Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

+

dinefs.

178
They had not fo learned Chrift, but were taught by him,
Sect. 8. the groffeit Lewdness, fo as to work all Un- all Uncleannels with Gree
cleanness with infatiable Greediness; tranf-
Eph. IV. 19. greffing the Bounds, not only of Virtue and
Decency, but even of natural Appetite, and
fhamefully foliciting their own Lufts, under
a fad Incapacity of nobler and more rational
Enjoyments.

20

Into fuch profligate and brutal Sensualities
as thefe, the Heathen World are funk; but
ye have not fo learned Chrift (c), as if his Reli-
gion were a mere Syftem of Speculation, that
might leave you practically attached to such
21 abominable Vices. Its Precepts incul-
cate upon you Leffons of the strictest Purity,
and I am perfuaded that you feel the genuine
Tendency and Defign of it in
your Hearts,
powerfully inclining you to act upon them;
Jeeing you have in Effect beard him (d), even
the Lord Jefus Chrift himfelf, fpeaking to
you in his Word by us his authorized Em-
baffadors, and have been inftructed in him
and his Religion, as the uncorrupted Truth
is in fefus, and not in that imperfect and
adulterated Form, in which fome prefume
to deliver what they call his Gofpel.

22

[blocks in formation]

fation,

Give me Leave therefore to urge and in- 22 That ye put off contreat you, according to the many good In- cerning the former Converftructions have already received, to put off, and entirely to lay afide, with respect to the former Converfation (e), or to those finful

you

Habits

(c) Ye have not fo learned Chrift.] This may perhaps intimate, that there was a Manner of learning Chrift, which might feem more confiftent with fuch Irregularities, and may glance on fome Teachers who called themfelves Chriftians, and yet took very little Care to inculcate practical Religion. Many Paffages in the Apostle's Writings fhew this to have been actually the Cafe, though it feems thefe Teachers had not much Footing at Ephefus. Compare 2 Tim. iv. 3.

(d) Seeing ye have heard him.] That the Particle ye may be thus rendered, has been obferved before, in Note (b), on Eph. iii. 2. pag. 152. So that no Conclufion can be drawn from hence, that this Epiftle was not written to the Ephefians, with whom he had long been converfant, but to fome other Church, that he had never feen, and with whofe Circumstances he was not fo well acquainted.

(e) To put off, &c.] As the Verbs amobodas, avansodas, and duraodai, are all in the Infinitive Mood, it fhews how they are connected with the preceding Words, and

that

179

to put off the Old Man, and to put on the New. Habits and Practices, which were the Scan- Sect. 8. dal and Difhohour of your Gentile Days,

fation, the old Man, which is, corrupt according to the

deceitful Lufts;

23

And be renewed in the Spirit of your Mind ;

the Old Man (f), which is depraved and cor- Eph. IV. 22:
rupt in every Part of it, and whofe Actions
are directed, not by the Rules of Reason
and a Regard to the Will of God, but ac-
cording to thofe deceitful Lufts (g), which
generally prevail in the World, and once
prevailed in you likewife, and funk you in-
to fo degenerate a State; Lufts, which could
lead you to no rational and folid Happiness,
but deluded you by vain Appearances and
fallacious Hopes, which always ended in
your Disappointment and Shame :
And 23
labour more and more, by cultivating every
Motion of the good Spirit of GOD upon
your Hearts, to be renewed in the Spirit of
your Mind (b), that your rational Powers,
being duly directed by his Illumination,
may maintain a proper Command over all
the inferior Faculties of your Nature, and
unite them in the Profecution of that great
End, which you ought continually to be
And thus, let it
24.
be

24 And that ye put on propofing to yourselves.

the

that the Sense of them is, "Ye have been inftructed-to put off the Old Man, and to "be renewed in the Spirit of your Mind, and to put on the New Man :" Accordingly I have preferved this Connection in the Verfion, but to avoid fuch an exceffive Length in the Paraphrafe, as would have made it both difagreeable and obfcure, I have here, as in many other Places, broken one Sentence into several.

(f) The Old Man.] As particular Difpofitions of Mind are fometimes expreffed by particular Garments, when a Man appears in them, fo the whole of a good or bad Character, may be reprefented by a compleat Drefs, yea by the Body in which he appears; and Vice, alas, being too natural, and getting the firft Poffeffion, whereas Goodness, if it ever fucceeds at all, is adventitious, the former may well be called the Old, and the latter the New Man.

