Lest if the Macedonians, to whom I have boasted of your forwardness, ver. 2, come along with me to you, and find that you have not your supplies ready, it be matter of great shame to me, as it must be also to you, (see note [a] ch. viii. 10,) that I have had the In brief, the persons that are intrusted in this business are such as may be trusted, Titus, that accompanied me and helped to convert you, the other brethren, Luke, &c., men of eminence and rule in the churches of Christ, (see note on Rom. xvi. 6,) and such as have been used as instruments to advance the gospel. And therefore it will concern you by your behaviour in this matter to demonstrate your own Christian charity, and to let them see that what I have boasted of you hath not been without reason. ### CHAP. IX. Now I, that Paul that am so calumniated by some among you, and said by way of reproach to be mild and contemptible when I am personally present with you, but, when I am absent, severe and confident toward you, I exhort you by the meekness and [a] gentleness] Ἐπιείκεια is the ordinary word of the philosopher, taken from him by the lawyers to signify mitigation of exact or strict justice, when that is not so agreeable to rules of charity, and so it notes in general the fit, proper temper, which is to be observed in all things. Ἐπιεικὲς, saith Hesychius, καθῆκον, πρῆτον, προσῆκον, ἱκανόν, that which is fit, decent, due, &c. And according to the diversity of matter about which it is conversant, so it hath several notions in the New Testament. In this place being spoken of Christ, and joined with that meekness which was so imitable in him, Matt. xi. 29, it signifies gentleness or clemency, as that is opposed to severity in punishing, which is here expressed by θαρρῆσαι and τολμῆσαι and πεποίθησις, daring, boldness, and confidence. But Phil. iv. 5. τὸ ἐπιεικὲς seems to belong to another sort of gentleness, that of the lamb, which before or under the shearer is dumb, and opens not the mouth, viz. a cheerful endurance of all the persecutions that were upon the Christians at that time. To this the context there inclines, which ushered it in with a repeated exhortation to rejoice in the Lord always, in adversity as well as prosperity, (and so 1 Thess. v. 16,) which being contrary to the joy of the world, most fitly denotes that χαρὰ καὶ ἀγαλλίασις, Matt. v. 12, (rejoicing and being exceeding glad, rejoicing and leaping for joy, and thinking it all joy, James i. 2,) which is upon their being persecuted for Christ, and so likewise enforced with a reason agreeable to this matter, for the Lord is at hand, the time of your redemption from your pressures draws near, Heb. x. 37. And accordingly it is attended (as Christ's instructions to the apostles I beseech God (or you), that at my coming I may not have occasion to exercise that severity which I think myself obliged to exercise against some who accuse me for a weak behaviour in my apostleship, as either fearing or flattering of men, too mild, on one of those grounds. For though I am an infirm person, obnoxious myself to many afflictions and distresses, for which you are apt to despise me, yet do I not exercise my apostleship in a weak manner, or by weak weapons: (For the instruments of our apostleship, the censures of the church, are not weak or contemptible, but such as have a divine force upon the conscience, for the beating down all the fortifications which are raised in us against the power of the gospel, or subduing the most refractory offenders): [b] weapons of our warfare] That the ὀπλα τῆς στρατείας ἡμῶν, weapons of our warfare, which are here said not to be weak, but mighty to God, signify the censures of the church, may thus appear probable; first, by the context, where the apostle speaks of proceeding against offenders, which he calls θαρρεῖν εἰς ὑμᾶς, being bold toward them, vv. 1, 2, and ἐκδικεῖν παρακοήν, to avenge disobedience, ver. 6, and this according to the ἐξουσία or authority, which the Lord had given for edification, (building them up further in the faith and all Christian virtue,) and not for destruction; and then he adds a caution, to remove a calumny or prejudice that some had against him, that his letters were severe, and so he, when absent, but far from all severity when he came among them, κατὰ πρόσωπον ταπεινὸς ἐν ὑμῖν, vile, or tame, or unconsiderable, when he was among them; that is, that in his absence he threatened censures, but when he came would not inflict them; which he calls ἐκφοβεῖν