Acts 27

REFLECTIONS UPON CHAP. XXVII.—The passage of saints through this world is often extremely tempestuous. Yet frequently the Lord gives them repeated favours from whom they might have expected the hardest usage. Kindly he communes with, and comforts, them when terrors prevail all around them. By them he sends his warnings of danger and messages of peace. And he not only preserves them, but others for their sakes, from raging seas and blood-thirsty men. God can exactly foretell what has no necessary dependence on second causes: and, whatever be his means, whether winds, waves, or mariners, their influence is necessarily connected with the end which he has decreed and foretold. Thrice happy are they who can speak of him as their proprietor, master, and friend. Great confidence may they repose in his promise, and may expect safety and comfort from his hand. While they, who trust to their fancied wisdom rather than to his word, most surely plunge themselves into mischief and shame. We owe great thanks to him for our daily bread, as well as for our hopes or enjoyment of remarkable deliverances. Yet how tasteless is our necessary provision when all hope of life is taken away, and there is like to be no more occasion for it; and insignificant is all the wealth of this world, when a storm of raging elements may make us glad to part with it for our own preservation.— Sailors had need to live in union to Christ and fellowship with God, who alone can preserve them from the jaws of destruction. And it is proper that all should sympathize with them that do business in great waters. But thrice happy are those souls which are made to renounce the broken covenant of works, and their own self-righteousness and strength, that through Jesus’ merits and grace, they may, through much tribulation, get safe to the celestial country. 3 CHAP. 1. Ver. 1. I Paul, who was formerly a bitter enemy of Christianity, and a furious persecutor of its professors, being now graciously honoured to be an obedient and devoted servant of Jesus Christ, the only Saviour of sinful men; converted by his wonderful grace; and by his immediate authority, since his exaltation to heaven, appointed one of his distinguished messengers for founding his gospel church, particularly among the Gentiles; and in consequence of God’s choice of me in his eternal purpose, separated and furnished by him;—and by my own voluntary act devoted to publish his intimations of his mind and will concerning the free, rich, and eternal, salvation of Jews and Gentiles through Christ: 2. Which gracious tidings and offers of mercy and deliverance, though but lately published, in all the light, grace, and glory thereof, are no new contrivance of men, but are wholly of God, who in former ages gave manifold hints of them by his inspired prophets, and in his holy and sanctifying oracles; and promised that they should be more fully and plainly revealed in due time: 3. And which especially reveal, hold forth, and offer to men, Jesus Christ, his eternal and only begotten Son, and our only anointed Saviour, and Lord of our faith, worship, and obedience; who, with respect to his human nature or fleshly descent, is, according to the promises, sprung from David, the renowned favourite of God and king of Israel. 4. And, as to his divine, absolutely spiritual, and infinitely holy, nature, is determinately avowed, openly proclaimed, and convincingly demonstrated, to be the only begotten Son of God, by the resurrection of his dead body through his own power, and the power of the Holy Ghost, to a glorious state of immortality; 5. Through whose merits and intercession, and by whose free gift, I and others have been graciously enriched with special communications of divine favour, saving graces, and ministerial gifts, and honoured with an apostolic office, that, through our 4 labours, multitudes of all nations, Gentiles as well as Jews, might be made obediently to give up their understandings, consciences, and wills, to the authority of God, in believing on and receiving his Son, and spiritually and holily obeying his commandments, that hereby all his perfections might be glorified to the highest in their eternal salvation. (6. Among which highly favoured multitudes, ye, who dwell in the chief city of the Gentile world, have, by the grace and power of Christ, been called, even to the knowledge, faith, and fellowship, of the gospel.) 7. To you therefore as objects of my particular care, as the apostle of the Gentiles, and as manifested, by the effects of the gospel upon you, to be objects of God’s special love, and not only reputed to be, but by your effectual calling rendered, holy in your qualities, tempers, and conversation, I, in an earnest and affectionate manner wish, and authoritatively declare, that the riches of divine grace shall abound, and be delightfully manifested, in your receiving freely and extensively all manner of peace, prosperity, and blessings, from God, as our covenant God and Father, as the original spring and designer of them; and from the Lord Jesus Christ, as the only Mediator, who purchased them by his blood, and conveys them by his Spirit.