» * AnJlatof allhe wes ſeen of me allo x, || as of 1.12 HOI OUT of GUE THANE Co 3+ Lat of 21; 11:8 APR O: 11 may be Taft of ai! perſons ; for af- rer Sbep mon we read of none but ls; Paul. who law Ciuilt. Stepien 4s they wer: Noning him, cryed our, AGs 7, Behold, Tjce the Hen- went op-n2d, nn. the Sor of man ſtanding on the rignt hand of Goa. As 9 4. Ve read of Paul's hearing a Voice irom him, and no doubr bur he aad a bodily fight of him ; tor he here reckeaeth himiclt amongſt thoſ that were Eye-witnelics. Nor 3s it any objection againit it, that b- was ſtruck blind, for that was after his fight of Chiilt, not b-tore. o Lie calls hinzfelf ax dbortive, or one 4ru out of due time, cither becauſe hewas added ro the number of the Twelve; or 1n re- ipett ro bis new Birth, he being converted (as he tells us afterward) ater that he had bcen a Pcriecuror of the Church of Chriſt, after the deicending of the Holy Ghoſt; or it may be,becauſe his Convertion was tudden, Ike the abortive birth of a woman.
9 For I am the leaſt of all the apoſtles, that am not
* ef
meer to be called an apoſtle, becauſe I * perſecuted the church of Gcd p. :
p The leaſt not in dignity, or gifts, or labours, (ke tells us, that he h:d Jaboured more than all, he had made the Goſpel to abound from Jeruſalem to 1/37:cum ; he hath in this Epiſtle Jet us know, that he ſpake with Tongues more than they all ;) bur deterving the leaſt eſteem, (as he afterward expoundeth himſelf) tellingus, Thar he was not worthy of the Name of an Apoſtle. He guves the reaſon, Becauſe he had beiore been a Perſecutor of the Church ot God, the kiftory of which we have 4359. 1,2,5:
Jut * by the grace of God I am wharI amg:
10 Bir * by the grace of God IT am whatl amg: and his grace which was veſted upon me, was not in vain” : * but 1 laboured more abundantly than
theyalls, yet * not I, but the grace of God which was with mc :.
g By the fice Jove and goodneſs of God, IT that was before a Blaſ- phemer, and a Perſecutor, and injurious, have obtained mercy, and though ic was impoſſible for me any more-to requite and an{wer, than at iift to merit thar Love, yet his Grace jn me hath produced ſome trvir, and hath not been wholly in vain. For in the diſcharge ct my Minitery, as an Apoſtle, I have abundantly laboured, though not more than all the reſt of the Apoſtles taken rogether, yet more thin zny one of them all, who were my bellow-Apoſtles : what the! labours were, he told us Rom. 15. 19. and more fully 2 Cor, 6. 4, $+ 6.7. 5 Bur leſt he ſhould be thought to arrogate any thing to himſicif. and rhe power or good uſe of his own will, he addeth, yer not 1, but the Grace of Goa in me. Grace ſeemeth, in the latter part of the verſz, ro be taken in ſomething a diff-rent ſenfe from what ir was in the fo:mer part : here it ſignifies the free love and favour of God (though it may alſo there be underſtood of thoſe gracious heobirs, which were the e:&s of that free Love and Mercy ) here it p!:inly ſignifies thoſe gracious habits, which were infuſed into Paul, together with the gracious influences of the holy Spirit, by which he was inabled to reduce thoſe habirs into acts Par! had fomething in the Afts he had done conſidered as a man, bur yer fo littie, asin theſe ipiritual Acts he denieth his own ethc:ency, and attri1burteth all to Divine Grace, either exciting him 10 h's attions, or preventing, or working in and with him, and aflifting ly1c:, ano giving bim all
T) Vs.
tht fuccels he had had.
11 Therefore whether z 2vcre I or thev n, ſo we preach, and lo ye believed ww.
u Whether I or any other of the Apoſtles preached amongſt you. w This was on2 great point that we preached amongſt you, That Chriſt was rifen again trom the dead. This we heid forth to you as thz obje& of yuur Faith, this you received and cloſed with as the objc& of your Faith ; we did nor only preach to you, That Chriſt azcd for our ſins, but that he rojo again for our Fuſtification. Neither was your Faith objeQed only 1n Chriſt, as one that was cru- citied, and had dyed, but asone thar was riſen from the dead. Thus Peter preached , Ads 2. 31. & 3-15. & 4. 20, & 5. 30. and Stephen, Fs 7. and Peter, Ads 19.40. and Parnl, A7s 13. 37. and fo all the Apoſtles
12 Now if Chriſt be preactied that he roſe from the
dead, how iay ſome among you, thar there15no reſur-
reQion of the dead x ?
x The Apoſtle having laid a good Foundation, proving the Re. ſurre&ion of Chriſt by a plentiful Teſtimony of thote who ifaw him after thar he was rien from the dead ; and minded them, That this was the DotGtrine of the Goſpel, which both they and all the reſt of the Apoſtics, had with one confent preached to them ; he comes to bui!d upon 1t, and from this, as a main Argument to prove, That there muſt needs be a Refſurre&ion from the dead ; and beginneth with a :efle&tion upon ſome in that Church who denicd it: Who thoſe were, we are not told; ſome think they were Hymenzwus and Philetus mentioned 2 Tim. 2. 17, 18. who held. that the RefurreCti- on was paſt ; others think, he refletts on Ccrinthw, who was one of the Leaders of thoſe Hereticks we read of, who after $imon Magry de- nied the ReſurreCtion ; othersthink, they were ſome of the Sadduces, of whom we read in the 4s, thar they denied the ReſurreZ0n, or fome of the Phariſees, who denied the Reſurre&#on of Chriſtians, look- ing on them as Apoſtazes ; others think, they were ſome who had been tinctured at leaſt with the Dottrine of the Pagan Philoſophers. We cannot certainly determine who, bur certain it is, ſome there were ; and the Apoſtle argues them in this thing to aflert abſurdly, vpon this Suppolition, Thar Chriſt wasriſen.
12 Puritthere be no reſurrection of thedead, then is nor Chriſt riſen y. 3 If (iaith the Apoſtle) there be no ReſurreFion of the dean, theu
Cai {7 35 07 rifcs, Burt lome evil poſſibly tay, How doth this follow - !
' as he (aith, v. 20. 15 the firs fruts of them that /tep,
THINS
Suppoſe it true, thar Chriſt be r:{en, how doth it follow +1
d-ad ſhall rife © The force of it lieth in ſeveral thins; 1. Chrif © © Ti
: "ny h : : the exemni,... cauſe of our Reſurrection. 2, If we confider Chriſt as the Hi ; unreaſonable, thar the Head ſhould be riſen from the 9d<39 wn 5 Members yet held of Death, when 1t 1s the Office of the Ho; WL
communicate ſenſe, life, and motion to the Members. Bg3n was _ i . * } *ha
Argument 1s ſtrong from the contideration of the End « 2 : urn