δι' ἐπιστολῶν, terrifying by letters, ver. 9, and ἐπιστολαὶ βαρεῖαι and ἰσχυραὶ, weighty and powerful letters, ver. 10, that is, severe and terrifying; which yet he threatens shall be equalled by his actions when he comes among them, ver. 11. And so all along, the business is of the censures of the church, and so in all reason in this verse also. Secondly, this will appear by the words themselves: for as στρατεία ἡμῶν signifies confessedly the apostles' ministry (see note [f] on 1 Tim. i.) according to the importance of the Hebrew אֵבֶל, which is sometimes rendered στρατεία, warfare, sometimes λειτουργία, ministry; so ὀπλα τῆς στρατείας, weapons of warfare, are the means to discharge their duty in the ministry. Of which nature though there be more, prayer, preaching, catechising, administration of sacraments, confirmation, &c., yet the antecedents and consequents here, belonging to the business of censures, must needs incline it to that notion peculiarly. Then that these are not σαρκικὰ, carnal, signifies that they are not weak, for so σάρξ, flesh, frequently signifies, as here, ver. 3, though we walk in the flesh, that is, are weak, as men, and have no power over you, yet as officers of Christ we are not, our ministry is with power, and therefore follows ἀλλὰ δυνατὰ τῷ Θεῷ, but mighty or powerful through or to God, or perhaps exceeding powerful, and that εἰς καθαίρεσιν τῶν ὀχυρωμάτων, to the pulling down of strongholds, that is, either the pulling down all fortresses that maintain or secure a man in sin, or more critically, as καθαίρεσις signifies excommunication itself, ver. 8, and ch. xiii. 10, and But I use the censures of the church to bring down all the disputings and reasonings of men's understandings against the Christian doctrine, all notions and conceits of vain heretical men, to the acknowledgment and practice of the truth. And truly thus I am resolved, when you have made good your obedience, reduced yourselves to good order, and demonstrated that, to punish those that remain refractory with severity enough. For when the whole church lies in disobedience, those acts of severity are not so fit to be used; but when the reformation of the greater part is so conspicuous, that it may be prudent to proceed against the refractory, then I shall not fail in my duty, but inflict these censures as shall be fit. Do you judge so slightly, and, as the weakest and most passionate men are wont, only according to outward appearances? If any man out of confidence that he is a special favourite of Christ's think fit to despise me, let him consider, and by all those arguments, by which he will be able to conclude that he is the disciple or apostle of Christ, he will be able to conclude it of me also. Nay, if I should pretend to some more authority from Christ than hath been given to others, (all for [a] make all grace abound] There is no way of rendering Θεὸς δυνατὸς περισσεῦσαι χάριν but by putting περισσεῦσαι in an active sense, to make abound, and that hath been formerly noted to be ordinary in the New Testament, (see note [f] on Mark xiv.) The Greek wanting the Hebrew conjugation hiphil, which denotes making to do a thing, and having no way to supply it, but by using the active voice in that sense, so as περισσεῦσιν shall not only signify neutrally to abound, but also to make any man or thing to abound: of which kind there be innumerable examples. And so the making their charity to abound toward them here, that is, God's blessing their liberality, so that it shall enrich, instead of impoverishing them, will be all one with the increasing the fruits of their righteousness, ver. 10, their righteousness there signifying their charity, (as hath been oft shewn,) and the plenty consequent to their exercises of that virtue being proportionable to the fruit that comes by sowing, (the hundredfold increase which Christ promises even in this life to those that forsake or part with any thing for his sake,) and accordingly it is there joined with multiplying their seed, where their acts of charity are figuratively called their seed, and the blessings consequent thereto the fruits of it. Now that God that furnisheth the liberal man (which giveth away that which he hath) with so much more, provide all necessaries for you, and make you the richer for your liberality, and increase unto you those fruits which are naturally the issue of liberality, a greater plenty for the future, see note [a]: Having enough to be very liberal at all times, which is a most