supposed, that he intended still to worship the gods of his country, lest he should forfeit his high office under the king. But the prophet's answer, favours not this supposition. He says, " Go in peace."

Naaman had resolved to worship no other god, but the Lord; and as an open testimony of his faith in him, to build him an altar in Damascus, with materials carried from the land of Israel. His office, however, under the king, required his attendance in the temple of Rimmon, whenever his master went thither to worship; and when the king, leaning on his shoulder, should bow in the temple he must unavoidably bow with him. Now he enquires of the prophet, whether such an involuntary action, after he had given publick proof of his faith in the God of Israel, would be matter of offence. He seems to hope, it might be dispensed with, and he need not resign his office. The prophet says, "Go in peace." Civil respect to your king is not inconsistent with the worship of God.

True religion is pure and uncorrupt. It is directed to the one supreme God. It consists in loving and serving him with an undivided heart. But it dissolves not our natural, or civil relations, nor cancels the obligations which result from them: It only requires us to perform the duties of these relations with simplicity and sincerity, as to God, and not men. If Naaman in order to retain his office, had determined to worship the idols of his country, vain and unacceptable would have been his sacrifices to the God of Israel. But if he made open declaration of his abhorrence of the Syrian idolatry, and only attended on the king in compliance with the civil duties of his station, the prophet signifies, that he might be accepted.

New converts are to be treated with tenderness. Too rigorous impositions may discourage hopeful beginnings. Our Saviour would not put new wine

into old bottles, lest the bottles should burst, and the wine be spilled.

The conversion of so respectable an officer in the Syrian nation might produce happy consequences to others. The altar which he erected, and the worship which he paid, in his own country, to the one supreme God, might be the occasion of reclaiming many from their idolatry. Great and important effects are often produced from small beginnings. The reformation of one sinner may eventually prove the salvation of thousands. Paul obtained mercy, that in him Christ might shew forth all long suffering for a pattern to them, who should afterward believe to life everlasting.

God has wonderful ways in bringing about his merciful purposes to men. He often makes a small circumstance productive of mighty events, and turns a worldly calamity into an eternal blessing. We should learn to regard his hand in all our changes, to trust his wisdom in all our perplexities, to trace the ways of his providence in their wonderful connexions, to improve our worldly afflictions for the advancement of religion in our hearts, and to exhibit before men such a bright example of good works, that they also may glorify God,

Salute my well beloved Epenetus, who is the first fruits of Achaia unio Christ.

PAUL

AUL in his salutations to his christian friends, mentions something in the character of almost every one, as a ground and reason of his affection and esteem. What he particularly commends in this Epenetus is, that he was the first fruits of Achaia unto Christ. Some copies read, the first fruits of Asia, which reading some think should be preferred, because the Apostle says, 1 Cor. xvi, 15. that the house of Stephanas was the fruits of Achaia. But perhaps Epenetus might be the first person, and the household of Stephanas the first family, in Achaia, which openly embraced the gospel. On this supposition the passages, as they stand, are fully reconciled.

The first fruits under the law, were an offering made to God of part of the harvest in acknowledgment of his bounty. This offering was made of the first ripe fruits, and before the harvest was

begun. In allusion to this offering, Jesus Christ is called, "the first fruits of them that slept," because he was the firstborn from the dead, and his resurrection is an earnest and pledge of the resurrection of believers.

The sanctifying and comforting influences of the spirit, which are now vouchsafed to christians, are called the first fruits of the Spirit. For as the first fruits were to the Jews pledges of the ensuing harvest, so the graces of the Spirit are tokens and earnests of heavenly happiness.

The Apostle James says, "God of his own will hath begotten us by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures :" Or that we should be consecrated to his service; as the first fruits of harvest were dedicated to him, in acknowledgment that all was his gift.

In the fourteenth chapter of the Revelation, they who were redeemed from among men; they who in times of general corruption, had not defiled themselves, but preserved their purity; they who had followed the Lamb whither soever he went, are called "the first fruits unto God and the Lamb." These, like the firstborn and first fruits under the law, were dedicated to God; and their fidelity was an earnest of a more plentiful accession to the church of God in future times.

By a like allusion to the offering, which preceded the harvest, the Apostle calls the first converts to the faith of Christ in a particular place, the first fruits of that place unto Christ. They resembled the first fruits, not only in their early dedication of themselves to Christ, but also as their conversion was a mean and an earnest of a succeeding harvest there. You see then the special reason why Paul salutes Epenetus in those terms.

Now consider this man, dwelling in the midst of heathens and idolaters, surrounded with daily exVOL. II.

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amples of vice and superstition, and long accustomed to the manners of the world; but, on the preaching of an Apostle of Christ, renouncing his former vices and errors; coming out from among a corrupt and idolatrous multitude; standing forth alone in the profession of the truth and the reformation of his life; and, by his example, and conversation, inviting his fellow citizens to turn from their vanities and serve the living God; and will you not admire his integrity, zeal and fortitude-His openness to conviction-The strength of his faith in Christ, and the benevolence of his heart toward those around him? Viewing Epenetus in this light, Will you wonder, that Paul remembers him in his christian salutations; calls him his beloved friend; and celebrates his virtue as the first fruits of Achaia unto Christ? In what an amiable and important light does he stand? What higher and nobler character could be given of hiin, than the Apostle has expressed in these few words?

We are here naturally led to this remark, that forwardness in religion is a character highly com mendable in the sight of Jesus Christ. So our apostle esteemed it. He therefore ever speaks in terms of peculiar honour and affection, concerning those who first embraced the gospel in a particular place; who were in Christ before him; who ran great hazards in the cause of truth; who had been his helpers in the work of Christ; and who had labored much in the Lord.

Let us first shew how a forwardness in religion may discover itself. And then display the excellency and commendableness of this disposition.

We will first consider the disposition here commended in Epenetus: He was the first fruits to Christ. He distinguished himself by a promptitude, zeal and forwardness in the cause of the gos pel.