18 Brethren, the grace of our Lord Jefus Chrift be with your Spirit. Amen.

18 Η χαρις το
H

T४

χαρις τε Κυρίε ής μων Ιησε Χρισ8 μετα πνευματα ὑμων, αδελφοι.

Αμην.

fervants of God have his name on their foreheads, Rev. xxii. 4.-The apostle, in allufion to these cuftoms, calls the fears of the wounds which he received when stoned, and left as dead on the street of Lyftra, the marks of the Lord Jefus. Farther, as he was five times fcourged by the Jews, and thrice beaten with rods by the Romans, 2 Cor. xi. 24, 25, he may have fuffered fome of thefe punishments before this epiftle was written. And if the wounds which he then received left fcars in his body, he might call them likewife, the marks by which he was diftinguished as the fervant of the Lord Jefus.- Chandler conjectures, that by forbidding any one to give him trouble, feeing he bare the marks of the Lord Jefus in his body, the apoftle threatened to punish the Judaizing teachers with the rod: as if he had faid, at his peril, let any man from henceforth give me trouble, by calling my apoftleship in queftion. Perhaps he meant likewife to infinuate, that the marks of the Lord Jefus in his body, were much better proofs of his being Christ's fervant, than the mark of circumcifion, of which the falfe teachers boafted, was a proof of their being God's fervants.

Ver. 18. Brethren. The attentive reader must have taken notice of the feverity with which the apoftle treated the Galatians. His rebukes were fharp, (chap. i. 6. iv. 11. v. 15.) and the language, in which he gave them, cutting. For he twice called them fenfelefs Gala tians. Neverthelefs, having expreffed his perfuafion, that after reading what he had written, they would not think differently from him, in the great articles of the Chriftian doctrine, ch. v. 10. he fhewed his love to them, not only by giving them his apoftolical benediction, but by calling them brethren; and by making that appellation the last word of his letter but one.

CONCLUSION.

AS it was the general belief of the Jewish nation, that falvation could only be obtained by obedience to the law of Mofes, it is natural to fuppofe, that many of the Jews who embraced the gofpel, would teach the Gentiles, that unless they were cir cumcifed they could not be faved: And, on the other hand, that fuch of them as knew the truth of the gospel, would oppose that falfe doctrine with a zeal equal to the magnitude of its pernicious confequences. The truth is, this controverfy actually took place very early in the church, and occafioned fuch keen difputation and diffention among the brethren, that it be

came

18 The grace of our Lord Jefus Chrift BE with your fpirit, brethren.

Amen.

18 May the love of our Lord Jefus Chrift be always felt in your mind brethren. Amen. See Ephef. vi. 24.

note.

came neceffary to apply to the apostles and elders in Jerufalem to have it determined. Accordingly, after deliberating on the matter with the chief brethren of the church of Jerufalem, they unanimously decreed, that circumcifion was by no means neceffary to the falvation of the Gentiles; and fent copies of their decree to the churches in Antioch, and Syria, and Cilicia, by the hands of Barnabas and Paul. But the latter, who knew the extreme attachment of the Jews to the law, foreseeing, that notwithstanding the decifion of the apostles and elders, fome of the more zealous Jewish believers in every church, would urge the Gentiles to receive the law as neceffary to their salvation; and knowing, that by the prevalence of that doctrine, the gospel would be overturned, he judged it proper, that the brethren of the Gentiles fhould be fecured from being drawn into an error fo pernicious. He therefore wrote immediately to the churches of Galatia, where, as he was informed, fome had already gone over to Judaism, the letter in the Canon which bears their name, in which he proved by the strongest reasoning, that circumcifion was not neceffary to the falvation of either Jews or Gentiles, but faith working by love. The fame doctrine he inculcated in most of his other epiftles; and by his zeal for the truth of the gospel, and earnest endeavours to maintain it, he, at length, banished Judaifm out of the Chriftian church. The epistle to the Galatians, therefore, in which this matter was debated and fettled, being, as Chandler obferves, perfectly fuited to the state of the Chriftian church in its most early period, carrieth in the very nature of the question of which it treats, a ftrong internal evidence of its antiquity and authenticity. For it is not to be supposed, that any person in the second or third age of Chriftianity, would be at the trouble to write fuch an elaborate letter, for the purpose of determining a controversy, which it is well known had no existence in the church after the apostles days.

A NEW

LITERAL TRANSLATION

OF

ST. PAUL'S EPISTLE

TO THE

EPHES S I IAN S.

PREFACE.

SECT. I. Of the Introduction of the Chriftian Religion at Ephefus.

