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516

Sect. 18.

2 Cor. XI.

23.

24

For he had been ftoned, fuffered Shipwreck, &c.

Grace, I have learnt to meet and to vanquish in
all their Terrors, animated by Love to my divine
Leader.

I certainly have endured more Blows, than
any of them, in his Caufe; for of the Jews I
bave five Times received, in their Synagogues and
before their Courts of Judgment, forty [Stripes]
fave one, according to the Precautions which they
ufe, that they may not tranfgrefs the Precept of
their Law, which limits them to that Number;
25 (Deut. xxv. 3.) And thrice was I beaten with
Rods by the Roman Lictors, or Beadles, at the
Command of their Superior Magiftrates. I have
Reafon to fay, I have been in greater Danger of
Death, than any of them: For once, at Lyftra,
I was ftoned, and left for dead in the Place;
nor had I been recovered but by Miracle.
(Acts xiv. 19.) Thrice have I been shipwrecked (c),
and efcaped with the utmoft Difficulty from the
Rage of the Waves; at one of which Times I
was reduced to fuch Extremity, that I paffed a
Day and a Night in the Deep (d), floating on the
Remainders of the Wreck, and just on the Point
of being washed away, and funk, every Moment,
26 On the whole, I have been in fournies often,
where I have not only been expofed to Fatigues,
but to great Hazard from wild Beafts, as well as
from unreasonable and wicked Men. I have alfo
been in frequent Dangers, from the Depths and
Rapidity of feveral Rivers (e), which I have

been

C.

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24 Of the Jews five Times received I forty Stripes fave one.

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25

Thrice was I beaten

with Rods, once was I ftoned, thrice I fuffered Shipwreck; a Night and a Day I have been in the

Deep:

Perils of Waters, in Perils of 26 In journeying often, in

Robbers,

and

(c) Thrice have I been shipwrecked.] The Wreck at Malta happened long after; therefore must at leaft have been the fourth; and had the Inhabitants known it to be fo, they would have been confirmed in their Sufpicions of his being a very bad Man; but this remarkably fhews us, that a Series of what the World calls, Misfortunes from the Hand of Providence, may befal the beft and worthieft of Mankind.

(d) Paffed a Day and a Night in the Deep.] A vuxenjurov, (rendered a Day and a Night,) fignifies a natural Day, including the Hours of Light and Darkness. Bus, the Word here ufed, and rendered, in the Deep, was indeed the Name of a deep Dungeon at Cyzicum, in the Propontis; and Dr. Hammond conjectures, that St. Paul was caft into it, as he pafled from Troas to that City; but I think the other Interpretation moft easy and natural.

(e) In Dangers from Rivers.] To render laua, Waters, as we do, is confounding thefe Hazards, with thofe he endured in the Sea, in a very improper Manner.

(f) Falfe

Robbers, in Perils by mine own Countrymen, in Perils by the Heathen,' in Perils in the City, in Perils in the Wilderness, in Perils in the Sea, in Perils among falfe

Brethren;

27

26.

517

Had been in Labour and Toil, and Watchings often:
been obliged to pass; I have also been in Danger Se&t. 18.
from the Affaults of Robbers, who have lain in u
wait for me with a Design to plunder, and murder 2 Cor. XI.
me. I have often been in Dangers from [my own]
Countrymen the Jews; who forgetting the mu-
tual Ties of Relation by Blood, Birth and Reli-
gion, have attempted my Life with unfatiable
Rage, cruelly hunting me from Place to Place, as
if I had been fome Beaft of Prey In Dangers
from the Heathen; who have often been ftirred
up by the Jews, as well as offended by the Tefti-
mony I have been obliged to bear against their
Idolatries. Every Place thro' which I have paffed,
has indeed been a Scene of Perils, and often of
great Extremities; fo that I have been in Dan-
gers in the City of Jerufalem, and other Cities:
In Dangers in the Wilderness, while laboriously
traverfing many dreary and inhofpitable Defarts
in Pursuit of my Apoftolical Work: In Dangers
of the Sea; where I have encountered many a
Storm, befide those in which, as I obferved be-
fore, I fuffered Shipwreck; and where I have
fometimes been befet by Pyrates: And tho' it be
thameful to fay it, yet it is most certainly true,
that I have frequently been in very formidable
Dangers among falfe Brethren (f), who, amidst
all the most specious Pretenfions of Love and
Affection, have been fecretly watching for Op-
portunities to expofe, and, if poffible, to destroy
me; or at least to ruin my Usefulness, ftill dearer
to me, than my Life.

