He Speaks of the Corinthians as his Epiftle; 2 CORINTHIANS III. I. Do we begin again to com mend ourselves? Or need 17. 441 their own bafe Mixtures, and retail it, when Sect. 4. I. And when I fay this, do we again, as fome 2COR.III. prefume to infinuate, begin to recommend ourwe, as fome others, Epiftles Jelves, and one another, [to you?] Or do we need, as I perceive fome [do,] recommendatory Letters to you from other Churches, or recommendatory [Letters] from you to others? of Commendation to you, and read of all Men: 3 For as much as ye are manifeftly declared to be the Epistle of Chrift, ministered by Truly I 2 hath to the Practice of those who deal in Liquors, which they debafe for their own greater Gain; and it infinuates in ftrong Terms the bafe Temper and Conduct of their falfe Teachers. Bos has finely illuftrated the Force of this Expreffion in his learned and elegant Note on this Text. Exer. pag. 154, 155. (c) Upon your Hearts.] Some Copies read, our Hearts, that is, always remembered and thought of. But I apprehend, the Apostle means, that the Change produced, not only in their external Conduct, but in their inward Temper, was fo great, that all who could judge of it by intimate Knowledge, (and it is certain, that fome Judgment may be formed,) muft own it a great Atteftation of his Miniftry. The great Enormities, in which they were once plunged, (See 1 Cor. vi. 11, &c.) would much illuftrate this Argument. VOL. IV. K kk (d) To. 3 442 Sect. 4.. 3. Written by the Spirit of GOD, and proving his Miffion. hath been faithfully preached among you by us; an Epiftle, written not, as Epiftles generally are, 2 Cor. III. with Ink, but by Traces drawn by the Spirit of the one living and true GOD, moving on your Hearts and producing that Variety of Graces, which render many of you fo confpicuous and lovely. And the Infcription is not, (as that boafted Monument, which did fo great an Honour to the Miffion and Authority of Mofes,) written in Tables of Stone, but in the fleshly Tables of the Heart; to which no Hand, but that, by which the Heart was made, could find Accefs, in fuch a Manner as to infcribe thefe facred 4 Characters there. Such Confidence have we towards GOD by Jefus Chrift, that our Miniftry fhall be effectual in other Places, and that the World shall by your Means be perfuaded of our Apostleship. by us, written not with Ink, living Gop; not in Tables but with the Spirit of the of Stone, but in fleshly Tables of the Heart. 4 And fuch Trust have ward: we through Chrift to Gon 5 Not that we are fufficient of ourselves to think But our Sufficiency is of any Thing as of ourselves: GOD. 5 We fay this, not as infinuating, that we are From not 6 Who alfo hath made New Testament, not of the (d) To reckon upon any Thing as of ourselves.] This feems the most exact Rendering of Roylcaodai Ti Ws Earlwv. Dr. Whitby renders it to reafon, as if the Apostle had faid, we are unable by any Reafoning of our own to bring Men to Converfion; Which gives fine and juft Senfe, but I think only a Part of what the Apofile intended. Compare Acts xix. 27. Rom. iv. 3, 6, 11. Chap. viii. 18, 36. 1 Cor. iv. I. in all which the Word Mayonai has the Signification we here affign it, and fignifies to reckon or account. Reflections on the Importance of the Gospel-message; Letter, but of the Spirit: For the Letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth Life. 6. 443 not of the Letter, but of the Spirit (e); for we Sect. 4. of IMPROVEMENT. AY the infinite Importance of the Gospel-Meffage be deeply im MA preffed on all, who preach, and all who hear it. Life, or Death, Chap. II. 15, is in Question; eternal Life, or everlasting Death: And while it is from 16. Day to Day reviving its Thousands, is it not to be feared, that in fome Places it is, by the righteous Judgment of GOD on hard and impenitent Hearts, aggravating the Guilt and Misery of its Ten-thousands! How awful is, the Work of difpenfing this Gofpel! Who can pretend to be fuf- Ver. 16. ficient for fuch Things, as thefe! Who that confiders the Nature and Importance of the Ministerial Work, can undertake, or pursue it, but with Fear and Trembling! Yet, infufficient, as they ought humbly to acknowledge themselves to Chap. III. 5. be, to reckon upon any Thing, as from themselves, there is a Sufficiency in GOD, imparted to faithful Minifters; in Confequence of which they are often made to triumph in Christ, and borne on, in a holy Superiority Chap. II. 14. to all the Difficulties of their Work, and fee their Labour not to be in vain in the Lord. Well may that fupport them, under the Discouragements, which, in other Instances, they feel, when the Fruit of their La bours (e) Not of the Letter, but of the Spirit.] To understand this of an allegorical, rather than literal Explication of the Old Teftament, is very arbitrary and unwarrantable; and I with no Chriftian Commentators had given Encouragement to the Deifts to abuse this Text, in the Manner it is well known they have done. K kk 2 444 Sect. 4. Ver. 15. Ver. 17. And of difpenfing it with Fidelity. bours does not immediately appear; yea, when the prefent State of many But as they defire to fecure this Acceptance; yea, to secure their own Salvation, let them never allow themselves, by any foreign Mixtures, to adulterate the Word of GOD; but let them fpeak it in its uncorrupted Sincerity, as in the Sight and Prefence of GOD, and as those, who know it is not their Business to devise a Meffage out of their own Hearts, but to deliver what they have received of the Lord. So may they hope, there shall not be wanting thefe, who, according to the Views which the Chap. III. 2. Apostle gives us of thefe Corinthians, fhall appear as Epistles written by the Hand of Chrift himself, in Atteftation of their Commiffion from him. Ver. 6. That Minifters may more chearfully hope for, and expect fuch an Honour, let us all pray, that the Spirit of God may lead them into the true Senfe and Meaning of Scripture; that they may not unprofitably amuse themselves and their Hearers, with vain and cold Criticisms on the Letter of it, fo as to neglect and forget what is moft fpiritual in its Defign and Meaning; but that they may, under Divine Illumination, attain to the Mind of the Spirit, and be enabled to make greater Proficiency in unfolding and illustrating the important Myfteries of the KingChap. II. 16. dom of Heaven, and may be to Multitudes a Savour of Life unto Life. If the Law were glorious, the Gospel is much more fo : SE C T. V. The Apostle farther to recommend the Ministry of which he had been Speaking, falls into a very pertinent and useful Digreffion concerning the comparative Obfcurity of the Mofaick Law, and the fuperior Glory and Permanence of the Gofpel. 2 Cor. III. 7, to the End. I 445 Sect. 7. 5. 2 CORINTHIANS III. 7. This may be farther apparent, when we con- 9 Mofaick |