and Powers These are the Enemies whom the LORD JESUS hath overcome and utterly defeated on the Cross as himself reported the evening before his passion saying that the Prince of this world was then judged that is was about to be condemned And S. Paul elsewhere saith Heb. 2 1â— that JESVS hath by his death destroyed him that had the power of death to wit the Devil Let us now see how our Saviour hath spoiled these Principalities and Powers and publickly made a shew of them triumphing over them on the Cross First It is evident that all this language of the Apostle's is figurative and taken from what great Captains that had been victorious over their Enemies were heretofore wont to do For after they had spoiled them not only Arms Habits Jewels and Baggage but also of their Estates and all their Glory they led them away prisoners and made a shew of them to their Countrey-men on the day of their triumph This name the Romans gave to the pomps of that entry which their Captains and Generals of a Victorious Army made into their City For when any of them had won a Battel taken Towns conquer'd Countreys or done any great and notable exploit of warr one of the principal and most prized Honours that were decreed him for a reward of his valour was a Triumphâ— which was acted with incredible pomp and ceremony The Conqueror was mounted on a stately Chariot magnificently cloth'd and crowned His whole Army marched before and after him in Military order every Troop under its Ensigns and Colours The heads and principal of the Enemies followed his Chariot bound and in chains There was carried along all the Gold and Silver and other Treasures he had won from the Enemy The Towns he had taken the Rivers he had pass'd the Provinces he had subdued the Battels he had given were represented in Picture and exposed to the view of the people who with great festivity and rejoycing accompanied in throng or beheld him from the windows of their houses and filled the air with their acclamations and applauses He entred Rome in this â—quipage and passing through the fairest Streets of the City ascended the Capitol the chief of their Temples where he betook himself to offer sacrifice after he had thus displayed the fruits of his Victories before the eyes of all thâ— world and received all kind of benedictions and praises from his fellow Citizens This is properly that which was called a Triumph The Apostle therefore fetching his terms from this custom which was well known at that time and familiar to every one doth apply them to our LORD and Saviour because of that resemblance we find between the pomp of his mystical victory and this Triumph of Sâ—cular Rulers and Captains He tells us that he hath spoiled these hostile Principalities and Powers He saith that he hath publickly made a shew of them In fine he affirms that he hath triumphed on the Cross expressions all of them manifestly taken as you see from that glorious pomp of the Roman Triumphs which we have now described and which for substance do signifie no other thing but that JESUS dying on the Cross hath fully vanquish'd and defeated the Devil with all his power in the view of Heaven and Earth In prosecution hereof we are to refute the false expositions which some do give of this passage Themas Loranus Cajetan and after that render you an account of the true Some of the famousest Interpreters of the Church of Rome do understand it of the deliverance of the Fathers whom our Saviour as those men say took out of that Limbus in which their spirits were and led them to Heaven with them He spoiled principalities and powers that is the Devils from whom he took away what they kept in Hell forasmuch say they as he caused Adam Noah Abraham Isaac and Jacob with the rest of the faithful who deceased under the Old Testament to come forth from their Limbus which is one of the partitions of the infernâ—l Region Then they say he led them carrying them up to Heaven and giving them entrance into Jerusalem on high whence they had been until then excluded And he made them triumph in himself for so the same Authors do read the Apostle's words that is He made them to participate of his triumph in that they had the honour to accompany and enter into Heaven with him But scarce can a thing be uttered more false more forced and more impertinent than this whole interpretation First That which it supposeth of the abode of the spirits of the old believers in a subterraneous and infernal Limbus is uncertain and fabulous being sounded only upon the tradition of men and not on any authority of the word of GOD. As for that which they commonly alledg to prove it namely Gen. 37.35 Jacob's saying that he would go down into Hell unto his Son Joseph they that are versed in Scripture do well know the word Inferi or Hell in that place in particular and almost every other where in the Book of GOD doth signifie the Grave Whence it comes that the same Patriarch saith elsewhere unto his sons that if any evil befel Benjamin they would make his white hairs descend with sorrow ad inferos to Hell as divers read it where it is clear that by the same word he means the Grave into which the dead go down with their hairs and not Limbus into which only souls descended who have no hair sure And as to what they produce of the pretended