In Weariness and

often,

I have been for a long Series of Years, engaged 27 Painfulness, in Watchings in ftrenuous Labour and fatiguing Toil (g), almoft inceffant; fo that the End of one has presently been the Beginning of another: I have been, in Watchings, often obliged to add the Fatigues of

the

(f) Falfe Brethren.] Perhaps he mentions thefe laft as apprehending peculiar Danger from their Efforts among the Corinthians.

(8) In Labour and Toil.] The latter of the Words here ufed mox is more expreffive than the former ow. It fignifies not only ftrenuous Labour, but fuch as proceeds to a Degree of Fatigue.

(b) Cold

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27.

often, in Hunger and Thirt Faftings often, in Cold

and Nakedness.

518 He had the Care of all the Churches upon him; Sect. 18. the Night to thofe of the Day, either in extraor dinary Devotion, which hath kept mine Eyes in 2 Cor. XI. waking, while others have flept; or in preaching to thole, who have preffed in upon me to hear the Gospel as privately as poffible; or by corref ponding with Chriftian Churches who needed my Advice, by which I have loft the Reft of many Nights in my long Journies; or in other Circumftances, into which Providence hath called me. I have often known what Hunger and Thirst mean, have been in Faftings often, not having had even the Neceffàries of Life at Hand. And at the fame Time, I have frequently been expofed to the Severity of rigorous Seafons, in Cold and even Nakedness too (b); not having convenient Cloathing to cover me, or comfortable 28 Habitation to repofe myself in. All this befide foreign Affairs, that daily Combination, that does, as it were, make up an Affembly, the Care of all the Churches abroad, whofe Concerns are rushing in upon me every Day (i) with fuch Impetuofity, that they fometimes are ready not only to 29 confound, but to overbear me. Nor am I concerned only for whole Communities, but for fended, and I burn not? particular Perfons too, as foon as their Circumftances are known to me; fo that I may fay, who is weak, and I am not weak too? Like a tenderlycompaffionate Friend, I feel my own Spirits ready to fail, when I fee my Brethren fink around

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me.

Who is offended, so as to be led into Sin by

the

28 Befides thofe Things that are without, that which

cometh upon me daily, the Care of all the Churches.

29 Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is of

(b) Cold and Nakednefs.] What an Idea does this give us of the Apostle's Fidelity and Zeal! It is to die warm in a good and noble Caufe. How hard was it for a Man of a genteel and liberal Education, as St. Paul was, to bear fuch Rigours, and to wander about like à Vagabond, hungry, and almoft naked, yet coming in the Prefence of Perfons in bigh Life, and fpeaking in large and various Affemblies on Matters of the utmoft Impor

tance. /

(i) Rushing in upon me every Day.] The original Phrafe is very emphatical, racis με η καθ' ημέραν. Επιστασις properly fignifies a Tumult or Crowd of People rifing up againf a Man at once, and ready to bear him down. This, the Verfion I have given, hints at better than our own, which neither expreffes Number nor Violence. But there is ftill an Imperfection which I endeavoured, as well as I could, to fupply by the Paraphrafe. Mr. Saurin would render it, what befieges me daily. Saurin's Serm. Vel. x. pag. 163. Edit. 1749.

(k) Whe

With whom he fympathized in whatever gave them Offence.

30 If I must needs glory, I will glory of the Things

which concern mine Infirmities.

31 The GOD and Father

of our Lord Jefus Chrift, which is bleffed for evermore, knoweth that I lye

not.

32 In Damafcus the Governor under Aretas the

King, kept the City of the Damafcenes with a Garrifon, defirous to apprehend

me:

519
the Rashness and Uncharitableness of others, and Sect. 18.
I am not, as it were, fired with Grief and Indig-
nation, to see such a Difhonour brought upon 2 Cor. XI.
Religion, and with Zeal, if poffible, to redress
the Grievance (k).

