hosts, will utter his voice; that a great trumpet shall sound, to call the dead out of their graves; and that the righteous shall rise first; ver. 16. Lastly, he informs us, that when the judgment is ended the righteous shall be caught up in clouds, to join the Lord in the air; and so they shall be for ever with the Lord; ver. 17.-These

Third Argument in proof of the Divine Original of the Gospel, taken

OLD TRANSLATION. CHAP. IV. 1 Further

more then we beseech you, brethren, and exhort

you by the Lord Jesus, that as ye have received of us

how ye ought to walk, and to please God, so ye would abound more and more.

2 For ye know what

GREEK TEXT.

1 Το λοιπον ουν, αδελφοι, ερωτωμεν ὑμας και παρακαλουμεν εν Κυρίῳ Ιησου, καθώς παρελάβετε παρ' ήμων το πως δει ὑμας περιπατείν και αρεσχειν Θεῷ, ἵνα περισσευητε μαλλον.

2 Οίδατε γαρ, τινας παρ

commandments we gave ραγγελίας εδώκαμεν μιν δια

you by the Lord Jesus.

3 For this is the will of

God, even your sanctifica

του Κυρίου Ιησου.

5 Τούτο γαρ εςι θελημα του Θεου, ὁ ἁγιασμος ύμων,

tion, that ye should ab- απέχεσθαι ύμας απο της πορ

stain from fornication:

4 That every one of you

should know how to pos

νειας
4 ́

Ειδεναι έκαςον ύμων

Ver. 1. 1. Seeing ye have received from us, how you ought to walk and please God. Here the apostle puts the Thessalonians in mind, that from his first coming among them, he had exhorted them to live in a holy manner, if they meant to please the true God, in whom they had believed; and that he had explained to them the nature of that holiness which is acceptable to God. The same method of exhortation and instruction, he, no doubt, followed in all other cities and countries.-For the particular meaning of the word received, see Col. ii. 6. note.

Ver. 3.-1. For this is the will of God. Because the apostle knew that the Thessalonians, after the example of their philosophers, and great men, and even of their gods, had indulged themselves without restraint, in all manner of sensual pleasures, he, in the first sermons which he preached to them, inculcated purity, as the will of God. The same precepts he now renewed, because the Thessalonians were in danger of fancying, there was no great harm in practices which they found all ranks of men following.

great discoveries being very useful for encouraging the disciples of Christ, when persecuted, and for strengthening their faith in the gospel at all times, the apostle desired the Thessalonians to comfort one another, in their most pressing straits, by making them the subject of their daily conversations, ver. '18.

from the boly Nature of its Precepts.

2. Even your sanctification. 'Ayioμ☞, here, does not signify the sepa ration of the Thessalonians from the heathen world, and their consecration to the service of God; a sense in which the word is used, Judg. xvii. 3. Sirach vii. 31. but their separation from those impure lusts and base actions, by which the heathens honoured their false deities. It is therefore put for moral holiness; as it is likewise, ver. 4. 7. of this chapter.

sess his vessel in sanctif- το ἑαυτου σκευος κτασθαι εν ἁγιασμῳ και τιμῇ

cation and honour:

5 Not in the lust of concupiscence, even as the Gentiles which know not God :

6 That no man go beyond and defraud his brother in any matter: because that the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also have forewarned you, and testified.

7 For God hath not call

5 Μη εν παθει επιθυμι ας, καθαπερ και τα εθνη τα μη είδοτα τον Θεον

6 Το μη υπερβαίνειν και πλεονεκτειν εν τῷ πραγματι τον αδελφον αυτου διοτι εκδικος ὁ Κύριος περι παντων τουτων, καθώς και προει παμεν ὑμιν, και διεμαρτυρα μεθα.

7 Ου γαρ εκαλεσεν ἡμας ed us unto uncleanness, ὁ Θεος επι ακαθαρσία, αλλ'

but unto holiness.

8 He therefore that despiseth, despiseth not man,

εν ἁγιασμω.

8 Τοιγαρουν ὁ αθετών, ουκ ανθρωπον αθέτει, αλλα

Ver. 4-1. That every one of you should know to possess his own body. Το ἑαυτε σκευ, literally, his own vessel. But this word, in other passages, signifies the body : 1 Pet. iii. 7. Giving bonour to the wife, as the weaker vessel; that is, as being weaker in body.-1 Sam. xxi. 5. And the vessels (bodies) of the young men are holy. Lucretius likewise uses the Latin word vas, to signify the body, lib. iii. ver. 441. The body, was called by the Greeks and Romans, a vessel, because it contains the soul, and is its instrument. The apostle's meaning may be, let every man consider his body as a vessel consecrated to the service of God; and let him dread the impiety of polluting it, by any vile dishonourable indulgence whatever, or by putting it to any base use.-Our knowing to use our body in sanctification and honour, implies, as Benson observes, that we know to avoid ali incentives to lust, such as dissolute company, obscene discourse, lewd songs and pictures, the reading of loose books, drunkenness, luxury, idleness, and effeminacy.

