sions; he concludes his epistle with this excellent rule of advice, To do all things in love, one for and one towards another. Where a true principle of christian charity prevails amongst the members of a church, it will cast out selfishness, pride, envy, and division; and keep them from rash censuring, despising, and abusing one another, and also from separating from the communion of each other. The sum of all the commandments, both towards God and towards our neighbour, is love; it is not praying, hearing, or receiving at the Lord's table, which is the fulfilling of the commandment, but when these duties are done in love; and we may do many things commanded towards men, yet if we do them not in love to men, we do nothing as the Lord commanded; therefore let all things be done with charity. 15 I beseech you, brethren, ye know the house of Stephanas, that it is the first-fruits of Achaia, and that they have addicted themselves to the ministry of the saints, 16 That ye submit yourselves unto such, and to every one that helpeth with us, and laboureth. Observe here, 1. The honourable mention which St. Paul makes of Stephanas, and his house; they were the first fruits of Achaia, that is, the first there converted to christianity. It is a great honour to be in Christ before others happy they that come in at the call of Christ, even at the last hour; but thrice happy those that come in at the first, who are the first-ripe fruits unto God. Observe, 2. What good proof and evidence Stephanas gave of the sincerity of his early conversion: He addicted himself to the ministry of the saints; that is, he was very forward to assist the poor saints with his estate and labour. There is no better evidence of our interest in Christ than an entire affection and operative compassion towards all our fellowmembers in Christ, for grace's sake. Observe, 3. The great deference and regard, the special respect and honour, which was due, and is here commanded to be paid, to Stephanas, for his ministering to the poor saints that were in want: Submit your selves unto such; that is, give reverence and honour to them, and to all such as are like unto them, who laboured with the apostle in the furthering of the gospel. 17 I am glad of the coming of Stephanas and Fortunatus and Achaicus; for that which is lacking on your part they have supplied. 18 For they have refreshed my spirit and yours: therefore acknowledge ye them that are such. It is very probable that the faithful in the church of Corinth did send these three persons, namely, Stephanas, Fortunatus, and Achaicus, to St. Paul, at this time at Ephesus, to acquaint him with the state of the church, the rents and schisms that were amongst them; and to desire the interposure of his authority, and the exercise of his apostolical power, in order to the healing of those unhappy breaches. Now, says the apostle, I was glad of the coming of these men, whom you sent with your of your affairs which was lacking on your letters of inquiry to me; for that account parts in your letter, they have supplied: I am glad, I say, for they have refreshed my spirit with their presence and discourse, and will at their return refresh yours also; therefore acknowledge ye them that are such, own their services, and honour them for the same. There is a tribute of double honour, respect, and reverence, due and payable to such as labour in the church's services even unto weariness, and are will ing to spend and be spent in such services the church in general, or any member as they are capable of, for the benefit of thereof in particular. 20 19 The churches of Asia salute you. Aquila and Priscilla salute you much in the Lord, with the church that is in their house. All the brethren greet you. Greet ye one another with an holy kiss. 21 The salutation of me Paul with mine own hand. Here our apostle closes his epistle with several salutations to the Corinthians, from the churches of Asia, from Aquila and Priscilla, and from the church in their house, that is, from the christian family, or from the christian assembly which used to meet in their house for the worshipping of God. Happy that family-governor who has a church in his house, with Aquila and Priscilla ; who worships God with all his house, as did Cornelius; who with his household serves the Lord, as did Joshua; who commands his children and his household after him, as did faithful Abraham. Observe, 2, The nature and manner of this salutation, They salute you in the Lord; that is, with a spiritual affection, for the grace of God that is in you, and wishing you an overflowing stream of spiritual blessings from Christ the fountain. Next he wills them to salute one another with an holy kiss, a kiss of peace and charity; with which christians in those times, and according to the custom of those countries, used to salute one another. This was not then a wanton, but an holy, kiss, in which they had chaste and holy thoughts; yet afterwards, the piety and purity of the church degenerating and declining, it was thought fit and convenient to lay the kiss of charity aside, which was used in the public assemblies at the celebration of the holy communion. That which is innocent in itself, and pious in its first intendment, may in time fall under such abuse, as to cause it to be wholly laid