436 Sect. 3. They were to restore the penitent offending Member; one of a much greater Number, who have felt me but in Part: that I may this affectionate Concern. And this I fay, that not overcharge you all. 2 Cor. II. 5. I may not overburthen you all, nor fix any unjuft Charge upon the whole Body of the Corinthian 6 Sufficient to fuch a Man is this Punishment, which was inflicted of many. 7 So that contrarywife, ye ought rather to forgive him, and comfort him, left perhaps fuch a one fhould be fwallowed up with over much Sorrow. Church, as if it had taken Part with fuch an Offender in afflicting me: Far from that, I rather believe it hath fympathized with me in my 6 Grief. And fufficient to fuch an one (f), who hath here been the Aggreffor, [is] this Rebuke and Cenfure, [that he hath] already [fuffered] by many, and indeed by the whole Body of your Society; which has fhewn fo wife and pious a Readiness to purfue the Directions I gave, for animadverting upon him, and bringing him to 7 Repentance. So that, on the whole, I am well fatisfied in what the Church has done, and instead of urging you to purfue farther Severities against him, who now, by the Bleffing of GOD on the Discipline you have ufed, is become a Penitent; I on the contrary, declare it to you as my Judgment, that you should rather forgive and comfort [him;] left fuch a one, if kept under continual Rebuke, fhould be fwallowed up with an Excefs of Sorrow, and rendered incapable of these Duties of the Chriftian Life, to the Performance of which, I would chearfully hope that he is now inclined. Therefore I beseech you to tonfirm [the Affurances] and Demonftrations [of your] you, that ye would confirm Love to him, in the most tender and endearing your Love towards him. Manner that you can ; which may convince him that your feeming Severity proceeded from cordial 9 Affection. For indeed it was partly to this Purpofe, that I have written, that I might have Experience of you, whether ye would be obedient in all Things to my Apoftolical Inftructions and DeciAnd it gives me unfpeakable Pleasure to 8 fions: find, 8 Wherefore I beseech 9 For to this End alfo did I write, that I might whether ye be obedient in all Things. know the Proof of you, (f) To fuch an one.] Mr. Locke very well obferves the great Tendernefs, which the Apoftle ufes to this Offender; he never once mentions his Name, nor does he here fo much as mention his Crime; but fpeaks of him in the moft indefinite Manner, that was confiftent with giving fuch Directions in his Cafe as Love required. Left Satan might get an Advantage by Excefs of Rigour. any Thing, I forgive alfo: For if I forgive any Thing, to whom I forgave it, for your Sakes forgave I it, in the Perfon of Chrift; II Left Satan fhould get an Advantage over us: For we are not ignorant of his Devices. may 437 10 To whom ye forgive find, that ye have been fo. And truly I have Sect. 3. fuch Confidence in you as a Society, that I fay, not only in this Inftance, but in any other 2 Cor. II. 10. that may happen, that to whom you forgive any Thing which hath been esteemed an Offence, fo as to be willing to restore the Offender to your Communion, I alfo fhall be ready to [forgive it;] and if I forgive any Thing, to whomsoever it may be, [it is] not out of Regard to the Offender alone, but in a great Measure for your Sakes, that as in the Perfon of Christ, and by the high Authority with which he hath been pleased to invest me, I join in taking off the Cenfure. For I know the Profperity of the II Church in general is concerned in conducting thefe Affairs aright, and am follicitous, left if they be carried to any Excess of Rigour, Satan fhould get an Advantage over us, and turn that Severity into an Occafion of Mischief to the Offender, to his Brethren, and to others. For we are not ignorant of his Devices, and of the great Variety of Stratagems, which he is continually making Ufe of to injure us, and to turn even Difcipline itself, to the Reproach of the Church and the Destruction of Souls. These are the 12 Sentiments, which prevail in my Heart towards you; and my Conduct, fince the Date of Epiftle, hath been a genuine Demonstration of this my