—8. As what I hear of the work of God among you is great matter of gladness to my soul, though a stranger to you, I cannot forbear offering up the most hearty praises and thanksgivings on your behalf to your and my gracious God, through Jesus Christ, as our only Mediator, that your ready reception of the gospel, and your remarkable faith in Christ, manifested by the good fruits of it, notwithstanding the manifold temptations and great opposition you meet with, are spoken of with religious wonder and joy, and with high commendations, among all the churches in the Roman empire. 9. And I can solemnly appeal to that all-seeing and heart-searching God, whom I serve, not in mere outward appearance, or with bodily labours, but, as renewed by his grace, sincerely, affectionately, faithfully, and with full bent of my heart, in publishing, maintaining, recommending, and enforcing, the glorious gospel of salvation, of which his Son is the subject and author;—that, in my stated and occasional addresses to him, in a particular manner, I plead that ye may be more and more abundantly filled with all the gifts and graces of his Spirit. 10. And I often entreat that, if it be for his own glory and your spiritual advantage, he would by his providence remove all hindrances out of the way, and give me a safe and favourable opportunity of coming to, and personally conversing with, you; 11. That, by his blessing upon my instructions, some of you may be furnished with ministerial gifts, and all of you confirmed in the doctrines of the gospel and in your most holy faith, in opposition to all the temptations which you meet with from Satan, seducers, or persecutors; 12. That you and I may rejoice together in the love of God manifested toward us, and in affectionately expressing our mutual love to each other; and may be delightfully satisfied in comparing our spiritual experiences, which manifest the same faith wrought by God in both you and me.—13. Now, my dear brethren in Christ, think not these words a mere compliment, or only expressive of a present blaze of affection; for I have long and often seriously intended and endeavoured to visit you, in order that among you, as well as among other Gentiles, I might be useful in the conversion and edification of many souls; but I have been hitherto hindered by opposition, hardships, or necessary services in other places. 14. For having freely received my apostolic office, and qualifications for it, I look on myself obliged, in point of duty and gratitude, to improve them as the Lord shall enable me, for the spiritual advantage of my fellow sinners of mankind, Jews or Gentiles, polite or rude, learned or unlearned, sagacious or stupid. 15. And gladly would I hazard my reputation, ease, or even my life, to preach to you at Rome the blessed tidings of salvation through Jesus Christ, in the face of all possible opposition, contempt, and danger, as I have already done at Antioch, Philippi, Thessalonica, Athens, and Corinth; 16. For, however great men, or others, may contemn, and set themselves against, the gospel, on account of the debasement of its author and principle subject, and of the meanness of such as profess it; or of the artless dress or sublimity of its doctrines, and their contrariety to their own lusts and prejudices; and however they reproach and ridicule me for espousing and publishing it; I account it my highest honour to avow, preach, and defend it, as an illustrious scheme, in which the glory of all the divine perfections is brightly displayed; and which God, by an almighty application of it to men’s hearts, renders effectual for their conversion and eternal salvation, be of what nation or rank they will. 17. For in it the transcendently excellent obedience and sufferings of the Son of God in our nature, which God appointed, provided, approves, accepts, and imputes to sinful men, for their full and irrevocable justification to eternal life, is clearly revealed, exhibited, and offered, on the ground of God’s faithful testimony, to be received by a faith of his own operation, whether weak or strong, or among Jews or Gentiles. And thus, as the prophet Habakkuk hinted, men become righteous, and live for ever, not by their own good works, but by believing in and receiving Christ.—18. And indeed it is impossible for either Jews or Gentiles to obtain pardon or justification by any other method: for, to begin with the Gentiles, though God has not favoured them with his inspired oracles, he has, in the awful events of his providence, and by the inward convictions of their consciences, warned them that his just and holy nature determines him to punish all their iniquity, whether immediately against himself or against their fellow creatures; especially as they wickedly and unrighteously stifle, confine, and suppress, whatever notions of right and wrong they have, and will not act according to them. 19, 20. For, by the light of reason in their souls, and the works of creation and providence thereby discerned, God has given them such plain manifestations of his infinite perfection, absolute eternity, almighty power, supreme dominion, unbounded wisdom, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth, as renders their contempt of him, and rebellion against him, altogether inexcusable. 