Julian Pe- thirst, and are naked, and are buffeted, and have no cer- Ephesus. riod, 4770. tain dwelling-place;

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12 And labour, working with our own hands; being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we suffer it;

13 Being defamed, we entreat: we are made as the filth of the earth, and are the off-scouring of all things unto this day.

$ 12. 1 COR. iv. 14-17.

St. Paul declares he does not write these things to shame,
but to instruct them, and to warn them from those false
Teachers, who will not be to them as he was, their spiri
tual Father-He therefore intreats them to imitate Him,
and sends Timotheus to them, who should remind them of
his Instruction.

14 I write not these things to shame you, but as my
beloved sons I warn you.

15 For though ye have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet have ye not many fathers; for, in Christ Jesus, I have begotten you through the gospel.

16 Wherefore I beseech you, be ye followers of me.

17 For this cause have I sent unto you Timotheus, who is my beloved son, and faithful in the Lord, who shall bring you into remembrance of my ways which be in Christ, as I teach every where in every church.

§ 13. 1 Cor. iv. 18. to the end.

The false Teacher having declared that St. Paul feared to
encounter such learned and eloquent Opposers-He de-
clares his Intention of visiting them shortly, when he
would inquire not into the Speech, but into the supernatural
Powers of his Opposers, as the Gospel is not established
by the boasted Wisdom of its Preachers, but in the Mi-
raculous Powers which are imparted to them for its
Confirmation-He then asks them if his own superna-
tural Powers should be exercised towards them in Punish-
ment, or if he should come to them in the Spirit of Peace
and in Love, on account of their having corrected their
Errors.

18 Now some are puffed up, as though I would not
come to you.

19 But I will come to you shortly, if the Lord will; and will know, not the speech of them which are puffed up, but the power.

20 For the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power.

21 What will ye? shall I come unto you with a rod, or in love, and in the spirit of meekness?

Julian Pe riod, 4770. Valgar Era, 57.

§ 14. 1 COR. v. 1. to the end.

St. Paul commands the public Excommunication of the In-
cestuous Person-He condemns their boasting in the
Knowledge of their false Teacher, who has tolerated this
enormity, and shews the infectious Nature of Sin, by
comparing it to leaven-They are prohibited from asso-
ciating with Christians openly profane, who are to be
delivered over to the Censure of the Church-But the
wicked Heathens, as being without the Pale of the
Church, are to be left to the Judgment of God.

1 It is reported commonly that there is fornication
among you, and such fornication as is not so much as
named among the Gentiles, that one should have his fa-
ther's wife.

2 And ye are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he that hath done this deed might be taken away from among you.

3 For I verily, as absent in body, but present in spirit, have judged already, as though I were present, concerning him that hath so done this deed;

4 In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when ye are gathered together, and my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ,

5 To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.

6 Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?

7 Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us:

8 Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

9 I wrote unto you in an epistle' not to company with fornicators:

10 Yet not altogether with the fornicators of this world,

7 Many have concluded, from this passage, that the Epistle of St. Paul, in which this precept was contained, has perished. A little attention however to the passage will place the whole matter in a very different point of view. In the first place we must remark, that the words which are here translated in an epistle, ought, without any doubt, to be rendered in the, or in this epistle, such being the sense of the article in the original. Accordingly we find in the beginning of the chapter the very precept in question. "It is reported commonly that there is fornication among you." As, therefore the company of such offenders, "like a little leaven would leaven the whole lump," the apostle commands them to "purge out therefore the old leaven," i. c. those fornicators whose society would corrupt and defile them. Lest, however, they should so far mistake the command, as to withdraw themselves entirely from the world, the apostle explains himself, and informs them that bis injunction

Ephesus.

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does not extend to fornicators among the Heathen, for with
such, in the ordinary intercourse of life, they must associate,
but that it applies only to their Christian brethren.

"9. I wrote to you in an epistle not to company with forni-
cators.

"10. Yet not altogether with the fornicators of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or idolaters, for then must ye needs go out of the world.

"11. But now have I written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortionerwith such an one no not to eat."

As an additional proof of an error in the translation, we are to observe, that the identical word, which in the ninth verse is translated, "I wrote," in the cleventh verse is translated "I have written." "Let the latter tense be adopted, as it ought to be, in both verses, and with the addition of the demonstrative article, the sense of the passage will be perfectly clear, without having recourse to the improbable supposition of any previous epistle. The following paraphrase of the verses in question, which very nearly coincides with that of Mr. Jones, may, perhaps, be thought satisfactory.

9. I have written to you, a little above, (ver. 2.) in this letter, that you should separate yourselves from those who are fornicators, and because you may be in danger of being polluted by them, that you should purge them out from among you, as the old leaven, (ver. 5, 6.)

