17.

506
Sect. 16. in himself, but in the Power and Affiftance of
the Lord alone. Let every Minifter remember
a Cor. X. it is to Chrift, that he owes all his Ability for his
Work, and all his Succefs in it. For not be
that commendeth himself with the greatest Confi-
dence, and in the moft florid Manner, is truly
and juftly approved; but he, whom the Lord com-
mendeth by the Gifts of his Spirit, and by a Blef-
fing on his Miniftry. Let thofe therefore, who
are fo ready to applaud themselves and each other,
think of this, and learn to be more folicitous
than they are, about approving their Fidelity to
their great Mafter, whether they be more or lefs
regarded by their Fellow-fervants.

Reflections on the Meeknefs which becomes Minifters.

Ver. F.

Ver, 3.

Ver. 4.

Ver. 5.

MA

18 For not he that com

mendeth himself is approved, mendeth.

but whom the Lord com

IMPROVEMENT.

AY the Meeknefs and Gentleness of Chrift ever be remembered by all his Servants; and efpecially by his Minifters, to whom, both under their publick and private Characters, it will be of fo great Importance to imitate it. Their Calling is indeed high and holy: Let their Behaviour in it be fo much the more humble. And let it be their great Care, that while they walk in the Flesh, they do not war after it. Still, tho' difarmed of that miraculous Power, with which the Apostles were endowed, are the Weapons of their Warfare mighty. They have the Scripture-magazine ever at Hand, from whence they may be furnished with them; and may humbly hope, that the Spirit of God will render them effectual to the pulling down ftrong Holds, and abafing every proud Imagination, which exalteth itself against the Obedience of GOD. May every Thought of their own Hearts be in the first Place thus fubdued, and brought into a sweet and willing Captivity! So fhall these their Captives, thus conquered, prove as fo many faithful Soldiers to fight for him, against whom they once were foolishly rebelling. And may they fucceed in this holy War, till the Empire of our divine Mafter become univerfal, and the Happihefs of Mankind univerfal with it!

To promote this, let us pray, that Minifters may always remember, that whatever Authority they have given them, is for Edification, and Ver. 7,-11. not for Deftruction; and may learn from that Moderation, with which the Apostle ufed his miraculous Powers, in how gentle and candid a Manner they should behave themselves in their far inferior Stations: never making their Pre-eminence in the Church the Inftrument of their own Refentment, or of any other finful or selfish Paffion; but ever folicitous

The Apostle declares, be was jealous over the Corinthians;

507

to obferve the Interest of our great Lord in all, and defirous to keep up Sect. 16. their own Character and Influence, chiefly for his Sake.

May they in no Inftance boast beyond their proper Measure; and while Ver. 12,-16. they are ready, like St. Paul, to meet all the inoft laborious Scenes of Service, let them glory not in themselves, but in the Lord. This is a Lef- Ver. 17. fon we are all to learn. And whatever our Stations in Life are, let us refolutely and conftantly guard against that Self-flattery, by which we may be ready to commend ourselves, in Inftances, in which we may be Ver. 18. leaft approved by him, whofe Favour alone is worthy of our Ambition, and by whofe Judgment, in the Day of final Account, we must ftand or fall.

SECT. XVII.

The Apostle farther vindicates himself, from the perverfe Infinuations of them that opposed him at Corinth; paaticularly on the Head of his having declined to receive a Contritribution from this Church, for his Maintenance.

XI. 1,---15.

2 CORINTHIANS XI. 1.

WOULD to GOD you

could bear with me a little in my Folly; and indeed bear with me.

2 For I am jealous over you with godly Jealoufy: For I have efpoufed you to one Husband, that I may prefent you as a chafte Virgin to Chrift.

2 CORINTHIANS XI. 1.

2 Cor.

I.

WOULD advife every Man, as I have Sect. 1. hinted, to be fparing in his own Commendation, and to study above all to approve himself 2 Cor. XI. to Chrift; and yet in prefent Circumftances, I wish you would bear with a little of [my] Folly, that you would permit a little of that Boafting, which I know generally to be foolish: And indeed I muft entreat you to bear with me, in what may look this Way, confidering the Manner in which I am urged to it, and brought under an unwilling Neceffity. For I am jealous over you with, what I truft I may call, a godly Jealousy, and feel the warmest and most zealous Defires, that I may prefent [you as] a chafte Virgin to Chrift (a);

for

(a) That I may prefent you, &c.] This is much illuftrated by recollecting, that there was an Officer among the Greeks, whofe Bufinefs it was to educate and form young Women,

Sff 2

efpe.

