LIBRARY OF THE THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY PRINCETON. N. J. GREEK FUND, 1879 DhisionJu^.R^O I Z) Section. ..t.f!,J...77^ •— ' EXPOSITION OF THE EPISTLE OF JUDE. BY THE REV. WILLIAM JENKYN. AND OF THE EPISTLES TO THE PHILIPPIANS AND COLOSSIANS. BY THE REV. JEAN D A I L L E. AS" EXPOSITION THE EPISTLE OF JUDE. DELIVERED IN CHRIST-CHURCH, LONDON. y BY THE REV. WILLIAM JENKYN, M. A. A. D. 1652, LECTURER OF CHRIST-CHURCH. A. D. 1653, RECTOR OF BLACKFRIARS. REVISED AND COKEECTED BY THE REV. JAMES SHERMAN, MINISTER OF SUEKEY CHAPEL. EDINBURGH: JAMES NTCHOL. LONDON: JAMES NISBET k CO. M.DCCC.LXV. MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. The Rev. William Jenkyn, M. A., author of the following Exposition, and descended from a wealthy family at Folkstone, was born at Sudbury, in the year 1612. His father dying while he was very young, his wealthy grandfather took him under his charge till he was nine years of age, when his mother, fearing the absence of a religious education, brought him home, and with his father-in-law carefully trained him in godliness. At fourteen he was sent to Cambridge, and placed under the tuition of the Rev. Anthony Burgess, where his eminent piety, progress in learning, and sprightly genius gained him many admirers. Some time after taking his degree of M. A. he was chosen lecturer of St. Nicholas Aeons, London ; and from thence he became the minister of Hythe, near Colchester. Here he married ; but the dampness of the situation, and the solicitations of his friends, induced him to return to London. In the year 1641 he was chosen vicar of Christ Church, Newgate Street, and some months after lecturer of St. Ann's, Blackfriars, which offices he continued to fill with great diligence and acceptance till the destruction of the monarchy, when upon refusing to observe the public thanksgivings appointed by parliament, he was sequestered from his benefices, suspended from his ministry, and banished twenty miles from London. " About six months after his retirement to Billericay," says Bishop Kennet, " he returned to London, and was sent to the Tower, from ' Love's plot.' " It appears from the same au- thority, and Oldmixon, that he was prevailed upon, by the advice of friends, to petition (the Rump) parliament for his release. " Dr. Arthur, minister of Clapham, drew up the petition for him, and with great diflaculty he. Dr. Lazarus Seaman, and others, prevailed on him to sign it." It is entitled, " The humble and penitent Petition of William Jenkyn, presented to parliament in the year 16.51 : Most humbly showeth, " That your petitioner is unfeignedly sorrowful for his late miscarriages, whether testified against him, or acknowledged by him, and for the great unsuitableness of them to his calling and condition," &c. On which parliament resolved, " That Mr. AVilliam Jenkyn be pardoned both for life and estate, for and in respect of treasons and crimes whereof he is accused," &c. Mr. Feak, who had embraced the strange notion of the fifth monarchy, having been pre- sented to the living of Christ Church by the government, Jenkyn would not eject him, thoi]gh upon his discharge from sequestration he had a right to do so. His parishioners, however, anxious to enjoy his ministry, established a lecture for him at seven o'clock on Lord's-day mornings, and remunerated him for his disinterestedness by raising a large sub- scription on his behalf. He continued this lecture, and that of Blackfriars, from which he had not been ejected, till the death of Dr. Gouge, when he was chosen rector of that parish. Jv MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. The government after a short time removed Mr. Feak from the living of Christ Church, to which the governors of Bartholomew's Hospital, from their high estimation of his cha- racter, immediately presented Mr. Jenkyn. Here he exercised his ministry on the sabbath morning and afternoon to a crowded auditory with eminent success among his parishioners, but especially to occasional hearers, who came from all parts to hear him. He seemed to have adopted the apostle's motto with a lively assurance of its importance, " I am determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified;" for during several years he preached from the names given to Christ in the Scripture. He had a peculiar man- ner of gaining a powerful hold of the conscience, and not allowing the sinner to escape by any ancient or modern subterfuge ; so that if his hearers were not converted, they were con- victed and self-condemned — an eminent and greatly to be desired ministerial talent. Baxter styles him " that elegant and sententious preacher." Upon the restoration of Charles H. his loyalty was suspected, and he was ordered to ap- pear before the council, respecting which we find the following minute : " Tuesday, Jan. 2, lGGl-2. Council Chamber in Whitehall. Mr. W. Jenkyn, the minister of Christ Church Hospital, being sent for this day, made his appearance at the board, and was reproved for not praying for the king," &c. When the Act of Uniformity and the Oxford Act passed, not being able to subscribe to the required oaths, he retired to his own house at Ij \ngley, in Hertfordshire, where he preached in private to his neighbours. When the indulgence was granted in 1G71, he re- turned to London, and his friends erected him a chapel in Jewin Street, where he soon raised a numerous congregation. He was also chosen lecturer at Pinner's Hall. Upon the revocation of the indulgence he was specially favoured by the authorities, who permitted him to continue his services on the Lord's day without interruption until Bartholomew's Day, 1682. After this he preached in private, as opportunity and secrecy permitted, till Sept. 2, 1684, on which day he, and Mr. (afterwards Bishop) Reynolds, Mr. John Flavel, and Mr. Keeling had met a numerous body of their friends, in a place which they thought suffi- ciently secluded from danger, for the purpose of prayer and communion, when a company of soldiers rushed into the congregation while in the act of worship. All the ministers made their escape except Mr. Jenkyn, who (says Mr. Flavel) might have escaped as well as the rest, had it not been for a piece of vanity in a lady, whom Mr. Jenkyn out of too great politeness had allowed to pass before him, and her long train hindered his going down-stairs. Knowing that it would be acceptable at court, the officers who apprehended him, and the magistrates. Sir James Edwards and Sir James Smith, before whom he was brought, treated him rudely and severely. They rejected his offer of £40, which the law empowered them to take, and committed him to Newgate, though they were assured by medical authority that at his advanced age of seve;i(y-one the confinement of Newgate would cost him his life. He presented a petition to the king, by pleading for whose restoration to the throne he had suffered imprisonment before, entreating him to grant his release. The petition was ac- companied by certificates from his physicians, that his life was in imminent danger from his close imprisonment; yet all the answer which could be obtained from the ungrateful monarch was, " Jenkyn shall be a prisoner as long as he lives." Chambers says, " The inveteracy of Charles H. against him seems unaccountable. He had been a great sufferer for loyalty to Charles L, and was one of those who not only resisted the decrees of parliament, but was even implicated in ' Love's plot,' the object of which was the restoration of the king." The restrictions to which he was subjected in Newgate were exceedingly severe. The keepers were prohibited from allowing him to pray with any visitors — even his own daugh- ter ; nor was he permitted to leave the prison to baptize his grandchild, though a consi- derable sum, and security for his return, were offered for that liberty. Soon after his confinement his health began to decline, but his soul was filled with unspeakable joy and MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. v comfort. To one of his friends he remarked, " What a vast dilTerence is there between this and my first imprisonment ! Then I was full of doubts and fears, of grief and anguish ; and well I might, for going out of God's way and my own calling to meddle with things that did not belong to me. But now, being found in the way of my duty, in my IMaster's busi- ness, though I suffer even to bonds, yet I am comforted beyond measure. The Lord sheds abroad his love in my heart ; I feel it ; I have the assurance of it." Then, turning to some who were weeping by him, he said, " ^^ by weep ye for me ? Christ lives : he is my Friend ; a Friend born for adversity ; a Friend that never dies. Weep not for me, but weep for your- selves and your children." After four months' confinement and suffering, he died in Newgate, Jan. 19, 16S.5, in the seventy-second year of his age, and fifty-second of his ministry. The news of his death soon reached the court. A nobleman in waiting had the courage to say to the king, " May it please your majesty, Jenkyn has got his liberty." Upon which he asked with surprise, " Aye, who gave it to him ?" The nobleman replied, "A greater than your majesty, the King of kings ! " with which the king seemed struck, and remained silent. On Jan. 24th he was buried at " Tyndall's burial-place," since called Bunhill Fields, by his friends with great honour, " his corpse being attended, says L'Estrange, by at least one hundred and fifty coaches." Jenkyn has been accused, and not without cause, of being a changeable man — not in his theology, but in his politics. Some passages in his history are difficult to reconcile with stedfastness of purpose and stern integrity ; but unless we had all the circumstances before us, it would be equally wrong at this distance of time to justify or condemn. Political par- tisans write of him in derision if he was opposed to their views, and in eulogy if his senti- ments accorded with their own. It is, however, quite certain, from friends and foes, that he was an eminent minister of Christ — that crowds attended his sermons — that his parishioners were devotedly attached to his person and labours — that other parishes beside his own were anxious to obtain his services — that he preferred to sutler rather than to act contrary to his conscience — that he died in the triumphs and enjoyments of the gospel, and was buried with remarkable honour, not less than six hundred mourners following his body to the grave ! The following Exposition is the most considerable of his works, and exhibits his piety^ diligence, and learning. It was delivered at Christ Church, Newgate Street, in the ordinary course of his ministry, and met with great acceptance; two editions having been published during the life of the author, both of which have been carefully collated for the present pub- lication. The editor believes that, from the great pains taken to render the work perfect few errors have escaped detection. He now commits it to the favour of God, who, judging from the testimonies received from many ministers, has crowned the Expositions previously published with a large share of his Messing. May the desire of the author for his work be eminently realized by this edition, " that the souls of its readers may reap the benefit of the whole, and that it may advance the spiritual progress of the church ;" and in every work which we undertake and accomplish for God, may we review it with the same feel- ings and smitiments as this Exposition was concluded by its author : " For myself, all good that I can do, or in this or any other service have done, I humbly desire may be returned only to the honour and praise of my most dear and blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, whose grace was the principle of all that is rightly done in it, whose Spirit was my guide in doing it, whose word was my rule, whose glory was my end, whose merit can alone procure acceptance for me and all my services, and the everlasting enjoym-ent of whose presence is my soul's desire and longing. Amen." DEDICATION TO PART I. OF THE ORIGINAL EDITION. TO THE RIGHT WORSHIPFUL AND OTHER MY BELOVED AND CHRISTIAN FRIENDS, INHABITANTS IN THE PARISH OF CHRIST-CHURCH, LONDON. The souls of men may as certainly be destroyed by poisoning as by starving. If Satan cannot prevent some kind of tasting and receiving the grace of the gospel, he often poisonously perverts it, by making men turn it into lasciviousness, and even by freedom from sin allow themsolves in sinning freely. The seducers crept into the church in Jude's time, and under pretence of Christian liberty introduced unchristian libertinism. No cheaper stuff than grace would serve their turn wherewith to clothe lasciviousness, and no other patron than the Lord Christ himself to protect their impieties. Whether they were the disciples of Simon Magus, or Nicolaitanes, or Gnostics, (as Epiphanius thinks,) I do not inquire ; sure I am, they were of the synagogue of Satan j he was both their father and master, whom they re- sembled, and whose works they did. In this Epistle the apostle Jude not only with holy zeal opposes them himself, but sounds a trumpet to rouse up the Christians, (upon whose quarters these seducers had fallen, to surprise their treasure, the doctrine of faith,) earnestly to contend for the preservation of so precious a depositum, once, and once for all, delivered to their keeping. The arguments used by the apostle are cogent, his directions prudent, and it is probable that his pains were in some degree successful. I know no spiritually skilful observer but perceives too great a resemblance between their faces and those of our times. Sins in our days are not only committed under the enjoyment, but, in pretence, by the encouragement of grace ; men who now dare not sin, are by some derided as ignorant of their Christian liberty ; and evident it is that many live as if, being delivered from the fear of their enemies, they were delivered from the fear and service of their Deliverer ; and as if the blood of the Passover were not intended by God to be sprinkled upon the door-posts to save them, but upon the threshold of the door for them to trample upon. Beloved friends, if God hath appointed that you should resemble these Christians to whom Jude wrote in EPISTLES DEDICATORY. vii the danger of your times, it is your duty to embrace the directions delivered to these Cbvis tians for your defence from those dangers. A gracious heart considers not bow bitter, but how true ; not how smart, but how seasonable, any truth is. My aim in publishing these Lectures is to advance holiness, and, as far as I could do it, by following the mind of the apostle, to oppose those sins, which if people hate not most, are like to hurt them most : and to advance those duties with which, if people be not most in love, yet in which they are most defective, and thereby most endangered. And now again, I beseech you, that I may testify my unfeigned aifection as well by my epistle as my book — labour to keep close to God in a loose age ; spend not your time in complaining of the licentiousness of the times, in the mean while setting up a toleration in your own hearts and lives. That private Christian who does not labour to oppose profaneness with a river of tears, would never, if he could, bear it down with a stream of power. Lay the foundation of mortification deep. Reserve no lust from the stroke of Jesus Christ. Take heed of pleasing yourselves in a bare formal profession. Labour to be rooted in Christ. He who is but a visible Christian, may in a short time cease to be so much as visible ; he who speaks of Christ but notionally, may in time be won to speak against him. Love not the world. Beware of scandals ; take them not where they are, make them not where they are not. The common sin of our times, is to blacken religion, and then to fear and hate it. Despise not the providences of God in the world ; they are signs of God's mind, though not of his love. Delight in the public ordi- nances, and highly esteem faithful ministers ; they and religion are commonly blasted to- gether. Shun seducers. Sit clown under a minister as well as under a preacher. He who will hear every one, may at length be brought to hear none ; and he who will hear him preach who ought not, may soon be left to learn that which he ought not. Preserve a ten- der conscience ; every step you take fear a snare ; read your own hearts in the wickedness of others. Be not slight in closet services ; and oft think of God in your shops, for there you think you have least leisure, but sure you have most need to do so. Let your speech be alway with grace, and a word or two of Christ in every company, if possible ; and yet not out of form, but feeling. These Lectures here presented might sooner have seen the light, had I not lately met with such hinderances (sufficiently known) as I once expected would have stopped them altogether. The main of this employment hath lain upon me since that time, which, considering my many other employments, hath not been long, though otherwise long enough to have per- formed this work much more exactly. I here present you, though not with half of the Epistle, yet with more than the one half of that which upon the whole I preached. I have not knowingly left out any passages delivered in the pulpit. The other part I promise in a similar volume to this, so soon as God gives strength and more leisure, if this find accept- ance with the church of God. And now (brethren) I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified; resting Your servant in the work of Christ, WILLIAM JENKYN. DEDICATIOIN TO PART II. OF THE ORIGINAL EDITION. TO MY DEAR FLOCK AND MUCH HONOURED FRIENDS, THE CHURCH OF GOD, IN THE PRECINCT OF BLACKFRIARS, LONDON Christian and respected Friends, It cannot seem strange that I, who have lately given myself to the service of your souls, should now dedicate my book to you for that purpose. Nor can any wonder, since you have lately imitated your predecessors in the loving and unanimous call of your now unworthy pastor, that he should endeavour to follow the steps of those excellent servants of Christ your former ministers, who, in their times, both by preaching and printing, bestowed their labours upon you for your spiritual benefit. I have frequently heard that Blackfriars is one of those places in London commonly ac- counted and called privileged, in respect of sundry civil imnmnities bestowed upon it. But what are all those political, in comparison of the spiritual, privileges which God has afforded to you of this place ? in respect of which I much question whether any congregation in London, (I think I may take a far larger compass,) has been equal to you in the privilege of enjoying so long a continuance of an able, orthodox, and soul-saving ministry. Those two excellent and eminently faithful servants of Christ, Mr. Egerton, and Doctor Gouge, lately deceased, spent, as I am informed, about seventy years in their ministerial labours among the people of Blackfriars. The gospel in your congregation has continued, I think, beyond the remembrance of the oldest (the Lord grant that it may outlive the youngest) now living among you. God has, as it were, made his sun to stand still upon your Gibeon, and his moon upon your Ajalon, to give you light to overcome your spiritual enemies. How many learned and pithy expo- sitions, savoury discourses, and excellent tractates have had their conception in your parish, and their birth in your pulpit ! You have enjoyed the monthly administration of the Lord's supper, as your late reverend pastor informed me, these five and forty years, without any in- terruption. I mention not these things to occasion j'our glorying in men, or any outward privileges, but only to put you upon self-reflection and holy examination how you have thriven in holiness under all these enjoyments. Church privileges, I grant, are excellent mercies in their kind : without the ordinances, places are commonly as void of civility as EPISTLES DEDICATORY. is Christianity ; they are but magna latrocinia, dens of robbers, and places of prey, dark places of the earth filled with violence. Church privileges, so far as they are visibly owned, make men visible saints in opposition to the world; yea, and in their due and holy use real and true saints in opposition to hypocrites. But notwithstanding all these, the means of grace, without grace by those means, leave those who enjoy them in the same condition, in respect of any saving benefit, with those who want them. The ark at Shiloh, Jer. vii. 12, the sacrifices devoured by Ariel, Isa. xxix. 1, 2, circumcision in the flesh, Rom. ii. 25, 2S, 29 ; Jer. ix. 25, 26, the temple of the Lord, Hag. ii. 9, the rock and manna, the Lord's supper at Corinth, I Cor. xi. 20, were privileges which did not savingly profit the eiijoyers, who were not holy by their holy things, but their holy things rather were made unholy by them. Nay, bare outward privileges increase condemnation. The valley of vision has the heaviest burden. The Israelites, who had not monthly, but daily sacraments, eating and drinking them every meal, were most severely destroyed. These were but as L^riah's letters, which they carried to their own destruction. The higher Chorazin and Bethsaida's elevation was, the greater was their downfal. Justice will pluck the unreformed from the altar of privileges. Sermons do but heat hell, and sacraments are but oil and pitch to make its flame scald and consume the more painfully. The barren oak was not so near cursing as the barren fig-tree ; nor are weeds on the dunghill so near plucking up as those in the garden : by none is the name of God so much dishonoured, mercy so much abused, hypocrisy so odiously veiled, the power of godliness so bitterly hated, as by many who have most enjoyed church privileges. Put not off' your souls therefore, dear Christians, with outward privileges, without inward grace by those privileges. What is it more to have a name to live, and to be spiritually dead, to have titular sanctity and real impiety, than for a starving man to be praised for a plentiful housekeeper? When God had bestowed upon Abram a new name, and changed it to Abraham, he gave him also a new blessing. The unprof.table under the means of grace are therefore worse than those who want those means, because they are not better. The more a ship is laden with gold, the deeper she sinks ; the more you are laden with golden privileges, the deeper, if you miscarry, will be your destruction. Though the minister's industry with- out success acquits him, yet it condemns his people. He may be sincere, yet unsuccessful; but then the people in the mean time, if unprofitable, show themselves hypocritical. You never commend your ministers but by getting the saving impressions of what they preach upon your hearts. Christ reproved the young man for ca'ling him " Good master," because, saith Calvin, he had never received any saving good from Christ. The sheep only praise the care of the careful shepherd by their wool, milk, fruitfulness, and fatness. Let it never be said that God gives the food of life to you, as a rich man gives a nurse good diet for the benefit of his child, only for the thriving of strangers. Be not as Indians, who go naked and beggarly in the midst of all their heaps of gold. Let not sermons be as jewels only to hang in your ears, but let them be locked up in the cabmets of your hearts. Considei", ordinances are never yours till you get the savour of them upon your spirits. Meat upon the table may be taken away, but not when by eating it is turned into a man's substance. Books may be stolen out of a scholar's study, but a thousand thieves can never take away the learning which he has gotten into his head by studying those books. The grace of privileges is only safe. You shall be stripped of these when you come to die, but the grace of them will stick by you for ever. Christ may say to those at the last day, " Depart," who have eaten and drunk with him, and cast out devils ; but never will he say so to those who, having eaten and drunk with him, have also eat and drunk himself, who have cast lust out of their souls, and gotten a broken heart for sin, or obtained the least dram of sanctifying grace. Oh how much is a drop of inward holiness better than a sea of outward privileges ! This book with which I here present you, is the second part of my Exposition upon the Divine and excellent Epistle of Jude. The apostle's scope in writing this Epistle was to stir X EPISTLES DEDICATORY. up these Christians to oppose those who would have seduced them to libertinism, and to contend for the faith against those who turned the grace of God into wantonness; who allowed themselves to live, or rather, like beasts, to wallow in all filthiness, under pretence of advancing free grace ; and who laboured to make the saints, by being Christians, to be- come heathens, as the apostles had made them of heathens to become Christians. The endeavour of Satan was to drive people from one extreme to another ; and since he could not, by keeping some under Judaism, cause them to deny that Christ had purchased for them any liberty at all, he most earnestly laboured, by driving them to atheism and looseness, to make them believe that now they had liberty to be as bad as they would ; and that the worse they were, the better they were ; and the lower they were in sin, the higher in Christian per* fection. And hence it was that these later Epistles, one of the last of which was this of Jude, are principally spent in opposing a feigned, workless, lifeless faith, and in administer- ing antidotes against those doctrines of profaneness and libertinism, wherewith the times grew the more infested, as the doctrine of grace grew the more to be cried up and advanced. It is now a complete year since I began to put pen to paper for preparing this second part for the press. And it might long since have been finished, had not many other employments hindered. It has cost me, I confess, some studious hours ; but the kind acceptance which the first part found from the church of God encouraged me to look beyond the difficulty of the work, and made me unwilling to leave this Commentary longer unfinished. I shall con- clude with my earnest and humble supplication to the Father of lights, that this endeavour, among others, may advance the spiritual progress of the church, and principally of you, my dear and beloved friends, so in grace here that you may be fitted for glory hereafter. So prays, sirs. Your affectionate and faithful servant, for the good of your souls, WILLIAM JENKYN. 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I BEGIN with the first part of the Epistle, the title of, or entrance into it, contained in the first two verses, which are these : Ver. 1, 2. Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ, and h-othcr of James, to them that are sanctified hy God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ, and called : mercy unto you, and peace, and love, be multiplied. This title contains three principal parts : I. The person who wrote the Epistle. II. The persons to whom he wrote it. III. The prayer: wherein the person writing sa- lutes the persons to whom he wrote. I. The person who wrote this Epistle is described these three ways. 1. From his name, Jude. 2. From his oflRce, A servant of Jesus Christ. 3. From his alliance, The brother of James. 1. The description of the penman of this Epistle from his name, Jude. In the consideration whereof I shall proceed by way of exposition, and of ob- sen'ation. (I.) The name of the author of the Epistle con- sidered by way of exposition ; wherein two things are to be opened : The signification of the name Judas, or Jude ; and, The subject of that name, or who the person was to whom it is here applied. [1.] For the signification of the name Jude. It is found fully expressed Gen. xxix. 35. The occasion of first imposing it, was Leah's apprehension of God's goodness to her, in giving her a fourth son, whom therefore she called Judah, signifying praise, confession, or celebration. She made his name a monument of her thankfulness to God for him, as also of her son's duty to live to the praise of so good a God : a fruitful wife to Jacob in children, and a fruitful daughter to God in thank- fulness. The learned Rivet well ob- serves, that in imposing this name she was directed by the Spirit of God ; this Judah being that son of Jacob, of whom Christ, according to the flesh, was to come, for whom God is principally to loc. be praised, he being the choicest gift | lu qua nomini; itii|ii)sitii'ne, non lliibito quiD earn ilireverit Spiiitus sancliis. cum lii- d;ili tucril IS gui inter .IrtCobi fitios, paler futuri Mes- xtfe conslitulus «r«l. Kiv. iu that ever God bestowed, turning every other gift into a mercy. Only those who have him, and bear him, can praise God ; to others God comparatively gives nothing, and they return nothing. God shows superlatively how rich he is, in giving his Son ; so God " loved the world, that he gave liis only begotten Son," John iii. 16. [2.] The subject of this name is to be considered, to which it is here applied. It is applied in Scrip- ture to a threefold subject. 1. To a tribe. Frequent mention is made of the tribe of Judah, I Kings xii. 20; Psal. Ixxvi. I. 2. To a country or region, 2 Chron. xx. 3; Jer. xvii. 25. 3. And properly, to persons : and so in Scripture we read of six several persons that had this name. 1. Judah the patriarch, Gen. xxix. 35. 2. Judah in whose house Saul lodged at his first conversion. Acts ix. 11. 3. Judas surnamed Barsabas, Acts xv. 22. 4. Judas of Galilee, a seditious person. Acts v. 37. 5. Judas Iscariot the traitor. Matt. x. 4; John xiv. 22. 6. Judas the apostle, the author of this Epistle. Concerning whom the Scripture intimates, besides his apostolical office and relation to James, 1. His parentage : his father being Alphaeus, spoken of Matt. x. 3; Mark iii. 18; and his mother held to be that Mary spoken of Matt, xxvii. 56 ; be- cause Alpha-US and jSIary are said to be the parents of James, to which James, in Luke vi. 16 ; Acts i. 13, and here iu this Epistle, this Judas is said to be brother. 2. The Scripture expresses a mani- i„„„,Hodecada lest distinction between limi and Judas luerumciu Iscariot, John xiv. 22, calling him Judas, not Iscariot ; taking especial care that he might not be taken for him, their hearts and persons being as diiTerent as their names were agreeable ; was sectator, the other inseclalor Domi- ni; the one following Christ as a dis- ciple, the other as a blood-hound ; one ^'" 'P^'* " psi'i-. confessed him, the other betrayed him; ('ffr'b.'"H'ar!'ir' the one carried himself according to his ^°'^' name, the other was a mere liWng contradiction tc ueu Juila^ ;je3. sere ; unus tult Sf-cl-ilor, alter in- setlaioi. Auy. ' r. 7n, in Joh. Unus noinini suo con» eiiienrei se for one f.«sit( ludas.nim t-nuresS'ireui siy- lilHiaf.) alter per antipluRsin iio- en tslii AN EXPOSITION UPON Ver. 1. his name. 'When the evangelist saith, Judas, not Iscariot, he intended a difference betwixt him and this holy Judc. 3. The Scriptnre expresses a humble question pro- pounded by him to Christ : " Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself to us, and not unto the world ? " John xiv. 22. Concerning which question, although I meet with different opinions, yet I see not why, with Musculus, we may not conceive that Jude propounded it from a humble and modest considera- tion of himself and the apostles, in partaking of the gracious manifestation of Christ to them, there being a passing by of others more famous and better ac- complished than were the disciples. A question which, thus understood, shows, 1. The freeness of him that gives; so, 2. The humility of them that receive grace ; who, instead of insulting over others that have less than themselves, admire the goodness of him that gives more to them than to others ; nay, 3. The tender-lieartedness and pity of the godly towards the souls of those wicked ones, who are commonly cruel and unkind to their bodies. 4. The Scripture expresses concerning this apostle, that he was jroXi/iJru/ioc,-, had sundry names ; for he And Acts ■ n ^^^^^ '" Luke vi. 16 is called "Judas ■toi/jat 'laKi/Jou. thc brothcr of James," is in Matt. x. 3 JuU.str,non,inis. ^.,,1^^ Lcbbsus and ThaddiEus ; the reason whereof I meet with sundry opinions among writers. 1. Some conceive that he had this diversity Jansen. Harm, of names from a usual custom among the P. '.'20. Jews, that if any name had in it three mn' or more of the letters of Jehovah, it should not be used in ordinary speech, but that some other name like it should be substituted for it. Now Judah containing in it all the four letters in the name Jehovah, (having besides the letter l) this apostle had other names by which he was ordinarily called ; but this reason seems, whatever is the superstition of the later Jews, not to have taken place in our Jude, or in any other of whom we read : the patriarch Judah, the son of Jacob, had no other name than Judah bestowed upon him by his mother or friends, nor did the cus- tom a])pear upon Judas Iscariot. 2. Others conceive that these names were conferred upon him, to distin- guish him from Judas (of the same name) the traitor, grown detestable for his execrable fact and heinous treason ; for which cause our apostle may in the title ijirin. in loc. p. of this Epistle style himself also " thc depreh'f'mirSi- ^^other of Jamcs ;" the name of Judas nere fere tiirisii- being SO odious in the church, that, as do°et' usurpair.'io ^ Icamed man observes, though a good SCxTcrab/ie'imc "''^^'^ '" ^^^^'f' Christians have in all nonieii ciirisiia- agcs abstained from imposing it, and prodWo.'em'^'"" that Very rarely is it to be found men- judafaciam. tioued in any liistory. And there seems to be an exact care in the evangelist, that when this holy apostle was named, John xiv. 22, he might not be taken for the traitor, speaking thus, " Judas, not Iscariot." Nor was it any change of his name that answered the purpose ; for it was no less wisely than piously heeded, that those other names, Thaddeeus and Lebbajus, should be suitable to the person upon From ihe Heb. wliom they Were bcstowcd ; Thaddsus _ min signifying in the Syriac the same thing, praise or confession, with Judah in Hebrew ; the imposers of this name intimating the videaniur Junius constancy of this holy man in confessing Maif '*°'' '" '° Christ, what name soever he had. Nor Jansen. c. "!9. Can it bc tliouglit, but that the other jus'ilm/in'toc'. name, Lebbaeus, was applied fitly and Lorin. in '.x. Suitably to him, as being derived either from the Hebrew word Labi, which signifies a lion, (the emblem of another H'a') Judah, Gen. xlix. 9, of which tribe this Jude was,) to show his holy resolution and courage i.co dicitur a ni for God, in opposing sin and the ene- ^'id'atus's'eu''ani- mies of the truth, even as with a lion- "'JJ^J'?-.^"""'^^'' like heart ; or from the Hebrew word sent'ia animi im- Leb, which signifieth a heart: thereby fnim'^edes' esi'et denoting (say some) that he was a man sjinboium romiu- of much wisdom and understanding in tomenes. qui to- his place and conduct ; for he who was pTeSrat'audac'i'ie of greatest discretion and prudence, miracuio. post ^c 1 . 1 i T_ n J ninrleindisseclus, was formerly accustomed to be called inventus est iia- Corcidum, from cor, a heart; and a wise, ^"|' fi";,,',"',^'" understanding man is usually termed Pim. lib. ii.c.37. liomo cordahm, a man with a heart : or , S^''''"',"'" '''"" . , ' , ^ , , I'ant anfiqiu so- denoting (say otners) that he was cor- leitem etacutum. dis cuUor, a man that laboured much cactus etp'ruii^n's'! about his heart, studying diligently its |i',';;''"'pi'||,'^Y''f' purity and sanctifying. This for the iai..'3i. Uniie expository part of the first thing con- prndTnHam'hi's"'' siderable in the description of the pen- consul, appdia- - . . T-, . ,, • 1 . ^ tusest Coirnlum. man 01 this Lpistle, viz. his name. Cic. Xusc. 1. (2.) From the sameness or commonness of the name Judas to a holy apostle, and a perfidious traitor, toge- ther with that seditious Galilean, I observe, 1 . That names commend us not to God, nor conduce any thing to our true happiness. Many who have holy and blessed names come much short of j^edeHah. them,asAdonijah, Judas, &c. Absalom Jehoahaz. signifies, the father's peace ; but he that was so called, proved his father's trouble. On the other side, many have unpromising and infamous names, who are ex- cellent persons, and have lost nothing thereby. It is not a holy name, but a holy nature, that makes a holy man. No outward titles or privileges profit theenjoyer; " neither circumcision, nor •|,p„',„„„o, aii- uncircumcision, but a new creature." A quando maii, .1.1 c ' ovaiDvvuoi ali- peasant may nave the name 01 a prince ; quando boni. a traitor, the name of a holy apostle. f,l,^Z"^""Sc\°' It is all one with God to call thee holy, onibus pritjndi- and to make thee so. Oh, beg of him qniin se"vi'. Re im nominibus ^ nam servi. Re inward renovation, more than outward f.J'su'it'a",™'"']'"'! estimation; otherwise, a great name for cut. Mart, r. 7. holiness will prove hut a great plague hereafter. Hell is a wicked Judas's own place. A good name with an unchanged nature, is but white feathers upon a black skin. A great privilege unsanctified is a great punishment. Obs. 2. That wicked men make the best names and things odious by their unholy carriage. Judas the traitor makes the name Judas by many to be de- spised. Eli's sons made the people to abhor the Lord's offering, 1 Sam. ii. 17. God tells the people, that they had profaned his holy name, while the heathen said, " These are the people of the Lord," Ezek. xxxvi. 20. Scandalous Christians have brought an odium upon Christianity. It is tlie duty therefore of those who are conversant about holy things to be holy ; to tremble lest any should think the worse of ordinances, of tne ministry, or of sanctity, for them. The blood of seeming saints will not wash away the scandal they have brought upon true sanctity, nor make amends for the evil report which they have brought upon the Canaan of godliness ; and yet we should take heed of thinking the worse of holiness, or of any way of God, for the wickedness of any person whatever. Eli's sons sinned in making the people abhor the Lord's offering; and yet the text saith the people sinned too in abhorring it, 1 Sam. ii. 24. Obs. 3. That our baptismal names ought to be such as may prove remembrancers of duty. Leah and Alphreus, in imposing names on their children, made use of such as might induce parents and children an- other day to seek holiness. God called Abram Abra- ham, to strengthen his faith : Hannah gave the name Vee. 1. THE EPISTLE OF JUDE. of Samuel to her son, 'because he was a son of prayer. It is good to impose such names as express our bap- tismal promise. A good name is a thread tied about the finger, to make us mindful of the errand ive came into the world to do for our Master. Obs. 4. That ministers, especially, ought so to be- have themselves, as that they may not be ashamed of their names. That their name prefixed may be a crown, a credit to their writings ; that whensoever their names are spoken of, the nearer may bless them : that their names may be as a sweet perfume to their actions. Many Christians' names are so odious, that what they say or do is blemished, because it comes from them : it had been good if it had been another's. He is a dead man among the li\'ing that has a hate- ful name. It is a great mercy when our names out- live lis ; it is a great punishment when we outlive our names. They that honour God shall have the spirit of glor)' rest upon them. He that is a Jude, a confessor of Christ, shall never want that honour. Obs. 5. That we should not do that to which we are ashamed or afraid to own or put our names. I deny not but in some cases it may be lawful to change our names, or forbear to mention them, either by tongue or pen ; but then we should not be driven to such straits by the badness of our actions, as the most are, so as to be ashamed to own them ; but by the consideration of God's glory, or the church's good, or our own necessary preservation in time of persecu- tion, which maybe the more advanced by concealing our names. Thus Bucer, in times of trouble for the gospel, called Aretius, Felinus. Calvin's Institutions were printed under the name of Alcuinus. But these did not conceal themselves for sin, but for safety ; nor yet so much for safety as for God's glory. I pass from the name, and proceed to describe, 2. The author of tliis Epistle, in his office, A ser- vant of Jesus Clirist. Of this, by way of explication, and of observation. For explication. Here two points are to be open- ed. In what respect Jude was the servant of Christ ? and why he here so styles himself ? [1.] In what respect Jude was the servant of Christ ? He was so in three respects. 1. In respect of creation and sustention, as are all creatures. All are thy servants, from the highest angel to the lowest worm, Psal. cxix.91. "All things were created by him, and for him, and by him all things consist," Col. i. 16, 17. The world is but his family, altogether at his finding : should he shut his hand, the house would be famished : if he withdraw his maintenance, the world would fall. 2. In respect of redemjition from the power of sin and Satan, Heb. ii. 15 ; from their condemning and destroying power, Rom. ^-iii. 1 ; from their corrupt- ing and defiling power. And that this was a re- demption calculated to make us seri'ants to the Redeemer, Rom. vi. 18; Eph. vi. 6, appears, in that it was not only by conquest, and vindication from our enemies, Luke i. 7-1 ; as the conqueror might have destroyed us as well as taken us, or destroyed them, in which respect, according to all usage and equit}-, we ought to be for ever his servants ; but a redemp- tion also by purchase, the Lord Jesus having paid no less price than his own precious blood, 1 Pet. i. 18, 19. From which consideration the apostle strongly argues, that we are not our ow-n, but serve for the glorifying of another, 1 Cor. vi. 20. 3. This apostle was the servant of Christ, more pe- culiarly, by way of special office and function. Christ himself, Moses, David, Cyrus, Zerubbabel, &c., were called God's servants ; so are the prophets in the Old, the apostles and ministers in the New Testament called servants. Although it is granted that the apostles were gen'ants in a different way from other ministers, both vrith. respect to the manner of their calling, which was by immediate mission and appoint- ment from God, and also to the extent of their power, which was not confined to one place, but granted to them for planting and governing churches in any part of the world. In which respect, some think, they are called the salt of the earth. On account of this function, and office of apostle- ship, Jude principally calls himself a servant of Christ ; though not barely and solely on accoimt of God's calling him to it, but in respect also of his own diligence and faithfulness in endeavouring to dis- charge his office to which he was called : as Peter exhorts, 1 Pet. iv. 10; and, as Paul speaks, Christ keeps no servants only to wear a livery, 1 Cor. ix. 16. As he is not a titular Lord, so neither are his ser\-ant3 titular sen^ants. All their expressions of service reach not the emphasis either of their desires or duty. [2.] The thing to be opened secondly, is the cause why the apostle here styleth himself the senant of Christ. Some think, to show his humility and modesty. He who might have used the title cither of apostle, or brother of the Lord, rather contents himself with this note of duty and service common to every Christian. Others, better, for the confirming and comforting himself in his work; because his Lord whom he served, and had set him on work, would stand by him, both in protecting his person and prospering his work. Others, and those upon clearest grounds, conceive that the apostle here embraces this title of servant on account of others, that his doctrine might with more respect and readiness be received by those to whom he wrote ; seeing that he was called to his work, and that by such a Master, whose service added not more dignity to him, than it required duty from them. This for explication : the obser\"ations follow. Obs. 1. They who undertake any public employ- ment for Christ, must receive a call from him to be his sen-ants, if with comfort to themselves, or benefit to others, they will go about his work. It is a great shame, if all who are prophets are not the Lord's people ; but it is a gross error to think that all the Lord's people are ministerially prophets. Their being the Lord's people makes them fit to hear, but not fit to preach ; fit sheep, not fit shepherds. Sup- pose that, which constant experience contradicts, they have the fitness of gifts, have they therefore a suffi- cient call to preach by way of office, and ministry ? Is it enough, to be a king's sen'ant, or a nobleman's steward, for a person to have abilities to discharge those places ? is there not required commission or call also ? and are not ministers called servants and stewards ? At this time I doubt it would hardly be accounted true doctrine, that every one who has military gifts, courage and policy, may be a com- mander of a regiment, or captain of a troop, and that he might gather his followers without commission. Is it enough for a man to be a prince's ambassador, because he has sufficient gifts, for wit, and good ex- pression, &c. ? must not the king also give him the authority to be an ambassador ? Is every one who can run a messenger? must he not be sent likewise? Besides, whosoever has a commission to preach has a commission to baptize, as is plain from Matt. xx\nii. 19. Preaching and baptizing reaching alike the ministry of all ages. But has every gifted man such a commission ? Further, does not our Saviour, Matt. X. 41, clearly distinguish between a righteous man and a prophet? if they had been all one, wliy would he have done so ? and if gifts make a minister, is it 4 AN EXPOSITION UPON Ter. 1. not as tnie that gifts make a magistrate ? and then every one who had understanding and other good governing parts were a lord mayor. Nay, then why might not women preach, (as lately they have done,) many of whom have better gifts than some men ? And how could that agree mth the apostolical pro- hibition for women to speak in the church ? Besides, all who are called to preach are bound to increase their gifts, by giving attendance to reading, to doctrine, and by giving themselves wholly to these things, which cannot be done, unless earthly occupa- tions are laid aside : but gifted men are not bound to this ; so they have not this call which they pretend. To conclude, every one that hath this ministerial call, has that pastoral care lying upon him, mentioned Heb. xiii. I/, To watcli over souls as those that must give an account with joy, and not with grief: but this can in no wise be said of every one who is a gifted man ; and therefore gifted persons, as such, must forsake their pretended claim to a ministerial call. Nor can it be evinced, because the apostle says, All may prophesy, 1 Cor. xiv. 31, therefore every gifted person may preach. For, besides that the gift of prophecy was extraordinarily bestowed in that age of the church, not procured by study and industry, but immediately conferred by the Spirit upon some, as were also miracles, the gift of healing, and diversities of tongues, all which are now ceased, it is most plain, that the word all in that place is not to be taken in its full latitude, as if all the men, or every believer in the church of Corinth, might stand up and prophesy, for that is expressly contrary to 1 Cor. xii. 29, where by an interrogation the apostle vehemently denies that all are prophets ; but it is to be taken restrictively, to those that were in office, and set by God in the church for that purpose, as the apostle speaks, " God hath set some in his church, first apostles, secondarily prophets," &c. 1 Cor. xii. 28. Other cavils are weaker than deserve to be men- tioned ; as, to argue from that place, that because women are forbid to speak in the church, therefore any man may speak, 1 Cor. xiv. 34. What greater strength is in this argimient than to reason thus : Because no woman may be a justice of peace, there- fore every man may ? Because no woman may speak publicly, therefore some men must, (namely, such as are in office,) had been a much better consequence. Nor is there more strength in that allegation of Moses's wish, that all the Lord's people were pro- phets, to prove that all might prophesy; for in his desiring that all might be prophets, he includes a re- quired condition, that they might be called by God to that emplojTnent. Obs. 2. Alliance in faith, spiritual relation to Christ, is much dearer and nearer than alliance in flesh. Jude might have called himself a near kins- man to Christ, or Christ's brother, as indeed he was, and was so accounted. Matt. xiii. 55, as much as James, who is called the Lord's brother. Gal. i. 19 ; but that wliich includes a spiritual relation is to him much sweeter : to be a ser\-ant of Christ is more de- sirable than to be a brother of Christ, ^\'hat had it profited to have been his kinsman, unless his servant ? Many who were his kinsmen according to the flesh, wanted the honour of this spiritual affinity ; but such of them who had this honour bestowed upon them, had all their other glory swallowed up in this, as Christ expressed himself. He is my brother, and sister, and mother. Blessed be God, that this great privi- lege is not denied to us even now ; though we cannot see him, yet love him we may ; though we have not his bodily presence, yet we are not denied the spirit- ual ; though he be not ours in house, in arms, in affinity, yet in heart, in faith, in love, in service he is. Obs. 3. There is a peculiar excellency and worth in the title of sers'ant, with which our apostle, and others before him, were so frequently delighted. It might fiu-nish them and us with a fivefold consider- ation full of sweet delight. (1.) That he much honours us. To serve Christ is to reign. It is more honour to serve Christ than to ser\'e emperors ; nay, than to have emperors serve us ; for, indeed, all things do so. (2.) That he will assist us in our works : if he gives cm])loyment, he will give endow- ments too; if an errand, a tongue; if work, a hand; if a burden, a back : " I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me," saith Paul. And herem he goes beyond all other masters, who can toil and task their servants sufficiently, but can- not strengthen them. (3.) That he will preserve us. He will keep us in all our ways ; and surely then he will so in all his own work. Safety evermore ac- companies duty. His mercy is over all his works, but peculiarly over all his workers. Men are never in danger but when they leave working. Jonah was well enough till he attempted to run away from his Master. When our enemies do us the greatest hurt, they remove us above hurt. A servant of Christ may be sick, persecuted, scorned, imprisoned, but never unsafe ; he may lose his head, but not one hair of his head perish. (4.) That he will provide for us. He can live without servants, but these cannot live without a Master. Verily his family-servants shall be fed. The servants of Christ shall want no good thing: if they are without some things, there is nothing they can want ; they shall have better, and enough of better. Can he that has a mine of gold want pebbles ? Can it be that a ser\'ant of Christ should want provision, when God can make his very work meat and drink to him ? nay, when God can make his wants meat and drink ? How can he want, or be tnily without any thing, whose friend has and is all .' No good thing shall they want, nothing that may fit them for and further them in duty. It is true they may be without clogs, snares, hinderances ; but those things are not good which hinder the chief good. If God gave them, he would feed his servants witli husks, nay, with poison. (5.) That lie will re- ward them. The Lord gives grace and glory : great is their reward in heaven ; nay, great is their reward on earth. There is a reward in the very work ; but God will bestow a further recompence hereafter. We should not serve him for, but he will not be served uilhout wages, even such as will weigh down all our work, all oiu' woes. Oh the folly of them that either prefer that ci-uel and dishonourable service of sin, before the sweet and glorious seiTice of Christ ; or that, being servants to Christ, improve it not for their comfort in all their distresses ! Obs. 4. We owe to God the duty and demeanour of sen'ants. (1.) To seri-e him solely, not serving sin or Sa- tan at all, nor man in opposition to Christ; not ser\'ing ourselves or the times. Matt. \'i. 24. Who keep servants to serve others, enemies ? Christ and sin are contrary masters ; contrary in work, and therefore it is an impossibility to serve both ; con- trary in wages, and therefore it is an infinite folly to serve sin. (2.) Christ must be ser\-ed obediently, submissively, [1.] In bearing when he corrects. A beaten servant nnist not strike again, nor word it with his master: we must accept of the punishment of our iniquities. It is chalf that flies in tjie face of him that fanneth. [2.] We must be submissive sers'ants, in being content with our allowance, in forbearing to enjoy what we would, as well as bearing what we would not : the Ver. 1. THE EPISTLE OF JUDE. proper work of a servant is to wait. Stay thy Mas- ter's pleasure for any comfort. All his ser\-ants will have what they want, and therefore should be con- tent with what they have. The standing wages are set, the vails are uncertain. [3.] Submissive in not doing what we please, not going beyond our rule, our order. Ministers are his servants, and therefore must not make laws in his house, either for them- selves or others, but keep laws ; not of themselves 'ay down what they publish, but publish what he has laid down, ^iinisters are not owners of the house, but stewards in the house. Laws are com- mitted to us. and must not be framed by us. No servant must do what is right in his own eyes. [4.] Submissive in doing whatever the Master please. Not picking out this work, or rejecting that : nothing must come amiss to a sers'ant. We must not examine what the service is which is commanded, but who the Master is that commands. We must not prefer one thing before another; or refuse a service that most crosses our inclinations, or opposes our ease and interest. A servant must come at every call, and say. Lord, I hear every command. Acts x. 33. [5.] We must seri'e Christ obediently in doing what is commanded, because it is commanded : this is to scn"e for conscience' sake. If the eye be not to the command, the senant acts not with obedience, though the thing be done wliich is commanded ; nay, it is possible a work, for the matter, agreeable to the command, may yet be an act of disobedience, in respect of the intention of the performer. Oh how sweet is it to eye a precept in every performance ! to pray, hear, preach, give, because Christ bids me ! RIany do these works for the wages ; this is not to be obedient: they sell their ser\-ices, not submit in service. (3.) Christ must be served heartily. W^e must not be o^^aX/iofaXoi, eye-ser^^ants, we must " do the will of God from the heart," Eph. vi. 6 ; Col. iii. 2.3. Paul speaks of serving God in the spirit, Rom. i. 9. There are many complimental sers-ants of Christ in the world, who place their ser\-ice in saying. Thy serv- ant, thy servant, Lord ; lip servants, but not life, heart servants ; such as the apostle speaks of, Gal. vi. 12, that sip?rpo(Twjr^(7ai, make a show only, but the heart of a service is wanting. The heart makes the service sacrificiutn medultatum, the marrow of a performance. Bodily service is but like the fire in the bush, that appeared to burn, but did not ; or like the glow-worm in the night, that shines, hut heats not : these only act service, but are no servants ; ser\'ants only in profession. To those who would not profess Christ seriously, Christ will hereafter pro- fess seriously, " I never knew you : depart from me, ye that work iniquity," Matt. vii. 23. (4.) Christ must be ser\-ed cheerfully, Psal. xl. 8. He, as he was his Father's servant, delighted to do his will; it was his meat and his drink, John iv. 34. God loveth a cheerful servant in every piece of ser- vice, 2 Cor. ix. 7. This makes the service pleasing to Master and seri'ant too ; acceptable to the former, easy to the latter. Nothing is hard to a willing mind ; willingness is the oil to the wheel. A servant _- „ ■ . cheerful at his work is as free as his Domiuis iiberi master : it his master make him not t":-;,'",'^ 'qui free, he makes himself free. The »"'• him, so particularly Lusebius, in his tirj ■)6m_-iTf,oi!_Kir second book, chap. i. and xxii. For '^""aniTauZ' his holiness he was called the Just, one ^"''J'i' ^"/' that was much in fasting and prayer iitp^ox;,!, tTi^ for the pardon of that sinful people the tT\°i-fo%"L''. Jews : with his frequent and long pray- ^'f • . '.'^''v 'f'v mg his knees were hard. Ine Jews Ouiei. iwi ^pa- were generally much convinced of his fa"J'\'iyJi.'! iiZ holiness ; insomuch, as the enemies of paKaWo. Krpje Christ hoped, if they could procure him aiToiu^^tia^Vi to deny Christ, that most of those who E°i.'sfb.''iib!''ii. c. professed, would abandon the faith of 22. Christ. 2. For his death : The scribes and Pharisees earnestly besought him to disclaim Christ openly ; j and to that end they set him upon the temple, that in the sight and audience of the people he might declare that Jesus was not Christ. But to admiration he professed his own faith in Clirist, telling the multitudes that Christ was in heaven " at the right hand of God," and that in the clouds he should come again to judge the world ; with which profes- sion his enemies, being enraged, cast him down from the temple, and afterwards murdered him, he before his death praying that God would pardon their sin unto them. The same author, and also Josephus, lib. XX. Antiq. cap. 8, testifies that those who were of the wiser sort thought that this detestable fact was that which shortly after drew down (he judgment of God, to the utter destruction of that bloody city Jerusalem, that had, among others, butchered so holy a man. Thus far Eusebius. Though I do not relate this as canonical, yet nei- ther do I look upon it as fabulous, it being by many famous and godly writers testified. And this for the first particular to be explained. Who this James was. (2.) Why Jude styles himself the brother of this James. Of which I find two reasons given, both probable, 1. That he might difl'erence himself from others of that name, especially Judas Iscariot ; of which also the Scripture seems to take especial care. Hence he is spoken of with the addition of " not; Iscariot," John xiv. 22, this traitor's name having grown de- testable ; on account of which it is geiLerally con- Ver. I. THE EPISTLE OF JUDE. ceived that he had the names of ThadHsus and Leb- bfEus put upon him, Mark iii. 18; Matt x. 3 (as was before noted) : and thus he wisely preserves him- self and Epistle from undue prejudice, and by the clearness of his person prevents dislike of his per- formance. 2. He expressed this near relation between him- self and James, because this apostle James being better known than himself, of lligh estimation and reputation in the church, commonly known by the title of the Lord's brother, respected by Peter, Acts xii. 17, famous for his sanctity of life, accounted a pillar in the church, Gal. ii. 9, president of the coun- cil of Jerusalem, Jude mi^ht hereby win attention and credit to himself and nis Epistle from those to whom he wrote. And this is the reason that (Ecu- menius writes to this effect : The fame v?nu"m'lpu,'°'' of James for his \'irtue would put the omnes fama ef- greater authority upon Jude's doctrine ; hiijus apos(oii especially when it should be seen that d?iorermijoi'<.m' J"'''^ '^^'^s as near him in his practices iMi)erei auiiiorira- and Conversation, as in blood and kin- a'iimiiis'i".''"?'''" dred. Besides, by the naming of James qufeei'tr" et s'li- '^"'^^ ^o much rcspect, it could not be fuinercignaiuses- imagined but that he consented with roi;'nau"inon'h"s,* him in that wholcsomc doctrine for sert sub uiio Do- -(vhich Jamcs was famous in the church ; cvus. iii.m servi- and yet though our apostle provides lor fralrer&c.'" ""° the acceptation of his doctrine, neither he nor his brother James ambitiously advance their own reputation ; both of tliem, though the Lord's brethren, contenting themselves with that humble, though indeed truly honourable, title of the ser\'ant of Jesus Christ. I come to the obsen'ations flowing from his using this title of the brother of James. Obs. 1. How needful is it for a minister to be of an untainted reputation ! Jude provides for it, both by making it known how far he was from Iscariot, and how near to James. A bishop must be of good report, saith Paul, 1 Tim. iii. 7. It is necessary for his own salvation that he should be good ; and for the salvation of others, that he should be accounted so. How great was Paul's care that the gospel should not be blamed ! 2 Cor. \\. 3. Some- times the people are induced to love the word by the worth of the minister ; though we should love the minister for the word. A cracked bell is not good to call men together, nor is a minister of cracked reputation fit to persuade others to holiness. To have all speak well of us, is not more impossible than suspicious. When Anlislhenes the Athenian heard that some unworthy men highly commended him, he said, I fear I have done some evil that I know not of. And another would frequently say. Would we know a man, we should observe the life of him that praiscth him. Rarely will one praise him that takes contrary courses to himself. But this should be the care of the best, to keep himself from being spoken of reproachfully and truly at the same time by the worst. Nor is it less the sin of people to blemish the name of him that deserves well, than it is the sin of any one to deserve ill. The apostle is tender of re- ceiving an accusation against an elder: certainly, he who is so much against receiving, would be much more against thieving. Obs. 2. It is lawful to use human helps for the ad- vantage of truth. This help, the title of "the brother of James," was warrantably prefixed. Paul, where the fruit of his ministry was hazarded by omitting titles, mentions them at large ; as to the Corinthians and Galatians, 1 Cor. ix. I ; Gal. i. I ; and where concealment of his titles might do as well, or better, he omits them, as in both the Epistles to the Thes- salonians : the like is requisite for us. In these things ministers should consider what tends most to the benefit of souls. I have known ministers of great learning and worth, who have been despicable among idiots, because birth, or university degrees, or alli- ance, have not commended them; perhaps they had not a James to their brother. The heathen's testi- monies are not refused by the apostle to advantage truth, I Cor. xv. 33; Tit. i. 12; Acts xvii. 28. If naming a father in a sermon tends more to osten- tation than edification, it may better be forborne, otherwise be lawfully used. Human authority was an introduction to Austin's faith ; afterward, as the Samaritans, he believed upon firmer grounds. Cer- tainly, we never so well improve our human advan- tages, as when Christ is advanced by them. How sweet to observe ministers set Christ upon their names, titles, parts, reading ! Obs. 3. The beauty of consent and agreement be- tween the ministers of Christ, eillier in doctrine or affection. Both these the prefixing of James's name argued between him and Jude. Readily and rashly to dissent from other faithful and approved ministers of Christ is not like our apostle's carriage. Indeed, we must not admire men too much, though of greatest learning and piety ; not so affect unity, as to forsake verity ; or so follow men, as to forget God. The best men in the world are but rules regulated, not regulating : we must only so far set our watch according to theirs, as they set theirs according to the Sun. Satan endures no mediocrity : all ministers he represents as dwarfs or giants, none of a middle stature ; either they must be worshipped, or stoned. Avoid we both extremes ; neither proudly dissenting from, nor imprudently assenting to them, either in practice or opinion. Their gifts must neither be adored nor obscured ; their falls and slips neither aggravated nor imitated : we must avoid both sequa- eiousness to follow them in any thing, and singularity to dislike them in every thing. The middle way of a holy, Scripture consent, joining in what we may, and meekly forbearing in what we may not, is a gracious temper. Ministers must not so study to have midtitudes of followers, as to scorn to have any companions ; to \-ilify others for the advancement of themselves; to build up their own reputation upon the ruin of another's. Consent as much as may be, is no more than should be. If ministers labour after a holy peace with all men, much more with one anotlier : there is not more beauty than strength in their union. How pleasant is it to read Peter men- tioning his agreement with his beloved brother Paul, 2 Pet. iii. 15 ; that Paul who had withstood him to the face ! Gal. ii. II. There is no repugnancy in Scripture ; why should there be betwixt them that handle it? If the penmen of the Scripture are at peace in writing, ministers must not be at war in preaching : they must not seek more their praise for wit, than the profit of souls. When children fall out in interpreting their father's will, the orphans' patrimony becomes the lawyer's booty. Heretics are the gainers by the di\dsions of them who should explain the word of Christ. The dissension of mi- nisters is the issue of pride. If there must be strife, let it be in this, who shall be foremost in giving honour ; if emulation, in this, who should win most souls to Christ, not admirers to themselves. It is good to use our own parts, and not to contemn others. The apostles in the infancy of their calling were not without pride ; Christ laboured to allay it both by precept and example. Obs. 4. Grace and holiness are not only ornaments to the person himself who is endowed with them, but even to those who are related to him. The holiness s AN EXPOSITION UPON Ver. 1 of the child is an ornament to the father, that of the father to the chihl, the grace of the husband to the wife ; the holiness of one brother beautifies another. It is true, every one must live by his own faith : it is a folly to boast of the holiness of our parents, and neglect it ourselves : if thy father be holy for him- self and thee too, he shall go to heaven for himself and thee too. The grace of thy friends doth not be- get grace in thee, but beautify it. The saints have oil of grace little enough for their own lamps ; and where holiness is abhorred by the child, that of the parent is but an addition to the child's shame and punishment, in being so unlike him spiritually, whom he resembles naturally. It was but a poor privilege for the Jews to have Abraham for their natural, and the devil for their spiritual father : but when a child, a brother, a wife, love and labour for that grace which those of near relation have attained, it is their honour and ornament, that they who are near them are nearer to God. Indeed, it is often seen that they who have most spiritual loveliness have least love from us. The godly want not beauty, but carnal friends want eyes. A blind man is unmeet to judge of colours : how possilile is it to entertain angels, and not to know it ! The love of grace in another requires more than nature in oneself. Blood is thicker (we say) than water ; and truly the blood of Christ beautifying any of our friends and children, should make us prefer them before those, between whom and us there is only a watery relation of na- ture. But how great a blemish often doth the grace- lessness, the unholiness of a parent, a husband, a brother, bring upon those who are nearly related to them ! It is a frequent question that was propounded by Saul to Abner, Whose son is this stripling ? 1 Sam. xvii. 56. How disgraceful is such an answer as this ; The son of drunkard, a murderer, an oppressor, a traitor, a whoremaster ! Love to our friends, our posterity, &c., as well as to ourselves, should make us love grace. Thus much for the third and last particular in the description of the author of this Epistle, " The brother of James ; " and so for the first part of the title of the Epistle, the description of the penman of it. Hence follows, II. A description of those persons to \\hom he wrote ; which persons are described from a threefold privilege : They are sanctified by God the Father, preserved in Jesus Christ, and called. I . The first branch of this description is. They are sanctified Vjy God the Father ; wherein I consider two particulars : The sort or kind of the privilege bestowed upon them, viz. sanctification, "To them that are sanctified." The author thereof, or by whom it was bestowed, " By God the Father." (1.) Of the kind of privilege, sanctification. Of which I shall speak by way of explication, and ob- servation. [I.] Of the privilege, sanctification, by way of ex- position, t'lytaa/ihoig, " To them that are sanctified." Beza speaks of two copies that read it T/yaTrjj^sroif' and from thence the Vulgate renders it Dilectis, To them tliat are beloved of God the Father; which manner of speech, as Beza well remarks, is unusual in Scrip- ture, which speaks of us being for and in Christ be- loved of the Father. And Estius, though a papist, acknowledges that the former reading, sanctified, is not only more pure, but more suitable to the scope and drift of the apostle, who by calling them sancti- fied, would deter them from, and make them take heed of, those unholy and impure seducers against whom he was now about to write. The word here used by the apostle admits of and signifies in Scripture several kinds of sanctifica- tion : as, 1. Sanctification by w-ay of destination or separa- tion. To this purpose the Greeks use the word d^opi J<.j, i. e. when things are separated to a holy use : so the Ijord sanctified the sabbath day, by separating it from other days, and appointing it for the duties of his own service. Thus also the tabernacle, Exod. xxix. 44, the temple, 1 Kings ix. .3 ; 2 Chron. vii. 16 ; the first-born, Wt;re sanctified. God commands Mo- ses to sanctify all the first-born, Exod. xiii. 2 ; which he explains, ver. 12, "Thou shalt set apart unto the Lord all that openeth the matrix." 2. There is a sanctification by way of celebration, acknowledging, manifestation, declaration of the goodness of a thing : thus the creature sanctifies tlie name of the Creator, " They shall sanctify my name, and sanctify the Holy One of Jacob," Isa. xxix. 23. 3. Sanctification byway of fruition, comfortable use, and blessed enjoyment of the gifts of God : so, " The unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife," 1 Cor. vii. 14; and, Every creature of God is sanctified, 1 Tim. iv. 5. 4. Sanctification by way of application ; to apply a thing to such a holy use as God appointed : so we sanctify the sabbath, Exod. xx. 8, i. e. employ it to the holy use for which God ordained it. 5. By exhibition, introduction, or bestowing actual holiness ; by putting holiness really and properly into one. This the Creator only can do to his crea- ture : this God doth by his Spirit, which is called the Holy Ghost, and the Spirit of sanctification, 2 Thess. ii. 13. And thus man particularly is sanctified or made holy three ways : (1.) Of not holy negatively: and so Christ as he was man was sanctified ; for there was a time when- as Christ had not this holiness in his human nature, when his human nature was not. (2.) Of not holy privately : and so man that had lost totally his holiness, is made holy by regeneration or effectual vocation. (3.) Of less holy; and so God's children are sanc- tified, by being enabled to the exercise of an actual mortifying of sin, and living in holiness, with pro- ceeding in both. The sanctification here spoken of presupposes the second, afterward in the word " called" more particu- larly to be handled ; and intends the third, namely, the actual exercise of the abolition of our natural corruption, and the renovation of God's image in us, begun in grace here, and perfected in glory hereafter. So that this sanctification stands in an actual putting off of corrupt qualities ; a putting on the new and sanctified. A burial ; a resurrection. A mortifica- tion of the old; a vivification of the new man. One thing is destroyed and pulled down ; another set up. A taking away of what is redundant ; an addition of what is wanting. The killing power of the cross ; the quickening power of the resurrection of Christ, Eph. iv. 22—24; Col. iii. !l, 10; Gal. ii. 20; v. 24; Kom. vi. 5, 8; Gal. vi. 14; Col. iii. 5; Eph. ii. I. 1. Mortification of the old man is the first part of sanctification, whereby the strength, power, and tyranny of sin is weakened, and more and more abolished : like John Baptist, it decreases ; like old folks in a house, who are going out of the world, and crowded out, as it were, by the younger, the heirs. The living of the old man is only as a clog and eye- sore to the new. This work of mortification stands principally in these three acts, or degrees of acting: An act of dis- cerning; detesting; destroying sin, the sovil's enemy. Knowing causeth hatred ; and hatred puts us upon seeking the destruction of an enemy. Ver. 1. THE EPISTLE OF JUDE. ( 1 .) An act of discerning. Sin may hurt us when we know it not ; but we do not hate it unless we know it. Sin always had deformity, but we had not always eyes to see it. It was Leah that lay by Jacob all night, but he discerned her not till the morning. Sin is now discovered as it is, not as it is coloured over by Satan. Sin is uncomely only to a renewed understand- ing. Nature never sets up a light to discover its own deformities. Of others it is often said, They know not what they do : in understanding they are children, nay, brutes ; they see with Satan's spectacles. But a renew- ed mind discerns between things that differ, looks upon the old bosom favourite as a traitor : there are new apprehensions of the old man. The apostle not with- out an emphasis speaks of those things whereof we are now ashamed ; noii; not formerly : nay, hereto- fore sin was gloried in ; but now the soul sees it is not only unsafe, and its own death, but unsuitable, and was the death of Christ. It was striking at me, saith a gracious heart, but Christ stepped between me and the blow. Herein stands sin's great de- formitv, as that of drunkenness in a man's wounds. (2.) Detestation. The eye increases loathing. It cannot meet this ugly guest in any corner of the house, but the heart rises against it : this hatred of evil, Psal. xcvii. 10, is more than of hell ; it is a kill- ing look that the soul casts upon every coiTuption. He that hateth his brother is a man-slayer ; he that hateth his lust is a sin-slayer : not he that hateth the sins or practices of his brother, but the person of his brother ; so, not he that hateth the effects and fruits of sin, but the nature of sin ; not he that hateth sin for hell, but as hell. Every evil, by how much the nearer it is, by so much the more it is hated. An evil, as it is so to our estate, names, children, wife, life, soul, as impendent, adjacent, incumbent, inherent, admits of several degrees of hatred : sin is an inward, a soul foe. Love turned into hatred becomes most bitter : brethren's divisions are hardest to reconcile : the soul's old love is turned into new hatred ; the very ground sin treads upon is hated. There is a kind of hatred of oneself for sin ; every act that sin hath a hand in is hated, our very duties for sin's intermixing with them ; and we are angry with ourselves that we can hate it no more. (3.) This hatred puts forth itself in labouring the destruction of sin. Love cannot be hid, neither can tliis hatred. The soul seeks the death of sin by these ways and helps. [1.] By lamentation to the Lord, when we feel its strength with the apostle, " O wretched man that I am ! " was there ever a soul so sin-pestered ! Ah, woe is me. Lord, that I am compelled to be chained to this block ! Never did a slave in Egypt or Turkey so sigh under bondage, as a mortifying soul docs under cor- ruption. The sorrows of others are outward, shallow, in the eye, the look ; but these are in the bottom of the soul, deep sorrows. It is tnie, a man may give a louder cry at the drawing of a tooth, than ever he did pining under the deepest consumption ; but yet the consumption, which is the harbinger of death, afflicts him much more ; and though outward worldly grief, as for the death of a child, &c., may be more intense and expressive, yet grief for sin is more deep, close, sticking, oppressive to the soul, than all other sorrows : the soul of a saint, like a sword, may be melted, when the outward man, the scabbard, is whole. [2.] The soul of a sin-subduer fights against sin with the cross of Christ, and makes the death of Christ the death of sin; (L) By depending on bis death as the meritorious cause of sin's subduing, of sanctification and cleansing, Eph. v. '25, 26. Christ's purifying us being upon the condhion of his suffer- ing, and 60 it urges God thus, Lord, hath not Christ laid down the price of the purchase? 