256 Sect. 8. 16. 17 it. ·And declares his Purpose to come to them shortly; I beseech you therefore, [that] with filial 1 Cor. IV. ing itrictly to the Faith which I taught you, and 18 vary. Some, I hear, are puffed up in vain and proud Confidence, as if, after all I have faid, I would not come to you, and did not dare to appear in a Place, where I have now fo many Oppofers. 19 But they are extreamly mistaken, for I will certainly come to you, and that quickly too, if the Lord, who holds the Reins of univerfal Government in his Hands, permit: And I will then know and examine, not the confident Speech, and florid Talk of thofe, that are thus puffed up, but the Power they have to vindicate their Pretenfions, and what miraculous Proof they can give of that Authority in the Church, which they prefume 20 to oppose to mine. For the Kingdom of GOD is not in Speech, in confident Affertions, or in elegant Forms of Address, but is established in the Exertions of a miraculous Power, conferred on the true and genuine Apostles of our Lord by the Effufion of his Spirit upon them, by Virtue be fully fa of which his faithful Subjects may Virtue 21 them the Regard they require. tisfied, they act according to his Will, in paying 16 Wherefore I befeech you, be ye Followers of me, 17 For this Caufe have I fent unto you Timotheus, who is my beloved Son, and faithful in the Lord, who fhall bring you into Remembe in Chrift, as I teach eve brance of my Ways which ry where in every Church. rit of Meekness. And afks, whether it should be with a Rod, or in Love? or in Love, and in the Spi- Rod (f) of Correction in my Hand, ufing my Apoftolick Power for your Chastisement, or, which for your Sakes I fhould much rather choose, in Love, and in the Spirit of Meeknefs and Gentleness, comforting and commending, inftead of chastif ing? You will, I hope, think seriously upon the Matter in Time, before Things are driven to fuch an Extremity, as may not any longer leave it in my Choice, or yours. How IMPROVEMENT. W adorable is the Efficacy of Divine Grace, which bore those zealous and faithful Servants of Christ, thro' all their Labours and Fatigues, when they were made a Spectacle to the World, to Angels Ver. 9. and Men! How glorious a Spectacle! worthy furely, as any Thing, fince that wonderful Scene on Calvary, of the Eye of God himself. How little are we to judge of the Divine Favour by external Circumstances, when those beft of Men, were of all others the most miferable, farther, than as their heavenly Hope fupported and animated them! And when that is taken into the Account, who would not emulate their Lot, tho' bungry and thirsty, tho' naked and deftitute, without Habitation, with Ver.11,-13. out Protector, without Friends? When we confider their Share in the Divine Friendship, when we confider the bleffed Effects of their La→ bours, and the glorious Crown which awaits them after all their Sufferings; furely they must appear happy in Proportion to the Degree in which they seemed miferable, and glorious in Proportion to the Degree in which the World held them as infamous! That illustrious Person, whose Epistles are now before us, knew not the Pleasures of domestick Life, in many of its most endearing Relations. But (f) With a Rod of Correction.] That the Apostles had often a miraculous Power of inAlicting Death, and other temporal Judgments, in Cafe of aggravated Offence, appears from other Paffages of Scripture. Acts v. 5,-10. Chap. xiii. 10, 11. I Tim. 20. and is referred to more than once, or twice in these Epistles to the Corinthians. I Cor. V. 5. 2 Cor. i. 23. Chap. x. 6, 8. Chap. xiii. 2, 3, 10. And I cannot mention these Paffages, without leading my Reader to reflect on the Wisdom of Providence, in permitting fuch Oppofition to arife against St. Paul, particularly at Corinth: It gave him an Opportunity of making the strongest Appeals to what they are fuppofed to know of his miraculous Power; and had these Appeals not been indeed founded on the most certain and evident Truth, they muft, inftead of reftoring him to their Regards, as we find in Fact they did, have been fufficient of themselves utterly to have ruined all his Reputation, and Intereft among them, had it before been ever so great. VOL. IV. Kk 258 Sect. 8. Ver. 15. Ver. 14. Ver. 21. in Reflections on St. Paul's Tenderness for his Children in Chrift. But God made him a spiritual Father to Multitudes; and no Doubt, as he urges the Confideration on his Children in Chrift, he felt the Joy arifing from it ftrong in his own Soul, when he faid, I have begotten you Chrift Jefus by the Gospel. Surely it ought never to have been forgotten by them; and if thro' the Artifices of ill-defigning Men, and the remaining Infirmities of their own Character, it was fometimes, and in fome Degree forgotten now, yet undoubtedly, it would be remembered by them in the heavenly World for ever; even by as many, as the Lord his GOD bad graciously given him. And if there be any Remembrance there, that they once grieved him, it will be an Engagement to all thofe Offices of. an eternal Friendship, which the Exaltation of the heavenly State fhall allow. In the mean Time, his paternal Affection for them wrought, not in a foolish Fondness of Indulgence, which in the Language of Divine Wisdom, is bating a Son; but in the Character of a prudent and faithful Parent, who, defirous that