T. PAUL'S firft coming to Corinth happened in the year 51, as was formerly fhewed, Pref. to 1 Cor. fect. On that occafion he abode among the Corinthians fomewhat more than eighteen months, Acts xviii. 11. 18. then departed by sea for Judea. In his voyage, touching at Ephefus, a city famed for its commerce and riches, and for its being the metropolis of the province of Afia, he preached in the fynagogue there with fome profpect of fuccefs. But haftening to go to Jerufalem to keep the feaft of Pentecoft, he left Ephefus foon, Acts xviii. 19, 20, 21. His first vifit, therefore, to the Ephefians, was in the year 53. From the hiftory of the Acts, it appears, that the Ephefians were a very diffolute people, and extremely addicted to magic; walking, as the apoftle expreffeth it, chap. ii. 2. according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit which worketh in the children of difobedience.-Their city, alfo, was the very throne of idolatry; the worship of idols being performed in no

S 1.
ST

part

part of the heathen world with greater splendour than at Ephesus, on account of the famous temple of Diana, which was built between the city and the harbour, at the expence of all Afia; and in which was an image of that goddefs, faid to have fallen down from Jupiter, Acts xix. 35. This image, as we may well fuppofe, was worshipped with the most pompous rites, by a multitude of priests, and a vaft concourfe of votaries from every quarter, who, to gain the favour of Diana, came to Ephesus to offer facrifice at her fhrine.

Such being the state of religion and morals among the Ephe fians, St. Paul, who was exprefsly commiffioned by Chrift to turn the Gentiles from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, refolved, at his departure from their city, to return foon, Acts xviii. 21. that he might have an opportunity of attacking idolatry in this its chief feat. Accordingly, having celebrated the feaft of Pentecoft in Jerufalem, he went down to Antioch, and after he had spent some time there, he departed, and went over all the country of Galatia and Phrygia in order, ftrengthening all the difciples, Acts xviii. 22, 23. And having paffed through the upper coafts, he came to Ephefus, Acts xix. 1. On this occafion he preached boldly in the fynagogue for the space of three months, difcourfing concerning, and proving the things which related to the kingdom of God, ver. 8. But the Jews, who had heard him with pleasure at his former vifit, now oppofed him violently, when they perceived that he preached falvation, without requiring obedience to the law of Mofes. They spake also with the greatest virulence against the gospel itself; infomuch, that the apoftle found it needlefs, and even dangerous to frequent the synagogue any longer. Wherefore, separating the disciples from the unbelieving Jews, he difcourfed daily in the school of one Tyrannus, who either was himself a disciple, or allowed the apostle the use of his fchool for hire, And this, we are told, Acts xix. 10. continued for the space of two years; fo that all they who dwelt in Afia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks.

After leaving the school of the philofopher Tyrannus, the apostle seems to have preached and worked miracles at Ephesus, in the places of moft public refort; for his fame became fo great, that from his body were brought unto the fick, handkerchiefs

or aprons, and the difeufes departed from them, A&ts xix. 12. About this time, also, the apostle's fame was greatly increased, by what happened to the feven fons of Sceva, one of the Jewish chief priests, who went about pretending to caft out devils. In fhort, Paul's preaching and miracles were fo bieffed of God, that multitudes of the idolatrous inhabitants of Afia, ftrongly impreffed by them, embraced the gofpel; and among the reft, many who had practifed the arts of magic and divination. These, to fhew how fincerely they repented of their former evil practices, brought out the books which contained the fecrets of their arts, and burned them publicly, notwithstanding they were of very great value: So mightily grew the word of the Lord, and prevailed in Ephefus itself. This extraordinary fuccess determining the apoftle to stay in Afia for a feason, he fent Timothy and Eraftus into Macedonia. But after they were gone, one Demetrius, a filverfmith, who made fhrines for Diana, calling together the workmen of like occupation with himself, faid to them, Sirs, ye know that by this craft ave have our wealth: Moreover, ye fee and hear, that not alone at Ephefus, but almost throughout all Afia, this Paul hath perfuaded and turned away much people; faying, that they be no gods which are made with hands: So that not only this our craft is in danger to be fet at nought; but also, that the temple of the great goddess Diana fhould be despised, and her magnificence should be deftroyed, whom all Afia, and the world worshippeth. By this artful fpeech, Demetrius enraged the craftsmen to such a degree, that they made a great tumult, laid. hold on Gaius and Ariftarchus, Paul's companions, and rushed with them into the theatre, intending, no doubt, to throw them to the wild beasts which were kept there. But the town-clerk, speaking to the multitude with great calmness and prudence, quieted them and dismissed the affembly; fo that the Christian preachers were let go in fafety.

1

It is faid, Acts xx. 1. That after the uproar was ceafed, Paul departed for to go into Macedonia. But as in the facred history many events are narrated as in immediate fucceffion, which happened at a confiderable distance of time from each other, the paffage juft now quoted, may be fuppofed an inftance of that kind. For, if I am not mistaken, the apostle abode two or three months in Ephesus and its neighbourhood after the riot. This

appears