Still further, Paul’s thanksgiving teaches us that we should be thankful for all opportunities of doing such work.  Christian men and women often grudge their services and grudge their money, and feel as if the necessities for doing Christian work in the world were rather a burden than an honour.  This man’s generous heart was so full of love to his Prince that it glowed with thankfulness at the thought that Christ had let him do such things for Him.  And He lets you do them if you will.

So, dear friends, it comes to be a very solemn question for us.  What part are we playing in that great triumphal procession?  We are all of us marching at His chariot wheels, whether we know it or not.  But there were two sets of people in the old triumph.  There were those who were conquered by force and unconquered in heart, and out of their eyes gleamed unquenchable malice and hatred, though their weapons were broken and their arms fettered.  And there were those who, having shared in the commander’s fight, shared in his triumph and rejoiced in his rule.  And when the procession reached the gate of the temple, some, at any rate, of the former class were put to death before the gates.  I pray you to remember that if we are dragged after Him reluctantly, the word will come:  ’These, mine enemies, which would not that I should reign over them, bring hither and slay them before Me.’  Whereas, on the other hand, for those who have yielded heart and soul to Him in love and submission born of the reception of His great love, the blessed word will come:  ’He that overcometh shall inherit all things.’  Which of the two parts of the procession do you belong to, my friend?  Make your choice where you shall march, and whether you will be His loyal allies and soldiers who share in His triumph, or His enemies, who, overcome by His power, are not melted by His love.  The one live, the other perish.

TRANSFORMATION BY BEHOLDING

   ’We all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory
   of the Lord, are changed into the same image.’—­2 COR. iii. 18.

This whole section of the Epistle in which our text occurs is a remarkable instance of the fervid richness of the Apostle’s mind, which acquires force by motion, and, like a chariot-wheel, catches fire as it revolves.  One of the most obvious peculiarities of his style is his habit of ‘going off at a word.’  Each thought is, as it were, barbed all round, and catches and draws into sight a multitude of others, but slightly related to the main purpose in hand.  And this characteristic gives at first sight an appearance of confusion to his writings.  But it is not confusion, it is richness.  The luxuriant underwood which this fertile soil bears, as some tropical forest, does not choke the great trees, though it drapes them.