LS 9 : ©F 6 - = , nic, 1aVsS Aa HOC IS eachers,to have this E212
oy ON . _ > 4 'SEITTY! Preachin L LO Li P
0 ; -By underſtand what he had wrote about his great love ant ce of £017, and the Commendations he had given of them,an the 1 St A monitions, Exhortations, and Comforts that were cours; hercin, of great uſe to them all: Ani his charge herein is in 1 way of * Vnrati on, OpriC® Uuds T Kyz1y, impoting it on them as by an Oath, as 4 oraþam Gd upon his Serven: in the caſe of providing a Wife for 117%: Gen, 24. 3. And lo the High-Pricft faid to Chriſt, T adjure 1/-. Cy 1; » living God, Sc. Mar.26.62, Anfxering, to the Hebrew word, 6116.72;
[ adjure you, Cant. 5. 8. 1 charge ycu, Oye dangh vx of Ferujulo1r, © It imports the requiring of a thing, in the Nawe and Ay hority of Gc:!,
with a denunciation of Vengeance it it he not Qone,g Art all this chare 15 amout the reading, of this Epiſtle, as he commands tne Ep:itle to the Col;(]:o7:5 to be read in the Church of the L4-4/c ans, Colic 3&0 and that from Laodicea to be read to them, but nor with that Sclemn * % * o# 1, . . , Charze asthis is. Hence we may gather the D':ty of reading the Scrin- tures in the Church Aſſemblies; as the Law of yes was read in the SYNaZogues,
Oo
And very early in the Chriſtian Churchos there were ſome appointed to be Readers, Fulian the Apoſtate was a Reater in the
Church 2t Nicomedie, And if this was the firft Epiftle Writ by the A- poſtle, 2s ſome ſuppoſe it, he lays this ſolemn charge firit for the rea- ing of this, to ſhew the duty of the ſeveral Churches to the re of the >Criptures, as they ſhould come to their hand. The word of God (11) ? awcl] richly and plentifully in the people, and therefore readin: neceſlary, together with expounding and applying it. And we hon 11to may prove againſt the Papifts, it ought to be made known-to . People, even all the boly Erethren, and not confined to the Clersy ; and to be read in their own Tongue ; fur ſo without queſtion was tl::- Epiſtle read in a Language which the People underftood. 1 lit Apultls was not for confining of Knowledge, and keeping the People in 11 rance, as thoſe are who make it the Motticr of Devotion,
28 the grace of ourLord JeſusChrit be with you b, Amen 7.
þ Having exhorted them to ſalute one another, he now ſens then his own Salutation, Not ina Lip-complement as the mode nuw is, but in a ſerious cxpreſhon of the defire ot his Sou! : And this, or words to the ſame purpole are his falutation in every Epiftle, which he maizes to he his Token, 2 Thep. 3.17. And by Grace here he means favour,anl good Will,rather than inherent Grace ; and all bleſſings which {pring from Grace,as ſometimes all are comprehended under the word Peace, Yet Grace and Peace are ſometimes in his Salutations both joyn'd toge- ther. And though here Chriſt is only mentioned, yer in many other places God the tather is mention d with him, 1 Th; 1, 2. 2 Per, 1. 2. Yea, and God the Holy Ghoit alſo, 2 Cor. 13. 14. and where they ar not mentioned, yet are all to be underftood ; tor in all works ad ex: they cooperate, And becauſe Grace is eminently manifeſtzd in the whole work of our Salyation, therefore the Apoſtle doth ſtil} mentio: it in all his -alutations, And with this he concludes this Eryiftle, with this St. Fokn concludes the whole Bible, R-v.22.ul:, 7 And the Scal
&, a5 Lune _ I The firſt ep7ile unto the Theſſalonians was writte: trom Athens.
1heſe Poftcripts to the Apoſtls's Epiſtles are judged to he add by ſome <cribes that copied them ont, and not by the Apoſtle himelf, as might be made evident ; and they are not found in any Eniftles but in St, Paul's alone, But as it is utual to date Letters from the Piaces whers chey are writ,{0 15 this dated from Athens, Hither he was conducted 17 ome brethren after his Periecution at Thefalomica and Berea, /4,15,15, and here we read he ftay' for ſome time ; bur that from chence | wrote this Epiſtle, either then, or any cime after, is but more probable he wrote it from Coriath, becauie he ſ-nds it from motheus and Silvanus, as well as from himſelf, and they came to kim from Macedonia when he was at Corinth, as Acts 18, 5,
"IN 42.5] 4499 —Y_ CULL JOULULLY 1 .
I THESSALONIANS.
FIRE - =D
The ARGUMEN T.
M be T HE Apoſtle being yet hindred from coming to them, and underſtanding ſome miſtake of what te wrote in bis foro s Theſe Epiſtle about the Coming of Chriſt, he thereupon ſends this ſecond Epiſtle, where after his vita! $211tation be giv "uns, thanks for them, and bearing of the continuance of their Faith and Patience under all their Perſccutions, be olorios 1a them, Gr 5 And then comforts them by Arguments taken from the righteous Judgment of God, and the diferent manner and fe ©) mu; ChriſPs Coming, both to themſelves and all the Saints that Believe, and to their Adverſaries, ard al; that knew 7 ir the 297 obeyed the Goſpel. And then prays for the perfeding of their Faith to the glorifying the name of Chriſt, Chap. 1. Brit "uit ror bearing they were ſhaken in their Minds about the time of ChriſPs Coming, as if it {howid be preſently in the Age wherein: = they lived, he doth vebemently caution them againſt ſuch a miſtake, and tells then of a great Apoſi afie, and the Reyelt- "tion of the man of Sin, which muſt precede that Day, which he doth particularly deſcribe in tbe manncr and effeds thercof, But ſpcaks of theſe Theſſalonians with thanſgiving to God as ſuch as God had chojen, ana calPd to obtain ti» Glory of the Lord Feſus ; and then prays for their Comfort and Eſtabliſhment, Chap. 2. He next proceeds to deſare tveir Prayers,bot9
with reſped? to the ſucceſs of the Minijtry, and the ſafty of their Perſons who were employed there. And declared bis Corr fidence 1n them that God would eſtabliſh them, and that they would obey the Commandments they had received from them: And givesthem ſome farther Commandments about ſuch in the Church as did walk diſorderly. Ani fo :oncloides bis
with Prayers for their Peace, and recommending them to the Grace of Feſus Chriſt, Chap. 29 -
CHAP. I, I The uſual Salutatio: and Thankſgiving : For their Gromth in Faith : Love : And their Patience in Iribulation, 1 ——4, Their Comfort in Gol's Righteous Judgment, and the Glorious coming of Chriſt : This gefcribed more dt large, 5 —10, He Prayeth for their further In- crea/s and ſtrength. That the Name of Chriſt may be the more Glari- Ped in them, 11, 12:
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