By the sleight of men, &c.— The word κυβεια, rendered sleight, properly signifies the artifice of those infamous gamesters, who know how to cog the dice. The next clause may be rendered, and subtlety in every method of deceit. Some render it, and cunning craftiness, as to the art, or method of deceit. The word rendered cunning craftiness, implies all the various degrees of subtlety, dissimulation, and insidiousness, by which men endeavour to deceive. It is to be hoped that no reader, and particularly none of the sacred order, will fail to observe what the Apostle so plainly asserts in the beginning of the next verse; namely, that it was the design of the ministry to preserve peace and charity, as well as orthodoxy, regularity, and discipline in the church;—to maintain the truth in love.

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