soul of Samuel call'd up from Hell by the Sorceress her charms where is the Christian that doth not burn to see such power granted the Ministers of Devils over the Spirits of Prophets God forbid we should credit so gross an absurdity That which the Enchantress saw came from Hell I confess but that which she saw was not in truth the soul of Samuel which was at rest with GOD in Ahraham's bosome It was nothing but a vain shadow and a phantasm of that Prophet called by his name because of its resembling him as the greatest part of the ancient Fathers did affirm and as some of the most famous Authors Leo Allatius in Euctath Antiâ—ch Psal 68.19 even of the Roman Communion do at this day hold They again do abuse what the Psalmist singeth of the Messiah Thou art gone up on high thou hast taken or led a multitude of captives as it s rendred These captives they will have to be the spirits of the Fathers But it is manifest to all that have the least knowledg in the holy Tongue that the phrase there used by the Prophet doth signifie to take or to make prisoners not to free them and to lead not into liberty but into captivity So as if this passage be meant of the Fathers we must say not that the LORD brought them out prison as is suppos'd but that he put them in a thing that would be infinitely
an example of it in the Text which you even now heard For having said afore that the Colossians had heard of the hope which is laid up for us in the Heavens by the word of truth to wit the Gospel from thence he takes occasion to interpose in this verse something to its commendation representing to us the extention and efficacy of this Divine word of life The Gospel saith he which is come unto you as also it is into all the world and bringeth forth fruit as it doth also in you since the day that you heard and knew the Grace of God in truth In the two verses that follow he praiseth Epaphras who had by his Ministry converted the Colossians to the knowledge of the LORD giving him an excellent testimony of fidelity and goodness and mingling therewith some praises of the Colossians themselves As also saith he you have heard of Epaphras our dear fellow servant who is a faithful Minister of CHRIST for you who also hath declared unto us your Charity which you have in the Spirit This shall be if it please the LORD the matter of this action And to proceed upon it in order we will consider one after the other the two particulars that present themselves as you see in the Text of St. Paul to wit the praise of the Gospel in the former verse and that of Epaphras in the two next touching at also upon each what the Apostle intermixeth to the commendation of the Colossians As to the Gospel he toucheth at two points First its admirable progress and its great and sudden spread It is saith he come unto you as also into all the world and secondly its divine effectualness to convert men and change their manners and life And it bringeth forth fruit saith he as also it doth in you since the day that you heard and knew the Grace of GOD in truth He saith therefore first That the Gospel was come to the Colossians secondly That it is also come unto all the World About the first there is no difficulty For since there was a Church in the City of Colosse it is evident that the Gospel by which Christian Churches are founded and builded had been Preached to them Only we should observe in this event the marvels of the goodness of GOD towards the Colossians For they were a barbarous and an Idolatrous people very far off from the Countrey and the Religion of Israel a portion of Phrygia a Province infamous for its abominations from whence had issued the mysteries and infernal devotions of Cibele called by the Gentiles the mother of the GODs the most detestable of all Pagan Idols and in whose service were committed the most unclean and shamefullest horrours The Colossians as other inhabitants of Phrygia were plunged in this gulf of vileness when the LORD vouchsafed to visit them and make the light of His Gospel to arise upon them Whence appears that the knowledge He gives us of His word is a present from His meer grace and not the pay of our pretended merits For what had the Colossians in the condition they then were that might invite Him to communicate this rich treasure to them what had they on the contrary but might have diverted Him from it seeing all among them was full of a profound and inveterate Idolatrousness You see also the Apostle saith not that they were come to the Gospel but that the Gospel was come to them to shew us that it is GOD that cometh to us who preventeth us by His grace according to the determinate purpose of His good pleasure The sick do go or send to the Physician and sollicite the succour of his art Here quite contrary the supream Physitian of souls seeketh to the sick He comes to them in His benignity He sendeth them His Ministers and presenteth to them His remedies when they dream of nothing less Luk. 19.10 than of their malady and the cure necessary for them The Son of man came to seek and save that which was lost He dispatcheth His servants to Colosse and elsewhere to bear thither His salvation to people that thought not save of destroying themselves He makes Himself be found of them that sought Him not Isa 65.11 and saith unto