desirable condition, and that which brings in thanksgiving and glory to God. This charitable and serviceable ministering to and supplying of other men's wants, being not only a means to relieve those Christians that are in necessity, (see note [b] Mark xii,) and so a charity to our brethren, but also an invitation and obligation of many men's gratitude unto God, and so an occasion, if not a special act, of piety also; [c] make ourselves of the number] What ἐγκρῖναι signifies properly is set down by Buddæus, ἐντάττειν, ἐγκαταλέγειν, "to choose or admit any into any order," as in Aristides, τοὺς ἐπήλυδας θεοὺς μετὰ τῶν ἄλλων ἐνέκριναν, "they admitted the foreign gods with the others;" and in Demosthenes, εἰς γερουσίαν ἐγκρίνεσθαι, "to be chosen or admitted into the senate." Thus ἐγκρίνειν and ἀποκρίνειν are used, as in Plato de Leg. 12, ἀποκρίνοντας νεότητι, τοὺς δὲ ἄλλους ἐγκρίναντες, "rejecting some, and choosing others." Hence Hesychius, Ἔγκριτος, ἐκλελεγμένος, ἐξειλεγμένος, the participle signifies select or chosen, and so here ἐγκρῖναι ἑαυτόν, "to give suffrage to himself," to take upon him to be some eminent person. Whilst men that see and observe this charity and distribution of yours to the distressed Christians in Judæa, bless and magnify the name of God; first, that ye are so ready to believe and obey the gospel of Christ, to confess Christ by doing what he commands; and secondly, that by your liberality these poor saints, and all others in their sympathy with them, do receive so much benefit from you; [d] our measure] Of the agones among the Grecians, particularly among the Corinthians, and of δρόμος, racing, one of them, we have formerly spoken, (notes [c.] [d.] [e.] on 1 Cor. ix.) and so again distinctly of κανὼν, (note [g].) the white line, which bounded or marked out the path or race. To this the apostle here refers, making his apostleship or preaching of the gospel to be his spiritual exercise, or running as it were in a race, his ἐν σταδίῳ δρόμος, and then the province or diocese to which he is by God designed, and sent to preach, is his μέτρον τοῦ κανόνος οὗ ἐμίρισεν αὐτῷ ὁ Θεός, "the compass or stage of ground which by that white line in the race, as it were, God hath marked out to him," to run in, and contend, and obtain his prize. Beyond or out of which line he that runs, or pretends to have to do, he doth καυχήσασθαι εἰς τὰ ἄμετρα, boast without his measure, and ὑπερεκτείνεσθαι, over-extend himself, ver. 14. And lastly, they are hereby raised up to pray for you, out of that passionate love and affection toward you, which the sight of the abundant virtues and graces of God in you do work in them. [e] come as far] That the word φθάνειν is agonistical also, see note [l] on Rom. ix, and so constantly it signifies coming foremost to the goal, or being foremost in the running toward it; and so it signifies here, preaching the gospel among the Corinthians before any body else had been there; for as it is said, 1 Cor. iii. 6, Paul planted, that is, first brought the gospel among them. For all this goodness of God to you, and by you to others, his name be ever praised. ## CHAP. X. [f] another man's line] The ἀλλότριος κανὼν is that province which somebody else hath undertaken; the κανὼν, as before, denoting the line by which his race was terminated, and the ἀλλότριος referring to the custom in the stadia forementioned, that each of the racers had his The fear that I have that you should be seduced tempts me to do that which you will be apt to count boasting, and think me to be a fool for doing so; viz. to praise myself, and magnify the pains that I have taken among you: this piece of folly you may do well to pardon in me; ¹ WOULD to God ye could bear with me a little in my folly: and indeed bear with me. ² For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have ² [a] espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. ³ But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is ³ in Christ. And seeing others think fit to glory or boast of such extrinsic things as these, I may have leave to do the like. For it is caused by nothing but by my kindness to you, my zeal to your good, and jealousy that other men may get away your love and esteem from me: which is a jealousy not so much for myself as for God, that he should lose a church beloved by him. For I have been to you as that officer among the Grecians was to their virgins, I have taken upon me the educating and forming of you, the cultivating and fitting of