WORKS

THE

OF THE

REV. P. DODDRIDGE, D. D.

VOLUME IX.

FAMILY EXPOSITOR,

II. CORINTHIANS,

GALATIANS,

EPHESIANS,

PHILIPPIANS,

THE

CONTAINING

A PARAPHRASE ON THE REMAINING PART

FIRST EPISTLE

OF ST. PAUL TO THE CORINTHIANS,

OF THE

COLOSSIANS,

LEEDS:

I. THESSALONIANS,

II. THESSALONIANS,

I. TIMOTHY.

AMA SCRIPTURAS SANCTAS, & AMABIT TE SAPIENTIA. HIERON.

1

NEW-YORK

FOR THE EDITORS; CONDER, BUCKLERSBURY; BUTTON, PATERNOSTER-ROW;
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NOSTER-ROW, LONDON; AND FOR BAINES AND BINNS,
LEEDS; COLBERT, DUBLIN; WILSON AND SPENCE,
YORK; OGLE AND AIKMAN, EDINBURGH, M.
OGLE, GLASGOW; CROOKES, ROTHERHAM;

PRINTED BY EDWARD BAINES,

200

ABEL, NORTHAMPTON; AND
MR. FARRAND, 185, MARKET-STREET, PHILADELPHI

THE

FAMILY EXPOSITOR.

A

PARAPHRASE AND NOTES

ON THE REMAINING PART OF

THE FIRST EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS.

VOL. IX.

SECTION XII.

The apostle proceeds to answer certain questions which the Corinthians had put to him; and first, what related to the marriagestate; and in these introductory verses, he determines that in some circumstances it should be entered into,'and continued in, but in others, forborne; and forbids wives to depart from their husbands. 1 Cor. VII.-1-11.

1 COR. VII. 1.

1 CORINTHIANS VII. 1.

NOW concerning the

things whereof ye NOW! proceed to give you my opinion concerning those things about which you wrote to

I

wrote unto me: It is
good for a man not to me.
touch a woman.

And I begin with that concerning the law- 1 Cor. fulness or expedience of marriage. And here I VII. 1. must first observe, that as to its expedience, [it is] in present circumstances good for a man, where he is entirely master of himself, to have nothing to do with a woman; so many are the conveniences which recommend a single life to those who are proof against some of its most 2 Nevertheless, to obvious temptations. Nevertheless, as the 2

acoid fornication, let God of nature has for certain wise reasons im-
every man have his
own wife, and let e-

own husband.

planted in the sexes a mutual inclination to each very woman have her other, in order to prevent fornication, and every other species of uncleanness,. let every men have and retain his own proper wife, and let every woman have and retain her own proper husband for neither divorce nor poligamy are by

A

SECT. xii.

4

Marriage is necessary to prevent fornication;

SECT. by any means agreeable to the genius of the

xii.

gospel.

1 Cor.

Let the husband, where this relation is comVII. 3. menced, render all due benevolence to the wife, and in like manner also the wife to the husband: let them on all occasions be ready mutually to oblige, and consult the happiness of each other's life. And let them not imagine that there is any perfection in living separate from each 4 other, as if they were in a state of celibacy. For the wife hath not in this respect power over her own body, but hath by the marriage-covenant transferred it to the husband; and in like man. ner also, the husband hath not power over his own body, but it is, as it were, the property of the wife; their engagements being mutual,so that on every occasion conscience obliges them to remain appropriate to each other, and consult their mutual good.

5

3 Let the husband

due benevolence: and

render unto the wife likewise also the wife unto the husband.

4 The wife hath not

power of her own bo

dy, 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 consent for a time, that ye may

Withdraw not therefore from the company of each other, unless [it be] by consent for a time; that ye may be at leisure to devote yourselves more intensly to fasting and prayer, and that give yourselves to fastye may come together again as usual; lest Satan ing and prayer; and come together atempt you on account of your incontinence, and gain, that Satan tempt take occasion from the irregular sallies of you not for your inanimal nature, to fill you with thoughts and passions, which marriage was in its original institution intended to remedy.

continency.

6 But you will observe, that I say this by per- 6 But I speak this
mission from Christ; but not by any express by permission, and not
command, which he gave in person in the of cou/mandment.
days of his flesh, or gives by the inspiration and
suggestion of his Spirit now; by which inspira-
tion, you may conclude I am guided when I lay
in no such precautions as these.

By permission.] cannot, with Mr. Gredeck, think, that the meaning of this clause, is, “I permit marriage, but do not enjoin it," and have clevere observed, that this verse, and others in this context, nearly parallel to it, will be so far from affording, or any interpretation, an objection against the general nspiration of

7 For I would that

7 But as for the main question we are now
upon,
I could wish that all men were, in this all men were even as
respect, even as myself; that all christians could I myself; but every
as easily bear the severities of a single life in
present circumstances, and exercise as resolute
a command over their natural desires". But

man hath his proper
gift of God, one after
this

every

St.