SECOND EI'ISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS. 7i 



of zeal and duty. He tells them that he did not visit them 

 at the time proposed, lest their meeting should have been 

 attended with mutual grief; and with grief to him imbit 

 tered by the reflection, that he was giving pain to those from 

 whom alone he could receive comfort : " I determined this 

 with myself, that I would not come again to you in heavi' 

 ness For if I make you sorry, who is he then that maketh 

 me glad, but the same which is made sorry by me ?" chap. 

 2:1, 2 : that he had written his former epistle to warn 

 them beforehand of their fault, "lest, when he came, he 

 should have sorrow from them of whom he ought to re- 

 joice," chap. 2:3: that he had the further view, though 

 perhaps unperceived by them, of making an experiment of 

 their fidelity, *' to know the proof of them, whether they 

 are obedient in all things," chap. 2:9. This full discovery 

 of his motive came very naturally from the apostle, after he 

 had seen the success of his measures, but would no-t have 

 been a seasonable communication before. The whole com- 

 poses a train of sentiment and of conduct resulting from real 

 eituation, and from real circumstance, and as remote as pos- 

 sible from fiction or imposture. 



yi. Chap. 11:9: "When I was present with you, and 

 wanted, I was chargeable to no man ; for that which was 

 lacking to me the brethren which came from Macedonia 

 supplied." The principal fact set forth in this passage, the 

 arrival at Corinth of brethren from Macedonia during St. 

 Paul's first residence in that city, is explicitly recorded. Acts 

 18 : 1, 5 : "After these things Paul departed from Athens, 

 and came to Corinth. And when Silas and Timotheus Avere 

 come from Macedonia, Paul was pressed in the spirit, and 

 testified to the Jews that Jesus was Christ." 



VII. The above quotation from the Acts proves that 

 Silas and Timotheus were assistants to St. Paul in preach- 

 ing the gospel at Corinth. "With which correspond the 

 words of the epistle, chap. 1 : 19 : "For the Son of God, 

 Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us, even by 