you, the taking care and watching over you, that so I might present you a fit and a pure spouse to Christ. [a] espoused you to one husband] The Vulg. seems to have read these words ἡρμοσάμην ὑμᾶς ἑνὶ ἀνδρὶ, with a comma after them, and accordingly render them despondi vos unii viro, I have espoused you to one husband; according to that of Julius Pollux, ὁ δι' πενθερὸς ἐγγυᾷ, ἀρμόζει, ὅθεν τινὲς τῶν πολλῶν ἀρμοστὴν τὸν μνηστῆρα ἐκάλεσαν, making ἐγγυᾷ, espouse, all one with ἀρμόζειν. So in Cinnamus, l. 4. p. 228, ταύτην ἀρμόζεται, "he married her." But the more probable punctuation is by reading it without any comma till after παραστῆσαι, and then the notion of the word ἀρμόζειν must be taken from that use of the word which is agreeable to the office of the ἀρμοσταὶ or ἀρμόσυνοι among the Lacedæmonians. Among the magistrates of that city those were two prime names, and between them some slight difference. The ἀρμοσταὶ were a kind of provincial rulers, (placed by P. Nic. Cragius among the μέγισται ἀρχαί, the prime magistrates of that city,) sent to govern the provinces, or confederate cities, and preserve them in their fidelity, and were, saith Ulpian, so called διὰ τὸ ἀρμόζειν τὰ ἔθη τῶν πολιτῶν τοῖς τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων, "because they conformed the manners of the citizens to those of the Lacedæmonians," for so ἀρμόζειν signifies to adapt or conform. So saith Phavorinus out of Eratosthenes, ἀρμοσταὶ, οἱ ὑπὸ Λακεδαιμονίων εἰς τὰς ὑπηκόους πόλεις ἄρχοντες ἐκπεμπόμενοι, "the governors that are sent by the Lacedæmonians to the cities under them." These are by Hesychius called ἀρμοστῆρες, by Plutarch σωφρονισταί, in the same sense that the Athenians ἐπίσκοποι and φύλακες, overseers and guardians. From whence it is that Theophrastus observes that the Lacedæmonians sending magistrates to the provinces, style them much more commodiously ἀρμοστάς, than the Athenians do ἐπισκόπους and φύλακας. From whence also it is that in the Christian church the ancient author that goes under the name of Dionysius Areopagita, calls bishops ἀρμοστάς. But then the ἀρμόσινοι (which seem more peculiarly to belong to the use of the word in this place) were a peculiar sort of governors, which had to do with the education of women, especially for the forming of their lives and manners, and breeding of them, (as among the Athenians γυναικοκόσμοι,) from the verb ἀρμόζεσθαι, because they were set over them to fit and order their manners, and make them regular and harmonical, a kind of censors of manners among them. So saith Hesychius and Phavorinus in the same words, o Onomast. l. 3. c. π. μνηστείας. in Dem. Or. cont. Leptinen. νισταί. p De Rep. Lac. l. 2. q Schol. r In Vit. Lycurgi, ἀρμοσταὶ καὶ σωφρο- But there being such deceivers entered into the church, Simon Magus and his followers, using sorcery to beguile and infuse his falsities, I have reason ¹⁷ in respect of our line, κατά τὸν κανόνα ἡμῶν. ¹⁸ over those regions that are ready, εἰς τὰ ἔτοιμα. ¹ I would you would pardon me a little piece of folly, Ὀφελὸν ἠνείχεσθέ μου μικρὸν τι τῆς ἀφροσύνης. ² prepared you to present a pure virgin to one man, to Christ. ³ toward, εἰς. For if some other teachers that are come among you preach another Christ, shake the whole foundation of your religion, promise you more extraordinary, miraculous, spiritual gifts, than those which from us you have received, and in sum preach another gospel to you, then you may give me leave (it being more than time) to magnify myself, and expostulate with you whether they come to you (or any one of them) with such authority as I come, or whether there be any appearance or show of reason why you should prefer them before me. For not to compare myself with the deceivers, I may justly compare with the most eminent of the true apostles, Peter and James and John. And if it be objected to me, and perhaps truly, that my language hath nothing extraordinary in it, yet sure nothing can be objected against my skill, my explaining the mysteries of the gospel, (see note [c] 1 Cor. i,) but in our preaching and behaviour toward you we are acknowledged by all men not to come short of any other apostle in any piece of knowledge or revelation useful for you. Sure it ought not to be esteemed a fault in me (and yet I have been guilty of no other that might make me vile in your eyes) that I have so much tendered your advantages and so little mine own, that all my preaching among you hath put you to no kind of charge. 