་

2.

308
2. Left they should be corrupted from their Simplicity :
Sect. 17. for I have, by fuccessfully preaching the Gofpel
to you, and bringing you into the Engagements
2 Cor. XI. of the Chriftian Covenant, in Effect efpoufed you
tó one Husband (b), even to him; under the Cha-
Vracter of his Servant and Embaffador, I have led
you into a holy Contract with him, which hath
been mutually fealed. I am therefore exceed-
Vingly concerned, that you may maintain a pure
and loyal Heart to him, who has condefcended
to take you into fo dear and intimate a Rela-
tion.

3

4

And I am the more folicitous about this, as I know what infinuating Enemies are endeavouring to corrupt you; For. I fear left by any Means, as in the firft Reduction and Ruin of Mankind, the Serpent deceived Eve (c), our common Mother, by his Subtilty, fo your Minds fhould be cor-· rupted from that Simplicity, which should always. be in us towards Chrift (d), and which the adulterous Mixtures, which fome are endeavouring to introduce among you, would greatly injure. For if be, that cometh among you with fuch extraordinary Pretences, preach another Jefus, as

a Sa

3 But I fear left by any Means, as the Serpent beguiled Eve through his Subtilty, fo your Minds fhould be corrupted from the Simplicity that is in Chrift.

3 For if he that cometh, preacheth another Jefus

whom

efpecially thofe of Rank and Figure, defigned for Marriage; and then to prefent them to thofe, who were to be their Husbands; and if this Officer permitted them, thro' Negligence, to be corrupted, between the Efpoufals and Confummation of the Marriage, great Blame would naturally fall upon him.

ηρμόσαμην γαρ υμας

(b) For I have efpoufed you.] This Claufe puun yap suas en ander, may be confidered as a Parenthefis; and therefore in the Paraphrafe, I have tranfpofed it, that the Conftruction may appear; w upas Tapasnoai, I am jealous, &c.-that I may prefent you, &c.

(c) Left as the Serpent deceived Eve, &c.] From the Inftance to which this applied, viz. that of the falfe Apoftles, whofe Subtilty did not confift fo much in crafty Arguments, as in falfe Appearances, by which they put on the outward Forms of the Apostles of Chrift; Mr. Rymer infers, (efpecially comparing Verfe 14.) that the Subtilty of Satan, when he deceived Eve, confifted in putting on the Appearance of an Angel of Light, or pretending to be one of the Seraphim that attended on the Shechinah. (Rymer on Rev. pag. 79.) But I think, that if it had ever been fo exprefsy faid by Mofes, that the Deception lay, as it very probably might, in pretending to have received the Faculty of Reafon and Speech, though a Brute, by eating the Fruit he propoted to her, it might be faid in the general, that the falfe Apostles deceived their Followers as Satan deceived Eve, that is, by falfe Pretences and Infinuations.

(d) Simplicity towards Chrift: awdle Ins Eis lov Xpisor.] This implies an intire undivided Devotedness to Chrift, as the great Hufband Chriftians fhould defire to pleafe, and from whom they are to receive Law; and is with peculiar Propriety oppofed to that Mixture of Judaifm, which fome were endeavouring to bring in among the Corinthians.

(e) Un

And then he expoftulates with them, as to himself: whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another Spirit, which ye have not received, or another Gofpel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him.

5 For I fuppofe I was not a Whit behind the very

chicfeft Apoftles.

6 But though I be rude in Speech, yet not in Knowledge; but we have been thoroughly made manifeft among you in all Things.

7 Have I committed an

Of

4.

