bound more and more, to the Advancement of his Glory, the Good of his Church, the Safety, Honour, and Welfare of Our Sovereign and Her Kingdoms: And especially, that the Practice of thofe Virtues, and the Promotion of Juch Happiness on Earth, may bring many Souls to that Happiness in Heaven, of which there fhall be no End. Amen. THE A PARAPHRASE and COMMENT Upon all the Epiftles and Gofpels, A Used throughout the Year. VOL. I. The First Sunday in Advent. The COLLECT. Ĺmighty God, give us Grace, that we may caft *away the Works of Darkness, and put upon us the Armour of Light, now in the time of this mortal Life, (in which thy Son Jefus Chrift came to vifit us in great Humility) that in the laft Day, when he shall come again in his glorious Majefty, to judge both the quick and dead, we may rife to the Life immortal, through Him, who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghoft, now and ever. Amen. O' * The EPISTLE. Rom. xiii. 8. WE Man any thing but to love one another; Law. PARAPHRASE. 8. Discharge the Duties of your refpective Capackties fo faithfully, that nothing be omitted, which any Relation, Natural or Civil, requires at your Hands. But know, there is still one Duty of universal and perpetual Obligation. For Charity, even when it hath done moft, is ever bound, and ever labouring, to do more: And this is fo comprehenfive, that it does not only take in the Letter, but answers the Intent, of the whole Moral Law. 9. For this, Thou shalt not commit Adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not fleal, Thou shall not bear falfe witnefs, Thou shalt not covet, and if there be any other Commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this faying, namely, Thou shalt love thy Neighbour as thy felf. 9. For the Law defigns to prevent all Injuftice to others; and the loving our Neighbour as our felves, does not only imply the doing him no Injury, but en gages us to do him all the good we can, 10. This 10. Thus the Second Ta io. Love worketh no ill to his Neighbour, there ble is effectually fatisfied: fore Love is the fulfilling of the Law. And fo indeed is the First too; in regard the Chriftian's Love of his Neighbour is infeparable from, and founded upon, the Love of God. 11. And that knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of fleep, for now is our Salvation nearer than when we believed. For 11. And now to all our other Engagements to Juftice and Charity, we fhall do well to add that in particular, which arifes from the Confideration of our prefent Circumstances. the Condition of Chriftians calls for higher Degrees of Goodness, than either the State of Natural Religion, or the Jewish Law. We have a clearer and lets diftant Profpect of eternal Happiness, than either they had, who lived before Christ's Coming, or than we our felves had at our firft Converfion to the Faith. 12. Every Day brings this nearer to us, and it is not fit our Zeal should abate, but much rather increase, in proportion as our Hopes advance toward Enjoyment. Darkness and Ignorance are almost quite difpelled by the Light of the Gófpel. Our Life of Sin and Error wears away apace; and a State of Glory and Perfection is approaching with fpeed towards us. Thofe fcandalous Vices, must therefore be abandoned, which will not endure the Light; and those Virtues acquired and exercised, which may be, at once a Defence against Temptations, and an Ornament to our Profeffion. 12. The night is far spent, the day is at hand: Let us therefore caft off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light. 13. Intemperance and Revelling, unlawful Pleafures and unnatural Lufts, uncharitable Envyings and 13. Let us walk boneftly as in the day, not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in frife and envying. malicious Contentions, are things that affect Secrecy, and are attended with Shame. They cannot confift with any due regard to Modesty and Decency, and all who commit them, are induftrious to conceal them. 14. How then can these 14. But put ye on the Lord Jefus Chrift, and make be in any degree excufable not provifion for the Flesh, to fulfil the Lufts thereof. in Chriftians, who, at their Baptifm, engage moft folemnly to make the Purity of Jefus Chrift their conftant Pattern; and His Virtues the Garb of their Souls, by which they * Chryf. fhould be as vifibly diftinguished, as Men commonly are by the Garments they wear? 'Tis true indeed, no degree of Holiness exempts a Man from the Neceffities of Nature; and therefore fome Provifion must be made for thefe Mortal Bodies, while we carry them about us. But every good Man will be careful to reftrain this Provifion to the Relief of his Wants, and the Support of his Life, without making these a Pretence for extending it to the sherishing his Lufts, and gratifying the Extravagances of a fenfual Appetite, by wain and luxurious Pleasures. COMMENT. TH COMMENT. HE Defign of this particular Season, and of the Devotions proper to it, is fufficiently intimated to us by this fpecial Collect, to be the reminding Men of our Bleffed Lord's Twofold Coming. The One already paffed, when in great Humility he came to redeem us; The Other ftill Future, when in his glorious Majesty he shall come to judge us. And the Epiftle, now under Confideration, recommends fuch pious Difpofitions and Practices, as are the beft Qualifications to prepare us, both for meeting him with Comfort at his Second, and for commemorating with due Decency and Devotion his Firft, Advent. I fhall therefore endeavour to edify my Reader, in the Virtues proper to these Purposes, by propofing from this Portion of Scripture, 1. First, The Duties which the Apostle here urges upon every Christian: And, II. Secondly, The Arguments made ufe of to enforce them. V. 8, 9, 10. I. The Duties are principally Two: Charity and Purity of Conversation. The Former comprehends all that branch of Virtue, which Divines ufually distinguish by our Duty to our Neighbour: And this is exprefly commanded here. The Latter denotes all that, which is frequently called our Duty to our felves. And this is the importance of those several Expreffions, Awaking out of Sleep, cafting off V. 12, 13. the Works of Darkness, putting on the Armour of Light, walking honestly as in the Day, forfaking the Vices which are inconfiftent with, and a Difhonour to, a Chriftian's holy Profeffion; putting on the Lord Jefus Christ, and not making Provifion for the Flesh, to fulfil the Lufts thereof. B 2 V. 14. II. My |