-denial in this instance was
for a special purpose, and was only intended to be temporary, and not
to establish a universal rule. In other places, St. Paul insists upon
the duty of the Church to maintain its ministers (1 Cor. ix. 4-14;
Gal. vi. 6). All honour to the self-denying zeal and suffering toil
of the unaided Christian worker; but what shall we say of the
parsimony and injustice of the people who allow such a state of
things to continue?

+III. Here we see self-denying labour set forth as an example and
reproof to those who are most benefited by it.+--"To make ourselves
an ensample unto you to follow us" (ver. 9). Here the purpose of
their disinterested conduct is plainly stated--to set an example of
industry to the idlers. St. Paul acted in a similar manner towards
the Corinthians, but with a different design. In the latter case he
wished to manifest a better spirit than that of the false teachers
who were greedy of filthy lucre (2 Cor. xi. 8-13). The earnest
evangelist is ever anxious to clear his work from the taint of
self-seeking. Let the heart of man be changed and sanctified, and it
will inspire and regulate the practical exercise of every Christian
virtue. How little does the world appreciate its greatest
benefactors! And yet no unselfish act is without its recompense. The
actor is not unblessed. To exchange, as Christ did, the temple for
Nazareth, the Father's house for the carpenter's shop, the joy of
preaching for irksome toil, is a great advance in spiritual obedience
and nobility of character.

+Lessons.+--1. _The essence of the Christian spirit is
unselfishness._ 2. _The earnest Christian pioneer labours
ungrudgingly for the good of others._ 3. _The self-denial of the
preacher does not exonerate the people from the duty of his
legitimate maintenance._

_GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES._

Ver. 8. _Industry the Secret of Success._--When Sir Isaac Newton was
asked by what means he had been able to make that successful progress
in the sciences which struck mankind with wonder, he modestly
replied, that it was not so much owing to any superior strength of
genius as to a habit of patient thinking, laborious attention, and
close application.

Ver. 9. _Ministerial Maintenance._

  +I. It is a claim based on scriptural and apostolic authority.+

 +II. The temporary waiving of the right is a noble example of
      self-denial and unselfish devotion.+

+III. No personal waiving of the right releases the Church from its
      obligation.+

_MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.--Verses_ 10-12.

_Christianity and Work._

Christianity is the Gospel of work. Its clarion-call thrills along
the nerves of human life and summons the world to labour. It gives to
work meaning, purpose, dignity, and exalts drudgery into a
blessedness. While full of sympathy for the feeble and maimed, it has
no pity for the indolent. Its Founder and first apostles were giants
in labour, and their example animates the world to-day with a spirit
of noblest activity. It is not the drone, but the worker, who blesses
the world. "Be no longer a chaos," writes Carlyle, "but a world, or
even a worldkin. Produce! produce! were it but the pitifullest,
infinitesimal fraction of a product, produce it in God's name! 'Tis
the utmost thou hast in thee; out with it, then. Up, up! whatever thy
hand findeth to do, do it with thy might."

+I. Christianity recognises the duty of every man to work for his own
support.+--"For even when we were with you, this we commanded, that
if any would not work, neither should he eat" (ver. 10). The
necessity of food involves the necessity of work. As every one must
eat, so every one must work. The wife of a certain chieftain, who had
fallen upon idle habits, one day lifted the dish-cover at dinner and
revealed a pair of spurs, a sign that he must ride and hunt for his
next meal. It is said that in the Californian bee-pastures, on the
sun-days of summer, one may readily infer the time of day from the
comparative energy of bee-movements alone; drowsy and moderate in the
cool of the morning, increasing in energy with the ascending sun, and
at high noon thrilling and quivering in wild ecstasy, then gradually
declining again to the stillness of night. Is not this a picture of
our life? Work is necessary for sustenance, for health, for moral
development; and rest is all the sweeter after genuine toil.

+II. Christianity is intolerant of an ignoble indolence.+--"For we
hear that there are some which walk among you disorderly, working not
at all, but are busybodies" (ver. 11). The disorderly are the idle
tattlers, who make a pretence of work by busying themselves with all
kinds of things but their own duty. They are triflers, wasting their
own time and other people's; and they do serious mischief. In certain
foreign parts, where insects abound in such swarms as to be a pest to
the people and destructive enemies to young growing plants, an
electric apparatus has been constructed to destroy the brood
wholesale. The appliance consists of a strong electric light
attracting the moths and insects, a suction-fan drawing them into a
shaft as they approach the light, and a small mill in the shaft where
the victims are ground up and mixed with flour, thus converting them
into poultry-food. Cannot some genius contrive a means of putting an
end--short of grinding them into chicken-food: let us be merciful,
even to our enemies!--to those social pests who go buzzing about our
homes and Churches, worrying with their idle gossip and stinging with
their spiteful venom the innocent and inoffensive? If these
busybodies would devote, in doing their duty, the energy they waste,
they would be able to produce quite a respectable amount of honest
work. But they find it easier to sponge on the generosity and
simplicity of others. They are parasites; and all parasites are the
paupers of nature. Parasitism is a crime--a breach of the law of
evolution.