2. In sanctification and honour. The doctrine of the gospel, 1 Cor. vi. 15. that our bodies are members of Christ, and that they are to be raised at the last day in glory and honour, lays Christians under the strongest obligation, to use their bodies only for the purposes of holiness. And, if any one uses his body otherwise, giving it up to fornication, and subjecting it to the wilk of an harlot, he injures Christ, and dishonours his body, by making it incapable of a blessed ressurection to eternal life. All these considerations the apostle has suggested, 1 Cor. vi. 13.-20.

use his own body, in that holy and honourable manner, which is suitable to your profession and hopes, as Christians;

5 And not as a passive subject of lust, after the manner of the Gentiles, who have no knowledge either of the character of God, or of what is acceptable to him :

6 That no man should go beyond the bounds of chastity; or defraud his brother in this matter, by defiling either him, or his relations, whether male or female; because the Lord Jesus will severely punish all such gross misdeeds, as I also formerly told, and fully testified to you, when I preached to you in Thessalonica.

7 Besides, God hath not called us into his kingdom, and promised us, pardon, that we should live in impurity; but to follow holiness.

8 Now, therefore, he who despiseth us; our precepts and declarations,

Ver 5.-1. Not in the passion of lust, even as the Gentiles. Having mentioned whoredom, the apostle by the passion of lust, means unnatural lusts. See Rom. i. 26, 27. 1 Cor. vi. 9. note 2. where are descriptions of the sensual practices of the heathens, which cannot be read without a mixture of pity and horror.

Ver. 6.-1. That no man go beyond bounds. Taiga, properly signi fies the bold and violent leaping over, or breaking through any fixed boundaries. The fixed boundaries of which the apostle speaks, are those of chastity, or justice in general, by dishonourable attempts upon the bodies of the wives, or children, or relations of others.

2. Or defraud bis brother in this matter. See Ess. iv. 71. Or the translation may run, in the matter; namely of which the apostle had been speaking. Beza and Le Clerc understand this as a prohibition of injustice in general: Ne quis opprimat, aut babeat quæstui, in ullo negotio, fratrem suum; and for this sense of VERTE, Le Clerc (in Hammond.) quotes 2 Cor. vii. 2. xii. 17, 18. But the context determines its meaning here, to that kind of injury by which our brother's chastity is violated. Accordingly, @oveği, which signifies the excess of evil desire in general, is used to denote the excess of lust: Ephes. iv. 19. to work all uncleanness, ev sovie, with greediness.

but God, who hath also given unto us his holy Spirit.

9 But as touching brotherly love, ye need not that I write unto you; for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another.

10 And indeed ye do it toward all the brethren which are in all Macedonia: but we beseech you, brethren, that ye increase

more and more ;

11 And that ye study ο

be quiet, and to do your own business, and to work

with your own hands, as

we commanded you.

He

Ver. 8.1. Ουκ αθέτει. Despiseth not man but God. The apostle here seems to have had our Lord's words in his eye, Luke x. 16. ὁ αθετών. that despiseth you, despiseth me: and he that despiseth me, despiseth him that sent me. In this passage St. Paul asserts his own inspiration in the strongest terms, and with the greatest solemnity; having in view to instruct the young and giddy, and all who despised his precepts concerning chastity as

too severe.

Ver. 9. 1. For ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another. The apostle alludes to Isaiah liv. 13. where the prophet, speaking of the effectual instruction which believers should receive under the gospel dispensa. tion, says, All thy children shall be taught of the Lord.-To be taught of God, signifies to be so effectually instructed by God, as to do the thing which he teaches. See Heb. viii. ver. 10. note 2.The Thessalonians were thus taught of God; for they actually loved one another sincerely, chap. i. 4.

Ver. 11.1. And to mind your own affairs. Timothy, it seems, had brought word, that notwithstanding the prohibitions the apostle had given to the Thessalonians, when present with them, some of them still continued to meddle with other people's affairs, in a way that did not belong to them; and that this had led them into habits of idleness. The truth is, that manner of spending time, which the apostle calls disorderly walking, 2 Thess. iii. 6. 11. was too much practised by all the Greeks; as may be gathered from the character given of them, Acts xvii. 21. For all the Athenians, and stran