aside. Lastly, he adds his own salutation with his own hand. It is generally believed that the apostle employ ed some person to write his epistle over, which he sent abroad unto the churches; yet that he might prevent fraud and forgery, and that they might know which were his own, he used to subscribe his salutation and apostolical benediction with his own hand, which was well known unto them. 22 If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be anathema maran-atha. That is, if any man do either oppose Christ and his gospel, or apostatize and backslide from his holy profession, and thereby discover he had no sincere love for Christ, let him be accursed till the Lord comes to judgment; and when he comes to judgment, let him without repentance lie under a dreadful, yea, an eternal curse. Observe here, How that those who do not sincerely love our Lord Jesus Christ, are under the heaviest and bitterest of divine curses. Note, 1. The ground or cause of this curse, the not loving of Jesus Christ; he doth not say, If any man hate Christ, or reproach and blaspheme him, or persecute and injure him; but, if he doth not love him. The bare want of this affection to Christ, is enough eternally to separate us from Christ. Note, 2. The nature of this curse: Let him be anathema maran-atha. The apostle pronounces the curse in two languages, Greek and Syriac, to denote both the vehemency of his own spirit in speaking, and the certainty of the thing spoken: or perhaps to show, that men of all nations and languages who love not Christ, are under a curse, and that they are deservedly cursed among all nations. The Greek word, anathema, signifies execrable; the Syriac word, maran-atha, is a compound of Maran, Lord, and atha, he cometh. These words were used anciently in the most dreadful sentence of excommunication; as if they had cited the person to the tribunal of Christ, at his coming to judge the world, or left him bound under the curse of that sentence until the coming of Christ. Note, 3. The extent of this curse, If any man; as if he had said, Let him be who he will that loves not Christ, Jew or Gentile, bond or free, male or female, rich or poor, young or old, prince or peasant, king or beggar, who have opportunities to know Christ and yet do not love him, let him be accursed by him to eternal ages; let him be fully separated from the society of christians here in this world, and from all fellowship and communion with Christ finally in the world to come. The sum is, That those who love not our Lord Jesus Christ, much more those who wilfully hate and oppose him and his holy laws, are accursed persons in this life, and devoted to destruction here but when our Lord shall come to judge the world at the last and great day, they shall be accursed shall stand before that impartial judge of more openly and solemnly; when they the world, they shall receive from his mouth a final malediction, an irreversible execration, which shall be immediately succeeded with the anguish and torments of eternity. 23 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. 24 My love be with you all in Christ Jesus. Amen. Observe here, Our apostle's valediction it is a benediction. He takes his farewell of them with prayer for them: The grace, or gracious favour, of Christ be with you, and multiply all blessings, both spiritual and temporal, upon you; I am sure I love you all in Christ Jesus, and for his sake. Happy is it when ministers can take their farewell of their flocks in this manner, with fervent supplications for them, and with solemn, yet serious, protestations of the fervency of their love, and the ardency of their affection towards them. Amen. THE SECOND EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL TO THE CORINTHIANS. The occasion of St. Paul's writing this second Epistle to the Corinthians, was to vindicate his person from divers imputations which were charged upon him by the false apostles, and to defend his ministry and apostleship against some that sought to bring both himself and that into disgrace and contempt: such ministers as study, and seek that they may excel to the edifying of the church,' must expect to encounter with the violent opposition and virulent imputations of men of perverse minds, who either cannot or will not do so well themselves. Our great Apostle here was charged by the false apostles with inconstancy, in promising to come to Corinth, and not coming; with pride and imperiousness, with vanity and vain-glory, in reference to the incestuous person; they representing him as contemptible in his person, as despicable in his ministry. He therefore confutes, yea, confounds, his adversaries by new and unusual way of arguing; mamely, by boasting of his sufferings, glorying in them, and giving a large catalogue and long inventory of them he displays his calamities, blazons his crosses, vindicates his person and authority from contempt, clears himself from the charge and imputation of levity and vain glory, by rehearsing the good services he had done, and the sufferings he had undergone, for the sake of CHRIST, and his holy religion. Whence we learn, That it is neither unchristian or unseemly to enlarge upon our own actions and sufferings when there is a great and necessary occasion so to do, namely, when the glory of GOD, the