+III. Christianity enforces the necessity of a steady and independent
industry.+--"We command and exhort by our Lord Jesus Christ that with
quietness they work, and eat their own bread" (ver. 12). The apostle,
having the authority of Christ for what he counsels, _commands_; and
as a man addressing his fellow-men, he _exhorts_ and persuades. The
law of Christianity is both stern and gentle: unbending in principle,
and flexible only in manifold persuasions to translate the principle
into actual living practice. It rouses man from yielding to a sinful
listlessness and helps him to develop a robust Christian manhood.
When an Indian candidate for the ministry was asked the question,
"What is original sin?" he frankly replied, "He did not know what
other people's might be, but he rather thought that his was
laziness." Idleness is the prolific source of many evils: work is at
once a remedy and a safeguard. A clergyman once said, "A Christian
should never plead spirituality for being a sloven; if he be but a
shoe-cleaner, he should be the best in the parish." We are honouring
Christianity most when we are doing our best to observe the precepts,
"Working with quietness and eating our own bread." An American
preacher once said, "You sit here and sing yourselves away to
everlasting bliss; but I tell you that you are wanted a great deal
more out in Illinois than you are in heaven."

+Lessons.+--1. _Christianity encourages and honours honest toil._
2. _Fearlessly denounces unprincipled idlers._ 3. _Is an inspiration
to the highest kind of work._

_GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES._

Ver. 10. _Industry the True Charity._--When the palace and church
buildings of Caprarola were completed, Borromeo, the great patron of
idle almsgiving, came to see it, and complained that so much money
had not been given to the poor instead. "I have let them have it all
little by little," said Alexandro Farnese; "but I have made them earn
it by the sweat of their brow."

Ver. 11. _Idleness and Death._--Ælian mentions a witticism of
Alcibiades when some one was vaunting to him about the contempt the
Lacedæmonians had for death. "It is no wonder," said he, "since it
relieves them from the heavy burden of an idle and stupid life."

Ver. 12. _The Way to Value Quietness._--"How dull and quiet
everything is. There isn't a leaf stirring," said a young sparrow
perched on the bough of a willow tree. "How delicious a puff of wind
would be!" "We shall have one before long," croaked an old raven;
"more than you want, I fancy." Before many hours a tempest swept over
the country, and in the morning the fields were strewn with its
ravages. "What a comfort the storm is over," said the sparrow, as he
trimmed his wet fathers. "Ah!" croaked the raven, "you've altered
your mind since last night. Take my word for it, there's nothing like
a storm to teach you to value a calm."--_G. Eliot._

_MAIN HOMILETICS OF VERSE_ 13.

_A Call to do the Best Work._

The apostle has shown the necessity and duty of work--that honest
industry is a law of Christianity. Now he inculcates unwearied
diligence in accomplishing the best work, designated by the
comprehensive and suggestive phrase "well-doing." Whatever is worth
doing at all is worth doing well. No man has done his best till he
has done all he can. A man's highest work is the outcome of his best
endeavours. Observe:--

+I. Doing the best work is well-doing.+--"Be not weary in
well-doing." We may define to ourselves this duty of well-doing by
seeking answers to two questions:--

1. _How can I get the most good?_--The ancient philosophers discussed
the question of the supreme good with amazing subtlety of logic; but
they started their investigations with the erroneous assumption that
the supreme good must be a human product. The question is not how to
get good, but the most good--the highest, the best. We get the most
good by bringing the soul into complete submission to the highest law
of its being--voluntary and full surrender to the will of God. Call
it getting saved, getting converted; call it what you like, so long
as you get the thing itself--the love of God in the soul through
faith in the Lord Jesus.

2. _How can I do the most good?_--These two questions are closely
linked together, and are mutually interpretative of each other--the
one being the qualification and motive for the other. It may be
asserted we get the most good by doing the most good. The rose cannot
diffuse the fragrance it does not possess, however much like a rose
it may look. The question here, again, is not how I can do good, but
the most, the highest, and best. We do the most good by beginning
with the duty that lies nearest to us and doing it at once. The
earnest worker never lacks opportunity: there is the home, the
Church, the perishing multitude, ever within easy reach. "He that
winneth souls is wise" (Prov. xi. 30). The highest plaudit of heaven
is, "Well done, good and faithful servant" (Matt. xxv. 21).

+II. The best work is not done without encountering
difficulties.+--"Be not weary." The exhortation implies there are
difficulties. These arise:--

1. _From vague and imperfect views of duty._--We have no sympathy
with the rhapsody of the mystic who said, "Man is never so holy and
exalted as when he does not know where he is going." We must know
clearly what we would be at, what is within the compass of our power
and opportunity, where our efforts must necessarily end, and room
left for the play of other influences. We must be practical and
methodical. Clearness is power. Confusion of ideas creates
difficulties.

2. _From unrealised ideals._--We have formed lofty conceptions of
what is to be done, and what we must do. We have elaborated extensive
organisations, and worked them with unflagging zeal. But the result
has been disappointing. Because we have not accomplished all we
wished, we are discouraged; our success has not been commensurate
with our ambition, and we are tempted to slacken our endeavours. "Be
not weary." We are not the best judges of what constitutes success.
If it does not come in the form we expected, we must not hastily
conclude our work is vain.

3. _From the loss of spiritual power._--We have neglected prayer and
the cultivation of personal piety. We have been so absorbed in the
external details of our work as to overlook the duty of keeping up
spiritual communion with the Highest. We begin to frame excuses--a
sure sign of moral decadence. "We have no talents." Then we should
seek them. We have more talents than we suspect, and resolute working
will develop them. "Our adversaries are numerous and fierce." If we
keep at our work, they will not trouble us long.

