Reflections ON THE EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL. OF ST. PAUL'S acknowledged Epistles the earliest are supposed to be those written to the Thessalonian Converts. These therefore are first taken under consideration. With the supplication for The HOLY SPIRIT's Grace and Guidance, becoming meditations have been sought upon them; and the fruit thereof is here meekly offered. 1ST THESSALONIANS CHAP. I. VERSE 1.-Paul and Silvanus and Timotheus unto the Church of the Thessalonians, which is in GOD The FATHER and in The LORD JESUS CHRIST; Grace be unto you and Peace from GOD our FATHER and The LORD JESUS CHRIST! The Apostle thus modestly couples with himself two Associates in his Christian labours, who probably were indebted mainly to him for the Christian knowledge they had acquired; and who, though cherishing the true Gospel Spirit of Brotherly love towards All, with whom they had intercourse, might not of themselves have thought of ranking their names with such a Master in Israel as Paul. In addressing the Church, the understanding of the term may properly be, to consider the Communion of the Faithful in CHRIST JESUS, there domiciled, to be intended, as having one faith and one hope of having been Called to Salvation and an Election unto Grace-that Communion or Church, so far as it was truly faithful, having been founded in CHRIST, and built up through The SPIRIT, unto Adoption by The FATHER of Heaven. And the Salutation, with which the Address opens, is the Intercession for That, Which Alone Gives Spiritual Life, the Grace of The HOLY SPIRIT, and that joyous possession of the heart, inward Peace, in the onward hope of Immortality, when this checquered scene of life shall open on a changeless Eternity and an increasing happiness in the Perfection of Holiness; ever dwelling on the Love of CHRIST, The Eternal SON of The Everlasting FATHER; to Whom and Whose Expiatory and Intercessory Sacrifice Alone that Happiness is attributable.Silvanus was equally a cherished Companion to St. Peter, for he speaks of him as believed to be a faithful Brother, and therefore made by that Apostle a Bearer of his Epistle-1 Peter v. 12. The Church of the Thessalonians is first noticed in the xvii. of the Acts of the Apostles, where it is in substance said, There was in Thessalonica a Synagogue of the Jews, where Paul for three Sabbath-days reasoned with them out of the Scriptures; opening and alleging that CHRIST must needs have Suffered, and Risen again from the Dead; and that The JESUS, Whom he preached to them, was The CHRIST-1 to 3.- -The same salutation of Grace and Peace prevails through Saint Paul's Epistolary Addresses -Rom. i. 7; 1 Cor. i. 3; Gal. i. 3; Eph. i. 2; Philemon 3; Coloss. i. 2; 1 Tim. i. 2; Titus i. 4; Phil. i. 2; and may be regarded as addressed by him A |