honour belonging to the Messiah, when he was, after a sort, tempted with the offer of it. Upon the same account our Apostle being mightily affected himself, and desirous to affect others proportionably, with the consideration of what he was about to say, contenteth not himself with the affirmative avouchment thereof, though with an oath, but adds his negative assertion also of the same, "I lie not." Nor is he satisfied with both these, but draweth out his soul yet further upon the same service, saying,

My conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost -As if he had said, When I affirm that "I speak the truth in Christ," and that I speak nothing but the truth, and "lie not," I do not speak out of any sudden, flashy, light, passionate, or inconsiderate motion, upon which terms men sometimes speak great words which have no reality, substance, or truth of matter in them; but my conscience is engaged in what I say herein, and "beareth me witness," or, as the original soundeth, "witnesseth together with me," that I speak the real truth, "in," or through, "the Holy Ghost;" that is, either by the information, or rather through the incitation, motion, and suggestion of the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost excited and stirred up Paul's conscience, saying, as it were, to it, "Stand by Paul, and witness with him the certainty of the truth of what he is about to speak." According to this sense, the credit and authority of that testimony of Paul's conscience, whereof he speaketh, is resolved into the sovereign veracity, and is raised to the same line of authenticness with the testimony, of the Holy Ghost himself. When God chargeth, directeth, or encourageth a man to speak so, or so, one thing or other, that which is spoken in this kind must be a truth, as well as if he himself had immediately spoken it. For it is altogether as inconsistent with the infinite and untemptable veracity of God to say to a creature, "Speak or witness that which is an untruth," as to speak an untruth himself.

If it be demanded, "How was Paul able, upon sufficient ground, to say and affirm that his conscience was stirred up, strengthened, or encouraged, by the Holy Ghost to witness with him what he asserteth ? How was he able to discern an excitement from or by the Holy Ghost in this kind, from an impulse or suggestion from his own spirit ?" I answer,

1. Though it may be somewhat difficult for persons of a

lower growth in Christianity, who have not their senses much exercised in discerning good and evil, and withal have only some more faint and soft workings of the Spirit, clearly to discern the motions of the Spirit of God within them, from the movings or workings of their own hearts and spirits; yet is the discovery we speak of no such matter of difficulty unto Christians of a more raised stature and pitch, in whom the Spirit of God much delighteth, and acteth at a higher and more excellent rate. Towards the beginning of a feverish distemper in the body, it may be not so easy to determine whether the working and beating of the pulse be from nature, or from the distemper; but when the distemper hath prevailed to any considerable degree, the dijudication is obvious. Men and women that have suffered and given up themselves, especially for some good space of time, to be "led by the Spirit of God," cannot lightly be so unacquainted with their Leader, as not to be able to know whether it be he that taketh them by the hand, or some other guide; especially if attempting to lead them in ways contrary unto those, wherein they have been familiarly accustomed to be led by the Spirit. Therefore it was no great mastery for Paul, of all the men in the world, to know whether it was the Holy Ghost, or his own spirit, that put him upon that high asseveration, which we have heard, of truth in that saying with which he was now in travail, and of which we shall see him presently delivered.

2. The animations, motions, and encouragements of the Spirit of God in men are, in many cases, I might say in most, and particularly in such as that of the Apostle now under consideration, clearly enough discernible from those which proceed from any other principle or author. There is no other difficulty to distinguish between the motions of the Holy Ghost within us, and the motions of our own spirits, than there is of distinguishing between the lawfulness and expediency, and the unlawfulness or inexpediency, of an action. For whensoever any man is stirred up or moved to do that which is lawful and expedient to be done, there is little question to be made but his excitements in this kind are from the Spirit of God within him. The reason is, because, as the Apostle James informeth us, "every good giving, and every perfect gift, is from above, and from the Father of lights," (James i. 17,) meaning God, who is the Father, that is, the original Author, of whatsoever resem

bleth light, that is, which is of a truly comforting and directing import unto men; even as the sun may be called the father of all those rays and beams of light which issue from him on every side. Now an inward motion or incitation unto any action, which is expedient for a man to do, is of a gracious tendency unto him, and, consequently, must needs proceed from "the Father of lights," and, by an appropriate acting, from the Holy Ghost; especially that motion, or incitation of mind, by which our Apostle was acted and carried on to deliver and profess that which he was now about to utter, being, in all likelihood, exceeding strong and overbearing upon him, might, without much deliberation, or any narrow disquisition had upon the point, be concluded by him to be the exertion or work of the Holy Ghost in him.

Before we proceed to the second verse, it is worth our labour to take up these corollaries or doctrines, from the words already opened, by the way.

First. That it is not simply lawful, but in some cases expedient and necessary, to assert and confirm by oath the truth of what we speak. Questionless the Apostle did not take the name of Christ in vain, when he interposed it to gain credence to what he had to say. (Gen. xxi. 24; Deut. vi. 13; Joshua ii. 17, 20; Rev. x. 6, &c.)

