}

FIRST THESSALONIANS.

1 THESSALONIANS iii. 11.

(UNITARIANISM.)

"And our Lord Jesus Christ direct our way."

Though God and Christ are here joined together, it is by no means a proper example of prayer to Christ; but as all power is given to Christ, with respect to his church, and he frequently appeared to Paul, and directed the course of his apostolical journeys, it was natural for him to desire to have the same direction to go where he wished himself."

Priestley.

"The Apostle, in his missionary labours, was under the immediate direction of Christ, who occasionally appeared to him for his guidance and encouragement. See Acts xxii. 17.; 2 Cor. xii. 8, 9.'

Note to the Unitarian Version.

1 THESSALONIANS V. 17.

"Pray without ceasing."

(MESSALIANS OR EUCHYTES.)

The Messalians or Euchytes, a sect of the fourth century, imagined, according to the oriental notion, that the mind of man was inhabited by an evil demon; they contended, that by constant prayer, and singing of hymns, the soul was enabled to expel the demon, and might then be perfectly united with the divine essence.

See Epiphanius Hares. 80. p. 1067. Theodoret. Hæret. Fabul. lib. iv. cap. 10. p. 672.

SECOND THESSALONIANS.

2 THESSALONIANS i. 2.

"God our Father."

(UNITARIANISM.)

"It cannot but be observed, that in the usual tenor of Scripture language, God and Christ are carefully distinguished; the appellation of God being given to the Father only, exclusively of Christ, as well as of all other beings."

Priestley.

Except there come a falling away."

(ROMAN CATHOLICS.)

"This revolt or falling off is generally understood, the ancient fathers, of a revolt from the Roman mpire, which was first to be destroyed before the oming of Antichrist. It may perhaps be under

B b

stood also of a revolt of many nations from the Catholic Church; which has in part happened already by the means of Mahomet, Luther, &c. and, as it may be supposed, will be more general in the days of Antichrist: though even then the Catholic* Church herself, if we believe the Scriptures and the Creed, never can fall off from Christ.'

Note to the Roman Catholic Version.

No. 1.

2 THESSALONIANS ii. 15.

"Hold the traditions."

(ROMAN CATHOLICS.)

"See here, that the unwritten traditions of the Apostles are no less to be received than their epistles."

No. 2.

Note to the Roman Catholic Version.

(HERRNHUTER.)

Dr. Southey, alluding to the Herrnhuters, when their sect was in its infancy, remarks, "it was taken into consideration more than once, whether they should lay aside their peculiar discipline for the sake of avoiding evil reports; Count Zinzendorf himself inclined at one time to this concession, and thought it better, that they should be entirely embodied in the Lutheran Church, with which they professed a perfect conformity in doctrine: the

* Where the infallibility of the church resided, the Romanists have differed among themselves; some resting it in the Pope, others requiring the concurrence of a general council.-Southey's Book of the Church.

brethren, who were then between five and six hundred in number, regarded the discipline as the precious inheritance which had been left them by their fathers, but they consented to let the question be decided by lot; in the full confidence that the decision would be directed by immediate providence. Two verses therefore of St. Paul were written on separate papers. The first was in support of Count Zinzendorf's motion, To them that are without law, be ye as without law, (being not without law to God, but under the law in Christ,) that ye may gain them that are without law.' The text of the second lot was this, "Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught.' The trial was preceded by fervent prayer; a child of four years old drew the second lot; and they entered from that day (in their own words,) into a covenant with each other, to remain upon this footing, and in this constitution to carry on the work of the Lord, and to preach his gospel in all the world, and among all nations, whithersoever he should be pleased to send and scatter them abroad." Southey's Life of Wesley.