8, 9. Nay, I have been beholden to other churches, receiving provision from them, that I might preach freely to you; and when I fell short at my being with you, and had not wherewithal to supply my wants, yet I made not my wants known, I troubled none of you to make it up, but as sometimes I laboured with my hands and earned my living, (1 Cor. iv. 12, and ix. 6,) so at other times I received supply from the Philippians, (Phil. iv. 15, 16,) as they came from Macedonia, and so have neither yet put you to any charge, nor mean I ever to do so. [b] I was chargeable] Κατενάρκησα, saith St. Jeromeᵗ ad Algasiam, is a Cilician word; the full meaning of it here will be judged by that which Ælian saith of the fish called νάρκη, the torpedo, Ὁ ἰχθὺς ἡ νάρκη, ὅτου ἂν προσάψηται, τὸ ἐξ αὐτοῦ ὄνομα ἰδωκέ τε, καὶ ναρκᾶν ἐποίησεν, "the torpedo fish whatsoever it toucheth it gives it its own name, makes it to be benumbed." Now they which ask any thing of another are proverbially said to do that which the torpedo doth, to give a chilness or numbness. Molestum verbum est et onerosum, Rogo, saith Seneca, "asking or begging is very troublesome and burthensome;" and therefore καταναρκᾶν, which literally signifies to chill or benumb, (and so in Theocritus, Idyll. 7. νάρκαισιν ἀνιηρῆσι διδοίη,) doth in respect of this consequent signify to ask or intreat; and so here οὐ κατενάρκησα οὐδενὸς, I begged or asked of no man, I importuned no man. As I am an apostle of Christ, and as there is any sincerity in me, I will not be deprived of this And do not think it is any want of love that I make this resolution; God knows that is not the reason. But the only cause of my resolution, which I will keep steadfastly, is this, that they that would fain find some fault with me, and magnify themselves before me, may not find any ground of doing so, but rather find me before them, and have somewhat to imitate in me in that very particular wherein they think they exceed me. For the truth is, these men that come to infuse false doctrines into you behave themselves as cunningly as they can, and do labour to imitate and seem to do those very things that we true apostles do. And it is no unusual matter for deceivers and seducers to do so, for Satan himself pretends to do those things that the good angels do, makes as if he meant you all kindness, when he comes to destroy you. I do not pretend any title to those whom others have brought up in the gospel, but yet entertain myself with an hope, that as your church increaseth in the faith, so my province will become the larger in length or extent, I shall have more proselytes to Christ by your merchandising and traffic with other countries, And therefore it is not any thing strange if seducing heretics employed by him do imitate the actions of the apostles of Christ; but according to the hypocrisy of their actions so shall their ends be. And so preach the gospel far beyond Achaia, without invading any other man's possession or province, without entering upon those parts where the gospel had been formerly preached by others. There will be no great reason that this my glorying should make you count me imprudent; or if it do, it is no great matter; I will venture that, rather than suffer sycophants to seduce and corrupt you. For it is a most ridiculous thing for any man to rejoice or glory in any thing, but in having done that which is acceptable to God, in discharge of his duty. Yet what I say in this matter I deliver not as a piece of gospel, but as an external, incidental discourse in this matter, of which the false apostles boast, and I have much more reason than they: (see note [a] Heb. xi.) For it is not our own good opinion of ourselves which qualifies us for reward or acceptation, but the sincerity of our actions before God, which may render us acceptable in his sight. For wise men are not wont to be angry, but are many times pleased to see others play the fools; and so do you in many other things. I am sure you can bear with greater matters; you can give men leave to take you captive to their doctrines, how false soever; to deprive you of all you Which I tell you, to put you in mind how reproachfully you have been used by them: as indeed I have also been set at nought and vilified by them: for which there hath been little reason. For whatsoever reason any of them hath to think well of himself, I have sure as much cause as he, (though to say so may go for folly in me, as being a kind of boasting.) 