(8) According to deceitful Lufts.] Some have explained this of the Lufts into which they were led by the Artifices of the Heathen Priests, who reprefented theni as not difagreeable to their eftablished Deities, or by the Sophiftry of their Philofophers, who found out fo many fallacious Excutes for the groffeft Vices: But the Senfe given in the Paraphrafe feems moft certain, and of the moft general Importance; Confiderations, which I have always endeavoured to keep in View in the whole of this Work.

(b) In the Spirit of your Mind.] The Word feems here to be put for the whole Soul; and arvua, the Spirit, for its Intellectual and Leading Faculty, on which the Spirit of GOD might chiefly operate, yet not exclufive of fome Influence on the inferior Powers. See 1 Theff. v. 23. and compare Note (b) above, on ver. 18.

Z 2

(1) True

180

Sect. 8.

Eph. IV. 24.

25

They should avoid all Lying, and Speak Truth;

teousness and true Holiness.

be your Care to put on the New Man, to the new Man, which after
clothe yourselves with every Habit of Vir- GOD is created in Righ-
tue and Goodnefs, with every pious Prin-
ciple and Difpofition, belonging to the Cha-
racter of fuch as are renewed; even that
New Man, which is created by Divine Grace,
according to [the Image of] GOD, the great
Standard of Perfection, and is fo formed as
to resemble him in univerfal Righteousnes
and true evangelical Holiness (i), which fo
far as it prevails in the human Soul, is in-
deed the Likeness of GOD, drawn upon it
in the most amiable Lineaments. (Compare
Col. iii. 10.)

Wherefore, on thefe great Principles, be-
ware of every Vice to which
Vice to which you have been
formerly addicted; and in particular, putting
away every Lye (k), whatever any of the
Heathens may have taught or practifed,
Speak every one of you with the greatest Sim-
plicity and Strictnefs, the exact Truth to
his Neighbour; for we are all (as I obferved
above,) by Virtue of our Union to Christ our
common Head, Members one of another, and
therefore it would be very indecent and im-
proper, for the Sake of any little feparate
Advantage of our own, to injure or deceive
a Fellow-Member, which indeed the com-
mon Bond of Humanity might lead us to
deteft, if the peculiar Engagements of our
holy Profeffion were not confidered.

If

25 Wherefore putting aMan Truth with his Neighway Lying, fpeak every bour; for we are Members one of another.

(i) True Holiness.] As oσions andas ftands in a beautiful Oppofition to Jupiai rns arrains, deceitful Lufts, I have chofen therefore with our Tranflation to render it in a fimilar Manner. But Archbishop Tillotson would tranflate this Claufe, the Holiness of Truth; (vol. ii. pag. 349.) and Dr. Owen alfo prefers this Rendering, by Truth understanding the Gospel, and fo explaining it of evangelical Holiness, in Oppo. fition to fuch mere moral Virtue, as might be found in an Heathen. See Dr. Owen on the Spirit, pag. 325.

(k) Every Lye.] This Todos feems to exprefs, and Lying is fo oppofite to that Sincerity which becomes a Chriftian, that what is faid against it may be best taken in the most extenfive Senfe.. Dr. Whitby has well fhewn in his Note on this Paffage, that feveral of the best of the Heathen Moralifts thought Lying might in many Cafes be juftified; and I wish that none but Heathens had ever taught fo loofe and dangerous a Doctrine.

(1) Be

and fhould guard againft Anger, and Stealing.

any

26 Be ye angry, and fin If Occafion arises which obliges you not: let not the Sun go to be angry, which indeed may, and often down upon your Wrath:

781

Sect. 8.

will be the Cafe, let not your Anger dif- Eph. IV. 26. compose your Spirits, and fin not in the exceffive Indulgence of that turbulent and dangerous Paffion (); but fee that there be a justifiable Cause for the Refentment you exprefs, and that your Anger do not then rife beyond its proper Degree, nor err in its Continuance: And in this View, let not the Sun however go down upon your Wrath (m), left it grow into inveterate Malice and ha27 Neither give Place to bitual Spleen: Neither in this Respect give 27 Place to the Devil, who labours as much as poffible to poffefs and inflame the Spirits of Men with mutual Enmity, and to induce them to give Ear to flanderous Reports and Accufations, that he may make their Characters deformed, and their State miferable like his own.

the Devil.

