; ble difpofition; one, who is not avaritiously inclined, but full of compaffion and benevolence; one, who is well instructed in the doctrines of the gospel of Christ, and who makes that gospel the governing principle of his mind and life; one, who is capable of diftinguishing and feparating true chriftianity from all corrupt and false doctrine, that might be annexed to and blended with it, that so he might be both capable and disposed to exhort and convince gainsayers, verf. 6, 7, 8, 9. If any be blameless, the husband of one wife, having faithful children, not accused of riot or un¬ ruly. For a bishop must be blameless, as the fteward of God; not felf-willed, not foon angry, not given to wine, no ftriker, not given to filthy lucre : But a lover of hofpitality, a lover of good men, fober, just, holy, temperate; Holding fast the faithful word, as he hath been taught, that be may be able by found doctrine, both to exhort and to convince the gainfayers. St. Paul having set before Titus what those qualifications are, which a bishop or overseer of a chriftian congregation ought to be endowed with, informs him then what was the occafion, and the ground or reason of this advice, viz. for, or because there were risen up among them at Crete, men of perverse minds, who had fo corrupted the gospel of Chrift, as to turn it away from that end, to which it was defigned, and ought to have been directed; (namely, the reforming and faving of mankind) and had made it subser vient to their covetousness. Our Lord Jefus Christ, who was the founder of the christian sect and the christian religion, represents perfonal valuableness in men to be the fole ground of their acceptance with God, and a perfonal change from bad to good in finners, as the fole ground of God's mercy to them. Whereas these new teachers, these false apostles St. Paul complains of, had represented, not personal valuableness in man, but fubmiffion to the painful rite of circumcifion, and a strict conformity to the ceremonial part of Mofes's law, and such like things, to be the ground of God's favour; and external sacrifices to be the ground of the divine mercy to finners. So that according to these men it was not the work of regeneration, nor the true circumcifion of the heart; it was not the practice of virtue, nor a conformity to the divine image in righteousness, and true holiness; but the circumcifion of the flesh, and a conformity to rites and ceremonies and external observances, which christians were to ground their hope of falvation upon. And thus the gofpel of Christ was rendred inefficacious for the faving of mankind. And that the false doctrines delivered at Crete were these, or of like kind, is evident not only from what St. Paul fays of the broachers of them, namely, that they were of the circumcifion, but also from the strict charge he afterwards laid upon Titus to preach up the practice of moral virtue, which he proposed as an antidote against the poifon 3 : poison of them. This was a matter of great concern, as it effected the gospel of Christ, and the salvation of mankind; and therefore St. Paul told Titus, that the mouths of these deceivers must be stopped; that is, Titus and every good man was concerned to undeceive the people as to these matters, and thereby to stop the mouths, or put to filence such gainsayers. And as the false doctrines St. Paul complains of, were introduced for the fake of lucre, or the worldly advantage of those who taught them, and were perfectly reconcileable to the viciated affections of men; fo they met with a ready acceptance among the Cretians; whole houses became fubverted by them, verf. 10, 11. For there are (viz. at Crete) many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers, especially they of the circumcifion: Whose mouths must be stopped, who fubvert whole boufės, teaching things which they ought not, for filthy lucre fake. But then it may be asked, how could. St. Paul know, or how could he expect that Titus should know, what was the spring of action to the persons referred to, viz. that what they did, was for filthy lucre fake, except they were capable of difcerning the secrets of mens hearts; that is, except they had the gift of difcerning of spirits? I answer first, that what St. Paul intended by the difcerning of spirits, 1 Cor. xii. 10. I think cannot certainly be determined from any thing, that is written in the New Tefta ment ment concerning it. St. John advises his difciples to try the spirits, I John iv. 1. Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits, whether they are of God: because many falfe prophets are gone out into the world. Here by trying the spirits St. John seems to intend a careful examination and trial of the doctrines, which were then taught, in order to fee whether they were agreeable to the gospel of Christ; because there were then many perverters of chriftianity gone out into the world. In like manner St. Paul, by difcerning of spirits, may intend no more, than an ability to distinguish and feparate true christianity from those false doctrines, which had been annexed to and blended with it. And this (agreeable to the language of that writer) may have been called a gift of the Spirit. And this seems rather to have been the meaning of St. Paul, because it is mentioned next after the gift of prophecy, and is the fame as to say, to one is given ability to prophesy; to another of difcerning true prophecy from false. To one is given diverse kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues, &c. Again I answer, fecondly, that the way, which Christ has proposed for his disciples to difcern and judge of men, and confequently of the springs of action in them, is from their actions and general behaviour; By their fruits ye shall know them, Matthew vii. 20. And thus St. Paul did know, and Titus might have known, that fome in Crete taught things, which they ought not, not, for filty lucre fake, by observing that the doctrines they taught were not only false and groundless themselves, and were likely to be greatly injurious to the fouls of men, but also were culculated for, and made subservient to the worldly, interest of those, who taught them. St. Paul having informed Titus of the occafion of his writing, and what was the ground or reason of those councils he had given him, namely, because there were fome, who had either been appointed, or else who had voluntarily undertaken to preach chriftianity in Crete, who had most grossly corrupted the gofpel of Chrift, by annexing to and blending with it fuch false doctrines, as tended to render it inefficacious for the saving of mankind; I fay, the apostle having done this, he next advises Titus what to do, or how to behave towards these false teachers or blameable perfons before mentioned, and also towards those who had been seduced by them, viz. he was to rebuke them, and not only fo, but he was to do it with sharpness. Titus was not only to reprefent to these men the vileness and wickedness of their actions, and what bad things their tenets naturally led to, but he was also to shew the greatest concern in the doing of it, as it was an affair in which the gofpel of Christ, and the falvation of mankind, were nearly concerned. And as the end and defign of fuch rebuke was to reclaim the offenders, and to bring back the feduced to |