to the E P H E SI A N S. 3 ferve all that !have commanded, faies Chrifi, attd Lo, lam With J'oilt~ the end~ of the WorM, . . Sn;rn. f. And in this refpect thefe few words (Paul mt .Apof/le) wh1ch we find pre- ~ fixed, are of great ufe t~ us; and let this Name, and Title, and Commands of his which are from Chnfi, be for ever preciOus throughout all GeneratiOns. There are three things in thefe two firfi Verfes : 1. The Author of this Epifile, P aut. . 2. The Perfons to whom it was wntten, Satnts at Ephefiu, &c. 3 . The Salutation, and bleiling therein uttered, ordinary in all his Epiflles, Grace a~~tiPeaa, &c, i.TheAUTHOR: P .AV L.] I will not fpeak much of his perfonal_ fupereminent wonh. _iii his own opinion he was the leaft of Samts on Earth ; mmme, the lughefi Samt in Heaven, and next the man Chrifi Jefus. To whofe labours (more abundant than of all the other Apofiles, 1 Cor. 15, ro.) the one half of the now Chrifii– an, then RomanWorld doth owe, and the Catholick Church in all Ages, the third part of that unvaluable Treafure of the New Tefiament ; talung together all either written by him, as the Epifiles, or written of h1m, as the greatefi part of theAfls. Only this name of hiS here [PautJ and the change thereoffrom th~t of Saul; is a difficulty among Interpreters, which _I !hall not here meddle wuh f~rther than thus, that this change might be from h1s former Jewiih name Saul mto a Roman name Pattl, it being evident, that feveral Nauoos d1d ufe to alter mens rtames according to their own Tongue, and very often the firfi _Letter of a mans name is changed in the fame Language, whom Ifaac calls Merodach, him the Writer of the Book of the Kings calls Berodach. . So the elde!t Son of Simon,' whom Mo(es calls Jtmuet, Gen.46l 1o, and Exod,6_,1;. thefamemandoth Mojescall NemttelinNum6. 26. 12, And the Author of the Book of theChro– tticles, r Chro1l. 4·'4• and the name P aut was a rtame ufual among the Romans; given to aRommt Deputy, Afls 1 s; 7. and thus the name Sau/might have been fitted Ul)tO the Roman Mode, S being turned into P, and that which fireng– thens this conjecture, is, that we read of this change ofhis name firfi, when we read of his Converfe with that Roman Deputy, .Afls 1 l• but chiefly when he was a-new feparated to the Work of Preaching to the Gentiles, by the command of the Holy Ghoft, At!s 1j. 4· It may be added, that this new name hath b.een the rather given him by the Romans, and the mote readily accepted by him, as fitly glancing at the littlenefs of his fiature (which the more illufirated the glo- Paulum Modf. ry of God's Grace in the gifts of his mind) of which Antiquity gives Tefiimony f'mJ.'id. Aug. from Tr_adition,. and A_mient Images of him four hundred y~ars afto;r in Chryjo- •P ' 1 • 7 ' · flames t1me, Nzceph. hb. 2. cap. n. And Chryfoflome_m h1s Homily 'De princtp._ Apof/ol. calls him ; Tf'"'X~' ,;:,of""®-, A man of three Cubits, 'whereas the ordmary proportionof men is four: which may rrtofi probably be thought to be that bafenefs and weaknefs of prefence, which himfelf acknowledgeth in him• felf,. 2 Cor. 1o.r, 1o, It is certain that the name PauiM was firfi given to the $igoo: at Noi!i; Family of the .!Emylians in Rome for the littlenefs of their fiature. And this Rom. change.hi!"felf might Well permit and take on him, A new Gmtile .name infiead of h1s 'Jewijh, as an Indication of his new Office. The Apojlle of the Genttles,_ Rom. 11.1;. Itbeingwithalfofitlyfuitedto exprefs the Character of h~s Spmt, and his mofi eminent Grace, littlenefs in his own eyts, which ac- ~ordmgly you find him i\ill inculcating, as if it were his Motto, both interpret– mg8hisLna~e and expreifmg his Spirit, Lefs than the leafl of Sai11ts; Eph. P l· • eal' ?f.Apoffies, 1 Cor. r;. 9· perhaps.in fome alluliontohisoame aut; but th1s IS only a conjecture on which I inlifi not. : . Paul a11 Apojlle, ] It was. made a wonder in the Old Tefiament, Is Saul among the Prophets1 And it is as great a wonder of the New, that Paul the Perfecuter lhould be among the Apofiles, and fo it was when Paul Converted began firft to Preach ~hat· Chrifi wastheSoriofGod, an"dwasfirfl: heard at 'Damafctu by the peoplel What the effe4 whcteof was 1 the words - B z. ~
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