+III. The best work demands incessant diligence.+--"But ye, brethren,
be not weary in well-doing." The best state of preparedness for the
coming of the Lord is to be busily employed in the duty of the hour.
Every moment has its duty. Opportunity has hair in front; behind she
is bald. If you seize her by the forelock, you may hold her; but if
suffered to escape, not Jupiter himself can catch her again. Arnauld,
the Port Royalist, when hunted from place to place, wished his friend
Nicolle to assist him in a new work, when the latter observed, "We
are old; is it not time to rest?" "Rest!" returned Arnauld. "Have we
not all eternity to rest in?" A man's work does not ennoble him, but
he ennobles it.

+Lessons.+--_The text is a spiritual motto to be adopted_--1. _By
ministers and Sabbath-school teachers._ 2. _By parents seeking the
spiritual good of their children._ 3. _By all discouraged Christian
workers._

_GERM NOTES ON THE VERSE._

_Weary in Well-doing._

+I. The text by implication brings before us a state of mind to which
believers are liable.+--"Weary in well-doing." 1. _From a lamentable
want of fitness for spiritual duties and employments._ 2. _From the
opposition of the world._ 3. _From the hostile agency of spiritual
wickedness._ 4. _From the dimness of our conceptions of the things
which should especially influence us._ 5. _From failing to lay hold
on the Divine strength._

+II. The text an exhortation suited to those in the state referred
to.+--"Be not weary." 1. _Because you are engaged in well-doing._
2. _Because the time is short._ 3. _Because your associates are
glorious._ 4. _Because the issue is certain._ 5. _Because sufficient
strength is provided.--Stewart._

_MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.--Verses_ 14, 15.

_Treatment of the Refractory._

After all the warnings of the apostle against erroneous views and his
exhortations to Christian diligence, he foresees there may be some
refractory members of the Church who still persist in their
extravagances, reject all counsel, and defy all rule and order. In
these verses he gives explicit directions how to deal with such. The
inveterately lazy are often something worse than lazy and are not
easily reclaimed. When disobedience settles into a habit, stringent
measures are necessary to arouse the victim to a sense of duty; and
the efforts of restoration must be both resolute and kind.

+I. It should be made evident that his conduct is an obstinate
defiance of authority.+--"And if any man obey not our word by this
epistle, note that man" (ver. 14). Not only note that his disorderly
behaviour is a scandal to Christianity and an example to be avoided,
but let it be brought home to him, by direct and faithful dealing,
that it is a grave breach of the highest law. We can make nothing of
a Fool till he is first convinced of his folly. The first step in the
process of reformation is conviction of the need of reformation. It
is said of Thoreau, the author, that "he was by nature of the
opposition; there was a constitutional 'No' in him that could not be
tortured into 'Yes.'" There are many like him, even in the Christian
Church. It may seem a difficult, almost an impossible task, to
convince the refractory of his error; but it is the first thing to be
done, and persevered in. When the hearers of Austin resented his
reproofs, he used to say, "Change your conduct, and I will change my
conversation."

+II. With the view of bringing him to repentance he is to be excluded
from Christian fellowship.+--"And have no company with him, that he
may be ashamed" (ver. 14). The refractory practically excludes
himself from every circle that loves order, harmony, and peace; for
who can bear the rasping chatter of an irresponsible gossip who is
constantly raking up and turning over everybody's faults but his own?
But the Church must take action unitedly in dealing with the
contumacious. He must be deliberately and pointedly shunned, and,
when compelled to be in his company, the members must show, by the
reserve of their bearing towards him, how deeply he is grieving the
hearts of the brethren and sinning against God. In the days when
there was only one Church, and exclusion from it was regarded as the
greatest calamity and disgrace, the fear of utter excommunication
could not fail to have some effect upon those thus threatened with
it. Few people can bear the test of being left severely alone. It
gives them the opportunity for reflection, remorse, and reform.

+III. Efforts should be made in the spirit of Christian brotherhood
to effect his recovery.+--"Yet count him not as an enemy, but
admonish him as a brother" (ver. 15). Though shunned and threatened
with exclusion from Church fellowship, he is not to be passed by with
contemptuous silence. He is not a heretic or a blasphemer, nor is he
guilty of any monstrous crime. He is sinning against the good order
of society and the peace of the Church. He is still a brother,
troublesome and unreasonable though he be; and while there is the
least hope of his restoration, he should be faithfully admonished. He
is not to be accused and slandered to outsiders; this will only
aggravate his riotousness and make him more defiant. He must be seen
privately and spoken to faithfully, but with the utmost tenderness.
The Christian spirit teaches us to be discreet in all things, and
especially in administering reproof. Virtue ceases to be virtuous
when it lacks discretion, the queen of ethics. "To be plain," writes
Felltham, "argues honesty; but to be pleasing argues discretion.
Sores are not to be anguished with rustic pressure, but gently
stroked with a ladied hand. Physicians fire not their eyes at
patients, but minister to their diseases. Let reproof be so as the
offender may see affection, without arrogancy."

