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wiltm i; Orinth (the Inhabitants of which are called Corinthians) was an eminent City of Achaia, that Achaia which :: I had tie now called Morea, and was ſituated in an Iſthmus, or neck of Land, betwixt rhe Fgean anl lonian Ser, {o was re | cery convenient for Merchandiſe, and by Merchandiſe came to great Riches, which gave them gres! tempt i ions to luxury, is word is ankenneſF, whoredom, &c. They were very infamous fer the Iatter, as we read in Writers, and prowa to rhat eraput- It. 36. & lence, that they made the increaſe of Whores a part of their Prayers to their Idols, and made the bringing of Whores in. aind In al t the City @ part of their Vows. Lais was an Harlot among jt them, very famons in Civil Hijtory, And as Pride _—_— \ully attendeth. Wealth, ſo they alſo were a People wery proud and puffed up. They were alſy anciently famou: for Pagan petoke juarning, and had amongſt them Stoicks and Epicureans, who laughed at the Relurretion of the Body, ond looked | of Speech, 4m Inceſt, Adultery, and Fornication, as very wenial things, if at all unlawful, We re;d of Paul's fr(f coming
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ther from Athens, Acts 18 1, where v. 11. He continued eighteen months, there he Converted Cirifpus, v. 5. "ns of thiic
;n4 Soſthenes, and many believed and were baptized : Paul went from thence to Epheſus, v. 18, 19, To rhe Church
n _ tu planted ar Corinth, Paul writeth this Epiltle, at what tims 1s nt certain z bat he is thought to have writ it from b ſaid, Amen, Epheſus, whither he came, Affts 1 9. 1. the ſecond time, and as appears from v. 10. was going and coming to and from e ſudden re. thar City between two and three Years, The occaſion of his writing this Ep;jHle will appear 16 any who conſideringly reads ts defied it i, he had- heard from ſome who were of the houſe of Chloe, chap. 1. 11. of factions axd contentions that were a-
mop} them, and bad heard it reported, that they ſuffered an inxeſtuous perſon ro abide in their Communion, Chaps 5. 1. and ſent by Tie) had alſo wrote to bins for his reſolution in ſeveral Caſes and Queſtions about Marriages, Divorce, &c. he had 4 all) heard of ſeveral diſorders amongſt them relating to their Communion in the Lord's Supper, and of [ome among j} them by _ win denied the Reſurreftion. For the allaying of theſe Heats, and quieting their Diviſions, and for the diretion of them ins 2x 15 NOUN
;:2 Cafes about which they wrote to him, and the ſetting them right in the Dotrine of the Reſurrection, and direfting
A chat : : had f 6 _ . . . , ” . WW rater, AG tim in the true and profitable uſe of their Gifts, and in the right Celebration of the Lords Supper, and the quickening the
wrciſe of their Charity, he writes this Epiſte, which is ſappoſed to be placed inour Bibles next to the Epiltle to the Ro- mans (1hough. plainly written in order of time before ) becauſethat as that Epiſtle moje fully diſcourſeth the Dettrine of Juſtifica
4G
lon; 9 thes moſt fully reſolves queſtions concerning Church-Order 2nd Government. 1: is a B:ok of Holy Writ con- wrnicg the Divine Authority, of which there was never any doubt, nor hath any portion of Holz Writ (for the quantity of it) a greater Variety of matrer, nor more of thoſe J;Tvonle { things hard to be underſtood | which St. Peter in his 2 Epitttc
1.16, rels us are in this Apoſtles Epiſtles, the difficulty of which much ariſeth from our ignorance of ſoras Rices, uſed tn the Pricizive Church, but long ſince diſuſed, and the uſages of that Conntry different from ours.
CRAP: 6
Ie Apoſllc's Salutation and Thank(giving for God's Grace and Chriſt's [n:tctuiniſs, 19. He urndcrſtanding their Diviſions, reproves them, lo— 12. Baptiſm in the On: Name of Chriſt, a motive to Uni- it, 13———16. God, by the Preaching of the Croſs, confounds the Wim of the Wiſe, 17-——25. and calls mt many of the Wiſe, Mizoy, and Noble, but the weak and fooliſh, and Men of no Account,
Wm28. The Reajon hereof, 29—3t. Anno- Aul called ro be an Apoſtle of Jeſus Chriſt, 2 through the will of God, þ and Soſthenes
cir brother c.
by Our common cuſtom is to ſubſcribe ovr Name to the bottom "t our Lette1s, it ſeems by the Apoſtolical Epiſtles, that their fa- Won was oherwile; he elſewhere tellecth us, That it was hismark 2p E4fle, which makes ſome doubr, whether that to the He- "7: was wrote by him ; but others think it 1s there concealed, fr tne particular ſpight the Jews had to him. He had the name 3% as well as ®anl, as weread, As Ch. 7. 58. & 9. 1. whe- 12 had two Names (as many of the Jews had) or Sal was the Name by which he was called before his Conv: rfon, and Paul his MMeaterhg was Converred,or on the accourlt of his being a Ci- A mot Rez (for Parlis a Roman Name) 1s not worth our dif. Mating, He was a Man of Tarſ#s in Cilicia, by his Nation a Tew, i oy Father and Mother, an Hebrew of the Heorews , of the Tribe 213977, a Phariſce, bred up at the feer of Gamzliel, one of n 8reat DoCtors ; he was allo a Citizen of Rowe, as himi2If —__ AS 22.3, 27. & 21 39. Phil. 3. 5. By his Trade a 99K”, AAFs 18, 3- a great Zealet for the Fewijh Crromonies and nd upon that ſcore a great Perſecutor, conſ:nting to thc / *':2:en, and breathing our threatnings againit Chriſtians.
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3 L ; » Prraculous Converſion we read, 4: 9g. as alſo of his be- (0 to be an Apoftle, not one of thoſe firſt ſent our by ly, t
Gur For called; he gives King Agrippa a full account of
his calling, 47s 26. from wv. 12. to 19. 6 Soas he was an poſtle by the will of God, God's ſpecial Revelation from Heaven. : He did not thruft himſelf iato the imploymenr, but was ſ:nt 0: God in an extraordinary manner, not oaly mediately as (as all Miniſters are) but by an immediate Call and Miſtion. c I che Salutation prefixed to this Epiſtle, he join=th Sftheres, whom he calls his Brother. Of this Softhen's we read, At#s 18. 17, he was a chief Ruler of the Synagogue, but converted to Chriftim::y, Pal diſdainerh not to call him his Brother,