Secondly. That the promotion of the eternal peace and salvation of men is an undoubted case wherein the interposal of an oath is or may be expedient and necessary for the confirmation of what we speak. The example and practice of the Apostle in the words opened is a sufficient proof and demonstration hereof. (See also Ezra x. 5; Rev. x. 6.)

Thirdly. The passage in hand, compared with the general purport of the other writings of this Apostle, wherein he very seldom interposeth with the sacred authority of an oath for the confirmation of any thing which he asserteth, although all that he writeth is written by him in order to the promotion of the salvation of men,-the corollary from hence is, that the use of an oath, even in matters relating to the salvation of the souls of men, is expedient only in some cases, and these of rare occurrence. This is sufficiently evident from hence, namely, that there are so few oaths found in the Scriptures upon such an

account.

Fourthly. That one special case, wherein the interposal of an

oath in order to the salvation of men is expedient or necessary, is, when that which is affirmed in this kind is, 1. Of very material and signal consequence in the belief of it to further this salvation; 2. When otherwise, and without the advantage of an oath, there is little or no likelihood that it will be believed by those, the furtherance of whose salvation is desired thereby. Both these considerations are manifest in the case before us. For that which the Apostle here confirmeth by oath is, as appeareth by the two next verses, not only the reality and truth, but the most signal and transcendent height and degree of his affection to the Jews, whose salvation he principally seeketh by the great asseveration here made by him. Now the belief of this, I mean, of his most cordial and sovereign affection towards the Jews, 1. Was of very high concernment unto them, to qualify and dispose them to a willingness and readiness of mind, patiently to hear and bear the doctrine which he was about to deliver unto them, and, consequently, to promote the great interest of their salvation. And, 2. It was a thing not likely to be wrought in them, nor to take their hearts, unless it were by the mediation of an oath. (Heb. vi. 13, 17; Rev. x. 6.)

Fifthly. That a persuasion or belief in those to whom the Gospel is preached, that he who preacheth it is so far from being an enemy unto them, that he loves them, and that most fervently, is a matter highly conducing to the saving of their souls. Were not this so, our Apostle doubtless would never have engaged or appealed unto, 1. The sacred name of Christ; 2. His conscience; 3. The Holy Ghost; to create a belief in the Jews that his love was unparallably great towards them. (Rom. i. 9-11; 2 Cor. vii. 3; xi. 11; Philip. i. 8.)

Sixthly. That such, whether persons or things, which are in themselves worthy, and the knowledge of them much conducing to the peace and comfort of men, but withal are at present less known in and to the world, ought upon all occasions to be asserted and manifested by us, though it be with the silence of others, as well persons as things, as great and worthy as they, in case these be better and more generally known by men. We assigned this for the reason why the Apostle rather expresseth himself thus, "I say the truth in Christ," than, "I say the truth in God," because Christ is eminently worthy and excellent, and the knowledge of him of high concernment unto the world; and yet was, especially in Paul's days, less known or

believed in in the world than God. (1 Cor. xv. 51; Rom. xi. 25; 1 Cor. xii. 1.)

Seventhly, and lastly. That persons professing Christianity, especially Ministers of the Gospel, ought at all times, and in the constant tenor of their lives and ways, to show such tender, high, and sacred respects unto the name of Christ, and to the Spirit of God within them, yea, and so far to provide for the honour and repute of the goodness of their own consciences, that an appeal unto these for the confirmation of what they shall at any time say or affirm may be authentic, and of authority sufficient in the minds and consciences of men, to gain credit and belief to what they shall affirm upon such terms. If Paul had ordinarily vilified or trampled under foot the name of Christ, or polluted his conscience by unrighteous, unjust, unclean, or unworthy actions, his attestation, either of the one or the other, had been of little value for the confirmation or credit, in point of truth, of what he affirmeth upon such his attestation. (Philip. i. 18, 20, compared with Acts xxiv. 16.)

Verse 2. That I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart-That which the Apostle desired to procure credence and belief unto, by all that solemnity of attestation and appeal, which he had expressed in verse 1, was, that he had λυπην μεγάλην, και αδιάλειπτον οδύνην εν τη καρδια αυτο, great heaviness, or sorrow, as the word is common translated, and perpetual torment, or pain, which never left him. The word oduvŋ is derived from do, which signifieth, to corrode, eat, fret. Some refer Xu, here translated sorrow, to the mind, making it to be an inward impression of sadness; and oduvŋ, heaviness, to the body, supposing it properly to signifiy sharpness of pain herein. Some define oduv to be λUT TITOVOS, that is, a laborious or painful kind of sorrow. But this different notion of the words ʊ and odun hath no place here, because the Apostle plainly professeth that he had οδύνην εν καρδια αυτό "in his heart;" only, it is probable, or rather somewhat more, that by odun, put in the latter place, he understandeth some such impression which was more affecting and afflicting to his heart and soul, than that which he had signified by the former word λun. Adiantos doth not signify continual, or perpetual, in the strictness of their significations, as, namely, that which is as well without any intermission, as which hath not absolutely and totally ceased to be; but continual in such a