+Lessons.+--1. _It is an important part of Church discipline to
control the unruly._ 2. _It is in the power of one discontented
person to work much mischief._ 3. _Church discipline must be
administered with fidelity and Christian tenderness._

_GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES._

Vers. 14, 15. _The Disobedient_--

  +I. Should be specially noted.+

 +II. Should not be admitted to intimate friendship without
      repentance.+

+III. Should be kindly but faithfully admonished.+

Ver. 14. _Obedience should be prompt._--When a large passenger
steamer was sinking, the question whether scores of her passengers
and crew would be saved or drowned was settled within fifteen
minutes. And millions have decided the momentous question of their
eternal salvation or perdition in even less time than that. It seems
to have been short work with Simon Peter when Jesus bade him quit the
nets and follow Him. Peter obeyed at once. Prompt obedience honours
God. It puts the soul immediately within the Almighty's hold; and
when Jesus has His omnipotent grasp of love upon me, none shall be
able to pluck me out of His hands (John x. 28). Prompt obedience
saves.--_Cuyler._

_MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.--Verses_ 16-18.

_Apostolic Courtesy._

The epistle is coming to a close, and the Christian courtesy of the
apostle comes out in the spirit in which he expresses his farewell.
If he has spoken out plainly and even severely, it has not been in
vindictiveness and anger. All that he has said and written is in the
interests of peace. His sharpest reproofs and most faithful
admonitions have been suffused with an undercurrent of
loving-kindness; and his concluding words drop with the gentleness of
refreshing dew.

+I. Apostolic courtesy supplicates the blessing of the Divine peace
and presence.+--"Now the Lord of peace Himself give you peace always
by all means. The Lord be with you all" (ver. 16). Prayer was the
life-breath of the apostle, as we have frequently pointed out in the
study of these epistles. Considering the dissensions that disturbed
the harmony of the Thessalonian Church, this epistle appropriately
closes with a prayer for peace. First, and most important of all,
peace with God and the individual conscience; then mutual peace and
concord one with another--peace, such as keeps the mind in an even
and heavenly frame, as a sentinel that guards a door, lest foes
should get in and make havoc where God hath commanded peace. Where
God's presence is manifested, there is peace; hence the apostle adds,
"The Lord be with you all." Peace is a Divine gift, and a Divine
experience in man; it is the peace of "the Lord of peace" that we
share.

+II. Apostolic courtesy is expressed in an emphatic Christian
salutation.+--"The salutation of Paul with mine own hand, which is
the token in every epistle: so I write" (ver. 17). This epistle was
written by an amanuensis, probably Silas or Timothy, at the dictation
of Paul; and the apostle wrote his own signature, adding the
salutation and benediction. This act not only stamped the genuineness
of the epistle but indicated in a most unmistakable manner the
anxiety of the apostle to thoroughly identify himself with all that
was expressed in the epistle, and to assure the Thessalonians of his
personal interest in and love towards them. Christianity is the soul
of courtesy. Bolingbroke once said, "Supposing Christianity to be a
mere human invention, it is the most amiable and successful invention
that ever was imposed on mankind." When the courtiers of Henry IV. of
France expressed their surprise that he returned the salutation of a
poor man, who bowed down before him at the entrance of a village, the
king replied, "Would you have your king exceeded in politeness by one
of the lowest of his subjects?" As he is the best Christian who is
most humble, so is he that truest gentleman that is most courteous.

+III. Apostolic courtesy is indicated in the solemn invocation of the
abiding grace of God.+--"The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with
you all. Amen" (ver. 18). A farewell full of pathos, full of
solemnity, full of peace, full of admiration and love for the
people--all good wishes condensed into a single phrase. Even an
apostle can desire for the Church, or any of its members, no richer
benediction than that comprehended in "the grace of our Lord Jesus
Christ."

+Lessons.+--1. _Peace is a prime essential in Church prosperity._
2. _The Christian spirit is the essence of true courtesy._ 3. _We can
invoke no higher blessing on others than to be kept in the enjoyment
of Divine grace._

_GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES._

Ver. 16. _The Omnipresent God_--

+I. In history.+--Shaping the course and destiny of nations.

+II. In providence.+--1. _Guarding._ 2. _Guiding His people._

+III. In grace.+--1. _Manifesting His goodness in Christ._ 2. _Giving
inclination and power to do His will._ 3. _Demanding and bestowing
personal holiness._ 4. _Ensuring constant peace._

_Peace in Danger._--During the great earthquake in London, when
thousands were running about and crying in terror, when buildings
were falling and the ground rocking like the ocean in a storm, Wesley
gathered a few of his followers in one of their little chapels, and
calmly read to them the forty-sixth Psalm, "God is our refuge and
strength."

Vers. 17, 18. _Christian Courtesy_--

  +I. Takes pains to make itself evident.+--"So I write."

 +II. Is a hearty expression of personal regard.+--"The salutation of
      Paul with mine own hand."

+III. Invokes the blessing of Divine grace on all+ (ver. 18).

       *       *       *       *       *       *       *       *

Transcriber's Notes

 - Page 551, Occasion, first paragraph, change "two principal" to
   "two principals." Second paragraph, add "ch. ii. 2" reference.
   Style, second paragraph, add left double quote before "they are."

 - Page 552, Outline, in the second row of the table, change an
   em-dash to an ampersand because the material described by the
   second row is interrupted by the material described by the third
   row. Final row, add period after "benediction."