1 Cor. vi. 20j ^^■hy then is Satan in possession ? Is Satan bought out ? Lord, let him be cast out. (2.) By taking a pattern from the death of Christ for the killing ol sin, we being planted into the similitude of his death, Rom. vi. 5, sin itself hanging upon the cross, as it were, when Christ died. Oh (^saith a gracious heart) that my corruptions may drink vinegar, that they may be pierced, and nailed, and never come down alive, but though they die liugeringly, yet certainly ! Oh that I might see their hands, feet, side, and every limb of the body of death bored, the head bowing, and the whole laid in the grave ; the darkness, error, and vanity of the understanding, the sinfid quietness and unquietness of my conscience, the rebellion of my will, the disorder of my affections! (3.) And especially the soul makes use of the death of Christ as a motive or inducement to put it upon sin-killing. Ah, my sin is the knife (saith the soul) that is coloured with my Redeemer's blood. Ah, it pointed every thorn on his head, and nail in his hands and feet. Lord, art thou a friend to Christ, and shall sin that killed him live ? Thus a sin-mortifying heart brings sin near to a dead Christ, whom faith beholds bleed- ing afresh upon the approach of sin ; and therefore it lays the death of Christ to the charge of sin. The cross of Christ is sin's terror, the soul's armour. The blood of Christ is old sures-be (as holy Bradford was wont to say) to kill sin. As he died for sin, so must we to it ; as his flesh was dead, so must ours be. " Our old man is crucified with him," Rom. vi. 6. It is not a pope's hallowing a cross that can do Mr. D. Rogers it, but the power of Christ by a pro- '"''• '^'"• mise, which blesses this cross to mortification. [3.] The soul labours to kill sin by fruitful enjoy- ment of ordinances. It never goes to pray, but it desires sin may have some wound, and points by pra)-cr (like the sick child) to the place where it is most pained. How doth it bemoan itself with Ephraim, and pour forth the blood of sin at the eyes ! It thus also improves baptism ; it looks upon it as a seal to God's promise, that sin shall die ; we being buried with Christ in baptism, that the Egyptians shall be drowned in the sea. It never hears a ser- mon, but (as Joab dealt with Uriah) it labours to set its strongest corruption in the forefront of the battle, that when Christ shoots his arrows, and draws his sword in the preaching of the word, sin may be hit. An unsanctified person is angry with such preaching, and cannot endure that the wind of a sermon should blow upon a lust. [4.] By a right improving all administrations of pro\"idence. If God send any affliction, the sanctified soul concludes that some corruption must go to the lions. If there arise any storms, presently it inquires for Jonah, and labours to cast him overboard. If God snatches away comforts, (as Joseph fled from his mistress.) presently a sin-mortifying heart saith, Lord, thou art righteous, my unclean heart was prone to be in love with them more than with Christ, my true Husband. If God at anytime hedge up her way with thorns, she reflects upon her own gadding after her impure lovers. I f her two eyes, profits, pleasures, be put out and removed, a sin-mortifier will desire to pull down the house upon the Philistines, and to bear every chastisement cheerfully, even death itself, that sin may but die too. [5.] By consideration of the sweetness of spiritual life. Life is sweet ; and therefore what cost are men at to be rid of diseases, to drive an enemy out of the country ! The soul thinks how happy it should be, could it walk with God, and be upright, and enjoy Christ, be rid of a tyrant, and be governed by the laws of a Liege, the Lord Jesus. How heavy is Sa- 10 AN EXPOSITION UPON Ver. 1. tan's yoke to him who sees the beauty and tastes the liberty of holy obedience! A sick man confined to bed, how happy does he think them who can walk abroad about their employments ! Oh, saith a gra- cious heart, how sweetly does such a Christian pray ! how strictly does he live ! how close is he in duty ! how fruitfid in conversing ! But I, alas ! how feeble, how dead, how unable ! I am held under by a tyrant ; oh that I could be his death ! [6.] By recollecting its former folly in loving sin : thinking thus ; Formerly I loved that which now I see would have murdered me : what a deal of pains, care, cost, time, laid I out to satisfy my lusts ! oh that I could recall these follies as I recollect them ! but since I cannot make them never to have been, I will labour to hinder them for time to come. Oh that my hatred might be greater than ever my love was to them ! A soul that has been mad upon sin, afterward is as vehement against it. This is the apostle's argu- ment, " As you have yielded your members servants to uncleanness, so now to righteousness," Rom. vi. 19 ; and, " The time past of our lives may suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles," 1 Pet. iv. 3. [7.] By withdrawing those things which have been as fuel and fodder to corruption. Fire is put out as well by taking away wood, as casting on of water. A sin-mortifying heart forbears the using of that which it has heretofore abused ; it knows that often Satan lies in ambush behind lawful enjojinents. He that has taken physic in wine, afterward is ready to loathe that very sort of wine in which his loathed medicine was given him: he that has been sin-sick, dreads those temptations in which Satan was wont to wrap sin up ; he considers, that he who always goeth as far as he may, sometime goes further than he should. He feeds not without fear, .lude, ver. 12, but trembles in every enjoyment, lest it may be an inlet to sin, and his own corruption get advantage by it; he fears a snare under his very trencher, and poison (for his soul) in every cup of wine, especially if he has been formerly bitten thereby. Whereas a carnal heart ingulfs itself in occasions of sin, if in them- selves lawful, sees no enemy, and therefore sets no watch: he " makes provision for the flesh," Rom. xiii. 14, he cuts not off the food which relieves his enemy ; whereas a sin-mortifier, as an enemy that besieges a city, hinders all the supplies and support of -lusts, that so he may make himself more yieldable to holiness. [S.] By reinforcing the fight after a foil ; by gain- ing ground after a stumble, by doubling his guard after unwariness, strengthening the battle after a blow ; praying more earnestly, contending more strenuously, laying on more strongly after sin hath been too hard : thus Paul was the more earnest with God against sin; he besought the Lord thrice after the messenger of Satan had buffeted him, 2 Cor. xii. 8. [9.] By a holy vexation with the constant com- pany and troublesome presence of sin. Thus was holy Paul put upon opposing of sin : he complains, sin was always present with him, even when he would do good, Rom. vii. 21. And sin is called en- compassing, easily besetting, tviriplaraToc, Heb. xii. 1. It dwells in us; it is a leprosy not ceasing till the wall is pulled down, the house of our mortality dissolved ; it is as near as the skin upon the back, bowels in the body ; it goeth along with a saint in every duty, sabbath, ordinances, like Pharaoh's frogs into the king's chambers, pestering a saint at every turn: the apprehension hereof puts the soul upon endeavouring sin's ruin. The nearer an enemy is, the more hateful he is ; the closer the conflict is, the quicker are the strokes, the fiercer the fight. To conclude, A holy insulting and rejoicing in God follows, if at any time he has given the soul victory, and any heads of these uncircumcised ; it blesses God, as Paul, " I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord," Rom. vii. 25 ; going about duty more cheerfully, and yet humbly. A man may read the good news of a victory in a saint's countenance. Does he not say to Christ, when some lust hath been smitten, (as Cushi to David,) I would that all the enemies of my Lord were as that one young man ? Lord, when will there be a perfect riddance of these vermin ? Oh how sweet will heaven be, when I shall trample upon every Goliath, and see every Egj'ptian dead upon the shore ! when I shall have neither tear in my eye, nor lust in my soul ! Having stated the first thing in the nature of sanctification, viz. mortification, we proceed to the 2. Vivification, whereby we live a new and spiritual life. The scriptures proving it are abundant : " I live (saith Paul) ; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me," Gal. ii. 20. " If ye be risen with Christ, seek those things that are above," Col. iii. 1. The life of Jesus is " made manifest in our mortal flesh," 2 Cor. iv. 11. As the death of Christ is the death of corruption, so the same power of God by which he raised Christ from the dead, frames us to the life of Christ's holiness, Eph. i. 19, 20. Christ, by the power of his Deity, whereby he raised himself, having communicated spiritual life to all his members, (as life is communicated from the head to the other members,) enables them to manifest it accordingly. " As Christ was raised up from death by the glory of the Father, even so we also walk in newness of life," Rom. vi. 4. " Reckon ye yourselves alive unto God througli Jesus Christ," ver. II. " We are his work- manship, created in Christ Jesus to good works, which God hath before ordained tliat we should walk in them," Eph. ii. 10. " He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit," John XV. 5. These brief considerations may show in what re- spects a sanctified person lives a new life, a life of holiness. (1.) A sanctified person lives a holy life, in moving and acting from a principle of holy life. All vital actions are from an inward principle : a body with- out a soul lives not, moves not naturally; nor with- out an internal principle of spiritual life received from Christ does any one live spiritually. The body of every living creature has a heart, which is the forge of spirits and the fountain of heat. True holi- ness proceeds from an implanted seed, 1 John iii. 9, the fear of God in the heart, Jer. xxxii. 40, the law put into the inward man, Jer. xxxi. 33. Sanctity, unless Christ be in us, is but a fable. " Christ liveth in me," saith the apostle, Gal. ii. 20 ; and so he speaks of living to God by Christ, Rom. vi. 11. Christ must abide in us, John xv. 5 ; he is formed. Gal. iv. 19, and dwelleth in us. Col. i. 27. The actions of a sanctified person are from a vital principle, the spirit within : the holiness of another is but from without, begins at his fingers' ends ; he is drawn by outward inducements ; his motions are not the motions of a livings creature, but like those of a clock, or some image, which move not from within, but from weights without: when his J?,"";'^,"!,^"^' weights are down, his work is done, y"^"- Hot. Ser. A person spiritually enlightened, hath not only Sptritian adslantem, but axsislentem : should he have all the encouragements of honour or profit from without, he could never do any thing cheerfully, but would ever be complaining, unless he enjoyed the supplies of the Spirit, viz. inward quickenings and enlivenings of heart in duty by the Spirit of Christ. (2.) A sanctified person lives a holy life, as in Ver. 1. THE KPISTLE OF JUDE. 11 acting from, so according to, a principle of holy life. Now his actings are according to his principle of holiness, [1.] In respect of their kind : they are of the same sort or nature with the principle of holiness. Water in the stream is of the same nature with that in the fountain. He that is sanctitied lives like himself, his regenerated self. A spiritual life produces spiritual li'ving: the seed of God puts forth itself in the fruits of godliness ; if he be a fig-tree, he bears no thistles. The working of a saint follows his being. The understanding acts in a sound, efficacious, operative, influential knowing both of God and ourselves, Eph. i. 17, 18 ; Col. iii. 10. The conscience acts in a holy tenderness and remorsefulness for sin, 2 Chron. xxxiv. 27, and in a pious peaceablcness and quietness, gi^-ing witness of a person's reconciliation to (Rom. v. 1) and walking with God sincerely. This is our rejoicing, the testimony of a good conscience, 2 Cor. i. 12. The memory retaining heavenly things as a treasury', repository, or spiritual storehouse of the word, an ark for the two tables, Psal. cxix. 1 1 ; Heb. ix. 4. The will acts by a pliable yielding to God in all things, both to do what God enjoins, and to undergo what God inflicts ; in both it is flexible, Psal. xxxix. fl ; it desires to please God in all things, though it finds not always to perform, Rom. vii. 18. The aiTections act in a holy regularity and order, being streams not dried up, but diverted. Love is " out of a pure heart," 1 Tim. i. 5, a spark flying upwards, set upon God principally, and that for himself, Psal. xviii. 1,2; set upon man for God, either because we see God in him, or desire we may. Hatred is now of those things that God hates, and that hate God, Psal. cxxxix. 21, 22. Joy is now spiritual in the Lord, in communion with him, in scrying of him, though in tribulation. Sorrow is now for our sins and those of others, and the sufferings of the church, not for such poor things as worldly trifles ; the pearls of tears not being cast upon the dunghill. Our desires are now set upon the presence and pleasing of God, pardon of sin, a soft heart, fruitfulncss under the means, the prosperity of Zion, the appearance of Christ. Our zeal is not now hot for ourselves, and cold for God ; like fire well ordered, bums for the ser\-ice, not the consuming of the house. Hope is now lively and well-groiuided, not false and carnal. This spiritual acting outwardly reaches the body, making it a weapon of righteousness : fire within will break out. The whole body is the soul's instrument, in all its members being obedient to effect good actions, ac- cording to the dictate of renewed reason, and the command of the sanctified will. The eye is (as it were) a watchman, the tongue a spokesman, the ear a disciple, the arm a chamjnon, the leg a lackey, all at the disposal of God. If the wares of holiness be in the shop, those of the same kind will be on the stall. The life of a saint is a visible sermon of sanctification : he who hath his heart ordered aright, hath his conversation ordered aright, Psal. 1. 23 ; the hand of the clock goes according to the wheels. Out of the good treasury of the heart he brings forth good things. The body will be the interpreter of a gracious heart : the law is written in the heart, and commented upon in the life : a clean stomach sends forth a sweet breath. The matter of our actions will be warranted by the word, Psal. cxix. 35 ; the man- 11^ r humble, cheerful, resolute, sincere, Micah vi. 8. In a word, glorious ends are propounded, and our workings, if God require, shall cross our o•^^^l in- terest, ease, profit. Acts iv. 19. To have a good heart and a wicked life is a walking contradiction, Matt. vii. 16 — 20. A sanctified person is not as Ephraim, e cake not turned, only baked on one side. [2.] The actings of a sanctified person are con- formable to his principle of sanctification, as that principle is extensive to and puts upon all the ways of holiness, and as it is a seed of all the fruits of sanctification. A sanctified person embraces every holy duty; he fructifies in every good work. Col. i. 10, has respect to every precept, esteems every precept concerning all things to be right, Psal. cxix. 6, 128. There is a concatenation of all graces ; they are linked together in a divine league : he has not any grace ■htio wholly wants any. The in- structions of the law are copulative ; he that would seem to make conscience of keeping all the com- mandments of God save one, observes none at all out of any obedience to causaifo clfr'' God, who has alike commanded all, Ju^JuK'denda James ii. 10. A sanctified person pre- sunt omnia, fers not one command before another, ^^'''■''' Pro. 1.3. 1 Tim. V. 21 ; his foot, being sound, can endure to walk in a stony as well as a sandy path ; he will do, not many things, but all, even to the parting with He- rodias, and the putting down the calves as well as Baal ; he is not double diligent in some matters, and negligent in others : he is neither maimed, to want any limb ; nor a monster, one part excessively out- stripping another. [3.] The actings of a sanctified person are con- formable to the principle of spiritual life, as it is the same, a permanent, abiding principle; not sometimes in us, and at other times quite gone from us, but at all times remaining in us. A sanctified person is holy in a continued course, he walks with God ; he ap- plies himself to keep the commandments continually, Psal. cxix. 1 12. He is not holy upon extraordinary occasions ; his duties are not like a miser's feast, all at one time, nothing at another. He is not holy by fits and pangs, upon a rainy day reading only, good in thunder and lightning, or in a storm at sea ; moved passionately with an affectionate sermon, trembling for the present, and presently after following bribery, Acts xxiv. 25,26. At the first coming on to profes- sion seething hot, after awhile lukewarm, at length key-cold ; slashing with Peter at the first, and shortly after flying, and denying. His infirmities and falls are but for a fit, but his holiness is constant; his goodness is not like the " morning cloud, and early dew," Hos. vi. 4; not like the redness of blushing, but the ruddiness of complexion ; his religion is not operative in company, silent in secret : he is not like water, that conforms itself to the shape of every thing into which it is poured ; or like a picture that looks every way ; his religion leaves him not at the church doors, he retains his purity wherever he lives. He has a principle like a fountain in him, that supplies him in the time of drought ; not like a splash of water, licked up with an hour's heat of the sun : the music allures him not, the fiunace affrights him not from God. [3.] As the actings of a sanctified person are from, and according to, a renewed principle of life, so are they for it ; and that both in respect of preservation of life in himself, and also for the propagation of it to others. 1. A sanctified person acts for his sanctified prin- ciple of spiritual life, in respect of preserv'ing it in himself; which he expresseth, (1.) In shunning whatever may prejudice and impair it, much more than a man avoids that which would shorten a natural life, as sword, poison, diseases, &c. ; that which parts between God and the soul being more hurtful, than that which parts betwixt soul and body. AVhat shifts have some made to scramble from death, throwing estates into the sea, leaving them and sweetest rela- tions, rimning through rivers, fire, &c. ! And have 12 AN EXPOSITION UPON Ver. 1. not holy men suffered more to keep from sin, which tends to spiritual death ? have they not left goods, lands, children ? have they not run through fire, vater, nay, into them, even embracing death temporal rather than death spiritual ? A man would give all the world rather than lose one natural life ; but a Christian would give a thousand lives rather than lose the life spiritual. Lord, (saith he,) I desire but to live, to keep Christ, who is my life, Psal. Ixiii. 3; Col. iii. 4. (2.) In prizing that food which upholds life. He loves what nourishes him, — delights in the law of God, — hungers after the " sincere milk of the word," 1 Pet. ii. 2, — accounts it sweeter than the "honey and the honey-comb," Psal. xix. 10, — has a most ardent affection to uncomipted truths, — estimates a famine of the word the sorest, — esteems the bread of life the staff of life. When he was dead, he had no hunger, the word was as food in a dead man's mouth, found no savour or entertainment : now, though God give him never so much of other supplies, yet it is a famine with him, if he have not bread; like an in- fant king, that prefers the breast before his crown. Though he be rich in grace, )'et he is poor in spirit ; he desires grace, having the grace to desire. He never says, I have enough ; truth of grace ever puts him upon growth. (3.) A sanctified person labours to presen'e his inward principle of life, in using the means that may recover him when his life is endan- gered by sickness, desiring earnestly that God would heal him, Jer. xvii. 14 ; Psal. xli. 4; embracing the sharpest administrations, the bitterest reproofs, tak- ing down the most loathed pill, bearing the hcaWest affliction, being willing to be cut, sawed, seared, so as to be saved. His great request is, that he may be whole, walk holily, that the pain and impotency of his disease, the filthiness and hurtfulness thereof, were both removed. 2. A sanctified person acts for his principle of spi- ritual life, in labouring to communicate it to others, as well as to preserv'e it in himself. The life of a spiritually-quickened soul is generative of itself. All li\"ing creatures have a seminary for propagating their kind: the spirit of life is fniitful, endeavouring to communicate itself from one to another. You never heard of a soul that loved to make a monopoly of Christ. Grace may be imparted, not impaired. Samson, when he had found honey, gave his father and mother some with him. The woman of Samaria, being called, calls others to Christ, John iv. 29. How diffusive of Christ was blessed Paul ! like the wall which reflects upon the passenger when the sun shines upon it. Ilow suitable was that wish of his to a sanctified soul ; " I would to God that thou, and all that hear me this day, were almost, and altogether such as I am, except these bonds ! " Acts xxvi. 29. Every Christian labours to raise up seed to his elder Brother. The great design of the soul is to set up Christ more in itself and others, to leaven others with grace ; and this gaining of souls is a Christian's greatest covetousness. So much for the explication of the sort or kind of their first privilege, sanctification. The observations follow in the second place. Obs. 1. Grace whereby we are changed, much ex- cels grace whereby we are only curbed. The sanc- tification wherewith the faithful were said to be adorned, was such as cured sin, as well as covered it ; not a sanctification that did abscomlere, but ab- scuidere ; not only repress, but abolish corruption. The fomier, restraining grace, is a fruit only of general mercy over all God's works, Psal. cxlv. 9 ; common to good and bad, binding the hand, leaving the heart free; withholding only from some one or few sins; tying us now, and loosing us by and hv ; intended for the good of hvraian society, doing no saving good to the receiver : in a word, only in- hibiting the exercise of corruption for a time, without any real diminution of it ; as the lions that spared Daniel were lions still, and had their ravenous dis- position still, as appeared by their devouring others, although God stopped their mouths for that time. But this sanctifying grace with which the faithful are here adorned, as it springs from God's special love in Christ, so it is proper to the elect, works upon even,' part in some measure, body, soul, and spirit, abhors every sin, holds out to the end, and is in- tended for the salvation of the receiver. It not only inhibits the exercise of corruption, but mortifies, svibdues, diminishes it, and works a real change ; of a lion making a lamb ; altering the natural dispo- sition of the soul, and making a new man in every part and faculty. Obs. 2. This sanctification changes not the sub- stance and faculties of soul and body, but only the corruption, and disorder, and sinfulness thereof. It rectifies, but destroys not ; like the fire in which the three children were, it consumes the bonds, not the gannents ; it does not slay Isaac, but only the ram ; it breaks not the string, but tunes it. The fall of man took not away his essence, but only his holiness ; so the raising of man destroys not his being, but his unholy ill-being. Grace beautifies, not debases nature; it repairs, not ruins it. It makes one a man indeed ; it tempers and moderates affections, not abolishes them ; it does not extinguish the fire, only allay it that it may not burn the house. It does not over- throw, but order thy love, hatred, sorrow, joy, both for measure and object. Thou mayst be merry now thou art sanctified, but not mad-merry ; thy rejoicing will now be in the Lord, elevated, not annihilated. They are mistaken that think sanctification unmans a man, that he must now always be sad, and sour, and solitary ; that, as they said of Mary, a Christian looking toward heaven is always gone out to weep : no, there is nothing destroyed by sanctification but tliat which would destroy us; we may eat still, but not be gluttons ; drink, but not be drunken ; use re- creation, but not be voluptuous; trade, but not de- ceive ; in a word, be men, but holy men. Ob.i. 3. The people of God even in this life are saints. Perfectly indeed hereafter, but inchoatively here. A child has the nature, though not the stature of a man. A Christian has here as truly grace, though not so fully as in heaven. Grace is glory in the bud; this life is the infantage of glory ; " Ye are sanctified," 1 Cor. vi. 11. They who look upon sanctity as an ac- complishment only for heaven, are never like to get thither. It is common to hear a reproved sinner give this answer, I am no saint. Were this an accusation, and not an excuse for his unholiness, it might be ad- mitted ; but he is no saint, nor desires to be one ; holiness and holy ones are his scorn. Such in this condition shall never see God : heaven must be in us, before we be in heaven. " Depart from me" will be the doom of them that work iniquity ; dogs shall be without, Rev. xxii. 15. Ye who here cannot be merry without scoffing at purity, hereafter shall mourn for your want of purity ; ye who accoiuit purity and sanc- tification inconsistent with nobleness, breeding, and generosity, will see that these were nothing without purity. That which is the beauty of heaven, the glory of angels, is it an ignominy upon earth, the shame of worms ? You are not too good for holiness, but holi- ness for you. I confess, it is a great sin and shame, and should be a sorrow, that there are so many coun- terfeit, unsanctified saints, who have made sanctity so hateful ; but yet for thee by these to be scandal- ized at sanctity, is thy woe as well as theirs. Let the Veu. I. THE EPISTLE OF JUDE. IS pope's calendar only saint the dead, the Scripture requires sanctity in the li-\-ing. Obs.-i. Holiness cannot lie hid. Holy life is holily active : if a living man hold his hreath long, it is death to him. Saul was no sooner converted than he prays, he breathes. A regenerated person speaks to God as soon as he is born. If God be dishonoured, he speaks for God ; he cannot learn the wisdom of our times, to dissemble his religion, to be still when God is struck at ; he must show whose image and su- perscription he bears : wicked men proclaim their sin as Sodom, and he proclaims his grace ; and yet not that he may be seen, but that he may be serviceable. The Spirit of God is compared to fire, wind, a river ; it will Ijear away any opjwsition, rather than be kept in. The world thinks a saint is mad of suffering when he appears for God ; they are mistaken, he is not desirous of it, but fearless of it when God requires; he is neither profuse when he should spare, nor pe- nurious when he should spend himself for God. Obs. 5. How great the change that is wrought upon a person when God comes with sanctifjnng grace ! There is no difference in the world greater, than be- tween a man and his former self. The world, and men of it, need not take it ill that a saint differs so much from them, he differs as much from himself: a sanctified person is utterly opposite to all he was and did before ; the stream is turned : he sees now, he was blind before ; he loves that which formerly he loathed, he loathes that which formerly he loved ; he unlives his former life ; he picks it out, as it were, stitch by stitch. The wicked are said to think the course of sanctified persons strange, 1 Pet. iv. 4; KivlKovTai, the word is, they are like men in a strange comitry, that see strange sights, which before they were altogether unacquainted with. Oh the power of grace ! a lion is now a lamb, a goat is now a sheep, a raven is now a dove, and, which is more, a sinner is now a saint : he that before ru.shed into sin, now trembles at it; he that before persecuted holiness, now preaches it. They in the gospel hardly knew the man that had sight restored to him, but said he W'as like the blind man, John ix. 9. Did the alone recovery of sight make such a difference in him from what he was formerly ? what a difference is wrought then by grace, which makes not only a new eye, but a new tongue, car, hand, heart, life ! Obs. 6. The holiness of a sanctified person is not purely negative. It stands not altogether in labour- ing not to sin. It is not enough for the tree that escapes the axe not to bring forth bad fruit, unless it also bring forth good ; nor is it sufficient for the sanc- tified soul to put off filthy, unless it put on beautiful, garments. The old man must be put off, and the new put on. We are not content with half happiness, why should we be with half holiness ? The holiness of the most is not to be as bad as the worst ; few la- bour to be as good as the best. !Men love to be com- plete in every thing but that which deserves exact- ness. We must not cut off the garment of holiness at the midst. Our eternal happiness will not only consist in being out of hell, but in being in the fni- ition of heaven : we must not mete to God one mea- sure, and expect from him another. Obs. 7. Sanctification admits no coalition between the new and the old man. This latter is abolished as the former is introduced. The new man is not put upon the old, as sometimes new garments are put upon old, but in the room of it. Col. iii. 9, 10 ; Eph. iv. 22, 24. In sanctification there is no sewing of a new piece to an old garment, w^hich always makes the rent the wider. It is one thing for sin to be, an- other thing to be allowed ; one thing for sin to be in us, another thing for us to be in sin. Sin is a saint's burden; a thorn in his eye, not a cro\\Ti on his head; it is his daily task to weaken and impair it : if lie cannot fully conquer, yet he faithfully contends. Sin and holiness are like a pair of balances, when the one goes up, the other must needs go down. Christ knows no partners in government, he wnll not xescit de turbaio drink of a fountain where Satan puts fnme amiius i,i. his feet ; his church is a garden enclosed, open only to heaven, shut on every side. The faith- ful have a broken, not a divided heart. Obs. 8. As a sanctified person allows no mixtures w\i\\ grace, so he puts no limits to grace. He desires that the grace he has should be perfect as well a- pure ; and as he loves that no part of him should be defiled, so, that none should be destitute ; he is sanc- tified throughout ; he " perfects holiness in the fear of God," 2 Cor. vii. 1. A saint's complaints of his wants and deficiencies rather proves him covetous than poor; his strong appetite rather speaks him healthful than empty; his desires of clothing, rather growing than naked : he desires that the dominions of Christ may be as large as ever were those of sin, even extending to the whole man. He is not like an upstart gallant, who, unable to furnish himself with new attire for every part, is new and adorned in some parts, and uncomely in all the rest ; he labours for furnitm-e for every room, to see a whole Christ formed, to have graces for every faculty. There is no grace he sees in another, but he wishes he had it too : he ne- ver thinks he has lived enough, or done enough for God ; he never thinks his work done while he is on this side heaven. Who ever was the man that so thoroughly mortified sin, as to leave no life in it ? who ever had such a degree of spiritual life, as not to want a further increase ? Thy sword must never be thrown away while so many enemies remain. The means of preserving a holy life must never cease, till grace be consummated in glory. He that has holi- ness enough, never had any. Sanctified persons are always adding to grace, and taking away from sin. Sanctification is a progressive work. The least saint has grace enough to be thankful, the greatest not enough to be idle. To neglect the helps of sanctifi- cation never was a Scripture sign of sanctity ; to live above ordinances is to live below a saint. Abstinence from spiritual food is so far from proving a strong Christian, that it proves but a sick Christian at the best. He who gives over, never truly began ; he who goes not forward, goes backward. Till the flame be out, we must never cease crying for water ; till sin be quite extinguished, we must ply the blood of Christ. How short do the best come of their duty, of what God doth and they should desire ! Obs. 9. Outside, superstitious mortification is but a shadow of the true. Penance, fasts, starvings of the body, abstinence from marriage, are not blessed to kill sin ; they have no blood in them ; sin and Satan fear no such holy water. It is the death of Christ that must be the death of sin ; the mortifying or macerating of the carcass, is but the carcass of the duty ; there is more labour required to let the blood out of our corruptions, than out of our bodies. A child of God takes more pains with his heart in a day, than a papist with his skin in a year ; the one in- deed whips himself, but the other, denies himself; the one scratcheth his skin, the other pulls out his right eye ; the one afflicts the llesh, the other the soul ; the one something without himself, the other his very self. Obs. 10. The Lord estimates his people by the better part, their bent and strain, not their defects. They are here called sanctified ; but, alas, how im- perfect is their sanctification ! Yet their Father looks upon them as they would be, not as they are or J4 AN EXPOSITION UPON Veti. I. do : Not I, (saith the apostle, Rom. vii. 20,) " but sm that dwelleth in me." Com full of weeds we call com. Christ loves what he sees of himself in the midst of much more he sees of us ; he casts not away the honey because of the honey-comb ; he spies a grain of grace in a heap of corraption ; he considers what we aim to be now, and what we are to be here- after, more than what we are now. The owner of an orchard that knows the goodness of every tree in it, although a tree which is of a good kind hath fruit upon it which for the present is green, and as hard as a stick, yet he will say. This is an excellent ap- ple, &c., considering its kind, and what it will be when ripe. Obs. 11. How causelessly the -world complains of those who are truly sanctified ! The contentions of a saint are most with himself; the destnictions he makes are bloodless ; if he thirsts after any blood, it is that of a lust ; the tyrants he brings to punishment are those in the soul. Were all his enemies in the world overthrown, and those in the heart spared, those Mordecais still in the gate, what would all avail him? Men have little reason to blame sanctity for dis- tracting the times ; there is more reason to blame the want of it. If a good man carry himself turbulent- ^ ,. . ,^ Iv, it is because he is no better, not be- DuplKi sub spe- * I- jTT- 1111 cie Divinus Spi- cause he IS good. He is, or should be, o'sitn.m. Colli". ^' peace with every thing but sin : if he bina et' ienea, shuns auv Company, it is not for hatred quia omnes, quos r *i, i / -i i -^ iinpiet.etcoulm- ot the pcrson, but the plague-sore; if !SDs'u"ios"e"" ''^ reproves, he wounds not destructive- igiie zrW a'rdeiiifs ly, but medicinally : his greatest heats P^ past cap^fi.'' are pious, God is in his flame; his very Sioses causam p'o- anger is patient, his indignation himi- puh apud Deum , , " , *^ .• • ^ /■ ii " j n precibus, causam ule ; lie participates ot the dove, as well ' "i"; as of the fiery tongues, as the Spirit IJei apud po luin ' '■ pavit.'ferei;. ciia- tliat fills him had both shapes. Doth ritas pie solet , T, 1 i ^ i ^ i s.-Bvire, paiienier be reprove sharply and openly ? he lnlM'H.r''iudi'snar"i" prays for thee secretly. A saint, wlien ^v"\'' \'('\"' "'' ■"''^ '''^^ himself, is always doing est medicus lu- good, difiusive of holiness, a benefactor er"pater"ndjsci. t»"> fiiio; iiie pipe of blessings to a whole kingdom, tieiui", sed aiiii.0 H his endeavouring to make thee holy E'p."i'."adBon*' '"^k^ ^'^s '^^'f^ him, he will be hated still. (2.) The author by whom sanctification is be- stowed, " God the Father." I shall briefly explain two particulars. How they are said to be sanctified by God; and, How by God the Father. [I.] How they are said to be sanctified by God. 1. Not tranxfermdo essentiam, by transferring his essence unto them; but operando gratiam, by way of operation and working holiness in them, Eph. ii. 10; Acts y. 31; I Thess. v. 23; Heb. xii. 10; not by bestowing his Deity upon them, but by setting up the Di\'ine nature in them, 2 Pet. i. 4, as fire warms by its virtue and operation. 2. God was the author of their sanctification, not excludendo media, as if he made not use of the mi- nistry of the gospel for accomplishing it. The word cannot sanctify without him ; and ordinarily he will not sanctify without it : he sanctifies by the word, John xvii. 17, enlivening and actuating it, making it his power to salvation, bestowing upon it an enlighten- ing power, to discover our misery and deformity by reason of unholiness, as also to discover the beauty of holiness, and the happiness laid up for holy ones ; bestowing also upon it an inclining power, to bow us to embrace and obey his holy will, the pattern of all holiness. 3. From God we have our sanctification, not by tra-iuction from our parents. Grace is not of an ©C(a tpvmf. equal extent to nature ; grace is not native, but donative ; not by generation, but by regeneration ; it is from the Fatlier ol spirits, not lathers of our flesh. Who can bring a clean thing out of filthi- ness ? The new birth is " not of blood, nor the will of the flesh, nor of man," John i. 13. The purest seed- corn brings forth the stalk, the husk, and chafl"; and the holiest men have a posterity with a nature covered over with corruption. 4. God sanctifies so that the first infusion of the habit of grace is without the active concurrence of any abilities of our coiTupted nature to the acquiring of grace in the heart. The plantation of grace in us is purely supernatural. God's manner of working is altogether Divine, beyond the power and without the help of any thing iu man, only he being a rational creature is a subject capable of grace, and thereby in the work of sanctification has a passive con- currence ; for of ourselves we are not sufiicient to think a good thought, but our suiiiciency is of God. He worketh in us botli to will and to do. We are dead in trespasses and sins, ifcc. New-begotten, new- created, &c. Grace is an habitual quality, merely infused by Divine virtue, not issuing out of any in- ward force of human abilities, howsoever strained up to the highest pitch of their natural perfection. All civility, sweetness of nature, ingenuity of edu- cation, learning, good company, restraint by laws, and all moral virtues, with their joint force, cannot quicken our souls to the least true motion of a spi- ritual life. 5. God sanctifies so that in the practice of sanc- tification man actually concurs with God. For, being sanctified, and inwardly enabled in his facul- ties by spiritual life put into them, he moves himself in his actions of grace, although even in these actions he cannot work alone, he being only a fellow worker with the Spirit of God, not in equality, but in subordination to him. Nevertheless, though these actions are performed by the special assistance of the Spirit, yet because man is the next agent, they are properly said to be man's actions. [2.] God the Father sanctifies. And yet, Eph. v. 26 ; 1 Cor. i. 30, Christ is said to sanctify, and to be sanctification. And most frequently the Holy Ghost is said to sanctify ; grace being called " the fruits of the Spirit," Gal.v.22; thewholeworkofsanctification styled by the name of Spirit, Eph. v. 9 ; and the Scripture expressly speaks us sanctified by the Spirit, Gal. V. 17 ; and the Holy Ghost is called the Spirit of sanctification. Yet when the Scripture says we are " sanctified by God the Father," it does not contradict itself. For the explication whereof I shall briefly set do-s^Ti this distinction, and these conclusions. All tlie attributes of God are either, 1. Essential, which are the very Divine essence, and pertaining to the very nature of God, as to be a Spirit, omniscient, eternal, true, good, powerful, merciful. Sec. Or, 2. Relative; and that, cither, 1. Inwardly, to the per- 1 sons within themselves ; as for the Father to beget, ' the Son to be begotten, the Holy Ghost to proceed I from Father and Son. Or, 2. Outwardly ; and ihi\t j either, 1. To the creatures, as to create, sustain, &c. •! or, 2. To the church, as to redeem and sanctity, &c. Conclusion 1. The attributes which appertain to the 1 nature or essence of God, are common to the Three | Persons, as to be a Spirit, omniscient, eternal, &c. Concl. 2. The attributes or properties which in- 1 wardly belong to the Persons among themselves, are I peculiar and proper to each of them, both in respect of order of being and working. The Father has his being from himself alone, the Son has his being from the Father alone, the Holy Ghost has his being from ; Ver. 1. THE EPISTLE OF JUDE. 15 tliem both. The Fathei alone hegets, the Son is alone begotten, the Holy Ghost proceeds from the Father and the Son. Cond. 3. All works external, and in reference to the creatures, as to create, to govern, to redeem, to sanctify, &c., are, in respect of the things wrought, equally common to the three Persons of the Trinity ; who, as they are all one in nature and will, so must they be in operation, all of them working one and the same thing together, John v. 17, 19. Most true is that of Christ, Whatsoever things the Father doth, these also doth the Son : the like may be said of the Holy Ghost : so that we are sanctified by Father, Son, and Holy Ghost ; there being the same power and will of all three : and in works external, and in respect of the creature, when only one Person or two are named, the whole Trinity is to be understood. Concl. 4. Though the works of three Persons to- ward the creature, world, or church, in respect of the thing wrought, are common to all the three ; yet in respect of tfie manner of working, there is distinction of Persons that work ; for the Father works through the Son, by the Holy Ghost. The Father works ■ from none, the Son from the Father, the Holy Ghost I from both, John v. 19; viii. 28; xvi. 13, there being the same order of working in the Trinity that there is of existing. The Father works by the Son and the Holy Ghost, sending them, and not sent by them; the Son works by the Holy Ghost, sending him from the Father into the hearts of believers, and is not sent by him, but by the Father ; the Holy Ghost works, and is sent from the Father and the Son, not from himself. The works therefore of the Trinity are considerable, either abso- lutely, or in regard of the works wrought, and so they are the works of the whole Trinity in common ; or relatively, when we consider iu what order the Per- sons work, which Person works immediately, which by another. And so the Persons are distinguished in their works. This considered, Jude in ascribing sanctification to God the Father, is easily reconciled to those that ascribe it to God the Holy Ghost, and the Son ; these last-named Persons being by Jude included in the working of sanctification, and only the order of work- ing of the blessed Trinity noted. The Father sanctify- ing through the Son, by the Holy Ghost; the Father sanctif)-ing by sending the Son "to merit, and giving his Spirit to work ; the Son, by meriting ; the Holy Ghost, by working our sanctification, and immediatelv sanctifying us ; in which respect he has the title of Holy, and sanctification most commonly is expressed as his work. This for the explication of the second particular in the first pri^-ilege of the faithful to whom Jude wrote, fiz. The author of their sanctification, " God the Father." Obs. 1. Even our holiness administers matter of humility. Our very graces should humble us as well as our sins ; as these latter because they are ours, so the former because they are none of ours. Sanctity is adventitious to nature. Heretofore holiness was natural, and sin was accidental ; now sin is natural, and holiness accidental. NVhen God made anv of us his Igarden, he took us out of Satan's waste ; we are not born saints: the best, before sanctification, are bad, and by nature not dilTering from the worst. The mem- bers that God accepts to be weapons of righteousness, were before blunted in Satan's sendee: when God anctifieth us, he melts idols, and makes of them ves- els for his own use. Before any becomes as an [sraelite's wife, he is as a captive, unpared, unwashed, imshaven. Sanctification is a great blessing; but was this web woven out of thine own bowels ? The best thou didst bring to thine own sanctification, was a passive reception of it, which the verj- worst of hea- thens partake of in common with thee, having a human nature, a rational soul; and was there not with that a corrupt principle of opposition to God, and all the workings of God ? was not God long striving with a cross-grained heart ? How many de- nials had God before he won thee to himself! how far was the iron gate of thy heart from opening of its own accord ! and if he had not wrought like a God, omnipotently, and with the same power wherewith Christ was raised, had thy resistance been ever sub- dued ? Eph. i. 19, 20. And when the being of grace was bestowed, from whence had thy grace at any time its acting ? Didst thou ever write one letter without God's guiding thy hand ? didst thou ever shed one penitential tear till God unstopped thy eyes, smote thy rock, and melted thy heart ? didst thou hunger after Christ, till God who gave the food gave the stomach also ? Was ever temptation resisted, grace quickened, corruption mortified, holy resolu- tion strengthened, power, either to do or will, received from any but from God ? Doth not every grace, the whole frame of sanctification, depend upon God, as the stream on the fountain, the beam on the sun ? When he withdraws his influence, how dead is thy heart in every holy performance ! only when he speaks the word effectually, bidding thee go, thou goest ; and do this or that, thou dost it. Obs. 2. The reason why all graces of a sanctified person are for God, they are from him. God's bounty is their fountain, and God's glory must be their centre. He planted the vineyard, and therefore he must drink the wine. We are his workmanship, and there- fore we must be his workmen. All our pleasant fruits must be laid up and out for our Well-beloved. All things, but particularly our graces, are from him and for him : we can never give him more or other than his own, when we give all we can. The streams will rise as high as the fountain-head : and so should our graces ascend as high in duty as he who gave them. Where should God have service, if a sanctified person denies it ? 06a-. 3. Is God the author of sanctification ? then mark its excellency and worth. It is a rare work certainly that has such a Workman ; a beauteous structure that has such a Builder. What is a man to be desired for, but his sanctification ? If we see a beauty on that body which has a soul, how much more on that soul which has the reflection of God himself upon it ! Every saint is a wooden casket filled with pearls. " The King's daughter is all glori- ous within." Love Jesus Christ in his work-day clothes, admire him in his saints ; though they be black, yet they are comely. Did the people of God but contemplate one another's graces, could there be that reproaching, scorn, and contempt cast upon one another that there is ? Certainly, their ignorance of their true excellency makes them enemies; they strike one another in the dark. Obs. 4. Great must be the love that God bears to sanctification. It is a work of his own framing, a gift of his own bestowing. God saw that the work of the first creation was very good ; much more that of the second. Wonder no more that the faithful are called his garden, his jewels, his treasure, his temple, his portion. God has two heavens, and the sanctified soul is the lesser. How does he accept of saints even in their imperfections, delight in their performances, pity them in their troubles, take care of them in dangers ! He that has given his Son for them, pro- mised heaven to them, and sent his Spirit into them, what can he deny them ? Jesus Christ never ad- mired any thing but grace when he was upon the earth : the buildings of the temple he contemned, ia 16 AN EXPOSITION UPON comparison of the faith of a poor trembling woman. Certainly, the people of God should not slight those graces in themselves that God so values, as they do when they acknowledge not the holiness that God has bestowed upon them. Shall they make orts of those delicates that Jesus Christ accounts an excel- lent banquet ? Obs. 5. The love of God is expressive, really and effectually in us, and upon us, even in sanctifying us. Creatures, when they love, -n-ill not put ofl' one another with bare words, of bidding be clothed, fed, Hcc, much less does God. If there be love in his heart, there will be bounty in his hand. Thou sayest that God is merciful, and loves thee ; why, what did he ever do for thee, or work in thee ? has he changed thy nature, mortitied thy lusts, beautified thy heart with holiness ? "Where God loves, he affords love- tokens ; and such are only his soul-enriching graces. No man knows love or hatred by what he sees before him, but by what he finds in him. If our heart moves towara God, certainly his goes out toward us : the shadow upon the dial moves according to the motion of the sun in the heaven. Oba. 6. We are to repair in our wants of sanclifi- cation to God for supply. He is the God of grace ; " The Lord will give grace and glory." He has the key of the womb, the grave, the heavens, but chiefly of the heart. He that sitteth in heaven can only teach and touch the heart. How feeble a thing and unable is man, whether thyself or the minister, to do this ! He has the winds in his own keeping ; and till he send them out of his treasury, how necessarily must thy soul lay wind-bound ! Whither shouldst thou go but to him ? And how canst thou go but by him ? Parum prnHest '^^^'' "icans of grace are to be used in leiiio. quaiii non obedicuce tc him, not in dependence lUuinma. ur.>,o. ^^^^ jj^gj^^_ ^ g^j^p^^ j.^^ ^^^^^^^^ pj,p„ without him, and a wooden can open with him. Man may, with the prophet's scr\'ant, lay the stafT upon the forehead, but God must give life. How many fat and rich ordinances have been devoured, the soul after all remaining as lean as before, for want of seeking God aright for a blessing! Obs. 7- How careful we should be to maintain that which God has set up in us, and how fearful lest it should be pulled down by Satan ! Christ destroys the works of the devil, and Satan labours to oppose the work of Christ. Every plant indeed that God hath not planted is to be plucked up; but the plants that God's own hand hath planted are to be nourish- ed. "What God hath joined together none .should separate ; grace and the soul are of God's joining together. Who laments not the destruction of man's workmanship, the overthrow and demolishing of beautiful buildings, the rooting up of corn-fields and pleasant gardens by swine ? But what are these to the destructions made by sin in the hearts and lives of people ? Who can give way to sin, but it must be with a sinful patience ? " Keep thy heart with all diligence," Prov. iv. 23: the best endowment is to be most carefully prcserv'ed. Who loves not to keep his body healthful ? and yet who regards the keeping of his soul holy ? The whole Trinity of Persons adorn the heart with holiness ; each of them is to have a corner in it, nay, the whole. Let not Satan have wells which he never digged, inhabit houses which he never built. If the Philistines tread not on the threshold on which Dagon fell, let not Satan lodge in the heart that God sanctifies. This for the first branch considerable in the de- scription of the parties to whom the apostle wrote, " Sanctified by God the Father." Then follows, 2. " PreseiTed in Jesus Christ." Wherein I consider two particulars : A privilege or enjoyment received, viz. preservation ; " Preserved,'' &:c. The means or way of enjoying it; and that was, " In Jesus Christ." Of both these briefly. (1.) The privilege bestowed is preservation, " To them that are preserved," &c. In the handling where- of I shall briefly give, The explication of it, and, The observations from it. For the explication. The word used by the apos- tle is rfrt)()i)/iti'oii," properly signifies, solicitously to be kept, as a thing lest it be lost, or taken away by others. 1 John v. 18, it is spoken of a regenerate person's keeping himself from being touched by the wicked one : rijpfi iavrbi', keepeth himself as with \\'atch and ward; guardeth himself so accurately, as he that watcheth a prisoner for fear of his escape. So Acts iv. .3, it is said, the apostles were put by the priests ilg rijpijirii', in hold. So Acts v. IS, they put them Iv j-i)p)'(tTfi, in prison. And of these pre- sented ones it is said, They " are kept by the power of God," ippspn/t^vot, kept as a town is kept with a garrison from the enemies ; prcpsidio circuiiivullali, encircled with military strength: so c„„5jrv.iii are these saints preserved by Christ, ii 1 stduc- lest being deceived by seducers, they Si'J'us'm'iic!'"'' should perish. This presentation of the godly is threefold. 1. Temporal, and of the body. 2. Spiritual, chiefly of the soul. 3. Eternal, of both in heaven. 1 . The first, though it be not here intended, as in- deed it is frequently denied to the faithful, yet it i.s often in Scripture bestowed upon them, and that several ways : sometimes when their enemies want means to effect their desires upon them, though they have poison, yet no power, no arms or instruments of force, 2 Sam. viii. 2 ; or when the enemies of the church have outward strength and forces, but are diverted another way, by reason of enemies coming against them from another place, 1 Sam. xxiii. 27 ; or when the enemies spend their hatred and forces upon one another, Judg. vii. 22 ; or when their forces, are by the providence of God timely discovered, so that the people of God taking refuge in some place of security, strength, or distance, the enemy cannot at all come at them, 2 Sam. xvii. IG ; or when there is such a curb of restraint put upon the spirits of enemies, as, though they find them, and have them in their hand, yet they shall not be able to put forth their inward poison against them ; thus even the na- tural force of fire, seas, beasts shall be bridled up, when God will, from hurting his people, Dan. iii. 2() ; or when the enemies of the church are discomfited, either by their own pireposterous fear or oversight, 2 Kings vii. 6, or the instrumentalness of the sense- less creatures against them, Judg. v. 20, or the puis- sance of the church's forces, not only spiritual, but even visible and worldly ; or when the faithful being taken, are delivered out of their hand, Gen. xiv. 12, 16; or when God makes an enemy of his church to be his own destroyer, to twist and use his own halter, 2 Sam. xvii. 23 ; or when God inclines the hearts and dispositions of the haters of his people to pity, ten- der, and favour them, though they are far from love j to their grace ; or when God works a really sanctify- ing change upon their hearts, making them to wash the stripes, and lick the wounds whole, which they have made, Acts x^^. 33 ; or when God takes his peo- ple out of this life from the evil to come, housing his I flock against a storm, taking down his ornaments 1 when he purposes to destroy the house ; and this he J ordinarily does by a natural death, though he can I translate his people, and take body and soul imme- 1 diatcly into heaven, as in the case of Elijah. 2. But principally, the care of God is in this life! expressed towaj'd his people in spiritual preservation. Vl-R. I. THE EPISTLE OF JUDE. This spiritual preservation of believers in this life is, (1.) From punishment. Tlie curse of the law, tlie ■wrath of God, Gal. iii. 13. Not from the law of God as giving precepts, but as being a covenant exacting perfect obedience, and condemning for an imperfect performance, Rom. vi. 14; 1 Tim. i. 9; — from the terror of the law, forcing for fear of punishment, as bond-slaves by the whip, Horn. viii. 15, the people of God being made a voluntary people, and worshipping God witliout servile fear, Psal. ex. 3. The faithful also are preser\-ed from the guilt and condemning power of sin, Eph. i. 7, " God not imputing their trespasses," 2 Cor. v. 19 ; presented from the curse of all external punishments, as they are the eflects of vengeance. Sin may be, and may not be, in the godly ; it is in them by habitation, not by dominion : so punishments are on them, and are not on them ; on them as sensible pains, on them as castigations to better them, on them as consequents of sin, and God's expression of his dislike of sin ; not on them as curses, not on them to satisfy wrath. The wrath of God lies not upon them, when the hand of God lies upon them: every affliction is medichta, not laniena : sent to kill sin, not the man : the edge, the soul, the sting, the malignity of every trouble, is removed, so that it has little more than the notion of a misery. God's peo- ple are not delivered from eWls as oppressive to na- ture, but as satisfactory to justice : whatever they Buffer, though it be death itself, they may say, Christ hath laboured, and we enter into his labours, John iv. 38; he has borne the heaviest end; death lost its sting in his side. There is honey in the carcass of this lion ; this serpent is Ijut a gentle rod being in his hand. (2.) This spiritual preservation of be- lievers is from sin, and in the state of holiness ; their grace being preser\"ed, and the image of God never totally olititerated in them : God preserWng the jewel oft \\hen not the casket; a man's self, his soul, though not his carcass; and from that which is the greatest enemy and evil, sin, so oft in Scripture called "the evil," John xvii. 15, and that which makes the very AqxW himself both to be and to be called the evil one. Matt. v. 37, he both having most and dispersing most of that evil ; the world to be called an evil world, 1 John v. 19 ; Gal. i. 4 ; and men, evil men, Luke vi. 45. And so this privilege of preservation from sin, and in the state of holiness, aptly follows sanclification ; the elect being not only made holy, but kept holy. Hence we read of "him that is able to keep us from falling," Jude 24; of Christ praying that his disciple*, though not taken out of the world, yet should be kept from the evil, Jolm xvii. 15, the world kept out of them, though not they out of the world ; of the faithful, their being " kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation," 1 Pet. i. 5 ; of the evil one's not touching him that is born of God, 1 John v. 18 ; and of his not sinning ; of God's delivering Paul " from every evil work," 2 Tim. iv. 18 ; of preserving blame- less to the coming of Christ ; of finishing the good ■work begun unto the day of Christ, Phil. i. 6. All which places intend this spiritual preservation men- tioned by Jude, which is that gift of God whereby the elect, being united to Christ by his Spirit and faith, continue in him, and can never totally and finally fall from holiness. Sundry ways God prcser^-es from sin, and in holi- ness. 1. Sometimes by keeping his people from the very outward temptation to sin, if he sees it would be too hard for them; often dealing with his serv- ants, as the people did with Da\-id; who would not let hira go down to battle, lest the light of Israel should have been put out, 2 Sam. xxi. 17 ; as Gideon Gratia nee to- dealt with his soldiers, suffering not the fearful to go to fight, Judg. vii. 3 ; as we preserve a lighted can- dle in a windy night, by putting it into a lantern. 2. Sometimes by making them conquerors even fur the present over the temptation : he strenjjthens them so with his Spirit, as that they break the strongest cords, with Samson, bearing away the very gates of tlie city, and overthrowing whole troops of temptations. Thus was Joseph presented. Gen. xxxix.,as Chrysostom expresses it, in a fiery furnace, even when it was heated seven times hotter than ordinary ; the power of God being put forth therein, more than in preserving the three children. Thus were the blessed martyrs preserved from sin. We read in that holy martyrology, Heb. xi. 35, they " were tortured, not accepting deliverance." How many have overcome fire with fire ; the fiery flame with love to Christ hotter than fire ! their holy resolution rising the higher the more oppo- sition they had, as a flood that meets with an ob- stacle ; or as a ball, the harder it is thrown against the ground, the higher it rebounds. 3. Always God so preserves his saints from sinning, that they sin not finally, the}' sin not away all their holiness ; their faith fails not, Luke xxii. 32 ; there is some- thing in them that sins not, the seed of God, a grain of mustard-seed, a principle of holi- ness, which, as it opposes, so it will overcome their distempers ; as a foun- '"'■ "'•f tiuaintr tain works out its muddiness when dirt is thrown into it ; as life in a man, his diseases. A saint is not delivered fully from the being of sin, but from the total prevalency of it, from finally apostacy; so that his soul still continues in the state of grace, and has the life of holiness, for the essence, though not always in the same degrees : he may aliquo modo recei/ere, non peiii/ui- eicidere. Grace may be abated, not altogether abolished : he may neccare, . , „ „.. ^ . . 1 ' 1 ■ Actus ornittifur. not perire ; sm, but not to death; in- hai.nus uou amu- tei-niit the actings of grace, not lose the vert'iiur'!'ii.'!!s'no'a habit. Faith may be shaken in, not subveriinir; c„ii. out of the soul ; the fruit may fall off, tjfur; dciiiiit but the sap not totally dry up. It is ;';,''3S"jf,sa,i'r'e?'-''' true, grace in itself considered, as a """i ainiiimu .le- creature, might totally fail ; our per- leciive. Pr. i. manency is not respectu rei, but Dei; ,'L'',f,s'"uiptI,',ii'^' not from our being holy, but from our '"['■ai status jus- being kept holy. We are kept by the ,i'.ssoi!""lf. su'fir. power of God; and if so, it will be to '■'''• p- '"T. salvation. Notwitlistanding the power of sin in us, and the power of Satan without us, the frowns and the smiles of the world, the music and the furnace, the wind and the sun, the tide of nature and the wind of example, holiness, though in the least de- gree, shall never be lost to be of no degree. Satan doth soli persevera»li(E insidiuri, he only aims to take away grace; he would never care to take away gold, or names, or comforts, &c., if it were not to make us sin. He that oilers to give these things to make us sin, would not snatch them from us but for that end. God was not delighted that Job should be tormented, but that his grace should be tried ; nor Satan so much that Job should be tomiented, as that his grace should be destroyed. But though he winnow never so violently, he shall never winnow out all our grace, Luke xxii. 31. All the power of hell shall never prevail against the God of heaven. The immutable, eternal decree of God is the found- ation of perseverance. Now the counsel of God shall stand, Isa. xlvi. 10. The elect cannot be de- ceived. Matt. xxiv. 24. The impossibility of seduc- tion is grounded upon the stability of election : the foundation of God abidcth sure, 2 Tim. ii. 19 ; it can never be moved out of its place. The purpose of c 18 AN EXPOSITION UPON Ver. I God according to election must stand, Rom. ix. II. (,^f all that God hath given Christ by election he will lose nothing, John \-i. 39. Quod daiiir ex ^^'^ ^^^'^^ preservation flows from the fftirKcj iiiteniione decree of election, is most manifest, bc- vindi'ililim per- cause it is given with a jirevious inten- iur"'i'iiud"ei<"de- t^°" °^ infallibly bringing him to sal- creio ciiietiiunis vation, to whom it is given ; for what ff'stunrest.Tuiir. IS election, but to ordain infallibly to Br. p. 197. obtain salvation ? And this immutable purpose the all-powerful and faithful God backs with infallible promises. " The mountains shall depart, but the covenant of his peace shall not," Isa. liv. 10. " I will put my fear into their hearts, that tliey shall not depart from me," Jer. xxxii. 40. " My sheep shall never perish, nei- ther shall any man pluck tliem out of my hand," John X. 28. " I will betroth thee unto me for ever," Hos. ii. ly. " Christ shall confirm you to the end," 1 Cor. i. 8. Nay, this stableness of his counsel he shows by an oath also ; which was, " That we being delivered," &c., "might worship him without fear, in holiness and righteousness, all the days of our life," Luke i. 74, 75. This purpose, and these promises, God even in this life backs with such performances as prove perse- verance infallibly to follow ; he bestows upon his people an inward continuing principle of holiness, the seed of God remaining in God's people, which makes them that they cannot sin, I Jonniii. 9. "A well of water springing up unto everlasting life," John iv. 14. An anointing abiding in them, 1 John ii. 27. The Spirit abiding for ever, John xiv. 16. The fear of God in their hearts not suffering to de- part from God, Jer. xxxii. 40. " Gifts without re- pentance," Rom. xi. 29. Upon these perfoi-mances of God believers have been assured, and are commanded to labour for the assurance of their salvation ; a privilege not to be at- tained, if assurance of perseverance were impossible ; for without perseverance there is no salvation, 1 John V. 13; Heb. iii. 6; 2 Pet. i. 10. 3. The third and fullest preservation is eternal, which shall be perfectly from every enemy that may hurt in a way of sin and misery, truly called J'oelix Sfcuritas, et secnra foelictlas, happy safety, and safe happiness ; when tlie people of God shall neither oflend, nor be oil'ended ; when there shall be neither a sin in the soul, nor a sinner in their society ; when Satan shall no more solicit ; when the faithful shall not only be exempted from foils, but even from fighting; when instead of swords, they shall only have palms in their hands. O blessed condition ! to have rest on eveiy side, fulness of grace, perfection of peace, to be freed from all fears, to be lodjjed in the bosom and locked up in the embraces of God to eternity, to be in our haven, our centre, our Father's house. 0 my soul ! it is a heaven to hope it ; what then is it to have it ! And this for the ex])lication of the nature of this preservation, the second kind of privilege bestowed upon the faithful. Obs. \. Sanctified persons have many enemies. It is true, none are safe but such, and yet none so much solicited as such. What need this n/pijmc, this care- ful preservation, this garrison of God's power, if there were none feared to give and take the pos- session of thy sou! from God ? Is there not a false party within ? The best governed city has some traitors, and so has the best governed heart : nay, is not the better party in the soul by far the lesser ? and how oft do the disaffected conspire to let in the enemy without ! which they had long ago done, and destroyed the good party too, for graceleft to itself falls, had it not been for God's power. The great design of Satan is to surprise SS,'°"" p'm sanctity. The thief gotten into the ''e™ »'i ""nam. house, presently inquires where the jewels and money are laid up. The devil had rather catch one fish than a hundred frogs ; he is sure already (he thinks) of his own. Besides, they do not much credit his cause ; but could he bring over to himself one sanctified person, he woidd boast in such an addition to his kingdom. It is the tree that bears fruit which is plucked and cudgelled ; under other trees which have only leaves, men sit and walk indeed, but they pluck them not : and of all trees which bear fruit, those which bear the best are pulled and beaten most. It is the richly laden ship that is most endangered by the pirates ; the soul enriched with holiness for which Satan lies most in wait. There are as many miracles wrought, as a saint is preserved minutes. Let us neither be secure nor discouraged. Not secure; we live in the midst of enemies. He that will be always safe, must never be secure : we cannot trust God too much, nor our own hearts too little; the former is our keeper, the latter is our traitor. No Christian is his own keeper: we can neither stand nor rise alone ; all we can do alone is to fall. Not discouraged : thy many robbers show thou hast something worth taking from thee : thy enemies, though they endanger thy holiness, yet grant it ; in opposing thee, they speak thee none of theirs ; nay, tliey engage Jesus Christ to oppose them, who will lose none of his ; to pity thee, who will not suffer thee to be tempted above (j^^n ^lundus, thy power. Let the world fall, yet a ffJ .""" 'adit '. Christian lalls not, as long as Christ n.m c^.iit ciilis- stands. '"'• '^"^■ Obs. 2. God keeps most graciously when he keeps us from sin : then he keeps us as his own people. He keeps from sickness or poverty by way of a gene- ral providence, but from sin by way of peculiar pre- servation : whatever other preservation he bestows without this, it is but a reservation to eternal ruin. Christ, that loves all his members most ten- derly, never desired of his Father to keep them free from outward troubles ; he prays not that he should take his disciples " out of the world, but keep them from the evil," John xvii. 15 ; not that they should be exempted from sufferings, but pre- served from sin, the evil : that they might never side with the times against God; that they might never apostatize, or forsake the truth. Every one seeks safety, but who desires this true safety, this soul , safety ? Worldly policy would that a man sleep in a whole skin, but true wisdom puts a man upon pre- serving a whole conscience : a whole skin counter- vails not for a wounded conscience. And yet this is the study of the times, every one labours to save one, to fall upon his feet, to keep from being plun ■ dered, &c. ; but who study to be kept from offending God? If thou couldst as easily keep thyself from God's wrath as from man's, by all thy projects, thy policy would be a good pattern : gain in the chest, and loss in the conscience, is but a bad exchange. He that will save his life when he should lose it, shall lose it when he would save it. Fear not troubles, because He sleeps not that preserves thee ; but fear sin, because He sleeps not that observes thee. Account it a greater mercy, in all the sinful agitations of these times, that God has kept thee from being an actor, than a misery that God hath made thee a sufferer. 06s. 3. The people of God are never unsafe, Psal. xxxvii ; xci. If the Lord be the watchman, what though it be an estate, a life, nay, a soul that is the city, we should not fear the loss of it. The meanest Ver. 1. THE EPISTLE OF JUDE. 19 of the people of God stir not out without their life- guard ; if they wanted, tliere is not a creature in heaven or earth but would take their ti-fhsS^'shfiii^se- part ; they are the hidden, the secret, esiTiialM h^i's'uel '^^^ preserved ones. Security is not so pia securiias. great a sin as distrust, our Friend being a V. in oc. mucl^ morc able to help than our foes to hurt. "What one said sinfully, every child of God may say holily, " I shall never be moved," Psal. xxx. 6. We must commit ourselves " to God in well-doing," 1 Pet^ iv. 19 ; ii. 2.3. Christ, though he committed him- self not to man, knowing what was in man, yet him- self li\nng and dying he committed to his Father : we do quite contrary. Find out the danger in which God cannot keep, or the time when God did not keep, or the saint, for to him I speak, that God hath not kept, and then distrust him. Say not, If worse times yet come, what shall I do to be kept ? Will not he that pro\'ided a city of refuge for those that killed men, find out a city of refuge for thee, when men labour to kill thee for God ? Hath God so many chambers, so many " mansions in his house," John xiv. 2, so many hiding-places upon the earth, (his, ■with the fulness of it,) in the earth, in heaven, and shall his children be shut out ? Thy work is not to be solicitous how to be kept, but how to be tit to be kept. Labour to be always in well-doing ; then W'ho will harm thee ? Keep faith and a good conscience ; keep no sin allowedly in thy soul ; do thy part, and let God alone with his. But this is our busy sinful- ness, we will needs be doing God's work, and neglect our own. Obs. 4. A strong engagement lies upon God's peo- ple to endeavour the preser^-ation of God's honour. It is true, in this case, protection draws allegiance. If he be a wall of fire to us, to our souls and bodies, let not us be a rotten hedge when we should defend his name, servants, ordinances ; if he be a tower, let not us be a tottering wall. Let us labour to say. Lord, he that toucheth thine honour, toucheth the apple of mine eye. If we expect that God should keep us in our, we must maintain his cause in its, danger. Obs. 5. The gainsayers of perseverance are de- ceived. Their doctrine most clearly, as hath been proved, opposes Scripture, and most incurably wounds a Christian's comfort. What joy can we have that our names are written in the book of life, if again they may be blotted out ? The life of our mortal life is the hope of an immortal ; but how unsteady a foundation of hope is the stedfastness of our wills ! nay, thus faith's foundation is overturned, which is this, " He that believes shall be saved :" but this opinion says. Some that believe shall not be saved ; for it maintains, that some who truly believe do not persevere ; and those which do not persevere shall not be saved : it makes the decree of God to depend upon man's most uncertain will. Arminians say that believers shall persevere, if they be not wanting to themselves, if they always will persevere. But what is this, but to say. Believers shall persevere if they persevere ? for always to -will to persevere, and to persevere, are all one. It is a prodigious error, to hold that God works nothing in us for perseverance, the effectual use of which depends not upon man's free-will. God gives, saith an Arminian, to persevere Nobis qui vere ^^ '^'•'^ ^"11 ! ^ut God gives. Say We, to ci.nsio insiti will to perscverc. And how can we sutTuis, talis data i /, i j. , esi El alia, ui nnn pray to (jocl tor pcrseverauce, the con- «'i'iinus?s«'.r""' dition whereof depends upon man's etia.n utvehmus will, and uot Upon God's working? verare.Aiig.de Llinst promises, John XIV. 16, to pray «T»."Ssoiura ^^'^. Father to give his disciples his ui sine isio douu Spirit, which shall abide ■nath them for ever : now the cause of the abiding of p^^'^;;^™;;'',.^" the Spirit for ever with them, is not rum eiiam it per their will to have the Spirit abide in u","- 'p™se'?eSc5 them; but the abiding of the Spirit s""- was the cause of their willingness. I conclude, ac- cording to this Arminian en-or of falling from grace, it is possible that there may not be one elect person ; for if one finally fall away, why may not another ? And by the same reason, why not all ? and then where is the church, and to what end is the death of Christ ? Obs. 6. He that will approve himself a true, must show himself a stedfast Christian. All the sanctified are presen'ed. Instability is an argu- oi;,v;c ipaiTThf ment of insincerity. He was never a x"." Anst"R*h. true friend that ever ceases to be a i. 2. c. 21. friend. What has levity to do with eternity ? an in- constant Christian with an eternal reward ? Not he that comes in first, in this race of Christianity, is crowned ; but he that holds out to the last. All that which is done of any thing, is held as nothing, as long as any thing remains to be done. " If any one draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him," Heb. X. 38. A thatched roof suits not a precious foundation ; nor a wicked conclusion, beautiful be- ginnings of Christianity. Within a while all possi- bilities of falling will be removed ; one stile or two more, and thou art haply at thy Father's house : the longer thou continuest, the sweeter will be the ways of God. It is harder often to begin than once to perse- vere. Take heed of falling from thy stedfastness. God preserves us, but we ourselves must not be negligent. Get a sound experience of the truth thou professest; tasting the sweetness, as well as hearing of its sweet- ness. Follow not religion, as some hounds do the game, only for company. Love the truth for single, not sinister respects : let Christ be sweet for himself. Tremble at the very beginnings of sin ; look upon no sin as light; keep a tender conscience; as our apparel, so our consciences, when spotted, become neglected. Apostacy has modest beginnings. The thickest ice, that bears a cart, begins with a tender film, not able to bear a pebble : the least enemy must not be neglected. Presume not on thy own strength. He that carries grace in a proud heart, carries dust in the wind. A proud man is arbor decorticata, a tree whose bark is off: humility keeps in the sap of grace. Shun the occasions of sin ; it is easier to pass by the snare than to get out. Lastly, pray to be preserved : from God is it that we stand : we are reeds tied to a pillar. The wicked go out of the way, and they call not upon God, Psal. xiv. 3, 4. This for the handling of the first particular in the second priWlege ; viz. the kind of it, preservation. The second follows ; viz. The ground of this their presei-vation : " In Jesus Christ." For explication. The faithful may be said to be preserved in Christ two ways. 1. Merilo passionisjhy the merit of his suflTering ; and thus he saves from the wrath and curse of God : " There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus," Rom. viii. I. He saveth " from the wrath to come," 1 Thess. i. 10. "The chastisement of our peace was upon him, and by his stripes we are healed," Isa. liii. 5. He was as the brazen sei-pent in healing the beholders. All miseries, as curses, have left their stings in his side. He was the true Passover, for whom all the judgments of God pass over us : his cross is the tree cast into the waters of Marah, to take away their bitterness ; his ignominy is our glory; his poverty our patrimony. 