a Nation that was not called by His Name Behold me behold me Let a man search as much as he pleaseth He shall never be able to find any reasonable cause of this dispensation of GOD communicating His Gospel at certain times and to certain places but His sole good pleasure And that we might the better note this truth He often directeth the light of His word to those that governed themselves worst in the state of nature and hideth it from them that seemed less defiled than others He imparteth His Gospel to the Colossians to the Ephesians to the Corinthians and such like the most lost men that were in all kind of superstitions and Vices He saith nothing to the Gymnosophists or the Brachmans or to divers others as well Barbarians as Greeks which were esteemed at that time the most innocent of all mankind as in effect there appeareth much more of justice and honesty in what is reported to us of their manners than in those of any other people Wherefore hath GOD taken this course Because if He had done otherwise if He had called only those in whose policy and life was seen some outward goodness to shine forth passing by those whose manners had nothing which was not damnable we should have believed without all doubt what some cannot yet forbear to say that it is the works of men that oblige GOD to call them and to impart His Gospel to them and that if in rigour they be not worthy of this favour they merit it at least in a seemliness of equity and in congruity as they speak of it in the Schools of Rome Therefore the LORD useth very often a clean contrary procedure to make us understand that those whom He calleth do not more than those he leaveth merit ought at all as in effect it is most true that all men in the corruption wherein they are born do nothing that is of value the most splendid of their pretended vertues in this estate being but a plaister and a deceitful dawbing which under a fair appearance hideth only deformity and filth and that if He vouchsafe to illuminate any with the light of his Gospel it is of the sole good pleasure of His grace He doth it and not at all for merit of theirs It was therefore a miracle of the Divine goodness that this saving Doctrine came to the Colossians who by their nature were so far from it and the Apostle remindeth them of it to animate them more and more in sincere gratitude towards the author of so great a benefit But that which he addeth is much more strange and incredible that the Gospel was come into all the world He testifieth it too elsewhere as here a little after where
the sole infelicity of their extraction The men of Rome are at this day no wiser as who do not define Christianity but by an adherence to the See of their City The Apostle here doth thunder-strike the vanity of the one and the others proclaiming that neither the Jew nor the Greek and by consequent not the Roman or Italian are of any consideration in godliness so as to confer upon us or deprive us of the new Man And S. John Baptist had aforehand advertis'd the Jews of it Mat. 3.9 Presume not so say within your selves We have Abraham to our Father And it 's this our Saviour meant when he told Nicodemus That to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven Joh. 3.3 he must be born again signifying that all that dignity of this carnal birth which did so mightily puff up the hearts of the Pharisees and Jews was but a thing of nought and contributed not at all to the entring them in his Communion Joh. 8.39 And elsewhere the Jews crying out that Abraham was their Father he answers them That if they were the children of Abraham they would do his works an evident sign that the children of the Saints are they that do their works as said one of the Ancients * Hierome Act. 10 35. and not they that take up their place and that as S. Peter said Of whatsoever Nation you be you shall be accepted of GOD if you fear him and work righteousness That which the Apostle adds a little after of Barbarians and Scythians tendeth also to take away all difference of people in matter of godliness against the vanity of the Greeks who despised all other Nations and called them Barbarians making no account but of their own because of the great politeness of their language and the civility of their manners and the study of Philosophy and Eloquence which flourished among them S. Paul denounceth them that this vain excellency is of no value in Christianity and that the illiteratness and political defects of Barbarians do not alienate them from GOD provided that putting off the old Man they put on the New The Scythians are those whom we call Tartarians and he makes particular mention of them either because of the ferity and extream rudeness in as much as they were accounted the most gross and least polite of all Barbarians or because of their probity justice and moral innocency as some think After nations he speaks also of the difference of ceremonies and conditions To the former referrs his saying that in Christianity there is neither circumcision nor uncircumcision comprising under this one species all other semblable observations of things external and not commanded of GOD in religion signifying that men are neither furthered towards the kingdom of Heaven by being circumcised nor set back by wanting of it and likewise