affectionate Concern. For when I came unto Troas (g) in the Service of the Gospel of Chrift, and found Things there fo fituated, that there was a large Door opened to me in the Lord, many Circumstances feeming to invite my Stay, and to give a Prospect of Succefs in my Ministry; 12 Furthermore, when I came to Troas to preach Chrift's Gofpel, and a Door was opened unto me of the Lord, my laft Yet (g) Came unto Traos.] Mr. Owen, (of Ordin. Part I. pag. 124.) thinks this happened in St. Paul's Journey from Corinth to Macedonia; and mentions it as a Fact omitted by St. Luke, to be collected from the Epistles. Many fuch Facts there undoubtedly are, and this feems one of them, tho' not juft in that Circumftance. It seems to have happened in that Paffage from Afia to Macedonia, of which fo very fhort an Account is given, Acts xx. 1, He afterwards ordered fome Chriftian Friends, who were attending him to Afia after he had spent three Months in Macedonia, to wait for him at Troas, (ib. Verfes 4, 5.) probably for this Reason among others, that they might have an Opportunity of preaching the Gospel to› a People who seemed fo ready to receive it. 2. 438 Reflections on the Minifterial Temper. Sect.3. Yet I had no Reft in my Spirit, because I did not find my Brother Titus there; whom I had fent 2 Cor. II. 13. to inquire into your Affairs, and from whom I expected Tidings of you. I would not therefore make any Abode at Troas, tho' fo many Confiderations concurred to invite me to it; but taking my Leave of them, I went out of Afia into Macedonia; where I thought he might be, and where I had the Happiness quickly to meet him, and to receive that News of you, which has given me fo much Pleasure, and in Confequence of which I have found Occafion to write to you in a more comfortable Manner, as I here do. And I blefs GOD, that the Purposes of my Christian Ministry have not upon the whole been fruftrated by this Journey, but that the Divine Bleffing hath attended my Labours here, as well as in the Places which I left that I might come hither. Ver. 1, 2. Ver. 3. Ver. 6. Ver. 7. Ver. 8. L 13 I had no Reft in my Spirit, because I found not Titus my Brother: But taking my Leave of them, I went from thence into Macedonia. IMPROVEMENT. ET Minifters learn from hence, after the Example of this wife and benevolent Apostle, to be very tender of the Eafe and Comfort of thofe committed to their Care; doing nothing to grieve or diftrefs them, unlefs, as in the Cafe before us, Love requires it, in order to their Safety and Happiness. Let them learn this candid and endearing Method of putting the beft Interpretation upon every Thing, and of believing, where there is any Reafon to hope it, that their foy is the Joy of their People alfo. When profeffing Chriftians offend, and cannot be reclaimed by gentler Methods, let them, not out of Refentment, but Affection, have Recourse to the Difcipline which Chrift hath inftituted in his Church; and when that Difcipline hath answered its End, and the Offender is recovered to a Senfe of his Evil, let them with the greatest Pleafure concur in readmitting him to the Communion of the Church, from which he has been excluded; with a tender Concern, left he should be fwallowed up of over-much Sorrow; always confidering, how watchful the Enemy of Souls is to get an Advantage over us; and remembering, that it will be the peculiar Wifdom of Minifters, to acquaint themfelves with thefe artful and malicious Devices of Satan, by which he is inceffantly endeavouring to diftrefs and ruin the Church, and to lay Snares for its Members in their Hopes, and their Fears, their Joys, and their Sorrows, The Apostle blesses GOD for Success at Troas, and elsewhere : Sorrows, fo as to take Occafion from every Incident, and from every tereft, to weaken and to wound them. 439 In- Sect. 3. The great Source of a right Conduct on all these Occafions, is unfeigned Love: That let us labour to establish in our Hearts towards each Ver. 4. other; praying that GOD, by his Spirit, would establish it. And tho' the Consequence of this will be, that our Spirits, like the Apostle's, will be acceffible to many Sorrows which we should not otherwife