2. We are preserved in Christ, efficacta operationis, by his effectual working in us, and bestowing upon us such supplies of grace, as that we never fully and 20 AN EXPOSITION UPON Ver. 1. finally depart from God; and this is effected two ways : On Christ's part, He sending his Spirit to work in us. On our parts, Faith is enabled by his Spirit to receive continued supplies of strength from him. ( I .) His Spirit of grace, called " the Spirit of Christ," Eom. viii. 9, is bestowed upon us. Gal. iv. 6, he in- terceding with his Father for that end : " I will pray the Father," (saith he,) " and he shall give you another Comforter," John xiv. 16. " If I depart, I will send him unto yon." And this presence of the Spirit work- ing and continuing grace, is the fruit of those prayers for the preservation of his people. " I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not," saith Christ to Peter, Luke xxii. .32 ; and, " I pray that thou wouldst keep them from the evil," John xvii. 15. And the apostle, Rom. viii. .34, 35, from the intercession of Christ, infers the certainty of perseverance : " Who also maketh intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?" &c. Now this Spirit, sent by Christ into the hearts of his people, preserves them, both by working and strengthening their union with Christ. In the former, conveying a life, and be- stowing a permanent principle of holiness upon them ; putting into them a seed that shall never die, 1 John iii. 9, infusing a habit of holiness never to be lost. In the latter, affording daily supplies, Phil. i. 19, and strengthening them with might, Eph. iii. 10 ; Phil. iv. 13, to resist all temptations, to bear all burdens, to go through all conflicts, to tlirive by all ordinances, to rest upon all the promises, to act their graces with vigour, to mourn for sin committed, to call and cry fur grace which is wanting ; the Spirit directing in doubts, quickening in deadness, comfort- ing in sorrows, and interceding in prayer, Rom. viii. (2.) On our part we are preseiTcd in Christ by his operation, when faith is enabled by the Spirit to ad- here and cleave unto liim, to unite and fasten us unto him, making Christ to dwell in our hearts, incor- porating us into him as the branches are in the tree, or as the root is fastened in the soil, the mem- ber in the body, or the house upon the foimdation ; this grace joining and making us adhere to Christ so strongly, that ha^ng fastened upon him, there is no plucking the soul from him, John xv. 4, 6 ; Eph. iii. 17. And thus, as Christ lays hold upon us, and takes us by the hand with his Spirit ; so we lay hold upon him, and take him by the hand with our faith, where- by the union is complete and reciprocal, our Beloved ours, and we his. And from this uniting and closing work of faith, by the Spirit, flows the preservation of a Christian, as the weak branches of a vine are upheld by fastening about the prop, and the house by abiding on the foundation, or a weak, slender reed by being tied to a pillar. But yet faith rests not here, but improves this union, and by virtue of it draws continual supplies of grace and iiahemiis sapien- strength from Christ, as the root from s.iiciiiaiem ' the Soil, Or the branches from the root, linus'spen'ianL Or the pipe from the fountain. Hence Christum quale- jt is that wc livc by faith, Gal. ii. 20, exisieiirtm, sed bccausc our faith is tile instiiiment that porlmurcirdsio, draws virtue from Christ to relieve and quaienus hahe- ' sustain US in all oiu- wants, faith and notus ni'anenSm? Christ being Well met: Christ is very s'^inSis'lJien,- ^^^' ^^^^ l^^'^s *» ^^ giving ; faith very tiiiiiiiisaccipere empty, a covctous grace, and loves to nisi m m'™lm'u5 ; be receiving of his fulness, John i. 16. elt'toerfoDtem"' ^^ Suffices not faith to be in the foun- naturaietu el spi- taiu, uulcss it driuk of the fountain ; to fa'cui."'!). sn's."' be in Christ, unless it receive from Christ; to unite us as members to the Head, unless it supplies us as members from the Head : from the Head all the body by joints and bands hath nourishment ministered, Col. ii. 19. The Spirit on the part of Christ, and faith on ours, are those a. eo. put into the balance, a man's free-will must turn tlie scales, and determine the case, whether a man shall be converted or no, accept of grace or refuse it. But according to this heterodox position, it will follow, that not God by his grace, but man by his free-will, is the principal cause of his conversion. For if God by putting forth all his strength in man's conversion, does no more than aflbrd to the will a middle kind of state of indifference, he con- curs to the act of conversion, or to the change of the will from that indifference, not principally, or predominantly, but only by way of coneomitancy, contingently and conditionally; namely, if the will please by its natural power to move from its indif- ference : so that the will receives from God the less, which is, to be put into a middle state of indifference to convert, or not convert ; and that wliich is the greater, and which determines the act, the will per- forms of itself. And in conversion „. .. ... more must be attributed to man s will quieiiani voi.ii.ias than God's work; for none is there- !;!ii,uc"poi«'t'fSe fore holy because he may be so if he [|;"'"*,'=' '"^'^' will, but because he is truly willing to uU'extilMsVi",' be so ; only the former this opinion at- "',!,','to.'q,.am''°'' tributes unto God, and the latter to free- luod at) iiio. will. And how can the patrons of this nii'.^'et'ei'i"'i'. 2. error ever truly jiray to God for the '^' '"• grace of his .Spirit ? What should they pray for ? sufficient grace to convert if they will ? ' No ; that is universal, and received by the worst. Or shall they pray for the good use of that grace? Neither; for the good use of grace they hold to come from the will, which must by no means be determined by God, but be indifferent, whether to convert or not : and if God only gives a power to will to convert, but it is alone from the will to will to convert, it follows, that God's grace aflbrds no more help to John who is converted, than to Judas who is not ; and so it will inevitablv follow, that John made himself to Ver. 1. THE EPISTLE OF JUDE. 25 differ from Judas by some act of his own, wliicli he received not from grace, contrary to that of tlie apostle, "Who made thee to differ?" 1 Cor. iv. 7- For John and Judas are not really made to dilTer by grace, neither of them recei%ing any other grace but to convert if they will, and they are not made to differ by what they equally receive ; therefore they differ in that John would make use of grace afforded, and Judas would not : whence it fol- 5!rK."q^'ici°a"rt. 1. lows, that Johu might thus glory be- ciie.i by liiat fore God ; Lord, I give thee thanks fv"«>r orViTviinr". that thou didst afford me the help of h!!rlk?ca'i'ie.i',"a'ra- '^y grace, which was a power for me lia D'isri imi'imns. to will to couvcrt ; but tlic Same help i.i fieri quod iion thou didst afford to Judas, onlv I added iJimi'mbi'soiwr- 'hat which supernaturally tliou didst let Ben, inciiiiat not give me, namely, to will to convert, fi'ni:'™iM'it! ''jug. and to will to use thy help : and when nn est devotio. ,, . . i ^ i -^ ^ i iiis, Heiiisse prnpe all m our convcrsion, but deceit to keep In'sTeiinmJrve"! ^ack even the least. Now God hath miuiinum. Prosp. promised to give us even the will itself com. Col. c. ult. i T T r; r -n a n to believe. 1 will cause you to walk in my commands," Ezek. xxx^i. 27. And if God work in us this only, to be able to will to convert, but man himself the will to convert, the greatness of that mysterj' of predestination mentioned by the apostle comes to nothing : and that profound ques- tion, why God calls many to salvation, to whom he gives not effectual grace whereby they may will to be converted, this question, I say, may easily be answered ; for, according to the Arminians, who say, God gives a power only to convert, and the person called has it from himself actually to convert ; it ma)' be answered, Those who being called, God foresaw to be willing to convert, he elected to life ; and those whom he foresaw not ^^^lling to convert, these lie passed by : and hereby that speech of the apostle will be altogether superfluous, Who art thou, O man, that reasonest against God? Rom. ix. 20 ; and that ad- miration of the apostle, "O the depth," &c. Rom. xi. 33. Nor need an Anninian fear so much, by grant- ing this irresistible, indeclinable, invincible work upon the heart of one that is converted, that the will would be ravished, and forced to con- iuHnnitalTlokm- Sent Contrary to its bent, whether it LiiishumaniE, ut -^vould Or no : for when God bv his • livma gratia 111- ^ . * i • ,i ■,, iie.iinabiiiieret etticacious gracc works m the will to a'Bei'liTur.'"iuhr- will, this cfficacious gTacc puts into tlie mis servavit ut Tf,i\\ a nonrcsistancc, and taketh awav Ilisoilonante 111- . , . ^ \^ , •. - • * vuiissimequod actual resistance : so that it is as impos- D°rr."e'tG',a."'- sible that these two should coexist and I. i;. Prima mcct together in the will, to be wrouipon it ac- cordingly, Rom. xii. 7. A base deportment becomes not those in high place. Joseph called to stand be- fore Pharaoh, throws away his prison garments: Saul called to a kingdom, had another heart. The virtues of him that calleth must be shown. 2 Thess. i. II ; 1 Pet. ii. 9. (1.) Humility and self-debasing, considering so great a God regarded so poor a worm. Remember, as it was a dunghill from whence God took thee, so thy unwillingness was great to leave it; and how long God was making thee willing to do good to thyself; how thou hadst nothing to set up with ; that thy portion was nothing but pride and poverty. (2.) Pity to those who are imcalled. The elect of God must put on bowels : they that have ob- tained mercy, must pray that others may do so. Look upon others' sins with more trouble than thine own sorrows : pity those that cannot pity themselves; weep over their dying souls ; thy soul hath been in the state of theirs. Call after others, if God has called thee, and pray that God would make them hear, Luke xxii. 32. Embrace the company of the worst, to make them good, not as a companion, but a physician. (3.) Contempt of the world. Acknow- ledge thy dignity ; be above those trifles which thou, as a child, didst magnify. A Christian is called (2 Thess. ii. 14) to a "kingdom," Col. i. 13 ; 1 Thess. ii. 12; he has a "high calling," Phil. iii. 14: all that the world can give him he should lay at his feet. His heart must be where his treasure is, and his treasure only where Clirist is. Only he can look upon the world as small, who has looked upon Christ as great. How imsuitable is it to see a king raking in the dunghill, or making hay with his sceptre ! (4.) A preferring that voice before all others which called thee : " It is the voice of my Beloved," Cant, ii. 8. " My sheep hear my voice," John x. 3, 16. Let not the voice of a stranger wathdraw thee ; be not tossed up and down " with every wind of doctrine," Eph. iv. 14; be not a follower of men : walk by rule, not example. "Whensoever the world or thy own heart calls thee, rather fear them than follow them. Follow others as they Christ. Love that voice of Christ that calls thee from thy sweetest sin : value one promise of his above the sweetest music. Let every Scripture threat be more dreadful than a thun- der-clap. (5.) Delight in calling upon him that called thee. Prayer is the called soul's echo back again to God : as soon as Paul was called, he prayed, Acts ix. 11 . God saw nothing in thee, and yet he call- ed after thee : how much is there in God for which thou shouldst call after him ! Desire him to draw thee nearer to himself, to call thee to him closer, to keep thee, as he has called thee to him, 1 Thess. ii. 12; 2 Thess. ii. 14. (6.) Be thankful for thy voca- tion, that God should call thee when there was no- thing but woe and unwillingness, and should pass by others better accomplished. Let his free grace have all the glory. "Who shall speak of God, if thou art silent ? Let heart, and tongue, and life advance him. Hitherto of the two first parts of the title : viz. I. The person who wrote this Epistle; and, II. The persons to whom he wrote it. Now follows, III. The prayer; wherein the person writing sa^ lutes the persons to whom he wrote, contained in these words : Ver. 2. Mcrct/ imto you, and jm'kcc, and love, he multtplied. In which prayer we consider, 1. The blessings which the apostle requests may J be bestowed ; which are three, " Jilercy, peace, love." I 2. The measure in which the apostle desireth they may be bestowed, " Be muhiplied." 3. The persons upon whom he prays that these blessings may be in this measure bestowed, " Unto you." 1. "We will consider the blessings which the apostle requests : the first of them is " mercy." Concerning which. For the expository part. IMcrcy is referred either to man or God. (1.) To man: and so mercy is, ac- MUericorrti, es. cording to some, a grief oi heart arising dni.,r ei asuiu.io from the apprehension of another's a"t"r'i'us'mjm'i'""' misery; according to Scripture, such a jj; j'"'"j"|'^!* ?"""P" holy compassion of heart for the misery 'lus. j. of another, as inclines us to relieve him aiien^'^m'isi?,J'in in his miserv. It is a compassion of nosiro orde mm- ,-1 . • ■* 1 ii • passio, qua udque, svmpathv, because it makes tlie merci- si possimus. sub- fiil heart a partaker of the misery of ;„7;;™ S'ug''de c. him who is distressed ; and therefore, P- 1- 9- c. .i. say some, called misericoraw, because it est misiriror.iia translates the misery of another into tlie ^oTLlarrnndo- heart of the merciful. And for this lesremis aiimo cause it is called the " bowels of com- passion," Col. iii. 12; I John iii. 17; Phil. i. 8; ii. 1. So likewise by the LXX., Prov. xii. 10. And to have compassion is usually set out in Scripture by a verb that signifies to have the bowels moved, Mark \\. 34; Matt. xiv. 14; xv. 32; Mark i. 41; Luke \'ii. 13, &c., because mercy expresses itself in the bowels especially; he that is affected vehemently Ver. 2. THE EPISTLE OF JUDE. 27 with another's sufferings, having his verj' bowels moved and rolled in him, Hos. xi. 8, and is aflfected as if the howels of him that is in miserj^ were in his E-TTu fxeat W:r„ '^oAY- _ Nor is tlijs Scriptm-'e compassion ewifaivouna _ a fooHsli pity, whereby a man unlaw- Ko?'x*;rnp'^'T"i fully tenders him that is in deserved M,t^'°ArS.*''" misery, as Ahab pitied Benhadad, and Kemn p^rnci.ia; Saul Atjaff, against God's command : cordiacnnim.i.e- uut SUCH a compassion as (jod approves, lur. Cic. 1U5C.4. a fruit of the Spirit, commanded and commended in the word. In this grace of mercy is also comprehended a forwardness to succour the miserable ; the bowels of the merciful not being shut up, 1 John iii. I/. This grace the Scriptm-e honours with manv precepts and promises, Matt. v. 7 ; Luke vi. 36; X.37; 1 Pet. iii. 8; Col. iii. 12. A merciful man is God's almoner, his conduit-pipe to convey his blessings, his resemblance, like unto his heavenly Father, who is the Father of mercy. (2.) To God ; and so it is referred in this place by Jude. In which consideration of mercy as re- ferred to God, there are three things to be explained. How mercy can be attributed to God. What sorts of mercy are attributed to God. What are the properties of the sorts of mercy at- tributed to God. [].] How mercy can be attributed to God. Not as it is an affection of grief for the misery of another; but, 1. As it signifies a promptitude and forward- ness of the will to succour the miserable. Not as it is miseria cordis, or as to be merciful is taken passively, for one to be a fellow suf- re'u.'l°c'4!'q. 1. ferer ; but as it is miseria cordi, as Misei icor.iem leamcd Zanchv distinguishes, and as lare soiemiis, non to DC mcrcitut IS taken activelv, lor one J^mm'ha'heimr SO to be mindful of the miseries of e'l'm'^"''" '""'"^ others, that he desires and is willing misericore?"!^! from the heart to help them. Suffering fum quimiSfo'' ^^^ the distrcsscd in their miseries is homioi ex corde not esscutial to mcrcv, but only acci- Si licuit Aitgus- dental, in regard of our nature, which s!rc'n'r,''is"niise'ria, ^^ ^° subject to passious, that without eicaiteriiis miseria a fellow feeling We cannot look upon li«ainobisdicere, the misencs 01 thosc wliom we love; H,''nui?""ni?,u sit ^""^ ^'"^ ^^ "°' i" "^"'^ = ^"'^ ^ propen- coVdiaiierius mi- sion and inclination of will to relieve cTiadiiotm'poVtan the miserable, which is the essential unum tanquam pg^t of uicrcv, is uiost properh' and tanquam acciden- abundantly in bod, altnougii s}-mpatny pr'nmi^iitu"ro'"o"' or fcUow feeling is often attributed to vc'ni'enfium *"''" '^"'^ improperly, and by way of re- ris; aiterum est Semblance to human affections, for re- qilS'oriTur'iJfap- licnng our capacities, and strengthen- peiitu ex cogni- ing our faith. And in respect of this tl'ine misen* al- ^ , .... ^ • r-, •, terius ; quantum propeusencss and Willingness m God to me''es'i''in"nlo,"'' ^elp the distressed, are we to under- niin qnaniuin ad Stand those scripturcs where God calls secundum. Ricli. i ■ ^e ll -i* i ,, -i ,, A. AC. a. 2. qu. 1. himseli merciful," and " ot great ''''■^- mercy," Zech. ii. 8; Acts ix. 4; Exod. xxxiv. Ci, 7 ; Psal. c. 5 ; cxlv. 9 ; that is, of a most forward nature to help us in our distresses. 2. Mercy is attributed to God, as it signifies God's actual help"- ing and relieving us in our distresses ; as he bestows those blessings upon us, spiritual or bodily, which proceed from his mercy alone: and thus are those places of Scripture to be understood, where God is said to have or show mercy; as, " He hath mercy on whom he will," Rom. ix. 18. " I found mercy, because I did it ignorantlv," I Tim. i. 13. In which places mercy is put for calling to Christ, and all graces which follow it. These works or effects of mercy being various and innumerable ; so Psal. cxxxvi. ; Rom. xi. 31 ; 2 Tim. i. 18; it comes to pass, that (though mercy be single and one in God) the Scripture speaks of it in the plural number; as Gen. xxxii. 10; 2 Cor. i. 3; Rom. xii. 1. [2.] For the sorts or kinds of God's mercy. It is either, 1. A general mercy, extended to all creatures in common, as there is no creature in any misery which in some respect he does not succour : he gives food to the hungry; warmth by wool, and sundry sorts of skins, to the naked ; medicine by many kinds of herbs : the sun, the clouds, the winds, the rain, to refresh the earth severally : and thus he is merciful to the elect and reprobate, just and unjust, nay, men and beasts, Psal. cxlvii. 9 ; Matt. vi. 2(5, &c. ; Psal. cxlv. 15. Or, 2. A special mercy bestowed upon the elect alone, different from the former both in regard of God's will to help, and also in regard of the effects of that will. It is the will of God, John vi. 39, that the elect should be delivered from their sins, his wrath, Satan's power, the sting of death, and that they should obtain eternal life in Christ. The will and pleasure of God is to do them good, they are his " Hephzi-bah," Isa. Ixii. 4 ; but he hath no pleasure in or special love to others, Mai. i. 10. The effects like- wise of his will to help are different toward the elect from those he expresses upon the reprobate ; he calling effectuallv, justifving, redeeming, glorifv- ing the elect, Rom.'ix. 15, 'l8; 1 Tim. i. 13. '-The Lord pitieth them that fear him," Psal. ciii. 13. "He that trusteth in the Lord, mercy shall compass him about," Psal. xxxii. 10. The Lord is "plenteous in mercy to them that call upon him," Psal. Ixxxvi. 5. Of others he saith, " I will deal in fury ; mine eye. shall not spare, neither will I have pity," Ezek. viii. 18. The elect are vessels of mercy, the other of wrath. To the former he is merciful in bestowing upon them an eternal, to the latter in affording a temporal, life. These two differing as much as the mercy with which a man regards his beast does from that wherewith he tenders his son : the beast is fed to be slain, or to be fit for labour; the son to be pre- served, and out of a paternal care for his good. To the wicked God affords a drop, to the godly a draught of mercy ; to the wicked, the crumbs under the table, to the godly, Christ with all his benefits, that bread of life which endureth to eternal life. This special mercy of God here prayed for by th.e apostle, is distinguished according to those several miseries of his people in which he succours them. Take a taste of the kinds of it. God is merciful, 1. 'With a preventing mercy, when he makes us holy of unholy ones : he loved us first. He waited to show mercy, Isa. xxx. 18; he doing good to us wlien we knew him not ; pitying us ■ivlien we were in our blood, Ezek. xvi. 22; re- garding us when we neither regarded him nor our- selves ; keeping us from falling into the sins to which of ourselves we were prone. So that, as in respect of good, we are wliat we are from God's mere mercy ; so, in respect of evil, we are not what we are not from the same mercy. 2. He is merciful to his with a forgiving mercy ; fully freeing them from wrath : their sins are as if they had never been, " blotted out as a cloud," Isa. xliv. 22, throwni " into the bottom of the sea," Micah vii. 19, though sought for, yet not to be found, Jer. 1. 20. In a sea of affliction there is not a drop of wrath. The faithful are j,^,,, viniici.-* looked upon as sons, not as malefactors ; giadium misna- their sufferings are not to satisfy God, acu,?. °'™ '"" but to sanctify them, Heb. xii. (5, 7, 12. 3. He is merciful with accepting mercy; taking in good part the desires of the soul when it finds not to perform ; accepting a sigh instead of a sendee ; a cup of cold water, a mite, a broken reed, smoking fiax, a groan, instead of a duty ; the stammerings of 28 AN EXPOSITION UPON Ver. 2. his child above the eloquence of a beggar ; a broken heart as the box of spikenard. 4. He is merciful with reaccepting mercy ; look- ing upon a returning prodigal as a son ; pitying as a father, not punishing as a judge; multiplying to par- don, receiving backsliders again, Hos. xiv. 4 ; Isa. Iv. 7. 5. He is merciful with providing mercy, Psal. xsiii. ; supplying all our wants, 2 Pet. i. 3; suflering no good thing to be wanting to us, Psal. Ixxxiv. 1 1 ; always giving what we need, if not what we would ; either assuaging or answering our desires ; bestowing temporal blessings in subordination, not opposition, to eternal blessedness ; giving us, if not riches with godliness, contentment with our poverty. 6. He is merciful with directing mercy in our doubts; guiding us by his counsels, Psal. Ixxiii. 24; showing us the way wherein we are to walk. Gal. vi. 1() ; being eyes to us in our blindness, light in our darkness, a teacher in our ignorance, a pillar and a cloud in every wilderness; giving his word for a rule, his Spirit for a guide. 7. He is merciful with sustaining mercy; uphold- ing us in all our distresses, Psal. xciv. 18, making every affliction fordable, and carrying us through, visiting us in prison, feeding us through our grate, knowing our souls in adversity, leading us gently, proportioning our burdens to our back, casting a tree into every ]\Iarah, shining through every shower, sending supplies in every siege, making his grace sufficient for us in all our buffetings, 2 Cor. xii. 9, keeping us from being swallowed up of sin, and our grace from being totally obliterated, Luke xxii. 32. 8. He is merciful with quickening, enlivening mercy to any holy duty ; so that we can do all things, Phil. iv. 13; making us a willing people, oiling the wheels of our souls, putting into us delight in his law, so that we account it sweeter than our appointed food, and run the ways of his commandments; he giving us work, wages, and hands, Psal. cxix. 9. He is merciful with a restoring, recovering mercy ; and that not only from sin and miseries, but even by them. (1.) From them; bringing out of every distress, bodily and spiritual ; causing every cloud to blow over ; making the longest night to end in a morning ; raising us after the foulest fall, and out of the deepest grave; making faith to work out of the greatest eclipse : he chides not for ever, Psal. ciii. 9, but repents him of the evil, Joel ii. 13; througli his mercy he suffers us not to be consumed. Lam. iii. 22; in wrath he remembers mercy, Hab. iii. 2. (2.) By sin and miseries ; making our afllic- tions, nay, our very sins, to work for our good, Rom. viii. 28 ; and all the smutchings with both to make us brighter, more humble, watchful ; and our fiery trials to burn in sunder only our bonds. 10. He is merciful with crowning mercy, when he brings us into heaven ; there he perfectly frees us not only from the contagion by, but even the com- pany of, every sin ; nay, the fear of ever being an- noyed again thereby ; delivering us from impure hearts and imperfect graces, from foils, from fight- ing, from all our causes of complaint : then giving for every combat we have had, a crown ; for every tear, a pearl ; for every light affliction, a mass of glory ; for a drop of gall, a sea of joy ; for appearing trou- bles, real blessedness : this is the mercy of that day, crowning mercy, 2 Tim. i. 18. [3.] For the properties of God's mercy. It is full ; it is free. 1. It is a full and unmeasurable mercy: the un- measurablcucss whereof is set forth, (1.) More gene- rally, when God is said to be plenteous in mercy, Psai. Ixxxvi. 5. abundant, I Pet. i. 3, rich in mercy. Eph. ii. 4, his mercy great, above the heavens, Psal. cviii. 4, his mercies unsearchable, high as the hea- ven is from the earth, Psal. ciii. 1 1 ; multitudes of tender mercies, Psal. Ii. 1. (2.) More particularly, the unmcasurableness of his mercy is set forth, 1. In that there is no creature in heaven or earth but tastes of it. " His mercies are over all his works," Psal. cxlv. 9 ; the very dumb creatures speak him merciful. The whole earth is full of his goodness, Psal. xxxiii. 5 : he preserves man and beast ; nay, his enemies. Matt. v. 45. 2. In that resemblances to set forth his mercy are taken from the most ten- der-hearted creatures. He draws with the cords of a man, Hos. xi. 4. He pities as a father; nay, more than the most tender-hearted mother doth her suck- ing child, Isa. xlix. 15. He gathers people as a hen doth her chickens. He has bowels of mercy, and such as sound, Jer. xxxi. 20; and therefore his mercy pleases him ; he delights to show mercy, he forgets not his mercy. 3. He is the fountain of the mercy and mercifulness in all the creatures in the world toward one another : the mercies of all pa- rents to their children, of every mother to her little ones, of every Christian, of every tender-hearted per- son, of every beast and fowl to their young ones, are but drops that come from the sea of God's mercy ; he is the Father of mercies, 2 Cor. i. 3. 4. He can deliver from every misery. Bread takes away hunger, drink thirst, clothes nakedness, knowledge ignor- ance, but no creature can take away every misery : whereas God is the God of all comfort, 2 Cor. i. 3; he supplies all our wants, Psal. xxiii. 1 ; Phil. iv. 19 ; Psal. xxxiv. 10, comforts in every trouble, he has a plaster for every sore, is a Physician for every disease, inward and outward ; and so merciful is he, that in the very not removing of miseries he is mer- ciful. Were it not for trouble, how should corrup- tion be killed, holiness increased, I Cor. xi. 32 ; Heb. xii. 10, heaven be sweet, eternal crowns and triumphs be enjoyed ? 4. He is merciful to his ene- mies ; full of patience and forbearance, expecting their return many years together ; giving them rain and fruitful seasons, filling their hearts with glad- ness, Acts xiv. 17; Matt. v. 45, notwithstanding tliey sin and tight against him with all his goodness ; yea, so merciful is he, that in their greatest enmity to him he has often done them the greatest good, changing their hearts, and making them his friends, Rom. V. 10. 6. He bestows mercy with greatest frequency and reiteration : he has many, manifold mercies, mercies for thousands more tlian can be expressed. Innumerable are the sins of one man ; how innumerable the sins of the whole world ! how numberless then are those mercies of forbearance expressed every time sin is committed, there being so many millions of sinners, every one committing so many millions of sin ! Innumerable are the mor- sels of food, drops of water, the motions, deliverances, provisions received by one man ; what then are those received by a whole world ! and every such ex- pression is a mercy, Psal. Ii. 1 ; xl. 5. 7. The mer- cy of God is eternal, and therefore immeasurable: he keepeth mercy for ever, 1 Kings viii. 23 : he will not take away his mercy from his servants ; it shall follow them all the days of their life, Psal. xxiii. 6 : his mercy shall be built up for ever, Psal.lxxxix. 2; it endureth for ever, Psal. cxxxvi. ; it is " from ever- lasting to everlasting," Psal. ciii. 17. He may hide his face for a moment, though that is but according to our thinking, but with everlasting mercies will he gather ns. The hills may be removed, and the mountains may depart, but God's covenant of peace shall not be removed, Isa. liv. 7, 10. God never repented himself of bestowing his best mercies. Ver. 2. THE EPISTLE OF JUDE. 29 8. God's mercy is so immeasurable, that to help us out of our miseries he that was God sustained tlicm himself. It had been mercy to have helped us by speaking comfortably to us; more, to have helped us by the bounty of his hand ; but to help us out of misery by bearing our miseries, by coming to man, by becoming man, by suffering so much pain, hun- ger, ignominy, gi-iefs, wounds, nay, death for man I oh, immeasurable mercy ! 0 my soul, acknowledge thine insufRcicncy either to conceive or requite it. 2. The mercy of God is not only full, but free, without desert on our parts. We deserve no healing from his mercy, unless by being sore and sick ; no riches from mercy, unless by our poverty ; no deli- verance from mercy, imless by being captives ; no pardon from mercy, unless by being guilty ; no pre- sen'ation from mercy, unless by being in danger ; no mere}', unless by being miserable. God is not tied to one man more than another, Eph. i. 5, 6 ; he hath mercy on whom he will, Rom. ix. 18 ; he hath mercy on tiie beggar, as well as the king; on the bar- barian, as well as the Grecian ; the bond, as well as the free; the Jew, as well as the Gentile. Election is the election of grace, 2 Tim. i. 9 ; vocation is ac- cording to grace ; faith is said to be given, Eph. ii. 8; justification is freely by God's grace, Rom. iii. 24; every good motion is of God's working, Phil. ii. 1.3; life eternal is God's gift, Rom. vi. 23; the putting away of every sin is for his own sake, Isa. xliii. 25. God is merciful because he will be so; his arguments of mercy are drawn from his ovm pleasure. What can our works deserve, that are not ours, but his working, 1 Cor. iv. 7 ; Rom. xi. 3(3 ; that are all due to him, if a thousand times more and better, Luke xvii. 10; that are all maimed and imperfect, that are all vitious and polluted, that are all unequal to the recompence ? Rom. xi. 35 ; viii. IS. This for the explication of the first benefit which the apostle requesteth for these Christians, "mercy." The observations follow. Obs. I. How unbeseeming a sin is pride in any that live upon mercy ! Mercy, our highest happiness, calls loudest for a lowly heart. He that lives upon the alms of mercy must put on humility, the cloth of an almsman. Renounce thyself and thine own worthi- ness both in thy receiving and expecting blessings. (\.) In receiving them. If thou hast spiritual blessings, mercy found thee a bundle of miseries, a sinner by bivlh, a sinner in life, desen'ing to be a sullerer for both, Eph. ii. 1, 3; without grace, nay, against it; by thy birth, a poor outcast, in thy blood, as naked of grace as of clothes, Ezck. xvi. 22. The apostle therefore speaks of putting on the graces of the Spirit, Col. iii. 12 : the spots upon these clothes are only thine ; the garment itself was another's be- fore it was thine. Thou art beholden to mercy for any endowment of mind or body ; wisdom, estate, riches, honours. Sec, Job i. 21 ; 1 Chron. xxii. 1(5; Gen. xxiv. 35; xxxiii. 5, II. It is hard to be high in i>lace, and low in our own esteem. Sacrifice not to thine own yarn or net ; let mercy have the praise of all thou art and hast. Pride is the moth of mercy ; nay, the wind that dries up the streams both of God's bounty and thy gratitude. That which by mercy was thine, by thy pride may become an- ei m;ii..r ciivini-i ' other's. He is truly great in his riches, m"lm!ni"se"|.'uia° ^^^^^ thinks not himself great Ijy riches, qiii;. ciivts Ml. The greater our receipts, the less room "°' for pride, the greater cause of thank- fulness. (2.) In expecting blessings, only have an eye to mercy. In desires of pardon for sin, accept- ance of services, obtaining of heaven, renounce thine own worthiness, either in what thou art or dost. How purely unprofitable to God is thy greatest goodness! it is nothing to him': ,,','" b^nonim'"'' he is neither the better for thy good- "leini.i; no,, ■,„. ., r .1, ■ 1 J disel: Oiiiiie bo- ness, nor the worse tor thy wickedness, nu.n uostiuin a..t Is it any benefit to the fountain, that |;,'|=. ".,\\,J,"j/'' thou drinkest of it ; or to the light, that i'"c. Ch.l. a. c. thou seest ? How full of mixtures of sin are thy holiest services ! in the sense whereof holy Augustine prayed. Regard, O Lord, in me not my work, but thine own. If thou regardest mine, thou damnest me ; if thine own, thou crownest me : what- ever good I have is from thee, and it is rather thine than mine. How full of pride is thy humility, thy faith of distrustfulness, thy zeal of lukewanimess, of self-seeking thy performances ! What darkness is in thy light, how unrighteous thy righteousness ! If God slioukl contend with us we cannot answer for one of a thousand. Job ix. 2, 3. He that boasts of the perfection of holiness, wants its no'„'e''s°e Mig't," very beginning, Phil. iii. 13. That which ''"i";" se bene vi- ^, ,v™ T . ,, . . ^ 1 vendi nec initium appears beautiful in thine eyes, is toul iudicat. Gr. jio. in God's. The wisest counsel is, to in'^'iaciirisii cover over thyself and wind up thy moite^ie lomm soul in Christ's death, to set that be- mi'mMe iiuoKe ; tween God and thy soul; to acknow- ef it' jufiJcVre! °iir ledge his mercy thy only merit. Death pomine, mo'rtfm' ^,. ii'r* T i- c Domini mei ob- is a stipend ; lite is a donative, a tree jicio inter me h gift, not a due debt. God crowns with j,-„,.^°'- ''" ="■'■ mercy ; but a swoln head is not fit to Wentum meum h*,-i . i 'i. -i\T\ miseratio Dorni- ave that crown put upon it. \V lio can „!. Bern. Serm. say, he hath cleansed his heart ? We f.VeceS^Ssi jusn. want a thousand times more grace than li^m indniet. ut we have : though sin be cast down in Mjsfussa'^po'iefat? regard of its regency, yet it is not cast "^"^ s..iHjudiris out in regard ot its inherency. I hy cat. Gr. Mor. i. rectitude compared to thy rule is crook- %l'l;i '„pus vir- edness. It is not thy purity, but thy iniisexcievero.ad - , -' f, rr ii vitatn non ex nie- pardon, that must save thee. It there nris. sed ex v^nia shall be judgment without mercy to !™'^»i«io. i'5T..A.!JrT(«iSt. et good ot ttie church, as it God had effenus. Riv. in bound them to do them good by way of "''^" "' '^' covenant ; so that although the beasts, the fowls, the stones, &c. may annoy them, nay, kill them, the true safety of the church shall not be hindered by them ; yea, all things shall work together for their good : neither nakedness, nor sword, nor death, nor any of these things shall separate them from the love of God in Christ; and if God sees it for their good, all the creatures in the world shall be so far from hurt- ing the godly, that they shall all agree to advance their temporal good and welfare. There is mention, Jer. xxxiii. 20, of God's " covenant of the day, and of the night;" that is, the establishment of God's decree upon the day and the night, whereby they come to be in such and such a way from the creation, to the end of the world. 3. There is a peace in man with himself; and that is either false, or sound. False peace is, when sin- ners, thinking themselves free from the fear of dan- gers, falsely promise safety to themselves : " When they shall say. Peace and safety," &:c., 1 Thess. v. 3. Sound peace in man with himself is twofold : (1.) Of assurance, when sanctified conscience ccaseth to ac- cuse and condemn us, speaking comfortably in us and for us before God, 1 John iii. 21. This sweet quietness and tranquillity of conscience is the im- mediate fruit of our atonement with God ; " that peace of God which passeth all understanding." Phil. 32 AN EXPOSITION UPON Ver. 2. iv. 7, and in winch the apostle places the kingdom of God, Rom. xiv. 17 ; the peace that Hezekiah was not destitute of, when he said, " Remember now, O Lord, I beseech thee, how I have walked before thee in truth," &c., Isa. xxxviii. 3. This peace sweetens every condition, is as music within, when the rain and storms fall upon the house; a friend, as Ruth to Naomi, that w ill go along with us in every distress : though we change our place, our gannents, our con- ditions, our companies, yet our enemies cannot take this from us; it is "a continual feast," Prov. xv. 15. This peace preserves our hearts and minds (Phil. iv. 7) in all afflictions, and puts into us a holy security and neglectiveness of all dangers, Psal. iv. 8. (2.) Of subordination, when the will, aflections, and in- clinations of a man submit themselves to the mind savingly enlightened by and subjugated to God ; which, although it be not perfect, by reason of that repugnant law in our members, j'ct it is true and progressive, the imperfection of it occasionally being an incentive to godliness, making us more fervent in prayer, humble, broken-hearted, and receptive of that peace we long for. 4. There is a peace with God, both in this life and in the next. (1.) In this life; and so it is twofold. 1. A peace of reconciliation ; and, 2. Of contentment. 1. Of re- conciliation, whereby God and Christ is at one with man. " The chastisement of our peace was upon Christ;" the wrath deserved by us for our sins Christ sustained, and satisfied Divine justice fully; so that now God, not requiring satisfaction twice for the same odcnces, is at peace with us, Isa. liii. 5 ; John i. 29. This, the foundation of all the former and following kinds of good peace, is purchased by Christ the Prince of peace, Isa. ix. 6, and our peace, Eph. ii. 14; and proclaimed in the preaching of the gos- pel, the glad tidings of peace, Rom. x. 15, by the ministers of it, the ambassadors of peace, 2 Cor. v. 20 ; and accepted by faith, whereby we therefore en- joy and have peace with God, Rom. v. 1. 2. Of contentment, or holy submission, by which a man is peaceable, and not murmuring or impatient against God, but quietly accepting whatsoever is his will ; the way indeed to live a truly quiet life, and (as one says well) ever to have our will; the waves of un- quietness being ever raised by the wind of pride and unsubmissivcness, Phil. iv. 11. (2.) Peace with God in the next life, or peace eternal, is the perfect rest which (he saints shall en- joy in heaven; called "life and peace," Rom. viii. 6, and the " rest that remaineth for the people of God ;" their resting from their labours, both inward and outward; not only from hurt, but from danger by, nay, from the presence of any thing that ever did molest them. The apostle in this salutation, by peace, intends principally, peace with ourselves ; that " peace of God which passeth all understanding," so often com- mended ; which includes peace with men, command- ed, and peace with the other creatures, promised to accompany it, and peace with God, presupposed as its cause and original. 2. This sanctified tranquillity and quietness of con- science (a singular blessing, often requested by the apostles for the faithful to whom they wrote) is of rare excellency, Rom. i. 7; 1 Cor. i. 3; Col. i. 2; 2 Pet. i. 2. (1.) For its author and original. It is from God, he being called the God of peace, 1 Thess. v. 23; 2 Cor. xiii. 11, and it the peace of God, Col. iii. 15; Phil. iv. 7. He is the author of external peace in church and commonwealth; the peace of Jerusalem must be begged of him; he maketh wars to cease, and all stirs to be hushed ; he maketh peace between us and the creatures, making a covenant for us with them : he is the author of eternal peace; for eternal life is the gift of God. But after a special manner is he the God of internal peace, the peace of conscience, at which St. Jude aims : for, 1. He sent his Son, [1.] To merit it for us, when we lay in the horror of an ac- cusing conscience ; who is therefore called in himself, the Prince of peace, Isa. ix. 6 ; and in respect of us, our peace, Eph. ii. 14 : and the peace we speak of is said to be his peace, John xiv. 27, he making peace by slajnng hatred on the cross, Eph. ii. 16, by his per- fect obedience abolishing whatsoever God might hate in us. [2.] He sent his Son to preach and publish this peace, and to invite men to it, and that, first, in his own person. " The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, to preach glad tidings," &c., Isa. Ixi. 1 ; Luke iv. 18. Secondly, in his ministers. " Christ came and preach- ed peace to you who were afar off," Eph. ii. 17; he thus preaching it to the world's end. As he sent his Son to merit and preach this peace ; so, 2. He sent his Spirit to apply and seal this peace in the hearts of the elect; it being called a fruit of the Spirit, Gal. V. 22 ; this Spirit enabling us to cry for this peace. Gal. iv. 6, and working faith in our hearts, whereby we have peace with God, Rom. v. 1, and boldness and access to the throne of grace, Eph. iii. 12, creating the fruit of the lips to be peace, Isa. Ivii. 19. Nothing that the world either is or has, nay, neither men nor angels, can give peace ; they may wish and publish if, God only gives it. Some say there is a disease which only the king can heal ; I am sure a broken heart, a wounded conscience, call be healed only by the Prince of peace. (2.) The excellency of this peace appears in the subject of it; and that both in respect of the parties that have it, and of the part of each of those parties in which it resides. 1. The parties that enjoy it are only the faithful. [1.] It is only promised to them, the true children of the church : " Great shall be the peace of thy chil- dren," Isa. liv. 13. "The Lord M'ill bless his people with peace," Psal. xxix. IL "The meek shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace," Psal. xxxvii. 11. "He will speak peace to his people," Psal. Ixxxv. 8. " Lord, thou wilt ordain peace for us," Isa. xxvi. 12. " The end of that," the upright, "man is peace," Psal. xxxvii. 37. " He shall enter into peace," Isa. Ivii. 2. God will reveal unto such abun- dance of peace, Jer. xxxiii. 6. [2.] It is only reported of the faithful, that they have peace ; they are the sons of peace, Luke x. (i. The justified only have peace with God, Rom. v. 1. "There is no peace to the wicked," Isa. Ivii. 21. "The way of peace they know not," Isa. lix. 3. " Great peace have they which love the law," Psal. cxix. I(i5. [.3.] Peace is only wished and requested for the faithful. For others, either only as they were with an eye of charity looked upon as faithful ; or as in those requests the terms upon which they should ob- tain this peace are also included; namely, the dis- turbing of their own unsound peace, the accepting of him that deserves the true peace, and the walking in the ways of holiness. But peace from God is never desired for men to continue in a state of war against God, Rom. i. 7: 1 Cor. i. 3; Gal. i. 3; Phil, i. 2; Col. i. 2, &c.; Gal. vi. 16; 2 Thess. i. 2. [4.] The faithful only have taken the right course to obtain peace. They alone are freed from God's wrath, Rom. v. 9, 10, more dreadful than the roaring of a lion, or the wrath of all the kings of the world, it destroying the body and soul in hell : they only have pardon of sin, Rom. v. 1. The other, like guilty male- Ver. SL THE EPISTLE OF JUDE. 33 factors, are in an hourly expectation of the worst of deaths, through the fear of which they die before they die. Heh. ii. 15 j Job xv. 20, 21. The faithful only have Christ, who is our peace, and the Prince of peace ; the Spirit of God, of which peace is a fruit and effect. Gal. V. 22: they alone rejoice in hope, Eph. ii. 12; Rom. xii. 12, and live in expectation of a crown in- corruptible, an everlasting kingdom ; others live a hopeless, heartless life. 2. The part of these parties in which this peace resides, is the heart and conscience. The peace of God rules in the heart. Col. iii. 15. "Your heart shall rejoice," John x\-i. 22 ; and, " Thou hast put gladness into my heart," Psal. iv. 7 ; and, " The peace of God shall preserve your heart," Phil. iv. 7 ; in which respect, (1.) It is a sustaining, strengthen- ing, revi\'ing peace. So long as the heart is kept safe, a man falls not, faints not ; when the heart is relieved with a cordial, a fainring man reWves : now the peace of God keeps up the heart ; it brings aid and relief to it in all dangers, when sin and Satan, temptation and persecution, lay siege to it ; it brings strong consola- . , lion, Heb. vi. 18. It is a banner over i.upE'lLi".'^ us in war, a cordial, an antidote against Piiil.iv.7. ^jj poison; it makes Paul and Silas sing in prison. Acts xvi. 25, Paul ready to die for the name of the Lord Jesus, Acts xsi. 13, the faith- ful to be comforted in all tribulation, 2 Cor. i. 3, 4, and consolation to abound as sufferings abound, Rom. V. 3, 5 ; Heb. x. 34 ; it makes the faithful in a cold winter of persecution to be warmest within, causing a martyr to go as merrily to a stake, as another to a feast. (2.) The seat of this peace, the heart, Prov. xiv. 10, denotes, as our sustentation by it, so the soundness, truth, and reality of it : it is not in cortice, but in corde; in the heart, not in the habit ; in the conscience, not in the looks ; it is in the breast, not in the brow ; not suffering a man to be like some prisons, beautiful without, but full of horror, blackness, chains, and dungeons within. It is a peace not residing in the hall of the senses, but in the closet of the heart. A saint's peace is a silent calmness, an unseen quiet- ness ; meat, of which those without know not ; like the windows of Solomon's temple, narrow without, broad within ; the worst, the unbeautiful, the black side of his cloud is seen, when the bright is hidden. . . (3.) The seat of this peace, the heart, im- Ram'ier'e"qui r'^^ pHcs its scriousuess, wcightiness, great- i'l' aiii'ijisde- uess t^iat the ground of it is not slight bet esse alacer. i ■ i i ^ Hesseveraest and tovisti, but somc great matter; not cl'ie'r''aj'hi'iar'irt;s hghtlv plcasing the fancy, and super- levessunt; fron- ficiallv hedcwing the senses, but like tem reimtlunt, • , , ^ » pectus Qon iin- a ground-sliowcr, soaking even to the ci!"'F,^o°n'emr-' heart-root. The peace of a saint is not oem posse Kire like the mirtli of a child, caused more arbilror, quid sit, , -, ,i a. ^i i nisi accepent. by a doll or a toy, than by a convey- Melws'li^pre'i- ance of a thousand pounds a year ; or sum quani ex- like our laughter which is more at a jest, pi essum innotes- ,i ^ xi, ^ t r i r i ^ f cit. In iiis lion trian at trie finding of a bag ot gold of ms'i'qian'um'at-* '^" thousaud pouuds. No, his peace is 'insiiexperieniia. not idle, frothy, and ludicrous merri- ment, but deep, and affecting the heart with apprehensiveness of an interest in the great things of eternity ; a " peace that passeth understand- ing." Light, either griefs or contentments, are easily expressed; not so those which are deep and weighty: these are joys unspeakable, glorious, and superabundant, 1 Pet.'i. 8; 2 Cor. vii. 4. (4.) The seat denotes the safety of this peace. The heart is too deep for a man to reach : a saint's peace is laid up in a cabinet that man cannot open ; men may break into his house, hut not into his heart : " Your joy," saith Christ, " no man taketh from you," John x\i. 22. The power of adversaries is but skin-deep. There is a threefold impotency of man in reference to a 1. hris- tian's peace : 1. Man cannot give this peace. 2. He cannot hinder it from entering. 3. He cannot re- move it, or hinder it from abiding. It continues like a fountain in the hottest summer, and is warmest in the coldest winter of affliction ; like a candle which is not overwhelmed, or quenched in the dismal dark- ness of the night, but is made thereby to give the clearer light. Da^-id in greatest straits comforted himself in God. The faithful glory in tribulation, James i. 2; 2 Cor. vii. 4; Rom. v. 3; they are commanded to rejoice evermore, Phil. iv. 4; 1 Thess. V. 16 ; as the sufferings of Christ abound in them, so their consolations abound by Christ. The faithful have oft drawn matter of joy from their sufferings ; they " yield the peaceable fniit of righteousness," Heb. xii. 11. A sick man may rejoice at the coming of the surgeon, though he knows he will put him to pain. 1 know (saith the apostle) that this shall turn to my salvation, Phil. i. 19. The light affliction that lasteth but for a moment, procureth "a far more ex- ceeding and eternal weight of glory," 2 Cor. iv. 17. If we suffer for Christ, we shall also reign with him, 2 Tim. ii. 12. None can separate us from Christ, Rom. vii. 38, 39, and therefore not from peace : the Spirit of peace by us may for a time be sinned away, but he cannot by enemies be persecuted away. Tlie sun may as easily be blown out with bellows, as true peace be driven away by sufferings. (5.) The seat of this peace, the heart, imports the spiritualness and sublimity of it. It is not sensual, earthly, and drossy ; the heart is no more relieved with worldly comforts, than are the stomach, bags, and barns filled with grace and holiness. What is it to the soul, that thou hast goods laid up for many years ? The rarest delicacies of the earth are not such food as the soul loves ; spiritual blessings of communion with God, enjoying Christ, a view of our names as written in heaven, alone pacify the heart. This peace is upheld by the lii"f„"™^'' promises of God, not of men ; b^' Scrip- «' <'s«"..iiieiam 1 1 ■ T .1 • , • -I Inter caeleros at- lers, deciding their controversies, and t^.ius; nam /,><.- giving rewards to the conquerors : so ('""c'um'f°i'u,r this peace of God, when the trouble- in>ursunt in-mr- some affections of anger, hatred, and Lui'i'aHeviN's^ir'a,' revenge arise in our hearts, appeases h'4".'pa'°'DelMebet strifes, ends controversies, and renders su'im oiscn.m us peaceable. As for wicked men, who st^r'apm^rSi'.^ seem sometimes to be very peaceable iji's /liiimere i.i- , , . . J f riiuliuanies aHec- among ttiemselves m sin, triev must iusioiiipesi>iH,et know that agreement against God is not deTu'f,?e. '' Da"e- peace, but conspiracy, and such a rotten °^°' '" ^^"1- peace makes way for a real war, both with others and within themselves. Obs. 5. It is most suitable to a minister's function to further and pray for the peace of others. As they are Christians, they are called to peace. Col. iii. 15; and as ministers, tliey are called to be ambassadors of peace, 2 Cor. v. 20. The bodily peace of others should be prayed for by them, James v. 14. Bro- therly peace should they promote among their people. An unpeaceable people among themselves, will be an unprofitable people under him, James iii. 16. Ministers should endeavour the civil peace, put people "in mind to be subject to principalities and powers," Tit. iii. 1, and to take heed of treason and rebellion. To revile them for this is to be angry with the fifth commandment. But especially should ministers labour to bring people into peace with God, and to pray them to "be reconciled to God," 2 Cor. V. 20 ; and by ministerial directions to help them to attain peace of conscience witliin them- selves. Confident I am, that while men's lusts speak ministers contentious, their consciences speak them peaceable. The third and last blessing desired 'waVniiiriiur- bv this apostle for these Christians is >V ab aya>. »»,- "'invp" e;., vel ab ^7e,v iO*e. KuTi, irSv. 1. e. For the expository part, I shall, 1. ^,^,','',';";;.„',"'j;i»°!- Specify the several kinds of love, prin- lam, vei m, s,,,, cipally that at which the apostle seems es'° a'ldeTn ?e'"' most to aim. 2. Set down the excellent ^^"''|'i'^^"i'?'«s^^- properties of this kind of love which ni'ficat "ellmln- make it so desirable. ar''i'enll'in'q''u'e' amorem.quo quis alicui sese intime adjun?it, el in eo totus quie&at ; unde ei paler Coelesns i\e Filiosuo, Hie estdnquitjtilms mens ayi'nrn'rot.el nmx, quai>i etymologiam subdeos, in quo milii cooiplaceo. Zzni-. de !Na. Dei. 1. 36 AN EXPOSITION UPON Yer. 2. 4. c. 3. Amicitia est quasi habitus. Amor autem et diiectio sisnifirant actum vel passiiinen). Charitas autem utrnque uiO'lo accipi polt-st ; Uit- terenter tainen signilicatur actus ptr ista tria : naiu auiiu est aliquitl com- niuiiius Inter ea ; onuiis eniui auior ditectio est \el cliantas, sed non e cun- verso. Addil diiectio super amnrem, electiuneni praecedenleni ; uude diiectio est in sola voluutate rationalis creaturte, charitas aulem ultia auinreni addit pertectioiiem amoris io quantum illud quod amatur, caruiu, i. e. magni pretli aestimatur. '1 tie. 1. 2. qu. 16. Art. :i. Amnr aliarum Not to stay upon the consitieration of rerum est, ciia- tlie word ayd-Kn, love. Or of its affree- 1 itas inter solos .,',',' . " honunes. diiectio Hient With those Other expressions or- _' _ nsuectat: diligimi idDeumspectat: dinarilv used to set forth the same lus Deum ; .. •' - . _. ... ^ — . ciiaros hai-emus ' thing ; as charitv, friendship, &c. This K^c't'amanlt"'"' love, in the general, being that inclina- oirnes. Aiet. in tioii or tendency of any thing to the good beloved, or that principle where- by one joins himself to and rests in an object, is of sundry sorts. Not to speak of those which are either far from, or contrary to, the scope of the apostle ; as of natural love, which is that quality in any thing follo\Wng its form, by which it tends to and rests in what is agree- able to it. Nor of animal love, whereby the sensi- tive appetite in men or beasts tends to its good, and rests in it ; nor of love merely rational, or intellectual, whereby the will freely embraces any object pre- sented to it by the understanding ; nor of angelical love ; nor of that love which God has towards him- self, as the chief good. There are three sorts of love, any of which may be desired from God as a blessing ; namely, a love of, 1. God to man. 2. Man to God. 3. Man to man, himself, or others. Since the apostle had desired that these Christians might receive mercy from God, and that every par- ticular believer might have peace in himself, I con- ceive that he seems now in the last place to pray, that they might again both return love to God, ami render it also to one another. 1. There is a love of God to man, though without passion, sympathy, or any imperfection or weakness ; these being attributed to him only to relieve the weakness either of oui faith or apprehensions. And this love is, (1.) Considered as a love of desire; as love desires to be carried to the union of the thing beloved. This desire of union with man God shows many ways ; as, 1. By being near unto, nay, present with him, by his universal care and providence ; he being " not far from every one of us : for in him we live," &-c.. Acts x-^di. 27, 28. 2. By assuming the nature of man into a personal conjunction with himself in the Mediator, Christ. 3. By conversing with man by signs of his presence, extraordinary visions, dreams, oracles, inspiration ; and ordinarily by his holy ordi- nances, wherewith his people, as it were, abide with him in his house. 4. By sending his Holy Spirit to dwell in man, and bestowing upon man the Divine nature. 5. By taking man into an eternal habitation in heaven, where he shall be ever in his glorious presence, Psal. xvi. 11. (2.) There is a love of God to man, considered as a love of benevolence, or of good-will, or of willing- ness to do good to the thing beloved : what else was his eternal purpose to have mercy upon his people, and of saving them, but, as it is expressed concern- ing Jacob, this loving them? Rom. ix. 13. And to whom can a will of doing good so properly agree, as to Him whose will is goodness itself? (3.) There is a love of God to man, considered as a love of beneficence, bounty, or actual doing good to the thing beloved. Thus he bestows the effects of his love, both for this life, and for that which is to come. And the beneficence of God is called love ; " Behold what manner of love the Father hath be- stowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God," 1 John iii. 1. And Johniii. 16, "God so loved | the world, that he gave," &c. By this love of benefi- cence he bestows the good things of nature, grace, and glory. God does good to every creature, hating, though the iniquity of any one, yet the nature of none ; for the being of every creature is good. Gen. i. 31, and God has adorned it with many excellent qualities. According to these loves of benevolence and beneficence, God loves not his creatures equally, but some more than others ; inasmuch as he wills to bestow, and also actually bestows, greater blessings upon some than upon others. He makes and pre- serves all creatures, but his love is more especially afforded to mankind ; he styles himself from his love to man, Tit. iii. 4, and not from his love to angels, or any other creature. He is called (piKdvBpwnoe, a lover of man, but never tpi\ayyt\og, or eltl- loves bod, under the apprehension oi ciaii adepnune the greatest good, and therefore puts amaium''pe?(ecte' forth itself in strongest desires toward ijaijere quasi ad him. This love is as strong as death, vinieus. Aq.'ir and can take no denial. It is the -^- 1- ™- *'■ -• wing and weight of the soul, that carries all the de- sires into an intimate unity with the thing beloved, stirs up a zeal to remove all obstacles, works an egress of the spirits, and as it were a haste of the soul to entertain and meet it ; according to those ex- pressions of the saints in Scripture : "The desire of our soul is to thy name," Isa. xxvi. 8. " With my whole heart have I sought thee," Psal. cxix. 10. " My soul fainteth for thy salvation," ver. 81. " My soul break- eth for the longing it hath to thy judgments at all times," ver. 20. " My soul thirsteth for God," Psal. xlii. 2. " I am sick of 'love," &c., Cant. ii. 5. Oh the vehement panting, breathing, and going forth of the Ver. 2. THE EPISTLE OF JUDE. 37 soul of one toward God who is in love with him ! He contemns the most serious worldly emplo\-ments when he is taken np with this, and whoever dis- courses with him of earthly concerns speaks as with one not at home ; all the world not satisfying him without the kisses of the lips of his Beloved, his de- sires being a thousand times more for one smile of his face than for all the wealth under the sun. No difficulty so great, no danger so imminent, nay, no death so certain, which this love carries not through to obtain the thing beloved ; this love being a fall- ing mountain, that breaks down all that stands be- twixt it and the place of its rest. In a word, no means will be left unused which are appointed by God to obtain our Beloved ; inquiries of or from others how to find him; letters of love, sighs, tears, sobs, groans unutterable, are sent to win him ; desires to hear again from him in his promise of grace are ex- pressed. The soul is never near enough till it be in the arms, the bosom of God in heaven. It saith not, as Peter of his tabernacles. Lord, let there be one for me, and another for thee ; but let us both be toge- ther in one. It is ever night with one who loves Christ till the sun of his presence arise. He is like a certain kind of stone, of which some report, that if it be thrown into the water whole, it swims; if broken, it sinks : he never droops in any trouble, un- less he apprehends a breaking between him and Christ. He is like the marigold, that opens with the shining, and shuts with the setting of the sun. His heart is locked up in sorrow when God hides his face, and he cannot find another key fit to open it again among all the keys in the house. What is all the world to him without the presence of God, but as a sieve plucked out of the water? His comforts are only full when God is in them. What are com- panions to him in whom he sees nothing of God, but objects either irksome or pitied ? What are ordi- nances, unless with Christ, but as candles that have no light put to them ? Nay, what would the joys of heaven itself be, if it were not for the presence of God, but as a funeral feast or banquet, where is much provision, but no cheer ? 2. There is amor complacenticp, a love of compla- cency and delight, when the soul having arked itself in God's embraces, now with infinite sweetness and security reposes itself in them, saying then as Da\'id, " Thou hast put gladness into ray heart more than when their corn and wine increased. I will lay me down in peace, and sleep," Psal. iv. 7, 8 ; and with Peter, " Lord, it is good to be here ;" and with the spouse, I charge you, stir not up, nor awake my Be- loved. And when Christ meets it sweetly in prayer, sacraments, or a sermon, breathing thus, " Oh that. Lord, this meeting might never end ! dear Jesus, why comest thou so seldom, and stayest no longer ? " All the night long do thou lodge between my breasts. " A day in thy house is better than a thou- sand elsewhere," Psal. Ixxxiv. 10. " My soul is sa- tisfied as with marrow and fatness." " He brought me into the banquetting-house, and his banner over me was love. Thy left hand is imder me, thy right hand embraceth me," Cant. ii. 4, 6. How contented could the soul be in such an income of Christ, were not his pleasure otherwise, that it had no avocation to take it off; no earthly emplojTnent, no family, feeding of body, or relations, to call it away from those secret enjoyments of such a Beloved ! Oh, thinks the soul, what a blessed place will heaven be, where I shall never be severed one moment from the embracements of Christ to eternity ! 3. There is muor amicititp, a love to be set upon God, for the goodness and excellency which are in himself. To love God for the creatures is not to en- joy, but to use God. To love him for Medium, qui another end than himself, is to turn the lf,lfi'.,m 'I'.o'iu'ii'p- ultimate end into a means. Love to p>-iibiiis raiio- , , - , ... nein i iissiiitt, tola God, grounded upon human induce- quipi.e ratio ments, is but spurious. When the in- estCTnvemen'cia' ducement, suppose it to be profit, or ^"''^ ti"?-. M"'". preferment, is removed, that love will discover its falseness. And by the very reason for which men contend for the outward appearance and profession of love to God, viz. because they love their pleasures and profits, which without such a pro- fession they cannot peaceable enjoy; by that very reason, I say, they will be beaten ofl' even from their outside appearing profession, when those profits and pleasures which they love so much are in hazard. It is a dead love to God that cannot stand unless it be shored up. True love will stand alone, without politic props. To shroud our own private ends under the name cf love to God, is not amicitia, but mercatura ; not to love, but to make merchandise of him. The love that cannot be warm any longer than it is rubbed with the warm clothes of preferment, is but the carcass of love. Then has this love a soul, when God himself is the object of it, when it is not of what he has, but of what he is ; when he is be- loved though we beg with him, or though all his rings and ornaments are plucked off; nay, when he plucks off ours : in a word, all his ways, ordinances, people, will have our love drawn out to them, for that of God which is imparted to them. The word will be received in its purity and power, most loved, when least adulterated ; when it discovers most of God to us, and most of sin in us ; when the dearest corrup- tion is struck at, the closest duty urged, the secret comers of the soul searched ; when the spiritual sword is laid on with severest blows. The persons also in whom most shines the beauty of God's likeness, we shall most be taken with ; and those will have our love shine upon them, who can reflect nothing back again but holiness. 4. There is amor benevolent ite , a love set upon God, endeavouring to bring to him, so far as creatures can to an infinite Creator, to whom their good ex- tendeth not, Psal. xvi. 2, all service and honour. This love returns to God not only a heart, but a tongue of praises, and a hand of obedience. All its pleasant fruits are laid up for its Beloved ; all it is and has is accounted too little. Lord, saith the soul, that I could love thee more, and serve thee better ! how impure is my heart ! how poor and imperfect are my performances ! what I have is neither enough, nor good enough, for thee ; but had I something bet- ter than myself, and oh that I myself were a thousand times better for thy sake ! it should be bestowed upon thee. A soul in love with God is boundless in duty ; the smallness of his obedience is the greatness of his trouble. When another man observes his zeal and vehemency, his tears, and sobs, and wrestling in prayer, and sees him so strict and exact in living, he thinks it a great matter, and is ready, as the disciples, who looked upon the beautiful buildings of the temple, to admire him ; but the party himself that loves Christ thinks all this as nothing, in comparison of what Christ deserves : he looks upon his services as Christ foretold of the temple, as if there were not one stone left upon another. This love causes a universal, cheerful, constant obedience to the com- mands of Christ, John xiv. 23 : in it all our services are steeped, and with it made easy to us ; and coming from faith, are acceptable to God. Nor will love think it much to suffer much for Christ; nay, it ac- counts it little to endure all things, I Cor. xiii. 7, for him who hath borne our burdens, and shed better blood for us than any we have to shed for him. 38 AN EXPOSITION UPON Ver. 2. Faith works by love. Love is the instrament in the hand of faith. A hand alone can lay hold and re- ceive ; and so the proper work of faith is to lay hold upon Christ : but a hand without an instrument can- not cut any thing ; no more can faith practise any moral duties without love. Faith in justification is alone, but in the life of man it works by love. From this love to God flows another sort, in respect of the object, of love, namely, .3. Love to man ; where- by our neighbour is loved as ourselves. This comprehends a love of ourselves, and of others. (I.) Of ourselves. It is made the rule of loving others. Matt. xxii. 39. None is so near us, after God, as ourselves. Frequent are the commands of Scrip- ture to regard ourselves. " Take heed to vourselves," Acts XX. 28. " Take heed to thyself," 1 Tim. iv. 16. " Work out your own salvation," Phil. ii. 12. Let every one examine himself, 1 Cor. xi. 28. And ver. 31, "If we would judge ourselves," &c. " Examine yourselves, whether you be in the faith ; prove your- selves," 2 Cor. xiii. 5. Every one is bovmd to wish to himself that good, which to wish is truest love ; namely, the everlasting enjoyment of God. None can love God, but at the same time he loves himself; for he that loves God, desires to enjoy him ; but who- soever desires to enjoy such a good, must needs love himself And this enjojnnent of God a man more desires for himself than for another ; and if it could be communicated to no more than one, a man should desire it rather for himself than any one : for there are more causes concur why a man should thus love himself than any other ; for another man may miss of true blessedness without either my fault or misery, but I mvself cannot. And though this Precepto nnn est ,. . ' ^ . ^ -, . ^. opus III se qriis- direct precept is not expressed in terms, ?n,™'dSt- Thou shalt love thyself; yet where we qunniani ui qiioii are Commanded to love God, we are at iui'r'ii"nnsMi,''in- the Same time enjoined to love our- f^',"r !'nir"i"mi"'"° selves ; for to love God is to desire to qMinhfsiias' cujoy him for ours, who is the chief esi'!'resi»Tii'r"ifi"p1 good ; and this is the chiefest love. nns'llln'. °.'l"na- 4 : wherever there is grace, love will 3^'piiJ^t!''''^"' '^''' follow, for grace is beautiful wherever it is. The ointment of love falls even upon the skirts of the garment, as well as the head. Love is set upon the brotherhood, 1 Pet. fi. 17, the whole fra- ternity of believers, not here and there upon one. Holy love regards grace in its working-day clothes, ' James ii. 1 ; upon a dunghill, in a prison ; grace in the idiot, as well as in the scholar; in the servant, aa well as the master. As all our delight must be in Hoc ipso Hiiiplius {!hudeiit pHU- peres, quuiii pau- pi-lt;*!! e>iriirii cohsultum fuerit el piiiloi i, I. en. Serin, 4. Duplex Ver. 2. THE EPISTLE OF JUDE. 43 the saints, Psal. xvi. 3, so our delight must be in all the saints. (5.) It is a religious and a holy love. It is froni, in, and for holiness. From it : he that loves his brother, first loves God ; first he gives his heart to God as a son, before he reaches out his hand to man as his brother. His love is said to be out of a pure heart, 1 Tim. i. 5. First he gives himself, then his. Secondly, in holiness, and holy ways : it joins not hands with any in a way of sin ; for this is not unity, but faction : if has no fellowship with unfruit- ful works, but reproves them, Eph. v. 11 : it makes a man most angry with the sin of him whom he loves most. He fears not only to be fratricida, but Jidei- cida : he doth not so love a man as to be an enemy to religion. Thirdly, for holiness : this love is set upon holy ones, because they are so ; not because they are great, but good. God's image in them is the loadstone of our love, 1 John v. 2. (6.) It is a just and righteous love. It bestows gifts, not spoils ; it hurts not some to help others ; it buys not a burying-place for strangers with the blood of Christ ; it is not bountiful upon any other's cost. The people of God must be blameless and harmless, Phil. ii. 15; not having in the one hand bread for one, and in the other a stone for another. We must not build God's house •n'ith Satan's tools : the poorest saint wants not our unrighteousness to help him. (7.) It is a prudent, discerning love. It loves all, yet with a diilerence ; it is most set upon those that are the fittest objects either for want or worth. It beats not the poor from the door, while it makes strangers drunk in the cellar. It is not like the oak, which drops its acorns to swine. It loves God's friends best; the wicked with a love of pity, the goaly with a love of complacency. True Christians shall have a Benjamin's portion of love. It does good especially to the household of faith. Gal. vi. 10. Brotherly love is set upon brethren. Christ loved the young man, a Pharisee, by showing lo\ing re- spect toward him, Mark x. 21 ; but beloved Lazarus, a godly man, with a dear, intimate love : the best men shall have the best love, John xi. 3; v. M. There is a prudence also in the measure of expressing love, so to love to-da}- as we may love to-morrow. We sow not by the bushel, but the handful. (8.) It is a mutual, reciprocal love. Hence it is that there is so frequent mention of loving one another, John xiii. 34; Gal. v. 13; Col. iii. 13; Gal. \-i. 2; James v. 16; I Thess. v. 11. Gi\'ing and receiving benefits is by some compared to the game at tennis, wherein the ball is tossed from one to the other, and if it falls, it is his forfeit who missed his stroke. His disposition is very bad, who if he will not provoke, will not repay love : where affection, there gain is re- ciprocal. The pole sustains the hop, and the hop adorns the pole ; the wall bears up the roof, and the roof presen-es the wall from wet ; the wise directs the strong, and the strong protects the wise ; the zealous inflame the moderate, and the moderate tem- per the zealous ; the rich supply the poor, and the poor work for the rich. Love must have an echo to 1 resound and return. (9.) It is a fervent, burning love. tcvtl'-To Ss!'.''''" Purity and fervency of love are joined together, 1 Pet. i. 22 ; and, 1 Pet. iv. 8, " Have fervent charity among yourselves." It must be a love to the utmost, not remiss and faint ; not a love of courtesy, and civil correspondency, but of entireness, and holy vehemency ; such a love as was between Jonathan and David, surpassing the love of women. The fervency of it must be so great, as that it may bum and consume all intervening occasions of hatred and dislike, by bearing -n-ith infirmities, covering of sins, construing men's meanings in the better part, condescending to those of lower parts and places ; like the fire that fell from heaven upon Elijah's sacrifice, which licked up a trench full of water, 1 Kings x\-iii. 38. A love that overcomes the greatest difficulties forthe good of others, and triumphs over all opposition. (10.) It is a constant and unwearied love. A love that must abound more and more, Phil. i. 9. A love that must be like that of Christ's, who loved his to the end, John xiii. 1 ; sv. 12. Love is a debt always to be owed, and always to be paid : it is a debt which the more we pay, the more we have ; and which herein differs from all civil debts, that it cannot be pardoned. When we have well chosen our love, we should love our choice, and be true Scripture friends, to love at all times ; not fawning upon our friends when high, and frowning upon them when low ; not looking upon them as dials, only when the sun of success shines upon them : we should love them most when they want us, not when we want them most. This for the explication of the third and last bless- ing, " love," which the apostle requests for these Christians. The observations follow. Obs. 1. Love to God flows not from nature. God is not only the object, but the author of it, 1 John iv. 7. From him, for these Christians, the apostle de- sires it. The affection of love is natural ; the grace of love is Di\"ine. As love is the motion of the will toward good, it is in us by nature; but as it is the motion of the will toward such an object, or as ter- minated upon God, it is by grace. Love is one of the graces to be put on. Col. iii. 14 ; and we are no more bom with it in us, than with our clothes on us. Wicked men are haters of God, Rom. i. 30, and that, as the word signifies, with the greatest abhorrence ; they so hate him, as to iT^°f™.'"bhor. desire he were not, that so they might ""' """' *'^"- live without the limits of his law, and the reach of his justice. God is only by them looked upon with fear as a Judge ; and whom men fear as hurtful, they hate, and wish they were taken out of the way, Psal. cxsxix. 21 ; 2 Chron. xix. 2 ; 1 John iii. 13; John XV. IS, 20. Men's hearts, and God's holi- ness, are very opposite : " The carnal mind is en- mity against God," Rom. viii. 7- The very reason of it, the best thing that is in corrupt nature, even Lady Reason herself, is not an enemy only, but enmity, and irreconcilable. There is in it an enmity against every truth, preferring before it human mixtures and traditions ; and undervaluing God's mercy, and the way of obtaining it in his Son ; misjudging all his ways as grievous and unprofitable ; accounting all his ser\-auts base and contemptible. An enmity there is in affection against his word, wishing every truth which crosses its lust razed out of the Scrip- ture; quenching the motions of the Spirit; refusing to hear his voice; rejecting the counsel of God: against his people, his messengers ; hating them most that speak most of God, either with the lan- guage of lip or life. Enmity in conversation, hold- ing the ti-uth in unrighteousness ; by wilful disobe- dience, forsaking the ways of God, to walk in those of nature ; casting off his yoke, and refusing to be reformed. And all this hatred is against God, though man by it hurts not God, but himself; man being God's enemy, not by hurting his will, but resisting it. The consideration whereof should humble us for our folly and danger in hating so good and great a God. It should also teach from whom to beg re- newed inclinations. Lord, whither should we go but to thee ? and how, but by thee ? 44 AN EXPOSITION UPON Ver. 2. 06*. 