COMMENTARIES ON THE EPISTLES TO THE PHILIPPIANS, COLOSSIANS, AND THESSALONIANS: WITH FOUR HOMILIES OR SERMONS ON IDOLATRY, &c. AND AN EXPOSITION OF PSALM LXXXVII. FOR THE PUBLICATION OF TRANSLATIONS OF THE WORKS OF JOHN CALVIN. Acting and Editorial Secretary, Robert Pitcairn, F.S.A. Scot. Calvin Office, 9, Northumberland Street, Edinburgh. ON THE EPISTLES OF PAUL THE APOSTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS, COLOSSIANS, AND THESSALONIANS. BY JOHN CALVIN. TRANSLATED AND EDITED FROM THE ORIGINAL LATIN, AND COLLATED BY THE REV. JOHN PRINGLE. EDINBURGH: PRINTED FOR THE CALVIN TRANSLATION SOCIETY. "VERE MAGNI ILLIUS ET NUNQUAM SATIS LAUDATAE MEMORIAE VIRI, D. JOANNIS CALVINI."-Beza. "IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO REFUSE HIM (CALVIN) THE PRAISE OF VAST KNOWLEDGE, EXQUISITE JUDGMENT, A PENETRATION WHICH IS UNCOMMON, A PRODIGIOUS MEMORY, AND ADMIRABLE TEMPERANCE AND SOBRIETY.”—Annotators on Spon's History of Genera. [Entered at Stationers' Hall.] 66 IN WHICH TWO THINGS, (THE INSTITUTES AND EXPOSITIONS,) WHOSOEVER THEY WERE THAT AFTER HIM (CALVIN) BESTOWED THEIR LABOUR, HE GAINED THE ADVANTAGE OF PREJUDICE AGAINST THEM IF THEY GAINSAYED, AND OF GLORY ABOVE THEM IF THEY CONSENTED."-Hooker. EDINBURGH: PRINTED BY T. CONSTABLE, PRINTER TO HER MAJESTY. TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE. THE COMMENTARIES OF CALVIN on the EPISTLES OF PAUL are generally considered to be among the most successful of his Expositions of Scripture. In the writings, indeed, of one whose vast powers have been applied to the exposition of nearly the whole of the Inspired Volume, and whose rare endowments, as an interpreter of Scripture, have drawn forth expressions of the profoundest admiration even from the most inveterate adversaries of the system of doctrine maintained by him, there is room for some diversity of opinion as to the particular portions of Divine truth which he has most successfully expounded. It is mentioned by M. Teissier, in his extracts from M. de Thou's History,' that “although all the works of CALVIN have merited the esteem of persons of good taste, he has in the opinion of some succeeded best in unfolding the doctrine of Providence," while, according to Joseph Scaliger, who "reckoned CALVIN to have had a divine genius, and to have excelled in the explication of Scripture, so that no one among the ancients could be compared" to him, "the best of his theological treatises was his Commentary on DANIEL." While, however, there may be some difference of opinion among the many admirers of CALVIN as to the particular portion of his expository writings, in which his vast powers shine forth to most advantage, there can be no question that his expositions of the Epistles of PAUL are singularly felici 1 "Les Eloges des Hommes Savans.”—Tom. i. p. 240. |