21, 22. For, when they could not but have some discernment of his being and attributes, they neither conceived of him nor worshipped him answerably thereto, nor were thankful for the knowledge which they had or the benefits which they received, but indulged their own groundless and pernicious fancies concerning his nature and the worship due to him, till, through the depravity of their wills and affections, their inconsiderate minds became infatuated with ignorance and error:—so that they, and especially their Greek philosophers, amidst the highest pretenses to uncommon learning and wisdom became really stupid and senseless in every thing pertaining to God and his service. 23. And, under the influence of this wilful blindness and depravity of their minds, they debased his honour, in ascribing godhead to the most mutable, perishing, and contemptible, creatures, and in representing him by such creatures as if he had been of the same corporeal and contemptible form. 24—27. To punish their thus setting up false objects of worship, and representing him in so unjust, false, and shameless, a manner, and regarding and worshipping the basest of creatures more than himself, God, their infinitely glorious and blessed Creator, Preserver, and Governor, in his righteous judgment, withdrew his abused light and restraints, left them to themselves, and gave them up to their own vicious inclinations, which hurried them, both men and women, into such shocking, lustful, disgraceful, and unnatural, abuse of their bodies as cannot be thought of or mentioned without shame and horror. 12 F. 28. And, because, out of mere enmity against God, they refused to retain, cultivate, or improve, what just notions of him they had, or to search after the knowledge of or fellowship with him, he, in righteous judgment, delivered them up, as persons disapproved and rejected, to their own careless, undiscerning, and disaffected, mind, till, under its darkening and malignant influence, they committed the most unnatural, injurious, dishonourable, and detestable, enormities. 29. Inwardly filled with the most wicked and abominable inclinations, they abounded in every sinful practice: they abandoned themselves to every form of uncleanness, fornication, adultery, incest, and unnatural lust;—to a base and devilish malignity of temper, doing mischief for mischief’s sake;—to an eager and insatiable desire after earthly enjoyments;—and, together with an inclination to, and doing of, injuries out of mere malice, they no less abandoned themselves to an envious grudging and repining at the welfare or prosperity of others;—to an unjust, wilful, illegal, malicious, or wanton, destroying of men’s lives;—to strifes, contentions, and quarrellings;—to overreach, defraud, and impose on, their neighbours by subtle contrivances and falsehoods;—to an habitual practice and custom of doing evil to all around them;—and to defame others by sly and artful methods, or under pretences of pity and friendship; 30. Or openly to slander them behind their backs, or while they could not vindicate themselves.—They were also stated and open enemies to the authority, justice, and holiness, laws, and government, of God, as contrary to their beloved vices; and revilers of men, or outrageous, insolent, or vexatious, in their words and deeds towards them. Puffed up with a conceit of their own attainments and enjoyments, they vainly pretended to more than they really had. Not contented with common methods of sinning, they industriously contrived new forms of wickedness: and behaved perversely, disrespectfully, and undutifully, to their parents, paying no regard to their authority, counsels, warnings, or commands. 31. Amidst all their skill in doing evil, they behaved like persons destitute of common sense, reason, or conscience, in every thing religious or moral. They were so perfidious, that no promises, contracts, oaths, or engagements, to God or men, could hold them: they had quite defaced or extirpated the common sentiments of humanity towards their fellow creatures, parents, or children. If once offended, they could never be reconciled on the most reasonable terms. And, instead of pitying and relieving the miserable, they delighted in cruelty and oppression. 32. And, what exceedingly aggravates their complicated and atrocious wickedness, is that, though the light of nature, their own consciences, and the dictates of their philosophers, teach them that such vices expose them to the just vengeance of God, they not only continue and abound in the practice thereof, but even encourage, abet, and delight in, such as dare to be as wicked as themselves