 - Page 553, notes on chapter i., verse 5, apply RC to "Divine"; add
   "Acts v. 39" reference. Verse 6, add "John vii. 18" and "Rom.
   xii. 19" references. Verse 8, apply RC to "Divine." Verse 9, add
   "ver. 6" reference.

 - Page 554, notes on chapter i., verse 12, add comma to "So Christ."
   Lesson "Features," point I, apply RC to "Gospel." Point II, add
   comma to "abounds there." Point III, apply RC to "Gospel"; remove
   commas from "Thessalonica, and" and "Christians, and"; apply RC to
   "Gospel."

 - Page 555, same lesson, point IV, remove comma from "them, and."
   Application ("Lessons"), point 2, apply RC to "Divine." Germ note,
   each of points 1 1 and II 2, apply RC to "Word."

 - Page 556, lesson "Recompense," point I, add "John xv. 20"
   reference. Point II, remove comma from "bottle, but." Point III,
   apply RC to "Divinely." Point III 1, apply RC to "Divinely"; add
   comma to "Thessalonians the." Point III 2, apply RC to "Divinely."

 - The break between pages 556 and 557 is in a unit that style
   indicates should not be broken: "persecutor.--|Seeing." The whole
   unit was moved to the earlier page.

 - Page 557, same lesson, application ("Lessons"), each of points 1
   and 2, apply RC to "Divine." Germ note, point I, apply RC to
   "Gospel." Point IV, apply RC to "Divine." Lesson "Judgment,"
   introduction, apply RC to "Divine" and "Word." Point I 1, apply RC
   to "Divine."

 - Page 558, same lesson, point I 1, apply RC to "Divine." Point I 2,
   add "Ps. civ. 3" reference. Point II, apply RC to "Word"; add
   "1 Tim. i. 11" reference; apply RC to "Gospel" (twice). Point
   III 1, add "John xvii. 22" reference.

 - Page 559, same lesson, point III 1, add "Ps. xc. 17" reference.
   Point III 2, remove comma from "testimony, and"; apply RC to
   "Word" and "Gospel"; add comma to "So none." Application
   ("Lessons"), point 2, apply RC to "Divine." "Divine Retribution"
   note, point V, apply RC to "Divine." Lesson "Prayer,"
   introduction, apply RC to "Divine." Point I, apply RC to "Divine"
   (thrice).

 - Page 560, same lesson, point I, add "Tit. ii. 12" reference. Point
   II, apply RC to "Divine." Point III, apply RC to "Divinely,"
   "Divine Word," and "Divine" (twice). Point IV, apply RC to
   "Divine"; add "Phil. ii. 9" reference; remove comma from "nature,
   and." Point V, apply RC to "Divine" (twice); add "1 Tim. i. 14"
   reference. Point VI, change "Michael Angelo" to "Michelangelo."

 - Page 561, "Genuine Religion" note, each of points II 1 and II 2,
   apply RC to "Divine." "Christ Glorified" note, apply RC to "He
   lives." Notes on chapter ii., verse 1, tag the word "Parousia" as
   Greek, such that it sets in Italic, rather than Roman, type.

 - Page 562, notes on chapter ii., verse 3, change "#xcellence" to
   "excellence." Verse 8, apply RC to "Gospel." Verse 9, apply RC to
   "Gospel." Verse 10, add "John xviii. 38" reference. Verse 13,
   change "i. 3" to "ch. i. 3." Lesson "Antichrist," introduction,
   remove comma from "significance, and."

 - Page 563, same lesson, point I 1, apply RC to "Divine" and
   "Divinity." Point II 1, remove right double quotes after "Church
   of God"; change "apostle" to "apostles"; change the period after
   "Churches" to a colon introducing a list of references. Point
   II 2, apply RC to "Gospel."

 - Page 564, same lesson, point III, apply RC to "Divinely."

 - Page 565, lesson "Salvation," introduction, apply RC to "Divine";
   remove comma from "wicked, and"; apply RC to "Divine." Point I,
   apply RC to "Divine." Point I 1, apply RC to "Divine" (twice).

 - Page 566, same lesson, point I 1, apply RC to "Divine." Point I 2,
   apply RC to "Divine," "Gospel" (thrice), and "Divine" (twice).
   Point II, apply RC to "Divine." Point III, apply RC to "Divine"
   (twice). Point IV, apply RC to "Divine."

 - Page 567, "Holy Ghost" note, point I, apply RC to "Divine." Point
   III, apply RC to "Gospel." "Sainthood" note, point I, apply RC to
   "Gospel." Lesson "Steadfastness," introduction, apply RC to
   "Gospel" and "Divine."

 - Page 568, same lesson, point II, apply RC to "Divine."

 - Page 569, same lesson, application ("Lessons"), point 2, apply RC
   to "Word." Lesson "Prayer," introduction, apply RC to "Gospel"
   (twice); remove comma from "argues, but." Point I, remove the
   commas from "friends, and," "consolation, and," and "bowels, and."
   Each of points III and III 1, apply RC to "Divine."

 - Page 570, same lesson, point III 2, apply RC to "Divine." "Prayer"
   note, point II 1, apply RC to "Divine." "Good Hope" note, point
   I 3, apply RC to "Gospel." Point III 3, change "self dependence"
   to "self-dependence."

