” For if 1 ſhould come, and any of the Members of the Churches of Macedonia, who have heard me boaſting of you as a People ve- ry forward in this charitable work, and when they are come, they ſhould find you had done nothing, only talked much of your readi- neſs; both I ſhould be aſhamed, and you alſo might ſee ſome caule to bluſh, which 1, who conſult your honour and reputation equally with my own, would prevent.
5 Therefore I chought it neceſſary to exhort the Brethren, that they would go before unto you, and
ck make up before-hand|- your bounty, * whereof ye had
0V.11,
notice before g, that the ſame might be ready þ as a
0:,which gutter of bounty 7, and not as of covetouſnels k. TW Wiz Of
mT M0 ;
g This was the cauſe why IT judg2d it reaſonable to ſend the three Brethren before-mentioned, unto you, that they might make up your bounty z &@g9-=Tzprows , not {o much to move, quicken, or exhort you to it, as to haſten the diſpatch, and perfetting of it, that your mony might be ready gathered. The word which we tranſlate Bounty, in the Greek fignifieth Bleſſmg, which agreeth with the Hebrew Dialect. Abigails Preſent to David in his diſtreſs, is called NINA, a Bleſſing, 1 Sam. 25. 27. SO Facob called his Prelent to his Brother Eſau, Ger. 33.11, Such kind of Reliefs are called a Bleſſing in both the #:brew and the Greek Tongue: 1. Becauſe they are a part of God's. bleſſing upon him that gives, - Pſal. 24+5+ 2+. Becauſe the giving of them is a recognition or acknow- ledgment how far God hath blefſed Perſons, they giving as the Lord hath proſpercd them, 1 Cor. 16. 2. 3+. Becauſe they are an indication of the bleſſing or well-wiſhing of him that giveth to him that receiveth the gift. 4. Becauſe they are a real doing good to the perſon that receiveth them, an actual bleſſing of him. 5. Poſ- fibly they are (in him that gives) an effettual, real bleifing of God ; for we then bleſs God with what we have, when we ule and im- prove it for the ends for which he hath given it to us. Tt is very obſervable, That a liberal free giving to the relief of the Servants of God in diſtreſs, -is called 4; and »2A-3442, Grace and Bleſſing. An heart to it being created in us from the free Grace of God, and the 'work it ſelf being a real aQual blefling of God with our ſubſtance, and the fruit of our increaſe: which two things well digeſted, will be potent Arguments to Charity with every Soul that knoweth any thing of God, or hath any love ior God. þ That the ſame may be ready gathered, not to gather when I come. 7 As a Bleliing ; we tranſlate it 45 a marter of 501: the ſenſe is the iame. &. Not of Covetouſneſs: The meaning is, I have allo [-vt the Bre- thren, tnat they may perſwade you to a free and liberal Contribu- tion, a giving that may look like a Bleſſing, nor as proceeding from a narrow heart, in which the love of mony prevaileth above the lore of God. Giving to the diftreſſed Saints of God ſparingly, and diſproportionately to what Efrate we have, no way looks like a Bleſſing ; he that ſo gives, doth not, according to thz Apoſtle's Phraſe, give *. <20,. 4:* for heneither gives as the Lord hath ble(- ſed and proſpered him, nor yet according to what God requires of him3 for he witholds a part of what he ought to part with: neither doth he b1-ſs his brother 3 he doth him ſome little good ; but bleſſmg another ſignifies a more liberal doing good to him. *
6 Butthis, 7 /ay, * He which ſoweth ſparingly, ſhall
reap alſo ſparingly ; and he which ſoweth bountifully,
" 9% hall reap alſo bountifully l,
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1 Whereas covetous Perſons think all loft which they give to cha- ritable uſes, the Apoſtle corre@eth their miſrake, by letting them know, that it is no more loſt, than the ſeed is which the Husband- man caſteth into his ground, which bringeth forth thirty, fixty, or ſometimes an hundred fold ; tho with this difference, that whereas the Husbandman's Crop dependeth upon the goodneſs and pre- paredneſs of his ground, it is not ſo with this ſpiritual Crop 3 a man ſhall not reap according to the nature of the Soil in which he caſts his ſeed; for he that giveth to a Prophet, or to a righteous man in the name of a Prophet, or a righteous man, {tho he may be miſtaken in the Perſon to whom he ſo giveth ) yet ſhall he re- ceive the reward of a Prophet, and of a righteous man : But this ſpiritual Sower ſhall receive according, to the quantity of ſeed which he ſoweth. He that ſoweth niggardly and ſparingly ſhall reap ac- cordingly ; he which ſoweth liberally, ſhall reap liberally ; From whence we may be confirmed, that the rewards of another life will not be equal, but bear ſome proportion to the good works which men have done here. SE:
7 Every man according as he purpoſeth 1n his heart,
ut.15./0 let bin give, * not grudgingly, or of neceſlity : for
* God loveth a cheerful giver 2.
mA Let not any give out of any awe of us, nor as it were for- ced by our Authority, but as God ſhall put it into his heart, and a5 he hath purpoſed in himſelf, and is inclined from himſelf, with- out any grudging, or unwillingneſs ; not becauſe he thinks he muſt
N25-Live, butout of choice: for God loveth one that giveth with free- *35-dom and cheerfulneſs, not him that giveth as it were by conftraint,
or upon force z it is the Willand Afffettion of the Giver, not the quan- tity of the gift that God looks at. The Apoſtle, by naming God and his acceptance in the caſe, lets the Corinthians know, that God was concerned in what they thus gave; it was not givea to men only according to that, #2 that bath pity on the poor, lendeth 19 the Lord, and that which be hath groen, will be pay him again, PrOV. 19+ 17»
S$ And God is able to make all grace to abound to- wards you z, that ye always having all-ſufficiency in all things, may abound to every good Work 0,
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= Having made God in the Verſe before, a Debtor to tho, who by giving to poor diftreffed Saints, would make him their Cre- ditor; he here proveth him to he no iaiblear D-btor, bur I do much more for them, than they in this thing ſhovld do at hi command out of love to him. J 2p
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