509

a Saviour, whom we have not preached; if he can Sect. 17.
point out another Chrift who shall equally deferve
your Attention and Regard; or [if] ye receive 2 Cor. XI.
by his Preaching another Spirit, which ye have
not yet received, which can beftow upon you Gifts
fuperior to thofe which we have imparted; or
another Gofpel, which ye have not accepted, the
Tidings of which fhall be equally happy, evident
and important, ye might well bear with [him,] and
there would be fome Excufe for your Conduct;
but how far thi
is from being, or fo much as
seeming to be the Cafe, I need not fay at large.
Nor will you I am fure maintain any fuch Thing; 5
for I reckon upon moft certain Knowledge, that
I was fo far from being inferior in my Difcourfes,
or Miracles, to these your Favourite Teachers, that
I did not in any Refpect, fall short of the greatest
of the Apoftles; but gave you as evident and con-
vincing Proofs of a Divine Miffion, as any Church
has ever received from any one of them.
For if 6
[I am] unfkilful in Speech, ufing plain and unpo-
lifhed Language, like that of a Man of the most
ordinary Education (e); nevertheless [I am] not fo
in Knowledge of the Gofpel of Chrift, and the
Divine Difpenfations which were introductory to
it. But every where we have been manifeft to you.
in all Things: Every one of you has had a Proof
of this, as you received the Gofpel from me, and
therefore ought not to queftion my Abilities, nor
to prefer another in Oppofition to me.

Nothing can be more ungenerous and unrea- 7.
fonable, than to infinuate, that I have renounced

my

(e) Unskilful in Speech.] Idwins properly fignifies a private Man, one that can speak no better than the Generality of his Neighbours, being unformed by the Rules of Eloquence. And this is confiftent with that great natural Pathos, which we find in the Apostle's Writings; fo that there is no Need of recurring, as Dr. Whitby hereby does, to the fuppofed Impediment in his Speech, which allowing it ever fo certain a Fact, could not properly be expreffed by this Phrafe. The good Archbishop of Cambray hath a very pertinent Obfervation on this Expreffion, in his excellent Dialogues of Eloquence, (pag. 136.) viz. that this might well be the Cafe, tho' St. Paul fhared fo largely in the Gift of Tongues; as when he was at Tarfus, he probably learnt a corrupt Kind of Greek, fpoken by the Inhabitants of this Place; for we have Reafon to believe, that as for any of the Languages which the Apost tles had learnt in a natural Way, the Spirit left them to speak as before.

(f) Charge

510 Sect.

And reminds them, that be bad been chargeable to none of them;

17. my

my Claim to being an Apoftle, by declining that Offence in abafing myself, Maintenance, which my Brethren generally because I have preached to that you might be exalted, 2 Cor. XI. think it reafonable to take from the People among you the Gospel of Gop whom they labour, and which while employed freely?

7.

for them, they may indeed reafonably expect.
Have I then committed an Offence, in bumbling
myfelf to the daily Cares and Toils of a Tent-
maker, that you may more effectually be exalted
to the Dignity of thofe, who know and believe
in Chrift? Is this after all, the Crime, that I
have preached the Gospel of GOD to you at free
Coft?

8 I may almoft, in this Senfe, be faid to have
robbed other Churches; fo freely have I received
from them, at leaft taking Wages, as it were, [of
them,] for waiting upon you; for indeed I re-
ceived a Kind of Stipend from them, while I
9 abode at Corinth; (Phil. iv. 15.) And when

I was in Want, while prefent with you, I was
chargeable to no one Man (f) of your Society,
when incapable of maintaining myfelf as before:
For what was deficient to me in this Refpect, the
Chriftian Brethren, who came from Macedonia
Supplied; (Phil. iv. 10.) and in all Things I have
kept, and fo long as GOD fhall enable me, I will

8 I robbed otherChurches, taking Wages of them, to do you Service.

9 And when I was prefent, with you, and wanted, I was chargeable to no Man: For that which was lacking to me, the Brethren which came from Macedonia, fupplied: And in all Things I have kept myfelf from being burdenfome unto you, and will I keep myself.

fo

is

in me, no Man shall stop Regions of Achaia. me of this Boafting in the

io keep myself from being burthenfome to you. And 10 As the Truth ofChrift
this in fome Measure I value myfelf upon;
that as the Truth of Chrift is in me, this Boaft
fhall not be violated, nor this Rule broke in
with Refpect to me, at Corinth, or in all the Re-
gions of Achaia.

upon

And why is it that I infift upon this? Is it becaufe I love you not, and therefore am unwilling to be under any, Obligation to you? GOD knows the contrary, that you have a large Share in my tendereft Affections and Cares; yea, that it was my Defire of ferving you more effectually, that subjected me to these Mortifications and Self-de

nials;

I

II Wherefore? because love you not? God know

eth.

(f) Chargeable to no Man: ou xalsvapenoa ovdiv.] Beza would render it, I was not idle at any Man's Expence. The Word vapen implies a benumbed inactive State, a Kind of Torper, to which no Man feems to be lefs obnoxious than St. Paul.

(8) They