A. D. 57. without any Mixture of Oftentation or human Artifices to fet them off. And especially among you Corinthians.

and always will be.

14. As alfo you have acknowledged us in part, that we are your rejoycing, even as ye allo are ours in the day of the Lord Jefus.

13. And this Sincerity of mine, is what you have always read in my Writings, and heard from me in my Preaching; you were all very fenfible of, and free to acknowledge it when I was with you; and I hope you are fo ftill,

14. A great many of you, I can fafely and gladly fay, have owned and gloried in me as your true Apoftle and Teacher; and I will accordingly glory and rejoice in them at the Great Day of Chrift's Judgment, as Difciples converted and faved by my Doctrine and Ministry.

15. And in this con- 15. And with this full Confifidence I was minded dence and Satisfaction in fuch of to come unto you beyou as do thus respect and efteem fore, that you might me, was I fully intended to come *As xx. have a fecond benefit: * and vifit your Church a second Time, for your further Inftruction and Confirmation in the Chriftian Religion.

16. And to pass by +See1 Cor. † you into Macedonia, xvi. 6, 7. and to come again out of Macedonia unto you, and of you to be brought on my way toward Judea.

17. When I therefore was thus minded, did I use lightness? or the things that I purpose, do I purpose according to the flesh,

that

16. Defigning not to call upon you in my Way to Macedonia, but to to come to you from thence, and to take Provifions of you for my Voyage * to Jerufalem,

17. And what if I did not actually come according to my first Purpofe? Have any of your new Factions any Reason from thence to fay I am an uncertain, fickle, and deceitful Man t, acted purely

by

is

Ver. 17. In the Hebrew and Hellenistick Languages yea as much as to affirm, nay to deny. For a Man to have his yea,

yea,

that with me there by Self-Intereft, and have no Re- A. D. 57. gard to my Word?

fhould be yea, yea,
and nay, nay?

18. But as God is
true, our word toward
you, was not yea and

18. GOD can testify, my Preaching and Converfation among you has fhown me to be quite another Sort of Perfon, always uniform and confiftent with myself.

nay.

19. For the Son of
God, Jefus Chrift, who

was preached among
you by us, even by
me, and Silvanus, and
Timotheus, was not
yea and yea, but in
him was yea.

19. As to my Christian Doc-
trine, as both myself and Timo-
thy *, and Silvanus under me de- *A&sxviii.
livered it to you (especially that 5.
principal Point of CHRIST as
a crucified and rifen Saviour) you
know it was one and the fame from
us all.

20. For all the pro-
mifes of God in him
are yea, and in him
amen, unto the glory
of God by us.
him + as a crucified
21. Now he which
tablishes us with you
in Christ, and hath a-
nointed us, is God:
it, by the miraculous
22. Who hath also 22. Which Gifts and Graces
fealed us, and given are as perfect a Ratification of his
the earnest of the Spi- Promifes in Chrift, as the Seal is
rit in our hearts.
to a Deed or Covenant; and are a
Pledge of our future Enjoyment of them, if we per-
form the Conditions annexed to them. 'Tis very un-

20. For I founded the Truth
and Certainty of all the gracious
Promifes in this glorious Difpen-
fation of the Gospel preached by
us the Apostles of Chrift, upon
Redeemer, and a rifen Saviour.

21. The Truth of which Chrif tian Doctrine God has fufficiently demonftrated both to you and me, and confirmed us in the Belief of Gifts of his Holy Spirit.

yea, and his nay, nay, is to be true and faithful; but to be yea
and nay at the fame Time, is to be falfe and contradictious.
Wherefore the Rev. Dr. Mills has well obferved the true Read-
ing of this Place to be to vairo, yea and nay, according
to the antient Copy of Beza. For to double the Phrafes,
makes the Sense directly contrary to the Scope of the Apostle.
t Ver. 19 and 20. See 1 Cor. i. 23. ii, 2. v. 1, 2, &6.

A. D. 57. juft therefore for a Perfon thus qualified with all the Marks of a true Apoftle, and fo conftant and confiftent in his Doctrine as I am, to be accounted an inconftant and a felfish Man.

23. Moreover, I call
God for a record *

upon my foul, that to
fpare you I came not
as yet unto Corinth.