2. Love is the best thing which we can bestow upon God. It is our all, and the all which the apostle desires these Christians may return to God, who had bestowed upon them mercy and peace. Love from God is the top of our happiness, and love to God the sum of our duty. It is that only grace whereby we most nearly answer God in his own kind : he commands, corrects, comforts, directs, pities, sustains, &c., in these we cannot resemble him ; but he loves us, and in this respect we may and must answer, re- turning love for love. Love is the best thing that the best man ever gave his God. Love is a gift, in bestowing whereof hypocrites cannot join ^\•ith the faithful : there is nothing else but they may give as abundantly as the most upright in heart ; they may give their tongue, hand, estate, children, nay life, but love with these, or these in love, they cannot give. And the truth is, not ^i^^ng this, they give to God, in his esteem, just nothing. The best tiling that a hypocrite can bestow is his life, and yet Paul tells us, that though he gave his body to be burned, and had not love, he should be nothing, 1 Cor. xiii. 3 ; nothing in esse graliip, in point of truth, worth, and grace. Love is the beauty of our performances ; their loveliness is love to God in doing them. Love 'Exflpor. iwpov, i^ 'h^ marrow of every duty. Love is aipoi. o6iupu». the salt which seasons every sacrifice ; the most exquisite service without it is but as a dead carcass embalmed. God delights in nothing which we give him, unless we give ourselves first. He more regards with what heart we give, than what we give. God accepts no duty when we do it be- cause we dare not do otherwise, but when we do it because we love to do it, it is acceptable to God. He who wants love, though he do the thing com- manded, yet he breaks the law commanding. He who loves keeps the command evangelically, while he breaks it legally. Obs. 3. Love set upon other things beside God is wrong placed. The world must often be left and loathed ; at the most but used, never loved. So to love it, as thereby to lessen thy love to God ; so to love it, as to be excessive either in grief for wanting it, or joy for having it, and to be over-eaniest in using it, and injudicious in preferring it before thy God; is to love it unduly and sinfully. If at any time the creature be beloved innocently, it is beloved in and for God ; as a pledge of heaven, as a spur to duty. Among all the creatures there cannot be found a helper fit for man. Between the soul and them there can be no match with God's consent. He that is wedded in love to the creature, is married to one that is poor, base, vexing, false. (I.) Poor. The whole world is but a short and un- satisfying good : the sieve in the water has something in it ; pulled thence, it is empty : the creature apart from God is empty of all loveliness ; it is a breast filled with nothing but wind. Should the whole world be cast into our treasury, it would hardly be a mite. Hagarout of Abraham's house found nothing but scarcity ; and all plenty which is not God, is but penury. Earthly blessings, like to numbers, cannot be so great, but still we may reckon, and our desires reach some one beyond them. Men in their conten- tions for the world prove it a scanty thing, and that it cannot satisfy all. A lover of the world can en- dure no rivals, as knowing how scanty an object he contends for. So large a good is God, that he who loves him delights in company. (2.) Base and ignoble. Whatsoever is below God is below our soul ; it is as unfit to rule our hearts, as the bramble to rule the trees. What we love sub- dues us to itself, and we are always below it : to love these earthly, drossy comforts, is to make thy soul a vassal to thy vassal, a servant of servants. Love leaves the impression of the thing beloved upon the soul ; if thou lovest the earth, thou hast the im- pression of vilcness upon a noble soul. The im- pression gives denomination : a piece of gold is called a Jacobus, an angel, a serpent, a lion, according to the stamp it bears : if therefore earthly objects have by love set their impression upon thy soul, what is that golden, excellent, heaven-born creature, but a lump, a clod of earth ? The earth should be under our feet, not upon our heart. (3.) Vexing and unquiet love set upon the world has more of anguish than love ; it ever wrangles with us for not giving it enough. Peace is the only pro- duct of the enjoyment of God. If Christ be not in the ship, the storms will never cease ; nor can any thing but his presence bring a calmness upon the soul. Rest is peculiar only to God's beloved. Love never stings but when you disturb, anger it, and hinder it from resting in God ; in him, its hive, it is always and only quiet and innocent. (4.) False and inconstant. They are but lying and flying vanities. A soul that loves the world is matched to that which soon will break and run away ; none are so foolishly prodigal as the covetous man, who assures all to that which can assure no- tliing, no, not his own, again to him. The world is like Absalom's mule, that runs away when its lovers most want relief; it is not able to love again those that love it most. The love of that which is incon- stant and weak is the strengtli of our misery. The best of earthly blessings have their moth and their thief, Matt. vi. 20; they "make themselves wings, they fly away as an eagle towards heaven," Prov. xxiii. 5. 06^. 4. God is an object very meet . for our love to be set upon. Much he quam benjfii'en- deserves it, even for what he is. His c!;:,, !'•*'"",' '."" own lovely excellencies are so great, omn^cn mjuriam. that even for these our hearts should ^ ""'"''■ be set upon him, although his hatred were set upon us. Goodness is more than beneficence. God is a bundle, a heap of all worth and perfections ; all the scattered excellencies of the whole creation centre and meet in him : a flower he is, in which meet the beauties of all flowers. Suppose a creature composed of all the choicest endowments of all the men that were since the creation of the world, famous in any kind ; one in whom were a meek Moses, a strong Samson, all the valiant worthies of | David, a faitlmil Jonathan, a beautiful Absalom, a ! rich and wise Solomon; all the holy men of God eminent for any grace ; nay, all the angels of heaven, with their understandings, strength, agility, splendour, spiritualncss, and holiness ; and suppose this creature had never known us, helped us, bene- fited us, yet how would our liearts be drawn out to- wards it in desires and complacencies ! but this, alas, though ten tliousand times more exquisitely accom- plished, would not amount to a shadow of divine perfection. God had in himself assembled from eternity all the excellencies which were in time ; and had not he made them, they had never been. If every leaf, and blade of grass, nay, all the stars, sands, atoms in the world, were so many souls and seraphim, whose love should double in them every I moment to all eternity, yet could not their love be ] enough for the loveliness of our God. There is nothing in God but what is amiable : " He is alto- gether lovely," Cant. v. 16 ; nothing to cause loath- ing, fulsomeness, or aversion, though we enjoy him j to all eternity. And it should much draw out love from us, to think what God does for us. Man does but little, and it is counted much; God does much, and it is counted little; and whence is this dis- I Ver. 2. THE EI iSTLE OF JUDE. 45 tempered estimate ? Must mercy therefore be under- valued, because it comes from God ? Does water lose its nature because it is in the fountain, or heat be- cause it is in the iire, and not in some other subject? Can we be thankful to a thief that spoiled us not of what we have, and not to a God that furnished us with what we have ? Can we love a man that spared, and not a God that bestowed our life ? Can we love him that supplied us when we had nothing, and not Him who made us when we were nothing ? Is any want so great as to be nothing ? or is any gift com- parable to our very being ? Children love their parents from whom they have their body, though they gave it not, but God by them. And what they did give was not for love of their children, but plea- sure, and possibly they caused their children's beings unwillingly. It was not from any love in parents that these children were begotten rather than others, because it was not in their choice ; but when it was in God's choice, seeing innumerable men, whom he could have made, he made these rather than others. What is it that shores and sustains our beings, but the prop of Divine manutenency ? Did God make the house, and then leave it to stand alone ? Has not the some power that set it up, held it up ever since ? Has he taken off that hand of sustentation one moment since he built thee ? Parents and friends have loved thee, but was not all their affection a drop of God's fountain ? would not else their bowels have been flint and marble ? and had not God bid them love thee, might they not have been upon choice, what some tender mothers are upon constraint, butchers instead of parents ? The light of the moon and stars in the night is from the sun, though the sun be not seen ; so every benefit afforded by man is from God, though God be not obser\-ed. And what save love itself was it that remade thee when thou wert worse than nothing? Surely the giving of Christ was the hyperbole of love, the highest note that ever love reached ; a work that looks as if it were intended to draw out love from us. Fire in its sphere burns not, but in some solid matter ; so God, though love itself, inflamed us not with love, but by coming to and becoming man. What immeasurable love was that whereby he was debased to our vile- ness, that we might be advanced to his majesty, and whereby he suffered even beyond measure, and was never prodigal of any blood but his own ! A mercy for contrivance so peculiar to God's love, that angels could no more have invented it than infants ; and for manifestation so appropriate to his love, that had not he discovered and tendered it, it had been blas- phemy and sacrilege, saith one, once to have de- sired it. How great a condescension of love is it for him to become a suitor to thee for thy love, to seek and be- seech thee to be reconciled to him ! Rom. v. 6, 8. What is thy portion, but poverty ? what gets he if he gain thy love ? what loses he if he miss it ? what saw he in thy person, but deformity ? what in thy affection, but impotency and antipathy ? How long did love contend before it conquered thee ! How witty wert thou to shift off happiness ! How unlike to man's carriage towards man was God's carriage towards thee ! Who ever heard before that abused patience should be turned, instead of furj-, into affec- tion. If the patience of him that unjustly offends, draws love from him who is justly offended, how much more should the patience of liim that is justly offended, draw love from them who unjustly offend ! Obs. 5. A Christian's greatest service and work for God is most just and equal. Why ? It is to love. And what more righteous ? W^e are his creatures ; if he had conunanded a harder task, as to sacrifice our children, or bum our bodies to ashes, we ought to have done it. But, (!.") He asks no more than this at our hands, to love him. " And now, Israel, what doth the Lord require of thee, but to love him?" Deut. X. 12. Love is a ready, pronijit, willing affec- tion, which does all with ease, and is its own weight. (2.) Love is that which every one has; it is im- planted in every soul. If God had required a child, the barren might have had a plea. If God had re- quired oiu- lands and money, the poor. If labour and travail, the sick might have had his plea of exemption : but eveiy one hath love that hath a soul (3.) 'This love which he requires he bestowed, ana he calls for no more than his own : he does but gather the grapes of his own vineyard ; the waters of his own fountain ; the fruit of his own orchard : he requires no more than he iirst gives. (-4.) If it be bestowed on him, he returns it much better than he received it. He purifies it, removes its pain and im- purity ; he slays nothing in it but the ram ; he makes it like the rain, which though the earth sends up in thick and foggy vapours, falls down in pure and silver showers ; or like to the watere which, though they come from the sea brackish and brinish, yet re- turn thither again in sweet and crystal streams. God takes away the inordinateness, uuholiness, and sensualness of our love ; he quiets and appeases it, not emptying it of its honey, but only pulling out its sting. Love being never unquiet when in its centre, or stinging when in the hive, or vexing the soul when set upon God. (5.) In loving him we do no more than we have bound ourselves to do, Deut. xxvi. 17. We have chosen him for ours ; for our Hus- band, Father, Master : he may challenge our love ; we must not go back ; we are baptized in his name. W'hen we love not God, we rob him of ourselves ; we are adulteresses, being married, not to love. (6.) In lo\-ing we can but repay him, (though with no pro- portion,) not prevent him : he loved us first, I John iv. 19. Loved our souls, in pitying, and pardoning, and renewing them ; loved the body, in constant pro- vision, protection, direction. Loved us in giving himself; loved us in giving his gifts. (7.) W'e must, if we love not him, love something else. And where can we find any other upon whom to bestow it ? who among the gods is like to him ? Exod. sv. 1 1 : and what among the creatures is fit for us, that can satisfy oui exigences, that will relieve us in distress, that will stay with us continually, that will love us again ? (8.) In loving him we love one another ; and love is the glue of the world, the cement of society; it thinks nothing too difficult for a friend ; it makes us harmless and helpful. If twenty men love one another, every one as himself, every one is twenty, every one hath twenty hearts, forty hands, eyes, feet. Love unlocks every one's cabinet ; making the one take out counsel, another riches, another strength, all something, for the good of one another. Obs. 6. W^le^esoever love to God is, there will love to man appear. The grace of love, as hath been opened, comprehends love to both : from the fountain of piety must flow the stream of charity. He who has not love enough for man, where will he find it for God ? Love is the pulse of faith, and the breath of Chris- tianity. " Faith works by love," Gal. v. 6 : though love be not a hand to receive Christ, yet is it a tool in the hand to work for Christ, and that in working for Christians. The flames of zeal never consumed the moisture of charity. He who loves God for his own sake, will love his brother for God's. Add to your godliness (saith the apostle) brotherly kind- ness, 2 Pet. i. 7. He who shutteth up his bowels to a wanting brother, " how dwelleth the love of God in him?" I John iii. 17. The nearer the lines come 46 AN EXPOSITION UPON Ver. 2. to the centre, the nearer are they to one another. Our love to the godly increases with our love to God. The sunshine upon the dial moves, though not so swiftly, yet according to that proportion which the sun in the firmament moves ; and our love to the people of God, though it he not so great as unto God, yet is it according to the measure of our love to God. Obs. 7. It is a great discovery of God's goodness, in that with our loving him he joins our lo\ang one another. He might have so challenged our love to himself, as thereby we might neither have had time, \^^ll, strength, or allowance to love one another. But behold his love, he will be ser\'ed of us in our serving of man. He accoimts this pure religion, " to visit the fatherless and widow," James i. 27. The serving of one another by love, he requires as a token of our serving him by faith, Ga). v. 4.3. So gracious is he, that he esteems what we do to our own flesh and blood as done to himself, and accounts himself a debtor to us for what we do for ourselves ; he remembers it long, rewards it largely, and does both exactly : he has appointed charity as the most safe and gainful in- vention in the world, Prov. six. 17; xxi. 13; Psal. cxii. 9; Matt. xxv. 40; Heb. xiii. 16; Luke xii. 33. It is a payment to the poor Christian in this place, who sends his bill of exchange, his prayer, to God, and he accepts the bill, and pays it for our use in heaven : we keep nothing as a mercy but what we are willing, and one way thus, to lose. Death robs us by the way, if we think to carry our wealth to heaven with us; but if we send it by bills, we shall receive it safely. He who has laden himself with apples in the orchard, and is sure to be searched when he comes out of the gate, throws his apples over the wall to a friend, who keeps them for him. In this world we lade ourselves with gifts, death will undoubtedly search us when we go hence ; but if while we are liere we throw, by charity, our enjoy- ments into heaven, we have there a Friend that keeps them safe. He that denies to give this interest of his gifts by charity, forfeits the principal ; and he that takes in his worldly commodities without paying God this custom, shall lose the whole. Obs. 8. Prayer is a singular help to bring us to love God ; it was here the apostolical engine in the text. When we cry for his Holy Spirit, the Spirit of love, he cannot deny us ; he healed the lame when they cried. When thou cricst, and sayest from the heart, I would fain love thee, but I cannot, will he not give thee legs to run after him ? Prayer brings us into familiarity with God, and by converse (you know) love grows between men. God delights to show himself in his own way, and, as he did to Moses, send us down from the mount of prayer with souls shining with love. Prayer exercises our love ; it blows up the sparks of love into a flame. Love is an especial gift of the Spirit, Gal. v. 22. We " are taught of God to love one another," 1 Thess. iv. 9. It is he that must warm our hearts with this Divine grace ; and he being sought unto, and his power implored and acknowledged, will not deny it. Thus much of tlie first particular, in this third and last part of the title, the prayer, viz. the blessings prayed for, " Mercy, peace, love." Hence follows, 2. The measure in which the apostle desires these blessings may be bestowed, " Be multiplied." For the explication of which two things would be opened. 1. Wherein stands the multiplication of these bless- ings, or what it is that the apostle desires, when he prays for the multiplication of these gifts and graces. 2. Why the apostle makes this request, and prays not only for the bestowing, but the multiplying of these blessings. 1. What this multiplying is. The word in the original signifies, as to be multiplied, so to be in- creased, filled, enlarged ; and it is in Scripture indif- ferently used to signify the multiplication of things in their number, and their augmentation in measure and greatness. Hence some render 7rX;j5uv3(i>), multi- plicetur, be multiplied ; others, adimplealur, be filled, or fulfilled, or filled up, or increased. It properly signifies to increase in number, and not in measure ; and when it is applied to people, and the church, as it is oft in the Acts of the Apostles, vii. 17; ix. 31, &c., it is only used for an increase in number ; but when it is spoken of sin, or graces, as Matt. xxiv. 12; 1 Pet. i. 2 ; 2 Pet. i. 2, and in this place of Jude, it may signify an increase in measure only. And so the apostle prays that the gifts and graces which these Christians had already obtained, might receive a further degree of augmentation, that believers might grow, abound, and increase in them more and more, Eph. iv. 16; 1 Pet. ii. 2 ; 2 Pet, iii. 18; Psah Ixxxiv. 7 ; 1 Thess. iv. 1 ; 2 Cor. xiii. 9. And thus, though the mercy of God, which was the first of the three blessings here desired by the apostle, as it is in itself, and as in God, cannot be increased, it being in- finite ; yet in respect of the eflTects and graces flowing from it upon believers, it may be increased. More particularly, when the apostle prays that these Christians may have this increase and aug- mentation of grace, he comprehends in his request these several blessings. ( I .) That they may be sensible, and observing of their wants and deficiencies of grace. That they may often cast up their accounts, and see what they have gained, and wherein they are defective ; that they may resent, as their gains with thankfulness, so their wants with humility. They who see not, can neither desire nor receive what they want. A Chris- tian must be like a covetous man, lotus hi ralionibus, much employed in searching and examining what ho has not, as well as what he has ; what he has lost, as well as what he has gained ; what he has laid out, as well f>s what he has laid up ; whether he stands, how he has fallen, how far he has gone : and though he must account no loss irreparable, yet none con- temptible ; and though no gain so small as to be un- thankful for it, yet none so great as to be contented with, or proud of it. (2.) That they make use of the helps, the food, and fuel which God has appointed for the increase of their grace, Luke xvii. 5 ; as reading, prayer, hearing, sacraments, meditation, 1 Pet. ii. 2; and he that neglects these, is not a strong, but a sick Chris- tian. These are the marts and fairs wherein we trade for grace. A thriving Christian must keep constant traffic with heaven ; sending thither, hear- ing thence : in the former, telling ; in the latter, taking in what he wants. We must make growth the end of our feeding, and thriving of our trading : we must not trade, to trade ; pray, to pray ; hear, to hear ; but to grow better thereby. (3.) That they may proportionably answer the worth and length of those opportunities God afforded them for increasing grace. That they might not de- vour fat enjoyments, ha\ing meanwhile lean, and barren, or indifferent hearts. He is not an abound- ing, thri\ang Christian, who has but an ordinary growth under rich opportunities : we must abound in returning, as well as in receiving ; we must not be like the kidney in the beast, lean in the midst of fat- ness ; not heaths and wildernesses, under the showers of salvation, Heb. v. 12; nay, not content ourselves in being but as good as others, who haply enjoy less. Ver. 2. THE EPISTLE OF JUDE. 47 They who enjoy much from God, and yet are no better than those who enjoy less, are therefore worse because they are not better. (4.) That they may forbear and avoid whatsoever hinders and keeps do«-n the thriving and grow- ing in grace. That they may take heed of se- cret ways of spending; that they may not privily delight in any kno^vn way of sin, or beloved lust, which makes the most glittering Christian abroad to be but a bankrupt at home. Christians must cut off the suckers that draw away their nourishment. Love of the world, pride, uncleanness, &c., cannot thrive with grace in the same heart ; as the one goes up, the other goes do«Ti ; as the spleen swells, the body decays. (5.) That they may have an impartial increase in every grace, in one as well as another. That to one grace they might add another, 2 Pet. i. 5 ; loving every duty, and loathing every evil, Psal. cxix. 101. All graces have a concatenation, and an insepara- bility, a holy band, a di\ane league ; and as every Christian has, so he grows in every part of the new creature. He fructifies in every good work. Col. i. 10 : he labours to keep an equability in his courses ; not strict in some things, and slack in others. He prefers not one before another, I Tim. v. 21 ; he has a pulse of grace that beats evenly and equally : he is neither a maimed person, who wants any limb, nor a mon- ster, who has one limb so big that others want ; but has a comely symmetry of part with part. No one of his graces stands at a stay, while the other grows : be does not go richly apparelled in some one piece of his apparel, and beggarly in the rest ; all his nourishment is not conveyed to some one part, to the starving of the rest. (6.) That they may multiply in grace to an exer- cise, acting and laying out of grace. That grace might be augmented into action ; that the fountain full inwardly might overflow outwardly ; that as it was, so it might appear grace ; that they might be free as well as full, and fructify in every good work ; that the hand as well as the heart might be filled with the fruits of righteousness. As grace will be in- creased in the pouring out, so must it be poured out when it increases. The running water, and the ac- tive Christian, are both the sweetest. The more a musical instrument is used, the sweeter is its melody. Graces, like garments, will be, the more we use them, the more free from the moth : the more we can, the more we should do ; and the more we do, the more we can, we love to do. (7-) That they may obtain a measure of grace suitable to their several and particular exigences and occasions. That they may not only have grace more than others, but enough for themselves ; i. e. in some suitable measure to their own several conditions and employments. Some men have stronger temptations to resist, corruptions to subdue, greater burdens to bear, emplo}-ments to go through, and these want more abundant graces than others. Some man may better keep house with a hundred pounds a year, than another who has a great family, and familiarity, can do with a thousand : a man who has great reve- nues, may yet be poorer than he who has less, if he have greater expenses. (8.) That they may constantly abide and continue in the grace they had received. The further obtain- ing of what grace we want, necessarily implies a retaining and holding fast what we have. By the same reason that we desire to get more, we shall keep that which we have already gotten. Decay is ever inconsistent with growth. A Christian must not go aside, much less go backward ; not lie still with the stone, nor creep with the snail, much less go back with the crab ; not be a golden Christian in youth, a silver one in manhood, and a leaden one in old age Our falls into sin must be but for a fit, not so oui forwardness in Christianity; our goodness not like the morning dew, Hos. vi.4; we must not turn back, deal unfaithfully, and turn aside as a deceitful bow, Psal. Ixxviii. 57. It is hypocrisy to pretend that we are gone, or going, further in religion than others who are eminent, and yet be behind what ourselves once were, and that when we were beginners. If grace be not preserved, it cannot be augmented : fire cannot be made to blaze out, if it be not kept from going out. If the life of grace be gone, the growth will follow. If we continue not rooted in Christ, we cannot be built up in him. Col. ii. 7. (9.) That they maybe boundless and unlimited in the progress of grace ; that they may be ever making additions to what they have, 2 Pet. i. 5. Christianity knows not enough : the degrees of a Christian's grace must be like numbers, the highest whereof being numbered, a higher than that may yet be named. Even those worthy Thessalonians had something lacking in their faith, 1 Thess. iii. 10. We must never cease growing till we be grown into heaven ; we must forget what is behind, and press forward to- ward the mark, Phil. iii. 13, 14. If perfection be our pattern, proficiency is our duty. It is true, he that has least grace has enough Jl^l meiKr.^V,!'* to be thankful for ; but he that has the •Jesmis esse tonus, most, has not enough to be idle. We '■>'■■ are never gotten far enough till we are gotten home. He that is rich enough is nothing worth. He was never good, that desired not to be better ; he is stark naught, that desires not to be as good as the best. (10.) Lastly, The apostle desires the multiplication of grace even to the sense, feeling, and apprehension of those who were partakers thereof; that those who had grace might know they had it. The people of God do not always know their own holiness and hap- piness : these are true, though not strong in grace. The perceiving of our grace is an additional happi- ness to our recei^dng it. In the light of God we must see light. It is a double and a very desirable bless- ing to have the company and comfort of grace at the same time. This of the first branch of explication, What the apostle desired for these Christians when he prayed for this multiplication. Kow follows, 2. Why he desired it. This he did, (1.) In respect of God. (2.) In respect of others. (3.) In respect of themselves. (4.) In respect of himself. (1.) In respect of God. The more grice is multi- plied, the more God is, [1.] Honoured, Matt. v. 16. Herein is my Father honoured, if ye bring forth much fruit, John xv. 8. If the servants of God do much work, God will be accounted a good, a bounti- ful Master, 2 Cor. iv. 15; Phil. i. II. 1. In respect of the great reward men will think there is in his service, and some extraordinary benefit by it, that his servants are so laborious in it. And, 2. In re- spect of the great ability that he bestows upon his to be and do good. God will be admired in them that believe. If poor sen'ants are so rich ;Es.im>ri a culto- and glorious, what then, will men sav, rii.us potest iiie is the Master? if his sen'ants be so holy, o"' "''"'^- s»i>-. what then is he who keeps them ? if there be so much in a drop, what is there then in the ocean ? if he im- parts so much to others, what then hath he in him- self.' The plenty of the crop is the ^^ praise of the husbandman. [2. J As isi„nateiori6ca- God is honoured by the abounding of ''°"""' llSK' his servants in holiness, so is ne like- oerb. mjohnxv \\'ise pleased. Fruitfulness upon earth ^" 48 AN EXPOSITION UPON Ver. 2. is joy in heaven, Luke xv. 7. The husbandman is not only praised, but pleased by the fruitfulness of his grounds, the barrenness whereof is both his shame and his sorrow. The thri\'ing of the cliild is the joy of the father. If we rejoice so much in ho- liness, that see it, and love it so little, what then must God do, who is holiness itself! How angry was God with his barren vineyard ! Isa. v. 6. If God be best pleased with holiness, he must needs be best pleased with them who are most holy. (2.) The apostle desired this midtiplication of grace in respect of others ; that they might not only speak good of God, but get good to themselves. The whole country fares the better for a rich Christian ; he keeps open house ; the more he has the more he gives; he labours to make all such as himself, his bonds only excepted. Acts xxvi. 29. There is nothing more covetous or prodigal than grace. A saint ever loves to be receiving from God, and imparting to others. From Jerusalem round about to lllyricum Paul preached the gospel, Rom. xv. 19. He who was so abundantly rich himself, made it his work to make others so, 2 Cor. vi. 10. What an encourage- ment is it to young beginners in grace, to see that they who once were as poor, and had as little to be- gin with, as themselves, have attained to such a plen- tiful spiritual estate ! What a joy is it to the strong Christian, whose love of complacency is set upon the excellent ones, and whose crown of rejoicing it is to see the honour of God propagated ! (3.) The apostle desired this multiplication of grace in respect of themselves, and that, [1.] In respect of their duty ; they could never be too abun- dant in goodness for Him, from whom they W'ere, and had, and did whatever was good. How could God dwell too much in the house of his own building ? How could the vineyard and garden of his own ])lanting be too fruitful? the well of his own digging be too full ? In their creation they received souls, bodies, faculties, senses, with parts and mcmbere from him; in him also they lived, and moved, and had their being ; and could they do him too much service ? In their redemption the delivery not only from condemnation, but from vain conversation, I Pet. i. 18, and from the service and corniption of sin, was aimed at by God ; and not only a pre- servation of them to heaven, but in holiness. In their profession, they were Christians, and followers of Christ; and how could they walk too exactly, w'ho had such a Guide ? They had in the word precepts, promises, threatenings, examples ; and how could they be too precise, who had such a rule ? [2.] For their dignity. Holiness is a Christian's greatest honour, and therefore the greatest degree of holi- ness, the highest degree of honour. Grace is called glory, and the more grace, the more glory, 2 Cor. jii. 18. It is that which has the most of Scripture commendation. What an honourable mention does Paul make of the Romans, for having their faith spoken of throughout the world ! Rom. i. 8. Our Saviour, who contemned the glorious buildings of the temple, when his disciples showed him them, admired a strong faith more than once. Matt. viii. 10; XV. 28. [3.] For their further peace and com- fort in this life. There is no abundance, but that of grace, which can content the possessor ; the more holiness, the more enjoyment of Him in whose pre- sence is fulness of joy. Whence is a saint's trouble, but from the deticiency of his graces ? what is it that pinches him, but the scantiness of these spi- ritual garments ? the larger they are, the greater is his ease. He that has true grace may go to heaven certainly, but he who has strong grace only goes comfortably. A weak faith, a small degree of love, patience, humility, will not carry a man joyfully through great troubles. [4.] For their future crown and further felicity in the next life. If any shall follow the Lamb in whiter and larger robes of glory than others, they are those whom he hath adorned most with the robes of grace here. If any shine brighter than others in heaven, they shall be those who have been brightest in grace upon the earth. Though glory be not bestowed for any merit in grace, yet I see no inconvenience to hold that it is bestowed according to the proportion of grace. If the more grace a saint has, the more he is fitted for glory, Col. i. 12; then the more grace he has, the more, it is likely, he shall be filled with glory. The more the soul is widened with grace, the more ca- pacious will it be of glory : the heaviest crowns are fittest for the strongest heads. (4.) Lastly, The apostle desired this multiplication of grace upon these Christians in respect of himself. The holiness of the people is the crown of the minister; and the greater their holiness, the weightier and more glorious is his crown. The apostle John had no greater joy than to see his spiritual children walk in the truth. The thriving of the child, is the comfort and credit of the nurse ; the fruitfulness of the field, the praise and pleasure of the husband- man ; the beauty of the building, is the commenda- tion of the artificer; the health, fruitfulness, and good plight of the flock, is the joy of the shepherd. Ministers are husbandmen, nurses, artificers, shep- herds, in Scripture phrase. Nothing more troubles a godly minister than to see his multiplied pains answered with a scanty proficiency ; and his double labour, with scarce a single return of holiness. A gainsaying people is the grief of a minister that all the day long stretcheth out his hands ; although it may be a sweet mitigation of that grief, to consider that God will not reward his ministers according to their success, but their sincerity and industry. This for the explication of this second particular in the apostle's prayer. The measure in which he de- sired these gifts and graces may be bestowed. The observations follow. 06*. 1. Great is the folly of those whose whole contention is for worldly increase, and multiplication of earthly blessings. In worldly things, their desires have an everlasting et ccptera ; they will lay house to house, field to field, like the widow, who, when she had filled all her vessels with oil, yet calls for another vessel. Ahab to his kingdom must add Naboth's vineyard : the rich man (Luke xii.) had his barns full, yet he must enlarge them. Many live as if God had sent them a voyage into the world to gather cockles and pebbles, whereas he employed them to trade for pearls. Where is the man that envies not him who has more wealth, and yet who is he that with a holy emulation looks upon him who has more grace than himself? Where does the best sort of earth deserve to lie, but at the apostles' feet ? What has the man who goes Christlcss ? What has he laboured for all his days, but that, not only without which he might have gone to heaven, but that with which he cannot get thither ? What folly to lose a crown for a crumb ; a kingdom, a soul, a God for a trifle ! How vain is it to multiply that which in its greatest increase is but nothing ! The truth is, earthly comforts are not capable of multiplication. Did men look upon the world with Scripture spec- tacles, and not with Satan's multiplying glass, it would appear in its greatness but a small thing. The world has two breasts ; they who suck at the best of them, draw nothing but wind and vanity ; they who suck at the other, draw woe and vexation. Obs. 2. Great is the impiety of those that hinder Ver. 2. THE EPISTLE OF JUDJi:. 49 people from increasing in grace ; who are the pull- backs, damps, and quench-coals of the companies tvhere they converse. The holiest men pray that erace may be multiplied ; what then are they who [aljour to have it extinguished ? Elymas the sorcerer had one of tlie bitterest and severest expressions of detestation from the apostle that was ever bestowed upon any by a good man ; the apostle calls him one full of subtlety and all mischief, a child of tlie devil, an enemy of all righteousness. Acts xiii. 10; and why ? but because he sought to turn away the deputy from the faith. They who take away the key of knowledge, stop the mouths of ministers, cause a dearth of spiritual food, and cannot endure the preaching of sound doctrine, and the spreading of holiness, would haply account such expressions as these of Paul to be bitter; but I hardly see how they deserve milder. 06a-. 3. It is the height of impiety to hate people because God has multiplied grace in them. How hateful is it to hate where and because God loves ! yet some there are, who, like gardeners, snip those most who are tallest sprouts in holiness. It is ob- served by some, that there is most admiration and highest respect bestowed by the professore of all false religions in the world, upon those that are most precise and exact in observing those religions. What an amazement is it, that professors of the true religion alone should most bitterly hate those that make the furtliest progress in it ! It is a commend- able thing among men for one to be excellent and exquisite in his trade and occupation which he pro- fesses; and must it alone be a disgraceful thing that men should excel in the best of mysteries and call- ings ? Yet what more common than to see the most thriving Christian to become the obloquy, nay, prey of the times ? and those who are most illuminated, to have that ^^iolus of hell sending out his winds of , opposition most against them? Heb. x. 32. And who has not observed the zealous and sincere Chris- tian persecuted, when the time-serving and lukewarm formalist is not only spared, but preferred? and what trees are so cudgelled and battered as those who are most fruitful? If hatred be hellish because it is set against godliness, then certainly that hatred is most hellish which is set against most godliness. Ub.f. 4. They who are ashamed of being exact and forward in religion, are ashamed of their greatest glory. Men commonly love to excel in every thing more than in that which is true excellency; they think that a little godliness is enough, and that abundance of wealth is but a little. In getting riches, they love to lead ; in going toward heaven, they will hardly follow. So much religion as will iiveserve their estates and reputation, so much as will not cross their interest, or hinder their preferment, they will embrace ; but they love not to follow religion too close, for fear of being dashed. They herein re- semble some students of the law, who study that science, not to be exact in it, but only so far as they may be able another day Ic keep their estates. jNIcn commonly love that much, which when they do so, it is hard not to love too much ; but they are but re- miss in that, in which it is impossible to be excessive ; they making it their study to take heed of that of which there is no danger, viz. too much precisencss in the ways of holiness. Christianity in our times is like our buildings, much more slight than of old. Till I hear of one man, from the creation of the world to this day, that ever repented him when he came to die of being too holy while he lived, I shall desire to be no man of the times. 06s. 5. God is most free of his best gifts; he gives his people leave and command to multiply spirituals, when often he impairs their temporals ; he bestows a crown, where he sometimes denies a crumb: those whom he makes poor in the world, he at the same time makes rich in faith. He deals with his people when they are too heavy laden with the luggage of worldly enjo\-ments, as men do that are weighing their commodities in a pair of scales ; they never leave taking, and taking away from that scale which is too heavy, till the other is as weighty or weightier than it. And God docs justly and mercifully im- poverish the body to enrich the soul. There is nothing good which hinders us from enjoying the chiefest good; which is not veliiculum, but vinculum ; not a furtherance, but a fetter. How gracious is God to choose our comforts for us ! we should ever take the worst part, should he leave us to our own skill : he loves to relieve us for our profit, not for our lust ; we naturally love the contrary. 06.V. fi. The Christian whose grace multiplies, is neither careless of the helps, or fearless of the hin- derances of grace. He dares not omit any duty, or slight any ordinances, which God has appointed to make him spiritually prosperous. He is rowing up a river that runs with a strong current, and he knows if he rest his oars, he shall fall down the stream ; he delights to pray continually, 1 Thess. v. 17: he who has grace in plenty, will have prayer in fervency. Prayer woos grace to come, and wins it to tarry. Grace ever sets us upon praying for grace : the alms of grace will be begged for, and God gives it to the prayer of the humble, James iv. 6. Growing men have good stomachs. It is as possible at the same time to grow in the love of grace and decay in love to ordinances, as to increase the fire by withdrawing the fuel. The sprouting Christian sits under the dew of heaven : they who forsake the assembling of them- selves together, will never hold fast the profession of the faith without wavering, Heb. x. 23, 25. As grace is not given notenti, to him that continues unwilling to receive it ; so neither is it increased vegtigenli, to him that doth not labour to improve it. Apostles, pastors, and teachers were given by Christ for our growth up to the measure of stature of the fulness of Christ, Eph. iv. 13. The forsaking of these is ever with a decreasing of grace. As a Christian abates in his appetite, he will decay in strength ; and with his strength his stomach will return. They who have no spiritual hunger, are far from spiritual health ; and never had God a working, who was not a feeding servant. He is but the picture of a Christian, who grows not, who feeds not. Nor can growth in Chris- tianity consist with the love of poison, any more than with the forbearance of food. They who thrive hate the ways of inordinate spending. Sin is a waster of our graces and our comforts. The Spirit of God is a tender and delicate thing, nor will it stay with those that admit of company so contrary to it as is sin. Every beloved lust is as a worm at the root of a flower. He who has so excellent a jewel as grace, must keep it under the lock of the fear of sin : while sin comes in at one door, grace goes out at the other. The ark could not stay with the Philistines, nor grace with the love of the smallest sin. The least sin is terrible to the greatest saint ; he makes not light of it, but well knows that a long thread of iniquity may be let in with a small needle. 06.V. 7. Decays in grace are most repugnant to a Christian's welfare. Decreasing in spiritual bless- ings directly thwarts the apostle's petition. It is un- comfortable to see the days grow shorter, to see a man grow behindhand in the world, to see a wither- ed and a blasted field, a man in a lingering con- sumption. Naomi's condition moved pity, when she went out full, and returned empty, liuth i. 21 ; but 50 AN EXPOSITION UPON Ver. 2. what pity does a decaying soul require from us ! To consume heavenward, to be plundered of grace, to lose our first love. Rev. ii. 4, to be declining from God, is a misery indeed, a soul-misery, the misery of every misery. It is better for thee that God take away all than himself from thee. David was more fearful of losing God's Spirit than his kingdom, Psal. li. 11. It is the most sorrowful alteration in the world, after the enjoyment of it, to be forsaken 'By it. Obs. 8. A saint allows not himself in any deficiency of grace. He desires to be perfect in every good ■work; to "grow up in Christ in all things," Eph. iv. 15 ; to be " full of goodness and knowledge," Rom. XV. 14; to be "throughly furnished to all good works," 2 Tim. iii. 17; and to have grace in all the j)Owers of the soul, as his blood is in every vein of the body ; to "perfect holiness in the fear of God," 2 Cor. vii. 1. His imperfection is a trouble to him KS well as his pollution. He sees no grace in another, but he covets it; no ornament, but he admires it; no spot, but he abhors it. He ever wants as much of contentment as he does of grace : he never saith, I have as much as another has ; but, I have less than I myself should have : he labours to furnish his house all over ; he prizes every command, delights in every duty, sees a beauty in every way of God, and the weakness of his grace is the strength of his trouble. They who need nothing are indeed defective in every thing. Rev. iii. 17. Obs. 9. A fruitless conversation is inconsistent with grace multiplied. A fruitless tree is little better than a log; there is a small difference betwixt a dead stock and a barren tree. Time Christianity sutlers not Christians to content themselves with bare hear- ing the word ; or, as one calls it, with mere auricular profession. Wherever grace grows, others may see it. Men cannot discern the growing of it, or how it grew, but they can discern that it is grown when it is grown. The profiting of a saint, with Timothy's, "appears to all," 1 Tim. iv. 15. Growing grace, like corn, will appear above ground. The thriving of a child will be known by its looks ; its colour and com- plexion will speak it. The thriving of Daniel, and the rest, was known by the looking upon their coun- tenances, Dan. i. 13, 15. He who thrives in holiness, will have his visage altered, his outward carriage and complexion amended ; he is like a grown man, who for some time has been absent, he is so grown that he can hardly be known. The voice of a grown Christian is much altered from that which it was when he was a child ; he speaks now not vainly, but profitably. Hence it is that wicked men wonder at him as at a strange sight, 1 Pet. iv. 4. Obs. 10. Lastly, The increase of grace, as well as the beginnings of it, is from God. The apostle here prays even for multiplication of grace. It is grace that must make us multiply in grace : the plantation and the accretion are from the same hand. When God at first made all living creatures, he bestowed Oil! operatur ut o'^ them tbcir crescite, a blessing, as mte.iamus, idem well as a being. He who makes us ie,iamMs."Ai.i! good must make us better. He who "mbal ; though he have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge, and hath all faith; though he bestow all his goods to feed the poor ; nay, though he give his body to be burnt ; and have not charity, he is nothing, 1 Cor. xiii. 1 — 3. God will not reward ministers according to what they have done, but according to what they have done in loving to do. Love is the marrow, the soul of every sers'ice. All performances without love are but ciphere without a figure ; in God's account they stand for nothing; they are sacrifices without fire. Obs. 3. People should study to be fit for the love of their pastor. To encourage him to love them ; to be ditlgibiles, such as these Christians were whom the apostle called " beloved." A painful minister should not only be put upon loving his people by conscience of this duty, but by encouragement to this duty. Ministers are often wrongfully complained of for want of love. All kind of love must not be afforded to all kind of people ; a love of intimacy and complacency must only be set upon the godly among his people. If a faithful minister be not such to his offensive, unprofitable hearer as he would, it is because this man is not such to God and his own soul as he should. How unworthy a part in any is it to make a faithful minister spend that time in weep- ing, complaining, reproving, which he had much rather spend in sweet complacency, familiarity, and commendation ! Obi. 4. The love of a minister must not be slack and remiss, but vehement and ardent. Ministers are to imitate hijn in love, whose love was the most earnest, who was the chief Shepherd, and had the chief care of his flock, who " purchased it with his own blood," Acts xx. 28, who was nothing but love covered over with our flesh. As he was the precedent of ministers' love, so gave he earnest and frequent precepts to ministers to testify this love, John xxi. 15. Love alone can facilitate the difficulties of a minister's calling. ^Lany things must be bonie, as the hatred, frowardness, didness, weakness of niini.irit.rnre- pcoplc. There must ubera be given, rani ub jncn though rerje/a be returned; the breast verbtra. L,:ru. ^^^^ ^j^.p jj^ j^^jjj.^ ,Jjo„gJ^ j( ^^ stHlck at. Sometimes lawful liberties must be forborne. A minister must be like indulgent mothers, or nurses, who forbear to eat such meats as they love, for fear of hurting the child which they are breeding, or nursing. Paul was such a one, who rather than he Avould offend a weak brother, would eat no flesh while he lived. A minister must be lowly in doc- trine and life, patient, laborious; and nothing but love can make him be so. Ever)' thing will be diffi- cult to him that loves not. The object of a minis- ter's love is the soul, the heaven-born soul, the pre- cious immortal soul. Mhat would it profit a minister to gain the whole world, and lose his peoples' souls ? The beast, the name, the body of a man must be be- loved ; much more his soul. The winning of souls is the wisdom of a minister. A minister should say of his ease, profit, and pleasure, as the king of Sodom to Abraham, " Give me the souls, and take the goods to thyself," Gen. xiv. 2L Obs. 5. Loving a minister's person has a great influence upon lo%-ing his doctrine. The apostle knew this when he desired that these Christians should know that he loved them. It is the folly of people not to love the word, whoever be the speaker. The message has not its commendation from the messenger, but the messenger from the message. Yet rare is it to find that Christian, who thinks well of that coimsel which is given him by a counsellor who is not beloved ; and therefore it is Satan's policy to asperse the minister, thereby to cause a dis- like of his ministry. And great is their sin, who by their unamiable carriage often make their ministry abhorred, who either by profaneness, or unfit au- sterity, confute with their life what they persuade with their lip. Some offend by profaneness, preach- ing perhaps so holily in the pulpit, as some may almost think it pity they should ever come out of it ; yet when they are out of it, showing so much levity, sloth, worldliness, looseness, as any would almost think it pity they should ever go into it. Others offend by unmeet moroseness, not considering that a minister must neither be all bait without hook, nor all hook without bait ; as he must not by his flattery soothe, so neither by austerity affright his people. A minister must not be a flashing comet, but an in- fluential star: not a storm or a tempest, but a sweetly dropping, bedewing cloud. Obs. 6. The aim of a minister in being beloved of his people, should be to benefit their souls. The apostle desires to be beloved by the«> Christians, that he might have the greater opportunity to further their salvation. He robs Christ who improves not the interest he has in the hearts of his people for the honour of Christ. It is not service, but sacrilege, to desire the termination of people's love in ourselves. It is better, could it be without sin, that all should hate us. than that they should love us for ourselves; for if all should hate us, we should have but what is our own ; if they should love us for ourselves, we should usurp what is Christ's. A minister's design in being beloved by his people, should be but to raise up seed to his elder Brother ; all his ser'i-ices must be but scaffolds to erect a building of glory to Christ. Ministers should labour to be good for their own be- nefit, and to be accounted good for the benefit of others. They should not do good to get a good name, but they should labour for a good name, that they may be the more able to do good. Obs. 7. The love of a minister to his people should procure love again from his people. The apostle in professing of love to these Christians, expected that they should love him again. Love must be the echo of love. It is often seen that they who love their people most, are beloved of them least. In a spi- ritual sense it is likewise true, that love descends more than it ascends. And ordinarily beggary, or at least poverty, is all the requital which is returned for the jewel of plain-dealing. People love not an eradicative, but a palliative cure of their spiritual distempers. Spiritual flatterers are commonly more respected than spiritual fathers. People and their lusts are so near together, that a godly minister can- not be an enemy to the latter, but he is esteemed 54 AN EXPOSITION UPON Ver. 3. such to the former. Tt is spiritual frenzy to rage against the physician of tliy soul. A minister should requite such uukindness with the revenge of pity and prayer ; and a holy resolution still to love, though he be the less beloved ; endeavouring to do people good, though against their will. As Job's record, so such a minister's recompence, is on high. This for the first reason of the apostle's sending the following exhortation to these Christians ; they were "beloved." Now follows, II. The careful diligence of the apostle to further their spiritual welfare; " When I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation." And in that, (1.) With what mind and disposition he endea- voured their good, or how he was atfected in endea- vouring to do them good ; " I gave all diligence," naTav trnovSiji' Troiov^tvoQ. In the explication whereof I shall give the force and meaning of the words, diligence, and all dili- gence; and gather from thence what kind of dili- gence, and how qualified this of the apostle here was. The apostle expresses the forwardness of his mind and disposition in furthering tlieir good by two words, by his giving diligence — all diligence. Diligence, mrovofiv. The Vulgate here .iK^Llo'iki'imio, translates it, soli ciladinem, solicitude, or nli'tu)'"'"'' '"" carefulness. Beza, studiiim, study, or earnest intention of mind. Our new translation renders it diligence, as it does also the same word, Rom. xii. 8; 2 Cor. viii. 7; Heb. vi. 11 ; 2 Pet. i. 5. Sometimes again it renders it careful- ness, as 2 Cor. vii. 1 1 ; and forwardness, as 2 Cor. viii. 8; and earnest care, as 2 Cor. viii. Ifi; and haste, as Mark vi. 25 ; Luke i. 39. The Greek word compre- hends all these significations ; for it signifies an earnest and serious bending, apjilication, and inten- tion of the mind about the things which we are doing; and this is study. It imports also such a serious bending of the mind, as is with a fear of the future event; and this is care, carefulness, or solici- tude. It also signifies a speedy and cheerful putting a thing in execution ; and this is diligence, and fes- tination, forwardness, haste. The other word, all, Trocrai', which the apostle uses to express his forward disposition to do them good, increases and enlarges the former. He gave not some part of, but all, or his whole diligence. For the a]]ostle here, as the Scripture often elsewhere, puts all for whole, jraaut', for 6\i)i', as Rom. x. 18; 2 Tim. iii. 16; his whole diligence was bent this way, and other things, in comparison of this, he neglected. In this channel ran, as it were, the whole stream of his diligence. From this force and meaning of the words it may plainly be collected what kind of diligence this of the apostle here was. [I.] It was a solicitous, careful diligence. He re- sented the danger of these Christians, and feared their spiritual loss and hurt by Satan and his instruments. The care of these faithful ones was upon him, as upon holy Paul was the care of the churches. Paul was afraid of the Galatians, of whom he travailed in birth till Christ was formed in them. Gal. iv. 19, 20. Love is ever solicitous, doth its best, and fears the worst. Titus had an earnest care for the good of the Corinthians, 2 Cor. viii. 1(5; and among them none was offended but Paul burned, 2 Cor. xi. 29. [2.] It was a studious and an intentive diligence. It set his head and heart working to do them good. There was an earnest and vehement application of both to this employment. Faithful ministers are laborious; they are peculiarly called labourers, and they labour in the word and doctrine. Paul laboured more abundantly than they all. Timothy was to show himself a workman. All their titles, as fishers, soldiers, watchmen, labourers, &'c., bestowed upon ministers, commend Jude's diligence. [3.1 It was a cheerful, willing dili- ,,, .. , riM • 1. r 11 J- 1 .1 I. Sluiliiim est anl- gence. 1 his he lully discovers, both by mi vriiemms ad the word diligence, and giving diligence. mLTna'c.yi'irvo- He was not forced to this employment, luiiuit- aiipika- Paul, I Cor. ix. 17, tells us his reward came in a way of willing doing. Jude had the con- straint of love upon him; his service was not like honey pressed, but of itself dropping. His feeding the church was his meat and drink. This good work was not done with an ill will. [4.] It was a speedy, ready diligence ; it was with a holy haste. I'he seducers were already entered among these Christians ; there was now no room for delays. The beginnings of this mischief were to be crushed. While ministers are lingering and doubt- ing, Satan is devouring. They are soldiers, and vic- tory loves to fly upon the wing of expedition. [5.] It was his whole, utmost, entire diligence. Such a diligence as Paul professes he used, when he said, " As much as in me is, I am ready to preach the gospel," Rom. i. 15. This work he made his business, and to it he gave himself; in comparison of this his diligence for other things was but negligence. For three years he warned every one night and day with tears, Acts xx. 31. Nay, he was glad to spend and be spent, 2 Cor. xii. 15. He was fervent in spirit, but in serving the Lord, Rom. xii. 11. Obs. 1. Greatest diligence is always to be used about the best things, about matters of greatest concern- ment. The custom of the world is to use substantial endeavours about circumstantial, and circumstantial endeavours about substantial employments. A holy remissness befits our care about the things of this life. A Christian should keep his sweat and indus- try for tlie things of heaven ; when he uses the world, it should be as if he used it not. He should not pray or hear, as if he heard or prayed not. It is madness to make as great a fire for the roasting of an egg, as for the roasting of an ox ; to follow the world with as much fervency as we do holiness ; and about trifles to be employed with vast endeavours. It is impossible to be too diligent for heaven, and difficult not to be over-diligent for the earth. Obs. 2. All that ministers, even the best of them, can do, is but to be diligent, to take pains and en- deavour. Paul can but plant, Apollos ,, , .... . , , ,'■,'. ^ >ostnini est clare waters, God it is that gives the increase, operam, Dei Uare I Cor. iii. G. It is our part to be dili- "P'"""-"^'"- gent, it is God that blesses that diligence. Aliiid est docere, aliud Jiectere. One thing to preach, another to persuade. The organ-pipes make no music with- out breath. He that teaches the heart sits in heaven. God must have the praise in the successfulness of the ministry ; his glory must not cleave to our fingers, nor must ministers be discouraged in the want of success ; God never required that at their hands. He accepts of their willing mind ; nor does God reward them according to people's proficiency, but their own industry. Obs. 3. Diligence in duty is the commendation of ministers. The light of knowledge without the heit of love, speaks him not excellent. A golden key that opens not, is not so praised as a wooden one that opens the door. The shining, prancing, and trappings of a steed commend him not, but his service ableness. Ministers are not made for sight, but for service. Nothing more unsuitable than for him to live with- out care, who hath gotten a cure. " Pray the Lord," saith Christ, " to send forth labourers into his harvest." Ver. 3. THE EPISTLE OF JUDE. 55 Ministers must labour for the pulpit, and in the pul- pit ; there must be the labour of study before we speak, the labour of zeal and love in speaking, the labour of suffering must be borne after preaching, always the labour of praying before and after. Their plainest performances must be painful. There must be a diligence even in their seeming negligence. " Cursed is he that doth the work of the Lord de- ceitfully," Jer. xlviii. 10. No danger is so great as spiritual, nor must any care be so great as ministerial. A godly minister must be careful for those that do not, and careful with those that do care for them- selves. He should not only eat his bread in the sweat of his brows, but his sweat, his labour, should be his meat and drink, John iv. 34. Love to Christ and souls should constrain him. His life is short, and his reward is eternal. Short seasons require quick services. The nearness of Peter's departure made him diligent, 2 Pet. i. 13, 14. Seldom does the kingdom of heaven sutler violence under a remiss ministry. A sleepy preacher cannot expect a waking auditory. It is uncomely to see a minister weary himself in the world, in the family, in the field, in courts of justice. He must take his leave of other employments. He must not leave the word of God to serve tables. Acts vi. 2. He is a warrior, and must not entangle himself in the affairs of this life, 2 Tim. ii. 4. They who sweat in worldly employments, are commonly but cold in the pulpit. Obx. 4. People who partake of the minister's dili- gence, must take heed of negligence, a double negli- gence. I. They must not neglect themselves; nor, 2. Their minister. I. Not themselves, their own souls ; they must carefully gather up that spiritual manna that rains upon them in this wilderness ; they must not play with that meat which the painful minister has been long preparing. If he take pains to do them good, what should they to do themselves good ? They must give all diligence to make their calling and election sure, 2 Pet. i. 5, 10 ; in this their day knowing the things of their peace ; walk- ing while they have the light : they must be swift to hear, James i. 19, " fly as doves to the windows," Isa. Ix. 8, delight in the word. Alphonsus, king of Naples, read the Bible over forty times in his life- time. The Bcreans " received the word with all readiness of mind," Acts xvii. 11. First they must seek the kingdom of God ; not labour for that bread which perisheth, but for that which endureth to ever- lasting life. It is not meat on the table, but in the stomach, that nourishes. A ministci-'s care without their own, will be but their curse. 2. They must not neglect their minister. Double diligence deserves double honour. If the minister consume his strength, they must labour to restore it. It is a shame that people should lay out more upon brooms to sweep their kennels, than upon a ministry to cleanse their souls. If ministers bring them venison, their souls must bless them. It was a saying of a toug on. i^^jy ^^^^ ^^^^ ^,jjj^ y^^j^ ^^j j_^.^ speech died not with him, London loves a cheap gospel. If ministers spend their oil, people must supply it. They nuist administer of their temporals. Alas, they give but pebbles for pearls. Since the ministry was so slighted, godliness never thrived. This for the first jiarticular considerable in the second reason, why the apostle sent the following exhortation; viz. With what mind and disposition the apostle endeavoured the good of these Christians ; he gave all diligence. Now follows, (2.) In what work he was employed for, or by what means he endeavoured, their good ; viz. by writing : he gave all diligence ; and it was to write. And why would the apostle choose to further their salvation by means of writing ? what was the ad- vantage of a performance of that nature ? His writing was sundry ways eminently advantageous. [1.] It was helpful and advantageous to the ab- sent ; he could not speak, and therefore he writes to tliem, 1 Cor. v. 3; 2 Cor. ii. 3, 4; vii. 12. "Being absent," saith the apostle, " I write to them which heretofore have sinned," 2 Cor. xiii. 2. Writing is an invention to deceive absence. The use of epistles is, that even the separated by distance of place may be near to one another in affection, that there may be among the absent a resemblance of presence. The pen is an artificial tongue, the relief of the dumb and the distant ; by it the former speaks plain, and the latter aloud. The tongue is as the pen of a ready writer, and the pen is as the tongue of a ready speaker. [2.] The apostle's writing had the advantage to be diffiisive of good to many. He was covetous of benefiting as many as he could, and his writing scat- tered hohness. Writing, as it reaches farther, so more than the tongue. It is like a little leaven that leaveneth a great lump, even whole countries, nay, after-ages. Paul's Epistles are ours, though not in their inscriptions, yet in their benefit. Augustine was converted by reading part of that to the Romans, xiii. 13, 14. The pen has the greatest auditories. [3.] The apostle's writing had the advantage of authority and esteem. Often the contemptibleness of bodily presence, by reason haply of defects in utter- ance, aspect, life, rank, &c., damps the spirit, and diminishes the esteem of the worthiest speaker. Many are famous for their writing, who have been less esteemed for their speaking. Paul's adversaries objected to the weakness of his bodily presence, when they confessed his " letters were weighty and power- ful," 2 Cor. X. 10. Writing abstracts the work from sundry prejudices against the workman. Many there are who build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous, who publish, allege, adorn the books, those monuments of the memories, of holy fathers, and others, whose persons, had they lived in their times, they would have as much perse- cuted and opposed, as they now do those who are guided by the same Spirit, and walk in those holy ways in which those saints of old did. Many, but meanly esteemed of in foreign countries, by reason of their common and contemptible society, are most eminently and deservedly esteemed among us for their writings. [4.] The apostle's writing had the advantage of permanency and continuance ; it was a standing, lasting monument of his love and their duty. Words pass away, and are forgotten, when writing remains. Every new tide blots out a writing on the sand, and every new sermon makes the former forgotten ; but writing deceives even death itself. It is a kind of image of eternity. Some by idleness have been dead while they lived; others by their labours have lived when they have been dead. Peter endeavour- ed that the Christians might be put in remembrance even after his decease, 2 Pet. i. 15. "This shall be written," saith the psalmist, " for the generation to come," Psal. cii. 18. Obn. 1. The desire of ministers should be to benefit as many as r. y be. To help in the way to heaven, not their present, but even their absent friends ; nor the age only in which they live, but even succeeding generations ; like a great fire, they should heat those who are a great way off. The world should smell of the sanctity and holy labours of a godly minister, even when he is removed out of it. He should, like Zisca, who commanded that a drum should be made i of his skin to terrify his enemies, even after his 55 AN EXPOSITION UPON Ver. 3. death be serviceable. Though the pro]ihc(s live not ever, Zech. i. 5, yet their labours slioulil. Some of the ancient worthies, like Samson, have thus done more good by their deaths than by their lives. 06.?. 2. God by giving us the constant and stand- ing rule of a written word, shows our great readi- ness to leave him and swerve from him. As we could not have found out, so neither could we have kept in, the right way, without a written word. We have iyigenium eiraficum, we love to wander, and should, without this light shining in a dark place. In the infancy of the church, and while it was contained in narrow bounds, God manifested his will without the written word, by dreams, visions, and audible voice ; but error and profaneness increasing in after genera- tions, men must have God's will committed to writ- ing: without it we can neither find nor keep our way to heaven. The pope, unwritten traditions, the sun, moon, and stars, reason and revelations, are all erring guides. Obn. 3. Great is the goodness of God, who would have his will committed to writing, giving u,s a sure, a more sure word of prophecy, 2 Pet. i. 19; that upon which we may more safely build, than upon the voice which came from lieaven when Christ was transfigured. How full of love is Christ, to send epistles to his spouse the church in his absence from her ! Great is His care who hath safely transmitted an uncorrupted canon to every age of his church, and set up a light which the rage and subtlety of Satan can no more blow out, than can a man the sun with a pair of bellows. God provides not only light in heaven, but light to heaven. He teaches us in the school of Scripture. He has not dealt so with every nation, Psal. cxlvii. 20; the heathen have but the school of creatures : the Jews, though our careful library-keepers, yet understood not this written word. Oi.y. 4. The great impiety of those who neglect and undervalue the written word. " I have written " (saith God) " the great things of my law, but they were accounted a strange thing," Hos. viii. 12. The written word is undervalued by some practically ; their lives are visible confutations of it ; they live crooked lives, though they have a straight rule. They commit the sins of darkness in a land of light, and they do their work worse under this glorious light, than those who lived in darkness. Othei-s disgrace the written word doctrinally. Papists say it is not ^,. „. ,. necessarv for the church, callincr it by Alb. Picliius, J, • , , , ' . o , .^ ("sifrus in I u- way ot Contempt, w/;-ame7(/o)-)n;H l/ieo- Baii'ilis. p"^i'.'*' logiatn, a dead letter, a divinity made of iviur. .ic Verb, iiik and paper; prcferrincr before it the l>ei. I. 4. c. 4. . . I ■ 1 • 1 ■ .1 , scripture which is made in the pope s breast. To these may be added the sectaries of our times, who peremptorily write, that no y".!'."!."""','"!"' writing wliatsoever, whether transla- vi(i. Blind fiiiicie tions or originals, is the foundation fcuuleii, p. 47. c rf\- •.■ !■• \ i . 01 Christian religion. And to prove it, they borrow the popish arguments, whereof this is the prime ; Religion was founded before the Scriptures, therefore the Scriptures cannot be the Patribus oiim foundation of religion. They never re- Ueus se titniih- , . , ^^. ^ , • , , ariierosieniiii. mcmbering what IS trulv answered by v!Xir,t!.7em s,M,n O""" flivines, Chamier, Rivet, AVhitakef, MHiptMit. et tiiiii &c., the latter whereof tells them, that iuisl'^ i"««""i'i.is though of old time, when God familiarly 'iVu't"Vit''hJi'i'i'('ro" niade known himself to the fathers, and ren.iK erricsiae by himsclf manifested to them his will, ratiiiiiein, et S(Tibi ^i o • x i i s.iain v„iui,t«ie.ii the Scripturcs were not necessary ; yet ce^sar'w Vss?' ""' •''"t^i" C^od cliangcd the course of tcach- ScriiJiirraicepit. ing his cliurcli, and would have his W'hitak. lie per- i ■■ . ,i c' ■ .. fee. Scrip, cap. 7. word Written, the Scnptures were a necessary foundation. Obs. 5. The misery of those times and places where writing is made an engine to advance the de\il's kingdom. It is pity so useful an invention should be employed for any but for God, and that it should be used as a weapon against him. Here- tical and profane writings kill souls at a distance, leaven a whole kingdom with sin, and propagate impiety to posterity. Satan hath prevailed more with his pen than his sword against the church. Far be it from a Christian commonwealth to sulTer weekly advocates to write for Satan ; to take away the pen from Jude, and to put it into the hand of the seducers against whom he desires to write. We put not a sword into the hand of our own, may we never put a pen into the hand of God's enemies. This for the second particular in the second rea- son of the apostle's sending this following exhorta- tion, namely. By what kind of means he endeavoured the good of these Christians ; viz. by writing. (.3.) The excellency and weightiness of that sub- ject about which he was to write; "the common sal- vation." Wherein he expresses The nature thereof; it was salvation : and Its property; it was common. 1. The kind and nature of that subject about which he wrote, "salvation." The word auirnpla, here ren- dered salvation, properly signifies a deliverance from danger and distress, as also a preservation of a thing in a condition of safety ; such a preservation or safety, without which a thing would be lost and destroyed; and by which it is f,l'TZ'''i.""' perpetually preserved, and kept safe Cainei.in. in My- from all danger and evil whatsoever, '" '' '*""''■ 1 Sam. xiv. 45 ; xix. 5 ; Isa. lix. 1 1 ; Jer. iii. 23. But salvation is taken in Scripture sundry ways. [I.] First, For deliverance from temporal miseries and calamities. " Stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord," Exod. xiv. 13. And, " To-day the Lord wrought salvation in Israel," 1 Sam. xi. 13. [2.] For the power and providential care of God, whereby he lets not his people want what is fit for them. When they desired food, " they trusted not in his salvation," Psal. Ixxviii. 22. [3.] For the garments of joy and feasting, which they were wont to wear upon occasion of public victories and deliverances. " I will clothe her priests with salvation," Psal. cxxxii. IG. And, " He will beautify the meek with salvation," Psal. cxlix. 4. [4.] For the author of salvation, whether temporal or spiritual. " The Lord is my light and my salva- tion," Psal. xxvii. 1 ; Isa. xii. 2. And, "Mine eyes have seen thy salvation," Luke ii. 30. [5.] For the entrance into the estate of blessed- ness, John iv. 22; Heb. ii. 3; 2 Cor. vi. 2; and so the means of salvation, the gospel, as, " Salvation of God is sent to the Gentiles, and they will hear it," Acts xxviii. 28: and the embracing of those means by faith, together with holiness of life, are called salvation; " This day is salvation come to thy house," Luke xix. 9. So Eph. ii. S; Rom. xi. II. [G.] For our blessedness and glorification in heaven ; whereof there are two degrees. The first, At the time of our death, when the soul being loosed from the body, is carried into the third heavens. The second. At the day of resurrection, when body and soul shall be received up into heaveu by Christ. " Now is our salvation nearer than when we believed," Rom. xiii. n. And, "Heirs of salvation," Szc. Heb. i. 14. [7.] For our blessedness, as comprehending both our entrance into it here, and the perfection of it hereafter. " If we neglect so great salvation," Heb. ii.3. "'I'he gospel of yoursalvation," Eph.i. 13. "Ac- count that the long-suffering of the Lord is salvation," 2 Pet. iii. 15. In this last sense I take it in this place. Tlie apostle gave all diligence to write unto them, so "Ver. 3. THE EPISTLE OF JLDE. 57 of the means, way, and entrance of salvation in grace, that they might happily at length enjoy and partake of it in glorii- ; and so of the fulness thereof in glon,-, that they may not neglect the entrance into it in grace. And deservedly is the happy estate of the faithful, both i)i semhte and in fnictu, in the first fruit and full crop, in grace and glorv-, called salva- tion. For, First. It is an estate of deliverance from the great- est enemies. All the most cruel, oppressive enemies in the world are nothing to the fury of the great God, Heb. x. 31, the wrath to come,! Thess. i. 10, the deliling and destroying power of sin, the curse of the law, and slavery to Satan. Secondly, It is a deliverance of the soul, the pre- cious eternal soul, !Matt. x. 28. AVhat triumphs have been kept for deliverance of bodies from slaven,- ! "What trophies, pillars have been erected to those who have saved our estates, and liberties, and coun- try ! These were but the shadows of saviours. Thirdly, It is a deliverance from everj' adversary, to be sure, from adversity by every adversary. A complete deliverance. Nothing hurts the delivered by Christ ; they are delivered from all that hate them, Luke i. ri. No sin. no devil, nor cross, nor death, shall hurt them. They are all conquered enemies. Fourthly, It is a deliverance from everj' enemy fully. Christ is a horn of salvation, Luke i. 62, and able to the full to save all them that come to him (Heb. vii. 25) from the g^jilt and condemnation of sin, Rom. viii. They are fully justified in this life ; " There is no condemnation to them who are in Christ ;" fheir iniquities are blotted out as a cloud ; they are forgotten and forgiven, thrown into the bottom of the sea, and subdued. Mic. vii. 19. Though they be fought for, yet can they not be found. And from the defilement and presence of sin they are fully saved in the next life : no spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing shall there be in glory, Eph. v. 27 ; no mix- tures of sin with grace. Nothing that defiles shall enter into the New Jerusalem, Rev. xxi. 27. Here the people of God are perficienles, perfecting ; there perfecli, perfect. They shall let their mantle of cor- ruption fall when they go up to heaven. Fifthly, It is a perpetual deliverance, everlasting salvation, not for a few years, as were the deliver- ances of Israel by their saviours. It is a happy security, and a secure happiness. The saved by Christ shall never fall, never fall totally into sin, or for sin. They " are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation," I Pet. i. 5. Sixthly, It is a positive deliverance ; a preserva- tion not from evil only, but to good also ; a preser\'a- tion in grace, and unto glory. Paul calls it a pre- servation to a heavenly kingdom, 2 Tim. iv. 18; " to an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, that fadeth rot away," 1 Pet. i. 4, where the perfection of all de- lights in the fruition of a soul-satisfying good shall make us forget all our troubles. Heaven is an eternal triumph over all our former adversaries and adver- sities. Obs. 1. The faithful have many enemies. "What need else of this salvation ? Satan's design is their destruction, either for sin, or by sin, or both. He lies most in wait for the soul enriched with holiness, and like the thief in the house, takes most care to find the jewels. Let not the faithful be secure, or dis- couraged ; not secure ; though Christ saves, yet our hearts betray us ; and Satan is a waking enemy : not discouraged, for Christ is a waking Friend, a power- ful Saviour. Obs. 2. They who are out of the way of salvation, out of Christ, and without holiness, are without safety. Secure they often are, but never Eafc. Some- times they are kept from bodily dangers, and pre- served by the general providence and the universal care of God extended to all his works ; but, alas, this amounts not to Jude's salvation, it is rather reserva- tion than preser\-ation. All the care of God toward the wicked, is but as the provision that a jailer be- stows upon his prisoner, to keep him alive against the day of execution ; so that a sinner's preservation is not only common, but cursed. A sinner's security is not from want of danger, but discerning. If the command of God be not a hedge to keep thee from being a straying sheep, his care shall be no hedge to keep thee from being a devoured sheep. Was it dan- gerous for them of old to be shut out of the ark, and the city of refuge, and to be without blood upon their door-posts? and is it not dangerous to be without Jesus to deliver us from the wrath to come ? I The.ss. i. 10. They who will not be preserved from Satan as a seducer in their life, shall never be preserved from him as a destroyer at their death. Of this more before. Ob.s. 3. The salvation of the faithful is begim in this life. Here they are saints, and here they ai-e saved. Heaven is but the flower of salvation blown out ; here in this life salvation is in the bud. Saints are here saved from the power of their corruptions ; they are here in the suburbs of heaven ; they here sit together in heavenly places in Christ, Eph. ii. 6. They here have salvation, not only in their desires and expectations, but in its cause. They have an en- trance into the everlasting kingdom of Christ. 