credit of our holy religion, and a just vindication of our own integrity and innocency, doth require it, and call for it. Observe here, 1. The writer of this epistle described by his name, Paul; by his office, an apostle of Jesus Christ; with the manner how he obtained this office of an apostle, namely, by the will of God: it was not man, but God, that called him to the apostleship. It is of great concern and consequence both to ministers and people to be fully informed, and thoroughly satisfied, of that divine call which our spiritual guides have to come amongst them; that the ministers may be able to say, "We come to you in the name of the Lord;" and the people may be able to reply: "We receive you as ambassadors from the Lord unto us." Paul, an apostle by the will of God. Observe, 2. A person conjoined with St. Paul in the writing of this epistle, and he is also described two ways; by his name, Timothy; by his relation, our brother. Where note, The great humility and condescension of St. Paul, that though far superior to Timothy in years, and more transcendent in office, and more eminent in grace, yet he doth not assume and arrogate all to himself, but makes another sit, as it were, upon the throne with him; so humble and condescending was this holy man to one so far inferior to him, both in office and grace. Note also, The happy advantage of Timothy in being with St. Paul, and having the happy privilege of being instructed and directed by so great an apostle; happy was it for young Timothy that ever he came into old Paul's family. Learn thence, That it is an happy advantage to such who in their younger years are dedicated to, and designed to be set apart for, the work of the ministry, to be under the inspection and care, the guidance and conduct, of those who are more aged, and better experienced than themselves: Paul an apostle, and Timothy our brother. Observe, 2. The persons to whom this epistle is written and directed; To the church of God which is at Corinth. Corinth was a city famous for wealth and riches, but most infamous for lewdness and uncleanness: here was a temple dedicated to Venus, where were a thousand virgins set apart to be prostituted to the lusts of men; so that Kopiviale, to Corinthize, is as much as to be lascivious and unchaste; and after many of them were converted to christianity, yet did the sin of uncleanness so much abound amongst them, that the apostle doth industriously set himself against it, and warns them of the sin and danger of it, in both his epistles wrote unto them. However, as bad as Corinth was, God told Paul, Acts xvii. that he had much people in that city; and accordingly he spent a year and a half amongst them, in preaching to them, in converting and confirming them. Learn thence, That even amongst the most profane and unlikeliest people upon earth, God may, and sometimes doth, gather a church unto himself. See what monsters of men these Corinthians were, 1 Cor. vi. 11. Whoremongers, adulterers, effeminate, abusers of themselves with mankind: and he tells them, not only such persons, but ravra such things, were some of them: but now washed, &c. O the sovereignty and wonderful efficacy of the grace of God, in cleansing souls more black than ever was Ethiopian's face! Though man cannot, yet God can, and sometimes does, cause figs to grow on thorns, and grapes on thistles. Observe, 4. Our apostle's salutation of, and prayer for, this church at Corinth Grace be to you, and peace from God our Father, and from the Lord : Jesus Christ. Whence note, 1. The mercies and blessings prayed for: grace and peace; spiritual blessings, and comprehensive blessings. Note, 2. The original cause and spring from whence those blessings flow, from God our Father, and from Jesus Christ; from the Father as the fontal cause, and from Christ as the procuring cause, the dispenser of these blessings. A good argument to prove the divinity of Christ: he that can dispense grace and peace, of and from himself, is God; but Christ doth this, therefore he is God: Grace be to you, and peace from our Lord Jesus Christ. 3 Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; 4 Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God. Observe here, 1. The several gracious and comfortable titles which the apostle gives to Almighty God; he styles him, 1. The Father of our Lord Jesus Christ; so he by nature; and Christ his Son by eternal and ineffable generation; for as the words, our Lord, ascribed here to Christ, do not exclude the Father from being Lord; so the word God, ascribed here to God the Father, excludes not Christ from being our God; and as God is the Father of Christ, so he is a Father in him to all that have union with him. 2. The Father of mercies; a most amiable and comfortable relation; not the Father of mercy, or a merciful Father, barely, but the Father of mercies in the plural number to denote the greatness and multitude of his mercies, and that all mercy flows from him only and freely, as streams from an overflowing 3. The God and never-failing fountain. of all comfort; because by giving his holy Spirit, the Comforter, he is the author of all that consolation which is conferred upon us. Observe, 2. The duty here performed by the apostle, that of blessing God, or thanksgiving, Blessed be God, &c. Learn, That