Exhortations to stedfastness

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55 O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?

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much as ye know

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that your labour is not in

sented as swallowing him up; or that eternity gulps him down; so that he is endlessly lost and absorbed in its illimitable waste. How glorious a time to the righteous, when the inhabitant shall no more say, I am sick; when God shall have wiped away all tears from off all faces, and when there shall be no more death. This time must come. Hallelujah! The Lord God Omnipotent reigneth.

Verse 55. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?] Пov σov, avatε, TO KEVTOO Teu sou, gồŋ, to viKoç These words are generally supposed to be taken from Hos. xiii. 14, where the

d Rom. vii. 25.-e1 John v. 4, 5.- 2 Pet. iii. 14. 8 Ch. iii. 8.

is attributed, having overcome and conquered all human life, and subdued all to its own empire. By the transposition of these two members of the sentence, the victory is given to Death, who has extinguished all human life; and the sting is given to Hades, as in his empire the evil of death is fully displayed by the extinction of all animal life, and the destruction of all human bodies. We have often seen a personification of death in ancient paintingsa skeleton crowned, with a dart in his hand; probably taken from the apostle's description. represent the angel of death as having a sword, from all men.

The Jews

ehi debareyca maveth; ehi katabca sheol: which we translate, O death! I will be thy plagues; O grave! I will be thy destruction; and which the Septuagint translate very nearly as the apostle, που ἡ δική σου, Θάνατε, που το κεντρον σου, άδη; Ο death, where is thy revenge, or judicial process? O grave, where is thy sting? And it may be remarked that almost all the MSS., Versions, and many of the Fathers, interchange the two members of this sentence as they appear in the Septuagint, attributing victory to Death; and the sting, to Hades or the grave; only the Septuagint, probably by mistake or corruption of copyists, have duŋ, dikè, revenge, or a judicial process, for o, nikos, victory: a mistake which the similarity of the words, both in letters and sound, might readily produce. We may observe, also, that the Thi (I will be) of the Hebrew text the Septuagint, and the apostle following them, have translated Tow, where, as if the word had been written where, the two last letters interchanged; but ehi is rendered where in other places; and our translators, in the 10th verse of this same chapter (Hos. xiii.), render ehi malca, “I will be thy king," but have is note in the margin, "Rather, where is thy king? King Hoshea being then in prison." The apostle, therefore, and the Septuagint, are sufficiently vindifated by the use of the word elsewhere: and the best Jewish commentators allow this use of the word. The Targum, Syriac, Arabic, Vulgate, and some MSS. Kennicott and De Rossi, confirm this reading. Having vindicated the translation, it is necessary to inquire into the meaning of the apostle's expressions. Both Death and Hades are here personified: Death is represented as having a sting, dagger, or goad, by which, like the driver of oxen, he is continually irritating and urging on (these irritations are the diseases by which men are urged on till they fall into Hades, the empire of death); to Hades, victory

ארי

Verse 56. The sting of death is sin.] The apostle explains himself particularly here: Death could not have entered into the world if sin had not entered first; it was sin that not only introduced death, but has armed him with all his destroying force; the goad or dagger of death is sin; by this both body and soul are slain.

forbids all transgression, and sentences those who The strength of sin is the law.] The law of God its controlling and binding power from the law. The commit it to temporal and eternal death. Sin has him; and if nothing else intervene, he must, through law curses the transgressor, and provides no help for it, continue ever under the empire of death.

Verse 57. But thanks be to God] What the law could not do because it is law (and law cannot provide pardon), is done by the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: he has died to slay death; he has risen again to bring mankind from under the empire of hades. All this he has done through his mere unmerited mercy; and eternal thanks are due to God for this unspeakable gift. He has given us the victory over sin, Satan, death, the grave, and hell.

Verse 58. Be ye stedfast] 'Edpaio, from dpa, a seat; be settled; confide in the truth of this doctrine of the resurrection, and every thing that pertains to it, as confidently as a man sits down on a SEAT, which he knows to be solid, firm, and safe; and on which he has often sat.

Unmoveable] AμεтakivηTOι, from a, negative, and μETakivew, to move away; let nothing shake your faith; let nothing move you away from this hope of the gospel which is given unto you. What I tell you f

Observations on stars

receive from God; your false teachers cannot say so: in a declaration of God you may unshakenly confide. Always abounding in the work of the Lord] The work of the Lord is obedience to his holy word; every believer in Christ is a workman of God. He that works not, to bring glory to God and good to man, is not acknowledged as a servant of Christ; and if he be not a servant, he is not a son; and if not a son, then not an heir. And he must not only work, but abound in that work; ever exceeding his former self; and this, not for a time, but always; beginning, continuing, and ending every act of life to God's glory and the good of his fellows.