 - Page 571, notes on chapter iii., verse 6, change "_esprit de corps_
   do not" to "_esprit de corps_ does not." Verse 16, add em-dash before
   poem.

 - Page 572, lesson "Prayer," introduction, remove comma from
   "affection, and"; apply RC to "Gospel." Point II, apply RC to
   "Gospel." Point II 1, apply RC to "Gospel," "Divine," and "Gospel"
   (twice). Point II 2, apply RC to "Gospel" (four times). Point
   II 3, apply RC to "Gospel" (twice).

 - Page 573, same lesson, point III, apply RC to "Gospel."
   Application ("Lessons"), point 1, apply RC to "Gospel" and
   "Divine." Point 2, apply RC to "Gospel." Lesson "Faithfulness,"
   introduction, apply RC to "Divine." Point I, apply RC to "Word."

 - Page 574, same lesson, point II, apply RC to "Divine." Point III,
   apply RC to "Divine"; tag Von Moltke's motto as German so it sets
   in Italic, rather than Roman, type; apply RC to "Divine" (thrice).
   Lesson "Divine Love," introduction, add comma to "Again the";
   apply RC to "Divine." Point I, apply RC to "Divine," "Gospel,"
   "Divine," "Gospel," and "Divine"; add comma to "war the."

 - Page 575, same lesson, point II, apply RC to "Divine" (thrice).
   Point III, apply RC to "Divine"; remove comma from "grace, or."

 - Page 576, lesson "Consistency," introduction, add comma to
   "crushed and." Point I, remove comma from "apostles, and"; apply
   RC to "Divine" (twice).

 - Page 578, lesson "Work," introduction, apply RC to "Gospel."

 - Page 579, "Industry" note, change "#er. 10" to "Ver. 10" and
   "Caprarolo" to "Caprarola."

 - Page 580, lesson "Call," point I 2, remove comma from "us, and";
   add "Prov. xi. 30" and "Matt. xxv. 21" references.

 - Page 581, same lesson, point II 3, apply RC to "Highest." Germ
   note, point I 5, apply RC to "Divine." Lesson "Treatment,"
   introduction, remove comma from "lazy, and."

 - Page 582, same lesson, point III, change "to oe anguished" to "to
   be anguished."

 - Page 583, "Obedience" note, add "John x. 28" reference. Lesson
   "Courtesy," point I, apply RC to "Divine" (thrice). Point II,
   apply RC to "epistle, but."

 - Page 584, same lesson, Application ("Lessons"), point 3, apply RC
   to "Divine." "Peace" note, change "forty-sixth psalm" to "Psalm."
   "Christian Courtesy" note, point III, apply RC to "Divine."

+INDEX.+

[H. = Homily; N. = Note; I. = Illustration]

Abraham, all nations blessed in, N. Gal.
Abraham's faith, imitators of, H. Gal.
Abrahamic gospel, H. Gal.
Abuse of Christian Liberty, H. Gal.
Abuse of public worship, H. 1 Thess.
Access to Father, privilege of, H. Eph.
Access to God, H. Eph.
Access to God revealing Trinity in unity, H. Eph.
Active faith, righteousness attained by, N. Gal.
Adopting love of God, H. Eph.
Adoption, H. Gal.
Adoption and its claims, I. Gal.
Adoption of children by Jesus Christ, H. Eph.
Adoption of sons, Christ's mission for, in fullness of time, H. Gal.
Advent, second, of Christ, H. 1 Thess.
Affection and meekness, power of, N. Gal.
Affections, religious, are attended with change of nature, H. Eph.
Affliction, necessity and perils of, H. 1 Thess.
Aim high, H. Phil.
Alarm, false, H. 2 Thess.
All and in all, Christ, H. Col.
All are one in Christ, H. Gal.
All concluded under sin, N. Gal.
All, knowledge of Christ intended for, N. Eph.
All nations blessed in Abraham, N. Gal.
Alone, bearing our burdens, H. Gal.
Ambassador, Gospel, H. Eph.
Angels, evil, H. Eph.
Anger and meekness, H. Eph.
Anger sinful, H. Eph.
Antichrist portrayed, H. 2 Thess.
Antidote to contention, humility an, N. Phil.
Anxiety, ministerial, N. Gal.
Anxiety, ministerial, H. Col.
Anxiety, prayer and expression of, H. 2 Thess.
Anxieties of ministerial life, H. Phil.
Anxious care, H. Phil.  362
Apathy one of our trials, N. Gal.
Apostle, erring, H. Gal.
Apostle, religious life of, H. Gal.
Apostle's view of his ministry, H. Eph.
Apostleship, Divine call to, H. Gal.
Apostleship, practical proof of, H. Gal.
Apostolic assurance of supernatural character of Gospel, N. Gal.
Apostolic benediction, H. Eph.
Apostolic courtesy, H. 2 Thess.
Apostolic credentials, H. Gal.
Apostolic estimate of Christian character, H. Col.
Apostolic exposure of false teachers, H. Gal.
Apostolic greeting, H. Phil.
Apostolic greeting, phases of, H. 1 Thess.
Apostolic greeting, phases of, H. 2 Thess.
Apostolic introduction to Epistle, H. 1 Thess.
Apostolic praise of order and stability, H. Col.
Apostolic prayer, comprehensive, H. Col.
Apostolic prayer, comprehensive, H. 1 Thess.
Apostolic preaching, H. Col.
Apostolic preaching characterised by transparent truth, H. 1 Thess.
Apostolic preaching, perversion of, H. Gal.
Apostolic salutation, H. Eph.
Apostolic salutation, H. Col.
Apostolical care for Church, H. Eph.
Apprehension of spiritual blessings, H. Eph.
Armour, Christian's, N. Eph.
Ascension and its results, H. Eph.
Asceticism, H. Col.
Aspirations of soul, higher, H. Col.
Association, H. Gal.
Assurance of Christian inheritance, H. Eph.
Atheism, practical, H. Eph.
Attainment of resurrection, H. Phil.
Attainment, spiritual, H. Phil.
Attitude of Church towards second coming of Christ, H. 1 Thess.
Attractiveness of worth, I. Gal.
Author and End of creation, Christ, H. Col.
Authority, best, to be obeyed, I. Gal.
Authority, ministerial, Divine blessing highest sanction of, N. Gal.
Authority of messenger of God, H. Gal.
Awakening, slumbering souls and their, H. Eph.