blessing and praising God for all mercies, but especially for spiritual mercies, is a duty which all the people of God ought especially to be careful of, and abounding in the more you shall have cause to bless him, he will multiply blessings upon you for your thankfulness to him. Observe, 3. The particular favour which the apostle blesses and praises God for; namely, for comforting his children in all their tribulations. Learn hence, That as God is the only comforter of his people at all times, so he is their best comforter in the worst of times. There is no tribulation or affliction that the people of God can fall into, but God can and will comfort them therein: Blessed be God who comforteth us in all our tribulations. Observe, 4. The gracious end and merciful design of God in comforting his saints and servants, in and under all their pressures, tribulations, and afflictions; it is, That they may be able to comfort them which are in trouble, by the comfort wherewith they themselves have been comforted of God. Learn hence, That God doth often exercise many of his ministers, and some of his particular saints and servants, in a very exemplary manner, with trials and afflictions; for this great end amongst others, that they may be experimentally able to instruct and comfort such, who either are or may hereafter fall into the same disconsolate condition with themselves; none so fit to advise and counsel, to instruct and comfort, a suffering saint, as an afflicted minister or christian, who have, together with their afflictions, experienced the favour of divine consolations: That we may comfort others, as we ourselves have been comforted of God. 5 For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ. Note here, 1. That the saints' sufferings are called the sufferings of Christ. The head suffers in the members, because the members suffer for the sake of the head. Note, 2. That the saints' sufferings in the cause, and for the sake of Christ, are sometimes overflowing and excessive sufferings: The sufferings of Christ abound in us. Note, 4. That as a christian's sufferings are for Christ, so are their comforts and consolations from him; yea, their comforts do bear some proportion to their sufferings: as our sufferings abound, so our consolation abounds by Christ. 6 And whether we be afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effectual in the enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer or whether we be comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation. As if the apostle had said, "What sufferings soever I have met with in my ministerial office, you have the benefit of them, and special advantage by them; and therefore you ought not to despise me upon the account of my sufferings, (as do the false prophets, and would have you do,) but you ought the more to honour me for them, and be encouraged yourselves by them; and when I am comforted, it is beneficial for your consolation, inasmuch as you may confidently expect the same relief." Learn bence, That the sufferings and afflictions which we endure for Christ, do not only turn to our own good, but redound greatly to the good and benefit of the church of God, and consequently should not disanimate or dishearten our fellow-christians, but rather be matter of comfort or consolation to them. If we be afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation: he adds, If we be comforted, it is for your consolation also; thereby plainly intimating to us, that Almighty God doth by all his dispensations, both of mercy and correction, promote and carry on the salvation of his own children and people. 7 And our hope of you is stedfast, knowing, that as ye are partakers of the sufferings, so shall ye be also of the consolation. Here St. Paul tells the body of the Corinthians, that he had a good hope concerning them, that as they had endured sufferings for Christ, so they would still endure them; assuring them, that they should share no less in consolation than they did in affliction. Learn hence, That such as suffer for Christ, or own those that suffer for him, shall be interested in all that joy and consolation which such sufferings and sufferers shall receive from God: As you are partakers of the sufferings, so shall you be of the consolation also. 8 For we would not, brethren, have you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure, above strength, insomuch that we despaired even of life. Observe here, 1. That it is of no small benefit and advantage, but of excellent use to us, to know what are the troubles and af flictions which do befall the servants of God for righteousness' sake: We would not have you ignorant of our trouble. Observe, 2. How pressing the troubles and afflictions were which this apostle underwent; they were out of measure, above strength, and even to the despairing of life. Thence note, That God may, and sometimes does, exercise his servants with such extreme and pressing trials, that all their own natural strength is unable to support them under them, or carry them through them; We were pressed above strength, and despaired even of life. 9 But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead: Observe here, The great and imminent danger which the apostle was in: his very life was in a hazard, nay, even despaired of; |