that as he faith else-where if we eat we have not the more and if we eat not we have not the less Whence appears how ill founded the ridiculous opinion of those is who put an higher eâ—â—mate upon themselves by far than upon others in point of holiness by reason of thâ—se external and voluntary devotions as for instance because they were a cowl or a certain particular habit because they abstain from flesh either alwaies or so a certain daies and do other like things in which they are not ashamed even to place Christianity What the Apostle addeth in the last place concerning the bond and the free doth also comprehend nobility and peasantry riches and poverty dignity and inferiority and in fine all that diversity of conditions which divideth men in the present world Though these qualities put a difference between them on earth they put none between them in Heaven nor in the mystical body of our LORD and Saviour into which GOD receiveth us all indifferently if He see the new man in us and doth equally exclude those in whom He finds it not The pomp of riches and honours and the glory of great birth doth recommend no one unto Him loâ—â—ness of extraction or of condition and the misery of poverty doth not 〈◊〉 Him to reject any He strips all men of that habit that makes up no part of them and judgeth of them only by that form of the old or new man which they bear within them Now having excluded all these things from the true constitution of piety he informs us for a conclusion wherein its whole force and vertue doth consist In this renovation of man there is saith he neither Greek nor Jew neither Circumcision nor Vncircumcision neither Borbarian nor Seythian nor bond nor free but CHRIST is all and in all That which the Jews promise themselves in vain from their birth and they that Judaize from their circumcision and the Greeks from their Philosophy and Great ones from their dignity JESUS CHRIST alone doth give abundantly to all that are in Him He is all to them For in Him the Gentile finds Judaism and the nobility of Israel all they that are of faith Gal. â— being children of Abraham In Him the uncircumcised have the true circumcision which is not made with hands Barbarians Divine Philosophy and the Bourgeship of Heaven bond-men freedom of spirit poor men the treasures of eternity abject persons the glory of GOD and the excellency of His Kingdom And as He hath in Him an abundance of all sacred and salutiferous things so hath He them for all shutting not up the bosome of His grace against any who ever he be and conferring on all those of His communion universally righteousness wisdom sanctification and redemption and in a word all graces requisite for conducting them unto and putting them in the eternal possession of supreme beatitude Dear Brethren It 's this same blessed LORD the fountain and the fulness of all good that GOD presenteth to you at this time in His word and in His Sacrament Come ye all to Him seeing He is so bountifully offered unto you Let no one imagine either that he may do well enough without Him or that He may not enjoy Him He is both necessary for the greatest and accessible unto the least The dignity of Masters the abundance of riches the extraction of the noble the observances of the devout and such other advantages will be of no use at all to save those that have them so that JESUS CHRIST is no less necessary for them than if they had them not The low estate of servants the distressedness of the poor and the like other disadvantages do hinder no one from approaching and receiving of Him And as the brazen Serpent which sometime figured him in the desert was communicated indifferently unto all great and small poor and rich noble and ignoble and equally cured all those that looked on it and again as there was no remedy to be had against the biting of the fiery Serpents but that alone neither riches nor nobility nor science nor any other quality could cure any
such as have had the curiosity to enquire what this letter might be have faln upon different opinions as in a matter both obscure and besides of no great necessity Some of the Ancients say that it is the first Epistle of St. Paul to Timothy written from Laodicea as is expresly reported by an old tradition which is read still to this day at the end of that Epistle And the truth is it cannot be deny'd but this Epistle containeth divers instructions fit to edifie the Colossians about the business of those seducers whom St. Paul here opposeth they dogmatised a discrimination of dayes and meats and this is there expresly condemned And whereas it is alledged against these Authors that the Apostle had not been in the City of Laodicea by means whereof he could not have thence written any letters either to Timothy or any other they perhaps would answer with an Ancient Author Theodoret by name that the History of the Acts assuring us St. Paul had traversed Phrygia it is not very probable but that he pass'd through Laodicea the capital City of the Province And whereas he saith in the 2. chap. to the Colossians that he hath a great conflict for them and for those at Laodicea and for all such as had not seen his presence in the flesh this shews indeed that the Apostle had care even of those of the faithful whom he had not seen but not that