Matthew Poole and continuators on 2 Corinthians 11:17

17 That which I speak, I speak it not after the Lord , but as it were foolishly in this confidence of boasting .

I do not pretend to have any special command of God, to speak wha[illegible: 1 letter] I shall now say in my own commendation; God hath left that to our liberty, which we may use or not use, as circumstances of time, place and occasion direct. Or I do not speak according to the ordinary practice of Christians and Ministers of the Gospel; whose ordinary practice is to abase and vilify, not to exalt and set forth themselves, according to the more general Rules of the word. Yet (what the Apostle saith) was not contrary to the Lord, or to the directions of his Word; which hath no where commanded us to vilify our selves, or to conceal what God hath wrought in us, and by us.

This my confident boasting hath an appearance of foolishness in it, though really it be not so; for nothing can be truly called Foolishness, which hath a direct and immediate tendency to the glory of God, and is designed for that End.