A supplement to Dr. Hammond's paraphrase and annotations on the New Testament in which his interpretation of many important passages is freely and impartially examin'd, and confirm'd or refuted : and the sacred text further explain'd by new remarks upon every chapter / by Monsieur Le Clerc ; English'd by W. P. ; to which is prefix'd a letter from the author to a friend in England, occasion'd by this translation.

CHAP. IV.

Vers. 5. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉.] That is, endeavouring to get time allowed by the Heathens for the spreading of the Gospel, lest it be oppressed in its first rise, which it was possible for them to obtain by Prudence. See my Note on Eph. v.16.

Vers. 16. Note a. I. As to the thing it self, I fully agree here with Dr. Hammond; yet I cannot but caution the Reader, that he should not think the words he produces as out of the Digest. to be the very words of the antient Lawyers. Our learned Author did not look into the Digesta, but transcribed the words of Grotius in his Annot. on the Inscription of the Epistle to the Ephesians, which he erroneously thought to be the same with those contained in the Digesta. Grotius his words are these: Litterae ejus sunt, cujus tabellario sunt traditae, mul∣toque magis ubi & redditae sunt. L. Si Epistolam D. de acquirendo rerum Dominio. But Labeo in Lib. vi. Pithan. epitomized by Paulus, whose words are in Dig. Lib. xli. Tit. 1. S. 65. speaks thus: Si Epistolam tibi misero, non erit ea tua, antequam reddita fuerit. Paulus: imò contrà, nam si miseris ad me Tabellarium tuum, & ego rescribendi causa litteras tibi misero, simul atque Tabellario tuo tradidero, tuae fient. Idem accidet in his litteris, quas tuae duntaxat rei gratia misero; veluti si petieris a me, uti te alicui commendarem, & eas commendatitias tibi misero litteras. If I send you a Letter, it will not be yours before it is delivered to you. Paulus: Nay on the contrary, if you send me your Carrier [with a Let∣ter] and I write another in answer to it, as soon as ever I deliver it to the Carrier, it becomes yours. And the same may be said of a Letter which I should send only on your behalf to another Person; as suppose you should desire me to recommend you to any one, and I should send you that commendatory Letter. These words Grotius abbreviated, whose Epi∣tome of them, the Doctor rashly took for the words of the Lawyers themselves. Yet hence it appears that an Epistle of Laodicaea may sig∣nify not only one written by the Laodicaeans, but also one sent to the Laodicaeans. In the mean while, those who desire neither to be mistaken themselves, nor to deceive others, may learn by this example, not rashly to believe other Mens Citations, nor to alledg Authors them∣selves upon trust.

II. Our learned Author seems as little to have look'd into those places of Tertullian, where he speaks of the Epistle to the Laodiceans; for he

affirms expresly, and does not only seem to affirm, that it was the Epistle to the Ephesians, whose Inscription Marcion had changed. Lib. 5. c. ii. against Marcion. Praetereo hic, saith he, & de alia Epistola, quam nos ad Ephesios praescriptam habemus, haeretici vero ad Laodicenos. I for∣bear also to speak of another Epistle which we have inscribed to the Ephesi∣ans, but the Hereticks to the Laodiceans. And cap. 17. Ecclesiae quidem veritate Epistolam istam ad Ephesios habemus emissam, non ad Laodicenos; sed Marcion aliquando ei titulum interpolare gestiit, quasi & in isto dili∣gentissimus explorator. We of the true Church read that Epistle as direct∣ed to the Ephesians, not to the Laodiceans; but Marcion once thought fit to change its Title, desiring in that also to be look'd on as a very diligent Critick.

Vers. 16. Note b. I. Every time almost that Dr. Hammond speaks of St. Paul's Bonds, he uses the word imprisoned. As here speaking of Epaphras, he says, he was imprisoned at Rome with St. Paul, and a∣gain, fellow Prisoner with St. Paul. But St. Paul was not imprisoned, but only bound in the same Chain with a Souldier, as the Doctor him∣self has shewn out of Lipsius, in a Note on Acts xxviii.16. And per∣haps he meant no more than that here, when he uses the word im∣prisoned; but because such an improper Phrase might lead his Reader into a Mistake, it was not to be passed by without Censure.

II. I do not well understand how the Colossians should here be ex∣horted to admonish Archippus, who had an Episcopal Authority over that Church, according to Dr. Hammond, with these words, Take heed to the Ministry which thou hast received in the Lord, to fulfil it; un∣less perhaps Archippus be charged with negligence, and therefore is here commanded to be publickly reproved and admonished by the whole Congregation. But it may be he was not the Bishop of Co∣losse, but an Evangelist, who did not execute his Office so diligently as he ought; and lying idle among the Colossians, or somewhere in the Neighbourhood, was to be admonished by them. Which seems the more probable, because this Archippus, in the Epistle to Philemon ver. 2. is called the fellow Souldier, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 of St. Paul. On which place see Grotius.

Vers. 17. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉.] Gro∣tius, who is followed therein by our Author, thinks there is a Hebra∣ism in these words for, see that thou fulfil in the Lord the Ministry which thou hast received; so that the phrase in the Lord should signify, accord∣ing to the Precepts of the Lord. But tho I do not deny but this may be the meaning of St. Paul's words, they are capable of two other senses:

first, Consider throughly the Office which thou hast received in the Lord, in order to a complete discharge of it; or else, secondly, Consider in the Lord, that is, as in the sight of the Lord, or, according to the Precepts of the Lord, &c. So the Verb 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 is sometimes taken, as in 2 John 8. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, &c. See your selves that we lose not those things which we have wrought, but that we receive a full Reward; that is, throughly consider or examin your selves, &c. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 and 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 are all one, and ac∣cording to the various significations of the Preposition ב, which is ordinarily rendred 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, and used in a manifold sense, signify diverse things. I confess I do not know which of these senses is the best.

Vers. 18. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉.] The bare remembring of St. Paul's Bonds being in it self no part of Piety, it is consequent the de∣sign of the Apostle in these words must be, to admonish the Colossians to behave themselves both towards God and towards him, as became those that were mindful of his Bonds; that is, who very well knew that he was cast into those Bonds only for the sake of the Gospel; or to be constant in the profession of the Christian Religion, as he was, and love him, and pray to God in his behalf, that he might be set at liberty.

Notes

• Chapter IV.