23. But to tell you the true Reason of my not coming at the Time appointed; I call God to witness, it was neither out of Slight to my Friends, nor Fear of my Enemies, but purely out of Tenderness to the obftinate and offending Part of you; to fufpend for a while the Punishment I threatned, in a charitable Hope of their Amendment and Reformation.

24. Not for that we have dominion over your faith, but are helpers of your joy: for by faith ye ftand.

24. When I speak of threatning and sparing your Offenders, I would not be understood to challenge any abfolute Power over you or your religious Principles; no, I am only your Affiftant in Chriftianity; 'tis Jefus Chriftt, not I, in whom you believe as your Lord and Mafter.

* Ver. 23. Upon my Soul — Yvxnv— Upon my Life As much as to fay, May I die if it be not true.

+ Ver. 24. Trisa ishxals. For ye bave food in the Faith, i. e. of Jefus Chrift, not of me.

CHA P. II.

The CONTENTS.

He proceeds to fhew the Reafon of his not coming to Corinth fo foon as he intended, to be his real Clemency to ward the fcandalous Offenders. Expreffeth his Tendernefs toward them all. Defires that even the incestuous Perfon fhould be received into the Church again, upon his Repentance. Declares his own Sincerity, and the difficult Charge of the Apoftolical Office: With a Reflection upon their new Teachers that oppofed him.

HE Refpect and Love I have for you, was in

deed

my felf, that I would

deed the true Reason why I came A. D. 57.. not come again to you not to Corinth at the appointed in heaviness. Time, when I found my Prefence would be a Matter of univerfal Grief to your Church, by the tharp Severities I fhould have been obliged to exercise upon the incorrigible Offenders against me and my Doctrine.

2. For if I make you forry, who is he then that maketh me glad, but the fame which is made forry by me?

3. And I wrote this fame unto you, left when I came, I fhould have forrow from them of whom I ought to rejoyce, having you all, that my joy is the joy of you all.

confidence in

2. And had I done it, what Comfort could I have had among a People I so much love, and yet am forced to punish in fo fevere a Degree?

3. I have therefore written you my Mind before-hand, that by a timely Reformation of the Diforders of your Church, I might. not have the Trouble and Vexation of punishing inftead of congratulating, when I come to vifit you. And I hope you have fome Regard to my Peace and Satisfac

tion, as if it were your own.

4. For out of much affliction and anguish of heart, I wrote unto you with many tears; not that you fhould be grieved, but that ye might know the love which I have more abundantly unto you.

whole Church, by

5. But if any have caufed grief, he hath not grieved me, but in part: that I may not overcharge you all.

4. When I wrote to you fuch
fevere Orders for the excommu-
nicating * your obftinate Trans-
greffors, it was fo far from any
Delight I took in correcting and
punishing, that on the contrary,
Sorrow and Vexation, and from
it came from me with the deepest
the neceffary Regard I have to
the Good and Benefit of your
procuring their Reformation.

5. If the incestuous Perfon in
particular, has, by his Crime and
Punishment, become a Scandal
and a Grief, you have
in it as well as I. I will not take
your Share

E e 2

*See 1 Cor. v. 4, 5. and xvi. zz.

it

A. D. 57. it to my felf in particular, because I am unwilling any Way to bear too hard upon you or him.

Crime, not his Perfon,
Good and Benefit.

9. For to this end al-
fo did I write, that I
might know the proof
of you, whether ye be
obedient in all things.
fhall have attained
ftle to you.

10. To whom ye forgive any thing, I forgive allo: for if I forgave any thing, to whom I forgave it, for your fakes forgave I it in the person of Chrift;

11. Left Satan fhould get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices.

7. On the contrary, upon his giving Signs of true Reformation, I advife you to be tender to him, and reftore him again to the Communion of the Church, for fear that by excluding him too long, you run him into Despair.

8. Wherefore I earnestly defire of you to fhow him, that your prefent Punishment of him proceeded from a Hatred of his and out of a Defign for his final

9. And then when I shall have reformed and restored the Offender to the Church, and at the fame Time tried and proved your obedient Temper toward me, I the main Purposes of my firft Epi

10 & 11. Be affured therefore, that whatever notorious Offender you fhall, upon his Repentance, unanimously receive again into Communion, he has my Pardon and full Confent to it, which I give him by my Apoftolical Authority derived from Jefus Chrift; and from a tender Regard to you and your whole Church; for fear. the Devil fhould lay any Hold of our Severities, and hurry any one

of