Your labour is not in vain] Your labour in the Lord is not in vain; you must not only work, but you must labour-put forth all your strength; and you must work and labour in the Lord-under his direction, and by his influence; for without him ye can do nothing. And this labour cannot be in vain; you shall have a resurrection unto eternal life: not because you have laboured, but because Christ died, and gave you grace to be faithful.

1. The chapter through which the reader has passed is a chapter of great importance and difficulty; and on its difficulties much has been written in the preceding notes. Though I have used all the helps in my power to guide me in explaining it, I have, upon the whole, been obliged to think for myself, and claim only the praise of severe labour, ever directed by honest intention and an earnest desire to find out the truth.

2. There are many questions connected with the doctrine of the resurrection which I could not introduce here without writing a book instead of short notes on a very long chapter. On such subjects, I again beg leave to direct the reader to Mr. Samuel Drew's Essay on that subject.

3. One remark I cannot help making; the doctrine of the resurrection appears to have been thought of much more consequence among the primitive Christians than it is now! How is this? The apostles were continually insisting on it, and exciting the followers of God to diligence, obedience, and cheerfulness through it. And their successors in the present day seldom mention it! So apostles preached, and so primitive Christians believed; so we preach, and so our hearers believe. There is not a doctrine in the gospel on which more stress is laid; and there is not a doctrine in the present system of preaching which is treated with more neglect!

4. Though all men shall rise again, yet it will be in widely different circumstances: some will rise to glory and honour; others to shame and everlasting contempt. Those alone who here received the salvation of God, and continued faithful unto death, shall have a resurrection to everlasting glory; not every believer, but every loving, obedient believer,

of different magnitudes.

shall enter into the Paradise of God, and have a body fashioned like unto his Lord's glorious body.

5. All glorified spirits will not have the same degree of glory. Two things will necessarily cause great difference: 1. The quantum of mind; and 2. The quantum of grace.

(1.) It is idle to suppose that God has made all human souls with the same capacities: he has not. There is an infinite diversity; he who has the greatest mind can know most, do most, suffer most, and enjoy

most.

(2.) The quantum of grace will be another great of Christ here, and was most devoted to his service, cause of diversity and glory. He who received most shall have the nearest approach to him in his own

kingdom. But all equally holy and equally faithful

souls shall not have equal degrees of glory; for the

glory will be according to the capacity of the mind, greater the capacity, provided it be properly influas well as the degree of grace and improvement. The enced by the grace of Christ, the greater will be the enjoyment.

This needs

6. That there will be great diversity in the states of glorified saints is the apostle's doctrine; and he illustrates it by the different degrees of splendour between the sun, moon, planets, and stars. little application. There are some of the heavenly bodies that give heat, light, and splendour, as the sun; and are of the utmost service to the world: some that give light, and comparative splendour, without heat, as the MOON; and yet are of very great use to mankind: others, again, which give a steady but not a splendid light, as the PLANETS; and are serviceable in their particular spheres: and lastly, others which twinkle in their respective systems, as the stars of different magnitudes.

7. One star, says the apostle, differs from another in glory, i. e. in splendour, according to what is called their different magnitudes. I will state a remarkable fact: The northern and southern hemispheres of the heavens have been divided into 102 constellations, and in these constellations professor Bode has set down the places of 17,240 stars; simple, nebulous, conglobate, and double. The stars have been distinguished by their apparent magnitudes, or rather splendour, into stars of the first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, &c. magnitudes: of these 17,240, only sixteen are, by astronomers in general, agreed to be of the first magnitude, all of which are set down in the following catalogue, with some of those that are remarkable in the second, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth magnitudes. The reader will observe that the name of the constellation or star is first mentioned: the Greek letters, &c., are those by which they are distinguished on maps and globes; and they are, by astronomers, referred to by these letters and numbers. My inferences shall follow the table.

Second Magnitude.

(Algenib)

ades,

n

In the head of the Pho

In Taurus,

Y

a

α

a

In the tail of Cetus, β In the girdle of Andromeda,

८

In Scorpio,

In Gemini,

β

In the Ram's following

a

horn,

α

In Virgo,

В

In Sagittarius,

β

In Libra

2 T

- a

2 v

In Taurus,

β

In Scorpio, In Ophiuchus,

In Capricorn,

Y

Χ

105

*

In Sagittarius,

In Auriga, In Gemini,

In Cancer,

ф

In Pisces,

a

In the female Hydra,

a

In Capricorn,

B

a

In Ursa Major, (Upper Pointer)

δ

α

2 a

In Ursa Major, (Lower

In Ursa Minor,

In Aries, a In Taurus,

18

In Leo,

a

Pointer)

β

In Cassiopeia,

28

In Virgo,

The Lion's tail, (De

In Gemini,

neb)