they of Laidicea or of Coloss were of the number and that the sense of these words is he was in pain not only for them whom he had seen and known but even for the Christians he never saw Yet because this exposition may seem a little forced it is better and more easie to stick to the common opinion follow'd by the greater part of Expositors both Ancient and Modern even that the Epistle from Laedicea here mention'd by the Apostle was a letter written by the Church of Laodicea to St. Paul which letter he desireth the Colossians should read in their Assembly because it contained things which he judged helpful to their edification perhaps concerning the persons or the errours or the procedures of those very seducers whom he combateth in this Epistle This in my opinion is that which may be said in the matter with greatest probability There remaineth the third and last order he gives them say to Archippus Take heed to the Ministry thou hast received in the LORD that thou fulfill it We learn from the Epistle to Philemon that Archippus was a fellow-souldier of the Apostle's that is a Minister of the holy Gospel The meaning then is that the Church do advertise him on St. Paul's behalf to mind both the quality of that excellent Ministry and the Authority and Divinity of the LORD in whose name he had been called to it that he might acquit himself worthily in it and diligently fulfill all the functions of it leaving no part of them unperformed It is thought that some negligence or other defect of this Pastor might oblige the Apostle to cause this advise to be given him But for my part I would not without a more pressing reason suspect such a thing of a person whom the Apostle had so much honoured as to call him his fellow-souldier in the Epistle he wrote at the same time to Philemon and should rather beleeve that Archippus having been newly receiv'd into this sacred charge the Apostle would encourage him by this advertisement to a good discharge of his duty in it However it were you see he gives the body of the Church a power to address some remonstrances sometinâ—es to it 's own Pastors An evident sign that they are not the Masters and Lords of it as those of Rome pretend but Ministers and Officers only In fine he adds for a conclusion The salutation by the own hand of me Paul The rest of the Epistle had been dictated by the Apostle and written by another hand He writeth these and the following words himself with his own hand 1 Thes 3.17 and it was his ordinary use so to do as he declareth elsewhere 2 Thes 2.2 to assure his letters by this mark against the fraud of falsifiers who even then impudently dispersed forged letters under his name as himself in another place intimates unto us Yet before he shuts up he conjures them to remember his bonds as an excellent seal of the truth of his Gospel and an irrefragable testimony of the affection he bore to them and to the rest of the Gentiles for whose sake he suffered these things which consequently obliged them to love him and to pray the LORD ardently for him and above all to imitate his constancy and his patience on the like occasions if they should be called to them After this he gives them his blessing in these words Grace be with you Amen He means the Grace of GOD in JESUS CHRIST His Son our LORD and it was not possible to crown this divine Letter with a fairer and a fitter close Bless we GOD my Beloved Brethren who hath vouchsafed us the grace to read and to explain it throughout in these holy Assemblies and pray Him that he would please to continue the same liberty and tranquility still unto us causing His word to fructifie among us At present let us particularly meditate the remarkable Lessons which this conclusion doth contain to the end we may sedulously practise them each of us according to our Vocation Let Ministers mind the advertisement given to Archippus and imitate the example of Epaphras in loving cordially their flocks in striving for them both by prayer and by word and by deed fulfilling their Ministry and so demeaning themselves in it as may be worthy both of the excellency of the charge and of the respect and love they owe to the son of GOD who hath honoured them with it Let Flocks have reverence and amity for their Pastors and live an good intelligence with their neighbours as Coloss and Laâ—dicea mutually communicating all things that tend to their common edification Let the Epistles of St. Paul and the Books of his fellow-brethen the Prophets and Apostles of the LORD resound eternally in our Assemblies Let their Voice alone be there heard and their Doctrine alone receiv'd and every tradition not marked with their zeal be banish'd thence Let heads of Families imitate the zeal of Nymphas so conscionably forming their children and their people unto piety and so regularly establishing the exercises of it among them that it may be truly said of them they each have a Church in their house And all of us together of what order or condition soever let us study to be perfect and compleat in all the will of GOD and persevere unto the end in this holy profession remembring also the bonds of St. Paul and the sufferings of the faithful by which GOD hath confirmed the truth of His Gospel and so walk in the steps of these blessed ones enjoying the favours of