SECTION LXXVIII.

Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolators, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.'-1 COR. vi. 9—11.

THIS passage has been triumphantly quoted as affording proof, that such persons as are here described shall never be saved. But it should be remembered, (1,) That the kingdom of God frequently indicates the privileges of the gospel in this life, rather than endless happiness in the next; and this may be its signification here. See notes on Matt. iii. 2, John iii. 3, 5, and other passages where this phrase occurs. (2,) That the text itself contains proof, that those who have sustained this character may, nevertheless, on repentance, enter the kingdom, as the persons addressed already had done; so that, whatever this kingdom may indicate, before it can be shown from the text, that some shall never enter it, it must first be proved, that they shall never repent. The quotations below plainly recognize the fact, that persons of such vile characters are excluded from the kingdom. no longer than until they repent.

1. DUTCH ANNOTATIONS. Namely, except they repent, and leave off to be such any more, as the following verse imports.' Annot. in ver. 10.

2. GILPIN. 'But I fear there is great wrongness of practice among you; and, together with the impurities of which I have just been speaking, there are excesses of another kind--covetousness, extortion, and dishonestywhich equally exclude you from all hopes of inheriting the blessings of the gospel. Once, no doubt, many of you were deeply immersed in all these vices; but you should consider, that you have been called to a state of holiness, and that you have been baptized and sanctified through the Holy Spirit.' Expos. in loc.

3. CALMET. 'The kingdom of heaven is not to be hoped for by those who have been guilty of such sins, unless they shall expiate them by true repentence.' Com. in loc.

4. CLARKE. There are here ten classes of transgressors, which the apostle excludes from the kingdom of God; and any man, who is guilty of any one of the evils mentioned above, is thereby excluded from this kingdom, whether it imply the church of Christ here below, or the state of glory hereafter.' Com. in loc.

Thus does Dr. Clarke allow, that the kingdom may probably mean the church of Christ here below.' And, in his notes on the subsequent verse, (11th,) he allows, that those who are thus guilty shall, on repentance, be admitted into the kingdom, whatever that kingdom may be.

SECTION LXXIX.

And through thy knowledge shall the weak brother perish, for whom Christ died?'-1 COR. viii. 11.

HERE again we have the word perish, which has been supposed to indicate misery after death. See the notes on chap. i. 18, and 2 Cor. ii. 15, 16. The writers quoted below understand this word to denote a state of inconvenience and affliction in this life, and not a state of torment in the next.

GILPIN. 1. Is there no offence, in contradicting the whole scheme of your redemption, by leading your brother into sin, from which Christ died to redeem him?' Expos in loc.

2. GILL. The perishing of this weak brother is to be understood of his peace and comfort, and is explained by defiling his conscience, ver. 7, by wounding it, ver. 12, and making him to offend, ver. 13, through an imprudent

use of christian liberty in those who had the greater knowledge, and by a participation of things offered unto idols in an idol's temple, and not of his eternal damnation in hell, which could never enter into the apostle's thought, as to be brought about hereby, as appears from ver. 8,' &c. Expos. in loc.

3. GROTIUS. Perish: i. e., by degrees renounce christianity, inquiring with himself, why he should incur persecution on account of things indifferent.' Annot. in loc.

4. GR. AND ENG. TEST. 1729. 'So that your notions may endanger the life of thy weak brother, for whom Christ died.' Trans. in loc.

5. BEAUSOBRE and LENFANT. The sense is, thy weak brother will be thus induced to do that which is contrary to his own conscience, and possibly will relapse into idolatry, from which he has been converted.' Note in loc.

SECTION LXXX.

'But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.'-1 COR. ix. 27.

SOME have supposed the apostle to express a fear, in this place, that he should fail of obtaining final salvation. And hence it is argued, that others are in the same danger, and that some will doubtless be cast off forever. But there are several orthodox writers who explain the passage differently.

1. ASSEMBLY'S ANNOTATIONS. The word signifieth not a reprobate, as if he were uncertain of his election, or of obtaining the priz-for the cont rary appears, Rom. viii. 38, and 2 Tim. iv. 7, 8--but reprovable or faulty,' &c. Annot. in loc.

2. GILL. I myself should be a castaway, or rejected, or disapproved of: that is, by men. The apostle's concern is, lest he should do any thing which might bring a

reproach on the gospel, lest some corruption of his nature or other should break out, and thereby his ministry be justly blamed, and be brought under contempt, and so he be rejected and disapproved of by men, and become useless as a preacher; not that he feared he should become a reprobate, as the word is opposed to an elect person, or that he should be a castaway eternally, or be everlastingly damned; for he knew in whom he had believed,' &c. Expos. in loc.

3. GENEVA Bible. 'Lest he should be reproved of men, when they should see him do contrary, or contemn that thing which he taught others to do.' Note in loc.

4. TOMSON'S BEZA. This word (reproved,) is not set as contrary to the word elect, but as contrary to the word approved, when we see one by experience not to be such an one as he ought to be.' Note in loc.

SECTION LXXXI.

For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body.'-1 COR. xi. 29.

MANY timid persons have been prevented from celebrating the dying love of our Saviour, in the manner prescribed by him, through the fear that, on account of some unworthiness in them, they might thus incur endless damnation, of which they suppose the apostle here speaks. It will be seen, however, by the following quotations, that many orthodox writers allow that, by damnation, the apostle intended only temporal judgment or punishment :

1. WHITBY. 'Damnation: the word imports temporal judgments; as when St. Peter saith, the time is come, arxasthai to krima, that judgment must begin at the house of God, 1 Peter iv. 17, not damnation, surely. And this is certainly the import of the word here, (1,) Because the Corinthians did thus eat unworthily, and yet the judg

ments inflicted on them for so doing were only temporal, viz., weakness, sickness, and death, ver. 30. (2,) Because the reason assigned for those judgments is, that they might not be condemned in the other world, or that they might not be obnoxious to damnation.' Annot. in loc.

2. LOCKE. Damnation, by which our translation renders krima, is vulgarly taken for eternal damnation in the other world; whereas krima here signifies punishment of another nature, as appears by ver. 30-32.' Note in loc.

3. MACKNIGHT. Drinketh punishment. That this is the signification of krima here, is plain from the following verse, where the Corinthians are said to be punished with sickness, debility, and death, for eating unworthily. Besides, krima is often used in the New Testament to denote punishment. See Matt. xxiii. 14, Rom. xiii. 2, James iii. 1, and 1 Pet. iv. 17.' Note in loc.

4. PEARCE. Krima (damnation,) signifies here, temporal punishment, viz., weakness, sickness, and death, as is plain from ver. 30.' Note in loc.

5. CLARKE. " Krima-judgment, punishment: and yet this is not unto damnation; for the judgment, or punishment, inflicted upon the disorderly and the profane, was intended for their emendation; for in ver. 32, it is said, when we are judged, krinomenoi, we are chastened, paideuometha, corrected as a father does his children, that we should not be condemned with the world. Note in loc.

6. GILPIN. For you may be assured, that this unworthy manner of receiving it will, in some shape or other, provoke God's indignation against you.' Expos. in loc.

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7. PEIRCE. This standard critic unquestionably understands by damnation, in this place, temporal judgment. What this judgment was,' says he, appears from the next verse: for this cause many are sickly and weak among you, and many sleep.' Note in Heb. vi. 2.

8. WYNNE. Damnation is a very harsh expression, and wide of the apostle's meaning, who tells the Corinthians, in the next verse, that many of them were weak and sick. He afterwards says, (ver. 32,) we are judged, i. e., corrected, as the apostle explains it in the same verse,