2 Pet. i. 1 1. They are by faith iniited to that Head which is already in heaven. They are freed, though not from the company of, and contention witn, yet from conquest by all their enemies; and there is always the certainty of this salvation in respect of itself, the object, though not in respect of us, the subject. Obs. 4. The people of God are safe, and saved, even while they are in dangers. Their enemies are but nominal. The Keeper of Israel never slumbers nor sleeps, Psal. xc. per tot. Though they are tempted, sick, persecuted, banished, yet never unsafe ; and whenever God brings them into these condi- tions, it is because they are the safest for them. Their graces are alway safe, their souls, their comforts safe, because Christ their Head, their hope, their all is safe. The poorest saint has his life-guard. He who provided a city of refuge for those who killed men, will mucli more jind out a city of refuge for thee when men shall labour to kill thee. Of this more before. Obs. 5. Our dangers and enemies in this life should exceedingly commend heaven to us. The tempest commends the haven ; the pursuit of the enemy, the city of refuge ; the storms, the shelter. We are never fully safe till we arrive at eternal sal- vation. It is strange that saints should long no more to get into the bosom of Christ in glory; that they should be so unwilling to leave the lions' dens, and the mountains of leopards, Cant. iv. 8. Mundtis tur- batui; el ainalur. ^^'e love to handle the world, though God makes it a bundle of thorns : what should we do if it were a heap of roses ? Obs. 6. God has appointed the holy writings for our salvation. Jude writes to further the salvation of these Christians. The Scriptures are able to make us wise to salvation, 2 Tim. iii. 15. Eternal peace is only upon those who walk according to this rule. Gal. v'i. 1(3. The Scriptures tell us not only what we shall find heaven to be when we are there, but how we should find the way thither. They are the pillar and cloud in our wilderness; the light whicn shines in a dark place for our guidance. Let 58 AN EXPOSITION UPON Veii. 3. us labour to have salvation ftirthered liy them. " How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation ?" Heb. ii. 3. How sad is it to carry these letters of heaven about us only as Uriah carried David's, for his own destruction ! 06*. 7. The furthering of the salvation of others should be the end of our writing. " To write the same things to you," saith Paul, " is safe," Phil. iii. I. " I have written," saith Peter, " exhorting, and testi- fying that this is the true grace of God wherein ye stand," I Pet. v. 12. " My little children," sai'th John, " these things I write unto you, that ye sin not," 1 John ii. 1. ^Vc must not write liierls^nianllan'r? to show our learning, much less to ob- id cnmmrn.iaii scurc the tnitli. Nothing should be rum lectioiie iie- Written but wliat the reading of the 'j'usi.'. q'uKst." ^ best should commend. The best thing that many do by writing, is to make paper dear, but which is worse, tliey make their reader worse ; it were well that either they would not write at all, or else write a book of retracta- tions. But among us, sectaries after conviction write with more rage instead of retractation. If these will not amend, readers are to take heed of buying their books, lest they embrace their errors ; and rather to dig in the mine of the Scriptures for gold, 'han to wallow in the mire of the books of sectaries and seducers. This for the first, the nature of that subject about which the apostle was to write, " salvation." 2. The property of it, Common ; " common salva- tion." Wherein by way of explication we may show two things. In what respect salvation is called common, and why the apostle in this place calls it so. Common cannot be here taken according to the usage of the word sometimes in the Scripture, as it is opposed to holy, and as importing as much as pro- fane, or that which every one may use, or belongs to every one : as 1 Sam. xxi. 4, that bread which was not consecrated to God, or hallowed, and of which any might cat, is called common. So Acts x. 14, 28; xi. 8, meats forbidden by the Levitical law are called common and unclean, because the profane Gentiles commonly used those meats, which the Jews, being a holy people, might not eat. And so those apostates are said to account the blood of the covenant a common or unholy thing, Heb. x. 29 ; esteeming the blood of Christ no more than if it had been the blood of some ordinary person, or of some wicked or guilty one. Nor is common here to be taken unlimitedly, for that which is common uni- versally to every one, as if none were excluded from this salvation. Origen is charged as if ^"^Jl ")'■'"■ he held that those who lived and died the most flagitious sinners, nay, that the devil himself, and his angels, after a thousand years' torments, should be saved. But common is here taken in a limited sense ; this salvation being common only to the faithful, who all have an interest in the same ; it belongs to one of them as well as to another; the meanest are not ex- cluded it. Christ loseth none of his, John xvii. 12. It is a salvation for Jews and Gentiles, rich and poor, honourable and ignoble, bond and free, learned and illiterate, Rev. vii. 9 ; Acts i. 8 ; Rom. i. 16 ; Acts x. 35. And thus it is common salvation sundry ways. [1.] In regard of the meritorious Purchaser of this salvation. There is one common Saviour, the Saviour of the body, Eph. v. 23. Every member thereof has influence from this Head. There is " one Lord," Eph. iv. 5 ; there is this " one Mediator between God and man." They of old all drank of the same spiritual Kock, Christ Jesus, I Cor. x. 4. " Of his fulness we have all received," John i. 16. He is the Sun that gives lustre and light to every star, the AVell that filled every pitcher, the only Foundation laid by all, I Cor. iii. 1 1. [2.] It is common salvation m regard of the rule and way by which we are guided thither. There is but " one faith," Eph. iv. 5, called also catholic. God calls all his people with one voice. There is but one way to heaven, the good old way ; there is one rule prescribed to all ; sometimes it has been more plainly, sometimes more obscurely discovered, but yet the way has ever been the same. Our light now may be new for the degree, not for the kind of it. [3.] It is common salvation, because faith both in the Purchaser and doctrine of salvation is common to all true Christians. They all have the same spirit of faith, 2 Cor. iv. 13. And faith is called common, Tit. i. 4. They all build upon the same personal and doctrinal foundation ; and though, like the boughs of a tree, they cross one another in some things, yet they all grow upon the same root, and agree in that. Christ and Scripture are precious to all. [4.] It is common salvation in regard of the earn- est of it. The holiness of the Spirit is common to all the faithful. They all have the earnest of the pur- chased inheritance, Eph. i. 14; 2 Cor. i. 22; some have more, some less given them in earnest, yet it is in all of the same kind, and all have some, Eph. iv. 7. Without holiness none shall see God, Heb. xii. 14. [.5.] The waiting, the longing for tliis salvation is common to all believers. They all love the appear- ance of Christ, 2 Tim. iv. 8; Tit. ii. 13. They all are made to look upwards. Heaven has ever been their centre. [6.] The profession of an interest in, and the hope of this salvation, is also common to all believers. They have all professed themselves strangers here below, and they have ever shown that they seek a country above, Heb. xi. 13, 14. They have all had heaven in their tongues, in their lives ; they have not been ashamed to confess Christ before men ; and have rather chosen to lose their lives than the end of their living; to part with what they had in hand, rather than what they had in hope ; with their pos- session, rather than their reversion. [7.] It is common salvation in respect of the term; the place of blessedness, to which all the faithful shall at length arrive. In heaven there shall be a general assembly, not one missing: " Whosoever be- lieves shall have everlasting life," John iii. 16. God knows and loves all his children, as if he had but one, " I will," saith Christ, speaking of all believers, " that they whom thou hast given me be with me where I am, that they may behold my glorj'," John xvii. 24, Of all that thou hast given me, sailh Christ, I have lost none, ver. 12. Christ's own glory would be in- complete in heaven, if any one believer should be wanting. The poor partakes of the same heaven with the rich. Lazarus and Abraham met together in heaven. The wife is an heir of the grace of life with the husband, I Pet. iii. 7. The servant shall reign in heaven as well as the Master. One heaven shall hold Jew and Gentile, bond and free. Col. iii. 11. It is the place where we shall all meet. 2. A\'hy doth the apostle here call this salvation " common," writing to these Christians ? [I.] Some conceive that by showing it was com- mon to him as well as to others, the surmise of his unfitness to write of so weighty a subject might be cut off. Jude would (according to this opinion) show that he writes to them of no other salvation, but what he himself in part understood, loved, expected with themselves ; and therefore he being an experienced doctor, they ought the more readily to follow him. J Ver. 3. THE EPISTLE OF JUDE. 59 [2.] Others, as I apprehend more fitly, conceive that the apostle calls this salvation common, to pre- vent the self-exemption of any particular Christian from embracing the following exhortation and di- rections, which belong to the salvation of all : q. d. I write of the things which all have followed that ever heretofore obtained salvation, and all must fol- low who would not incur their own ruin ; therefore let every one embrace them. Obs. 1. God is most free of his best blessings. He affords salvation in common to all his people. He gives honour and riches but to few of them ; he gives Christ and heaven to them all. God sometimes de- nies a crumb, even to him on whom he bestows a kingdom. There are many things that a child of God cannot promise to himself, but heaven he may reckon upon. There is no famine where there is bread, though theje be no plums and applies. And if God give salvation, though he denies these worldly toys, there is no fear of famine. God gives those things but scantily which often hinder from heaven. He keeps nothing from his people but what they may well be without. AVhen the poorest saint looks upon the greatest emperor in the world, he may say, Though I have not the same worldly glory and wealth, yet I shall have the same heaven with him ; only with this dilTcrence, I go not thither with so much luggage on my hack. It is reported of the duke of Hereford, when he was banished out of the kingdom by Richard the Second, that he should say, Well, yet I shall have the same sun to shine upon me that he has who banishes me. Oba. 2. Christ and heaven are full and satisfactory; they are enough for all. Salvation is imparted, but not impaired ; the happiness of one is no diminution to the comfort of another. Christ and heaven can- not be praised hyperbolically ; they are common fountains, and yet never drawn dry. The world is conscious of its insufficiency, when men are wary of having rivals in any enjoyment. Worldly comforts are like a narrow table-cloth upon a broad table ; those on both sides pmll to themselves, and on neither side have they enough. Christ and heaven always call and invite, and rejoice in comers. The world altogether denies most, satisfies none at all. Obs. 3. None should be willing to be saved alone. Heaven was made for a common good. It is an- gelical to rejoice when men are brought to heaven, and, as I may say, hyper-angelical to bring them thither. Christians, but ministers especially, should be a common good ; like the conduit that serves for the use of a whole city, blessings to a whole nation, compelling every one to the marriage-feast. Our gifts .should be called common, not only because God commonly bestows them, but because we com- monly use them. If heaven be large, our hearts should not be strait. How common a good was blessed Paul, who wished that all who heard him were such as he was ! Acts xxvi. 2'J. This is a holy, honest covctousness. Obs. 4. They who teach others the way to salva- tion, should be in a state of salvation themselves. He who has sailed into foreign coasts, discourses more thoroughly and satisfactorily than he who has only map knowledge. Then is the word likely to grow, when the piety of the preacher waters the seed of the sermon. He who loves not salvation himself, can hardly make others in love with it. Ministers must not only teach facienila, but facinndo. They must teach by doing what they teach to be done. He who teaches another should teach himself. He who comforts another, should labour to do it with that comfort wherewith God hath comforted him, 2 Cor. i. 4. Obs. 5. The commonness of salvation to all be- lievers, should be a great inducement to every one to labour particularly for salvation, and that they may not miss of it themselves. It is our trouble upon earth, when we see others obtain riches and preferments, and we ourselves go without them. We urge our friends with this argument, tliat they did such a kindness for such a one, and such a one, and there- fore we hope they will not exclude us. " Hast thou," said Esau to his father, " biit one blessing ? bless me, even me also." O go to God, and say. Lord, thou hast salvation for such and such a friend, have it also for me, even for me also, O my Father. It may be thou hast a godly father or mother, a brother or sister, be not content that they should go to heaven without thee. Obs. 6. There is but one way to heaven. There are many nations, more men, only one faith. The Jews shall not be saved by the law of Moses, Gen- tiles by the law of nature, and Christians by the gospel. It is ti-ue, " The just shall live by his faith ;" but then it is as true, that the object of his faith is the object of every one's faith who is saved, although the special application thereof be his alone. The apostle Peter calls faith, " like precious faith," 2 Pet. i. 1. 06.?. 7. The partakers of this " common salvation," who here agree in one way to heaven, and who ex- pect to be hereafter in one heaven, should be of one heart. It is the apostle's inference, Eph. iv. 3, 4. What an amazing misery is it, that they who agree in common faith, should disagree like common foes ! that Christians should live as if faith had banished love ! This common faith should allay and temper our spirits in all our differences. This should moder- ate our minds, though there is inequality in earthly relations. What a powerfid motive was that of Joseph's brethren to him to forgive their sin, they being both his brethren, and the servants of the God of his fathers ! Gen. 1. 17. Though our own breath cannot blow out the taper of contention, O yet let the blood of Christ extinguish it. This for the second reason why the apostle sends the following exhortation, drawn from his care and diligence to promote their happiness. III. The third follows, taken from their present need of having such an exhortation; in these words, " It was needful for me to write." 'Ava-fKrjv Inxov, necesse, or necessitatem habui, I had necessity, word for word ; or, I held it needful. Here we translate it more agreeably to the English ex- pression, "It was needful for me;" elsewhere, as Luke xiv. 18, " I must needs ;" and (spoken of a third person) Luke xxiii. 17, " Of necessity he must;" and 1 Cor. vii. 37, "having necessity." The word avdyKi], here translated needful, signifies in Scripture a threefold necessity. I. A necessity of distress and tribulation, as Luke xxi. 23 ; I Cor. vii. 26 ; 2 Cor. xii. 10; vi. 4 ; 1 Thess. iii. 7. 2. A ne- cessity of coaction, or constraint ; such a force as opposeth one's liberty, and which makes one do a thing against his will, as Philem. 14, it is opposed to willingly; "That thy benefit should not be as it were of necessity, but willingly." '"' i^ticZ'."^^ And, " Feed the flock of God," &c., " not by constraint, but willingly," 1 Pet. v. 2 ; " not grudgingly, or of necessity," 2 Cor. ix. 7. 3. A ne- cessity upon supposition of some cause, ground, or reason whereby it becomes necessary or needful that such or such a thing should be or be done. And thus Christ saith, " It must needs be that offences come," Matt, xviii. 7; namely, because of the power and malice of the devil, the weakness and perverse- ness of men. Likewise Paul and Barnabas told the 60 AN EXPOSITION UPON Ver. 3. Jews, " It was nccessan' tlint the wonl of God should first have been spoken to yon, Acts xiii. 4() ; namely, because of the covenant which God had made with tliem above others. In this resjioct, he saith, "To abide in the flesh is more needful for you," Phil. i. 24; namely, upon supposition of the benefit you may receive from me, and the want you will have of me. And 1 Cor. ix. l(i, " Necessity is laid upon me, and woe unto me if I preach not the gospel !" And this was the necessity which Jude intends, namely, that whereby it became needful and necessary for some ■weighty causes to write to these Christians. And so it was needful in three respects. 1. In respect of his great care towards them. His diligence for their good, and desire of writing, being so great, as that it would not suffer him to be silent; and so Erasmus interprets this necessity. 2. It was needful for him to write, in respect of his own duty, principally as he had the office of an apostle, which he received to further their spiritual welfare : so others. 3. But thirdly, as Calvin, Bcza, and the most in- terpret this necessity. It was neccssaiy for him to write in respect of their danger; their faith being in such hazard by false teachers and seducers. Of him- self he was forward and diligent to do them good, but he was further put upon this service of writing by the very exigence and necessity of their present condition, they being in so much danger by false teachers and seducers. And their danger by seducers made it needful for him to write in sundry regards. (1.) Because of the destructivcness of those doc- trines and practices which the seducers brought in among them. They turned "the grace of God into lasciviousness ;" they denied " the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ ;" they despised dominions ; they walked after their own ungodly lusts. These were not slight, but pernicious evils. Peter, in 2 Pet. ii. 1, 2, calls them " damnable heresies, pernicious ways ; " not scratching the face, but stabbing the very heart of religion. The eternal salvation of their precious souls was hazarded. (2.) Their danger by seducers made it needful for him to write, because of their subtlety and cunning- ness in propagating their impieties. The devil macle not use of the ass, but the serpent, to tempt them. The seducers had craftily crept in among them ; they did "by sleight and cunning craftiness lie in wait to deceive," Eph. iv. 14; they had feigned words to make merchandise of souls, 2 Pet. ii. 3, pretences of gospel liberty, &c. (3.) Because of the great readiness even of the best to give way to seducers. Our natures are like tinder, ready to take with every spark. There is in the best a corrupt principle, that inclines to error in judgment, and impiety in practice ; which, were tliey not kept by the power of God to salvation, would soon pre- vail. One who is diseased may more easily infect twenty that are sound, than those twenty can cure that one infected person. Rusty armour soon makes bright armour rusty by lying near it, whenas the bright armour imparts to the other none of its brightness. 06a-. 1. The written word is needful as the rule of faith and manners. Jude, upon the entrance of the seducers with their errors, tells the Christians it was needful to write this Epistle to regidate and direct them. They who deny that the written word is necessarily required to be the rule of faith, must necessarily give way to the overthrowing of faith. There is no truth in the Scripture can be proved or believed with a Divine faith, unless the ratio credeni/i, or ground of such believing, be the revelation of God in writing. " These things are written," saith John, " that you may l)clie^'P that Jesus is the Christ," John XX. 31. And, " These things have I written unto you, that ye might believe in the name of the Son of God." 1 John v. 13. "We have a more sure word of prophecy," saith Peter, " to which ye do well to tjke need, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place," 2 Pet. i. 1!(. AVithout this light the way of truth cannot be found. The Bereans searched the Scrip- tures, whether those things they heard were so. Acts xvii. 11. The doctrines of faith have been ever by Christ and his apostles proved, and errors wdiich oppose them have been ever by them confuted, by the written word, Luke xxiv. 25, 27; Acts xiii. 33; Uom. xiv. 11. They wdio build not their faith upon the written word, must needs go to enthusiasm, the pope, or reason for a foundation. Obx. 2. The helping forward the good of souls is the most needful employment. Paul (as Jude here) tells us that necessity was laid upon him to do this work, I Cor. ix. IB. A saving ministry is that which we cannot be without. " We can better spare the sun in the firmament," (as it was once said of Chry- sostom,) " than the preaching of a faithful minister." The word in its ministry is compared in Scripture to the most needful things, bread, salt, water, physic, annour, &c. Bread and salt are always set upon the table, whatever the other dishes are. Let our con- dition be what it will, the word is always needful. The life of the soul is the dearest, and the famine of the word is the sorest. Places, though never so rich and glorious, are but masiiui lalrochna without the word ; dens of thieves, not dwellings for men. The removal of the gospel is a soul judgment, and the soul of judgments. It is foolish to account the fall- ing of the salt upon the table ominous; but it is our duty to lament the falling of them whom Christ calls "the salt of the earth," Matt. v. 13. They who are weary of the word, are weary of heaven, weaiy of God. Ministers, for performing so necessary a work as is that of saving soids, should hazard themselves. What father would not burn his fingers to pull his child out of the fire ? It is not necessary a minister should be safe, but that he should be serviceable, and that a soul should be saved. 06.V. 3. The opposing of seducers is a needful part of our ministry. It was this that made Jude accoimt it needful to write to these Christians. It is the minister's work to defend, as well as to feed people ; to drive away the wolf from, as well as to provide pasture for, the flock. The mouths of deceivers are to be stopped, and gainsayers must be convinced. They subvert, saith the apostle, whole houses, Tit. ;' 9, 1 1. Cursed be that patience which can see it, and say nothing. I know not how it comes to pass, but among many the opposing of seducers is cither ac- coiuited bitter, or needless; and it is still the policy of Satan not to sufTer a sword in Israel. But if there be "damnable heresies," 2 Pet. ii. I, I see not but there may be a damnable silence in those who should oppose them. Every one must give account for his idle words, and a minister for his idle silence. 06*. 4. Ministers should preach such doctrine as is most needful for the places and people with whom they have to do. The physician administers not one kind of physic to all distempers. Some patients re- quire one, some another. Some places abound most with profaneness, others more with errors. Some places are infamous for drunkenness, others for pride, others for covetousness, others for weariness of the gospel. The minister must suit his preaching to their exigences. It is not enough in war for a soldier to discharge his musket, though it be well charged with powder and bullet, unless also he aim well to hit the enemy. He who delivers good doc- Ver. 3. THE EPISTLE OF JUDE. G\ trine and reproofs, Lut not suitable to the people whom he teaches, discharges up into the air. God commands the prophet to show the people their sins, Isa. Iviii. 1 ; not to show one people the sins of an- other, but their own. Some observe that Christ in his doctrine always set himself most against the raging impiety of the times wherein he lived. We find his vehemency expressed more against the secret, subtle hypocrisies of the Pharisees than against other sins, which in some times and places would have deserved most severe reprehension. And the truth is, the preaching of seasonable and needful truths is that which creates so much hatred to the faithful ministers. People can be content to hear us preach of the sins of our forefathers, but not of the sins of the present times. People will not take honey out of the lion unless he be dead, nor taste sweetness in that preaching which is lively, and roars upon them in their way of sin. A good heart considers not how bitter, but how true ; not how smart, but how seasonable a doctrine is. It desires that the word may be directed to it in particular. It sets its corruptions in the forefront of the battle when God's arrows are flying, and patientl}- suffers the word of exhortation. This for the third and last reason which put the holy apostle upon sending the following exhortation to these Christians, namely, The needfulness of send- ing such an exhortation to them, " It was needful for me to write ;" and so I pass from the first part con- siderable about the apostle's exhortation, viz. The reasons why he sent an exhortation. The second follows, viz. The exhortation itself, in these words, " And exhort you that ye should earn- estly contend for the faith once delivered unto the saints." In the words the apostle sets down, I. The way or manner of his writing, which was hortatory, or by way of exhortation. 2. The matter or subject of the exhortation, or to what it was he exhorted them, ^^z. " Earnestly to contend for the faith once deliver- ed unto the saints." The first shows us what the apostle did. The se- cond what these Christians ought to do. First, Of the way or manner of the apostle's writ- ing, which was by way of exhortation ; " And exhort you." In the explication I shall, I. Show the force and meaning of the word exhort. 2. Show from thence what manner of exhortation this of the apostle's was. I. For the former: the word in the original, iropa- raXiuv, here translated exhorting, properly siguilies to call to one, or vehemently to call out to another upon some urgent occasion ; but it is in Scripture translated several ways, according to the nature and circumstances of the place where, and the thing about which, it is used. Sometimes it is rendered to pray, entreat, beseech, 2 Cor. v. 20; Philem. 'J, 10; so it is used I Cor. iv. 13, "Being defamed, we entreat." Aud Matt. viii. 5, " There came unto him a centurion, beseeching him." And ver. 31, "The devils besought him." So ver. 3-1 ; and chap. xiv. 36 ; xviii. 29. Sometimes it signifies to exhort, as Luke iii. 18, John exhorting, preached. So Acts xi. 23, and xiv. 22, " Exhorted them with purpose of heart," S:c. ; and, " Exhorting them to continue in the faith." So Heb. iii. 13, " Exhort one another daily." Also chap. X. 25, &:c.; and so in this place of Jude. Sometimes it signifies to comfort aud encourage, as 1 Thess. iv. IS, " Comfort one another." Acts xx. I'2," And were not a little comforted. Rom. i. 12, " That I may be comforted together with you." Matt. V. 4 " Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted." And \ojoc n-opaicXijruo!; is a consolatory speech, Zech. i. 13. 2. The word having these significations, shows what manner of exhortation it was which the apostle here useth. As, (1.) It was a mild, sweet, and gentle exhortation; it had not the iniperiousness of a lofty command, but the gentleness of a Christian entreaty. And thus the apostle Paul tells Philemon, ver. 8, 9, though he might be much bold in Christ to enjoin him, yet for love's sake he did rather beseech him. This is also suitable to that gentleness which Paul pre- scribes to Timothy, 2 'Tim. ii. 24, 25, " The ser\-ant of the Lord must be gentle, apt to teach, patient, in meekness instructing," S:c. And 2 Tim. iv. 2, "Ex- hort with all long-suffering." And the apostle tells us not only his practice, that he was gentle among them, as a nurse cherisheth her children, I Thess. ii. 7 ; that he warned the Ephesians night and day with tears. Acts xx. 31 ; that he charged everj' one as a father doth his children, 1 Thess. ii. II: but expresses also his pattern, " I Paul beseech you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ, who was the copy of meekness," 2 Cor. x. 1. Both he and his serv- ants gave the lamb, not the lion, for their emblem ; pitying the defects and weaknesses, resenting the dangers, and tenderly handling the sores of every soul. (2.1 It was an ardent, earnest, and vehement ex- hortation. Though it were sweet, yet it was not slight; though with all his meekness, yet also with all his might : and this was the right temper of an apostolical spirit, neither to be incompassionate when zealous, nor remiss when gentle ; ever to be driving the flocks, though not to over-drive them. Paul's advice to Timothy in 2 Tim. iv. 2, was, to be instant in season, out of season, to exhort, &c. Paul was an excellent orator, and all his oratory was employed to persuade men to be saved. Never did malefactor so plead to obtain his own life, as did blessed Paul plead with men to accept life : he was a wooer of souls to Christ, and he would take no denial. Though the more he loved, the less he was beloved ; though the more he sued to them, the more he suft'ered from them ; yet he suffers all things for the elect's sake. He labours abundantly; he becomes all things to all men, that he might by all means save some, 1 Cor. ix. 22. What importunate beseechings are his Epis- tles filled with ! he seems to besiege souls with be- seechings. " I beseech you by the mercies of God," Rom. xii. I. "I Paul myself beseech you by the meekness and tenderness of Christ," 2 Cor. x. I. "I the prisoner of the Lord beseech you," Eph. iv. 1 : never did a poor prisoner so earnestly beg at the grate for bread. " We beseech you by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ," 2 Thess. ii. I. (3.) It was an encouraging, animating, strength- ening, establishing exhortation ; such a one as is used to faint-hearted soldiers in battle : he raises up the spirits of these Christians to withstand se- ducers. Such a lion-like leader would even make an army of harts courageous, and put pavpnani. io life into dead men. It is a great com- '-"i. n. e. fort to men going to fight, to see themselves regard- ed even by those who cannot help them, to hear men with loud voices calling to them, wishing them goou success, and encouraging them with hopes of Wc- tory ; a greater, when men will engage with them. Such was Jude in his present exhortation : such was the apostle Paul, who was set for the defence of the gospel ; whose bonds made the brethren confident ; who so often bids the faithful to quit themselves like men, to be of good comfort, to watch, to stand fast in the faith, to be strong, to be strong in the Lord, to 62 AN EXPOSITION UPON Ver. 3. stand fast in the Lord, 1 Cor. xvi. 13; Phil. iv. 1; 1 Thess. iii. 8; Eph. vi. 10. Such was Barnabas, wlio exliorted the brethren that with full purpose of heart they should cleave to the Lord, Acts xi. 23. Obs. 1. Gentleness and meekness is necessary for every exhorter. We live not among those who are perfect ; and their defects should make us meek, as well as their duty make us earnest. Meek persuasions most take with ingenuous spirits. Men will rather be led than drawn ; the cords wherewith we draw- others should be the cords of a man. Ministers should rather delight in the optative than in the imperative mood. Indeed, the temper of the exhorted is much to be observed. Some are more sturdy, others more tender ; and there is a difference to be put be- tween an iron vessel and a Venice glass in the cleansing of them. But all gentle means are first to be used ; we sliould choose to be gentle, and rather to drive away than shoot the bird. 06s. 2. No persuasions or entreaties should be so vehement as tliose whicli are for the good of soids. It is hard not to be too importunate when we desire any thing for our own good ; impossible to be so when we request others for their own souls. " Know- ing the terror of the Lord," saith the apostle, " we persuade men," 2 Cor. v. II. It is a holy impudence to be impudent in calling upon people to regard their souls. It is a sinful modesty to prefer courtesy herein before Christianity. The conscience of the most gainsaying sinner will commend an importunately exhorting Christian, although his lust be angry with him. Tliat which can never be learned enough, can never be taught enough. That which men can never avoid enough, they can never be warned of enough. It is very good manners in Christianity to staj^, and to knock again, though we have knocked more than three times at a sinner's conscience. Obs. 3. The best Christians often stand in need of quickening by holy incitements. The strongest anns, like those of Moses, want holding up : the ablest Christian may now and then have a spiritual qualm. He who is now, as it were, in the third heaven, may anon be buffeted with the messenger of Satan, 2 Cor. xii. 7. Grace in the best is but a creature, and de- fectible ; only the power of God preserves it from a total failing. Corruption within is strong, tempta- tions without are frequent, and all these make ex- hortation necessary. A Christian more wants com- pany as he is a Christian than as he is a man, though much as both. The hottest water will grow cold, if the fire under it be withdrawn. Obs. 4. Holy exhortation is an excellent help to Christian resolution. It is as the sharpening of iron with iron ; it is a whetstone for tlie relief of dulness. Jonathan in the wood strengthened David's hand in God, 1 Sam. xxiii. 16. They who fear the Lord must often speak one to another, Mai. iii. 16. The want of communion is the bane of Christian resolu- tion. When an army is scattered, it is easy to destroy it. The apostle, Heb. x. 23, 24, joins these two to- gether, the holding " fast the profession of our faith without wavering," the provoking one another to love and good works, as also the exhorting one another. Obs. 5. Christians must " suffer the word of ex- hortation," Heb. xiii. 22. They must be entreated. If importunity overcame an unrighteous judge to do good to another, how much more should it prevail with us for our own good ! Let not ministers com- plain with Isaiah, " I have spread out my hands all the day to a rebellious people," Isa. Ixv. 2. Hea- venly wisdom is easy to be entreated. Men want no entreaty at all to do good to their bodies. Whence is it that when we want no precept, and therefore have none, to love ourselves, all precepts and ex- hortations are too little to persuade us to the true self-love ? This for the way or manner of the apostle's writing, it was by exhortation. The second follows. The apostle's expressing to what he exhorted these Christians, viz. " Earnestly to contend for the faith once delivered to the saints." In which words I consider two things : What it is which the apostle here commends to them carefully to maintain and defend; "The faith once delivered to the saints :" and, The means where- by, or the manner how, he exhorts these Christians to maintain and preserve that thing ; which was by earnest contention ; " Earnestly contend." I. What thing it is which the apostle here com- mends to these Christians to maintain and preserve; viz. "The faith once delivered to the saints." This thing the apostle here first specifies, calling it "the faith ;" secondly, amplifies three ways : 1. It was faith given, or delivered. 2. To the saints delivered. 3. Once delivered. (L) He specifies the thing which these Christians were to maintain and defend, " faith," rnVrij. The word faith in the (ireek, Tiorif, is derived from TTtiSiu, doceo, and persuadeo, to teach, concerning the truth of a thing which we persuade men to believe ; and it is in Scripture taken either properly or im- properly. [I.] Properly; and that either, 1. In its general notion, for that assent which is given to the speech of another. Or, 2. In its different sorts and kinds; and so it is either human or Divine : human, the assent which we give to the speech of a man ; or Di- vine, the assent which we give to Divine revelation. This Divine faith is commonly known to compre- hend these four sorts. Historical faith, called also by some dogmatical, which is nudus assensus, that bare assent which is given to Divine truth revealed in the Scripture, with- out any inward affection either to the revealer or to the thing revealed. Thus, " The devils believe," James ii. 19; and this is called dead faith, ver. 17. Temporary faith, not so properly called a different kind of faith from the former, as a further degree of the same, which is an assent given to Divine truths, with some taste of, and delight, though not applica- tive and prevalent, in the knowledge of those truths for a time ; he endureth for a while. Matt. xiii. 21 ; for a while they believe, Luke viii. 13. Miraculous faith is that special assent which is given to some special promise of working miracles : and this is cither active, when we believe that mira- cles shall be wrought by us, as 1 Cor. xiii. 2 ; Matt, vii. 22 ; or passive, when we believe they shall be wrought for and upon us. Acts xiv. 9. Justifying faith, which is assent with trust and affiance to the promise of remission of sin, and sal- vation by Christ's righteousness, Rom. iii. 26 ; Gal. ii. 16; Luke xxii. 32; Acts xv. 9; Rom. iv. 5, &c. [2.] Faith is considered improperly, and so it is taken in Scripture four ways especially. For fidelity, and faithfulness. And ^^ ^^ ,^ so faith is attributed to God ; " Shall inquimur qi.am their unbelief make the faith of God ill'.'.ll.'l'-XiiS. without effect," Rom. iii. 3. And to non ea quam , ,, ^- , . , J .1 . 1 .. dariius cum alicm man; " le liave omitted the weightier p.,iiiceinur; na™ matters of the law, judgment, mercy, desrseli'aiMfr'' and faith," Matt, xxiii. 23. Tliis is, as jiiiimus. no.i mi- Cicero saith, Dictorum convenlorumque auwr,"mn^m\\n coiistantia, the truth and constancy of i"™'''eli'';!™'jre- our words and agreements. So we say, 'ii'ii< qunJ iii«i;. He breaks his faith. dixn; secunrium haiic firiem qua credimus, fiileles siimns Deo ; secundum illam veroqua lit quod promitti* tur, eliaiii Deus est tiUelis nobis, Aug. lib. 6. de sp. et lit. cap. 31. Ver. 3. THE EPISTLE OF JUDE. 63 For the profession of the faith, Acts xiii. 8; xiv. 22. " Your faith is spoken of througliout the world," Rom. i. 8. For the things believed, or the fulfilling of what God hath promised. " Before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed," Gal. iii. 23; and ver. 25, "But after that faith is come." Here faith is taken for Christ, the object of faith. For the doctrine of faith, or the truth to be be- lieved to salvation ; and more peculiarly, for the doc- trine of faith in Christ. " A great company of the priests were obedient to the faith," Acts vi. 7. " Do we make void the law through faith ? " Komine fiiifi Rom. iii. 31. " He heard him conccrn- censi-tur, el illu'! . .... ,,, -,,,... • .-, , C1I10.I rrt.iiinr. et ing tile faith in Christ," Acts xxiv. 24; lur.''ii';ub."""' Rom. xii. 3. " He now preacheth the faith which before he destroved," Gal. i. 23. So 1 Tim. iv. Ill ; Gal. iii. 2. So here in this place of Jude, " faith once delivered," is to be under- stood of the faith of heavenly doctrine, the word of faith, which the apostle saith God had delivered to them, and they were to maintain against the oppo- site errors of seducers. This holy doctrine being called faith, 1 . Because it is the instrument used by God to work faith. The Spirit by the word persuading us to as- sent to the whole doctrine of the gospel, and to rest upon Christ in the promise for life. In which re- spect faith is said to come by hearing, Rom. x. 17; and " the gospel, the power of God," &c. " to every one that believes," Rom. i. 16. The faith to be be- lieved begets a faith believing. 2. Because it is a most sure, infallible, faithful word, and deserves to be the object of our faith and belief. The author of it was the holy and true, the faithful and true Witness, God, who cannot lie. Rev. iii. 7, 1-1; Tit. i. 2. The instruments were infallibly guided by the immediate direction and assistance of the Holy Ghost, 2 Pet. i. 21. The matter of it an everlasting truth ; the law being a constant rule of righteousness ; the gospel containing promises which shall have their stability when heaven and earth shall pass away; and of such certainty, that if an an- gel from heaven should teach another doctrine, he must be accursed. It abounds also with prophecies and predictions most exactly accomplished, though after hundreds, yea, thousands of years. The form of it, which is its conformity with (iod himself, shows that if God be faithful, needs must his word be so; it is powerful, it searcheth the heart, Heb. iv. 12; it is pure and perfect, true and faithful, Psal. xix. 7, 9, and all this in conformity with the power, omni- science, purity, perfection, truth of God himself. The end of it is to supply us with assured comfort, Rom. XV. 4. Ohs. 1. The word of life is most worthy of assent and approbation. No word so much challenges be- lief as God's ; it is so true and worthy of belief that it is called faith itself. When in Scripture the ob- ject is called by the name of the habit or affection, it denotes that the object is very proper for that habit or affection to be exercised about. Heaven is in Scripture called joy, to show it is much to be re- joiced in ; and the doctrine of salvation is called faith, to show that it is most worthy of our faith. Infidelity is a most inexcusable and incongruous sin in us, when the faithful and true God speaks unto us. It is impossible for God to lie. Tit. i. 2; Heb. vi. 18; and yet, ''Who hath believed our report?" Isa. liii. I , may be a complaint as ordinary as it is old. How just is God to give those over to believe a lie, who will not believe the truth ! How miserable is their folly who believe a lie, and distrust faith itself! Obs. 2. Deplorable is their state who want the doctrine of salvation. They have no footing for faith ; they have, they hear nothing that they can believe. Uncertainty of happiness is ever the por- tion of a people who are destitute of the word. He who wants this light knows not whither he goeth. The fancy of the enthusiast, the reason of the Socinian, the traditions of the papist, the oracles of the heathens, are all foundations of sand ; death shakes and overturns them all. Ob-t. 3. The true reason of the firmness and sted- fastness of the saints in their profession : they lean upon a sure word, a more sure word than any reve- lation; a word called even faith itself. Greater is the certainty of faith than that of sense and reason. It is not opinion and scepticism, but faith. " The Holy Ghost is no sceptic; it works in us not opinions, but assertions, more sure than life itself, and all experience." The more weight and dependence we place upon the word, so firm a foundation is it, the stronger is the building. None will distrust God but they who never tried him. 06.9. 4. Our great end in attending upon the word, should be the furthering of our faith. The jewel of the word should not hang in our ears, but be locked up in a believing heart. It is not meat on the table, but in the stomach, that nourishes ; and not the word preached, but believed, that saves us. The apostle having specified the thing which they were to maintain, "faith;" he amplifies it, and that three ways. 1. He saith it was delivered. The word in the Greek, TrapafoOihii, here translated delivered, signi- fieth to be given, or delivered from one to another several ways, (in Scripture,) according to the circum- stances of the place where and the matter about which it is used. Sometimes it imports a delivering craftily, deceit- fully, or traitorously, in which respect the word Trnoaci^iv^ii is often rendered to betrav, as Matt. xxiv. 10'; xxvi. 15, 16, 21, 23—25, 45, 4G,48. In some places it signifies a delivering in a way of punishment and suffering, as Matt. iv. 12, Jesus heard that John was delivered up. So Matt. v. 25; x. 17, 19, 21 ; xvii. 22; Acts vii. 42, &c. In other places it signifies a delivering in a way of committing something to one's trust, to be carefully regarded and preserved, as Matt. xi. 27; xxv. 14, 20; John xix. 20; 1 Pet. ii. 23. And thus it fre- quently signifies a delivering by way of information, or relation of doctrines and duties from one to an- other, to be kept and observed : and that both from God, first by the speech, and afterward by the writing of holv men for the use of his church, as 1 Cor. xi. 2; 2 Thess. ii. 15; iii. 6; 2 Pet. ii. 21; and also from men, who often deliver doctrines to others, not written in the w-ord. Matt. xv. 2; Mark vii. 9, 13, but invented by men. In this sense the delivering here mentioned is to be taken ; namely, for such an information or re- lation of God's will, as they to whom it is delivered are bound to preserve and keep as their treasure : in which respect the delivering of this faith, or doc- trine of salvation, comprehends, first, God's bestowing it; secondly, man's holding and keeping it. 1. God's bestowing it; and in that is considerable, In what ways and after what manner God de- livered it ; and, What need there was of this delivery of the faith by God. (l.) In what w-ays God delivered the faith. The Scripture tells us he hath delivered it either extra- ordinarily, as immediately by himself, by angels, by a voice, by a sensible apparition to men ; sometimes when they were awake, at other times when they 64 AN EXPOSITION UPON Ver. 3. were sleeping^, by dreams, and sometimes only by inward inspiration. Numb. xii. 6, 8; Heb. i. I, &c. Or ordinarily; and so lie delivers the doctrine of faith, 1. To his ministers, whom he has appointed to be stewards thereof to the end of the world ; partly, by qualifying them with gifts and ministerial abilities; and partly, by appointing and setting them apart for the ministry by those w'hnm he hath authorized thereunto. 2. To his people, by the minis- try of his forementioned servants, who have instruct- ed the faithful, sometimes by preaching with a lively voice, and afterward by committing the doctrine of faith to writing. And ministers shall to the end of the world be continued to deliver this doctrine of faith to the church, for their edification in holiness. And among those people to whom ministers deliver this faith externally, some there are to whom it is delivered also elTcctually, by the internal revelation of the Spirit, wdiich so delivers this doctrine of faith to all the elect, that they themselves are delivered into it, Rom. vi. 17; their understandings being savingly enlightened to see that excellency in it, which by the bare ministry of it cannot be perceived ; and their wills persuaded to embrace it, as that rule of life according to which they will constantly walk. (•J.) What need there was of the deliveiy of this faith. [1.] In regard of the insufficiency of all other doc- trines or prescriptions in the world to lead to life. Only this doctrine delivered is the rule of faith and manners. Peace internal and eternal is only afforded to them who walk according to this rule. Gal. vi. Ifi. God brings to glory only by guiding by these coun- sels. All other lights are false, are fools' fires, which lead to precipices and perdition. This is the light which shines in a dark place, 2 Pet. i. 19; to which whoever gives not heed can never find the way to heaven. Learned ethnics never wrote of eternal happiness in their etliics. " The world by wisdom knew not God," 1 Cor. i. 21. [2.] In regard of the total insufficiency of man to find out this doctrine of hmiself. The things de- livered in this doctrine are mysteries, supernatural, and depending on the mere will and dispensation of God. The incarnation of the Son of God, expiation of sin by his death, jastificalion by faith, could never have entered into the mind of man, unless God had revealed them, Col. i. 2(1. They depend not upon any connexion of natural causes. Though there be a kind of natural theology, yet there is no natural Christianity. Also the understanding of man is so obscured by the darkness of sin, that in spirituals it is purely blind. The natural man perceives not the things which are of God. 1 Cor. ii. 14. 2. This delivering of faith comprehends the keep- ing and holding it by those to whom it was delivered. This is done therefore, 1. By ministers. 2. By every Christian. (1.) This duty is incumbent on ministers, who must keep the truth, hold fast the faithful word. Tit. i. i), and be tenacious, avrixoixivoi, holding it, as the word signifies, against a contrary hold, with both their hands, with all their strength; holding it in their un- derstanding, in their affections, in their preaching and delivery, in their life and practice, not parting with it for fear or favour, either to sectaries or poli- ticians, rather parting with their lives than their sword. (2.) The faith is kept by every Christian, by per- severing in the knowledge, love, and practice of it. Every saint must keep it in his head, in his heart, in his hand ; this he must do, though for keeping the truth he lose his life. It is not having, but hold- ing the truth, which is a Christian's crown, Rev. ii. Qiiicqird Chri":- ^ itr SIMS lIll-IIS ■ taclis. iios voliiit. ipsis SIMS inani- iiperMvif. Ann. 1, l.ileci'lU. Evaug. C. 35. 1.3. He who lets it go never had it truly and effect- ually in the love of it, nor shall ever enjoy it in the recompence of it. Of this more afterward. Obx. 1. God was the author of the doctrine of life; though by men, yet from him has it always been de- livered ; it is his word and revelation. " The word of the Lord," and, " Thus saith the Lord," is the Scripture stamp and superscription. When the pa- triarchs and prophets preached it, it was from him ; when holy men of old time wrote it, it was from him; though he has spoken in divers manners, yet it was he who spake. \Vhen the doctrine of life was committed to writing, he commanded it. He moved and inspired holy men to write, 2 Pet. i. 21 ; 2 Tim. iii. IG; Exod. xvii. 14; xxxiv. 2/ ; Isa. viii. I ; xxx. S; Jer. xxxvi. 2. They were his organs and instru- ments of conveying his mind to the world. " The Spirit of the Lord," saith David, " spake by me, and his word was in my tongue," 2 Sam. xxiii. 2. And, " 'Hie Holy Ghost spake by Isaiah," Acts xxviii. 25. A..vi the Spirit of Christ in the prophets foretold hia sufferings, I Pet. i. II. These and the other holy men were the scribes, the pens, the hands, the notaries of the Spirit. They wrote not as men, but as scribrn.i.iiii'i.4i men of God. When any book is called ?" the Book of Moses, the Psalms of David, the Epistle of Paul, it is in respect of ministrj-, not of the principal cause. 06*. 2. Great is the necessity of Scripture. The doctrine of life could never without a Scriptural de- livery have been found out; without it indeed this doctrine was between two and three thousand years preserved by the deliverj' of a living voice ; but afterwards, when their lives who were to deliver the word grew short, men numerous, memory frail, the bounds of the church enlarged, corruptions frequent, and therefore tradition an unfaithful keeper of the purity of doctrine, as appeal's by Terah's and Abra- ham's worshipping of other gods, the idolatry in Jacob's family, &c.. Josh. xxiv. 2; Gen. xxxv. 2, God appointed that the doctrine of life .,„,,.■ should be committed to writing ; and pniiium prrcm- upon supposition of the will and plea- '|',I.r'Dd"v('JImI" sure of (iod, whose wisdom hath now le-ii insniininis thought fit to give us no other rule and fuii.iaiiieniiiin « foundation of faith, the written word is '^nmlrxTMrnx.' now necessary, as the means of deliver- ijrn. uu. i. aiiv, ing faith to us. Had not the faith therefore been delivered in Scriptures, whence shoiildi it have been found, how retained ? The written! word is the cabinet, wherein lies the jewel of faith;! the star which shows where the Babe lodges ; thel light which discovers the beauty of salvation ; a bookj of Apocalypse, or revelation of Christ. 06.V. 3. Strong is the engagement upon us to bel thankful for God's discovering to us the doctrine of faith. It was above the compass of reason and na-l ture ever to have found it out by their own inquiry: neither men nor angels could have known it without! Divine revelation. It was a mystery, a great, al hidden mystery, which was kept secret since the! world began, Rom. xvi. 25 ; Eph. i. 9 ; iii. 9. Howl much to be adored is God's goodness to us, to whoml the faith is delivered, though from others it was hid-J den! Deut. vii. 6, 7; Matt. xi. 25, 2G. This faith,! without the knowledge whereof there is no salvation,! and which could never have been known but by re-' vealed light, was not given to us rather than to others,! who lived and died in (lie utter ignorance thereof,! for any preceding dilTtrence and disposition there-! unto in us, but only out of the mere love and free! grace of God. Obs. 4. The great impiety of those who obtrude Ver. 3. THE EPISTLE OF JUDE. 65 faith upon people invented by men, not delivered by God ; who erect a building of faith upon the found- ation of philosophical principles. Schoolmen and papists fasten many things for articles of faith upon the people, which they never received from divine delivery, but from the discourse of blind reason : what else are their errors concerning worship, free will, inherent righteousness, the merit of works, &c., but streams which flowed from the ethics of philoso- phers, not the Epistles of Paul ? Human reason is deceitful, when it goes beyond its bounds. A philo- sopher, as such, is but a natural man, and perceives not the things of God. Blind men cannot judge of colours, beasts order not human affairs ; nor must liuman reason determine of heavenly doctrine. The principles of reason are a sandy foundation for the conclusions of divine doctrine. Hagar must be eject- ed, if she submit not to Sarah. Reason must be sub- dued to faith. Obs. 5. Great is the dignity of a minister's oiSce. The end of it is the delivering of the faith to people. Ministers, though earthen vessels, yet carry a trea- sure; though torn caskets, yet they contain jewels, 2 Cor. iv. 7. A faithful minister is God's steward, to dispense his blessings. He is a star for light and in- fluence ; a cloud to distil down showers of plenty upon God's weary heritage ; a nm-se, a father, a saviour, a common good. Joseph's office in deliver- ing out of corn to the people in the famine made him honoured ; how worthy an employment is it then to deliver to souls the bread of life ! Obs. 6. It is a great sin to part with the faith de- livered to us. It is a heinous sin either in ministers or people. In the former, when they shall either give it away, or suffer it to be taken from them. For tlie defence of the gospel they are set, Phil. i. 17; they must be men made up of fire in the midst of a field of stubble of errors ; though holily patient when their own interest, yet holily impatient when the interest of Christ is endangered. They must not be dumb dogs when thieves attempt to rob the house of God, the church. Though they must not bite the children within, yet neither spare the thief without. Nor is any Christian exempted in his station from the duty of keeping faith : they must not sell the truth, Prov. xxiii. 23 ; not patiently suffer sectaries and persecutors to bereave them of it ; not for the love of their swine suffer Christ to go, much less send Christ out of their coasts ; not part with the faith by keeping their money. In a word, they must keep the faith by perseverance in the love and profession of it, by taking heed of error and profaneness, lest being led away with the error of the wicked, they fall from their stedfastness, 2 Pet. iii. 17. 2. Jude saith in the amplification of this faith, that it was delivered to the saints, roij ayiocf. It may here be inquired, 1. Who are holy and saints? 2. Who the saints are to whom this faith was delivered ? Men are called holy in two respects. (1.) In respect of the holiness of destination, separation, or being set apart from common uses and employments to the holy scrNace of God : thus the Greeks apply the word a^opijw, to separate ; and thus not only men, but the temple, vessels, sabbath, tabernacle are called holy, 2 Chron. vii. 16; Isa. xiii. 3; 1 Kings ix. 3. The first-born God commands Moses to sanctify, Exod.xiii.2; which he explains, " Thou shalt set apart to the Lord," &c., ver. 12. Thus the prophets and apostles are often in Scriptures called holy; and Jeremiah was sanctified from the womb, Jer. i. 5, in regard of this holiness of separation and dedica- tion ; and all visible professors and their children are called holy, 1 Cor. vii. 14, as likewise may the whole body of a visible church. (2.) In respect of their having holiness really and properly put into them ; which is done by the Holy Spirit, whence it is read of the sanctification of spirit, it abolishing their native pollution and unholiness, and bestowing upon them graces and holy qualities by the renovation of God's image in them, 2 Thess. ii. 13; I Pet. i. 2; 1 Cor. i. 2; Exod. xix. 6. And the Holy Spirit makes them holy in two respects. 1. Of not holy privatively ; and so man that had lost totally his holiness is made holy by regeneration or effectual vocation. 2. Of less holy; and so God's children are sanctified, by being enabled to exercise an actual mortifying of sin, and living in holiness, with proceeding in both. 2. Who the saints are to whom the faith was de- livered ? (1.) Some by saints here understand those holy prophets, apostles, and other ministers, who are holy by peculiar office and employment, to whom God de- livered the doctrine of faith, either of old, in an ex- traordinary, or since, in an ordinary way, that they might be his ministers in delivering it unto others ; and these in Scripture are called holy : " He spake by the mouth of his holy prophets, which have been since the world began," Luke i. 70. And Acts iii. 11, the same words are again used. "Holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost," 2 Pet. i. 21. " The words spoken before by the holy prophets," 2 Pet. iii. 2. " Ye holy apostles and pro- phets," Rev. xviii. 20. " The Lord God of the holy prophets," Rev. xxii. 6. And these in a peculiar manner had the doctrine of faith delivered to them. " Ye " apostles " shall be witnesses to me both in Je- rusalem, and in all Judea, and Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth," Acts i. 8. These had commission to teach all nations, Matt, xxviii. 19. By these the great salvation was confirmed, Heb. ii. 3. Paul tells the Corinthians, he had received from the Lord that which he delivered to them, 1 Cor. xi. 23. And, " I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received," 1 Cor. xv. 3. And, " A dis- pensation of the gospel is committed to me," 1 Cor. ix. 17. " God hath committed unto us the word of re- conciliation," 2 Cor. V. 19. "The gospel of uncir- cumcision was committed to me," Gal. ii. 7. " The glorious gospel of the blessed God was committed to my trust, 1 Tim. i. 11. "O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust," 1 Tim. vi. 20. He prin- cipally means the gospel with which God had in- trusted him. So Tit. i. 3, &c. (2.) But, not excluding the former, by the saints to whom the faith was delivered, I understand all the people of God to whom it was delivered by the fore- mentioned servants of God. And as some of these were saints in regard only of visible profession and dedication, and others were made saints in respect of true and saving sanctity; so the faith was delivered unto these differently : to the former, by way of out- ward administration and visible dispensation ; to the latter, who were made true saints, by way of saving and effectual operation. They who were and con- tinued to be only visible and external saints had the faith delivered unto them, as the common sort of Israelites had, to whom God wrote the great things of his law, and yet they were accounted a strange thing, Hos.viii. 12; and to whom were committed the oracles of God, Rom. iii. 2, and yet they believed not, Isa. liii. I ; contenting themselves in the retaining the letter of the law, declaring God's statutes, and taking his covenant into their mouth ; in the mean time never regarding to have the law written in their hearts, but hating instruction, and casting the word of God behind them, Psal. 1. 16, 17, &c. They who had the faith delivered unto them by way of effica- 66 AN EXPOSITION UPON Ver. 3. cious and saving operation, did not only hear, but believe the report of God's messengers, and the arm of God was revealed to them, Isa. liii. I ; to whom it was given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God, although to others it was not given, RIatt. xiii. 1 1 ; and for whose sake alone the faith is de- livered to others, who got no good at all thereby, but only an estimation for members of the visible church. Obi: 1. The word is to be laid out and delivered to, not to be laid up and kept from others. The saints are to be the better for it. The ministry is in Scripture compared to light ; what more diffusive ? to seed ; it must be scattered : to bread ; it must be broken and distributed to every one according to their exigences : to salt ; it must not be laid up in the salt-box, but laid out in seasoning the flesh, that it may be kept from putrefaction. He who hides truth buries gold. Ministers must rather be worn with using than rusting. Paul did spend, and was spent. The sweat of a minister, as it is reported of Alexander's, casts a sweet savour. His talents are not for the napkin, but occupation. How sinful are they that stand idle in a time of labour ! how im- pious they who compel them to stand so ! 06*. 2. They who retain and keep the faith are saints. Visibly those are saints, and that is a church, which keep it by profession and ministerially. That is a church which is the pillar and ground of truth, 1 Tim. iii. 15 ; to whom the oracles of God are com- mitted, as Paul speaks of the Jews, Rom. iii. 2. None are so to complain of the defects of our church, for what it wants, as to deny it a church, considering what it has. It holds f^rth the truth of all doctrines which serve both for the beginning and increase of faith. It is one of Christ's golden candlesticks wherein he hath set up the light of his word ; and though sectaries do not, yet Christ walks in the midst of them. I must be bold to fear, that because our adversaries cannot rationally deny, that while we hold forth the truth we are a true church, they labour by their errors to extinguish the truth, that so we may be none. Obs. 3. How much is the world beholden to saints ! They have kept the faith, the word of life, for the ungrateful world ever since it was first delivered. Were it not for them, we had lost our truth, nay, lost our God. These are they who have in all ages with their breath, nay, with their blood, preserved the gospel, kept the word of Christ's patience. Rev. iii. 8, 10. And rather than they would nor keep the faith, they have lost their lives. They profit the world against its will, they are benefactors to their several a^es ; like indulgent parents, they have laid up the riches of faith for those who have desired their deaths. It is our duty, though not to adore them, yet to honour their memory. Satan knows no mean between deifying and nullifying them. Imitation of them is as unquestionably our duty, as adoration of them would be our sin. Obs. 4. L'nholiness is very unsuitable to them to whom the faith is delivered. It is delivered to saints in profession, and they should labour to be so in power. They should adorn the doctrine of God, Tit. ii. 10. How sad a sight is it to behold the unsanc- tified lives of those to whom this faith has been long delivered ! How many live as if faith had banished all fidelity and honesty, or as if God had delivered the faith, not to furnish their souls with holiness, but only their shelves with Bibles I Books in the head, not in the study, make a good scholar ; and the word of faith, not in the house or head, but in the heart and life, make a Christian. O thou who art called a saint, either be not so much as called so, or be more than called so; otherwise thy external pri- vilege will be but an eternal punishment. If God have delivered his faith to thee, deliver up thyself to him. Obi-. 5. The fewness of faith's entertainers is no derogation from faith's excellency. They are a poor handful of saints by whom the faith is preserved, and to whom it is delivered in the world. The greatest number of men and nations have not the faith delivered unto them ministerially, and of them the far greater part never had it delivered elfica- ciously. It is better to love the faith with a few, than to leave it with a multitude. Numbers cannot prove a good cause, nor oppose a great God. Obs. 6. The true reason of Satan's peculiar rage against saints, is because they have that faith deli- vered to them which is the bane and battery of his kingdom ; that word which is an antidote against his poison ; that doctrine which discovers his deeds of darkness. Satan's policy is to disarm a place of the word when he would subdue it; he peaceably suffers those to live who have not the weapons of holy doctrine ; he throws his cudgels against fruitful trees ; he lays wait as a thief for those who travel with this treasure. They who are empty of this treasure may sing and be merry when they meet with him ; he never stops them. Others who have the faith he sets upon and annoys. " I have given them thy word," (saith Christ,) " and the world hath hated them," John xvii. 14. 3. Jude saith, in this amplification, the faith wa3 once delivered, once, i'n-af. Three things may be touched in the explication, 1. The meaning of the word once. 2. The agreement thereof with the delivery of faith, or how faith may be said to be once delivered. 3. Why the apostle adds this expression, " once," to the delivery of faith, amplifying it this way. For the first, The word " once" is taken two ways in Scripture and ordinary usage. (1.) As it is opposed to inconstancy, deficiency, cessation, or uncertainty of ^"e"ra!"''p1fdi'-'^ continuance : and so once is as much as V',''" esr,.ieperii nrmly, constantly, irrevocably, always. Thus God saith, "Once have I sworn by my holiness that I will not lie unto Da^ad," Psal. Ixxxix. 35 ; that is, my oath is irrevocable, nor is there any dan- ger of inconstancy. What I have sworn shall surely be accomplished. (2.) Once is taken as it is opposed to reiteration, repetition, or frequency, either of the being or doing of any thing ; and so once is as much as once, and no more ; once for all ; once, and not again ; once, and only once. When a thing is done so fully and perfectly, that it need not, or should not, or cannot be done again. Thus " Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many," Heb. ix. 28. And we read of " the offering of Christ once for all," Heb. x. 10. And Abishai desired to smite Saul once, promising that he would not smite him the second time, 1 Sam. xxvi. 8. 2. For the second, Both these significations agree most aptly and suitably to the delivery of the doc- trine of faith. For, (I.) The faith is once delivered, as once is op- posed to deficiency, or cessation, that is, firmly and irrevocably delivered. It shall ever be, it shall never be quite taken away from the church, it endures for ever, 1 Pet. i. 25. As the habit of faith shall never cease in the soul, so the doctrine of faith shall never cease in the world. It is a candle that all the winds of hell can never blow out, a flame that all the waters of trouble can never extinguish. Thus it is called the eternal gospel. Rev. xiv. 6, never to be de- stroyed; it shall ever be in the Scripture, ministry, Veh. 3. THE EPISTLE OF JUDE. 67 hearts, and profession of a number of men. " My words " (saith God) " shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed's seed, from henceforth and forever," Isa. lix. 21. Christ promises to be with his ministers to the end of the world. Matt, sx^-iii. 19. The servants of Christ shall trade in the spirit- ual merchandise of faith till he come, Luke sis. 13. The people of God in the use of the Lord's supper shall set forth " the Lord's death till he come," 1 Cor. xi. 26. And the work of the ministry, with the edifying of the body thereby, shall continue till we all meet, &c., Eph. iv. 13. That the doctrine of faith shall ever continue in one place, is not asserted; but that it shall ever in some place, is certain. It is not for the dignity of Christ, the King of his church, ever to suffer his sceptre to be wrested out of his hands. It is not consistent with the safet)-, integri- ty, health, life, &c. of the church, in this her con- dition of constant exigence, to be deprived of the doctrine which is given her for armour, a rule, medi- cine, food. It is as easy for enemies to pluck the sun out of the firmament, as this faith out of the church. The whole power and policy of hell have been em- ployed for that purpose sixteen hundred years. Could it have been done, it had been done long be- fore now. (2.) The faith is once delivered, as once is opposed to frequency or reiteration ; it is once and no more, once for all, once, and not again to be delivered ; in respect it shall never be delivered again, with any change or alterarion which it is to receive. It is a work done so well that it need not be done docirinam rticS again, bccausc it cannot be done better. S',' ™lVh"i.".^'",„„ And thus the doctrine of salvation mav janda. Beza iQ be Said to be once or unalterably de- "'' livered, both in respect of the matter of it, and the present manner of administering it. [I.] In respect of the matter; it never was, nor ever shall be changed. The same Saviour of man, and Mediator between God and man, hath unalterably been afforded. " Christ Jesus the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever," Heb. xiii. 8. He was " the Lamb slain from the fomidation of the world," Rev. xiii. 8. There never was any other but his name by which sal- vation at any time was bestowed. Acts iv. 12. All, even those before and after Christ, have drank of the same spiritual Rock, 1 Cor. x. 4. Christ is "the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world," John i. 29 ; not he the sin of some ages, and another of other ages of the world. " He is the Saviour of the whole body," Eph. v. 23. No other gospel can be preached but the glad tidings of life by Christ, Gal. i. 7. " Other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ," 1 Cor. iii. 11. As Christ, so the doctrine of life by Christ, is the same yesterday to Adam, the patriarchs, and prophets, to-day to the apostles, and for ever to all following saints. It is a testament wherein all the legacies of grace and glory are bequeathed ; and therefore (as the apostle argues) it is unalterable. Gal. iii. 15. The rule of life, the holy law of God, is a standing and unalterable rule. Whatsoever is a sin against the moral law now, was a sin always ; duties required now by it, were duties always. Peace is the portion now, and it was ever the portion of them that walked according to it. The ransom from death, and standing rule of life, were ever one and the same. [2.] The doctrine of salvation is once, i. e. un- alterably delivered now, in respect of the present manner of administration ; namely, by ministers, preaching, and sacraments. See. No other form or manner of exhibiting the benefits by Christ can be introduced. In respect of this manner of administra- tion and exhibition of the benefits of the gospel, without legal types, shadows, and sacrifices, it is called the new testament ; and it is called new be- cause it is to be always new, and never grow old, as the former did. Should there ever be another man- ner of administration admitted, it must be called the new testament ; and so either this must be called old, and then there must be two old testaments, the former and this, or this must still be called new, and so there should be granted two new testaments. Besides, this last way of administration of the benefits of the gospel being instituted by Christ himself, it should much derogate from the dignity of Christ, if another way should afterward be thought more ex- cellent and perfect. God in these last times hath spoken (saith the apostle) by his Son, and therefore delivered his will more excellentl)' and worthily than ever before, Heb. i. 2. After Christ comes none. The condition also of the times of the gospel is such, that they are called " the last days," Heb. i. 2, and after the last comes no time. So that faith shall never, in respect of the matter delivered, or manner of delivering, receive a new edition, for enlarging, correcting, or amending the former. 3. Why does the apostle add this expression " once" to the delivery of faith ? It is used as a most in- vincible argument to prevail ■with these Christians to preserve the faith and themselves from the wicked and destructive errors and practices of seducers ; and so it is a strong argument several ways. (1.) It is an argument from the possible, nay, sure successfulness of the work of contending, they being to contend for a faith that was once delivered, that was always to remain, that should never be totally removed; against which the power of hell should never prevail. What soldier would not willingly fight for the party that doth prevail, and is ever sure to do so ? when it is not a desperate battle, but there is a certainty of success ? (2.) It is an argument ab honesio, from the seemli- ness of it, and that two ways. 1. It is a faith once delivered, and but once ; once delivered, and un- changeably the same which their holy predecessors, patriarchs, prophets, and apostles embraced and de- fended, and therefore to be preserved and maintained. Who will not carefully preseri-e the inheritance which belonged to his ancestors ? God forbid, saith Na- both, " that I should give the inheritance of my fathers unto thee," 1 Kings xxi. 3. If the ancient landmarks be not to be removed, much less the faith- marks, Prov. xxii. 28. A ring, a jewel which be- longed to our father or predecessors of old, how precious is it! 2. It is a faith once, and so always and perpetually to be delivered ; and therefore by preserving it to be left as a legacy to posterity, to be laid up as a precious deposilum or treasure for chil- dren and successors, we should endeavour that the generation which is yet to come may also serve the same God, and enjoy the same Christ and gospel. How desirable is it to put, as it were, a fallacy upon death, by doing good, and living when we are dead ; to communicate religion to posterity ; to be like musk, of which the box savours when it is emptied of it! (3.) It is an argument a periculoso; it is a faith once delivered, i. e. without reiteration and altera- tion ; and therefore the errors of seducers are not this faith : q. d. If you let it go for that pretended faith of these seducers, you part with a pearl for a pebble, a rich conveyance, not of an earthly, but of a heavenly inheritance, like children, for a doll. The living child by the seducers is taken away, and the dead one laid in its room. The faith is unchangeable, and therefore the faith which sectaries would fasten 68 AN EXPOSITION UPON Ver. 3. upon you is not faith, but fiction. Either this faith once delivered or none must he your faith. Hence Paul tells the Galatians, that the other gospel which seducers had obtruded upon them was not another, i. e. was none at all. Gal. i. 7. Now, how impossible is it in this wilderness to travel to Canaan without a guide, a cloud, a pillar ! How dangerous to walk in a dark place without a light, and to follow a false, a fool's fire, which leads unto bogs and precipices ! Obs. 1. The sin and folly of those is evident who conceive they can live without and above this doc- trine of faith. If it be once and perpetually to be delivered, it is perpetually to be embraced, and we stand in perpetual want of it. This manna must rain till we come to Canaan. We must be fed with the spoon of the ordinance while we are in this age of 'childhood, as the apostle calls it, I Cor. xiii. Cer- tainly, the way of ordinance-forsakers is their folly ; not their strength, but their weakness, their sickness ; if ever they recover their health, they will fall to their food. A standing dispensation of faith is both promised and commanded, till we all meet " in the unity of the faith," Eph. iv. 13; and how that com- manded dispensation of faith is consistent with a commendable despising thereof, I understand not. Obs. 2. The doctrine of faith is perfect. Whatever tnith or doctrine is needful to life and salvation, is fully and perfectly delivered in it. It needs not another delivery, because it cannot be made more perfect. "The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul," Psal. xix. 7. By the law is meant all heavenly doctrine. And St. Paul, Rom. x. 18, ac- commodates that psalm to the preaching of the apostles. The word is a perfect platform of right-, eousness. The gospel of salvation is Christ's testa- ment ; it contains therefore his whole will, and must not be disannulled or changed. The doctrine of faith is a canon, a rule ; and if a rule be not perfect, it is no rule. Gal. vi. 16. It is able to make us wise to salvation, throughly furnished to every good work, 2 Tim. iii. 15, 17. It is propounded as a motive by Christ, that the Jews should search the Scriptures, because in them they thought to have life eternal, John V. 39. " These things are written," saith John, " that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life in his name," John xx. 31. The Scripture accepts of no supplement from traditions. Papists, with all the heretics of old, are necessitated to fly to traditions, as the refuge of their heresies, though they can never with any show of certainty prove that their traditions were received from Christ or his apostles ; many whereof are knowni to be lately devised fables ; and all of them, when received as a rule of faith, are impious, and oppose the perfection of the Scripture. " In vain do they worship God, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men." Obs. 3. Ministers have no liberty to deliver any new doctrine to their hearers. They must neither add nor diminish. Their doctrine is committed to them, not invented by them. They must preach what they have received, not cogitated. If they preach after a new manner, yet they must not preach new things. They must proceed in the faith, not change it. Timothy is commanded by Paul to keep that which is committed to his trust, 1 Tim. vi. 20. Slinis- ters are stewards, not masters of the mysteries of the gospel. They must proclaim, not contrive laws for the conscience. Were they angels from heaven, people must not hear them delivering another gospel. 