22, 23. These seducers boast they are Hebrews, and Israelites, and of Abraham's stock, and then that they are apostles of Christ. And sure I am every one of these: and for the last, I cannot but say it, though it will be deemed boasting and folly in me, that I am more than an ordinary apostle, one that have taken more pains, suffered more of scourgings and imprisonments and dangers of imminent death than any of the very twelve apostles. Five times was I scourged of the Jews without any mitigation, with the greatest severity that the law would permit. 25-27. Thrice was I beaten with wands, probably by the Roman officers, (see note [b]); once by a tumult of a seditious multitude of zealots I was without any judicial process stoned and left for dead, Acts xiv. 19; and still from time to time I have been exercised in all kinds and degrees of distresses. [c] forty stripes save one] Of this punishment of St. Paul's these four things are to be observed: 1st, that St. Paul, as a Roman, was not to be whipped ex lege Portia, and therefore, Acts xxii. 24, when the tribune had commanded him to be beaten thus, understanding he was a Roman, he dismissed him, and was afraid, saith St. Luke, because he had bound him; 2dly, that he was yet subject, as a Jew, to the laws of the Jews, which were yet in force, and so was subjected to this Jewish punishment, as a Jew; 3dly, that he was dealt with as a robustious offender, in suffering so oft the utmost extremity of the Jewish law, when they that were weak, or which upon any other score had any mitigation, were not used so severely; according to that of Maimonides Hil. Sanhedrim, c. 17. "They inflict," saith he, "no more than forty stripes, though he be as strong as Samson; but if he be weak, they abate of that number;" 4thly, that that sum of thirty-nine was the solemn proportion in the Jewish punishments, when they were most severely inflicted. So in Josephus, of one that had accused his wife falsely of the loss of her virginity before marriage, Ἐκτινίτω πληγὰς τεσσαράκοντα μᾶς λιπούσης λαμβάνων, "Let him extend himself, and receive thirty-nine stripes." For when the number which might not be exceeded was by the law defined to be forty, Deut. xxv. 3, and when the custom was taken up of executing this punishment with a rod of three branches, and so of giving three strokes at one blow, (or, as it is in Maccoth, c. 3. §. 12, with one twisted cord, unto which two more were fastened,) every stroke consequently going for three, (as Maimonides affirms in Sanhedr. c. 17. §. 2.) it was consequently impossible to inflict more stripes than thirty-nine, unless they exceeded to two and forty, and so that of thirty-nine was the last among those that were lawful. See Talmud Babyl. in Maccoth, cap. 3. As for the beating with rods which follows, ver. 25, that differs from this of the scourging, the ῥάβδοι, rods, being wands or cudgels, a bundle of which was carried before the Roman consul, and he that carried them called ῥαβδούχος, ᵗ Qu. 10. And, not to name all, the many daily emergent But I shall give over these things; for if I should go on in it, I should then come to mention the visions and revelations which I have had from God. I know one that was transported in a vision by the Spirit of Christ; that is, I myself about fourteen years past was in an ecstasy, Acts xxii. 18, such an one that I am not able to say whether I were bodily removed and carried to the third heaven, the place of God's glorious residence, or whether only in a vision such representations were made to me remaining upon the earth. [a] a man in Christ] What ἄνθρωπος ἐν Χριστῷ, a man in Christ, here signifies, may possibly be guessed by other phrases of the same making; such is that of St. Luke, Acts xii. 11, where it is said of Peter, γενόμενος ἐν ἰαυτῷ, being in himself, that is, having been formerly in a trance, and now returned out of it; and that is called being in himself: such that Rev. i. 10. ἐγενόμην ἐν πνεύματι, I was in the spirit, that is, I was in a trance or ecstasy, and there received a vision or revelation from God: such Mark i. 23. ἄνθρωπος ἐν πνεύματι ἀκαθάρτῳ, and the same again ch. v. 2. a man in an unclean spirit, that is, one agitated with a diabolical spirit, rapt and carried to do things which of himself he would never do. And accordingly here a man in Christ may be one that by the spirit of Christ was thus transported, received revelations from Christ; and therefore, ver. 1, there is mention of visions and revelations, of which this is here an instance, and so