skill and delicacy, illustrates by an example calculated to humble the pride of the Egyptian impostors, and to evince the superiority of the God of Israel over the supreme divinity which they affected to worship: "For the Scripture saith unto Pharaoh, For this very purpose I have raised thee up, that I might show my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth; so that he hath mercy where he chooseth, and hardeneth where he chooseth." It is here worthy of observation, that, while the writer so repeatedly represents the Almighty as exercising mercy, he instances his severity only in hardening the heart of Pharaoh, and not in destroying him and he is careful to state the design which God had in thus treating the Egyptian monarch. This treatment did not proceed from cruelty, caprice, or ill-will towards the sufferer, but from a regard to the advantages which all mankind would derive in becoming acquainted with the name and character of Jehovah: "That I might show my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth."

The assertion that the Creator acts as it pleaseth him, and that none can counteract the execution of his will, furnished the blasphemers with another objection: "Why doth he still find fault? Who hath opposed his will?" These questions being put with an insolence that criminated the divine conduct; and put too by men who were disqualified by their arrogance and depravity from inquiring with meekness and candour into the reasonableness of God's dealings with mankind; the Apostle, instead of answering, repells, by holding up the uncontroulable right which the Deity has, to dispose of, as it pleaseth him, the creatures of his hands: "Nay, O man, who art thou that disputest with God? Shall the work say to the workman, Why dost thou make me thus ? Hath not the potter such power over the clay, as to make out of the same lump one vessel for honourable uses and another for dishonourable?" The promptitude

and fertility of our author's imagination are here worthy of notice. His mind was now for some time fixed on that part of the Mosaic history which represents the Israelites as compelled, by the task-masters of Pharaoh, to work in mortar and brick, Exod. i. 24. Hence he exhibits the Egyptian oppressors in the humble image of earthen vessels, wrought for menial purposes, and their destruction in the Red Sea, under an allusion to the same vessels dashed on the ground and broken to pieces, after the purposes for which they were made had been answered; while the Israelites, whom the Almighty delivered out of Egypt, he likens to utensils richly decorated and wrought for honourable purposes. "What if God, wishing to display his anger, and to make known his power, produced, in much patience, vessels of anger, fitted only for destruction, and exhibited his riches and glory upon vessels of mercy, which he had prepared for honourable purposes?" Which question is to this effect, "What though the Sovereign Disposer of all things punished with exemplary severity a people toward whom he had exercised great forbearance, and whom their vices had disqualified for the honour of his patronage and friendship; on the contrary, What if, by a splendid display of power, he rescued the Jewish nation from bondage, and conferred upon them the most honourable distinctions as his chosen people, ought he on this account to be charged with cruelty, caprice and partiality?" To prevent, however, the injurious conclusion, that he regarded with partial fondness the descendants of Abraham, to the exclusion of other nations, the writer immediately subjoins, that the Gentiles as well as the Jews are invited, and indeed pre-ordained, to participate in the blessings of the Gospel: and this important point he corroborates by appealing to the Jewish prophets. See the following verses.

The Jews, it is well known, expected the kingdom of the Messiah to be of a temporal nature: it is not rea

sonable to suppose that this error was immediately eradicated from the minds of the Jewish converts. On the contrary, we may safely conclude, that some time must have elapsed before they were brought to believe that their attachment to Jesus was perfectly consistent with due obedience to the civil magistrate. The Jewish youths at Rome were compelled, contrary to their long acknowledged privilege, to enlist in the service of the emperor, and such as refused were put to death; nor can we doubt that this infringement proceeded from the charge brought against them, that as having enlisted under the banners of their Messiah they renounced all allegiance to the authority of Cæsar. This charge, and the disturbances occasioned by it, called upon the Apostle to give to the Church at Rome some wise and salutary admonitions respecting the conduct which each individual should pursue with regard to the Roman government. "Let every man submit himself to the constituted authorities; for as there is no authority but from God, these authorities are appointed by God. Whoever, therefore, setteth himself against the civil power, opposeth the appointment of God; and the refractory bring punishment upon themselves." Which is to this effect: "Conceiving the kingdom of the Messiah alone to be of divine appointment, some of you oppose the established government and disturb the public peace. But the supposition is as erroneous as it is dangerous. All power, to whatever hands intrusted, is communicated by the Disposer of all events for the benefit of mankind; and this end, under his providence, it shall eventually accomplish. And though pride, ambition, and avarice, may abuse the power intrusted to them for the purpose of doing good, yet this very abuse Infinite Wisdom will overrule, and in the end render subservient to the introduction and establishment of that glorious liberty which awaits the children of God. Resist not therefore by violence, or by any unlawful means, those who bear the

I

sword of justice; but rather submit to their decisions, as in effect the decisions of an all-wise and good Providence." Such is the spirit and object of a paragraph perverted by worldly policy and priestcraft into an engine which for many ages irresistibly held mankind in oppression, ignorance, and superstition.

The emperor, we have seen, sent an edict into all the provinces to protect the peaceful and virtuous believers. From the account which Philo gives of this edict, it appears that there was a clause in it authorizing the magistrates to punish such as were wicked or disturbed the public peace, who, as the same writer says, were but few. This equitable conduct of the government greatly contributed to the security and edification of the yet infant church, and forms the basis on which is grounded the following just tribute of praise to the civil rulers: "These rulers are not a terror to the good, but to evil doers. Dost thou wish then not to be afraid of their power? Do what is right, and thou wilt be praised by it : for it is God's minister for thy good. But if thou do evil, be afraid: because this power carrieth not the sword in vain; for it is the minister of God executing punishment upon every one that doeth evil." Chap. i.-v.*

* It is true that the edict of Tiberius was virtually set aside by the cruel and impious conduct of Caligula ; but it should be observed that the spirit of it was again restored by an edict, late in the reign of Claudius, sent to all the provinces. This document is preserved by Josephus, A. I. 19. 5. 3.

CHAPTER IX.

Antichrist introduced into the Churches of Corinth, of Galatia, and of Ephesus.

IT would have been a fortunate circumstance if Josephus had thrown any light on the origin and growth of these churches. But we have no other sources of information respecting them but the authentic letters of Paul. In his second epistle to the Corinthians, xi. 13, it is thus written, "For such are false apostles, deceitful doers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ : and no wonder, for even Satan transformeth himself into an angel of light. It is therefore nothing strange if his ministers also transform themselves as ministers of righteousness." The object which these impostors had in view we may gather from the beginning of this chapter. "You ought to bear a little with my folly, if folly, yet bear with me. For I feel a holy jealousy of you, as I have betrothed you to one husband, in order to present you a pure virgin to him, namely to Christ. But I fear lest, as the serpent in his craft deceived Eve, so your thoughts should be corrupted from the simplicity which is in Christ." Surely the men here alluded to were not honest, though mistaken, men, but artful villains, who entered the church at Corinth in order to subvert the Gospel as taught by the apostle. They worshipped the serpent, as the symbol of a divinity superior to the God of Israel: and it is to their affected zeal for the serpent that the apostle here alludes. They pretended to teach a Christ different from the man Jesus, and more in unison with the superstitious views and corrupt propensities of the Pagan world. The simplicity which is in Christ, was the plain truth that Jesus was a mere man, raised by the power of God from the grave, as a pledge of the