06s. 4. Infinite is the power of God to preserve the faith perpetually and unalterably. The doctrine of faith is a torch burning in the midst of the sea ; it is a Moses's bush, burning, not consumed. All op- positions are by God turned into victories on its side. The smutchings which heretics cast upon it, are but to make it shine the brighter. Naked truth will vanquish armed error. Obs. 5. This delivering of the faith once, regulates the notion of new lights. If we understand by new light, a new and further degree of knowledge to un- derstand what is unchangeably delivered in the Scripture, new light is a most desirable gift ; but if by it we understand pretended truths which are new to Scripture, varnished over with the name of new light, they are to be shunned for false lights, which lead to perdition. After Christ hath spoken the word, we must not be curious ; it is bastard doctrine which springs up after the Scripture. This one thing be- lieve, that nothing but Scripture doctrine is to be believed. 06s. 6. God's unchangeable, perpetual delivery of the faith, is a singular encouragement to expect his blessing in the delivery of it. It may encourage ministers and people. He who has promised a gos- pel to the end of the world, has also promised to be with the deliverers of it to that time. He who will continue a gospel to us, if sought, will also continue his grace to it. He who bestows the doctrine of faith, will not deny the grace of faith, if we duly ask it. When the Lord bestows the seed of his word, be en- couraged to expect the showers of his blessing. If he sticks up his candles, comfortably hope that he will put light by his Spirit to them. 06s. 7. It is a great comfort to the saints, that in all their changes and losses their best blessings shall never be altered or utterly removed. In an impure world there shall ever be kept up a pure word. This light shall never be put out till the Sun of righteous- ness arise at the last day. God will keep his stars in his right hand. They who will go about to remove . the stars in his right hand, shall feel the strength of his right hand. Of the ministry it may be said, as Isaac said of Jacob, God hath blessed them, and they shall be blessed. The saints shall have a golden gospel, though they live in an iron age. 06s. 8. It must be our care to be stedfast in the faith, and to shun heretical additions and super- structures. We must beware, lest being led away by the error of the wicked, we fall from our stedfastness, 2 Pet. iii. 17. To this end, (1.) We must be grounded in the knowledge of the truth. Ignorant and doubt- ing people will easily be seduced. Silly women, ever learning, and never coming to the knowledge of the truth, will easily be led away, 2 Tim. iii. (5. Children in knowledge will soon be " tossed with every wind of doctrine," Eph. iv. 14. They will, like water, be of the same figure with the vessel into which it is put. They will be of their last doctor's opinion. (2.) We must get a love to the truth. Many receive the truth for fear of loss, disgrace, &c., or hope of gain, preferment, &c., or because others do so ; and as hounds, who follow the game, not because they have the scent of it, but because their fellows pursue it. Those who embrace the truth they know not why, will leave it they know not how ; and by the same motives for which they now embrace the truth, they may be induced to forsake truth and em- brace error. God often sends to those strong delu- j sions that they should believe a lie, who received not the love of the truth, 2 Thess. i. II. (3.) Nourish no known sin. The jewel of faith can never be kept in a cracked cabinet, a crazy conscience. He who puts away a good conscience, concerning faith will soon make shipwreck, I Tim. i. 19. Those silly women laden with sins, may easily be led captives, 2 Tim. iii. 6. Solomon, by following strange women, soon embraced strange and idolatrous practices. Ver. 3. THE EPISTLE OF JUDE. 69 Demas having " loved the present world," soon for- sook Paul, 2 Tim. iv. 10. Seducers through covet- ousness will make merchandise of souls, Tit. i. 11 ; 2 Pet. ii. 3. Pride will also hinder from finding and keeping wisdom, Prov. xiv. 6. God giveth grace to the humble, and resisteth the proud. The garment of humility is the soul's guard against ever)- spiritual mischief. It is prudent counsel to be " clothed w4th humility," 1 Pet. v. 5. A humble soul will neither hatch nor easily be hurt by heresies. (4.) Labour to grow in grace. " Beware," saith the apostle, " lest being led away with the error of the wicked, ye fall from your own stedfastness ;" the remedy is immedi- ately subjoined, but " grow in grace." They who stand at a stay will soon go backwards. This for the first part of the duty to which the apostle exhorted these Christians ; viz. AVhat the thing was which he commended to them to main- tain, " The faith once delivered to the saints." Se- condly, The means whereby he exhorts them to defend the faith ; by an earnest contending for it, " That you should earnestly contend." Two things ofier themselves in the explanation. 1. To show what the force and importance of that word is which is translated " earnestly contend." 2. More fully, what the apostle here intends by earnest contending for the faith, and wherein this earnest contention consists, as it is employed for the faith. recerto. Bez. 1 ■ The compound word in the original, Supercerto.vuig. irayuivii^ofiai, which our English words " earnestly contend " answer, is only used in this place throughout the whole New Testament. All the several translations thereof by interpreters, speak this contention to which Jude exhorts these Chris- tians to be eminent and extraordinary. The word afuivH^ofiai out of composition (though then it imports not so notable a contention as it does 'Ayojwa proprie here in composition) is rightly trans- aiioneanimUaeo lated, to Strive, to fight, and that as dice"s"rures° ^°^ t^c master)', to labour fervently, Accipiiurpro John xviii. 36: Luke xiii. 24; I Cor. Ge;?. Hr«,™- ix. 25 ; Col. i. 29 ; 1 Tim. vi. 12; 2 Tim. iv. 7 ; and signifies that vehement fight- ing and stri\'ing which was wont to be among wrest- lers in their solemn games, with sweat, pains, and trouble ; but it being so compounded as in this place, it imports a more renowned and famous contention than ordinary. It is not agreed by all wherein the force of the composition JTrJ consists. Some conceive that thereby the apostle intends they should add one kind of contention to another, as possibly an open pro- fessed to an inward and secret contention. Others, that the apostle would have them after one battle to double and reinforce the fight again with new sup- plies. Others, best of all, that Jude exhorts these Christians to put to all their strength and utmost force in their contention, as those who fought for their lives, nay, that which was dearer than life itself, even the life of their souls : and so great is this con- tention, that no one English word is able to express the Greek ; to contend with all their strength, extra- ordinarily, beyond measure, most earnestly, scarcely render the meaning of the word. More particularly, this extraordinarj- and most eminent contention irn- ports five things. (1.) A serious and weighty cause and ground of contention. Men account not trifles worth any, much less vehement strife. The thing about which they contend earnestly, is either weighty, or so esteemed. (2.) It imports a considerable enemy to strive with ; not one who is contemptible, but who requires a great power to contend \vith him. (3.) Some strength and force whereby to deal with him. A child is not only unable to conquer, but even to contend with a giant. (4.) A putting forth of strength against the enemy. Though a man be never so strong, yet if he stands still, and puts not out his strength, he contends not. (5.) And lastly, the contending after such a manner as is conducible to a victory, and prevailing over the enemy with whom we contend, even the using of our utmost, best, and choicest endeavours ; not a slight, but a serious and victorious contention. 2. From hence we may gather what this earnest contention comprehends, which is here to be employ- ed about this faith. (1.) It imports that the forementioned faith is a serious and weighty ground, and a most considerable cause upon and for which to contend. What does the Scripture more hold forth to be our duty, than to buy the truth, and not to sell it, Prov. xxiii. 23 ; to " strive together for the faith of the gospel," Phil. i. 27 ; to be fellow helpers to the truth ; to keep the word of God's patience. Rev. iii. 10; to be valiant for the truth; to justify wisdom, &c.? Matt, xi. 19. Most precious is this faith to be contended for! First, even God himself was the Fountain and Founder of it, the Sun from which this ray of faith was darted, the mine whence this faith, more to be desired than the finest gold, was taken, Psal. xix. 10. All the princes of the world, with all their com- bined bounties, could never have bestowed this faith upon the world. How precious is it, secondly, in re- gard of the price of it, the death of Christ, w-ithout which not one promise of the word of life would ever have been made, or made good to our souls ! How precious, lastly, in regard ol the benefit of it ! it does all for us that God does, Psal. xix. 7 — 9 ; John xvii. 17. For God affords by it direction in our doubts, consolation in our troubles, confirmation in our fears, sanctification in our filthiness, guidance to glory. In sum, "it is the power of God to salvation," Rom. i. 16. It is not then a slight and trivial, but a most weighty and considerable cause, for which these Christians were so earnestly to contend, it being for the maintaining of the faith. (2.) It implies and presupposes a considerable and strong adversary to contend with, in contending for the faith. The enemies with whom these Christians were to strive were sectaries, and soul-destroying se- ducers ; and Satan is the ringleader, instructor, and assistant both of these and of all other forces raised against faith. "We wrestle not against flesh and blood," saith the apostle, " but against principalities and powers. We wrestle not with flesh and blood," Eph. vi. 12, as it is in itself, weak and frail, but as set on work, assisted, and guided by Satan. Flesh and blood are but Satan's instruments, he sets them on work; he tempted Eve, not the serpent, Gen. iii. 1 ; he winnowed Peter, when the man and maid made Peter to deny Christ, Luke xxii. 31. Satan hinder- ed Paul from coming to the Thessalonians, though by the persecuting Jews, I Thess. ii. 18. Satan cast some of the Smymians into prison, when men did it. Rev. ii. 10. The false prophets, with whom these Christians here were to contend for the faith, are called the ministers of Satan ; he is " the spirit that worketh in the children of disobedience," 2 Cor. xi. 14,15; Eph.ii. 2; iv. 27; Acts v. 3. Satan has a hand in soliciting us to sin, either by our own lusts, or by the enticements of others. In all combats, either against our own corruptions or others, perse- cutors, or seducers, if we can drive away the devil, flesh and blood will not much annoy us. If the captain be conquered, the common soldier will yield. It is Satan who seduces in seducers. Paul was afraid, lest as the serpent beguiled Eve, the mind of the Corinthians " should be corrupted from 70 AN EXPOSITION UPON Ver. 3. the simplicity that is in Christ," 2 Cor. xi. 3. He is the enemy that soweth tares among the wheat, Matt, xiii. And had not these Christians in contending for the faith a considerable enemy ? How could the seducers want subtlety to creep in among these Chris- tians by their persons, and into them oy their opi- nions, into whom Satan the serpent had crept before ; nay, who now had the advantage of being the old serpent ? Rev. xii. 9. How easily could he flatter each humour, propound suitable lusts to every palate, clothe and colour every heresy and lust with plausible titles. Christian liberty, new lights, rare notions, oil and butter over wicked practices, and do much with sweet words, and cunning and doubtful expressions! What powerful adversaries were these seducers, who had the prince of power, the strong man armed, the god of this world, to help them ! Eph. ii. 2. How could they want malice and cruelty, who were assisted by the enemy of souls, the destroyer, the roaring lion, the red dragon ? How could they want diligence and activity, who had the devil to drive them ; him to instigate, whose motion in sin is his rest ; who walketh about, seeking whom he may devour ? (3.) This earnest contention imports a considerable strength, whereby to contend for the faith against 80 potent an adversary. Every one's strength is in itself but weakness; the strongest are not of them- selves able to stand before the weakest temptation. Our strength is then from our Head, our Captain, Jesus Christ, who bestows upon us such supplies of grace, as that we are never fully and finally foiled, but in and with him overcome all, as the persecuting, so the enticing world. More particularly, he atTords this strength to us two ways. On his part, he sends his Spirit to bestow upon us ; and on our parts, he enables our faith to receive from him the supplies of his strength. [1 .] On his part, he bestows his Spirit to strengthen us. His Spirit does this two ways : 1. By working. 2. By strengthening our union with Christ. In the former, the Spirit conveys a principle of spiritual life and holiness, puts into us a seed that shall never die, I John iii. 9, and infuses a habit of holiness never to be lost or overcome. In the latter, it atfords those continued supplies of grace, whereby we are more and more strengthened with might to resist all temiitations, Eph. iii. 16; vi. 10; to go through all conflicts ; to find preservation and direction in every danger and doubt; to walk in daily detestation of every sinful way ; to call and cry for grace which is wanting; and in a word, enabled to do all things through him who strengtheneth us, Phil. iv. 13. [2.] On our parts, he enables our faith by his Spirit to receive from him the supplies of his strength. This he does by giving a power to faith, 1. To unite us unto, and to incorporate us into him, as the branches are in the tree, the member in the body, or the Ijpuse upon the foundation. We lay hold upon iii^obr ours by our faith, as he lays hold upon us for his by his .Spirit; whereby the union is complete and reciprocal. 2. To improve this union for our assistance, by drawing daily influences of grace and strength from Christ, who is a fountain of fulness, John i. 16, as the root does from the soil, or the branches from the root, John xv. 1, 5, or the pipe from the fountain. Hence it is that we live by faith, (ial. ii. 20; it being the instrument that fetches virtue from Christ to sustain us in all our wants and weaknesses ; it being not only in, but drinking of the fountain ; it not only uniting us as members to the Head, but supplying us as members from the Head, with all virtue necessary to the presentation of grace, both from the filth of sin within us, and the force of temptations without us ; and hence it is that faith makes use of all ordinances but as the conduit-pipes, or water-courses, to convey from Christ that grace and strength it wants ; it esteeming ordinances without Christ, but as a vial without a cordial, or a pipe with- out water. Faith also having united us to Christ, helps us to expect through him that abundant reward which will infinitely more than countervail for all the combats and contentions for him against his enemies. Moses saw him that was invisible, he had an eye to the rccompence of reward, Heb. xi. 26, 27. " We faint not," saith the apostle, " while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen," 2 Cor. iv. 16, IS. And herein consists principally the strength of Christians in this earnest fight and contention. (4.) This earnest contention by which the faith is maintained, implies a putting out and forth of this strength against the enemy with whom we contend for the faith. He who has strength contends not, if he stands still and acts not. Sundry ways is strength to be put forth in contend- ing for this faith. [I.] Magistrates must put forth their strength, 1. By commanding their subjects to submit to the faith. Their edicts and injunctions should be like those of Asa and Hezekiah, who commanded Judah to seek the Lord, 2 Chron. xiv. 4 ; xxix. 5, 30 ; xxxiv. 33. They must engage men to be true and faithful to God, by precept and example ; their commands must not so savour of state policy, as to be regardless of Scrip- ture purity. It is not reason of state, but ruin of states, to be remiss in enjoining piety. The laws of man should be a guard to the l?w of God, Neh. xiii. 19. They who reign by God, should reign for him. How unreasonable is it that people should be lawless only in religion ! Shall it not be indifferent whether men will pay a tax ? and shall it be indifferent whether they will ever hear a sermon ? It was a commendable decree of Artaxerxes, though a heathen, and that for which the faithful servant of God blessed God, That whosoever would not do the law of God, judgment should be executed upon him, to death, to banishment, to confiscation of goods, or im- prisonment, Ezra vii. 26, 27; and of Darius, who de- creed that in every dominion of his kingdom men tremble and fear before the God of Daniel, Dan. vi. 26. 2. By repressing the perverters of the faith. Re- straining heretics and seducers, removing the impedi- ments of religion, whether persons or things. Nebu- chadnezzar, a heathen, made a decree that none should speak any thing amiss against God. Asa took away the sodomites, idols, and removed Maachah an idola- tress from being queen, 1 Kings xv. 12, 13. Hezekiah removed the high places, and brake the images, and cut down the groves, 2 Kings xviii. 5. So Josiah defiled the high places, and brake them down, 2 Kings xxiii. 8. Thus likewise Jehoshaphat " took away the high places and groves out of Judah," 2 Chron. xvii. 6. Thus also Manasseh " took away the strange gods, and the idol out of the house of the Lord, and all the altars that he had built," 2 Chron. xxxiii. 15. To these may be added zealous Nehe- miah, in repressing sabbath-breakers, Neh. xiii. 21. And the apostle saith, " Rulers are a terror to wicked works," Rom. xiii. 3. 3. By providing and maintaining a faithful minis- try to dispense the doctrine of faith. Thus did Jehoshaphat and Hezekiah, 2 Chron. xvii. 8, 9 ; xxxi. 4. That magistrate cannot contend for the faith, which contends against the ministers thereof. Satan knows no mean between the pampering and famishing of the ministry : double labour must not be requited with scarce a single maintenance. Minis- I Ver. 3. THE EPISTLE OF JUDE. 71 tcrs should not labour for, and yet not without a comfortable recompence. They ought not to be left to the courtesy of those, who though they account enough for themselves but a little, yet they account a little for the ministry too much. It is not enough for faithful ministers to be kept from being battered and stormed by cruel persecutors, unless also from being starved by the common protestants. [2.] Ministers must contend for the faith, princi- pally two ways. 1. By preaching the word of faith. They must pre- Ben'e the pattern of wholesome words, and speak the things which become sound doctrine, I Tim. vi. 3 ; Tit. ii. I. They must take heed of their o^^Tl mix- tures, and not adulterate the doctrine of faith to please men. The beauty of heavenly truths wants not the paint either of human or heretical additions. The babes of Christ must be fed with sincere milk ; and the soreness of men's eyes must not hinder the lights of the church from shining. 2. By confuting gainsayers and heretics. The apostle commands Titus " by sound doctrine to con- vince gainsayers," Tit. i. 9. Ministers must not only have a voice to call their sheep, but to drive away wolves ; one to establish truth, another to oppose error : one of his hands must work, and the other hold a weapon. Christ confuted the corrupt glosses of the Pharisees, and Paul confounded the Jews, by proving that this is the very Christ, Acts ix. 22 ; and Apollos mightily convinced the Jews, and that pub- licly, showing by the Scriptures that Jesus was Christ, Acts xviii. 28. A minister's breast should be a storehouse of spiritual armour. He must be fur- nished both with skill in Scripture, in which he should be mighty, and in ^Tilings of men, even of heretics themselves, to beat them with their own weapons. He that will be but a looker-on while his fellow brethren contend, shall never be more than a looker-on while they are crowned. [3.] Every Christian should contend for the faith. Every child of Wisdom should justify their Parent. Saints must strive together for the faith of the gos- pel. And this they must do sundry ways. 1. By praying for the success of the faith against error. They must pray that God would send forth labourers into his harvest, Matt. is. 38. That utter- ance may be given to ministers, that they may speak boldly as they ought to speak, Eph. vi. 19. "That God would open unto them a door of utterance. Col. iv. 3. That the word of the Lord may run and be glorified, 2 Thess. iii. 1. That Christian who can prevail Tvith God, shall conquer heretics. Prayer hath got as many victories as disputation. 2. By holy example ; confuting wickedness and heresy by the language of their lives. Christians must be blameless, harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom they should shine as lights in the world, Phil. ii. 15. The error of the wicked must not cleave to them. They must not walk by exam- ple, but by rule. They must live what their faithful minister preaches, strive and swim against a stream of impiety, being and doing best when the times are worst. 3. By encouraging those against whom Satan bends his greatest force and fury in this conflict about faith. They must know those who labour among them, esteeming " them very highly in love for their work's sake," 1 Thess. v. 12, 13. When the sen-ice of ministers grows hottest, the love of people must not grow coldest. What proportion does money bear to faith ? what is gold but dung to religion ? How just is it that they who will not part with their money for the truth, should part with money and truth too ! and that they who will not pay tne Scripture sessment, to honour God with their substance, to buy truth, &c., should have all swept from them by oppressors ! No soldiers desen-e so much to have the oil of love dropped into their wounds, as those who received them in contending for the faith : no scars are so honourable as those gotten in this conflict. Never did kissing better become an emperor, than when Constantine kissed the hollow of holy Paphnutius's eye ; whose war having been so holy, made his scar honourable. 4. By mutual exhortation. Christians must incite one another to the spiritual conflict, " speak often one to another," Mai. iii. 16 ; Heb. x. 24, for the strengthening of their resolution, and the whetting of their zeal ; for the blowing up their love to God. In the primitive persecutions Christians wanted the bridle, but they now want the spur. 5. By confession of the faith when called and ex- amined about it. It is not enough to have faith in the heart, ^vithout confession in the tongue, Rom. x. 10. If the fire of faith be in the heart, the flames of con- fession must be in the tongue. He who believes mtist speak. It is our faith which justifies our per- sons, but our confession must justify our faith. A dumb faith is not a Divine faith, but the faith of devils. Hypocrites will confess Christ in times of encouragement, but not of contradiction. A Chris- tian has no cause to be ashamed of his name, of his livery, or of his Master, 1 Pet. iii. 15, 16. He who will confess Christ when most deny him, shall be confessed by Christ when he shall deny .. , ,. most. Matt. x. 32. This is the only miiuM qnw imc holy kind of boldness ; and cursed is jfu'th"'"'"'' that modesty which makes us ashamed of our Master. 6. By suffering for the faith. A Christian is never so like a soldier or himself, as when he confesses the faith he has, and suffers for the faith he confesses. He that saves his life, and forsakes the faith, never lived comfortably ; but thousands that have lost their lives, and kept the faith, have died joyfully. Would saints but betray the faith, all Satan's contests with them would be at an end, but then God's would begin ; and though God be the sweetest friend, yet is he the sorest enemy. How kindly does God take it when we hold fast his name, and not deny his faith in the days wherein Antipas is slain! Rev. ii. 13. How honourable is it to follow our Captain through mud and blood ! How unsuitable is delicateness to sanc- tity and soldiery ! Every Christian must j;,^,, ^^^^^ ^ change his warm coat into a coat of niiii'ijm cum de- mail ; he must not expect rest, but umtia'ad sni/m. tumultuous clamours ; not to sleep in de^,°','j"j ST'inM- the shadow, but sweat in the scorching cam de siitmio 3.1 n ii, •!•.• c ad clainorem, de sun; and to have all the mihtia of quieie ad tumui- hell to fight against him. But here i^^ll^'sferi «nt is his comfort, he fights a good fight, inquoasinmhein wherein God is the Judge, the Holy ,/s'tarc'hesVpin- Ghost the principal Ruler, and the eter- |^,"i°,''Ji'i|-b""'"' nal crown of glory is the reward of his vium. len. iib. fighting. adMarlyrea. (5.) This earnest contention imports the putting forth our strength, or contending after such a man- ner as is condueible to a victory and prevaleney over the enemy with whom we contend ; not any putting forth of strength will serve the turn, but doing it to the purpose, eminently, with all our ability of power and skill. [I.] We must contend resolutely and •>■>■. valiantly, 1 Cor. xvi. 13. Danger must ^ *"'" '' be despised, difficulties adventured on, terrors con- temned, fears suppressed, cowardice vanquished, Christian generosity and a holy manhood must be n AN EXPOSITION UPON Ver. 3. roriiiuHo in fe- P"t oti. There must te a manhood in rtmio et t'ensnjo. bearing strokes, in assailing strikers ; liim ; Cedo nuUi. the former is as the back, the latter the Per c'liariiaiem ^dge of Christian valour. Blessed Paul, flexiiiihores arun- who fought a good fight, tells Timothy simuVduriore? that he kuew his purpose, faith, long- a,iamante. Luth. suffering; and Barnabas exhorted the Christians, that with ftill purpose of heart they should cleave to the Lord. [2.] We must contend vigorously, fervently, vehe- mently, with all our might, 2 Tim. iv. 5, 7 ; Acts xi. 23. A lazy, slender, slight contention will not serve the turn. Lukewarmness neither pleases our Captain, nor prevails over our adversary. Zeal is the beauty of Christian undertakings ; slightness and lukewarm- ness are unsuitable to the Captain that leads, who sweat in his conflict, the enemy that assails us, the cause for which we contend, the crown that rewards us. Holy fervour is never so seemly as in contend- ing for a holy faith. It is storied of Scanderberg, that in fighting against the Turks, he was so earnest that the blood would often start out of his lips. In- difference better becomes our worldly contentions between man and man, than spiritual contentions between men and devils. [3.] We must contend for the faith unanimously, and with one consent. How easily will error pre- vail, when faith's champions are divided among themselves ! How shall they adventure their lives one for another in war, who will not do so much as love one another in peace ! Excellent is the counsel of the .apostle, " Stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel," Phil. i. 27: [4.] We must contend for the faith against error universally, impartially, for every doctrine of faith, and against every opposite error. We must contend for discountenanced, disowned, persecuted faith, and take it into our doors when the most giio maj-ir est would have it laid in the streets, and Pimceps, eo ml- . . . , . . ' , niis feraniur ejus givc it entertamment when it is death l)'!t'?5fainin'"me* to liarbour it. Nor ought we to spare lupiida. sed villa preferred, favoured error. The snake fonteinneiida. *- ' ^ , , i i .i i ■ Luih. of error must be struck at, though m the field of a king. [5.] We must contend for the faith constantly. We must never give over our conflict as long as one enemy is left. We must continue in the things we have learned, and hold fast the name of Christ, 2 Tim. iii. 14. It is not contention, but constancy therein, which crowns. We must be faithful to the death, if we expect a crown of life. It is easier once to persevere than often to begin. Rev. ii. 13. No Christian is too old to go out to fight in this spiritual warfare. As soon as we cease to fight, we begin to fly. Christianity knows no cessation of combating. We must take heed of losing the things which we have wrought and fought for, 2 John 8. It is as great a virtue to hold what we have, as to get what is worth holding. If the faith be bad, why did we begin ? if good, why did we give over our contention for it ? [6.] We must contend prudently and with judg- ment. Christian prudence is not inconsistent with Christian fervency. Sundry ways must a Christian show his prudence in this contention. 1. He must oppose those enemies most that most oppose the faith, the greatest errors with greatest zeal, and place most forces where there is most danger; not being (as some) fervent against disciplinary, and superficial against doctrinal errors. The former do but scratch the face, the latter stab the heart of truth. 2. He must contend for the faith soberly, not passionately. God wants not the besom of passion to sweep down the cobwebs of error. Soft words and strong arguments are good companions. We may at the same time spare the person, and yet be merciless to his error. 3. We must contend for the faith orderly, not extravagantly. The minister must , not contend like the magistrate, by politic government ; I nor the people like the minister, by public preach- " ing. Every soldier in this war must keep his rank. Never did more contend against the faith, than in the times wherein all are suffered to contend how they will for the faith. 4. We must contend for the faith preparedly, not weakly. Faith deserves not obloquy, but victory. A weak judgment often hurts the faith as much as strong passion. An able mind is more needful in spiritual, than an able body is for worldly wars. What a pity is it that a good cause should have a feeble champion ! Obs. I. The goodness of any cause and course ex- empts it not from opposition. What more precious than faith, and what more opposed ? Hatred is ever the companion of truth. As that which Satan op- poses must needs be good, so that which is good must needs be by him opposed. A good man once said, "He much suspected his own faithfulness in de- livering that sermon for which he got not some hatred from wicked men." "Hatred" (as one o.iium f;eniiis saith) "is the genius of the gospel." Evangeiii. Luth. "I have given them" (saith Christ) "thy word, and the world hath hated them," John xvii. gupcrbus fio. 14. Wicked men's rage should rather quod vi.ieo no- make us thankful than discouraged, illfin ?r"scrre"' "I am proud," (saith Luther,) "be- e»ude'",■ ''■. or company, noted m the preposition, nx.ot »»,. isa. fi'c, in, or into. 2. It mainly intends Ar4°'. urmator. the manner of accomplishing it, or the n?rodot. _ course taken and used to effect and n.\L"Luiw''iv. bring that entrance about, which is by *^'^^^ iv„o\Zv, sliness and subtlety, close and cunning KaUvnuiiv. Matt, carriage, ana entrance unawares : the single and simple verb ouu, or Mvu>, signifies, subeo, mergo, ingredior, to dive, sink, to go in, to go under; and it is used concerning the setting of the sun, as Mark i. 32 ; Luke iv. 40, &c., because it seems then to sink or dive into the sea. And the apostle speaks of some who crept into houses, 2 Tim. iii. 6, adding only the preposition iv, in, to ... this verb (vvui, which Beza translates ,, i„ „ ; „ „ . . I . . , » "Ig- Q"i pene- qm irrepwtt, others, qui imniergunt, who trrtnt. i. e. qui pe- subtlely, silently slip in, and dive, as it "'^",1 '"o'l'um'se- were, to the bottom, to search and un- "^"p^nJ"";;;^;"'' derstand the affairs of houses, as Jesuits .subrepserum. do in states and kingdoms. But the ?r";t. Vui?!™'" principal emphasis lies in the preposi- F..ihve se insi- tion Trnpd, which, added to the former Laienier ei fur- verb, signifies a more secret and subtle, Ier\!!'b^"pJre.° close and deceitful manner of seducers' °^|,"i;;= ^' "J*"^ entrance, than the simple word will J[m'('asc''i"testn bear; and it imports their entrance in a ^"'''■ by-way, at a back-door, thie\ashly, by little and little, clandestinely, unawares, creepingly, a winding in by stealth, obliquely ; beside the way of any real worth and fit qualifications of integrity and piety to further the spiritual welfare of the church; and beside the intentions of the faithful, who not knowing what manner of men these seducers were, but conceiring 76 AN EXPOSITION UPON Ver. 4. them, by reason of their painted and specious appear- ances of godliness, to be worthy of admission, gave them entrance before they were aware. And this is the force of tlie preposition ; TrapuadKovai, tliey sliall privily bring in heresies, 2 Pet. ii. 1 ; that is, subtlely, deceitfully, and so as the church should not be aware of them, they bringing in their errors under the notion and appearance of truth. The same force has the word Trapd, Gal. ii. 4, in two words in that one verse, where the apostle speaks of false brethren, napucdxTovg, unawares brought in, who Trnptio-JjASor, came in privily. They crept into the company of the faithful by fraud, and such cunning artifices, specious and plausible pretences, that the faithful never went about to keep them out ; for though in both these places of Jude and Galatians their coming in might not be unawares, that the faithful knew not at all of their coming in ; yet it was un- awares, that they knew not what manner of persons, how unworthy and heretical, &c. they were, when they did come in among them. (2.) The second thing to be explained, is the agree- ment of the word thus opened to the seducers in their entrance among these Christians. [1.] It agrees to them, because they had already gotten in, they were fully entered by their artifices, they had obtained footing in the church. And the apostle urges these Christians by this motive, of the nearness of these seducers to them, and their pre- sence among them, that they should be the more strenuous in contending against them. God had suffered them to obtain entrance, that those Chris- tians who were approved might be made manifest. The sincerity of the faithful was discovered by the apostacy of hypocrites. When a city is altogether in peace, all the inhabitants are accounted faithful and loyal ; but when seditions and commotions arise, they who are faithful to the prince are then discovered from the rest. And when heresies and persecutions for the truth arise, the sincerity of the faithful is manifested by the defection of those who in times of peace seemed haply as good as the best. " Thou shalt not," saith God to his people, " hearken to the words of that prophet, or dreamer of dreams ; for the Lord your God proveth you, to know whether you love the Lord your God," Sec. And by the entrance of these seducers, the faithful were more excited to search after and to defend the truth. Both the sin- cerity of believers, and the truths to be believed, were Pel. Moiin. in made more e^■ident. Nothing is so ccr- Enodal'ion.'''l'an- '^™' ^^ '^^' which OUt of doubtfulnCSS puMceret fides is made Certain. The sun of truth breaks no,, ,mtaia, ei e« most clearly out of a cloud of errors. juilicioi um ron- fiici.,. quasi ex The clashing of the faithful and erro- eiricant veiiiatis ucous, iiKe the strikuig 01 tlmt and ia'nd'e.lfv'i?i'rfx stccl, scnds forth the brightly shining perrump^tobMan- sparks of truth. Yea, further, God by Peiaeio el Cceies- the entrance of these heretics made traci^ius'Ausus- ^otl^ 'hem and their hypocritical fol- liiii, de pratdesii. lowcrs manifest to the world, that so natione. de natura ,i • i i. i -l ii_ . ^ j etsraiia, el perse- they might at once hoth palefacere and vumTlL'^eiicoram pudefacere, as Parens speaks on 1 Cor. acumen viri sane- xi. 19, discovcr and disgrace themselves II acuebat Indus- if m i-ui, • ■\^^.^ riam. Aug.de bctore all men, wlio hereby might know Hajrelici pluri- mum prosunt. of these seducers the faithful saw that So"quod'nesciunti ^his world was not a place of local sed ad verum separation from all wicked ones, and quirendum car- r -..,., r .1,1 naies.eiadverura were mcitcd to long tor that place spih'iua'i'eTcatho- wherc good and bad shall be perfectly I1CO5 excitando. "parted [2.] The word here used, of creeping in unawares, agrees to these seducers, because of the manner of their entrance, which was close, subtle, hypocritical, and unawares ; without any fitness in themselves to enter, or any intention in the faithful to admit them ; they only using many sly and sinful artifices, to bring both their persons and opinions into reputa- tion among the faithful, by reason of which both were suffered unawares to enter, although indeed both desen'ed to be kept out before, and thrown out after their entrance. This practice of insinuating, creeping, and winding unawares into the society and estimation of the faith- ful, has been used both by these and all other se- ducers ; and therefore Paul calls these false apostles " deceitful workers," 2 Cor. xi. 13; Satan using them for his instruments to beguile, as sometime he did the serpent, which beguiled Eve. Likewise, Paul saith that they " deceive the hearts of the simple," Rom. xvi. 18. And, that they draw many disciples after them. Acts xx. 30. By these the , , , , dalatians were bewitched. Gal. in. 1. vo^pi.a Vpit ue- These would have beguiled the Colos- *"'^"'"' "''''""■ sians. Col. ii. 18. They have their " sleight and cun- ning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive," Eph. iv. 14. They " creep into houses, and lead cap- tive silly women," 2 Tim. iii. 6. They are seducers, and deceiving, ver. 13. " False teachers, privily bringing in damnable heresies," 2 Pet. ii. 1. And they make merchandise of people, ver. 3. And they " allure those who were clean," &c., i^xutovc. ver. 18. But more particularly, the by-ways in which they go, the subtle artifices and insinuations by which they creep into the company and good opinions of the church, and deceitfully enter unawares, are such as these : 1 . They conceal their opinions, especially at their first entrance. Either they totally forbear to deliver errors, or else they deliver them so darkly, cloudily, and ambiguously, as that they may find Vid. Aug. contr. subterfuges, and places for retreating, p||a|iu's dixit, whenever they are charged with them, liberum sic cm- rr,-i 1 . 1 1 ^, ■ filemurarbilnum, I hey love to know, but are wary m ui dicamus nns being knowTi ; like moles, they labour B^,P'u'';i'i';if [,1 to spoil the ground by keeping under hominis laudamus J Ti. • i'^ 1 •; i. c J il naturam. ut Del ground. It is often harder to find them, semper gratiam than to overcome them. Their words "^^^'^"^^^^^^^-^ and phrases have divers senses; the qui docetsr.iiiam same sentence shall speak both truth and actus 'nos'rol.'noQ falsehood, so that their disciples shall pfng"/^!"' esUn- undlerstand them one way, and the in- lerrogandus Pe- genuous hearer shall hope that they d'^cat'^rat'lJin meant another ; by reason of which de- m'j"/,"!,';!'/,"'^,',.'"' ceit they resemble some light-fingered &c. wihi pane dealers, who can steal even from those JiSYr'aTiaml'de who look upon them. Augustine was qua qu^stio est ,^ , ,, =^ , , confiten. Aug. do sometime almost well persuaded con- era. Christ, c. .-ir. cerning Pelagius ; so seemingly ortlio- J," nCiirS "re- dox were his expressions about grace, cumferuut. 2. They utter some real and wholesome ti-uths. Their custom is to mix something true with much that is false, that thereby they may put off one with another. The false apostles taught Christ, joining some other thing with him in the cause of salvation ; and so the papists at this day. Their doctrines, like that cake which Hosea saith was not turned, Hos. vii. 8, are neither raw nor baked, i. e. neither alto- gether true, nor altogether false ; or like a picture which seems beautiful on the one side, and deformed on the other ; or like the commodities of some de- ceitful chapmen, the top, the uppermost of the bag is good and vendible, but the wares which are under are corrupt and unsound ; or as that image, the head is of gold, but the feet of iron and clay, Dan. ii. 38, 41. Error would never be honoured before the people unless it were seen in the company of trutli. Ver. 4. THE EPISTLE OF JUDE. 77 As a man who is often talcen in a lie is not believed when he speaks the truth ; so he who is often ob- served to speak truth is not mistrusted, though he sometimes utters what is false. 3. They preach doctrines pleasing to corrupt na- ture, 2 Pet. ii. 18; Isa. xxx. 10; such as are most delightful to flesh and blood. They know that na- turally people cannot endure sound doctrine, 2 Tim. iv. 3, desire not to have right things prophesied to them, but smooth things, and deceits : and therefore they corrupt and deal deceitfully with the word, KaTrti\f{'ovTec, 2 Cor. ii. 17; like deceitful vintners, who, for gain, mix water with their wine : mere truth they know would be bitter truth, and therefore they are more desirous to be sweet and unsound, than harsh and wholesome ; suiting their doctrines, as some fable of the taste of the manna in the wilder- ness, to the pleasure of every palate. Hence it was that the false apostles preached up circumcision, and others abrogated observations, because they knew such doctrines only would be savoury to Jewish pa- lates. And hence it was that these seducers preached doctrines of liberty, 2 Pet. ii. 19, and licentiousness, and such as turned " the grace of God into lascivious- ness," Jude 4, making the narrow way to heaven seem broader than God ever intended it ; holding before people's eyes the spectacles of carnal liberty, whereby, in their passage over the narrow bridge of Christianity, they, adventuring upon a supposed breadth, tumble down into the waters of perdition. 4. They deliver such doctrines as savour of novelty. The subjects of which they treat must be represented as rare and unusual : to accomplish which, either they put upon them a new dress, a new shape, and fashion of words and expressions ; or they deliver either that which is false and against Scripture, they choosing rather to be erroneous than not to be rare, and often venting for new truths old errors new dressed, or that which is nice, and very uncertainly grounded upon Scripture, they preferring a doubtful before a common way, well knowing that usual truths will not suit with itching ears. If the doc- trines which they deliver are old and ordinary truths, they often, as men use to do by old stuffs, water them over with new expressions, strange and new-minted phrases, not savouring of Scripture simplicity, or I agreeable to the pattern of wholesome words. 5. They labour to work the godly and orthodox ministers out of the affections of their hearers, 2 Cor. X. 10. They erect a building of honour for them- selves upon the ruins of the reputation of such who desers-e to stand when they are ruined. Well they know, as long as the messenger is loved, the message is not like to be loathed. They had much rather stand in the people's light, than that a godly minister ihould stand in theirs. The greatest enemies to true have ever been false teachers. Thus it was of old ; Micaiah and Jeremiah had the one a Zedekiah, the ther a Pashur, to smite them. And as the practice rf smiting, with the tongue at least, still continues, 50 doth the pretence of that practice. Hence it is ;hat faithful ministers must be represented as the listurbers and troublers of church and state, Amos m. 10; though the true reason why turbulent prac- ices against the peace of both are by false prophets :ondemned, is, that they may get all the practice to ;hemselves, while the peaceable sen-ants of Christ are only suspected. I mislike not the aJqu",m''vLa"''^ vcsscls,' good words, but ill wiuc offered 'um™a' ?'' ^ii '" them by drunken teachers. Nor did Topinaiur ab ' any so subtlelv undermine blessed Paul juKjs^.ioc.ori- as"the false apostles; his great labour in some Epistles being the vindication if his apostolical reputation. If the eminence of a godly minister for piety and parts be so evident, ls that they dare not bring any downiright accusation against him, then these creeping seducers will ordi- narily either doubt of or deny his calling, or else will mention his commendations with a but of their own framing, or else so slightly and lukewarmly commend him, (as thus, perhaps, He is a good honest man, a well-meaning man, a pretty man,) as that it shall almost amount to a discommendation. 6. They affix the highest commendations imagin- able to their own opinions and persons. (1.) Their opinions they represent as the ways of God, the glorious beamings out of light, the only paths of peace and sweetness, the liberty of the gospel, and with other such like " good words and fair speeches they deceive the hearts of the simple," Rom. xvi. 18. Like mountebanks, who despairing that any will buy their oils and medicines for any good they find by them, are wont themselves to commend their virtue to the ignorant throng. (2.) Their own persons they represent as the most eminently qualified, for grace and learning, of any the mere sons of men. They trumpet out their own godliness, humility, and meek- ness, though Christ tells us they are wolves in sheep's clothing. Matt. vii. 15. And experience proves them, with Montanus, Arius, Novatus, Pe- lagius, Arminius, to be but Satan's ministers, trans- formed as the ministers of righteousness, 2 Cor. xi. 14. They pretend themselves to be the only minis- ters, though herein they do but imitate their prede- cessors, who said they were apostles, but were not, Rev. ii. 2 ; " transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ," 2 Cor. xi. 13. Their rare and raised parts, their unparalleled abilities, and deep insight into gospel truths, they proclaim to all the world, using great swelling words of vanity, in imitation of him who gave out that himself was some great one, that so he might be said to be the great power of God, Acts viii. 9, 10; and all because they know the fond multitude is ever more ready to judge of faith by the person, than of the person by his faith. Obs. 1. The presence of wicked men in the church is no sufficient ground of being offended at the church. Mixtures of good and bad men have ever been in the best societies ; nor is it to be expected, till the harvest, that tares and wheat can be parted perfectly. Matt. xiii. 30 ; neither the godly nor God's ordinances are therefore to be forsaken because the wicked are mixed. Needless society with the wicked, much more society with them in their wickedness, is to be avoided ; but not such as from which we have no warrant from God to separate, or wherein we join not in sin, but in that which is in itself holy, saving, and commanded. As God does not, so neither must man punish the innocent, wiiether himself or another, for the nocent. I fly from the chaff, lest I should be also such, saith Augustine. I forsake not the floor lest I should be nothing. And though God does not account evil to be good, yet he accounts it good that there should be evil. And that good we shall find, could we, as we ought, be more watchful, zealous, hiunble, fervent in prayer, longing for heaven by the necessitated company of wicked men. Obs. 2. Satan uses sundry sorts of attempts to hurt the church. Sometimes he creeps and crouches, at other times he roars and rages. He has several shapes, and often changes his habit, though he never lays aside his hatred. One while he openly ac- knowledged that Christ was the Son of God; after- wards he stirred up his instnmients to destroy Christ, " because he made himself the Son of God," John xix. 7. Satan (like a highway robber) frequently changeth his apparel, that so the unwary passenger may not discern him ; he seldom appears in the same 78 AN EXPOSITION UPON Ver. 4. habit twice together. In some ages of the church he is a red dragon, in others an old serpent ; sometimes he uses his sword, at otlier times his pen. He com- monly proceeds from one extreme to another, from endeavouring to overthrow the church by persecution under heathens, to hurting it more by promotions and seducings under papacy. In one age, he ad- vances superstition ; in another, profaneness : in one, nothing shall be lawful ; in another, every thing. None shall preach at one time, every one at another. We cannot therefore judge that a way is none of Satan's, because it differs from that which was some- times his, but becaxise it agrees with that which is always God's. Scrpit puiriHa ^''■'- ^' Satan is most hurtful to the tabes iij pocrisis church, when he opposes it by subtlety eSesuE.'omne'f and Creeping ; when he comes not as an sunt amicieinm- gpen enemy, but an appearing friend, nes necessai ii et Hc IS ncvcr SO much a Qevil, as when omnes donies"ic'i' he appears in white, and transforms etnuijipHcifici. himself into an angel of light. He Ecce ID pace , i^i • • ^ ^-u amai itudo inea ; does more hurt by creeping into, than nS-e^mafirrum, breaking into the church. False apos- ""' fl"'"^ pfs' '■> ties and seducers in the church have ticorum. iie7n. been more hurtful to it by fraud, than ser. 33. la Cant, tjloody and paganish persecutors by force. Satan has gained more victories by using the one as sunshine to dazzle the eyes, than by raising the other as wind to blow in the faces of the faithful. For his subtlety rather colours vice, than openly contends against virtue. Under the resemblance of those graces for which saints are most eminent, he draws to those neighbour vices which seem to have most affinity with their Chris- tian perfections. He colours over superstition with religion, carnal policy with Christian prudence, cruelty with justice, toleration with mercy, indis- creet fervour with zeal, pertinacy with constancy. And never does sin so much prevail against us, as when it lies in ambush behind appearances of piety. Nor is Satan's subtlety less hurtful in using the ablest and most refined wits to devise and defend impious novelties against the orthodox faith; as Arius, Sabellius, Pelagius, &c. of old ; and of late Servetus, Socinus, Arminius, &c. Satan fits eveiy actor with a part agreeable to him, and carves his Mercury on the most promising pieces. Those whom God has furnished with tlie best weapons of parts and arts, have commonly given his cause the deepest wounds. It is our duty with prudence to countermine subtlety ; to steer our course by the card of Scripture ; to mislike no good way of God because Satan makes it seemingly defonned ; to love no way of sin, though he makes it seemingly amiable; to build our faith upon no eminency of man, and ever to be more forward to examine than to admire what he saith or is. Obs. 4. The best Christians may sometimes be mistaken in seducers. The advice of Christ to "be- ware of false prophets," Matt. vii. 15, shows how possible it is to be overseen. The shape into which they transform themselves, namely, the apostles of Christ, and the ministers of righteousness, shows the difficulty of discerning them. The very apos- tles were deceived in him whom some conceive to be the heresiarch. Acts viii. 13, and one from whom these seducers sucked their poison. God will alone have the prerogative of trying the heart ; the doctrines we must, 1 Thess. v. 21, their hearts God only can search. And the difficulty of understand- ing who are seducers, should cause in the faitliful diligence in trying what their best teachers deliver, I John iv. I. The seduced most call for our pity, who with good meanings, though, alas, with bad suc- cess, follow their blind leader; whose misery that we may avoid, we must examine all we hear by the word, taking nothing upon trust, not loving doctrines for men, but men for their doctrine, and it for its consonancy to Scripture, which should, like a sword of Paradise, keep errors from entering into our hearts. Be not like little children, to gape at and be ready to swallow whatever the nurse puts to tlie mouth. If seducers appeal to Scripture, to Scripture let them go ; and if they cannot endure the lignt of that sun, reject them as spurious, and their meeting- places as infected houses, and schools of impiety. " Sit not among vain persons," Psal. xxvi. 4. Let not Satan take thee among his own, lest he make thee one of his own. 06^. 5. Sin loves not to be seen in its own colours. These seducers having in them no real goodness and worth, or fit qualifications of piety and integrity, but intentions by their entrance to seduce others, ap- peared not to be what indeed they were, but cun- ningly they seemed to be what they were not, that so the faithful might admit them unawares, not knowing who they were. Sin is a deed of darkness, not only because the sinner's portion will be utter darkness, but because his practices he loves to con- ceal in the dark. Sin's deformity makes not a sin- ner desire that it should not be, but only that it should not be seen. Aaron covered over his sin with the wickedness of the people, Exod. xxxii. 22. Saul coloured over his sin of sparing Agag and the cattle, with pretended resolutions to sacrifice to the Lord, 1 Sam. XV. 21. Carnal wdl ever has carnal wit attend- ing upon it. Love to sin refines the invention for concealing it. No sin has beauty enough in its own complexion to win the affection of the fondest spec- tator, unless its wrinkles be filled up with the paint of religious pretences. Sinners have a false conceit of God, they think he cannot see through their coverts ; like little children, because they shut their own eyes, tliey think they are in the dark to all others. How much is holiness honoured by its ene- mies, who even when they hate the having of it, love to appear to have it ! How unable is a hypo- crite to shun the dint of this dilemma. If holiness be bad, why doth he so much as appear ; if good, why doth he no more than appear holy ? In a word, how slight and childish will all hypocritical varnishings prove at the last day ! Paint will not endure the fire of wratli, nor can hidden wickedness be concealed in the day of Divine disquisition. Obs. G. Seducers, with other sinners, are modest in the beginning of sin. When these seducers first en- tered, the faithful thought them not such as after- ward they found them. They were like a deceitful gamester, or dice-player, who playing with one who is ignorant and wealthy, seems in the beginning of the game to be altogether unskilful, till, at length, by degrees, he puts forth his craft, and cheats him of ail he has. And never has Satan been so dangerous an enemy, either to churches or persons, as when he has been hurtful insensibly, gradually, and creepingly. He can hardly tempt men at one leap to get up to the top of impiety, but by several steps. As, I. By an evil motion. 2. By some kind of approbation. 3. By determination to embrace it. 4. By a vicious action. 5. By an evil habit. 6. By defence and justification of sin. Till, 7. There be a glorying and boasting in it. Satan dyes not a man a purple or a scarlet sinner at the first, but after divers tinctures, that so at the last he may take the deepest dye. He windeth not up his treble to the highest pitch hastily, but strains it up by little and little to the desired height : at the first he makes men adventure upon actions questionable, whether sinful or not ; then he Ver. 4. THE EPISTLE OF JUDE. 7» Vt in se consiHe- niiitur. non la-i, "ye judge, ye shall be judged." [2.] For administration of government toward those who are under it, whether by judgment or mercy ; and it is spoken of God's providence ruling and or- dering the affairs of the world, as Rom. xi. 33, " How unsearchable are his" Kpi/iara, "judgments!" also of Christ's government of that kingdom which his Father gave him, in the salvation of humble, and condemnation of proud sinners, John ix. 39, tc'c icpi/io, "For judgment am I come into this world;" that is, for discharging the office of a king, or a judge, in adjudging to every one his due recompence. In which respect judgment is taken for the whole judi- ciary proceeding of Christ in the gi-eat day of judg- ment toward the good and bad, in regard of his dis- covering, and sentencing of, and executing sentence upon all at that day. " He reasoned," Trcpi tov npi- fioToe TOV n'eWovTog, " of judgment to come," Acts xxiv. 25 ; Heb. vi. 2. [3.] For a cause or controversy discussed, judged, and determined by judges. So 1 Cor. vi. 7, icpi^a- ra tx(T(, " Ye go to law one with another," ye have causes and controversies among yourselves. [4.] For the wrath, vengeance, damn- ation, and punishment, Mark xii. 40 ; Judirium vocat Luke XX. 47 ; xxiii. 40 ; Rom. ii. 3, exe- 7,1 ';e"r""bru"m ""• cutedupon men for wickedness, as Rom. sfnsum. quo te- ... ^ f ^ , , ' . . runtur, (It pleta- 111. 8, wv TO rpT/in, "whose aamnation is lis ii.Kirinam per- just." And 1 Cor. si. 29, 34, " He that ;*;;,':';;, ■cuL'i,''u'a,„ eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth sJ"",P2''"r"fi and drinketh" icpl/ia, "damnation to in loc. himself." So Matt, xxiii. 14, " Ye shall J'i',',',^'',!;,fi/,^;"" receive the greater " Kpiua, " damna- i"^'^ iieieiictio, i' i» A J -n ••• .^ li T^l. *!, i *1"^ piopler pec- tion." And Rom. Xlll. 2, " I hey that caia pra;. e.leuria resist, shall receive to themselves" .pT^a, PJir'aautagTum " damnation." And 1 Tim. iii. 6, fiJ*'. " varus er- " Lest he fall ng Kpifia, into the con- abripi, ua ut demnation of the devil." So 2 Pet. ii. rJ/r-um mSJltn.' 3, "Whose" icpi/ia, "judgment now of a lamiem juiidum long time lingereth not." And thus I mum aMe'rna take it in this place. The apostle Jude Sr,'?,""'"p!l',lf.'';„ here by rouro to icpi/jm, " this condemna- loc. tion," intends that punishment by God inflicted upon seducers in this life for abusing the grace of God, whereby they did not only them- selves turn backsliders and apostates, but become opposers of the truth, and perverters of others ; hereby making way for their own eternal condemna- tion. A punishment made up of many poisonful ingredients, and that has in it a complication of many spiritual woes, which, as the Scripture testifies, belonged to these seducers, and to others who were in the same condemnation with them : as, I. A voidness of spiritual judgment and under- standing, an inability to judge between good and bad, things that differ ; an insufficiency to approve of any thing which is excellent, Phil. i. 10; whereby they put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter; spake 80 AN EXPOSITION UPON Ver. 4. evil of the ways of grace, which they understootl not, 2 Pet. ii. 12; and of the gospel, in which they saw no beauty, it being hid to these lost ones, 2 Cor. iv. 3, who contemned and slighted it; were delivered up to a reprobate sense, Rom. i. 28 ; and because they loved not what they knew, were not able to know what to love, Rom. i. 21 — 23. 2. Another woe in this condemnation is, a spirit of benumbedncss, insensibleness, cauterizedness, under all the most awakening administrations of God's word or rod ; a judgment which the Scripture puts for all the misery and condemnation of the reprobate, and that which differcnceth them from the elect. " He hath mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth," Rom. ix. 18. And having spoken of the elect, he saith, " the rest were hardened," Rom. xi. 7- Of seducers, Paul speaks of some who had " consciences seared with a hot iron," 1 Tim. iv. 2, whom nothing awakens but eternal burnings, though too late, to a serious sensibleness of their estate. These seducers fed " themselves without fear," Jude 12. 3. A third woe in this condemnation is, incorrigible- ness, and unrcformedness under the means of salvation. All the dews of salvation fall upon them as showers upon the barren wilderness ; and they are by God compared to drossy silver, which all the art and pains of the silversmith cannot refine ; and therefore called reprobate silver, Jcr. vi. 30. These seducers in God's orchard were trees without fruit, " twice dead, plucked up by the roots," Jude 12. 4. A fourth woe in this condemnation is, God's giving them up to strong delusion ; a delighting in error and false doctrine, with believing it ; and thus seducers are said not only to deceive, but to be de- ceived, 2 Tim. iii. 13; and those who received not the love of the truth, had strong delusion sent them from God, and upon them the deceivableness of un- righteousness takes hold, 2 Thess. ii. 10; and thus God suffered a lying spirit to deceive Ahab and his prophets, 2 Chron. xviii. 18 — 22. 5. A fifth woe in this condemnation is, a stumbling at and a quarrelling with the word of life, 1 Pet. ii. 8, and Christ the Rock of salvation. Thus Paul speaks of some who were contentious, and obeyed not the truth, Rom. ii. 8; and of seducers who resist the truth, 2 Tim. iii. 8. Like these in Jude, who contended so much against the faith, that all which Christians could do, was little enough to contend for it against those who made the gospel a plea for licentiousness. 6. A sixth woe in this condemnation is, progres- siveness in sin, and, as the apostle speaks of seducers, a waxing worse and worse, 2 Tim. iii. 13; a walking so far into the sea of sin, as at length to be over head and ears; a descending to the bottom of the hill; a daily " treasuring up wrath," Rom. ii. 5 ; a pro- ficiency in Satan's school ; a growing artificially wicked, and even doctors of impiety. 7. Which, lastly, will prove the great and heavy woe, not to be contented to be wicked, and to go to hell alone, but to be leaders to sin, and to leaven others with impiety; and thus Paul saith, that seducers were deceiving, as well as deceived, 2 Tim. iii. 13. And Peter, that " many shall follow their pernicious ways," 2 Pet. ii. 2. And certainly, impiety propa- gated shall be condemnation heightened. Secondly, Why is this punishment of seducers called condemnation ? Kpi^ia for n-aruV-pi/io, the cause for the efl'ect. I grant condemnation is properly the sentence or censure condemning one to some pun- ishment ; and though in this place it is used for the very punishment itself, yet the Spirit of God fitly sets out this punishment of wicked men by a word that denotes a sentencing them thereunto ; and that, 1. Because a sentence of condemnation is even al- ready denounced against them. 2. Because it is such a punishment as by judiciary sentence is wont to be inflicted upon guilty offenders. (1.) It is really and truly denounced, &c. For besides God's forcappointing the wicked to this con- demnation, as it is the punishment of sin, and the execution of his justice, wicked men are in this life sentenced to punishment, 1. By the word of God, which tells them that " God will render to every man according to his deeds ; to them who do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath," &c., Rom. ii. 6, 8. And that " he who be- lieveth not is condemned already," John iii. 18. 2. By their own conscience, which accuseth and condemneth as God's deputy, and here tells them what they deserve both here and hereafter. " If our hearts condemn us," &c., 1 John iii. 20, &c. 3. By the judgments of God manifested against those who have lived in the same sins, the wrath of God being re- vealed against all unrighteousness, Rom. i. 18. 4. By the contrary courses of the godly : the practices of saints really proclaiming, that because the ways of the wicked are sinful and destructive, therefore they avoid them ; and thus Noah sentenced the old world, by being a practical preacher of righteous- ness, 2 Pet. ii. 5 ; Matt. xii. 41, 42. And all these sentencings of wicked men do but make way for that last and great sentence to be pronounced at the day of judgment, to the punishment both of eternal loss and pain. Matt. vii. 23 ; xxv. 41. (2.) It is such a punishment as by judiciary sen- tence is wont to be executed upon guilty offenders ; and so it is in two respects: I. Because it is righteous. 2. Severe. [1.] Righteous. These seducers were not spirit- ually punished without precedent provocations ; "as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind," Rom. i. 28; and God sends them justly strong delusions, that they should believe and teach a lie, because they received not the love of the truth, 2 Thess. ii. 10, 1 1 ; and because they would not be scholars of truth, they justly become masters of error. [2.] The punishment of wicked men is such as is wont to be inflicted upon offenders by a sentence, because of its weight and severity. It is not TratStla, or iXiyxog, not a paternal chastisement, or a rebuke barely to convince of a fault ; but it is KpT/ia, the judge's sentence, condemning to punishment the guilty malefactor. It is not medicinal, but penal ; not the cutting of a surgeon, but of a destroyer: the happiness of correction stands in teaching us, but this punishment is the giving of sinners )ip to un- teachableness ; and what is it indeed but a hell on this side hell, for God to withdraw his grace, and to suf- fer men to be as wicked as they will, to be daily damning themselves without control, to be carried down to the gulf of perdition, both by the wind of Satan's temptation, and, which is worse, by the tide of sinful inclination ! for God to say. Be and do as bad as you will, "be filthy still," Rev. xxii. 11, sleep on now, and take your rest, I will never jog nor dis- turb you in your sins. How sore a judgment is it to be past feeling, so as that nothing cooler than hell- fire, and lighter than the loins of an infinite God, can make us sensible, though too late ! Obs. 1. The condemnation of the wicked is begun in this life. As heaven, so hell is in the seed before it is in the fruit. The wicked on this side hell arc tunning and treasuring up that wrath, which here- after shall be broached and revealed, Rom. ii. 5. The wicked have even here hell in its causes. The old •( Ver. 4. THE EPISTLE OF JUDE. 81 bruises which their souls by sin have received in this life, will be painful when the change of weather comes, when God alters their condition by death. When thy lust asks, How canst thou want the plea- sure ? let thy faith answer by asking another ques- tion, How can I bear the pain of such a sin ? Put sin into its best dress, and it is but gilded condemnation. Tristitia nostra ^ ^bs. 2. Spiritual judgments are ever quasi habei, quia the sorest. in tiods Withdrawing iiis Ou!Tomnium"",n: grace, and delivering up to a reprobate ciiiat.artdiijiiasi. gense, there is something of condemna- quasi loqueiiar, tiou. The soui 01 a judgment is Its ^uia'clm'et'a™ ' Seizing upon the soul. The greatest layeiii.non inve- miggiy which Can befall the body, is Dlt quoii \ idebat. , -- , , , . t -^ i Quasi thesauruin but fof the soui to leave it ; and what InendtcS^'si'^qu'ii proportion bears this to the miser)' of nun eiset! menrti- Gocl's leaving the soul ! The death in cus noo esset. &:c. ,,.,''. . p .t i lu adversis urn- dcatii IS the miscamagc ot trie soul. I'udo'.'iii^Tres' If a man be not heart-sick, though Ansti. 2 Cor. vi. otherwise distempered, he is not feared ; and if not soul-sick, and the union be- tween God and him weakened, there is no danger. Bodily miseries are but appearing and opinionative, and there is a vanity in outward troubles as well as enjoyments. The apostle makes the greatest suifer- ing of the body to be but as such, rather a dream than a reality of suffering. The poorest saint never had a drop of condemnation in a sea of calamity. His affliction is not laniena, but medicina ; not butchery, but surgery ; nay, the end of God's chasten- ing is, that he may not be judged, 1 Cor. xi. 32. How difTerent is the condemning of a malefactor from the reprehension of a son, the father's rod from the executioner's axe ! If we endure chastening, the Lord deals with us as with sons, Heb. xii. 7. Strive not so much to get the rod taken off thy back, as to get it into a Father's hand. How madly merry is every obstinate sinner in all his worldly enjoyments ! How unsuitable is thy music when thou art sacrificing that which should be dearer to thee than thy dearest child, „. ^ , , and celebrating the funeral of thy pre- Si doles condoleo. . , , -.t-i^ i t , •• * . si non doles doieo cious soul ! \\ lio would uot commiscratc "■^s"*- his mirth, who goes dancing to his own execution, whose only strife is to double his misery by shunning the thoughts of that which he cannot .shun ? Be not taken with what thou hast in gift, but what thou hast in love. In receiving every mercy imitate Isaac's jealousy, and say, Art thou that very mercy, that mercy indeed which comes in the blood of Christ ? Art thou sent from a Father, or a Judge ? What do I receiving, if 1 shall never be received ? It is infinitely better that God should correct thee so as to awaken thee, than by prospering to let thee sleep in sin till it be too late to arise. It was better for the prodigal to be famished home than fur- nished out. Obs. 3. These condemned ones should warn us that we incur not the like condemnation with them. Saints should be examples of imitation, and sinners of caution. A good heart will get good even by bad men, and take honey out of the carcass of a lion. These seducers were mentioned and stigmatized by Jude with this black mark, not only to show that God was righteous in punishing, but that we might not be unrighteous and wretched in imitating them. And that we may not, (L) Neglect not, undenalue not the truths of the gospel. Shut not thy eyes, lest God suffer Satan to blind them, Rom. i. 28 ; 2 Thess. ii. 9 — 11. How severely did God punish the heathens for opposing the light of nature ! and will not Christ, when clearly discovered, and un- kindly neglected, much more heighten thy condemn- ation ? If Christ be not a rock of foundation, he will be a stone of stumbling. Fruits which grow against a wall are soon ripened by the sun's heat, and so are sins which are committed under the sunshine of the gospel. The contempt of the gospel is the condemn- ation (John iii. 19) of the world, it brings swift de- struction, 2 Pet. ii. 1. (2.) Preserve a tender con- science. Tremble at the first solicitations of sin, which make way for eternal, by taking away spiritual feeling. The deluge of impiety in which these se- ducers were drowned began with a drop. Many knots tied one upon another will hardly be loosed : every spot falling upon the clothes makes a man the more regardless of them; and every sin defiling the conscience makes a man the more careless of it. He who dares not wade to the ancles, is in no danger of being swallowed up in the depths. Modest begin- nings make way for immodest proceedings in sin. The thickest ice that will bear a cart, begins with a thin, trembling cover that will not bear a pebble. As these seducers crept in by degrees into the church, so did Satan by degrees creep into them ; they in- creased to more ungodliness, 2 Tim. ii. 16. They went down to this condemnation by steps ; and after tliey had begun, they knew not where or whether they should stop, (3.) Take heed of turning the grace of God into wantonness, of abusing his good- ness, either to soul or body, to impiety. Take not occasion to be sinful because God is merciful, to be long-sinning because God is long-sufferino^, to sin because grace abounds, to make work for the blood of Christ, to turn Christian liberty into unchristian libertinism. This must needs incense even mercy itself to leave and plead against thee ; and what then will justice do ? They who never enjoyed this grace of God, go to hell ; they who have it and use it not, run on foot to hell ;■ but they who abuse and turn it into wantonness, gallop or go to hell on horseback. This for the first way in which the punishment of these seducers was considerable, viz. Its severity, " this condemnation." We now obser\'e, (2.) Its certainty, they " were before of old ordained to" it. In this two things require explication. What this ordination is, of which the apostle here speaks ; and, In what respect it is said to be " before of old." For the first. The word jrooTfvpauusj'oi, ,, . , here translated ordamed, properly sig- la ab us qui m nifying, forewritten, enrolled, billed, l';X'll;i^j;;a booked, or registered. It seems, say caus-i, quae sia- some, to be a metaphor taken from re- 'neiaphora'ind'e'*^ cords in courts, wherein things are set Ktern'uVDii''T' down for an after-remembrance of them ; siiium quo ordj- or, according to others, from books of "d'saTu'temf lli'ter remembrance, wherein for the greater v?^"i"r- Caiv. ^ , '. ,1 . ° .^ Uequibusolim sureness ot doing any thing, men write (inBuumiaium est down what they purpose to do, and de- q" 5'del "„'?„, j sire not to forget. Calvin draws the ^nt .in judicium, allusion from Scripture, in which the eternal counsel of God, wherein the faithful are elected to salvation, is called a book. Sure we are, it is a metaphorical speech ; and by none of our pro- testant divines, as I remember, is that interpretation embraced which is given by some papists, who, haply, to wave the doctrine of reprobation, expound this forewriting here mentioned, to be the predictions by writing which went before in the Scriptures concern- ing these seducers. Nor can this writing here men- tioned so be attributed to God, as if either he could properly be said to have a memory, or to remember any thing, or had any defect or weakness of memory, or had any material books wherein he wrote any thing at all ; but this writing or booking is spoken concerning him apepuiTroTrdQuig, by way of resembling him to man, who, what he purposes exactly to re- member, or certainly to do, he books and writes down 83 AN EXPOSITION UPON Ver. 4. beforehand. And the Scripture speaks of four meta- phorical books or writings which God has. I. The book of his providence, or God's knowledge and de- cree of all the particular persons, things, and events that ever were or shall be in the world ; and in this book were written all the members of David, Psal. cxxxix. 16; and all the tears of David, Psal. Ivi. 8. 2. The book of the last and universal judgment, which is the perfect knowledge that God hath of the actions of all men, good and bad, according to which at the last day he will give judgment : thus it is said, " The judgment was set, and the books were opened," Dan. vii. 10. And, " I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God ; and the books were opened," Rev. XX. 12. It is a term taken from public judg- ments here among men, wherein are produced all the writings of informations, depositions of witnesses, &c., to show that God's omniscience shall discover and rehearse all actions, and his justice proceed ac- cordingly. 3. "The book of life," Rev. xx. 12; xxii. 19 ; called also " the Lamb's book of life," Rev. xiii. 8 ; xxi. 27 ; which is God's eternal decree to bestow grace and glory upon some ; and in this are set down the names of the elect : of these it is said often, Their names are written in the book of life, Phil. iv. 3; Luke X. 20 ; and at the last day this book is said to be opened, because it shall then be manifested to all who are elected. 