If it is neceffary to boast, and I am heartily forry 30
that it is, I will however boast of those Things,
which relate to my Infirmities; as I know this
Tenderness of Temper, that fo often weeps. and
trembles, and glows with fuch ftrong Emotions,
on what some may think, trivial Occafions, will
be esteemed by them; yet of these only, and
of thofe Sufferings, which fhew the Weakness
of human Nature, and my Need of Support
from Chrift; of these alone, have I hitherto pre-
fumed to speak: Nor do I feign, or aggravate any
Thing. Far from that, the GOD and Father 31
of our Lord Jefus Chrift, even he, the eternal
Majefty of Heaven and Earth, who is ever blessed,
knoweth that I do not lye, or in any Degree tranf-
grefs the ftricteft Boundaries of Truth.

And I cannot forbear adding one Circumftance 32
more, to illuftrate the early Dangers to which I
was expofed, as foon as I engaged in the Chris-
tian Caufe, and the remarkable Interpofition of
Providence in my Favour, which I would never
forget. I mean, that when I was in Damascus (1),
about three Years after my Converfion, the Go-
vernor, or Ethnarch, under King Aretas, fet a
Guard at every Gate of the City of the Damaf-
cenes, being determined, if poffible, to feize me;
in Compliance with the Solicitations of the Jews,
who endeavoured by any Means to make me
odious to the Government, and to crush my
Usefulness in the Bud, if not immediately to
33 And through a Win- deftroy my Life itself. And I was let down 33

dow

thro'

(k) Who is offended, and I am not fired?] So Tupa properly fignifies. It may perhaps, in this Connection, allude to the fudden Hurry of Spirits, into which a Man is put by the dangerous Fall of a Perfon he tenderly loves, efpecially when occafioned by the Careleffness and Folly of another.

(1) In Damafcus, &c.] This probably happened, not when he had preached about three Years in Arabia. Gal. i. 16,-18.

when he was first converted, but
Compare Acts ix. 23,-26. with

29.

520

Reflections on St. Paul's Account of his Labours and Sufferings. Sect. 18. thro a Window, in a Bafket, from a Houfe which dow in a Bafket was I let ftood by the Wall of the City, and happily efcaped down by the Wall, and ef 2 Cor. XI. from bis Hands: And by the continued Care of caped his Hands.

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33.

Ver. 23.

Ver. 26.

the fame Providence, remain unto this Day, and
fee the many Contrivances of my Enemies for
my Destruction, turned into Difappointment and
Shame.

S

IMPROVEMENT.

URELY we have Reafon to be thankful, in fome Degree, for that Ver. 16, 18. Apostle was brought under the unwilling Neceffity of boafting; to which his Modesty submits with fuch genuine and becoming Regret: We had otherwife loft fome very valuable Fragments of facred Hiftory, which it becomes us to gather up with Refpect. We are indeed elfewhere informed, concerning feveral of his Labours, Stripes and Imprisonments; but how frequent, and above Meafure they were, we had never known, if he had not been urged thus to plead them with the Corinthians, and fo to represent them to us. What a Life was St. Paul's amidst so many Injuries and Hardships! Land and Sea, every Country, every City, almoft every Society of Men, feemed to be in a Combination against him, to make his Life wretched; and amidst all the Rigors and Severities of Toils and Watchings, Hunger and Thirft, Cold and Nakedness, he felt, and particularly complained of the Treatment he received from falfe Brethren. Yet thus furrounded, and as we fhould from the Detail be ready to fay, thus overwhelmed, with fo many and fo various Miferies, he was yet happy in the Favour of GOD, in the Prefence of Chrift: unfpeakably happy in the chearful Views of approaching Glory, and in all that abundant Usefulness, with which a gracious GOD was pleafed to honour him. Whilst his benevolent Heart was pained, it was alfo comforted; and with the Care of all the Churches preffing upon him, and with all that he felt from particular Perfons, ftill was his Voice in Tune for Praife; and he hardly ever begins an Epiftle, without fuch a Boaft of it in fome of his firft Lines, as looks like one of the Songs of Heaven. Oh glorious Effect of real Christianity, which every inferior Minifter, yea, and every private Chriftian, to this Day feels, in Proportion to the Degree, in which his Character resembles that of this holy Champion of our Divine Faith!

Ver. 28.

But Oh! how unlike his hath been the Character of many, who have borne themselves higheft on their pretended Claims to the most extraor

dinary

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