"10. Do not, however mistake me: I do not mean that you should separate from such among the heathen as are fornicators, extortioners, or idolaters: for if you were to do so, you might as well go out of the world.

11. But this is the meaning of what I have written to you; that you should not hold any communication, nor admit to the supper of the Lord, any among your Christian brethren, who are offenders in these points."

There are many passages indeed in this epistle, which lead us to think that it was the first communication of the apostle to the Corinthians, since his departure from them. In the beginning both of the second and of the fifteenth chapters, he recalls their attention to his residence among them, and to what he then said and did, as if he had sent them nothing, which might either have refreshed their faith or renewed their obligations. Now as in the second epistle, he refers perpetually to the first, we might fairly suppose that in this epistle, which we now call the first, he would have referred also in a manner equally decisive, to his former one, if any such had ever existed. Such a reference indeed would have been especially necessary, as, if we suppose a former epistle, we must also suppose that the offence against which he forewarned them, had been subsequently repeated; he would not therefore have failed to have charged them with direct disobedience to his positive command. So far, however, from this being the case, it appears from the very expressions which he uses, that he had but recently heard of the offence. This circumstance of itself militates against the supposition of any previous epistle; for if the crime had prevailed to such a degree, as to have already required the interference of the apostle, he would not have written the second time, as if he had but just heard of the accusation from common report, "It is reported commonly that there is fornication among you." Besides, the very words in which he passes his judgment of excom

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11 But now I have written unto you not to keep com- Ephesus. pany, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no not to eat.

12 For what have I to do to judge them also that are without? do not ye judge them that are within?

13 But them that are without God judgeth. Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person.

§ 15. 1 COR. vi. 1-8.

The Christians are reproved for referring their Differences
to Heathen Courts of Judicature, by which their Chris-
tian Profession is dishonoured-Instead of laying them
before their inspired Teachers, who gave Laws for the
present ruling of the World-They are rebuked also
for attempting to injure and defraud their Christian
Brethren.

1 Dare any of you, having a matter against another,
go to law before the unjust, and not before the saints?

2 Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters?

3 Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more things that pertain to this life.

4 If then ye have judgments of things pertaining to this life, set them to judge who are least esteemed in the church.

5 I speak to your shame. Is it so, that there is not a wise man among you? no, not one that shall be able to judge between his brethren?

6 But brother goeth to law with brother, and that before the unbelievers.

7 Now therefore there is utterly a fault among you, because ye go to law one with another. Why do ye not rather take wrong? why do ye not rather suffer yourselves to be defrauded.

8 Nay, ye do wrong and defraud, and that your brethren.

§ 16. 1 Cor. vi. 9, to the end.

The Apostle here confutes the Arguments of the false
Teacher, by which he appears to have sanctioned Luxury
and Fornication, and declares that no unclean Person
can inherit the Blessings of the Gospel-The immoderate
Indulgence of things in themselves lawful, is sinful in

munication against the offender, (ver. 3, 4, 5,) lead us to believe
that it was now passed for the first time. The supposition,
therefore, of a lost epistle is groundless; nor do the words of
the apostle, when fairly examined, lead to any such conclu-
sion (a).

(a) See the late lamented Mr. Rennell's tract on Inspiration. See the
subject discussed in Horne, and the references, p. 149–152.

Julian Period, 4770. Vulgar Æra, 57.

Christians, who are God's both by Creation and Re- Ephesus. demption.

9 Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit
the kingdom of God? Be not deceived; neither forni-
cators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor
abusers of themselves with mankind,

10 Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor re-
vilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.
11 And such were some of you: but ye are washed,
but
ye are sanctified, but ye are justified, in the name of
the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.

12 All things are lawful unto me, but all things are
not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but I will not
be brought under the power of any.

13 Meats for the belly, and the belly for meats: but God shall destroy both it and them. Now the body is not for fornication, but for the Lord; and the Lord for the body.

14 And God hath both raised up the Lord, and will also raise up us by his own power.

15 Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot? God forbid.

16 What? know ye not that he which is joined to an harlot is one body? for two, saith he, shall be one flesh. 17 But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit.

18 Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body.

19 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?

20 For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.

$ 17. 1 COR. vii. 1—17.

St. Paul proceeds to answer the Questions of the Corin-
thians, and gives Rules of Conduct both to married and
single Persons, according to their several Tempers, and
the present State of the Church in a time of Persecution.
1 Now concerning the things whereof ye wrote unto
me: It is good for a man not to touch a woman.

2 Nevertheless, to avoid fornication, let every man
have his own wife, and let every woman, have her own
husband.

3 Let the husband render unto the wife due benevolence and likewise also the wife unto the husband.

4 The wife hath not power of her own body, but the husband and likewise also the husband hath not power of his own body, but the wife.

:

5 Defraud ye not one the other, except it be with con