Works, Book 1 · Discourse 21
DISCOURSE XXI.
I COR. 9. 14.
Even so hath the Lord ordained, that they which preach the Gospel, should live of the Gospel; foreign.
MY purpose in chusing this Text is not to make the maintenance of the Ministery under the Gospel the direct aim of my Discourse, but only to enquire what is meant by the last words, foreign. Which that we may the more readily and certainly find, let us examine and consider a little of the Protasis, whereof the words I have now read are the Apodosis. Know ye not, saith the Apostle, that [foreign] those that minister about holy things, [foreign] do eat of the holy thing, or (as we turn it) of the things of the Temple; and [foreign] they which wait at the Altar [foreign] are fellow-sharers with the Altar? [foreign] So hath the Lord ordained, that they which preach the Gospel, should foreign.
Here, foreign, those who were imployed about holy things, are the Levites, who lived foreign, of the holy thing, or (if you had rather it should be a Substantive) of the Temple, that is, of that which belonged thereto, namely, of the Tithes which belonged to the Temple, but were no offering of the Altar: foreign, they who did incumbere or assidere altari, wait at the Altar, were the Priests, whose proper office it was to offer sacrifices thereon, and had part of the same for their proper maintenance, as the*…evit. 7 31, 32. breast and right shoulder before it was burnt, and after so much as was*Num. 18. 9. reserved from burning; so they did foreign, as the Apostle speaks, they were fellow-sharers with the Altar; the Altar having one part of the Offering, they another.
Thus, you see, the Apostle in both sutes the maintenance with the Office. The Office of the Levites was foreign, to be imployed about holy things; their maintenance, foreign, the holy thing, or the revenue of the Temple; foreign, they eat of the foreign The Office of the Priests, foreign, to wait at the Altar; their maintenance, foreign, to share with the Altar. Now then must not the Apodosis answer the Protasis? what manner of similitude, what analogy will there be else? Ergo, as foreign to preach the Gospel is the Office of the Ministers of the Gospel, so is their maintenance noted by foreign. Those therefore who so interpret these words, as if foreign in the last place were taken in no other sense than it was in the first, namely, to note the Function or Calling of the Ministers, (as if the sense were no other, but that the Ministers of the Gospel, whose Calling it is to preach the Gospel, should get their living by their Calling of preaching the Gospel) make S. Paul the Author of a lame and inconsequent Similitude,1 Cor. 9. 14. whose Apodosis answers not unto his Protasis. For what a foreign, what an [Even so] or analogy would this be? The Levites lived of the Holy portion or revenue of the Temple as their foreign or wages; Even so the Ministers of the Gospel must live by their Calling and Function. The Priests were maintained out of the share they had of the Of…erings of the Altar; Even just so the Ministers of the Gospel must live by their Function of Preaching the Gospel. May not any one see that the Apodosis answers not the Protasis? For that speaks of the wages, this of the service for which the wages is due. Well therefore, as in the Protasis the wages was compared with the work, so must it be in the Apodosis too; and consequently foreign must here express the wages, as foreign doth the work.
But now here is the Quaere; If foreign note not the Function, but the wages and maintenance due to the Evangelick Ministers; in what notion then is foreign here to be taken, and how to be expounded?*In verse 23. Oecumenius would have foreign in this last place to signifie foreign, the believers of the Gospel foreign; and the meaning to be, That those who preach the Gospel should be maintained by those which believe the Gospel. But this would make our Apodosis to answer the Protasis little better than the former: For that speaks of the wages and maintenance of the Levites and Priests, not a word of the maintainers.*philo de Sacerdotum ho…lus, foreign &c.…—foreign. Besides, to speak properly, 'tis not true, that the people maintain the Ministers: they are not their Ministers, but God's; and he maintains them out of his own revenue, and not at mens charges. Quis militat suis stipendiis? (saith our Apostle, at his entrance upon this Argument) Who goeth to war at his own charges? Now I ask, Cujus stipendiis militat, qui militat? nonne Imperatoris? At whose charges is it that any one goes to war? is it not at the Sovereign's charges? To which purpose note also by the way, that it is not said here (as we translate it) So hath God ordained, that those which preach the Gospel, should live of the Gospel: but, So hath God appointed, or given order to those that preach the Gospel, that they should live of the Gospel; that is, Non dicit, Dominum mandâsse aliis ut eos alerent, sed mandâsse ipsis ut ex Evangelio viverent. But to return again to the interpretation of foreign, which others therefore had rather take here for foreign, for that which in the Gospel is consecrate to God: viz. As the Priests and*Ios. 18. 7. The Pri…sthood of the Lord is their [the Levites] inheritance. Levites had their maintenance out of that which was offered unto God in the Law; so God had ordained that the Ministers of the Gospel should be maintained of that which is consecrate to him in the Gospel. And this sense is straight and good.
