amongst the numbers of these, they can find a few instances of persons too much actuated by selfish, worldly, or angry tempers, it is eagerly objected, "These are excellent people, if you would judge of them "by the length and frequency of their devotions, and by " what they have to say of their persuasion of God's love "to them; but touch them in their property, and they "show themselves as unwilling to forego, and as anxious "to grasp, the good things of this world, as if they had no "better claim to heaven than ourselves." It is much to be lamented that such occasions of reproach are afforded to those who seek them. But what would they have said of the Corinthians whom the apostle reproves in the following terms: "Now therefore there is utterly a "fault among you, because ye go to law one with "another: why do ye not rather take wrong? why do ye not rather suffer yourselves to be defrauded? Nay, ye do wrong and defraud, and that your brethren"." And, in the preceding chapter, he speaks of an enormity among them hardly to be heard of among the Heathens; which, though the fault of one person, brought dishonour upon them all, because they had not explicitly disowned it, and proceeded against the offender. This is not to be wondered at; for we have often seen, in our own time, that though evil practices have been censured in the strongest terms of disallowance, and the offenders públicly and notoriously disclaimed, yet many will still be so destitute of candour and equity as to insist on it, "They are all alike." ་་ The irregularities in the public worship at Corinth were such as, if practised amongst ourselves, would excite a greater clamour than any thing of that nature 1 Cor. vi. 7, 8. which has been hitherto complained of. It appears, that, far from conducting their assemblies with decency and order, they were sometimes in the greatest confusion. Different persons had a psalm, a doctrine, a tongue, a revelation, an interpretation, many speaking together, and sometimes in different languages; so that the apostle thought it very probable that, if an unbeliever came in amongst them, he would, of course, say they were mad*. And this want of decorum extended to their celebration of the Lord's supper, where, says the apostle, "every one taketh before another; and one "is hungry, and another is drunken "." I apprehend that these instances of disorder cannot be paralleled by the most irregular proceedings in our time, amongst any people that hold the principles which I am at present engaged to vindicate. Many of the Corinthians, as well as the Galatians, had discovered great unsteadiness towards St. Paul, and had been seduced by false teachers and pretended apostles. Inexperienced minds are very liable to such deceptions: meaning well themselves, they are too apt to listen to the fair words and fine speeches of those * 1 Cor. xiv. 23. y 1 Cor. xi. 21. z Yet he says of the Galatians, that when he first went among them, they received him as an angel of God, and, if possible, would have plucked out their own eyes to have given them to him, Gal. iv. 15. Great is the power of the Gospel; it subdues and possesses the heart, and conciliates a tenderness and relation between ministers and people, nearer and dearer than the ties of flesh and blood. But, alas, how great likewise is the inconstancy of mortals! The apostle experienced it to his grief; and where he had the greatest prospect, he was most disappointed. Those who once would have plucked out their own eyes for his service, afterwards accounted him their enemy for telling them the truth. We need not therefore wonder if there are instances of this kind at present. who lie in wait to deceive. The love of Christ, and the love of holiness, are the leading properties of a gracious heart; and such an one, till experience has made him wise, conceives a good opinion of all who profess a regard for Jesus, or for sanctification. He is not aware, at first, that there are those in the world who attempt to divide what God has joined together. When the blood and righteousness of Christ are recommended, not as the source, but as a substitute for vital, experimental religion, or when some other spirit is preached than that whose office it is to testify of Jesus; in either case the food of the soul is poisoned, and the evil begins to operate before it is perceived. Faithful ministers are accounted too low or too high, too strict or too remiss, according to the scheme newly adopted: they are first disregarded, and at length considered as enemies, because they persist in the truth, and refuse to suit themselves to the new taste of their hearers. Thus error, once admitted, makes an alarming progress, and no power but that of God can stop it. Hence proceed divisions, subdivisions, distinctions, refinements, bitterness, strife, envyings, and by degrees enthusiasm, in the worst sense of the word; an evil to be dreaded and guarded against no less earnestly than the beginning of a fire or a pestilence. Such trying circumstances will demonstrate who are indeed upon the right foundation; for others, having once begun to depart from That bitterness and strife were too frequent in the primitive churches, appears from James, iii. 14.; Gal. v. 15. and other texts. Our Lord's admonition, Matth. vii. 3-5. has always been too little regarded; and few are yet sufficiently convinced of the folly and absurdity of pointing out, and in an angry spirit condemning, the mistakes and faults of others, while we indulge greater in ourselves. Reformation (like modern charity) should begin at home. the truth, grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived; and many who are built upon the rock, and therefore cannot be totally or finally drawn away, yet suffer unspeakable loss; the "wood, hay, and stub "ble," the unadvised additions they have admitted to the Scriptural truths they once received, are burnt up in the time of temptation; they lose much of their comfort and stability, and have, in a manner, all to begin again. The world, that knows not the weakness of man, or the power and devices of Satan, laughs at those things, and expects to see them issue in a universal contusion, like that of Babel. In the same light, it is most probable, the Heathens beheld and derided the primitive Christians, for they likewise had their shaking and sifting times; many amongst them, who seemed to begin in the Spirit, were stopped short in their course by the arts of false teachers, to their great hindrance, and some to their final overthrow. St. Paul addresses no one church in terms of greater tenderness and approbation than the Thessalonians. He commends their work of faith, and labour of love, and patience of hope, in our Lord Jesus, and mentions them as a pattern to the other churches in Macedonia and Greece. Yet even among these he understood there were "some who walked disorderly, and were busy"bodies, not working at all;" he strongly disapproved their conduct, declaring, that "if any would not work, "neither should he cat." When persons are newly awakened to a concern for their souls, and deeply impressed with the importance of eternity, it is no wonder (considering the animal frame), if their attention is so engaged and engrossed for a season, that they cannot b 1 Cor. iii. 10-15. C 2 Thess. iii. 10, 11.. attend to the affairs of common life with their usual alacrity and freedom". If their concern is of a right kind, they are gradually brought to peace and hope in believing. They recover their spirits; and their civil callings being now sanctified by a desire to glorify God in them, their diligence is not less, but frequently greater, than before; for now they act not to please men, or to please themselves, but what they do, they do heartily as to the Lord. However, amongst a number of people, natural temper, indiscretion, or inadvertence may cause some to deviate from the general rule; and though we cannot justify any who are remiss in the discharge of the relative duties of society, we may justify the doctrines and principles they acknowledge from the charge of leading them into this mistake, unless it can be proved that St. Paul's preaching was justly chargeable with the same fault. But these are small things compared to what he says in another place. He complains to the Philippians in this affecting language" Many walk (not some only, but many), of whom I have told you often, and now * See James, iv. 9. The word Karrgia, rendered heaviness, an- ́ swers nearest to dejection, the derivation importing a downcast countenance; and it expresses that kind of sorrow which sinks the spirits, and fixes the eyes upon the earth, Something of this is usually discernible when a real conviction of sin takes place in the heart. The inspired apostle recommends this temper and demeanour, as most suitable to the case of sinners who are destitute of faith and love, and cannot therefore rejoice upon good grounds; and yet, when any person begins to be impressed in this manner, and to see the propriety of the apostle's advice, it frequently happens that all who know him, both friends and enemies, will agree to pronounce him disordered in his senses. So different, so opposite, are the Spirit of God and the spirit of the world! Phil. iii. 18, 19, |