by us with greater aſlurance, ; to your Salvation, And for the Truth of all this, he appeals to ther en knowledge, and that miziry preſence and afhftance of God 19 their Miniftry among them, as they could not bur perceive it, 10 it was all for their ſake. : 6 And ye * became followers cf us a, and of the I. ORD b, having received the word in much affliction c, "with * joy of the holy Ghoſt 4. . "4 & As you receiv<l eur Goſpel in the Power of it into your Hearts, © '.- rou ſhewdit forth in your Converſation, becoming Followers or Im1- cators of us in our patient ani chcertul Sufferings, and our holy and ©1fdenying Carriage. The Doctrin of the Golpel which we taught you, we prattitecL it before your Eyes, and you followed us therem 3 though before you walked according to the courſe of the World, and were followers of the Religion and Manners of the Heathen, The Ex- amnles of Miniſters ought to be teaching as well as their Doctcin. þ We have followed the Example of Chrift, and ye followed us. SO chat as you believed on Chritt as your Saviour, to you followed his Com- maruls and Examples as your Lort and Maſter, As he exhorts the Co- rinihians, 1 Cor. 11.1. Be ye foiowers of me;4s 1 alſo am of Chrift. - Though Afittion and Perſecution attended che Word, yet you re- ceived it; and this receiving was not only into ycur Heads by know- etze of it, and into your Hearts by an effettual believing it, but into your practice by walking according toit, For receiving the Word, in the Scripture Phraſe, comprehends ali this in it, 4 Tho' attended you, they did nor dejett your Spirits, but you had in Affliftions. joy in your hearts by the Holy Ghoſt ; who ufually doth give forth his joy moſt to the Saints when under Suffering ; which is one inftance of the Goſpel's coming to them not in Vord only, but in the Holy Ghoſt, as was faid before. The glad tidings of the Goſpel did more comfort them, than all their Sufferings dil caſt them down. : . 7 So that ye were e examples]! to all that believe in Ma- -: 1 cedonia and Achaia, e As ve followed our Example, and of the Lord, fo ye were Examples '.,, your ſelves, and ſuch great Examples, that influenced all the Believers both of Macedaozzia and Achaia, Your Example reached beyond the Con- fines of Theſſalonicz, unto the Believers of all Macedonia, yea farther, to the Believers of all Ac:h2ia, And though the Philipptans of Macelonts received the Goſpel before you, as appears in the Story, As 16. yet ve exceeded thei; and became Examples to them in your Faith and Patience, Gc, 8 For from you ſounded out the word of the Lord k:-,1.00t only in Macedonia and Achaia, but alſo in * every place f your faith to Godward is ſpread || abroad g, ſo that 4 we need not to ſpeak any thing b.
f How could they be Examples to Perſons ſo remote, amongſt whom they had no Converſe ? The Apoſtle here reſolves it : It was by way of re>ort, Things that arc eminent,anddone in eminent places,ſuch as The/- {2/onica was,cafily ſpread abroad,cither by Merchants, Travellers,or cor-
o reſpondency by Letters. And this Report is compared toa Sound Chat 1s b-'3 heard afzr off;that made an Eccho,as the Word implies. And that which 4) ſounded out from you was the word of th Lord, TheWord is laid to ſound des. by the Voice of the Preacher, 1 Cor. 14, $, 9. G4!.6. 6. and by the Ry Pradtice of the Hearers. The mighty Power and' Efficacy of it was ' made known abroad, not only in Macedonia and Acha1a, but in every place, nor ftrialy every where, but here and there, up and down in
the World, As its ſaid of the Apoſiles Miniftry, Thetr found w2nt into
«! the Farth, and their words to the ezd of the World, Rom, 10. 18, The
report of the Goſpel went further than the Preachers of it, and their
receiving the Goipel ſounded abroad far and near, And not only the
Word, but your Faith to Godward is ſpread abroad, eZzanaufey. Your
Zaith being to eminent, it was ſpoken of far and near, That ye belie-
ved fo ſoon at our firit entrance, as v. 9. And though we had been
ſhametully entreated at Phi}ippi a little before our coming to you, and
Perſecution follorzed us and the Goſpel we preached to you, yet ye be-
lieved, and your Faith was eminent in the Fruits and Operations of it
alſo, as was mentioned before, and was afterwards in the Epiftle, And it was Faith God-ward, It refted not upon Men, no, nor only the Man Chrift Jeſus whom we preached to you, but upon God himlelt, though through Chriſt ye became Worſhippers of the True God, and belie- ved on him with an exemplary Faith, þ Either of the manner of our
PE.” preaching the Goſpel, and of your manner of receiving it. Where . SY mens Deeds ſpeak and commend men, Words may be filent. And the _ Apoſtle might have thought it needful to have divulged theſe things PEE abroad for the advantage of the Goſpel, and the Examples of others,
if he had not. been prevented by the report already ſpread abroad. The good examples of the People may caſe their Miniſters of ſome la- bour- in ſpreading the Goſpel,
9 For they themſelves || ſhew of us, what manner of 4% entring in we had unto you g, and how ye turned to God
from idols h, to ſervethe living and true God z.
g The Believers of Macedonia and Achaia do [peak of theſe things amy army openly, whereby it is evident the Word of the Lord luunded forth to them fromgzgou, and they without any Information trom us, declare the great entertainment you gave us and our Goſpel at our firſt entrance among you þ Particularly your forſaking your tormer Idolatry, when you worſhipt Idols, that were either the lma- 2es or Shapes of the true God formed by Men, or Men whom they De- ty'd, and ſet up as Gods, and worſhipt them and their Images : Or, animate Creatures, as Sun, Moon, and Stars, or whatever Creature they tound beneficial to them, the Heathens made Idols of them. Theſe J:1urned from; "though it was by the Power of God and the Goſpel upon your Hearts, yet it was an Affof your own. And though it was the worſhip of theſe Idols you had been trained up in, and was Z&eneraily prattiſed, yet you turned from it. And as to the manner of it, Zow ye turned trom theſe Idols, as in the Text; that 15, how rea- Gy, how ſincerely, how ſpzedily, with an holy indigoation of them : Or, ws How, that is, by what means; meaning by our entrance <2101g You, and the power of our Goſp21 pon your Hearts, accord-
[)r 24) ty DN»