But what need we flie to a Trope, when the natural sense of the word foreign will serve our turn, yea do it much better? For howsoever in the New Testament it most commonly signifies good tidings; yet, in other Greek Writers, the more usual signification in the singular number is foreign, praemium quod datur laetum afferenti nuncium, the gift or reward wont to be given for good tidings. Homer (Odyss. 14.) brings in Ulysses in a poor traveller's disguise, stipulating with his servant Eumaeus, what his reward should be for the good news he promised to tell him of his Master's life and speedy return: foreign, let this be my foreign or Reward, saith he; foreign, A cloak, a coat, and other good garments. To whom Eumaeus answers,
foreign,
foreign …—
Neither am I able to give such an foreign, or Reward, neither will Ulysses ever come home again. Plutarch (in his De gloria Atheniensium) relates, that the Lacedaemonians to one that brought them tidings of the victory at Mantin…a, having been no actor, but a spectator only, sent, for an foreign, only a dish of meat from one of their common suppers called Phiditia: the words are, foreign. The same Author (within three or four lines after) affirms that Historians, who relate and describe Battels and Victories in such perspicuous styles, deserve an foreign or Reward from those who first read them: And (in his Demetrius) he tells, that when one Aristodemus brought news to King Antigonus of a notable victory his party had obtained against Ptolemaeus Lagi, but put the King first in great perplexity, by discovering nothing, either by word or countenance, what his tidings were, till he came to the King's presence, then saying, foreign, &c. Hail King Antigonus, we have overcome King Ptolemy at Sea: The King answered, Welcome, Aristodemus; but because thou hast kept us so long in suspence and perplexity, thou shalt suffer some punishment for the pain thou hast put us to; foreign, for it shall be the later before thou receive the reward of thy good tidings. Which is a sufficient testimony both of the use of the word, and the custom. Cicero (in one of his Epistles Ad Atticum) useth the plural number: O suaves Epistolas tuaes, Ad A…c. l. 2. ep. 12.(saith he) uno tempore mihi datas, duas! quibus foreign quae reddam, nescio; deberi quidem planè fateor: O thy sweet and most acceptable Eetters, received both at the same time! for the which I know not what grateful returns to make, though I am very sensible they deserve the best.
Besides, in the plural number [foreign] it signifies a sacrifice for good tidings. Hence Plutarch (in his Phocion) hath foreign … Isocrates (in Areopagitico) foreign, ob tot successus bis quidem sacrificavimus foreign … Xenophon (in his Hellanica) foreign. To conclude; it is apparent by these examples, that foreign signifies a gift or tribute due for good tidings; whether as an offering to the Gods, the Authors; or as a reward to men, the messengers and bringers.
Now the most Blessed and Happy tidings that ever came to the ears of the sons of men, is Salvation by Iesus Christ our Lord; whereof his Priests and Ministers are the daily messengers. Is there not then an foreign due for this? And is not this that our Apostle meaneth when he saies here, Even so the Lord hath ordained, that they who preach the Gospel, should foreign … So that which was required only for acknowledgment of the Divine Dominion under the bondage of the Law, is now turned into the nature of an foreign in the liberty of the Gospel; I mean, that which we offer now unto God for the maintenance of the Evangelical Ministery, and other uses of his service. The sense is most fit and agreeable, and makes the Apostle's expression (if so understood) passing elegant.
But you will say, What probability is there the Apostle should use foreign in this notion? For though prophane Authors do so, yet the Scripture's meaning, both here and elsewhere, is to be measured by its own Dialect. Have therefore the Hebrew, the Chaldee, the Septuagint any such notion as this? I answer, Yes, all three of them. For in the Hebrew, foreign, the only word for good tidings, signifies also Praemium boni nuncii, a reward for good tidings. Yea, being not above five times found in the old Testament, Schindler will have it thrice taken in that signification; and twice will be easily yielded him. Likewise in the Chaldee, foreign and foreign signifie as well the one as the other, both nuncium and nuncii praemium, good tidings and a reward for good tidings. As for the Seventy, the word foreign is but thrice found with them, and once so apparently in this signification, as leaves no place for contradiction. It is 2 Sam. 4. 10. where they have, foreign, Cui oportuit me dedisse Evangelia. They are the words of King David, when Rechab and Baanah brought Ishbosheth's head unto him; When one told me, saith he, Behold, Saul is dead, (thinking he had brought good tidings) I took hold of him, and slew him in Ziklag, when I should have given a reward for his tidings. The Hebrew word rendred here Reward for good tidings is foreign the Seventy, as I said before, have foreign the Vulgar, or S. Hierome, mercedem pro nuncio, a reward for the tidings; the Chaldee Paraphrast, foreign a gift, or reward, for his tidings.
Thus you see, this notion was familiar to all the Languages that S. Paul was brought up in. Why should it then be improbable he should use it when he had occasion? And no marvel it is to be found no oftner; for, unless it be in this Chapter, in the whole New Testament the thing it self (Reward for good tidings) is never mentioned, intimated, or alluded to. How then could the word be used? But in this Chapter, methinks, I hear it used a second time, (ver. 23.) I will only propound it to your considerations, and so conclude.
The matter stands thus. S. Paul, though he received no Reward at the hands of the Corinthians for his pains in making known the glad tidings of Salvation unto them, but did it gratis to them-ward; yet he looked for an foreign from God, stored up in the heavens for all his faithful messengers, and to be received at the great Day: In expectation whereof, he not only thus preached the Gospel to them freely, but endured all things, and made himself a servant to all; foreign (saith he) foreign, This I do for the foreign, that I might be partaker thereof with you. What foreign should it be that S. Paul here aimed to be partaker of? Surely, it should seem foreign here notes some Praemium or Reward, even by that which immediately follows, Know ye not that they which run in a race, run all; but one receiveth the Brabeum or Prize? So run that ye may obtain. I leave it to your better meditations, and so conclude.