Bad and good examples, H. Phil.
Bad companions, I. Gal.
Bad manners, reform of, H. Gal.
Baptism, H. Gal.
Baptism, teaching of, H. Gal
Baptism, true, H. Col.
Bear one another's burdens, H. Gal.
Bear one another's burdens, N. Gal.
Believer complete in Christ, H. Col.
Believer crucified with Christ, and Christ living in believer, H. Gal.
Believer exalted together with Jesus Christ, H. Eph.
Believer's life in Christ, features of, H. Phil.
Believer's perfection, Divine fulness of Christ's pledge of, H. Col.
Believer's portion in both worlds, H. Phil.
Believer's salvation, grounds of confidence in, H. Phil.
Believers, benefit conferred by Spirit on, H. Eph.
Believers, characteristics of, H. Eph.
Believers, children of promise, H. Gal.
Believers, duty of, in evil day, H. Eph.
Believers, enemies of, H. Eph.
Believers, Paul as example to, H. Phil.
Believers, steadfastness of, a source of true ministerial
     satisfaction, H. 1 Thess.
Believing soul, manner in which Gospel comes to, H. 1 Thess.
Benediction, apostolic, H. Eph.
Benediction, concluding, H. Gal.
Benediction, suggestive, H. Eph.
Beneficence, opportunity of, H. Gal.
Benefit conferred by Spirit on believers, H. Eph.
Benevolence, practical Christian, H. Phil.
Best authority to be obeyed, I. Gal.
Best work, call to do, H. 2 Thess.
Bible sword of Spirit, H. Eph.
Biblical account of sin, N. Gal.
Blameless life, lustre of, H. Phil.
Blessedness, man's final condition of, H. Col.
Blessing, Divine, highest sanction of ministerial authority, N. Gal.
Blessing of redemption, great, H. Col.
Blessings of reconciliation, personal, H. Col.
Blessings, spiritual, H. Eph.
Boasting, empty, H. Gal.
Body, human, resurrection of, H. Phil.
Body of Christ, Church the, H. Col.
Body of Christ, members of, H. Eph.
Body, one, and one spirit, H. Eph.
Body, resurrection of, H. 1 Thess.
Boldness a duty in a minister, H. Eph.
Boldness, Christian, H. Phil.
Bond of unity, peace the, H. Eph.
Bonds, Paul's, ministry of, H. Phil.
Bondage and liberty, H. Gal.
Bondage, freedom from, N. Gal.
Bondage, spiritual, ignorance of God a, N. Gal.
Bondwoman and her son, cast out, N. Gal.
Book, names in, H. Phil.
Bravery, Christian, exhortation to, H. Phil.
Bravery, moral, picture of, H. Eph.
Bread, wheat is better than, H. Col.
Brethren, false, and their treatment, H. Gal.
Bride, Christ and His, H. Eph.
Brotherhood, Christian, H. Gal.
Brotherhood of man, Christian, H. Eph.
Brotherly love in action, H. Eph.
Brotherly love, a proof of true sanctification, H. 1 Thess.
Brotherly reproof, N. Gal.
Burden, every man has his own, H. Gal.
Burden or a glory, cross, H. Gal.
Burdens, bear one another's, H. Gal.
Burdens, bear one another's, N. Gal.
Burdens, our twofold, N. Gal.
Burden-bearing, H. Gal.
Burden-bearing, mutual sympathy in, H. Gal.
Business, mind your own, H. 1 Thess.