ver. 7. And all the circumstances of the context incline to this interpretation. And this is the importance of the ἑκστασις, ecstasy, (see note [c] on Mark iii.) being out of himself, transported either by a good or evil spirit; when by a good, it signifies a prophetic vision; when by a bad, a kind of madness, as in the demoniacs, (though the word is nowhere in the New Testament used of them,) and both contrary to the being ἐν I say, I know not which of these it was, God only knows. ¹⁶ the concurrence of business that comes daily upon me, the solicitude for all— ἡ ἐπισύστασις μου ἡ καθ' ἡμέραν, ἡ μέριμνα πασῶν. ¹⁷ scandalized, σκαρδαλίξεται. ¹⁸ am not on fire, οὐ πυροῦμαι. ¹⁹ governor of the nation, ἐθνάρχης. ²⁰ But it, Δή. ²¹ for I shall come, ἐλεύσομαι γάρ. ³ I know, οἶδα. ⁴ snatched as far as, ἀρπαγέντα ἕως. O 2 But whether bodily or in vision, methought I was in the highest heaven, ver. 2, here called paradise in respect of the joys that dwell there, and had such revelations made to me by an angel from God as were wonderful to consider, but which I was forbidden to declare to others. And though I have this abundant matter of glorying, yet shall I not make use of it any further or more plainly, but boast only of my sufferings for Christ. For if I would speak of this, I justly might, for it is most certainly true; but I will say no more of this subject; for I desire not to put men into any other opinion of me than what they have from those more visible evidences, my ordinary constant actions or words. And indeed after I had these high transcendent revelations, that I might not be elevated with them, a sharp affliction was sent me in mercy by God, but inflicted on me by Satan and some instruments of his, who dealt very roughly with me, beat me, imprisoned me, scourged me, (see Chrysost. Epist. 15. tom. 7. p. 101. line 40,) and this was by God designed to keep me humble. And I earnestly prayed to God to be delivered from it. And the only answer I received was this: It is enough for thee that what I do is for thy good; afflictions are the means to do the Christian most good; the greater the pressures are, the more visible is the perfection of the divine assistance; or, the more thy persecutions are, the more is the gospel propagated by thee (Theophylact); nay, afflictions therefore are the things I rejoice in (see note [a] Heb. iii.) more than any thing, even than revelations themselves, as the means by which the power of Christ and his presence may appear more visibly upon me (see note [b] Rom. ix.) than by any other means it could, even in as glorious a manner as that wherein God exhibited himself in the ark. This therefore of diseases, and afflictions, and reproaches, and persecutions for Christ, is a thing You see how vain I am in boasting; yet your calumnies have made it necessary for me to do so; for sure I have done and suffered as much as any the most valued apostle, though indeed I have no reason to have any opinion of myself for all this. If patience of whatsoever sufferings for the gospel's sake, if working of miracles of all kinds be able to testify a man to be sent and authorized by Christ, (as beyond all other things that is most proper to do it,) then sure it doth appear that I am an apostle in despite of my calumniators. For there is no church that hath had more pains taken among them, more gifts bestowed for the building them up, more of any thing that is needful, than ye have had from me; the only thing wherein ye differ from others is, that all hath been done without any charge of yours, without my asking or receiving any thing from you; and if this be a wrong, you will easily, I suppose, forgive it me. I have now made a third resolution (see ch. i. 16.) to come shortly among you, and I will do it without putting you to any charge; for I covet not your possessions, but your salvation; and as a parent I desire to do all manner of good to you, and to receive none from you. And I will offer up myself most cheerfully for the good of your souls, exhaust all the small goods I have, and venture even my life for you, and never be discouraged, though as my love and the effects thereof increase toward you, so your's lessen toward me. But it is by some among you suggested against me, that although I never received any pay from you for the preaching the gospel, yet I have cunningly and underhand gotten a great deal from you. If this have any truth in it, let it appear: have I done this by any of those whom I have sent to you?