instance we have seen of the Lord's preparing persons, by an attention to a more imperfect light, for the Sun of Righteousness. But HE is not confined to one method. The major part of the Thessalonian converts were idolaters*, who now turned to the living and true God, in the faith and hope of Jesus, who" delivered them from the wrath to come. Faith, hope, and charity evidenced this people to be God's elect: the word came to their hearts in much power and assurance; and, though it exposed them to great affliction, this did not prevent their joy of the Holy Ghost. The restless Jews were not ashamed to join with the most profligate, pagans in persecuting the new converts; and decent hypocrites and open sinners were, once more, seen united in opposing the Church of God. They assaulted the house of Jason, at whose house Paul and his companions were entertained. Precautions having been used to secrete them, Jason and some other Christians were brought before the magistrates, and calumniated with the usual charge of sedition. The Roman governors, however, were content with exacting a security from Jason and his friends for the peace of the state. But the Apostle knew too well the malice of the Jews to confide in any present appearances of their moderation; and therefore felt himself obliged abruptly to leave the infant Church. The first epistle, however, which he sent to them, not long after, plainly proves that they were not without pastors, whom he charges them to honour and obey †. The growth of this people in godliness was soon renowned through the Christian world. Their persecution appears to have been grievous; and hence the comfort of God their, Saviour, and the prospect of the invisible world, became more precious to them. The Apostle made two attempts to return to them, but was as often disappointed by the malice of Satan. * 1 Thess. i. 9. †Thess. v. 1 Thess. ii. 1S. CENT. J. Fearing, lest the weight of affliction might crush their religion in its infancy, he sent Timothy to them, to establish and comfort them. From him, on his return, he learnt the strength of their faith and love, and their affectionate remembrance of the Apostle, whose benevolent effusions of joy and gratitude on the occasion exceed all encomium. The influence of the Holy Spirit in enlightening, comforting, and invigorating this Church, seemed in a good measure to supply any want of pastoral instruction, in which, from their circumstances, they might probably be defective. They were taught of God to love one another, and they exercised this brotherly affection in the strongest manner toward all around †. Fornication indeed was a sin so commonly practised among the Gentiles, without the least suspicion of its evil, that Paul thought proper to warn them against it expressly and distinctly ‡. In his second epistle he congratulates them on their great proficiency in faith and love: and, while he comforts them with the prospect of the second coming of Christ, he takes occasion to correct a mistake, into which they had fallen from what he had mentioned in his former epistle, of imagining that the last day was at hand. Men, who had suddenly passed from the grossest ignorance, into the full blaze of Gospel-day, might easily make such a mistake, especially since their affections were now so strongly captivated with heavenly objects, and since they found so little in a world of persecution to cheer their minds. There appears only one fault in this people which he thought necessary to rebuke. He intimated something of it in the former epistle, in the latter he was more express . It was the want of industry in their callings, with which he charged some of them; for this was not a general evil. How they might fall into it, is easy to conceive. Persons all iv. 3-9. 1 Thess. iii. 9, 10. † iv. 9, 10. alive for God and his Christ, and knowing little of the deceitfulness of the heart, and the crafts of Satan, might find it irksome to attend to the concerns of this life. It was a fault indeed, and very dangerous, if persisted in; but as it was, in all probability, soon corrected, and in part occasioned by the strength of heavenly affections, one cannot be very severe in censuring them. It may be worth while for those, who feel themselves much irritated against similar evils attendant on the effusion of the Holy Spirit in our days, to consider whether they do not exercise more candour toward the Thessalonians, than they do toward those, who are actually walking in their steps; whether they are not apt to respect the former as real Christians, and to scorn the latter as deluded enthusiasts! This Church bears the strongest signatures of godliness, the effect of no common effusion of the Spirit. They adorned the Gospel, with faith, hope, and charity; yet showed, by their faults and ignorance, the importance of diligent and much pastoral instruction, in which their circumstances suffered them not to abound; and which, under God, would have soon cured the former, and removed the latter. They were exposed to such blemishes, as are most apt to attend great attainments in the divine life made with vast rapidity. It appears, that St. Paul visited this people a considerable time after, and gave them much exhortation; but we have no particular further account of them*. In the first epistle he "charges them by the Lord," that it be "read to all the holy brethen." As this seems to have been his first epistle, and indeed the newest part of the whole New Testament, the solemnity of the adjuration (ogxia) has a peculiar propriety, as Dr. Lardner observes. The Thessalonians were no doubt disposed to receive it as matter of apostolical inspiration, and the importance of bringing every Christian to be well acquainted with the word of God is fairly inferred. CENT. I. X. CHAP. X. BEREA AND ATHENS. CHAP. PAUL was conducted from Thessalonica to Berea, a city of Macedonia. Here also was a Jewish synagogue, and here, for the first time, the preaching of the Cross was candidly received by Jews. A very singular character is given of the Jews of this place; -they possessed a liberality of mind, which disposed them to listen with attention, and to search the Scriptures of the Old Testament with daily assiduity. The grace of God seems to have prepared these persons for the Gospel; and Paul had the pleasure to find a number of the stamp of Cornelius, who were groping their way to happiness, and were ready to hail the light as soon as it should dawn upon them. Many Jews of Berea believed, and not a few Gentiles also of both sexes: those of the female sex were persons of quality. The rage of the Thessalonian Jews soon however disturbed this pleasing scene, and stirred up a persecution, which obliged the Christians to use some art in saving the Apostle's life. His conductors at first took the road toward the sea, which might lead the persecutors to suppose he had quitted the continent. They then brought him safe to Athens *, once the first city of Greece in all views, and still renowned for taste and science, the school in which the greatest Romans studied philosophy. Here, while he waited for the arrival of Silas and Timothy, he beheld the monuments of the city with other eyes than those of a scholar and a gentleman. No place in the world could more have entertained a curious and philosophical spirit than this. Temples, altars, statues, historical memorials, living philosophers of various sects, books of those who were deceased, a confluence of polite Acts, xvii. and humanized persons of various countries, enjoying the luxury of learned leisure,-these things must at once have obtruded themselves on his notice: andno man in any age, by strength of understanding,, warmth of temper, and justness of taste, seems to have been more capable of entering into the spirit of such scenes than Saul of Tarsus. But Divine Grace had given his faculties a very different direction; and the Christian in him predominated extremely above the philosopher and the critic. He saw here, that even the excess of learning brought men no nearer to God. No place on earth was more given to idolatry. He could not therefore find pleasure in the classical luxuries presented before him He saw his Maker disgraced, and souls perishing in sin. Pity and indignation swallowed up all other emotions and ministers of Christ, by their own sensations in similar scenes, may try how far they are possessed of the mind of Paul, which, in this case, certainly was the mind of Christ. If affections be lively, some exertions will follow. He laid open the reasons of Christianity to Jews in their synagogue, to Gentile worshippers, who attended the synagogue, and, daily, to any persons whom he met with in the forum. There were two sects very opposite to one another among the pagan philosophers, namely, the Epicureans and the Stoics. The former placed the chief good in pleasure, the latter in, what they called, virtue, correspondent to the two chief sects among the Jews, the Sadducees and the Pharisees, and indeed to the two sorts among mankind in all ages, who yet are in a state of nature, namely, men of a licentious and dissipated turn of mind on the one hand, and on the other self-righteous persons who substitute their own reason and virtue in the room of divine grace and divine influence., As these will in any age unite against the real friends of Jesus Christ, so it was here: The Apostle appeared a mere babbler in their eyes. Jesus and the resurrection, which he CENT. I. |