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(Inaugural Sermon) —

1. St. Paul asked this question with a miraculous conversion in memory, with all the signs of a chiefest apostle in possession, with a crown of righteousness laid up for him in prospect.

2. That which weighed upon St. Paul was —

(1) The recollection of the issues for immortal souls, of having the revelation of grace offered to them (vers. 15, 16).

(2) The difficulty of fidelity (ver. 17). It would be easy, he says, to discharge this great office, if we might make traffic of the Word of God; if we might throw in here a grain of flattery, and there a scruple of indulgence; adapt it to the taste of the audience, or take counsel concerning it of the genius of the age. But to preach the gospel in its fourfold completeness — "as of sincerity," "as of God," "in the sight of God," "in Christ" — this demands of the messenger that loftiest grace of an incorruptible fidelity.

3. It is easy to say, easier to think, that the first days of the gospel were more anxious than our own. We can understand how important, difficult, and perilous it was for the new faith to gain a hearing. And so men sympathise with the apostles as engaged in an enterprise disproportioned to their strength; but they have nothing but pity or ridicule for the ministers of to-day, especially if a minister should bewail his insufficiency, or recognise the need of Divine help to qualify him for his work. Thoughts such as these throw a very real stumbling-block in the way of the gospel. The minister himself has to dread their infection. "Against these things," he has to ask himself, "who is sufficient?"

4. The difficulties which faced St. Paul were open and tangible. On the one side there was Jewish bigotry, and on the other side Greek speculation; here the charge of apostasy from ancestral sanctities, there of insubordination to existing authorities; here some definite risk of persecution, there some insidious corruption of gospel simplicity by Judaizing admixture or Alexandrian refinement.

5. But St. Paul was spared some experiences, belonging to an age not his. When he wrote 2 Timothy 3:1, etc., he scarcely sounded the depths of our sea of trouble, and nowhere quite prepares us for those developments which are the phenomena of this latter part of our century, and which draw forth from our hearts half the cry of the text, viz. —

(1) The restless reckless impatience of the old, even when the old is God's truth; the insolent disdain of Christ's ordinance of preaching, except in so far as the preacher will fling away his Bible, and prophesy out of his own spirit; the light bandying of sacred subjects at every social table; the choosing and rejecting amongst the plain sayings of Scripture, as though each particular revelation were an open question.

(2) The schism of thought, where not of feeling, between the teachers of the Church and those who ought to be among the taught.

(3) The opposite experience, the surrender of all that is distinctive in the ministerial office, or the abandonment of all that is at first sight difficult in the Divine revelation. Not thus will the breach between clergy and laity be effectually healed — as though the Church's commission were a thing to be ashamed of, or as though the one object were to show men that the Bible contained nothing which they might not have known without it.

(4) The timidity of the believing in the face of free thought and scientific discovery. I count it a great evil when true believers betray an uneasiness in the presence of true seekers. Truth and the truth can never really be at variance. Let not the evangelical doctrine ever fear lest the God of creation should betray it, or leave it naked to its enemies. Least of all let faith think that by hiding its head in the sand it can elude pursuit, or that by a clamorous outcry, "The gospel in danger," it can breathe either confidence into its troops or panic into its foes. Let us be brave, with a courage at once of man and of God. Conclusion: Men have said to me, in the prospect of this ministry —

1. "You must be careful what you advance. Say nothing which is not sound in logic, whatever it be in rhetoric. Assume nothing — prove your points." Is the gospel itself to be, as between me and you, an open question? Am I bound, every time I mention the Incarnation, the Resurrection, the Divinity of Christ, to prove each to you by some novel argument? Honestly do I say this to you, If that was what you wanted, I am not the man. If you believe not the gospel, I cannot hope to prove it to you. I am here, a steward of God's mysteries, to bring out to you from His storehouse something profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for discipline in righteousness.

2. "You will have a critical audience. Everything will be discussed." "'A fair field and no favour' will be the motto of your congregation." The caution falls chillingly upon the ear. I believe not one word of it. Not to judge the preacher, .but to hear the Word; not to say "The sermon was long," but to say, "On this day God has provided me with a sweet solace of heavenly hope and spiritual communion; and now I depart, warmed, cheered, edified for another week's labour, and for the everlasting rest beyond" — this shall be the attitude of your ear and heart as you listen to the voice of your minister.

(Dean Vaughan.)

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KJV: For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish:

WEB: For we are a sweet aroma of Christ to God, in those who are saved, and in those who perish;