4. This writing here mentioned by Jude, namely, that black bill, or the catalogue of those whom God hath appointed unto wrath, I Thess. V. 9, ordinarily considered as the positive or affirm- ative part of reprobation, wherein God decreed justly to damn some for sin. For reprobation is consider- able in a double act. First, negative; which is that of pretention, or passing by of some, and God's will not to elect them. Secondly, positive ; which is God's ordaining them to punishment for sin. And in both these acts there is a double degree. In the first, the negative act, I. God's denying his grace in this life. And, 2. His denying them glory and salvation in the next life. In the positive or affirmative act, 1. God's or- daining the wicked to blindness and obduration here. And, 2. Eternal condemnation hereafter. And upon Holy Scripture are both these acts, and both the degrees of each of them, evidently grounded. 1. Con- cerning the negative act speaks the Spirit of God, John X. 26, " Ye are not of my sheep." And Matt. yii. 23, " I never knew you." Matt. xiii. II , To them it is not given " to know the mysteries of the king- dom." And Matt. xi. 25, " Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent," &c., " for so it seemed good in thy sight." And Rev. xiii. 8; xx. 15, there are some mentioned " whose names are not written in the book of life." 2. Concerning the positive or affirmative act, speaks the Spirit of God in 1 Pet. ii. 8, where the apostle mentioning those that stumbled at the word, and were disobedient, saith, " They were appointed thereunto." And Rom. ix. ]8, "Whom he will he hardeneth." And ver. 21, he speaks of vessels made to dishonour. And ver. 22, of " ves- sels of wrath fitted to destruction." And John xvii. 12, Judas is said to be a "son of perdition." And here Jude saith that these seducers were written down, and " appointed to this condemnation," which was their abode among the faithful, with an obstinate opposing of the truth and faith of Christ, making way to their own eternal condemnation ; a doctrine (I confess) not more distasteful to the bad, than hard to be understood by the best. It is no where, as Parens remarks, when treating upon it on Rom. ix., perfectly apprehended but in that eternal school. I Srofcss my greater desire to study than discuss it. I id not seek it, nor dare I altogether shun it; ever | remembering, that though we must not rifle the cabi- net of the secret decree, yet neither bushel the candle of Scripture discovery ; the former being unwarrant- able curiosity, the latter sinful ingratitude. Briefly therefore. For the second, in what respect this ordination is said to be " before of old." The word ndXat, of old, is sometimes applied to a thing done a little time before : Pilate asks of Joseph, who came unto him to ask the body of Jesus, whether he had been Trd\ai, any while dead. The word, as Dr. Twiss ob- serves, does not signify any definite time. It is ap- plicable even to eternity. And though, as he re- marks, the signification of the word is not extended to eternity by any force in itself; yet from the mat- ter whereof the apostle treats, viz. the ordination or decree of God, which is eternal, it ought to be so ex- tended. The denial of the eternity of God's decree was one of the prodigious doctrines of Vorstius. As the Ancient of days was before there was a day, so this "of old" was before there was an age. Which as it refers to the forementioned ordination, compre- hends, in the judgment of many learned and godly divines, as well. The independency and absoluteness, as the immu- tability and unchangeableness, of this ordination. 1. This ordination, according to some, was abso- lute, from all causes in the creature ; " of old," before these seducers were, before their sins were, in respect not only of their actual existence, but even of their prevision also and foresight of their futurilion or coming to pass hereafter. And in delivering their judgment herein, they consider reprobation, with Aquinas and other schoolmen, either in o, a ■! respect of the act of God reprobating, ' ''' ' ^ ' ' God's willing and decreeing; or in respect of the effect thereof, the things willed or decreed, as God wills that one thing should be for another. (1.) As to reprobation in respect of the act or de- cree of God's reprobating, or God's willing or decree- ing; they say, the sins of the creature cannot be assigned as the cause of reprobation ; and herein they agree with Aquinas and the sound- 11 niv • t.'u i. t.\, "Non est assiiinare er schoolmen. 1 hey conceive that trie causanKiivins decree of reprobation was not without p"f'i'"a^!Jus'TO- the foresight of sin; yet that the sight H-nJi. Aquin. ubi of sin was neither in order of nature or ^"'"' time, before reprobation, nor after it ; but purely, evenly, and equally accompanying it. That God's decree to permit sin, from whence comes prevision of sin, and to condemn for sin, were not the one subor- dinate to the other, or of a diverse order ; as if the one were the end, and the other the mean ; but co- ordinate, and of one and the same order and means, both accommodated to one and the same end : God neither condemning that sin may be permitted, nor permitting sin that he might condemn ; but permit- ting sin, and condemning for sin, that the glory of his justice might be manifested ; the glorious mani- festation of his justice being not advanced only by permission of, or only by condemning for sin, but by both jointly, or together ; according to which appre- hension, sin foreseen could not be the cause of repro- bation. They conceive, that God not depending upon any condition in the creature, no other way foreknew the futurition of sin, than by his own de- cree to permit it. And they further urge, if con- sideration of sin were before God's decree of repro- bation, then the decree of permission of sin should have been before the decree of reprobation ; and so God should intend the permission of sin before he intended the damnation of man for it ; and then it would follow, (in regard that what is first in intention is last in execution,) that damnation for sin should Ver. 4. THE EPISTLE OF JUDE. 83 be in execution before the permission of sin, for which men are damned. And this is the argument oft urged by Dr. Twiss ; to which he sometimes adds, that whatsoever is first in intention, has the nature of an end in respect of that which follows it ; but the permission of sin cannot be considered as an end in respect of the damnation of men, it being im- possible that men should be damned to this end, that sin should be permitted. And they of this opinion assert, that if because God decreed that condemnation shall only be for sin, it follows that sin is a cause of that decree, it will also unavoidably follow, because God hath decreed that salvation shall only be in a way of good works, that good works are a cause of that decree ; they conceiving that though good works do not go before salvation with the same efficacy wherein sin goes before damnation, good works being only dispositive causes of the one, and Bins meritorious causes of the other, yet that they go before it with the same order of necessity. And they add, that the apostle removes both from the election of Jacob, and the reprobation of Esau, the consideration of all works either good or evil, as well in respect of their prevision as actual existence ; to the end that he might show that the purpose of God, according to election, was not according to works, but of him that calleth ; and so by the same reason, that the decree of the reprobation of Esau was not of evil works, but of Him that calls and leaves whom he will. (2.) As to reprobation in regard of the effect, or lather consequent thereof, the things decreed and willed, or as God wills that one thing should be for another, it is not doubted, albeit God's eternal voli- tions or decrees depend not upon any temporal ob- ject or causes, as the prime motives thereunto, but that God by his eternal decree ordained, that this or that event in the temporal execution shall not follow but upon this or that going before ; as, that in those of years, the actual bestowing of eternal life shall de- pend upon believing, repenting, and persevering, and that the actual punishing with eternal death shall depend upon final unbelief and impenitency. This is not to make the eternal decrees of election and reprobation dependent upon the foreseen contingent acts of man's free-will, but to make temporal events, acts, or things one to depend conditionally upon another, for their being or not being in time. And yet, (I.) The cause of reprobation, in respect of denying of grace, external, whether in regard of the outward means j or internal, either common or saving; is the will and pleasure of God. As it is the mere will and pleasure of God whereby in time men are reprobated from grace, was from eternity ; for as God does or does not in time, so it he purposes to do or not to do from all eternity. Now, that in time the denial of grace is from the will and pleasure of God, is most evident from Scripture, which teaches that God calls to grace, and gives the very means of sal- vation to whomsoever he will. The Spirit suffered not Paul to preach at Bithynia, Acts xvi. 7. To you f it is given (saith Christ) to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, and to them it is not given. Matt, xiii. 1 1 ; Deut. xxix. 4. And because it seemed good in his Father's sight, he hid these things from the wise and prudent. Matt. xi. 25. Tyre and Sidon would have made better use of the means of grace than the Jews, yet God bestowed those means not upon the former, but upon the latter. But, (2.) The cause of reprobation, in regard of God's denial of glory, is not merely from God's will and pleEisure, but from the pravity and sin of men. God in time denies glory in regard of men's impiety, and therefore he purposed to deny it for that. " De- part from me," will Christ say only to the " workers of iniquity," Matt. vii. 23. " There shall enter into the New Jerusalem nothing that detileth." "The unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God." And, (3.) The cause of reprobation, in regard of blindness and obduration in sin in this life, and eternal damnation in the life to come, is from man's impiety. God decreed that condemnation should not be but for sin, nor hardening but for preceding rebellion, nor that the wages of death should be paid without the work of sin. No man is ordained to a just punishment but for some sin ; but the with- drawing of grace, the blindness and obduration of sinners, are the punishments of preceding sin, as ap- pears, Rom. i. 27, God gave them up, &c. that they might receive the recompence {avTi^tiaiiav) of their error which was meet. To crown or to damn is an act of judiciary power, and proceeds according to the tenor of the revealed gospel. The eternal decree of the damnation of the very devils, was never determined to be executed otherwise than for their own misdeeds. 2. This expression " of old" notes the immutability and unchangeable- m,'i,"s"°Mmu'a"- ness of this ordination: the to uatrd- ijii'ias Aua. n ~ 5,- < ~ i\, • ^ Lous. 1. 12. c. 15. vtTov Tijc iSov\r}Q at'Tovj tne immuta- bility of his counsel ; that which is eternal is unal- terable. This ordination is like such a booking and writing down of a thing as shall unfailingly be per- formed. Nor can this book or writing of God, as a man's book may, be lost or burnt, but it continues irreversibly and inviolably to be performed; he who wrote it wants not skill, nor will, nor power, to bring to pass whatever he hath written in it. What God hath written he hath written ; and though some- times he changes his denunciations, yet never his decrees : " I am the Lord, I change not," Mai. iii. 6. " The Strength of Israel is not man, that he should repent," 1 Sam. xv. 29. " His comisel shall stand," Prov. xix. 21. "The Lord hath purjiosed it, who shall disannul it?" Isa. siv. 27. The number of those appointed to wrath, 1 Thess. v. 9, is determined as well materialiter, who, as formaliler, how many they are. God's appointments are peremptor)', not depending upon the variable will of man, as if God had determined certainly concerning none, but only as he sees they will believe or not believe ; for how suits it with the wisdom of God, so to work as to de- termine nothing of the end of his work .' to make man, and not to appoint what shall become of him ? How with the love he bears to his own glory, to have creatures more beholden to themselves than to their Maker.' to hear them using this language. That we may escape hell, if we will, we thank God; but that we do, we thank ourselves, who by the use of our free-will made that possibility beneficial to ourselves? Obs. 1. Groundless are the exceptions which cor- rupt minds raise against delivering this doctrine of reprobation, and weak are the calumnies with which they load it. (1.) For the first, God cannot be charged with cruelty in any man's reprobation. It is no cruelty in God to deny him grace to whom it is not at all due, but an act of just liberty- and free power, Rom. ix. 21 ; nor can it be cruelty, but vindicative justice, for God to appoint men to punishment for sin, Rom. ix. 22. This will be more clear, if we consider that by reprobation all grace is not denied, but p^ eraiianu^ppr only that grace which is peculiar to the c.io..inmii provi- elect. That which is afforded by the !r.,"ii',^em'5'i'°e'lub administration of common providence, ^'-' "^'"r*. sivo either under the law ot nature, or the ei^iica ii..minii.us dispensation of the gospel, being not pji'ati'.'l'^p'^r ■"" 84 AN EXPOSITION UPON Ver. 4. huncpraieritionis taken awav, God leaves the reprobate actum non adiini- - , •' ' . .,, , ,^ tur. sell poii.is to their own iree-wiU under his com- Pnp?!'™','!'''- mon providence, and in it aflfords to ■J heoH p. 200. them those benefits which in the state of innocency were sufficient to salvation, and which in this state of corruption, especially under the gos- pel, make men altogether without excuse before God. Deusnunqiiam ^^'^ ^°^ never decreed to leave and iniiiiiat, nisi ha- harden any in sin, but such who by pn°.e"e''„Ti'a''p.:i. their own "free-will leave God, harden caia. Uiv. (lisp, themselves against his ways, and abuse his abundant mercy extended towards them. God never appointed that any should stumble at the word but for their contempt of it. From falling into which impiety the elect are prevented, and it is to be attri- buted to the free-will or mercy of God, extended in- deed to them, but due to none. (2.) Nor secondly, by decreeing the reprobation of sinners can any conclude that God is the cause of the sins for which the reprobate are noifirmsaiur'aii- damned. Although by reprobation God siMie?eHor°Te°d P^'^ forth uo act whcrcby man is made taniiim iinil cro- holy, yct neither is any thing done by nfluorl'Au'ir.' In- it whereby man is made wicked. It is ter aniecedens et {j.^^ gjn jg g consequent of God's de- intcrcadit causa- cree. Or tliat which follows upon it, as '""^' its antecedent ; but no effect flowing from the decree as its cause. It follows not, because God gives not, that therefore he takes away repent- ance from sinners ; and that he throws down, because he raises not up. The sun cannot be said to be the cause of darkness, although darkness necessarily fol- lows the withdrawing of it ; nor is reprobation the cause of sin, although sin infallibly follows reproba- tion. It is God's bounty whereby we are preserved from falling, our own unstableness whereby we fall unless we are preserved. Predestination is an effectual cause in the producing of all salutiferous actions, but reprobation is no effectual cause in the producing of wicked actions ; and neither the one nor the other implies any compulsion or forcing unto actions, whe- ther good or evil. True it is, that God decreed not only privatively and permissively, but also with an energetical working will, to be conversant about sin- ful actions; as, 1. 'That he would give to the sinner at the very time when sinful actions are committed, the power and use of understanding, and free-will, without which he could not sin. And, 2. That he would concur ad materialem actionem peccati, to the matter of the action itself, which otherwise could not come into act or being. 3. That he would deny all such means as would have prevented the sinner's sinning. 4. That he would lay before sinners those occasions, and possibly stir up in them those cogita- tions, which he knew they would abuse to the com- mitting of sin. 5. That he would so limit and order their sins, that they should break forth in no other measure, at no other time, upon no other persons, than himself hath foreappointed. 6. That all their sins should turn to his own glory, and the good of his elect : but any energetical operative will of God which so liath a working in sinful actions, as that it is the cause quod talis actio Jit cum tali defectu, or that it should work the contrariety and repugnancy of the sinner's will to the law of God, or that there should be any influence sent into the wills of men from the decree to cause this, we utterly deny and disclaim. The liberty of the will is not at all extinguished by the decree of God ; but freely and upon deliberate choice wicked men do as they do, having not only potentiam in se tiberam, but liberum usum polentitp, and the dominion of free agents over their actions, which ever are the productions of their own frail and de- filed free-wilL The decree of reprobation nevei- shows itself by any such influx' or impression as instils any malicious quality into man's will, or forces it to any malicious action. (3.) Neither can this doctrine of reprobation justly be charged to be a means of driving men to despair ; rather granting the truth of this Arminian conceit, that all were reprobated who were not foreseen be- lieving and persevering, with much more dreadful advantage may Satan fasten temptations on poor wretches to despair; the tempted person knowing there is not one of many who either believes or per- severes ; that he for his part has hitherto resisted the motions of the Spirit, and started aside from all in- clinations to good ; and finding also by his own ex- perience, and now by Satan's arguing, who at last in part turns orthodox, that by his own power he can no more believe than carry a mountain. But the opinion which makes God's decree absolute, arms a man against temptation to despair, and gives him cause to bless God, as it has made thousands do, that their salvation depends not upon foreseeing what good courses out of their own free-will they would take and continue in, that the bending of men's hearts to believe and persevere are the j„jj,.,, ^j, ^n,; supernatural fruits of God's eternal »iuntM de teipso ,^ 11^' , • !• ji . 1 cona est. nec though he is uncertain oi the eternal times? Aug.de will of God, yet is he more uncertain, as ■"""=''• ^'""^- "=■ "• Augustine saith, of the strength and stability of his own. Nor do I at all understand, but that by the same reason whereby Arminians argue, that tlie ab- solute decree tends to drive men to despair, they must also grant, that the decree does the like, as founded upon the prevision of man's impenitency; for the Divine eternal prescience of future actions and events as much infers their absolute certainty and necessity, as the decree of absolute reprobation. And therefore, as it is commonly observed, the schoolmen are as much troubled (and . . „, „,.. , ^ . 1 T 1 1 ^ In i^norantiasola Cajetan, though a learned man, con- quieiem invenio. fesses himself to be at a loss) in re- ^' '' ^' ^'' "' *' solving whether the prescience of God, as well as predestination, imposes a necessity on future events. (4.) Nor is this doctrine of reprobation injurious to a godly life. It hinders not the use of the holy en- deavours which God requires of those who expect happiness, and would shun wretchedness. Man's industry must not cease about things or ends deter- 1 mined by God's absolute unrevealed decree. Though I our endeavours do not make the end otherwise quoad I eventutn, than God foredetermined it, yet it was so I determined by God, as that it should never be ac- quired without the use of our endeavours. God does not by the absolute decree of election absolutely de- termine to save us, whether we believe or not believe, , repent or not repent ; and therefore faith and re- ! pentance are not to be rejected : nor does he by the absolute decree of reprobation determine to liamn j any, whether they believe or not believe, repent or I not repent. Such absolute decrees (saith a learned man) are the absolute mis- '^ "'' ''*'■"^"'■ takings of the Arminians. We may truly say to every man in the world, elected or not elected, as God to Cain, " If thou doest ,^o''Td C"h,'"' well, shall thou not be accepted?" Gen. ciudit media, nun ■_'.,, S L 1 .1 potest tiuuc iv. 7. And to every one that worketh speiaie.qui ista good shall be glory, &c. Rom. ii. 10. f,'|'\«;'- '"'"'• Never did God make any decree to damn any man, though he should believe and live righteously ; yea, God hath published a quite con- trary decree, " Whosoever believeth shall have ever- lasting life," John iii. 16. And " there is no con- demnation to them that are in Christ Jesus, who walk Ver. 4. THE EPISTLE OF JUDE. 85 not after the flesh," Eom. viii. 1. From a godly life we Diay conclude we are no reprobates, and may " make our calling and election sure," 2 Pet. i. 10. So that this doctrine is so far from quenching, that it quickens holy endeavours, seeing none Lut the \m- holy are ordained to condemnation, and that we are as well ordained to the works of grace, as the reward of glory. Wilt thou not fear reprobation, as Paul spake of fearing the civil magistrate, do that which is good, fear to do evil ; but if thou wilt, upon hear- ing the doctrine of God's absolute decree, conclude that holiness is vain and fniitless ; by the same reason resolve, because the length of thy life is cer- tainly decreed by God, therefore thou wilt never either eat or drink to lengthen out thy life. If but one man in the world were elected, thou shouldst use the means appointed to life. If but one man in the world were reprobated, thou shouldst shun the ways which lead to death. Obs. 2. In regard of God, there is no chance, nor any event by fortune. All which ever was, is, or shall be, was written before him as in a book. In regard of men, nature may seem to have many mis- chances, but we who know the true God should ac- knowledge, instead of chance, only his Divine provi- dence. That blind goddess Fortune holds her deity only by the tenure of men's ignorance. Infinitely too weak is the axletree of fortune for the least mo- tion of the world to be turned upon it. Punishments directed by God's providence are not to be entertained as the pastimes of fortune. That which is casual to us, is ordained by God. Obs. 3. The faithful should not be surprised with wonder at the disturbance of the church by seducers. Occuirere pericu- The Opposition of the truth by such as lo voiuit.iudas. would be and have been accounted its tas iurb..rt't.°°*' greatest maintainers, is oft to Christians Caiv. in loc. (j-ig most Unexpected evil. It may make an honest heart not only fear its own apostacy from the truth, but even question whether ever heretofore it embraced the truth or no. This foreordaining of many glistering professors to this condemnation, should be a preservative from such a distemper. Alas ! God not only saw through them, when they were in their fairest appearances, but foresaw what they would prove, before they either were men, or were appearing Christians. Church disturbers are no men of yesterday. He that foresaw would have prevented their entrance into the church, had he not intended not only the presen-ation of his elect from them, but the benefiting of the elect by them, Watt. xxiv. 24. Obs. 4. There is no judging of any one's reproba- tion. We are commanded to read over God's oracles, but we are not so much as admitted to look into his rolls. Who is " before of old ordained," written down, shall never be kno\\-n till the books be opened. There is a peradventure of God's giving repentance even to opposers, 2 Tim. ii. 25. Censure thou mayst De nuliius homi- ^'ici"" actions, but not determine their His salute .lespe- end. Many a saint recollecting how Dei paii'eniiaTinit far himself was suffered to go before he ipsfusmfnime returned, may truly say, 1 will never oiiiiiium. Tan- despair of any ; for surely, Lord, there 'noKS?"eiria- never will be a baser heart than mine iban.mr"""n> Uei pro- . 1 -, -, , posituMi ^uppr sa- were, who loved us mthout due debt luiesuaiuiura. before we were ! We ought to love him ""' •*' '"^' more than others, who is incomparably more lovely, and who loved us more than others when we were no more lovely than others. Should not we single him out for our God, who infinitely excels all, and who singled us out for his people when we were no better than any ? What was it beside election, that made saints by grace of sinners by nature, and (as I may say) white paper of the foulest dunghill rags p what but this went between the holiest saint and the most flagitious sinner? both were cut off from the same piece, and formed out of the same clay. Obs. 6. The faithful may be strongly armed against temptations to despair. The decrees of God depend not upon the pleasure of man's, but God's will, Luke xii. 32. The angels, and Adam, who fell from in- tegrity, plainly show what would become of man, who (now) hath the treacherj' of sin within him, and the battery of temptation without him, if Divine predestination were removed. Rom. yWx. 33, 35, &c. Forbear, then, ■BTctched Pelagian, to ^„ ,;,^„j„^ „t make the supposed dependence of pre- ne tunc iie se destination upon man's will a ground of qSan4o?pM ejus courage, and the certain dependence f,™t"Mn''D'eo'°' of man's will upon predestination a non autem .lespe- ground of despair. Proud potsherd! s'[pL?'sup'^rb"si- expect not happiness without more hu- ""= ^' imeiicissi- .\. ^ tl 1 IT T nius poneret. mihty. Lord, tiow soon stiouid 1 em- Aug. ne Bon. bezzle my happiness, and prove a beg- ^"^' '• "' "^^ "■ garly prodigal, shouldst thou give me my portion into mine own hands ! 06s. 7. This ordination of the wicked to condemna- tion should incite the best to humility. He who fares best has no cause of insultation over him who speeds worst. The least mercy deserves thankful- ness, the greatest allows not pride. The reading of what the worst are and shall be, should instruct us what the best had been and should be without free grace, which alone makes the difference. Humble tenderness is the badge of election ; as the elect of God, put on bowels. Col. iii. 12. Grace found the richest saint but a beggarly sinner, and grace makes the richest in possession to be poorest in spirit. Matt. V. 3. " God hath chosen the weak to confound the mighty," 1 Cor. i. 27, not the mighty to domineer over the weak. Every receipt is an alms, and the best furnished Christian only proclaims that he has been oftenest at the door of mercy. The taller thou art in grace, the more need thou hast to stoop, wouldst thou enter into the meditation of thy present estate without danger. 06*. 8. Forbearance of punishment is no argimient to the finally impenitent of their total immunity from punishment. They are billed and booked by God, and at length God -n-ill call in his debts ; and, the longer he stays, with the more interest. The judg- ments of God are sure, if they be late. With God, delay wears nothing out of memory, nor is any thing gained by protraction. All things to the Ancient of days are "present. How fruitless is a sinner's leaoiie with hell ! The Lord laughs at him, for he seeth that his day is coming. Grudge not to see impenitency and prosperity go together. What is all a sinner's mirth, but a little unpunished wickedness ? The thunder-clap of wrath will soon make his wine of 86 AN EXPOSITION UPON Ver. 4 AuL'. (ie Ho. Pers. I. 2. cap. 21. mirth sour. He who now goes on so pertinaciously in sin, must either undo or be undone. His cheer may seem excessive, but there is a reckoning coming, which though it be the last, yet is it as sure as any part of the entertainment. Obs. 9. Ministers ought not to propound to the people a reprobation absolute from the means. Re- probation is not so to be preached, as though men were to be damned whatsoever they do, but so as that it may be manifested that destruction is the fruit of impiety. It is possible a minister may preach what is true concerning God's absolute decree to save and reprobate men, and yet not in that due manner in which he ought to speak. For example, should a minister preach thus to his peo- ple; Whatsoever you do, ye shall be such as God decreed ye should be, &c. This is indeed a true doc- trine, but it seeming to separate the end from the means, it is so true, that withal, as Augustine saith, it is most inconvenient and pernicious, because it is not wholesomely applied to human in- Doio!i vei im- firmity. Now it is the part of an un- eTi'a'ii'i "iitn'e'Vne.h- skilful Or dcccitful physician, so to Kre"ui"au't'n™ ^PP'^ ^ S°°^ plaster, that either it pnisii.'aiit ciisii. shall do no good, or do hurt. There- fore Paul speaking of the reprobates, " whose end is destruction," adds, "whose God is their belly, whose glory is their shame," &c.; and here Jude having said that these seducers were "ordained to condemnation," subjoins, "ungodly men," who "turn the grace of God into las- civiousness." To the handling whereof I now proceed. This for the first part of the first argument to move the Christians earnestly to contend for the faith. The argument is the dangerousncss of the company of these seducers. The first part of which was a description of their entrance. The second follows, a description of their impiety, they having got entrance. Two ways the apostle describes it. More generally he calls them ungodly men. More particularly he shows wherein their ungodliness appeared; they " turn the grace of God into lasciviousness, and deny the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ." I. The apostle expresses the ungodliness of se- ducers more generally, calling them ungodly ; " Un- godly men." For explication. I shall first express more briefly and generally what the apostle here intends by the term ungodly; and then more fully and particularly explain wherein that ungodliness of which he speaks consists, or what it is to be ungodly. 1. The word aVf (3;;?, ungodly, is com- aanci a(ftou-. Ships noi at all. lane man, and One ot no religion. Iior godliness is properly the same with re- ligion, and religion is a spiritual bond : not only a Divine impression, whereby we are possessed with most high and peerless thoughts of God, and rapt with admiration of that excellency which shines in him ; but it is also a binder, a golden belt or girdle, that ties, and confederates, and clasps our souls to God. The faithful by religion are K:'oZn.%M God's bundle made upon earth to be quasi in f.,scem carried to heaven ; men tied together, Uoniini vincti, et , , . . , ,.-.1 /-, n- ^- , • rehsati sumus. by being tied to God. Godliness is this gentle manacle and bond of love tying iiier. ad. Am. us by gi'atitude to God's mercy, by faith '^' *' to his word, by fidelity to his covenant, by hope to his promises : godliness lays a most sweet and easy yoke upon all the parts of man, voluntarily resign- ing themselves to draw all together in the service of God; and so it ties the head from wicked imagina- tions, the heart from evil cogitations, the eyes from vanity, the tongue from profaneness, the hand from violence, the feet from running into sin. And though both religion and godliness in their largest extent com- Erehend the whole duty of man, to God and man, even oliness and righteousness ; yet properly and prima- rily they denote piety, and the observation of duties belonging immediately to God himself, 1 Tim. vi. 6. And so though ungodliness be often used in the largest sense, as importing all kind of wickedness committed against God and man, as Rom. iv. 5 ; 1 Tim. i. 9, &c., yet always properly, and (as I con- ceive) in this place principally, it is to be understood of wickedness immediately done against God himself, in denying him that reverence and honour due, and abusing that worship and service given to him, Rom. i. 25. The apostle by the word das/it'ig, ungodly, at once discovers both the hypocrisy of these seducers, whose great endeavour was to be accounted in the highest form of religion, and also the root of all that following wickedness wherewith he charges them. 2. More particularly, to consider what it is to be ungodly, or wherein ungodliness consists. I shall open it in three particulars. (I.) The denial to God the honour which is due to him. (2.) The attributing of the honour which is due to him to something else beside him. (3.) The giving to God his honour after a wrong manner. (1.) To be ungodly is to deny that honour to God which is due to him ; and that sundry ways, as, [1.] To deny God his honour by not knowing him, and acknowledging his providence, presence, justice, mercy, power. " The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God," Psal. xiv. 1 ; he knows no such God as the true God is, no omniscient, just, merciful, powerful, &c. God. He who denies any attribute of God denies God himself: thus the sons of Eli "knew not the Lord," 1 Sam. ii. 12; and thus he, spoken of Psal. 1. 21, who thought that God was altogether such an one as himself : thus likewise the ungodly, who say. How doth God know ? can he judge through the dark cloud ? Thick clouds are a covering to him, that he seeth not. Job xxii. 13, 14. This piece of atheism is the foundation of all the rest. He who knows not his landlord, cannot pay his rent. [2.] Not to honour God by believing him. Ungodly men totally distrust God's promises, though he seals them with an oath. It is impossible that God should utter a lie to them, Heb. vi. 18, and that ungodly men I (while such) should do any other than give the lie i to God. They make God a liar, 1 John v. 10, the ' greatest dishonour imaginable ! an evil heart departs from, depends not upon the living God, Heb. iii. 12. ' [3.] Not to honour God by loving him. Ungodly men are haters of God, Rom. i. 30 ; and it is not for want of poison, but power, that they express not the greatest hatred against him, even the taking away of his very being, Psal. Ixxxi. 11. Hence it is that some have called an ungodly man a deicide, though they meant him not such in regard of execution, but of affection, Isa. xxx. 11. It is true, God himself is out of the reach of an ungodly man, but what of him they can obtain, as his pictures, his image in his children, ordinances, they endeavour to destroy and abolish : like thieves, who wish the judge were Ver. 4. THE EPISTLE OF JUDE. 87 dead or hurt, the ungoilly desire that God miffht cease to be God, that he had lost the hand of nis justice, the arm of his power, and the eye of his knowledge, Job xxi. 14. [4.] Not to honour God by fearing to sin against him. Ungodly men some- times presume, sometimes they despair, but never do they reverentially fear him, so as to keep themselves from sin ; they fear not an oath ; they fear hell, they fear not God; they say not. How can we do this great evil, " and sin against God ? " Gen. xxxix. 9 ; they fear sin for hell, not as hell. [5.] Not to honour God by obeying his word, Jer. xliv. 16. Ungodly men cast off the yoke, they are sons of Belial. They "slide back as a backsliding heifer," Hos. iv. 16. They will none of his ways. They desire not the knowledge of them. Job xxi. 14. They hate instruc- tion, and cast the word of God behind them, Psal. 1. 17. In their works they deny God, Tit. i. 16. They will never have Christ for their Ruler, nor his word for their rule, Luke xix. 14. [6.] Not to honour God by bearing his stroke. Ungodly men are not as children under the rod, but as wild bulls in a net, they had rather be able to tear than willing to kiss the rod. Like chaff, they fly in the face of, and not like the solid grain, fall down before, him that fans them. They accept not of the punishment of their iniquity, nor wait for deliverance from their punish- ment, 2 Kings vi. 33 ; they either faint under, or rage against, or take no notice of the hand of God when it is lifted up against them. [7.] Not to honour God by regarding his worship. The ungodly " call not upon the Lord," Psal. xiv. 4. Only the godly man is made like a man to look upward. The other in their wants go to Baalzebub the god of Ekron, or the witch of Endor, to earthly and sinful shifts ; rather howling through the sense of their wants, than pray- ing in the belief of receiving the blessings they desire. In obtaining comforts, they " sacrifice to their net, and burn incense to their drags," Hab. i. 16; and are as sensual in their enjojTnents, as unsubmis- sive in their wants. They can neither pray when they are afflicted, nor sing psalms when they are merry : instead of praying, they despair ; instead of singing psalms, they revel : when they are in want, they are as distrustful as if God could never help them ; when they abound, they are as secure as if God could never hurt them. In a word, they account not the holy duties of prayer, hearing, or the sacra- ments, to be their pri\'ileees, but their drudgery. They are not " joyful in the house of prayer," Isa. Ivi. 7 ; the sabbath is not a delight, Isa. Iviii. 13; the word of the Lord is a burden ; and when they are in holy performances, they are like a fish upon the dry land. (2.) Ungodliness consists in giving the honour which is due to God to something else beside God. And this ungodly men do two ways. [I.] Inwardly, in the soul, will, and affections, and the whole inner man; as, 1. AVhen they place their trust and confidence upon something besides God, and so place it in the room of God, making flesh their arm and support, Jer. xvii. 5. Thus one un- fodly man depends upon his wealth, making it his ope and confidence. Job xxxi. 24 ; another upon his strength, resting upon man, putting his trust in horses and chariots, Psal. xx. 7 ; another upon his wit and policy, which in a moment God is able to turn into foolishness, Prov. iii. 5. They will not take the word of a man who has once or twice deceived them, but they will rely upon the broken creature, which always fails fond expectation, and is no other than a lying vanity, Jonah ii. 8; hereby not only disappointing themselves, but dishonouring Him who alone requires and deserves our trust and affiance, Fsal. Ixii. 8. 2. When they set that love and de- light upon other things which is due to God, who is to be loved with all the heart and soul : and thus sundry there are who love their pleasures more than God, 2 Tim. iii. 4, " whose belly is their God," Phil, iii. 19 ; others there are whose gain is godliness, and who are fitly therefore by the apostle called idol- aters, Eph. V. 5. That which a man most loves is his God. Ungodly men set their hearts (Psal. Ixii. 10) upon that which was made to set their feet upon ; with unbomided eagerness they follow the world. Moderation holds not the reins of their earthly in- dustry, in which they are not carried with the gentle gales of indifference, but the furious winds of vio- lence. They will be rich, though they lose their souls and their God, and are drowned in perdition, I Tim. vi. 9. 3. When they bestow that fear upon the creature which is only due to God ; when man, not God, is their fear and their dread, Isa. viii. 13. If outward troubles or troublers approach, they shake like " the trees of the wood," Isa. vii. 2 ; if man threaten a prison, they tremble more than when God threatens hell, Isa. li. 12, 13; fearing him more that can kill the body, than him who can throw both body and soul into hell : whence it is that they are insnared by the unlawful commands of superiors, " willingly walking after the commandment," Hos. I I ; and " falling down before the wicked, become like a troubled fountain, and a corrupt spring," Prov. XXV. 26 ; serving, instead of the Lord, the times. [2.] Outwardly, ungodly men give the honour to the creature which is due to God ; and that they do by outward religious worship, when they worship and " serve the creature more than the Creator, who is God blessed for evermore," Rom. i. 25 ; before whom religiously we must only kneel and bow down, Psal. xcv. 6. How unlike are ungodly men to Him who was God and man ! Christ refused to bow to the devil, not only because he was a devil, but a creature. Matt. iv. 10; denying to him not only in- ward devotion, but outward reverence. And how imlike to the three godly men, who tell the king com- manding them to bow to his image, that they will not serve his gods ! Dan. iii. 18. What do they but make a lie, when they make an image of an uncir- cumscriptible infinite God, Isa. xl. 18, 25, and show themselves as blockish as the block they worship, which is no better than that which even now they burnt? Isa. xliv. 19. Poor is their pretence, who, to exempt themselves from this ungodliness, plead, though they present their bodies at religious worship, yet they preser\'e their souls for God ; for why could not Christ, for a whole world, with all his wisdom, find out such a piece of policy, and make not body and soul one man, that must have but one God, one worship ? Are not our bodies the Lord's as well as our souls ? or can she be accounted a chaste spouse, which gives the use of her body to a stranger, upon pretence of keeping her heart to her husband ? (3.) Ungodliness consists in giving honour to God after a false and an undue manner. As, [1.] When it is given unwarrantably, and not according to his revealed will ; when tradition and human invention put the Scripture out of place. This is , . . to worship God m vam, Matt. xv. 9. Nothing is more counterfeited and disfigured than religion. Men, through natural unsubmissivcness to the purity and simplicity of Scripture commands, through love of their own conceits, novelty, carnality, are prone to make many golden calves. People, like the Lacedemonians, who were wont to dress their gods after the fashion of the city, love to dress their devotions after their own humours, being zealous, but not according to knowledge ; and like bats, con- verting the humour of their eyes to make their 88 AN EXPOSITION UPON Ver.4. wings large. These give not ' service," Rom. xii. 1, for the ] . God that "reasonable performance of which they must produce a word, a Scripture reason. Man's work is to keep laws, not either to be or make a law for himself or others. [2.] Honour is given to God after an undue manner, when it is not given him obediently ; when, though what is done be com- manded, yet it is not done because it is commanded, or in obedience to a precept. The hand must not only be at work, but the eye must also be upon the word. It is very possible for a work commanded to be an act of disobedience, in respect of the intent of the performer. [3.] When it is not given him in- wardly, heartily. Col. iii. 23 ; when men are eye- sei-vants, and do not the will of God from the heart, nor serve him in the spirit, Rom. i. 9. Ungodly men rather act a service than yield a service ; they rather compliment God than serve him. They bring a bone without marrow. They glister, but they burn not ; like some men who, lifting with others at a burden, make as loud a cry as the rest, but yet they put to it no strength at all. In God's account, they who do but appear godly, are nothing at all but ungodlv, Matt. XV. 7, 8 ; 2 Tim. iii. 5 ; Ezek. xxxiii. 31. [4.] AVhen honour is not given to God impartially. Un- godly men pick out one work, and reject another ; choose an easy, and forbear a difficult work ; serine and honour God so far as they may not disserve and dishonour themselves ; engaging no further than they may safely come off. Whereas nothing should come amiss to one who rightly serves this Master. One piece of his service must not be preferred before an- other. We must answer to every call. We must not examine wliat the ser\'ice is which is commanded, but who the Master is that commands, Psal. cxix. 6, 128 ; 1 Tim. v. 21. [5.] When honour is not given him cheerfully. Ungodly men do the will of God against their will ; it is not their meat and drink ; it goes not down as their food, but as a potion ; not upon choice, but constraint ; hence their services are neither easy to themselves, nor acceptable to God, whose service is as much our privilege as our duty, Psal. xl. 8 ; 2 Cor. ix. 7. [6.] When he is not hon- oured constantly. Ungodly men will have their rest from labour before they die. The honour which they give to God is full of gaps. Their heart is not stcdfast with God, Psal. Ixxviii. 37. Ungodly men want a fountain, a principle from whence their ser- \-ices should issue, and therefore, like a standing water, they will in time dry up. They are not friends, and therefore they love not at all times. The honour they give to God is like the redness of blushing, soon down ; not like the ruddiness of complexion, abiding, Hos. vi. 4. [7.] Wlien honour is not given to God fei-vently, and diligently, with all, the might and strength. Ungodly men honour not God as a God, as the best, the greatest, but without cost, slightly and coldly. The heart has no love, and the liand has little labour. When the spleen swells, all other parts decav ; and those who nourish any lust, will honour God but with lean and thin services. A divided heart will be a lazy heart. [8.] When honour is not given to God with single aims and sincere in- tentions. Ungodly men propound not to themselves glory-ends ; God is not honoured by them for him- self. They love not the lesson wherein there is not some toy of pleasure or profit ; they seek themselves, and not God, and therefore they lose God and them- selves too, remaining ungodly here, and unrewarded hereafter, 2 Kings x. 28, 29. Obs. 1. It is possible for men to attain the highest estimation for godliness, and yet be inwardly at the same time ungodly. Men may be accounted the godly party, and yet not have a dram of true godli- ness in them. Had not these seducers been seem- ingly godly, they had never been admitted by the church ; and had they not been really ungodly, they had never been by the Spirit of God called so. Un- godliness is a close, a secret evil ; it may creep into our profession, participation in ordinances, and church communion, undiscerned. An ungodly heart may be in a glistering professor, even in those who have a form of godliness, 2 Tim. iii. 5. Judas, Simon Magus, the Corinthian teachers, were not without their estimation from men for piety, nor without de- testation from God for hypocrisy. Christians should not, like some tradesmen, live altogether upon credit. What does a good name help a rotten heart ? How poor an advantage to a dying man is it for one to come and say. Sir, I am glad to see you well ! Truth of grace is alone beyond the reach of hypocrites. Shape may be pictured, life cannot. The magicians imitated Moses, till God discovered his own finger in the miracles. True godliness is God's handiwork : of this the most specious pretender falls short. O Christian, put not oif the soul alone with shadows. Labour to be what thou seemest, and then seem to be what thou art. Obs. 2. Ungodliness is the root of all lewd, ir- regular, and licentious practices. The apostle places the ungodliness of seducers in the forefront of all that wickedness wherewith he charges them. A man who has no care of God's honour, will make no con- science of any sin. Where God is not served, man will not be obeyed. Abraham rightly collected, that they who feared not God, would not fear to take away his life, Gen. XX. 11. "By the fear of God men depart from evil," Prov. xvi. 6; viii. 13. Religion in the heart is the best means to order the hand. Edu- cation, exigence of condition, resolutions, human laws, shame, fear, may for a while curb, but they cannot change a sinner ; they may cloak, not cure sin ; they may work a palliative, not an eradicative cure. All they can do, till the heart be changed, is but to sew a piece of new cloth to an old garment, new expressions, professions, to an old disposition, which will but make the rent the greater. How im- prudent are those parents, who expect obedience to themselves from their children, who are ever suffered to be disobedient to God ! How little policy do those magistrates express, who only care to make men sub- jects to them, willingly suffering them to be rebels to God ! I confess, Satan loves to lay the brats of wars, treason, and rebellion, &c. at the door of religion. But as truly may politicians utter those words as ever they were uttered, O religion, if thou hadst been here our nation had not died. And if that death may be attributed to the absence of religion, how little are people beholden to them, who hin- der it from coming to the nation to cure it ! Obs. 3. Eminent, if mere, profession will end in eminent profaneness. A fiery hypocrite will grow from being lukewarm in religion, to be stone-cold in irreligiou. The seeming piety and glorious appear- ances of these seducers in advancing Christ, grace, and Christian liberty, was soon followed with the utter rejection of godliness. What profane, and even godless persons, and how purely neglective of all Divine worship, did they prove ! The higher the building is which wants a foundation, the greater will be its fall. No water is so cold as that which after greatest heat grows cold. A tradesman who breaks, ha\-ing traded much, and been trusted much, makes a great noise when he breaks. The hypocrite who flies the highest pitch of religion, is most bruised with falls into profaneness. Are there any who so much scorn the ministry of the word, and all holy duties, nay, who so much deny and profess they can Ver. 4. THE EPISTLE OF JUDE. 89 live above ordinances, as they who have heretofore been the most forward to run after them, though, alas ! unfruitful under them when they did so ? ^\ ho can with tearless eyes or a sorrowless heart observe, that many who have given golden hopes in their youth for godliness, and whose holy education was followed for a while with most pious appearances, should afterwards turn such loose libertines, so athe- istical and irreligious, as if now they studied only to make up their former restraint and forbearance with a greater profuseness in all ungodliness ? How much better therefore is a drop of sincerity than a sra of appearing sanctity ! A land-flood which rolls and swells to-day will be down and gone, when the fountain will have enough and to spare. Study therefore, O Christian, to lay the foundation deep, before thou raisest the building high. And study first to get into Jesus Christ by a humble diffidence of thyself, and fiduciary recumbence upon him, and to evidence it by the thorough work and practice of mortification, and a hearty love to holiness. Obs. 4. Every one should tremble to be branded deservedly with this black mark of ungodliness, which the apostle here sets upon the worst of men. To this end consider, (1.) Ungodliness crosses the end of our election. We are " chosen before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy," Eph. i. 4. Godliness is the eternal design which God had upon every one set apart for happiness. (2.) It opposes the end of Christ in redeeming us ; which was, that we should be holy and without blemish, Eph. v. 27 ; Luke i. 75, and be presented holy and unblamable in his sight. Col. i. 22 : where- ever Christ justifies, he renews the ungodly. (3.) It is opposite to our profession. The name atheist we all disclaim. "We have renounced ungodliness in our baptism, wherein we took an oath of allegiance and fealty to God; and which is not a sacrament of ob- signation of the benefits, unless of obligation to the godliness of a Christian. We have taken God for our God, who is a holy God, and whom we profess to follow. (4.) It is opposite to the end of God's dis- covering his gospel, which hath appeared, to teach us that we should deny ungodliness, Tit. ii. 11, 12. " Let me go," said the angel to Jacob, " for the day breaketh ;" much more should Christians bid farewell to all ungodliness, the day of the gospel so gloriously appearing. (5.) It opposes the acceptance of all our persons and sei-vices. God sets apart only him that is godly for himself, Psal. iv. 3 : godly men alone arc his treasure, his portion, his jewels : an ungodly man, though never so rich and honourable, is but a ■vile person. Morality without piety is but glistering iniquity. " The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomi- nation to the Lord," Prov. xv. 8; Mai. i. 10. God looks to the person before the gift. Holy and ac- ceptable are put together, Rom. xii. 1. "Without godliness our performances are provocations. (6.) It opposes our comfortable enjoyment of every bene- fit. All the comforts of ungodly men are curses. Godliness makes loss to be gain; ungodliness makes gain to be loss, 1 Tim. vi. 6. It matters not what filings we enjoy, but what hearts we have in enjoy- ing them. Unto the defiled nothing is pure, Tit. i. 15. An ungodly man taints every thing which he touches. (7.) Ungodliness opposes our eternal bless- edness ; nothing but godliness stands in stead in the great day ; then shall we fully discern " between him that serveth God, and him that sen'eth him not," Mai. iii. 18. " Seeing these things shall be dis- solved, what manner of^ persons ought we to be in all holy conversation and godliness ?" 2 Pet. iii. 11. An ungodly man is as unsuitable to the work as he is unworthy of the wages of heaven. If you expect glory, exercise, train up yourselves to godliness, 1 Tim. iv. 7, yi'/ivaKe ; labour to be expert therein, by belie^ang that the promises of God in Christ shall be made good, by observing his presence in all your actions, by acknowledging his providence over all events, by casting from you whatever oft'ends him, by taking upon you the yoke of obedience active and passive, doing and undergoing his pleasure cheer- fully; and lastly, by fervent prayer for the blessings which you want, and sincere thankfulness for those which you enjoy. This for the first and more general expression of the impiety of these seducers, the apostle saith they were " ungodly." II. The apostle shows wherein their ungodliness appeared; and that, 1. In their abusing the grace of God, in these words, " Turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness." In the words we may consider, 1. What these se- ducers abused, or their enjoyment, " the grace of our God." 2. How they abused it, or their misimprove- ment of that enjojTnent, they turned it " into las- civiousness." In their enjojTnent we may take notice, 1. Of the nature of their enjoyment, " grace." 2. Of the owner thereof, " God ;" with the propriety which the faith- ful have in him, he being called " our God." 1. Of the kind or nature of that enjojTnent which these seducers abused, it was " grace." Two things I shall briefly here show by way of explication. What thing it is which the apostle here intends by the name of " grace ;" and, Why that thing is so called. 1. Not much to enlarge upon this first thing. Grace in its proper notion signifies that free good- ness, favour, or good will whereby one is moved to benefit another, as both the Hebrew and Greek .vords manifest. But it is 'J.ra°hosus 'tuit. not only taken in Scripture in that Amnios "15? e'en, primary and proper sense, but among vi. b; xxxix.ei; j*^i ..i* i*xi-i ^umb. VI. C5. sundry other acceptations, tor trie bene- v,;p,c, xopifouoi. fits and good things themselves which ocoVh' 10 •' xii of free favour and good will are be- Is; Epb'. iv.'se;' stowed; and in this sense, as it often Heb.xTii^g; in Scripture denotes the benefits, alms, Rom. v_. 15, 17 ; and beneficence which we receive from man, I Cor. x\-i. 3; 2 Cor. viii. 4, 6, 19, so in a mul- titude of places, the gifts and benefits freely bestowed by God ; and among them, as redemption, life eter- nal, the gifts of sanctification, &c., so the very gospel of salvation, and the revelation of the mysteries of redemption, and the free pardon of sin through Christ, Rom. vi. 14, 15; 1 Pet. iii. 7; John i. 16. And this last way it is taken Acts xiv. 3 ; xx. 32, where the gospel is called the word of grace ; called also " the gospel of the grace of God," Acts xx. 23; and grace itself, 2 Cor. vi. 1; Tit. ii. 11, "We be- seech you that ye receive not the grace of God in vain." And, " The grace of God hath appeared." In this last signification I take it in this place; wherein w'hat the apostle had called the faith in the foregoing verse, for which the Christians should contend, he calls the grace in this, which seducers abused and opposed. 2. Why is the doctrine of the gospel called by the name of grace ? (1.) Because it is a gift of grace, and it was only God's free good will that bestowed it. These ques- tions. Why it was ever bestowed at all ? or why one age or place of the world should receive it rather than another? why God should discover the "mystery that was kept secret since the world began," Rom. xvi. 25, 26, to those who were sinners of the Gentiles, who serN'ed dumb idols ? why God should be found of 90 AN EXPOSITION UPON Ver. 4. them who sought him not, and made manifest unto them who asked not after him ? Isa. Ixv. 1, can only be answered by that reason which Christ gives of God's hiding these things from the wise and pru- dent, and revealing them to babes : even so. Father, because it seemed good in thy sight, Matt. xi. 25, 26. (2.) Because the subject-matter of the gospel, even all the benefits discovered in it, flowed merely from free grace, whether blessings without us or within us. Without us, election is the election of grace, and "according to the good pleasure of his will," Eph. i. 5: our vocation was "according to grace," 2 Tim. i. 9. Regeneration was of " God's own will," James i. 18. Faith the " gift of God," Phil. i. 29. Justifica- tipn is " freely by his grace," Rom. iii. 24. And a "free gift," Rom. v. 15, 18. "Forgiveness of our sins according to the riches of grace," Eph. i. 7. " Eternal life is the gift of God," Rom. vi. 23. Even the life of glory is the grace of life, 1 Pet. iii. 7. Christ himself was a token of free love sent to man- kind. And as his whole work was to love, so his whole love was free. The portion which he expects is nothing but poverty. Would we purchase any benefit of him, we must be sure to leave our money behind us, Isa. Iv. 1. There is not one soul that ever he loved, but was poor and empty, sick and im- potent, Tuiamiable and filthy, regardless of him and Ignorant, opposite to him and unkind, and often un- faithful to him and disloyal. And may not the gos- pel which discovers this goodness well be called grace ? (3.) As the gospel discovers and reveals, so it in- strumentally imparts and bestows, these benefits of free grace. The gospel is not only light to discover them, but an invitation to accept them; not only a story, but a testament. The language of the gospel is, " Come, for all things are now ready," Luke xiv. 17. Nor has it only an inviting, but a prevailing voice with some. It is made powerful (Rom. i. IG) to overcome the most delaying, disobedient sinner, by him who does not only ordain, but accompany it, Acts vi. 7 ; 2 Thess. i. 8. This grace brings salva- tion. Tit. ii. 12; it brings it to us, not to look upon, but to take. Obs. 1. What a happy difference there is between the law and the gospel ! The law affords not a drop of grace ; it bestows nothing freely. The language of the law is. Do thou, and live ; if not, die ; no work, no wages : but in the gospel, the yoke of personal obedience is translated from believers to their Surety ; there is nothing for them to pay; all that they have to do, is to hunger and feed. Their happiness is free in respect of themselves, though costly to Christ, who by his merits purchases for them whatever they would obtain, and by his Spirit works in them what- ever he requires. Obs. 2. How shall we escape, if we neglect the sal- vation which the gospel of grace brings ! If they are unexcusable who pay not their own debts under the law, what are they who will not do so much as accept of free pardon and a Surety under the gospel ! Gos- pel grace neglected is the great condemnation of the world. How mindful should we be of the apostle's counsel, " Receive not the grace of God in vain ! " 2 Cor. vi. 1 ; not " only in word, but in power," 1 Cor. iv. 20 ; as it is a quickening spirit, or spirit and life. Hot begetting only a form of profession, but as changing and transforming into tne image of God, and altering the inward disposition of the heart, 2 Cor. iii. 6, 18. If the grace of the gospel make a stop at restraining, it only advantages men, ut mitius ardeant, not to save them. Obs. 3. The sin and folly of those is great, who, though poor, are yet so proud that they submit not themselves to the freeness of the gospel ; who will not feed upon the supper of evangelical benefits, un- less they may pay the reckoning ; who mix at least their own merits with Christ's, expecting justification for their own obedience. Alas, what is our rectitude, but crookedness ! what our righteousnesses, but filthy rags ! How fond an undertaking is it to go " about to establish our own righteousness ! " Rom. X. 3 ; what is it but to endeavour "'''"' „^;"^°'°,7""' to make a dead carcass to stand alone ? How just is the issue, that rich ones should be sent empty from the supper ! A proud heart can no more be filled with evangelical grace, than can a vessel with water poured upon its convex outside. It is better to be a humble sinner than a proud justiciary. 06^. 4. How cheerful, free, and forward should all their service be who partake of the grace of the gos- pel! If God have removed the insup- portable yoke of legal satisfaction, how nn^.^i;.!',"!".! willingly should we take upon us the honesiat coiia. easy yoke of evangelical obedience ! Though saints be exempted from bondage, yet not from service. Christians, though they serve not God by the compulsive power of the law, yet they ought by virtue of the Spirit renewing the soul. Their spirits should be free and willing, even when strength and power fail them. They should delight to do the will of God, Psal. ex. 3; xl. 8. If gospel grace be free, then it is most unsuitable that gospel service should be forced. The evangelical bond to obedi- ence is strong, though it be silken. Obs. 5. Every one should covet to be interested in the benefits of the gospel. They are freely be- stowed. It is easy to know a house where alms are freely distributed, by the crowding of beggars : when money is freely thrown about the streets at the king's coronation, how do the poor thrust and tread one upon another ! There is no such crowding about a tradesman's shop : why ? here poor people must pay for what they have. But, alas, men act quite con- trary in a spiritual respect, they throng after the world, which makes them pay for what they have dearly, and neglect Christ, who offers all they want freely. Why is it that the kingdom of heaven suffers not more violence ? The world is not bread, and yet it requires money ; Christ is bread, and requires nothing but a stomach ! Pity those who, for lying vanities, forsake their own mercy. Call others to partake of this grace with thee ; eat not thy morsel alone. Say, as those lepers did, This is a day of good tidings, and we hold our peace. Hast thou received this grace ? wish all men were like to thee, thy sins only excepted. When beggars have fared well at a rich man's door, they go away, and by telling it, send others : tell to others how free a housekeeper thy God is; so free that he most delights in comers and company. This for the kind or nature of the enjoyment which these seducers abused, " grace." 2. The owner thereof, whose grace it was, called here by the apostle " our God." In the explication, I shall briefly show two things. What it is for God to be " our God," or what these words " our God" import ; and. Why the apostle here mentioning the grace abused by seducers, calls it not simply the grace of God, but " the grace of our God." (1.) What it is for God to be "our God." In this three things deserve a large explication, which I (to avoid tediousness) shall but touch. 1. Wherein the the nature of this propriety consists, or what kind of propriety it is. 2. What there is of God in which the faithful have an interest and propriety. 3. How suitable and beneficial a good this God is to those who have this interest and propriety in him. Ver. 4. THE EPISTLE OF JUDE. 91 [1.] For the nature of this propriety in God. God may be said to be ours, and we may be said to have a propriety in him, by a threefold right. 1. By a right of creation ; and thus he is tlie God of heathens, of devils, of all creatures ; they being all the work of his hands, having from him life, being, and motion, Acts xiv. 17, 18; xvii. 28, 29. 2. By a right of ex- ternal profession, or federal sanctity j and thus God is often called the God of Israel ; and in respect of this, the Jews are said to be the children of the kingdom. 3. By peculiar grace and sa\ang interest through Christ ; and thus only believers who are really united to Christ by faith have a propriety in him, with whom God hath covenanted that he will be their reconciled Friend and Father, pardoning their sin by Christ, putting his law into their inward parts, and writing it in their hearts, that he will be their God, and that they shall be his people, Jer. xxxi. 31. [2.] For the second ; the faithful have a propriety in all of God they can want or wish. Particularly, 1. In all the three Persons of the Godhead. The Father accepts them for his in his Beloved, Eph. i. 6; nay, he gave them to Christ, John xvii. 11, and chose them "before the foundation of the world," Eph. i. 4. The Father of Christ is their Father, to provide for, pardon, and govern them, and to atford them all things which pertain to life and godliness. The Son is their Mediator, 1 Tim. ii. 5, their Head, Col. i. 18, their Brother, Rom. viii. 17, their Husband, 2 Cor. xi. 2 ; they are his by the Spirit, and he theirs by faith; he delivers them from all the evil they fear ; he obtains for them all the good they desire. The Holy Ghost is theirs, to direct and teach them, to purify and cleanse them, to furnish and adorn them, to support and comfort them, John xiv. 16. 2. They have a propriety in the attributes of God. In his omniscience, he knowing whatsoever they want or hurts them. In his wisdom, to teach and guide them. In his power, to protect and defend them. In his love, to delight in, pity, and provide for them. In his righteousness, to clear and judge their cause, Psal. iv. 1. In his all-sufficiency, to supply and furnish them with all needful blessings, accord- ing to every want, Psal. Ixxxiv. 1 1 ; xxiii. 1 ; Rom. viii. 32. One God answers to all exigences. 3. They have a propriety in his promises, " great and precious promises," 2 Pet. i. 4, wherein all they want, and in- finitely more than they can conceive or desire, is assured to them ; grace, glory, mercies for the throne and the footstool ; nay, God himself, in whom all blessings are summed up and centred ; all being as certain as if already performed ; and for the accom- Elishment whereof they have God's oath, wherein he as, as I may say, pawned his very being ; and the seal of the blood of Christ, that being the blood of the covenant, and he the Mediator of the covenant, in whom all the promises are yea and Amen, Heb. vi. 17; xii. 24; 2 Cor. i. 20. 4. They have a pro- priety in the providences of God, whereby whatso- ever may hurt them is withheld from them ; not a hair of their head suffered to perish. Matt. s. 30 ; and they, though poor, persecuted, sick, dying, yet ever safe ; nay, whereby whatever befalls them shall be beneficial to them ; every stone thrown at them made a precious stone ; every twig of every rod sanctified ; the issue of every dispensation made sweet and beautiful. In a word, whereby they are enabled to be, and do, and bear whatever God either commands or imposes ; and they relieved with what- ever may do or make them good. [3.] For the third; how suitable and beneficial a fod God is to those who have a propriety in him! He is a spiritual good, John iv. 24 : drossy and earthy comforts suit not with a spiritual soul ; nor are they such food as the soul loves. Thy soul is no fitter for gold to be put into it, than are thy bags to have grace put into them. 2. He is a living good. The creature is a dead, lifeless, lumpish, inactive thing ; it may be said of it as it is of an idol, It must be borne, because it cannot go, Jer. x. 5 — 7- We rather uphold it than it upholds us. Like Baal, it is not able to plead for itself. It helps us not in dis- tress of conscience, or in the day of wrath. Like Ab- salom's mule, it goes from under us, and leaves us in our distresses ; but God relieves the soul, and affords strengthening consolation, Heb. vi. 18. He is a present help in the needful time of trouble; and ever either preser\'es us from or sustains in adversity. 3. He is an absolute, independent good, Isa. lix. 16. He is self-sufficient. If he be hungry, he will not tell thee, Psal. 1. 12. He depends no more upon the creature than the fountain upon the stream. He is not hindered from helping us by any deficiencies of the creature. He has sometimes complained that he has had too many, never that he has had too few to deliver by. How safe is it to depend upon Him who depends upon none ! 4. He is an unmixed good, and has nothing in him but goodness. He is an ocean of sweetness, without a drop of gall. He is altogether lovely, and a beauty without any shadow, Cant. V. 16. There is nothing in him that the soul could spare, or wish were absent. Every creature is a bitter-sweet, and so poor a comfort, that its bitter- ness is necessary to the very being of its sweetness ; for had it not a bitterness, its sweetness would be fulsome : but though God is altogether delightful, yet he never cloys ; but the more he is enjoyed, the more he pleaseth the enjoyer. 5. He is a never-failing good, Luke xii. 33 ; a fountain which the hottest summer dries not, a treasure never emptied, one whose perfections never leave himself, and one who never leaves any that ever truly enjoyed him. 6. Lastly, He is a most full good, and that in two re- spects. (1.) In respect of the comprehensiveness, or the fulness of the object. In one God is every thing. He is a bundle of all perfections. All the dispersed excellencies in the world are assembled in him. When he saith, " I will be thy God," there is as much said as can be said. And as we can have nothing better than God, so of good we can have nothing more. (2.) He is a full good in regard of content- ment, or fulness of the subject: whoever has an in- terest in him, has that cKpBovlav, that abundant plenty, which, observed, will not suffer him to envy the most prosperous sinner. God can fill the vast, capacious soul, like those waterpots of Galilee, up to the very brim. He has enough for himself, and needs must he then have enough for us. The water which can fill the sea, can much more fill a cup. " My people shall be satisfied with my goodness, saith the Lord," Jer. xxxi. 14. " My God shall supply all your need," Phil. iv. 19. The tongue, the wish, the conception, all fall short of God. In heaven, though we shall comprehend as much as we want, yet not so much as he is. (2.) The second branch of explication was. Why the apostle, here mentioning the grace abused by these seducers, calls it "the grace of our God." This he does to make the fact of these seducers in abusing it the more odious among these Christians. Dis- honour offered to God deeply affects the soul of one who has a propriety in God. Our own child, servant, house, nay, beast, or a poorer thing, if it be our own, we suffer not to be wronged ; and much more does our propriety in God make every thing which dis- honours him hateful to us. And that upon two grounds : 1. As he is our God who loves us, takes us into covenant, and owns us. Holy ingenuity will 92 AN EXPOSITION UPON Ver. 4. constrain us to love that grace which saved us, that God who loved us freely when we were unlovely, who loved us abundantly, bestowing his very self, and in himself all things, and ^\ho continues thus to love us eternally. 2. As he is our God whom we have taken by covenant to be ours, to love and serve for ever. Now it is both against fidelity and inbred generosity, to suffer that thing to be abused which we have un- dertaken to serve. This neither agrees with honesty nor honour; it is not only a sin, but a shame. Hardly is any servant so low-spirited as to think it consistent with his credit to serve an abused, a disgraced mas- ter ; but especially are all people tender of the honour of the God whom they have undertaken to serve. The Philistines tread not on the threshold upon which their god Dagon fell. They who have taken God for their own, cannot endure that his glory should suffer from themselves or others. Obs. 1. Great is their folly and misery who content themselves in a common propriety and interest in God. It is a false consequence, to say, because God made thee, or because thou art reckoned to belong to God by common and visible profession, that tlierefore God will save thee, Isa. xxvii. II. A man is not contented to be the king's subject, he desires to be his favourite. They who have not God for their God in Christ, have him so for their God, as they have him also for their enemy. Men think it not enough to have an opinionative, esteemed, unless they have also a real, a legal, propriety in their lands ; and why should they not also labour to have their interest in God without cracks and flaws ? Obs. 2. Sin is the greatest evil in the world. It parts between us and the greatest good. " Your ini- quities have separated between you and your God," Isa. lix. 2. We may be poor, persecuted, disgraced, and yet have God for ours ; but lixdng in the love of any sin, we cannot. There is more evil in a drop of sin, than in a sea of suflering. Obs. 3. They who have God for theirs, may con- tentedly want all other comforts j they have enough besides. They may answer Satan when he offers worldly glory and preferments, as that woman did the prophet, I live among mine own people, 2 Kings iv. 13. I have enough: "The Lord is my shep- herd; I shall not want," Psal.xxiii. 1. When a saint see all worldly vanities, he may say, How many things are there that I want not ! Their names I will not take up into my lips, saith David ; " the Lord is my portion," Psal. xvi. 4, 5. The people of God are as some countries, which can live of themselves with- out being beholden to others. A saint, like a rich man, may spare and spend for a good conscience as much in one day as a poor worldling would count his utter imdoing to part with. And this is the reason why God cuts his people short of outward comforts, tliey have enough in having God ; and never does God more delight to let out himself into the soul, than when he deprives of temporals. Joseph, when he manifested himself to his brethren, caused all to go out of the place where he did it. Obs. 4. It is a false way of valuing one's worth by any worldly enjoyment. Gains or losses are to be estimated by enjoyment of more or less of God. The titles of substance, profits, goods, are abusively given to riches: without an interest in God, they are but shadows, losses, evils. They are only full (like the sieve in the water) when they are enjoyed in God ; empty, when without him. Obs. 5. The true reason of all the wrangling and unquietness of the soul with and in men, is because their soul has no real interest in God. Lord, thou hast made us for thee, and we are unquiet till we come to thee ! Great is their folly, who, like the child that cries for want of sleep, and yet will not go to bed, cannot be quiet without God, and yet are most unwilling to have him. If men loved them- selves in loving God, man might hate, and troubles approach, but not hurt, not disquiet them. Obs. 6. It should be the grand design of all those who are without God, to obtain this propriety in him. To this end, (I.) Be sensible that you are by nature indigent, Godless creatures, broken off from God by the breach of the first covenant, and without God, hating and hated of God, Eph. ii. 12; alienated from his life, and from his love, Eph. iv. 18 ; children both of disobedience and wrath, Eph. ii. 1, 2. Judge yourselves for your former rebellion and un- faithfulness in breaking covenant, unworthy that ever God should own you, and that you stand at his mercy, either to be your God or your Judge. (2.) Make a Friend, who may make up the former breach and disunion between God and you. No readmission is to be expected without a Mediator. God will not be yours, if Christ be none of yours. A Christless soul is a Godless soul ; an absolute God ; is a consuming fire. God will never be satisfied but by the mediation of a sacrifice ; nor can we ever be taken into covenant without the blood of the cove- nant, Exod. xxiv. 8; Psal. 1. 5. The blood of Christ is the only cement of reuniting and knitting God and man together. (3.) Break your league with sin. Expect not a propriety in God, if you continue to love that which first disunited you from him. God and sin draw contrary ways; there can be no accom- modation between them. Matt. vi. 24. If God be ours, sin must be none of ours. They are like two balances, if one goes up, the other goes down. A man cannot look heavenward and earthward at the same time. God may take many of us for his, we can take only him for ours. (4.) Let the propriety be mutual. Expect not that God should be engaged to you, and that you should be loose from God. " Yield yourselves to the Lord," serve him, and give the hand to him, 2 Chron. xxx. 8. When he makes the strictest commands, be as willing to say, Lord, we are thine ; as to say, when he makes the sweetest promises. Lord, thou art ours. Cant. vi. 3. Receive from him the law of your life. Let him make the conditions of the covenant and the articles of agreement after his own mind. Nevei startle at the proposal of any service. Consecrate, resign yourselves to him, and quit any interest in your- selves, 1 Cor. vi. 20. (5.) Observe his condescending willingness to become yours. How he beseecheth us to accept him for our God ; and woos us, though he wants us not : he makes the first motion to every soul. He that cometh to him he will in no wise cast out, John vi. 37. All sight of sin which makes the soul distrust God's promise, is a sinful sight of sin. Say, Lord, though I am unworthy to be be- loved, yet thou art worthy to be believed. Take hold of the covenant, and commit thy soul to God's oflcr; verily thou shalt not be rejected, Isa. Ivi. 6. Obs. 7. They who have a propriety in God should express and show it. And that, (I.) By depending upon him for supplies in all straits, Psal. xxxvii. 