go before unto you, and make up beforehand your bounty, whereof ye had no the better appear to be a free Act, À. D. 57. tice before, that the fame might be ready as a matter of boun- 6. But this I fay, 6. As to the Sum every one He which foweth fpa- fhould contribute, I leave that to ringly, fhall reap fpa- each Man's Temper, Difcretion, ringly: and he which and Ability; only let me rememfoweth bountifully, ber you in general, that Chriftian shall reap bountifully. Liberality is like the Husbandman's Harveft; you must all expect to reap at God's Hands, in Proportion to what you fow. 7. Every man according as he purpofeth in his heart, fo let him give; not grudgingly, or of neceffity: for God lov eth a cheerful giver. 8. And God is able to make all grace abound towards you; that ye always having all fufficiency in all things, may abound 7. But whatever any of you give, let it come from a free and hearty Difpofition to do Good; not extorted by Shame and Importunity; for God does not look upon the Gift, but the generous Mind of the Giver. 8. And, to this End, confider, that God is both able and willing to recompenfe your Liberality with a greater Abundance of temporal good Things; that the more you give, the more you may have wherewithal to exercise and to every good work: 9. As it is written, He hath difperfed abroad, he hath given to the poor: his right eousness remaineth for ever. Benefit to him hereafter. 9. According to those Words of the Pfalmift (Pfal. cxii. 9.) where he faith, The Liberality* of the good Man is not loft and thrown away, but is bleft with Plenty here, and remains an eternal to the Hebrew (Beracha) which the Septuagint frequently render a Gift or Prefent, Gen. xxxiii. 11. 2 Kings v. elsewhere. 15. and *Ver.9. His Righteousness, ǹ Sinaioσórn du, his Liberality. A. D. 57. See Note on Chap. viii. 1. 10. And may God, the Author of all our Bleffings and Opportunities of doing Good, give you a plenteous Reward for all your Bounty and Beneficence. 10. Now he that 11. Being enriched 12. For the admi- 14. And by their 15. Thanks be unto God for his unfpeakable gift. II. And may he enlarge your charitable Difpofitions, which cause me, and all that know and feel the good Effects of them, to praise and glorify him. 12. For the Good of your Chriftian Charity does not terminate in being a comfortable Relief to other pious Chriftians, but in becoming a great Argument of bis Praise and Glory. 13. Because all those pious Sufferers that thus experience your truly Chriftian Spirit, cannot but look up with a thankful Heart to him, who is the original Author of your Virtues, and of their Com fort and Refreshment, 14. And you, in Return, will have their Prayers, Love, and Bleffing, for the Exercife of fo noble and godlike a Bounty toward them. 15. Bleffed be God therefore, for these inexpreffible Advantages of this charitable Temper in you, and all Chriftian People endowed with it. CHAP. СНАР. Х. The CONTENTS. The remaining Chapters are spent in confuting the Suggef tions of their falfe Teachers who yet stood out against the Apostle; and in Endeavours to reduce them, both by Threatnings and Perfuafions. He here upbraids them for undervaluing him, on Account of the Meanness of his perfonal Appearance, without duly weighing the Strength of his Doctrine and Writing: As alfo for their Practice of running from one Church to another: Not for the Sake of converting more People to the Chriftian Faith, but to pervert fuch as were already converted by the true Apoftles of CHRIST. 1. NOW I Paul my felf befeech you by the meekness and gentleness of Chrift, who in prefence am bafe among you, but being abfent am bold toward you. 2. But I befeech you, that I may not be bold when I am prefent, with that confidence wherewith I think to be bold against fome which think of us, as if we walked according to the flesh. 1 & 2. I Muft now again parti- A. D. 57. cularly apply myfelf to your new and falfe Teachers; feveral of which, I find, are yet unreformed by my last Letter to your Church. They difparage me as a Perfon of a mean Pre fence, and a little Afpect; and one, who while I threaten and speak great, have not Spirit and Courage to execute what I pretend. Let such Men know that, if I come, and find them in no better Temper, I fhall certainly do as I fay; and to their Coft, convince them they have little Reason to call me a weak, or uncertain, or defigning Man. And I beseech them by Gg3 the * Ver. 2. 's xalá páska regiwalilas, As though we walked according to the Fleh. Οι ψευδαπόςολοι διέβαλλον αυτὸν ὡς ὑποκριτὴν, ὡς ἀπατεῶνα, καὶ πάντα πρΘ ἐπίδειξιν la. The falfe Apoftles reprefented Paul as a Pretender, and one that did, and spoke only for Show and Oftentation, lays Occumenius. And fee Chap. i. 17. ποινα. A. D. 57. the Meeknefs and Humility of Jefus Chrift, our great Example, to confider of it in Time. 4. (For the wea- Chrift: 6. And having in a filled. 3. For though I am but a Man, and never fo mean a one as to bodily Appearance; that is nothing to the Purpose; I do not perform by human Policy and Qualifi 4 & 5. 'Tis neither Beauty or Stature of Body, nor Strength of Eloquence, nor Depth of Philofophy, that are the Weapons I ufe for fubduing Mankind to the Belief of the Gofpel; but the miraculous Evidences of the Holy Spirit, which are Arguments far ftronger than all human Reafonings, fufficient to deftroy all the towering Schemes and lofty Flights of human Literature; to regulate Men's irreligious Notions, and reduce them to the of the true Religion of CHRIST. 6. And let them be affured, that though the great Number of thofe Offenders made me fufpend my coming, and for a while to forbear my Severities; yet now I have drawn the founder, and greater Part of your Church into due Order and Subjection again, I know how to treat them that ftill oppofe and undervalue me; and fhall not fail to do it. 7. Do ye look on things after the outward appearance? if any man truft to himfelf, that he is Chrifts, let him of himself think 7. Thofe Men look upon nothing but the Perfon of a Man, and catch at his Character from the bare external Face of fome particular Actions. Let them look upon the whole Course of my Ministry, Ver. 4. Mighty through God, Auraja Tÿ sq. Sec my NOTE on Chap. viii. 1. think this again, that as he is Chrifts, even fo are we Chrifts. tian Apoftleship. 8. For though I fhould boaft fomewhat more of our authority, (which the Lord hath given us for edification, and not for your deftruction) I should not be afhamed. Miniftry, and then fee whether A. D. 57. 8. I must tell them, though I have been hitherto tender in the Ufe of my Apoftolical Power, as being more willing to encourage and win, than to restrain and fright Men by my Authority; yet I might, without any Pride or Vain-Glory, magnify that Au thority more than ever I yet have done; * Ver. 10. But his bodily Prefence is weak, and his Speech contemptible. The antient Writers reprefent St. Paul as a Man of a low Stature, with mean Afpect of Body, a bald Head, and an Impediment in his Speech." Which Teftimonies, added to the feveral Expreffions of this and the eleventh Chapters, make it highly probable, that it was these natural and bodily Defects he means by his Infirmity and Weakness, and bis Thorn in the Flesh. See there in Chap. xii. 7. + Rom. xv. 19. |