feel; and tho' it is poffible, that we, like St. Paul in the Inftance before us, may fometimes be interrupted in active Services of Life, which we might Ver. 12. otherwise have been more ready to purfue; yet we may hope, that while we are faithfully influenced by Love, under the Direction of that Chrif tian Prudence, which ought ever to attend it, Views of Usefulness may be opened, where we leaft expect them, may be opened one Way, while they are obftructed another; yea, upon the whole, what has for awhile interrupted our Succefs, may in its remoter Confequences greatly advance it. The Apostle expresses, in the most affectionate Terms, his Thankfulness to GOD for having entrusted him with the Ministry of the Gospel, for the Success attending his Services therein; and declares his joyful Confidence in all Events of the Divine Acceptance; and speaks of the Corinthians, as his Credentials written by the Finger of GOD. 2 Cor. II. 14, to the End. Chap. III. 1---6. causeth 2 CORINTHIANS II. 14. 2 CORINTHIANS II. 14. NOW Thanks be unto HAVE informed you, that I left a fair Op- Sect. 4. Gop, which always portunity of preaching the Gofpel at Troas, in 4. I a fair Confequence of that great Defire I had to hear from 2 Cor. II. 14. you; for which Purpose I went into Macedonia. But I defire thankfully to own the Divine Goodness, in attending my Ministry with very comfortable Succefs there. And indeed I have great Reason to break out into a Transport of Praise in the Reflection: Yes, my Brethren, Thanks, ever 440 Sect. 4. Sect. 4 2 Cor. II. 14. caufeth us to triumph in felt the Saviour of his Knowledge by us in every Place. Chrift, and maketh mani And profeffes bis Sincerity and Faithfulness. Well may I rejoice upon this Account; for we the Apostles, and other Minifters of his Gofpel, are to GOD a fweet and acceptable Odour of Chrift: He is as it were pleafed and delighted with the Incense of his Name and Gofpel as diffused by us, both with Refpect to them who believe and are faved, and to them, who in Confequence of their To the latter 16 Unbelief, perish in their Sins. indeed [we are] an Odour of Death; the Fragancy, fo rich in itself, inftead of reviving, deftroys them, and is efficacious to bring on Death in its moft dreadful Forms. But to the other [we are] an Odour of Life; the Gospel revives their Souls, and is effectual to their eternal Life and Salvation. And when we confider all these awful Confequences, which one Way or other attend our Miniftry, we may truly fay, who [is] fufficient for thefe Things? Who is worthy to bear fuch an important Charge? Who fhould 17 undertake it without Trembling? Neverthelefs, tho' we must acknowledge ourselves unworthy of fuch a Charge, GoD is pleased to fucceed us in the Execution of it, as he knows our Sincerity in his Sight and Prefence. For we are not as many, who adulterate the Word of GOD (b) by their 15 For we are unto GoD afweet Savour in Chrift, in them that perish. them that are faved, and in 16 To the one we are the Savour of Death unto Death; and to the other, the Savour of Life unto Life: And who is fufficient for thefe Things? 17 For we are not as Word of GOD: But as of many which corrupt the (a) Caufeth us to triumph.] Witfius would render gauBevor, who triumph over us, (Compare Col. ii. 15.) and fuppofes it expreffes the Joy, with which St. Paul reflected on that powerful and fovereign Grace, which had led him in Triumph, who was once fo infolent an Enemy to the Gofpel. I rather think the Apoftle reprefents himself, as triumphing thro' the Divine Power. And as in triumphal Proceffions, especially in the Eaft, fragrant Odours and Incense were burnt near the Conquerors; fo he feems beautifully to allude to that Circumftance, in what he fays of the ooun, the Odour of the Gofpel, in the following Verfes. And he seems farther to allude to the different Effects of ftrong Perfumes, to chear fome, and to throw others into violent Disorders, according to the different Difpofitions they are in, to receive them; and Elian obferves, that fome Kind of Animals are killed by them, Hift. Anim. iii. 7. (b) Adulterate the Word.] Kawnios is a very expreffive Phrafe, and alludes |