In Libra,

α

In the Cross,

B

In Cancer,

In Scorpio,

Bright star in the foot of the Cross,

In Leo,

In Ophiuchus,

In the spike of the Virgin,

In Sagittarius,

ய

In Perseus,

In the foot of the Cen

In Capricorn,

a

taur,

a

NOTES ON CHAP. XVI. Verse 1. The collection for the saints] Пepi-τns doyias, from Xɛyw, to gather, or collect; translated by the Fulgate, de collectis, a contribution made by the rich for the relief of the poor. The Christians living at Jerusalem, we may naturally suppose, were greatly straitened; as the enmity of their countrymen to the grepel of Christ led them to treat those who professed it with cruelty, and spoil them of their goods (see Heb. x. 34; and Rom. xv. 26; and see the note on the 27th verse of that chapter); and the apostle hereby teaches that it was the duty of one Christian congregation to help another when in distress. Verse 2. Upon the first day of the week] The apostle prescribes the most convenient and proper method of making this contribution. 1. Every man was to feel it his duty to succour his brethren in distress. 2. He was to do this according to the ability which God gave him. 3. He was to do this at the conclusion of the week, when he had cast up his weekly earnings, and had seen how much God had prospered his labour. 4. He was then to bring it on the first day of the week, as is most likely, to the church or assembly, that it might be put in the common treasury. 5. We learn from this that the weekly contribution could not be always the same, as each man was to lay by as God had prospered him: now sone weeks he would gain more; others, less. 6. It appears from the whole that the first day of the week, which is the Christian sabbath, was the day on which their principal religious meetings were held in Corinth and the churches of Galatia; and, consequently, in all other places where Christianity had prevailed. This is a strong argument for the keeping of the Christian sabbath. 7. We may observe that the apostle follows here the rule of the synagogue; it was a regular custom among the Jews to make their collections for the poor on the sabbath-day, that they right not be without the necessaries of life, and might not be prevented from coming to the synagogue. & For the purpose of making this provision they had a pare, which was called п Arneki shel dakah, "The purse of the alms," or what we would term, the poor's box. This is what the apostle seerns to mean when he says, Let him lay by him in re-let him put it in the alms' purse, or in the poor's ber. 9. It was a maxim also with them that, if they found any money, they were not to put it in their private purse, but in that which belonged to the

C

for poor

3 And when I come, whomsoever ye shall approve by your letters, them will I send to bring your liberality unto Jerusalem.

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4 And if it be meet that I go also, they shall go with me.

5 Now I will come unto you, 'when I shall

c2 Cor. viii. 19.- d Gr. gift. 2 Cor. viii. 4, 6, 19.- + 2 Cor. viii. 4, 19.- Acts xix. 21. 2 Cor. i 16.

poor.

10. The pious Jews believed that as salt seasoned food, so did alms, riches; and that he who did not give alms of what he had, his riches should be dispersed. The moth would corrupt the bags, and the canker corrode the money, unless the mass was sanctified by giving a part to the poor.

Verse 3. Whomsoever ye shall approve by your letters] Why should Paul require letters of approbation in behalf of certain persons, when he himself should be among them, and could have their characters viva voce? It is probable that he refers here to letters of recommendation which they had sent to him while he was away; and he now promises that when he should come to Corinth he would appoint these persons, whom they had recommended, to carry the alms to Jerusalem. If doкipaonтe be read ye shall have approved, as Bp. Pearce does, the difficulty will vanish.

Some MSS. and several Versions join di' emioro\wv, by letters, to the following words, and read the verse thus: When I come, those whom ye shall approve I will send with letters to bring your liberality to Jerusalem. This seems most natural.

Verse 4. And if it be meet, &c.] If it be a business that requires my attendance, and it be judged proper for me to go to Jerusalem, I will take those persons for my companions. On the delicacy with which St. Paul managed the business of a collection for the poor. Archdeacon Paley makes the following appropriate remarks:

"The following observations will satisfy us concerning the purity of our apostle's conduct in the suspicious business of a pecuniary contribution.

"1st, He disclaims the having received any inspired authority for the directions which he is giving: I speak not by commandment, but by occasion of the forwardness of others, and to prove the sincerity of your love.' (2 Cor., chap. viii. 8.) Who, that had a sinister purpose to answer by the recommending of subscriptions, would thus distinguish, and thus lower the credit of his own recommendation ?

"2nd, Although he asserts the general right of Christian ministers to a maintenance from their ministry, yet he protests against the making use of this right in his own person: Even so hath the Lord ordained, that they who preach the gospel should live of the gospel; but I have used none of these things; neither have I written these things that it should be so done unto me; for it were better for me to die, than that any man should make my