Call, Divine, to apostleship, H. Gal.
Call, Gospel and, to preach it, H. Gal.
Call of Gospel to sinners, H. Eph.
Call to Christian fortitude, H. Eph.
Call to do best work, H. 2 Thess.
Calling of Gentiles, H. Eph.
Care, anxious, H. Phil.
Care, cure of, H. Phil.
Causes of ministerial thanksgiving, H. Col.
Censure, Church, N. Gal.
Ceremonial and zeal in religion, H. Col.
Ceremonial in religion transitory and unsatisfying, H. Col.
Change effected by Gospel, H. 1 Thess.
Change great, effected in man by Gospel, H. Eph.
Change of life, religion, H. Col.
Change of nature, religious affections are attended with, H. Eph.
Character and privileges of children of God, H. Gal.
Character Christian, essentials of, H. Col.
Character, love perfection of, N. Gal.
Characteristics of believers, H. Eph.
Charge, a father's, H. Eph.
Charity, industry the true, I. 2 Thess.
Charity, nature, properties, and acts of, H. Eph.
Children, adoption of, by Jesus Christ, H. Eph.
Children and parents, duties of, H. Eph.
Children and parents, duties of, H. Col.
Children of darkness and of light, H. Eph.
Children of God, H. Gal.
Children of God, character and privileges of, H. Gal.
Children of promise, believers, H. Gal.
Children of wrath, H. Eph.
Christ a revelation because equal to Father, H. Col.
Christ all, and in all, H. Col.
Christ, all are one in, H Gal.
Christ and creation, N. Eph.
Christ and His bride, H. Eph.
Christ, Author and End of creation, H. Col.
Christ, believer complete in, H. Col.
Christ, believer's life in, features of, H. Phil.
Christ, Church complete in, H. Eph.
Christ, the body of, H. Col.
Christ, coming of, H. 1 Thess.
Christ, contrasted humiliation and exaltation of, H. Eph.
Christ, crucified, H. Gal.
Christ, death and life with, H. Col.
Christ, dignity and dominion of, H. Eph.
Christ, Divine fulness of, pledge of believer's perfection, H. Col.
Christ, enthusiasm for, H. Phil.
Christ, exaltation of, H. Phil.
Christ, excellent knowledge of, H. Phil.
Christ, Firstborn from dead, H. Col.
Christ, fulness of, H. Col.
Christ, gift of, H. Gal.
Christ, gifts of, to His church, H. Eph.
Christ, glorified in His people, N. 2 Thess.
Christ, glorying in cross of, H. Gal.
Christ, God known in, N. Eph.
Christ, great Peacemaker, H. Eph.
Christ, growth into, in love and truth, H. Eph.
Christ, Head of Church, H. Eph.
Christ, heroic devotion to, H. Phil.
Christ, hidden treasures of wisdom in, H. Col.
Christ, humiliation of, a pattern of supreme unselfishness, H. Phil.
Christ, in practical life, H. Col.
Christ in you the hope of glory, H. Col.
Christ, indwelling Word of, H. Col.
Christ, knowledge of, intended for all, N. Eph.
Christ, Law preparing for, H. Gal.
Christ, life in, present condition and future glory of, H. Col.
Christ, life of, only true idea of self-devotion, H. Phil.
Christ living in believer, and believer crucified with Christ, H. Gal.
Christ, love of, H. Eph.
Christ, loving, in sincerity, H. Eph.
Christ, members of body of, H. Eph.
Christ, name of, doing all in, H. Col.
Christ, obedient to Law, H. Gal.
Christ, odium of cross of, H. Gal.
Christ, our Life, H. Col.
Christ, our Pattern, H. Phil.
Christ, our Sacrifice, H. Gal.
Christ, poor representative of, I. Gal.
Christ, redemption through, H. Eph.
Christ, relation of, to God and all created things, H. Col.
Christ, relation to moral creation, H. Col.
Christ, riches of, N. Eph.
Christ, risen with, H. Col.
Christ, sacrifice of, H. Eph.
Christ, second advent of, H. 1 Thess.
Christ, coming of, attitude of Church towards, H. 1 Thess.
Christ, servant of, H. Gal.
Christ, the Christian's life, H. Phil.
Christ, the Inheritance of saints, N. Eph.
Christ, the only gain, H. Phil.
Christ the Reconciler, H. Col.
Christ the Redeemer, H. Phil.
Christ, true knowledge of, external religionism incomparable
     with, H. Phil.
Christ, unsearchable riches of, N. Eph.
Christ, worthy of universal homage, H. Phil.
Christ's crucifixion, H. Phil.
Christ's love for the Church, H. Eph.
Christ's mission for adoption of sons in fulness of time, H. Gal.
Christ's resurrection, power of, H. Phil.
Christ's sacrifice of Himself explained, and man's duty to offer
     spiritual sacrifice inferred and recommended, H. Eph.
Christ's sufferings, fellowship of, H. Phil.
Christ's truth in relation to our daily conversation, H. Col.
Christian benevolence, practical, H. Phil.
Christian boldness, H. Phil.
Christian bravery, exhortation to. H. Phil.
Christian brotherhood, H. Gal.
Christian brotherhood of men, H. Eph.
Christian character, apostolic estimate of, H. Col.
Christian character, essentials of, H. Col.
Christian character, love perfection of, H. Col.
Christian character, malice incompatible with, H. Eph.
Christian Church a family, H. Eph.
Christian circumcision, H. Col.
Christian citizenship, H. Phil.
Christian conduct, rule of, N. Eph.
Christian consistency, H. Gal.
Christian consistency, H. Phil.
Christian consistency, H. 2 Thess.
Christian contentment, H. Phil.
Christian conversation, H. Col.
Christian courtesy, H. Phil.
Christian courtesy, H. 2 Thess.
Christian, dead to law, H. Gal.
Christian duty, suggestive summary of law of, H. Col.
Christian duty to poor, N. Gal.
Christian equity, H. Phil.
Christian ethics, Paul's doctrine of, H. Eph.
Christian ethics, science of, H. Phil.
Christian excellence, eulogy of, H. Phil.
Christian experience, highest type of, H. Phil.
Christian fidelity, H. 2 Thess.