1

28 Let him that ftole,

let

Let him that, while he was in his Hea- 28 fteal no more: but rather then Condition of Ignorance and Vice, ftole from others what was their juft Property, or in any other Method defrauded his Neighbour, fteal and defraud no more (n), know

ing

(1) Be angry, and fin not.] It is evident, that this is not a Command to be angry, but a Conceffion only, with a Caution to beware of finning in it. (Compare Ifai. viii. 9, 10. and Nah. iii. 14, 15.) It must however imply the Thing to be poffible; for to imagine, as a celebrated Divine does, that it is as if it were faid, Do if you can be angry without Sin, feems beneath the Dignity, which the Apostle always preserves in his Writings.

(m) Let not the Sun go down upon your Wrath.] Many have obferved, that this was agreeable to the Pythagorean Practice, who used always, if the Members of their particular Society had any Difference with each other, to give Tokens of Reconciliation before the Sun went down. (See Dr. Scott's Chriftian Life, vol. i. pag. 326. and Dr. Whitby's Note on this Place.) Were Family Prayer always practifed in the Evening, it might have an happy Tendency to promote the Obfervation of this excellent Precept, intended (no Doubt) to prevent Perfons going to fleep in Anger, or being kept wakeful by fuch Thoughts, as continued Quarrels, efpecially between near Relations and Friends, will be apt to occafion. Gloomy Meditations in the Silence of the Night inflame the Senfe of the fuppofed Injury, and cherish fiercer Refentments, till perhaps at length Purposes and Counfels of Revenge fucceed. See Limborch. Theolog. lib. v. cap. 45. §. 6.

(n) Let him that stole, steal no more.] Stealing (as Dr. Whitby has well fhewn here,) was a very common Vice among the Heathens: But how juftifiable foever the Lace

dæmonian

182
Sect. 8. ing that God is the Avenger of all fuch In-
juries (Compare 1 Theff. iv. 6.) But ra-
Eph. IV. 28. ther let him labour diligently, working with
[his] Hands in fome honeft Employment
that which is good and creditable; that he
may not only fupport himself, without tref-
paffing upon Society, or being in any Re-
fpect a Burthen to it, but that he may have
[fomething] to impart to the Neceffious, and
may be capable of fparing fomewhat, out of
what he gains by Industry in his Calling, for
the Relief of fuch as ftand in Need of it.

They should abstain from all corrupt Discourse,

29

Let me exhort you alfo to take heed, that no corrupt Difcourfe, no putrid, filthy, and offenfive Speech, proceed out of your Mouth (0), to debauch the Minds of those that are about you, and to irritate those irregular Difpofitions of the Heart, which it may, in many Instances, even without fuch Incentives be fo difficult to reftrain: But embrace every Opportunity that may conveniently be taken, of introducing any Thing that is good (p), and which may tend to useful Edification, that you may thus by your

Dif

let him labour, working with his Hands the Thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth.

[blocks in formation]

dæmonian Law relating to it might be in a political View, (of which fee Rollin, Man. de Etudier, vol. iii. pag. 341. & feq.) I fear, it tended to abate the Horror Perfons fhould have of invading, in any Refpect, the Property of each other, and to corrupt the Minds of young People, by forming them to a fubtile and knavish Turn, which, however it might fit them for plundering their Enemies in War, (to which the Genius of that Commonwealth was too much directed,) would certainly tend to make them bad Children, Servants, and Citizens.

(0) Let no corrupt Difcourfe, &c.] This undoubtedly refers to obscene Talk, which is with great Propriety called corrupt or putrid, as the Word σapos fignifies, in direct Oppofition to that which is feafoned with Salt, and is recommended (Col. iv. 6.) as tending to preserve from fuch Putrefaction and Rottennefs. It is ftrange, that fuch Indecencies, as are here cenfured, fhould ever prevail, especially among Perfons whofe Rank in Life requires a Politeness of Behaviour, which would engage them to guard against this, much more than against any Thing offenfive in their Perfon or Drefs.

(p) Any Thing that is good.] This feems the proper Import of ris ayados, which is literally, if any Thing be good; intimating that if any useful Thought arife, or an Occafion may be fitly taken to graft an edifying Remark on any Thing that paffes in Converfation, there fhould be a Readiness to improve it; that fo every one may furnish out his Quota, without unprofitable and difagreeable Chafms of Silence, or the Neceffity of having Recourfe to any Thing that is ill to prevent them; which alas, is too of ten the Cafe.

2

(q) By

« AnteriorContinuar »