his Children may be as wife, and good as poffible, will rather use the Rod than fuffer them to be undone. Yet when he fpeaks of ufing it, he speaks with Regret, as one who would rather chufe to act in the Spirit of Gentleness, and without any Mixture of Severity, how neceffary foever. The whole of his fubfequent Conduct to the Corinthians, as far as it may be learned from this, or the following Epistle, bears a perfect Confiftency with thefe Expreffions, and illuftrates their Sincerity. May God give to his Minifters more of this truly apoftolical Spirit, more of thofe Overflowings of holy Love, attempering and attempered by, that ardent Zeal againft Sin, and that firm Refolution in the Dif charge of Duty, which fhone fo brightly in the Apostle, and in which he fo freely and juftly recommends himself to the Imitation of his Children and his Brethren. SECT. The Apostle proceeds to the Cafe of the incestuous Perfon; 259 SECT. IX. The Apostle proceeds to mention the Irregularities, which prevailed in the Corinthian Church : and bere handleth the Cafe of the incestuous Perfon, whom he commands them to feparate from their Communion. I Cor. V. I, to the End. 1 CORINTHIANS V. 1. T is reported commonly, that there is Fornication among you, and fuch For nication, as is not fo much as named amongft the Gen tiles, that one should have his Father's Wife. 2 And ye are puffed up, that he that hath done this Deed and have not rather mourned, I I CORINTHIANS V. I. HAVE spoken of coming to you with a Sect. 9. mitted (a) Generally reported.] Dr. Whitby thinks, that the fcandalous Stories that were generally told among the Heathen, of the incestuous Practices of primitive Chriftians, had their Original from the Mifreprefentation of this Fact. Many Quotations, brought by this learned Author, and others, on this Text, fhew, that Inceft was held in high Abomination among the Heathen; and an Enormity of this Kind is, (as is well known,) called by Cicero, Scelus incredibile & inauditum, an incredible and unheard of Wickedness. See also Grot. de fure Bel. & Pac. Lib. II. Cap. v. §. 14. No. 2. (b) Criminal Converfe.] Probably fome Father had parted with his Wife, perhaps provoked by her Indifcretion, and his Son, to whom fhe was Mother-in-law, had married her for by 2 Cor. vii. 12. it seems probable the Perfon injured was yet alive. Kk 2 (c) Prefent · 260 Sect. 9. I Cor. V. 3. nion? And exhorts them to deliver him to Satan; from among you. in 3 For I verily, as abfent Body, but prefent in Spirit, have judged already, as though I were prefent, concerning him that hath fo done this Deed; 4 In the Name of our Jefus Chrift, when ye are gathered together, and my Spirit, with the Power of our Lord Jefus Chrift, mitted this Fact should be taken away from you, and Deed might be taken away be no longer allowed to continue in your CommuBut however negligent you have been, and whatever Confequence I draw upon myself by interpofing in this Affair, I cannot, I will not be filent. I am abfent indeed in Body, and therefore cannot take thefe vigorous Steps, which my Zeal for the Honour of Chrift, and my tender Concern for your Reputation and Happiness, dictate: But I am prefent in Spirit (c); I have a diftinct View of all the Circumftances of the Cafe, and therefore in as determinate a Manner, as if I were actually prefent, I have judged and paffed Sentence on him, who I know has indeed 4 committed this Enormity. And the Sentence I have paffed is this: That ye being all folemnly gathered together in full Affembly, in the Name of our Lord Jefus Chrift, and my Spirit being prefent with you, with the efficacious Power of our Lord Jefus Chrift, acting according to my Deter mination, tho' I be at fuch a Distance, and being ready to add an awful Efficacy and Sanction 5 to your Cenfure, Do by a publick and exprefs Act deliver fuch an one by Name to Satan (d) to be by him, as the terrible Executioner of the Divine Juftice and Displeasure, chaftifed and tor- mented, in order to the Deftruction of the Fleft, that, for this fhameful Indulgence of its lafcivious Appetites and Defires, it may be emaciated and enfeebled, and the Offender, alarmed by Sufferings of fo extraordinary and formidable a Nature, if poffible, may be brought to true Repentance 5 To deliver fuch an one unto Satan for the Deftruction of the Flesh, that the Spirit (c). Prefent in Spirit.] Some think, this refers to an extraordinary Gift, which St. Paul had, of difcerning clearly and circumftantially, what was done at a Diftance. Compare Col. ii. 5. 2. Kings v. 26. Chap. vi. 12. See Dr. Benfon's Hift. Vol. ii. pag. 16. (d) To deliver fuch an one to Satan, &c.] Some think, that as Satan is confidered as the Head of all, who are not under Chrift as their Head, that is, in the Church of Christ,, every one, who was cut off from the Church, muft of Course be delivered over to Satan; but it seems much more reasonable to believe, that this refers to the Infliction of fome bodily Pains, or Difeafes, in which Satan might act as the Inftrument of the Divine Juftice. Compare 1 Tim. i. 20. and this was for the Deftruction of the Flesh; not directly of the fefbly Principle, for in that Senfe it could not be oppofed to the faving the Spirit in the Day of the Lord; but probably, as the Paraphrafe intimates, for the emaciating and enfeebling the. Powers of animal Nature.. (R) Your |