5, 7. He who has given himself, what can be with- hold ? he who has given a kingdom will not deny a staff to walk thither. Let them fear want who have not a God for their portion. Faith fears no famine. In one God is every thing. All who have this God, shall have what they want, if not what they would, Psal. Ixxxiv. 11. (2.) By promoting the honour and service due to him. Propriety is the foundation of true obedience. All that we are, all that we do, all that we have should be his. His honour we should propagate, and make it our only Ver. 4 THE EPISTLE OF JUDE. 93 plot and business to make him great, and to leaven the world with holy obedience to him. His honour we should presen-e, enduring nothing that eclipses or impairs it. He who toucheth that should touch the apple of our eye. The reproaches of them that reproach him we should look upon as falling upon ourselves ; mourning for that dishonour offered to him which we cannot redress, and hating all that unholiness in the world which we cannot help, Psal. Ixix. 9. This for the enjoyment under which these seducers lived, ■(iz. "the grace of our God." The second par- ticular, their misimprovement thereof, follows; they turned it " into lasciWousness." Three things are considerable by way of explication : What the apostle here intends by lasciviousness ; How the grace of God was turned into lasciviousness ; and, Wherein appears the sinfulness of " turning the grace of God into lasciviousness." 1. For the first. 'AalXytm, lasciviousness, is derived from the particle a and ai\yr), Selge ; which Selge was a city between Galatia and Cappadocia, whose inhabitants, say some, were most modest and tem- perate ; and these make a to be a note of privation of modesty and temperance, and importing the lascivi- ousness of these seducers by their being unlike the people of Selge, even destitute and void of all mo- desty and temperance. Others, upon better ground, say, that this Selge was a most dissolute and lascivi- ous place, where the inhabitants were given to all manner of luxury and unclean profuseness ; and these make a to be intensive, dilating and increasing the „. . . . sense, and so importinsr the la'icivious- di ut vires amis- ncss of these seducers bv their being Sr^SqK'd^b"!;. ™ost like the people of Selge, namely, latos coDiirma- violent and unbridled in all lust and o'eu'm'nerviY'"" filthincss. The word, as all agree, de- nomi'ne'iMorlfm ^^otes a moustrous Open proftisiou, and Veieres appei- pourinsT out, and Spending oneself cum : lujusme- Without measure, in lasciviousness and i5'."Nariiist^'c'- ohscene lustful practices : it is trans- lated, Rom. xiii. 13, wantonness, and it TiT/illfrLSdan. is joined ivith rioting, drunkenness, chambering. And 1 Pet. iv. 3, with lusts, excess of wine, revellings, banquetings. This word lasciviousness is, 2 Cor. xii. ecor. xii.ci. 21, joined with uncleanness and forni- veiV„1f«;',\^eTaf cation. And in Gal. v. 19, with adul- x'!a.\ooJei'°! tfr)-, fornication, uncleanness. And cUaQapaia, a(ri\- Epli. iv. 19, this lasciviousucss is ex- i'ph! iv. iq. titi- pounded by the working of all unclean- dijierunt s.ipsos ^egg ^.jth grecdiness. And 2 Pet. ii. ii-,aaiav aKaUap "J, the word licrB translated lascivious- I'pe'uTTVtTo ness is put for all the filthiness of jnt tSi, uSetruoiv Sodom. Lot was vexed with the filthy, »Tpo^m. or lascivious, conversation or the wick- pa"?!™ Svo. ed. And that apostle, ver. 18, speaking 3Mi„''M''K*"r" '"" of seducers, (the same kind of men of bus. •A,ri\ye,'; which J ude here speaks.) mentions this Eio'mpir'ciuur"'*' lasciviousness as the bait with which ""l°*,"P"s »''- they baited their hook of error. They do procacibus alluTe, saith he, those wlio were clean, mie'rUir'ibrjo''"^ &c., througli wautouuess, or lascivious- Pn°''perv°3'''' "*^^ ' '^^■li'ch was that encouragement Perkins'sai'lh.itis wliich thev gave to people to exercise ?"oron.Knn't''."" carnal lusts, under the pretence of Dcncy, in Gal. v. Christian liberty. By comparing these places, it is conceived that this sin of lasciviousness properly imports all kind of carnal de- filements and fleshly pollutions, as also all outward obscenity and filthiness expressed in men's behaviour, either by shameless words or gestures ; and denotes the prosecution of these unclean courses with impu- dence, petulance, defence, violence, and contempt of all opposition or observation from men. simon Hwehat It is a manifest wickedness. They lurpitu.iiuem iu- who are guilty of it do not blush at it : fo-minis. /^us. de they declare their sin as Sodom, Isa. iii. i.'^e"ui7''ire-' 9 : they are not like the harlot, that naus. Ep'ipha- ■wipes her lips ; but like Absalom, that risnirus"*^"* '"'' spreads his incestuous pallet on the roof, J"? ^^ -roiTav. &c. ^, 111 111- • 'icv 7rpu>TOi' ina- and calls the sun a blushing witness to Koi.saiTu e«»Ao- his filthiness. They glory in their KfX "«i". shame. Their hand is the organ of ^?\'f^' f.'' f "'" wickedness, and their mouth the trum- "apa'jo»ii'.a'<"" pet: theyoutsin all shame; theycro^\^l l^'-^ZfJ'Xt^^ uncleanness with garlands of honour, umov vnipjioXii' Their sin abandons secrecy ; and ad- ?:iS!'f?'s1!' monition to it is as a pouring of oil Gnosiinr'qu'i'a' down the chimney. Thus Rev. ii. 14, nnnnuiiis vocaii ,-, ' 1 L 1 L e • sunt Bnrboriti, some there were who taught loniica- quasi ccenosi. tion. Simon Magus taught'that women ?^rp' «• s?nctos ^, . , , , nir)res, qui lese who arrogated that name to themselves Dei prsescribun- for their pretended excellency of know- p^'iiifc^ahonfm"" ledge above all others, were called, for utjam muiiieset their filthiness, Borboriti, or the dirty, toiii et antiquari miry sect. They used all kind of un- a^af^"'/ ^"^■ cleanness as the fruit of the grace of God. And they declared that all holy and right- eous courses commanded in the law of God were antiquated, and taken away by the preaching of the grace of God. Carpocrates taught men how to speak filthily and uncleanly, and how to live lewdly. And although by lasciviousness is properly carpocrates doce- understood the open profession and ''"' "mnem tur- . - . ^ ^. ^ , ^ -i P, 7 ; not only for putting the Lord in mind of the people's wants, but also in whet- ting holy instructions upon the people, and putting them in mind of their duty to God. (2.) In respect of those to whom he wrote, he puts them in remembrance. It was safe for the Philip- pians to have the same things written to them, Phil. iii. I. Those eminent Christians, the Romans, to whom Paul WTote, and the saints who had pure minds, to whom Peter wrote, wanted this putting in remembrance, Rom. xv. 14, 15 ; 2 Pet. iii. 1 ; for, [1.] The best are imperfect in their knowledge. The greatest part of those things which we know, is but the least part of what we do not know. The plainest and best known truths are not so well known, but they may be better known. The most experi- enced Christian may say of every truth, as a man says to his new friends, I would be glad of your bet- ter acquaintance. Our knowledge is but in part, even in respect of the plainest truths, 1 Cor. xiii. 9. We cannot name any number so high and great, but a man may reckon one still bes'ond it ; and tnerc may be always an addition to our knowledge. A Chris- tian should grow in his head as well as in his heart ; in LLs light as well as in his heat, Col. ii. 2j i. 9, 10. It was a humble speech of Luther, I acknowledge myself a scholar even in the catechism. Faieor me caie- Every point of divinity has a vast cir- chismi discipu- cumference ; every command is exceed- ""'' ing broad ; and what one article of faith or precept of the law is there of which a man may say. There is nothing contained in it which I fully know not? Christians should often be reminded of the plainest truths, that they may conceive of them the better. [2.] The memories of the best Christians stand in need of frequent remembrances. They are frail to retain the things of God naturally, Heb. ii. 1. The most precious truths laid up in our memories, are jewels put into a crazy cabinet. Memory is like a sieve, that holds the bran, lets the flour go ; remem- bers what is to be forgotten, and forgets what is to be remembered : and like a sieve that is full in the water, but empty when taken out ; the memory is full perhaps while men are hearing, but empty so soon as their hearing is ended. If we would have our gar- ment hold its colour, it must be double-dyed ; so, that a truth may take a deep impression, it must be pressed again and again. And this natural unfaithfulness of the memory is furthered by the temptations of Satan, who labours to steal away the most useful truths ; like a thief, who robs a house of the best household stuff. In times of temptation to sin, how hard is it to remember the truths that should defend us ! How far from Peter's memory was the speech of Christ, till the cromng of the cock reminded him! Luke xxii. 61. "Ye have forgotten," saith the apostle, " the exhortation," Heb. xii. 5. In every sin there is some kind of forgetfulness. When passion is violent, and temptation strong, the use of memory is commonly suspended. " Thou hast greedily gained of thy neigh- bours by extortion, and hast forgotten me, saith the Lord," Ezek. xxii. 12. And in all true obedience there is remembrance ; working righteousness and remembering God are put together, Isa. Ixiv. 5. [3.] The best Christians are subject to abate and decay in spiritual fervency of affection to the best things. Kow frequent remembrances not only recall truths to the mind, but quicken the heart to affect them. We are dull to learn what we should do, and more dull to do what we have learned. The sharpest knife grows blunt without whetting; the most honest debtor sometimes wants calling on. The apostle Peter puts the Christians in remembrance, to stir up even their pure minds, 2 Pet. iii. 1. The freest Christian sometimes wants the spur. Our very sancti- fied affections are like heated water, which of itself grows cold; but neither retains nor increases its heats, unless the fire be put under, and blown up. Good things in the heart lie as embers under ashes, and need daily stirring up. Obs. 1. Great is the sin of those who contemn re- peated truths. A Christian must not have an itching, but a humble and obedient ear. Sinful is that cu- riosity that despises a wholesome truth because it is common. Truths delivered of old may possibly now be freshly useful ; and those delivered now may be helpful in old age, or on our death-beds. Who would neglect a friend that may stand him in stead here- after ? Every truth, like a lease, brings in revenue the next year as well as this. He that knows truth never so fully, knows no injury by it ; nay, the more he knows, the more of worth he sees in it. How foolish are those Christians who count no doctrine good but what is new ! who, as it is storied of Heliogabalus, cannot endure to eat twice of one dish ! How just will it be for want to overtake the wanton- ness of these hearers ! Obs. 2. Christians must not only receive, but re- tain also the truths of God. Our memories must be 108 AN EXPOSITION UPON Ver. 5. heavenly storehouses and treasuries of precious trutlis ; not like hour-glasses, whicn are no sooner full but they are running out. The commandments must be bound upon our hearts, and holy instructions (like books in a library) must be chained to our memories. " Keep these words in the midst of thy heart," saith Solomon, Prov. iv. 21. And, " I have hid thy word in my heart, that I might not sin against thee," saith David, Psal. cxix. 1 1. The slippcriness of ourmemo- ries causes many slips in our lives. Peter forgot his Master, and then forgot himself: first he forgot the word of a Master, and then he forgot the duty of a servant. Conscience cannot be urged by that truth which memory does not retain. Tlie same truths which being taken in begat our graces, being kept in will increase our graces. To help us in remember- ing heavenly truths, let us, (1.) Be reverent and heedful in our attentions, as receiving a message from God. He who regards not a truth in hearing, how shall he retain it afterward ? (2.) Let us love every heavenly trath as our treasure : delight helps memory, Psal. cxix. 16, and what we love we keep. (3.) Our memories should not be taken up with vanities. A Christian should be most careful to keep that which Satan is most industrious to steal away ; and he is like a thief breaking into a house, who takes not away earthen vessels, but plate and jewels: Satan empties not the head of worldly trifles, but of the most precious things. The memory which is filled only with earthly concerns, is like a golden cabinet filled with dung. (4.) Let instruction be followed with meditation, prayer, conference, and holy conversation ; by all these it is hid in the heart the more deeply, and driven home the more thoroughly, Deut. vi. G, 7 ; Psal. cxix. 97. Obs. 3. There is a constant necessity of a consci- entious ministry. People know and remember but in part, and as children ; and till that which is im- perfect be done away, we cannot spare ministerial remembrances. We shall want pastors, teachers, &c. till we all meet, &c. in a perfect man, Eph. iv. 12, 13. And there are none weary of the ministry, but they who love not to be remembered of their duty. Of this before. Obs. 4. Tlie forgetfulness of the people must not discourage the minister. A boat is not to be cast up and broken in pieces for every leak : the dullest and weakest hearer must not be cast off for his crazy memory, but pitied. The very Iambs of Christ must be fed; the feeblest child in his house attended. Paul was gentle among the Christians, even as a nurse cherisheth her children. If the preaching of a truth once will not serve the turn, if it be not under- stood or remembered the first time, ministers must declare it more plainly the next time, and put people in remembrance again and again. Obs. 5. The work of ministers is not to contrive doctrines, but to recall them. They should deliver what they have received, not what they have invented. Their power is not to make, but manifest laws for the conscience. " That good thing," saith Paul to Timo- thy, " which was committed to thee keep." Ministers are not masters, but stewards of the mysteries of God. Thus much of the first part of the preface, The duty of the apostle. Now follows, II. The commendation of the Christians, " Ye once knew this." It may be demanded, why the apostle saith that the Christians "once knew this" following example of the Israelites, of which he puts them in remem- brance. The apostle mentions this knowledge of the Chris- tians, that he may gain their good will and favour- able respect to the truth of which he was now speak- ing, and that his arguing from these examples might the more easily find entertainment with them ; for by saying that they " knew this," 1. He labours to win them to a love of himself by commending them, and acknowledging that good to be which he saw in them. He commends them for their knowledge and expcrtness in Scripture, and declares that he spake not to rude and ignorant, but to expert Christians. 2. He gains the reputation of certainty to the truths of which he was speaking, by appealing for this to their own knowledge, which was so clear herein, that he amplifies it, by saying, that they knew it " once ;" • that is, certainly, unchangeably, and once for all, never to revoke and alter this knowledge : and both these insinuations Paul uses to the Corinthians, " I speak as to wise men ; judge ye what I say," 1 Cor. X. 15 ; and to Agrippa, for gaining his favour to that cause which he there defended, " I think myself happy, that I shall answer for myself before thee," &c., " because I know thee to be expert in all customs and questions which are among the Jews," Acts xxvi. 2, 3. And ver. 26, "The king knoweth of these things, before whom I speak freely." 3. By saying tiiat they knew this, he prevents the objection wliieh might be made against what he was about to speak, in regard that it was old and ordinary ; he insinuating, that of set purpose he produced a known and ancient truth, rather than a new and unheard of uncertainty. Obs. \. Knowledge is very commendable in a Christian. For this the Romans are commended, chap. XV. 14, " I am persuaded, brethi-en, that ye are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge." For this grace given to the Corinthians the apostle blesses God, 1 Cor. i. 5. The knowledge of the Scrip- ture from a child, was the praise of Timothy, 2 Tim. iii. 15. True wisdom gives to the head an ornament of grace, and a crown of glory, Prov. iv. 9 ; it makes the face to shine, Eccl. viii. 1. When the apostle saith that some had not the knowledge of God, he spake it to their shame, 1 Cor. xv. 34. How little to the honour of others was that complaint of the apostle, that when for the time they ought to be teachers of others, tliey had need that one should teach them again which be the first principles of the gospel of Christ ! Heb. v. 12. And as Paul speaks of some, " Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth," 2 Tim. iii. 7. The whole life of an ignorant person is an aberration from the rule. Gal. vi. 16 ; he sails by no chart. All his actions are wild and roving wanderings. His sacrifice is the sacrifice of a fool, and devout idolatry. He cannot pray, unless it be to the unknown God. He cannot believe ; for only they can trust God who know his name, Rom. x. 14; Psal. ix. 10. Nor can he fear and love God, or desire Christ, John iv. 10. Wait therefore on the ordinances, O ye ignorant ones, with humble, hungry souls, Prov. viii. 34. Be Wisdom's clients. Purge your hearts of conceits of a Laodicean fulness. God teacheth only the humble, Psal. xxv. 9. Taste the sweetness of L)i\dne tnUhs, 1 Pet. ii. 3. Lay up what ye hear. Not he who gets, but he who saves much, is the rich man. Yield conscientious obedience to that of God's will which you know. Hold not the truth in unrighteousness. The more you practise what you know, the more shall you know what to practise. Knowledge is the mother of obedience, and obedience is the nurse of know- ledge : the former breeds the latter ; the latter feeds the former. And yet put not off yourselves with every kind of knowledge, labour for a soul-hum- bling knowledge. Job xlii. 5, 6. The more the light shines into you, the more you must see your * Concerning the word " once," I have spoken largely be- fore, p. 66, 67. Ver. 5. THE EPISTLE OF JUDE. 109 ovm imperfections. Every man is so much a fool as he thinks himself wise, 1 Cor. viii. 2. Let your knowledge be applicative, Job v. 27. If ye be wise, be wise for yourselves, Prov. ix. 12. Let not know- ledge swim in the brain, but sink into the henrt. En- deavour to possess for thine own the good of every threatening, command, and promise. Let your know- ledge be influential in heart and life, Psal. cxix. 104; not informing only, but reforming, John xiii. 17; 1 John ii. 3 ; not as the light of torches, which scat- ter no influences where they shine, but as the light of the sun, which makes the earth and plants green and growing. He who is rich in knowledge must be plentiful in holiness; and not like the rich In- dians, who have much gold in their possessions, and go naked and beggarly. In a word, let your know- ledge be useful and helpful to others. Know not to know, that is curiosity; nor to be known, that is vain-glory ; but to do good by your knowledge, that is Christian charity : knowledge increases in pouring out; and, as some have experimentally found it, the teacher learns more by the scholar, than the scholar by the teacher. Obx. 2. Ministers ought to commend their people's proficiency in holiness. Jude here mentions the knowledge of the Christians to their praise. A\ hen people do what is commendable, ministers should commend what they do. If the former find matter, the latter should find words. " I am persuaded of you," saith Paul to the Romans, " that ye are full of good- ness," Rom. XV. 14. And, " I praise you, brethren," saith he to the Corinthians, " that you remember me," &c., 1 Cor. xi. 2. A minister's prudent commendation wins that love to his person without which the best doctrine is often but unprofitable. Rare is it to find that Christian who embraces a message which is brought him from a messenger not beloved. A wise commendation will make a reproof go down the bet- ter. Constant chiding is like physic, which being too frequently taken, grows natural, and therefore proves not operative. Ministers should be wise in choosing a fit object for commendation : the com- mendable actions of every one must not be presently commended; some can less bear the sweetness of praise, than they can the bitterness of reproof. A little wine will turn a weak brain. Nor sliould we commend any to flatter, but to benefit them ; to en- courage the humble, not to content the proud. But truly. Christians, it were happy for ministers, if the time you make them spend in weeping and reproving, they might fill with encouraging and cheering you. The work and delight of a minister is, with the bee, to give honey ; he puts not forth the sting, unless you by sin provoke him. Of this more p. 53. Obs. 3. Every private Christian should be ac- quainted with the Scripture. It is sinful to clasp up the Scriptures in an unknown tongue. The end of writing the Scriptures, was the instruction of every one. Col. iii. 16 ; John v. 39 ; Rom. xv. 4. None are so much commended in Scripture as those who most diligently searched into it. Acts xvii. 11. To private Christians Paul writes sundry Epistles. The study of Scripture is useful and needful to peo- ple as well as ministers : illumination, conversion, direction, preservation from sin, belong to the one as well as to the other, Psal. xix. 8, 9 ; cxix. 24 ; and if for the abuse of Scripture, the use thereof should be denied to people, why would Christ and his apos- tles preach and write to those who perverted and wrested their doctrines ? yea, why should not the reading of Scripture be denied, not only to ignorant monks and priests, but erroneous clerks and bishops, from whom by abuse of Scripture most heresies have proceeded ? But whether Satan has not by his me- thods wrought us into the other extreme, when in- stead of general restraint from reading, he puts peo- ple upon a general liberty of preaching and ex- pounding the Scripture, our present distractions sufficiently witness. Obs. 4. The knowledge of truth is a strong engage- ment upon Christians to embrace and love it. The apostle, from their knowing the examples, hopefully expects that they will lay them to heart. Tnith known and not loved is unprofitable. Not he who knows a trade, but follows it, grows rich. It will fare ill enough with the ignorant, worse ^^-ith the ob- stinate ; and many stripes are reserved for opposing much knowledge. But of this before. Obs. 5. Ministers ought not to content the cu- riosity, but to consult the benefit of their hearers. They should rather deliver ti-uths old and useful, than doctrines new and unprofitable. Their work is not to please the Athenian, but to profit the Chris- tian. They are not cooks, but physicians; and there- fore should not study to delight the palate, but to re- cover the patient : they must not provide sauce, but physic. If to preach the same things be safe, it matters not whether it be sweet or no. Jesus Christ has given us no commission to study the pleasure, but the preservation of our people. It is better that our people should be angry for not pleasing their lusts, than that God should be angry for not profit- ing their souls. Obs. 6. The truths of the word are to be known unchangeably, stedfastly, once for all. Christians must not be removed from the truth, Gal. i. 6 ; they must labour to be men in un- „. , , 3 ^ . T J 1. -L i£ -L-iji Si fiilem scrutari derstandmg, and not be children, h.i-sitan.io cape- tossed to and fro with every wind of pSmuTjacJu'- doctrine," Eph. iv. 14. They must be ram. iheophj-- known by the truth, as men say they will by the gift of a friend, many years after it is delivered. Holy instructions must be entertained with full assurance of understanding, and looked upon, not as opinions, but assertions, more sure than what we see with our bodily eyes, Col. ii. 2. A sceptical, doubtful, staggering Christian will soon prove a falling, an apostatizing Christian.* A Chris- tian must be rooted and grounded in the love of the truth, Eph. iii. 17. Thus far of the first part of the verse ; viz. The pre- face prefixed. I come now to the second, namely, The example propounded, in these words, " How that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that be- lieved not." In the example I consider, 1. A famous deliverance; "The Lord having saved the people out of the land of Egypt." 2. A destruction follo\ving that deliverance ; " Af- terward destroyed." 3. The meritorious cause of that destruction, un- belief; those " that believed not." 1. A famous deliverance, contained in these words; " The Lord having saved the people out of the land of Egypt." The greatness of this mercy in delivering the Is- raelites out of Egypt is frequently mentioned in Scripture. Besides the large history thereof in the Book of Exodus, it is prefixed briefly to the ten commandments, as a most prevailing motive to obe- dience ; and often set down as one of the most famous deliverances that ever God bestowed upon his church, Deut. iv. 20; Lev. xxvi. 13; Psal. Ixxvii. 15, IG, 20; Ixxviii. 12—14, 41—54; cv. 23—39; cvi. 6 — 13; cxiv. 3, 5; Isa. Ixiii. U — 13; Psal. cxxsvi. • Helps hereunto, see p. 68. no AN EXPOSITION UPON Veb. 5. 9 — 17; Acts vii. 18 — 37. And indeed, so it was, if we consider, I. What the Egyptians did to the Israelites in abusing them during their abode in Egypt. II. What God did both to the Egyptians and Is- raelites, when he delivered the Israelites from the abuses of the Egyptians. For the first : 1 . The Egyptians offered many cruel injuries to the bodies of the Israelites. 2. By their heathenish idolatry they were great enemies to their souls. The first of these the Scripture expresses in setting down. First, The bondage and servitude of the Israelites, whereby their liberty and ease were taken away. Secondly, The murderous edicts which were given out for taking away also their lives. First. The cruel bondage of the Israelites was so great, that Egypt is called in Scripture " the house of bondage," Exod. xx. 2 ; and Egyptian bondage is even become a proverb. The Israelites were not more lovingly received by one Pharaoh, than they were cruelly retained by another. They who of late were strangers, are now slaves. With Joseph, died the remembrance of his love to Egypt, Exod. i. 6, 8 — 11. Thankfulness to him by wliom under God the lives and beings of the Egyptians were preserved, is swallowed up in envy at the increase of his kin- dred and posterity. The great fault of the Israelites is this, that God multiplieth them. To pull them down, though by opposing God, and to make them as unfit for generation as resistance, the Egyptians make them sen'e with rigour, and make " their lives bitter with hard bondage in mortar and brick," Exod. i. 13, 14: every word denotes Egyptian cruelty. The word translated, to make them serve, iianc habei vim signifies to opprcss by mere force ; and pjaposiiio Kara, jf jg ^ word dcuotiug properly a ty ranni- 'r, ^ „ cal abuse of power, and therefore trans- lated by the Seventy KaTalvpaarivuv, which signifies such a proud and cruel domineering as is used by tyrants. Nor is the word translated, with rigour, without an emphasis ; it signifies, saith Cajetan, a making them to serve, even to the break- ing of their bones. It is added, that the Egyp- tians made their lives bitter ; a word transferred from the body to the mind, to note the grievousncss and unpleasantness of a thing. The same word is used Lam. iii. 15, where the church ■^■^° "nde mo g^jjj^^ ,, jjg j^gjj^ ^jj^^ ^^ ^^,;jj^ ^jjj^^_ ness, he hath made me drunk with wormwood." And (as Lorinus thinks) Miriam the sister of Moses had that name given to her, which signifies bitterness, because she was born in those times. The Seventy, in their translation, express this imbittering of the Israelites' lives by a word which signifies the most sharp and cutting pains in childbearing. And doubtless this bitterness was much increased by the nature of the work in which the Israelites were em- ployed, which was in mortar, dirt, and brick, and all manner of service of the field : they were put upon the most sordid and servile employment. s. ntiq. c. 5. p]^j]Q gjj^ Josephus, with others, report, that the works of the Israelites were mere drudgeries, the most mean and dirty, as scouring of pits, the cast- ing up of banks to keep out inundations, the digging and cleansing of ditches, and carrj'ing the dung out of the cities upon their shoulders. And it is said, Psal. Ixxxi. 6, "I removed his shoulder from the burden, and his hands were delivered from the pots." And that which yet made their servitude more extreme and bitter, was, that being in these dirty drudgeries of mortar and brick, the tale of the bricks is by the task-masters laid upon the people, though the straw wherewith to make brick is denied them, Exod. v. 18. The poor Israelites now take more pains to please, and yet please their cruel masters less than ever before. They are commanded to gather straw, and yet cruelly beaten, because while they were gathering straw, they were not making brick ; that is, because they performed not impossibilities, and did not make straw as well as brick. Do what may be, is tolerable ; but do what cannot be, is cruel. Hereupon the Israelites cry and complain to Pharaoh of their want of straw, and their plenty of stripes. In a word, all that they desire is, that they may but work ; as for wages, they desire none. Instead of relieving them, he derides them, and with cruelly cutting scoff, and sarcastical insult, he wounds their very wounds, and tells them, against his own know- ledge, they are idle, they are idle. Hereupon, the Egyptian rigour is continued, and the people of God, who after all their toiling received no other rewards but stripes and scorns, are worse handled than Egyp- tian beasts. So great was this craelty, that, as Philo reports, if any Israelite, •"''''"Ii'.'mJs.''' through sickness of body, abstained from labour, it was accounted a crime deserving death. Eusebius saith, that by reason of their excessive labour and heat, many were taken away by the pes- tilence. By this we may gather why the Lord tells them, " I brought you forth out of the land of Egypt, that ye should not be their bondmen ; and I have broken the bands of your yoke, and made you go up- right," Lev. xxvi. 13. Servitude is a kind of death; nay, by free people accounted worse than death ; who have often chosen rather to die valiantly, than to live slavishly. Nor is it any wonder therefore to read of the groaning, sighing, and cry- ing of the poor Israelites, yea, of the'ir '''■'''' ''S''"^"^'''"' anguish, shortness and straitness ot spirit, by reason of cruel bondage, Exod. ii. 23, 24 ; vi. 9. Secondly. The second discovery of the cruelty of the Egyptians towards the Israelites, was in the bloody commands for the taking away of the lives of the male children, Exod. i. 15. This was a blow at the root. It was out of policy, not any tenderness of conscience, that this murderous command took not in the females also. The females did not constitute families ; the taking away of the males would sufiice to hinder the multiplying of the people. The females could not make war, join with the enemies of the Egyptians, or by force endeavour to depart from Egypt ; and the sparing of some might make the murders less suspected. From bondage these Egyp- tians proceed to blood, and from slavery to slaughter. Women are suborned to be murderers, and those whose office is to help, must destroy the birth : the midwives were put upon this bloody work, because, as they had more opportunity of doing, so would others have less suspicion of them for doing the mis- chief. The male children must be born and die at once ; and, poor babes, they must be killed for no other fault but for their stock and their sex, because they are Israelites and males : pure and downright bloodiness ! Needs must the Hebrew women, con- trary to all others, not joy, but mourn, when they saw men-children born. This device of employing the midwives not succeeding, the tyrant gives conmiis- sion to all his own people to cast every son that is born into the river, UOtTa to. I3pf-(pri, Acts vii. 19. Josephus writes, that the command was given also to the He- brews to kill their own children ;* but most barbarous it was, although it were only given to the Egyptians. Pharaoh's cruelty smoked before, now it flames out. * This seems to be opposed by Exod. i. 22. Ver. 5. THE EPISTLE OF JUDK 111 He practised secretly in his commands to the mid- wives, he now proclaims it openly to all the world. No Egyptian now could be obedient, unless bloody ; every man is made an executioner ; the reins are laid upon the neck of cruelty. Every Egyptian may rifle the houses of the Israelites, and search for children as for prohibited commodities. How difficultly are these poor babes hid, and yet how dangerously found ! They who had no armour but innocence and tears, are exposed to authorized rage. How poor a shelter is the arm of an indulgent mother against the com- mand of a king, and the fury of his heathen subjects; whose vigilance and violence were so great, that as the mother of Moses was unable long to hide him, so was she more willing to trust him with the mercy of beasts and waters than of Egyptians ! And how hard was it for the strongest faith of the best Is- raelite to bear up against this temptation ! So long as the Israelites saw themselves increasing, though oppressed, their faith in God's promise of blessing the seed of Abraham might be comfortably relieved; but now this cruel edict of murdering their children, by whom the seed of Abraham was to be propagated, seems to cut off all hope, and to make void all the promises. 2. The Egyptians from whom the Israelites were delivered may be considered as heathen idolaters, and so enemies to the souls of the Israelites. Had the outward ease and prosperity of Israel in Egypt been never so great, yet eminent had been the mercy of being drawn out of such peril for the soul as was in idolatrous company. Joshua thankfully records tlie mercy of God to Abraham, in bringing him out of Ur of the Chaldeans, where his ancestors served strange gods. And how great this mercy was, ap- pears by observing the forwardness of the Israelites til be infected by the contagion of Egj^ptian idolatry. The Egyptians were a most idolatrous people, whence it is that so often we read of the idols and gods of Egypt, Isa. xix. 1 ; Jer. xliii. 12; xlvi. 25; Ezek. XX. 7, 8. No people idolized so many and such vile creatures as did the Egyptians ; the gorro's'jurSr'" mole, the bat, the cat, the dung-fly, -cloJodfion ^' monkeys, birds, crocodiles ; yea, leeks, aiiorai pars onious, garlic, &c. wcrc adored by i'*rain'se, pem'bus them as gods. So gross was their su- iS' jF?='" perstition, that the heathens deride cercopithei i. them for it. Pliny saith, that they were ?°fc"?,oUrTr' '«'ont to deify and swear by their leeks, frangere morsu. onions, and garlic. And Juvenal quibus haf/na" lashes them for adoring these garden ^^^^^^"-'"'juv. gods. And from the vileness of those s»'.i5. sanciius creatures, Sanctius supposes that the Nauseas.'syin- gods of the Egyptians are called abo- SSfi, Aquiia.*' minations. It is evident also that the Israelites were too forward to worship the idols, although they were weary of the op- pressions of the Egyptians. Hence it is that the prophet complains of their rebelling against the ex- §ress prohibition of God, that they should not defile lemselves with the idols of Egypt ; and that they did not forsake those idols, Ezek. xx. 7, 8. And the same prophet, reproving Israel for their early adul- teries, by which he means their idolatries, saith, that she committed whoredoms in Egj^pt in her youth, chap, xxiii. 3 ; i. e. when the Israelites were but a young and new nation. And that she left not her whoredoms brought from the Egyptians ; " for in her Kouth they lay with her, and bruised the breasts of er virginity," ver. 8. Clear likewise to this pur- pose is that command of Joshua to the Israelites, " Put away the gods which your fathers served in Egypt," Josh. xxiv. 14. Nor are there wanting learned men, who conceive that the reason why the Israelites in the wilderness made them an idol which had the figure of a calf or an ox, Exod. xxxvi. 4; Psal. cvi. 20, was, because they had often seen the Egyptians, under that kind of image, worship either their greatly adored Apis, who had formerly been their king and benefactor, and whom now they esteemed their tutelary god ; or else, as other learned men think, the river Nile, which by its inundation made the land of Egypt fruitful. And very probable it is, that God intended this bitter oppression of the Israelites by the Egyptians, partly as a punishment for joining with them in their idol- atry formerly ; partly as a remedy, to prevent in the Israelites that familiarity and friendship with the Egyptians for time to come, whereby they might easily fall again in love with their superstitions. For if after all the indignities and cruelties which the Israelites suffered in Egypt, they were desirous again, as they were, to return thither. Numb. xiv. 4, how forward would they have been, had the Egyp- tians always favoured and loved them ! If they loved to be handling of thorns, how would they have de- lighted in roses ! And this may serve for the explication of the greatness of this deliverance from the Egyptians in this first consideration ; namely, of what the Egyptians had done to the Israelites, in abusing them during their abode in Egypt. II. But secondly. This deliverance w"lll yet appear much more eminent, if we consider what God did, both to Egyptians and Israelites, in delivering the Israelites from the abuses of the Egyptians. 1. What God did to the Egyptians. He poured his plagues upon them ; he made Egypt the anvil of his angry strokes. He punished them, powerfully ; and, justly. ( 1 .) Most powerfully did God punish the Egyptians. For this cause did God raise up Pharaoh, to show in him his power, Exod. ix. IG. All the judgments which befell the Egyptians came as soon as God called them. At liis command the waters run blood, the frogs, the lice, the flies, the grasshoppers, the darkness, the hail, the thunder, and all those wrath- ful troops of plagues obey the will of him who com- manded in chief, and revenge the wrongs of their Maker. The most despicable of creatures, lice and flies, the weakest twigs of God's rod, shall fetch blood, when managed by the hand of Omnipotence. Nor was his power less conspicuous in setting a stint to the very flies, and making that winged army to acknowledge their limits, and to keep at a distance from Goshen. Yea, let but God speak the word, and frogs, and flies, and grasshoppers depart as readilj' as ever they came. And to show that he could plague without them, the greatest of Egypt's plagues is in- flicted when they are gone. The strength of Egypt, their first-born, die, and are but worms and weakness to the Strength of Israel. All this was much ; it was admirable strength which broke the backs of the Egyptians : but nothing but pure Omnipotence could break such rocks and oaks as were their hearts ; but even these also are bowed and broken. None so for- ward now to thrust the Israelites out of Egypt, j'ea, to hire them to go, as they who even now tyrannically detained them. Their rich jewels of silver and gold are not too dear for tliem whom lately they spoiled of their substance. Glad they are now to pay them for their old work. Those who lately were detained as slaves, are now sent away as conquerors, with the spoils of their enemies. Still the power of God ap- pears. No sooner were the backs of Israel turned to depart, but the warlike Egyptians, furnished with horses and chariots, pursue the feeble and unarmed Israelites; who hereupon give up themselves for 112 AN EXPOSITION UPON Veh. 5. dead, and are now talking of nothing but their graves. They know not whether is more merciful, the sea before them, or the Egj'ptians behind them ; but the sea retires and flies, and the Israelites put their feet into the way it has made them. Pharaoh thinks he may adventure as well as they; he marches smoothly, till he come to the midst of that watery trap, and would fain return when it was too late. The rod of Moses is now more powerful than the sceptre of Pharaoh. The sea is now again unbridled, re- turns in its force, and devours the late devourers of Israel. And therefore, (2.) How justly did God punish the Egyptians ! Was it not just that the bold blasphemer, who even now asked. Who is the Lord? should be made to know him by feeling him, and that this Lord should be known upon him to all the world ? The river Nile, which by its inundations made Egypt fruitful, was by the Egyptians regarded more than Heaven, and worshipped for a deity ; and how righteously are they punished by the blood and frogs of that which they make a rival with God ! They had lately defiled the rivers with the blood of infants ; see now their rivers red with blood, and they themselves are after- terward overwhelmed in the Red Sea. He who had rather satisfy his own curiosity by the feats of ma- gicians, than labour for humility under strokes, not more smart than miraculous, is at once both deluded and hardened. They who, to spare themselves, bur- dened and enslaved poor groaning Israelites, are now plagued when Israel is preserved. How justly does God distinguish, when they had done so before ! They who are hardened, are at length broken by judgments. They who sinned by the removal, are justly punished by the renewing of plagues. They who so cruelly oppressed God's first-born son, his Israel, are now plagued in the destruction of their own first-born. They who lately made poor Israel drudge, and toil in dirt and mire, without allowing them any wages but scoiTs and stripes, now pay them wages for their old work, with interest ; and with their gold and silver bear the charges of that journey which all this while they were hindering the Israel- ites from taking. They who are not taught, justly stumble by the people of God. To conclude this, how just was it, that he who with his people hoped that the Israelites were so entangled and shut up in the wilderness and the sea, as they should not be able to make escape; that he and his (I say) should by this bait be drawn so far to pursue the Israelites, as neither to be able to go backward or forward ! 2. The mercy of saving the people out of the land of Egypt will yet more fully appear, if we consider what God did to the Israelites. He " delivered them ;" and this he did, most wisely ; and, most gra- ciously. (I.) Most wisely did God deliver his people, in raising up Moses to be their deliverer. The mother of Moses brought him forth in a time wherein she could not but think of his birth and death at once, and hourly expect some cruel executioner to tear her tender and lovely babe out of those arms wherein she was as unable as she was willing to hold him. For fear of such a one, she puts him into an ark of bulrushes, and hides him among the flags of the river. God showed that he knew the place where Moses lay, by guiding thither even the daughter of Pharaoh to de- liver Moses. She soon espies and causes the ark to be opened : the tears and beauty of the child move her compassions ; which the sister of Moses obscr-nng, offers to procure a nurse for the babe, and fetches his motlier. She who even now would have given all her substance for the life of her child, has now a re- ward given to her to nurse him. How admirably did the wisdom of God deceive the Egyptians ! The daughter of him whose only plot was to destroy Israel, is made the instrument of saving Israel, by preserving him who was to be their deliverer, and the instrument of Egypt's destruction. The Egyp- tians also, who compel the Israelites to serve them without paying them wages, are compelled by God at the same time to pay for the nursing of him who shortly after overthrows the Egyptians. At length Pharaoh's daughter takes Moses home from nurse, and gives him as good breeding as the Egyptians' schools and court can aflbrd him. Moses was not in more danger among the flags than among the courtiers ; but God, who of late kept him from hurt by Egyptian cruelty, keeps him now as wisely from hurt by Egyptian courtesy. The honours of Egypt cannot make him either own a heathen for his mother, though a king's daughter, or forget Ins He- brew brethren, though the king's bondmen. He ob- serves their sufferings, and suffers with them. He having from God an instinct of magistracy, mortally, though secretly as he thought, smites an Egyptian who was unjustly smiting a Hebrew. The fact is known, and Moses, warned thereof by a churlish word which was intended to wound him, flies from Pliaraoh seeking to slay him. In Midian God pro- vides him a shelter. Moses has now changed his place, yet neither has he changed his Keeper and acquaintance, nor Israel lost their deliverer. In a strange land God appears to Moses, and calls him to this honourable employment of saving Israel. God confirms his faith by vision and voice: by the vision he taught him, that S-jere.'t'tnu'i if the tinder of a weak and most com- exmi rui.uin' bustible bush could overcome a flame .Teypriis supeii of fire, that a poor Moses and an op- °iheod."iu'ioc!' pressed Israel might as easily prevail over cruel and armed tyranny ; by the voice, which was the comment upon the vision, God, being moved by Israel's afflictions, and not hindered by Moses's objections, expresses his resolution, that Moses shall bring Israel out of Egypt. Whereupon Moses yields to undertake the employment. (2.) Most wisely did God deliver the people, in respect of the time of their deliverance. [1.] How wisely did God time this deliverance, considering the extreme and distressed lowness of Israel at that time wherein God began to work it! The darkness was very thick immediately before the day-break ; the tide was at the lowest, before it began to turn ; Moses himself was too faint to believe without the double support of a promise and a ^-ision : now was Egypt's cruelty high, Israel's strength low ; all their arms were toil and tasks, tears, and sighs, and groans, weapons which overcame him who overcame the Egyptians. For thus it faring with Israel, Moses the deliverer comes and serves Pharaoh with a war- rant from God himself to let Israel go. But Israel | is not yet fit, that is, weak enough to break out of Egypt. They must be required to make brick with- out straw ; and, in effect, to make straw ; and then j God creates deliverance. The deliverance from their ] tasks of brick seems as impossible as was the fulfil- : ling of these tasks ; and they for very anguish are | as unable to hearken believingly and patiently to i God's messenger, promising deliverance, as they were ; desirous to receive it. Oh now did the desperateness i of Israel's disease commend the skilfulness of Israel's 1 Physician ! [2.] How eminent was the wisdom of j Goil in timing of Israel's deliverance, so as that they should be compelled by Pharaoh to depart that very day in which God had promised that they should depart four hundred and thirty years before ! Pha- raoh's choice of time for the departure of Israel meets Ver. 5. THE EPISTLE OF JUDE. 113 with God's exactly ; that very night mhen the four hundred and thirty years were expired Israel must go ; God will have' it so, yea, Pharaoh will have it so, who neither can nor can will to keep them any longer. But, secondly, God delivered Israel out of Egypt as graciously as he did wisely. (1.) How tender was he of his Israel when his wrath was hottest against the Egyptians ! He commands his plagues to dis- tinguish between Egypt and Goshen. Israel was now like a man upon a high hill, that sees the dread- fully stately spectacle of a bloody battle, but is him- self out of gun-shot. All Israel's work is but to behold and believe. (2.) Afterward in their de- parture, how good was God to give them furniture for their journey, at the voluntary charges of their late oppressive enemies ! (3.) Further, how indulgent was God in having such respect to the infirmities of his people ! as not to choose them the shorter, but the safer way ; and to preserve them from war, whose late and long condition of slavery had made them unfit for soldiery ; he intending them no fighting till after more preparation ; and not suffering evils to be ready for Israel, till Israel were ready for those evils ; dealing herein as gently with his people as the eagle with her young ones, the resemblance used by Moses, Deut. xxxii. 11 ; for the eagle turns not her young ones presently out of her nest, either for flight or prey, but first nourishes them, and then by little and little accustoms them to fly, by bearing them on her wings. (4.) Mercy still proceeds ; it both chooses a way for Israel, and guides Israel in that way. In the day God appoints a pillar of a cloud to guide them, and not of fire, because the greater light ex- tinguishes the less. In the night he erects a pillar of fire, because in the night notning is seen without light. The cloud shelters from heat by day, the fire digests the rawness of the night. Day and night God suits himself to Israel's exigence. (5.) Yet more mercy ; Pharaoh and his formidable army are now within sight of Israel, and Israel more fears Egypt than believes God. They charge Moses in their murmurings with not intending to deliver them from, but to betray them to, the Egyptians. And Josephus reports, that the unbelie%-ing Israelites were about to stone Moses, and to yield up themselves again to their late cruel masters the Eg}-ptians. God's patience is no less a miracle than their deliverance. (6.) But mercy stops not yet ; the sea forgets its natural course, and stands still to wait upon the servants of the God of nature. The sea made them way, reared them up walls on both sides, and dares not stir till Israel have passed through it. That which Israel feared \vould destroy, now protects them from their late destroyers and present pursuers. Obs. 1. The goodness of God to his Israel stirs up envy in the Egyptians. Because God's eye is good, theirs is evil. Joseph was envied by his brethren, because God blessed him with the love of his father. Saul envied David, because God was with him ; Pharaoh the Israelites, because God multiplied them. It is a sign of a wicked heart, to look upon every ad- dition to another's happiness as a diminution of its own ; an envious man in one thing is worse than other sinners ; for whereas others rage and fret, that the world, as they conceive, is so bad, the envious Ubenor seses est ■'''^ angry it is SO good. And wisely ii-iiis scn.piT in does God suffer his own bounty to be sens. \ iiiiiique pecus zran^lius uber habet. mixed with his enemies' envy, lest his people being too much glued to his footstool favours, should not enough look up to that place where envy shall be no more. Only in heaven is so much plenty that there is no envy. 'A<)«oi Obs. 2. The kindnesses of God's Israel to Egypt are often but unkindly requited by Egypt. To Joseph, under God, did the king and kingdom of Egypt ia the time of famine owe their preservation ; but a new king and generation arising, old favours are for- gotten. Had Joseph been an enemy to Egypt, it would have been well enough remembered ; but as his brethren remembered not his afflictions, so the Egyptians remembered not his favours. Light in- juries, like a feather, will easily swim upon the water ; weighty favours, like a piece of lead, sink to the bottom, and are forgotten. The loyal love of Mordecai to Ahasuerus had been ut- terly buried, if the annals had not re- "^^,?!°^U" corded it. Gideon, who had been that famous deliverer of Israel, is so far forgotten after his death by the Shechemites, that they slew his sons, Judg. viii. 35. God would have his people in all the good they do, not to seek the applause of men, but to eye his command, and to look to him, who registers the slenderest performance, even the giving a cup of cold water to any in his name ; and with whom our reward is, and who will make our favours coals of fire to consume and destroy, if not to thaw and dis- solve, our hardened enemies, Rom. xii. 20. Obs. 3. Affliction is the lot of God's Israel. The holy patriarch who had the name of Israel, had a life made up of sorrows. Affliction was his daily bread, and his constant diet drink. His brother threatens to kill him : his uncle, to whom he flies for refuge, is churlish and deceitful : his eldest son is in- cestuous : his only daughter ravished : two of his sons turned cniel murderers : his best beloved wife dies in childbirth, and his dearest child is given over for murdered : he and his family are soon after punished with a sore famine : in sending for food, he loses, as he thinks, Simeon : his days, by his own computation and confession, were few and evil. Gen. xlvii. 9. The posterity of Israel have afflictions left them for their legacy. Egypt, the wilderness, Ca- naan, Babylon, were the stages of Israel's tragedies. The spiritual Israel is in all the parts and ages of the world a distressed number. AVitness that book of martyrs epitomised, Heb. xi. Of all people, God would have his Israel holiest, and he corrects them to make them partakers of his holiness, Heb. xii. 10. If he suffers weeds in the forest, he endures them not in the garden. Affliction is appointed for the con- sumption of sin. It is as fire to the . . . raw flesh, to roast out the crudities and blood of our corruptions. It is poison to lusts, and food to graces. The sheep of Christ thrive best in shortest pasture ; faith, humility, patience, prayer, heavenly-mindedness, in affliction, like spices under the pestle, are sweetly fragrant. How sweet is music upon the water! How heavenly are the prayei-s of a weeping saint ! Affliction is God's touchstone, to difference between the precious and the vile ; his fan, to sever between the wheat and the chaff; his waters, like those to which Gideon brought his soldiers, for the trial of their fitness for war, Judg. vii. 5 ; his furnace, to separate between the metal and the dross. Of all people, therefore, true Israel- ites should never promise to themselves outward ease. God sees it best for his people, like waters, to be in motion : should they stand still, they would soon putrefy. The rest of the people of God remains, Heb. iv. 9. It is too much to have two heavens. He who said he should never be removed, like Peter in the mount, knew not what he said. That saints may be always safe, they must never be secure. Of all people, those should be least censured who are most corrected ; they may be, nay, are most like to be Israelites. The happiness of Israel is not to be 114 AN EXPOSITION UPON Veb. 5. judged by outward appearances. The Israels, the princes of God, are in this world but princes under a disguise. This life is but the obscurity of their adop- tion. We see their combats, we see not their crowns ; we view them in the tents of Kedar, not within the curtains of Solomon. Obs. 4. More particularly, it is no new thing- for Egypt to be unkind and cruel to Israel. Israelites and Egyptians are of contrary dispositions and in- clinations ; the delight of the one is the abomina- tion of the other. Besides, it is the duty of Israel to depart out of Egypt. Israel is in Egypt in respect of abode, not of desire. Egypt is not Israel's rest. If Egypt were a house of hospitality, it would more dangerously and strongly detain the Israelites than in being a house of bondage. The thoughts of Ca- naan would be but slight and seldom, if Egypt were pleasant. It is good that Egyptians should hate us, that so they may not hurt us. When the world is most kind, it is most corrupting ; and when it smiles most, it seduces most. Were it not for the bondage in Egypt, the onions and idols of Egypt would be too much beloved. Blessed be God, who will by the former wean us from the latter, and will not let us have the one without the other: far better that Egypt should oppress us, than we oppose God. Further, it is the endeavour of Israel to depart out of Egypt; and never was any known to forsake Egypt without persecution. This world loves its own, but it loathes them who show that they belong to another. To forsake the courses of the world is practically to speak our dislike of them ; and therefore he that will not associate with sinners, shall be sure to smart by them. " They think it strange," saith the apostle, " that ye run not with them to the same excess of riot, speaking evil of you," 1 Pet. iv. 4. The wicked speak evil of saints, not for doing any evil against them, but only for not doing evil with them. I won- der not that Israel was either so courteously sent for and invited out of Canaan into Egypt, or so cruelly opposed when they offered to depart out of Egypt into Canaan. When thou art coming to Egyptians, they will love thee ; when thou goest from them, they will hate thee. 06*. 5. Judgment begins at God's Israel. God whips his children before he beats the servants, and coiTects Israel before he kills the Egyptians, 1 Pet. iv. 17. First God performs his whole work upon Mount Zion, before he punisheth the fruit of the proud heart of the king of Assyria, Isa. x. 12. God ordinarily makes use of Egypt for the base and low service of punishing Israel; and the wisp must firsk scour the vessel before it be thrown on the dunghill. The building must first be erected be- fore the scaffold be taken down. The corrupt blood must be drawn out before the leech fall off. The wicked in all their tyranny and lordship are but servants, the lowest, scullions to serve and scour the godly. They are spared and punished in order to the saints' exigence : and when wicked men are ad- vanced, it is not for their own worth, but for the wickedness of the church ; not because the wicked deserve to have such servants as the godly, but be- cause the godly deserve such masters as the wicked. God sets them up, not out of love to their sin, but out of hatred to the sins of his people ; and the best prognostic of the downfal of Egyptians, is the reformation of Israelites. Besides, God will ren- der Egypt inexcusable when he comes to plague them. \Vhat can Egypt say for itself, when God hath dealt so severely with his own Israel before their eyes, yea, by their hands ? so many crosses as befall Israel, are so many evidences against Egypt. If God do these things in the green tree, what will he do in the dry ? Luke xxiii. 31. If he scourge the children with rods, he will whip the slaves with scorpions. " They whose judgment was not to drink of the cup have assuredly drunken ; and art thou he that shalt altogether go unpunished ? thou shalt not go unpunished, but thou shalt surely drink of it. I begin to bring evil upon the city which is called by my name, and should ye be utterly unpunished ? ye shall not be unpunished," Jer. xlix. 12; xxv. 29. When Egypt has seen God so severe, and themselves so cruel against Israel, what can they say why judg- ment should not pass against themselves ? Yet fur- ther, judgment begins first with Israel, that so they may be the more fitted to see judgment come upon Egyptians. Israel would not know how to manage the mercy of Egypt's overthrow, if God had not first humbled Israel. Too many sails are dangerous for a small vessel. The heart of Israel is so slight and giddy, that it would not be able to sail without the ballast of correction. Yet again, Israel would not so much rejoice in Egypt's after-overthrow, if God had not first corrected Israel ; the people of God cannot be thankful in the downfal of their enemies, when they cannot tell but that judgments may afterward fall upon themselves. How can the throwing of the rod into the fire delight the child, whenas the child knows not but that the parent may throw it into the fire afterward ? If a house be not finished, it will soon decay j if a sore be not thoroughly cleansed, it will break out again. If Is- rael be not well purged by corrections before the Egyptians be destroyed, punishments seven times worse may again return to Israel. And a new de- liverance bestowed upon an old heart will but make the rent the greater. All this shows us the reason why Egypt still is unpunished ; truly, Israel is not yet corrected, or at least not humbled and reformed by corrections sufficiently. The plaster falls not off till the sore be healed : the people of God are be- holden to themselves for their lingering calamities. All times are not seasonable for Egypt's overthrow. Though the enemies of God may be „ nigli enough, yet the people oi God lencas. Caiv. ia may possibly not be low enough, for ''"■ "' '"■ the accomplishment of such a work. We, poor crea- tures ! have short thoughts ; and, like silly children, are desirous to have the apple taken out of the fire before it be roasted enough ; and, like them, we love green fruit; I mean, mercies before they are ripej but green fruit breeds worms, and mercies bestowed before we are fit to enjoy them, make us but proud and unreformed. Obs. 6. God often brings his Israel into such straits, as out of which they see no possibility of de- liverance. So bitter was Israel's afiliction, that they had as little patience to hear of their deliverance as to endure their bondage, Exod. vi. 9. God's people are sometimes brought into a condition so strait, that it is resembled to a prison ; to denote, that they are so confined to and enclosed in their troubles, that they see no way of escape. David prays tliat God would bring his soul out of prison, Psal. cxlii. 7. The afflicted sers-auts of God are called prisoners of hope, Zech. ix. 12. Abraham was in a great strait when God commanded him to sacrifice his only son Isaac, in whom the promises were to be fulfilled, David was greatly distressed when Ziklag was burnt with fire, and his wives taken captives, and his soldiers spake of stoning him, I Sam. xxx. 6. And in a great strait he was, when God, by the prophet, offered him his choice of plague, famine, and pur- suit by the enemies, 2 Sam. xxiv. 14. Jehoshaphat was in a great strait, when at the approach of so vast an army of enemies, he said, We know not Veb. 5. THE EPISTLE OF JUDE. 115 what to do, 2 Chron. xx. 12. Israel was in a great strait, when instead ot deliverance which Moses had promised them, their tale of bricks was continued, and their straw taken from them," Esod. v. 8 ; and afterwards, when Pharaoh was pursuing them, and the sea was before them, Exod. xiv. 10. God's Israel would never be humble in, nor thankful for enlarge- ments, if God did not sometimes bring them into dis- tresses. How sweet is liberty after a prison ! how pleasant is the haven after a storm, which brought the distressed mariner to his wits' end ! Psal. cvii. 27. Israel would not so believe God in future distresses, if they had not been in them before. Israel might have gathered strength against their distress at the Red Sea, by considering God's delivering them from the distress of oppression. Their faith should also have been upheld against straits in the wilderness, by remembering their deliverance at the Red Sea. And their distrustfulness after deliverances from their distresses is oft recorded as their sin. The graces also of God's Israel are much manifested by encoun- tering with and overcoming distresses. Their graces hereby are discovered both in their truth and their strength. Weak grace cannot go through strong temptation; but the distresses of an Abraham, a David, a Job, a Paul, prove in the end trophies of triumphant faith. And all the power of grace does but discover the power of God; who delights not that his saints should be distressed, but that the world and the devil should be vanquished by poor believers, and ultimately that himself should be glo- rified by all. Instead of murmuring under lesser trials, consider that these are nothing to the dis- tresses of yoiu- betters. Remember, Christians, that if your drink be water or wormwood, some have drunk blood. Prepare for distresses. Christians, pray for increase of faith : the journey may be long, desire God to help you to feed heartily upon the promises, even again and again, as God bids Elijah, when he was to go to Horeb. By bearing lighter, la- bour to grow fit for heavier pressures. A delicate Christian will not endure to be a distressed Chris- tian. He who by the daily practice of self-denial and mortification does not displease himself, will never endure that another should distress him. How fearful, further, should we be of censuring the most distressed ! Abraham's distress, David's strait, Paul's viper, proved them neither wicked nor forsaken. Oh how much better is it to be a distressed saint than an enlarged sinner ! to be in God's pound, than in Satan's champaign ! If the one condition has more liberty, the other has more safety. Where God loves, there he corrects ; and where he loves most, there he distresses. To conclude this ; in distress, take heed of despondency ; recollect former deliver- ances out of as great distresses, 2 Cor. i. 10. When you meet with such a strait, pinching Eg)-ptian yoke which God cannot break, with burdens which he cannot take down, with a Red Sea which he cannot divide ; when you are pursued by a Pharaoh which he cannot devour, and are in a distress which he cannot remove ; then, and not till then, distrust him. Improve your interest in God, and, with David in distress, encourage yourselves in the Lord your God, 1 Sam. XXX. 6. 06s. 7- God's Israel shall not be utterly destroyed, though it be in an Egyptian furnace of affliction. The church is supported even when oppressed. When Israel was afflicted, they multiplied, Exod. i. 12. Thus it was with the seed of Israel ; yea, thus with the Saviour thereof. After his death, his name, his glory lived more vigorously than ever ; and they who in his lifetime sought to destroy him, as un- worthy to live, after his death sought to live by be- lieving on him. This he foretold of himself, "If a corn of wheat die, it bringeth forth much fruit," John xii. 24. Thus was it with the ancient Chris- tians. The more we are mown down, „, „ . , • 1 m IT rlures emcimur, the more we grow up, saitti iertuUian. qu.xies metimur The chujch is in Scripture compared "'"'"'• ■^"'• to things which, though weakest, yet are most fruit- ful, as doves, and sheep, the vine. The church, like the palm-tree, rises up the more men endeavour by weights to press it down. The Egyptian flames cannot devour the Israelitish bush ; the gates of hell cannot prevail against the church. God's bless- ing overcomes all human opposition. If God saith, " Increase, and multiply," all the enemies of the church help it when they most endeavour to hinder it. It is neither from the weakness of the flames, nor the strength of the bush, that it is not consumed; but from the gracious presence of Him who dwelt in it; and his dwelling there he manifests, 1. By re- straining the fire, and keeping in its fury. All the wrath of man which shall not praise God, shall be restrained by God, Psal. Ixxvi. 10. 2. By strength- ening the bush against it ; if not by bestowing worldly, yet spiritual power to oppose it. How much was Pharaoh mistaken when, intending to op- press the Israelites, he said, " Let us deal wisely with them ! " Exod. i. 10. The sun may as easily be blo^^■Il out with bellows, and battered with snowballs, as Israel may be overthrown by opposition. But how great therefore is that folly which puts worms upon contending with the great God ! What do the Egj'p- tians in contriving against Israel, but besides the disappointment of their hopes, curiously weave their own woe, by tortm-ing themselves with envy, and making way for Israel's deliverance by their ovra overtlirow ? Against the God of Israel there is no wisdom, nor understanding, nor counsel, Prov. xxi. 30. Oh how happy were we, if the time which we spend in fearing and shunning trouble, were only improved in hatinp sin and cleaving to God ! Obs. 8. Satan at.d his instruments then begin to rage most furiously, when God calls and stirs up in- struments to help and relieve his church. Before Moses went in to Pharaoh for Israel's release, the Israelites were used unkindly ; but afterward they were oppressed tyrannically. How cruel was Egyp- tian rage upon the entrance of Moses into his mi- nistry ! As soon as David was anointed king, how cruelly did Saul rage ! In all ages of the church Satan endeavours to obscure the dawnings of the gospel with a bloody cloud of persecution. When God begins to cast the devil out of his hold, he deals with the church as with that man pos- sessed by him, whom, when Christ was i'^a°"!'™™/([ui- about to cure him, he did rend, and £''H'^"^',ji'' tear, and lay for dead. In the begin- ning of reformation antichrist filled all places with blood and slaughter. When God begins to heal his church, the antichristian humour of violence and persecution discovers itself, Hos. vii. 1. The cross follows the entrance of the gospel ; hence we should be encouraged, and cautioned. Encouraged ; for it is a good sign, that when Satan wars and rages, God is wounding and dispossessing him, and that his time is but short. We should also be cautioned : let us look for trials, even after Moses has prornised de- liverance. Commonly when God has given his church hopes of mercy, he seems to threaten inevitable disappointment of it. After God had given Abraham a son, in whose seed all the promised mercy was to be accomplished, God seems to put Abraham upon pulling down the foundation of all this happiness with his own hands. And we should take heed that we impute not our troubles to the reformation en- 116 AN EXPOSITION UPON Ver. 5. deavoured, but to that opposition which Satan and the distempered world put forth, and not to blame God's care Of our recovery, but our own phrensy. Obs. 9. No difficulties can hinder Israel's deliver- ance. God can command, yea, create deliverances for his people. When there is none left and shut up, when there is no force and might to relieve, he can deliver them alone, Psal. xxv. 22; xxxiv. 7; Ixxi. 20; Isa. xliii. 13; Gen. xviii. 14. When there are mountains of opposition, he can level them, and make them become a plain. Jesus Christ comes skipuing and leaping over them all. The wisdom, power, and malice of his enemies only make his strength tri- umphant ; yea, the unworthiness and unkindness of Israel cannot stop the course of delivering mercy. So unexpectedly can he scatter difficulties, that his people have been like them that dreamed when mercy came, they thinking it too good to be true. Yea, their enemies have been amazed, and compelled to profess, that God hath done great things for his church. How strong must the forces of God's de- cree, power, love, wisdom, faithfulness, the prayers and tears of his people, needs be, when they are all united ! And hence it is that, as the enemies of Israel have cause to fear, though they are high ; so the true Israelites have cause to hope, though they are low. There is no defeat so great fe'^ra'esrerm" hut faith has a retreating place. Means taiur'* """"'' '^''" ''" nothing without, much less against God ; but God can do all things without, yea, against means. A saint abhors in- directly to wind himself out of any trouble; why? he has a God who can help in every strait: whereas a sinner who wants God, shiftingly betakes himself to any unworthy practice. O Christian, take shame to thyself, that every slight trouble should so dismay thee, having such a Deliverer; that the mountain should be full of horses and chariots, and thou shouldst not have thy eyes open to see and believe them, 2 Kings vi. 15—17. What is a Pharaoh, a house of bondage, a puissant army, a Red Sea? delivering mercy makes way through them all, and is a mighty stream that bears all before it, Psal. cxxvi. 4. It is infinitely stronger than the strongest blast of gun- powder to blow up all opposition. 0 Christian, fear not thy danger, but believe in thy Deliverer. Obs. 10. God loves not to give deliverance till it be welcome. When the tale of bricks is doubled, then, and not till then, Moses comes. When Israel is parched with the heat of persecution, then comes the showers of deliverance. God is a help in the needful time of trouble. Then is it God's time to deliver, when there are no visible helps or hopes of deliverance. " For the oppression of the poor, and sighing of the needy, now will I arise, saith the Lord," Psal. xii. 5. In such a case it was that God said to Moses, " Now shalt thou see what I will do to Pharaoh," Exod. vi. 1. Times of extreme oppression are times of earnest supplica- tion ; and God loves to bestow mercies when they are by prayer desired. The cry of Israel must come up to God, before mercy from God comes down upon Israel. Further, where deliverance comes in a time of extremity, it will be entertained upon its own terms. Israel will part with any thing that offends their deliverer; they will submit to strict reforma- tion, which before they would not hear of, and say with Saul, " Lord, what wilt thou have us to do?" Acts ix. 6; and with the Egyptians, who were pinched with the famine, " Buy us and our land for bread, and we and our land will be servants to Pha- raoh," Gen. xlvii. 19. Lastly, when deliverance is afforded in the church's extremity, the glory of God's power, wisdom, and free goodness is most clearly discovered. God loves so to work for his people, as to gain most by them; he will have the tribute of praise out of every salvation. And this discovers the true reason why mercy is delayed ; why God only, as it were, shows a mercy, and then pulls it in again : we are not yet so pinched by the want thereof, as to stoop to God's conditions, to accept of an exact universal reformation, to be willing that God should do with us what he pleases ; and to those whom God has so fitted, mercy shall not long be delayed; nay, God has given to them the best of mercies, in bestow- ing a heart meet to enjoy them. Obs. II. God often proportions the punishment to the sin. The Egyptians encompass poor Israel with affliction, neither suffering them to go from or to re- main in Egypt ; and now they themselves can neither go backward or forward in the sea. The bloody rivers, and their destruction in the Red Sea, fell them their cruelty in drowning the Israelitish children. Sodom was inflamed with the fire of lust, and God consumes them with the fire of wrath. Joseph's brethren sell Joseph for a slave, and they themselves are detained as bondmen. Adonibezek cuts off the thumbs and great toes of seventy kings ; and as he did to them, so did God requite him, Judg. i. 7. Haman was hanged upon his own gibbet. David's murder and adultery were followed with the death of his children, and the ravishment of Tamar. It is thy duty to trace sin by the foot-prints of punishment, and ob- serve what sin thou hast lived in which bears most proportion to thy punishment. Art thou sick ? con- sider whether thou hast not abused thy strength to sin. Doth God take away thy sight, thy hearing, thy tongue, thy estate ? ask thy conscience whether these have not been employed against God. And if this direction seem to put thee upon an uncertain course of finding out thy beloved sin, imitate the example of Herod, who, that he might make sure work to kill our Saviour, slew all the children in Bethlehem. In like manner let us impartially destroy all our sins. If we know not which was the thorn that pricked us, cut down the whole hedge. If we know not which was the bee that stung us, let us throw down the whole hive. Obs. 12. When the enemies of God labour most to oppose and frustrate, they accomplish and fulfil the will of God. Pharaoh studies to destroy Israel; but even then Pharaoh by his own daughter preserves and nourishes him who was to be Israel's deliverer. Pharaoh resolves to detain Israel in bondage ; but even he shall shortly not only send them away, but compel them to go ; yea, in that very night which God had four hundred and thirty years before set down and prefixed. Joseph's brethren sell him that his dream might prove false, and that they might not be brought to bow before him ; but so did God order it, that therefore they came to do obei- sance to him because they sold him. 'q'fa""ndrius*' The Jews killed Christ to extinguish his fame and glory, but by his death was his glory and fame advanced. Oh the folly of God's enemies ! how can God want weapons to beat them, when he can beat them with their own ? how impossible is it but God should prevail over them, when he does so by being opposed by them ! How should this encou- rage the afflicted church of God ! when his enemies most resist him, they are against their wills compelled most to serve him and his church. Obs. 13. God is most faithful in keeping promise with his people. God misreckoned not his people one day, nay, not one hour in four hundred and thirty years. "All the paths of God are mercy and truth," Psal. xxv. 10. The faithfulness of God never fails, nor will he alter the thing which is gone out of his lips, Psal. Ixsxix. 33, 34. The promises of God are called "the sure mercies of David," Isa. Iv. 3; sure I Veh. 5. THE EPISTLE OF JUDE. 117 unto all the seed of r)ivid that are in covenant with God, as David was. They are yea and Amen, 2 Cor. i. 20. There shall not fail one word of all the good which God hath promised to do for his people. Josh. xxi. 45 ; xxiii. 14; 1 Kings viii. 56; Jer. xxxiii. 20; Isa. liv. 19. The promises of God are built upon the unchangeable purpose of God, which is a sure and unshaken foundation, 2 Tim. ii. 19. Hence it is that God is said to have promised eternal life before the world began, because the promises which are made in time are according to that purpose of God in himself. And Heb. vi. 17, the apostle grounds the truth of the promise upon the stableness of God's counsel; so that unless God's counsel and purpose change, the promise cannot fail. To assure us of the certainty of his covenant, God has given us the pledges of his oath, Psal. Ixxxix. 3, 35 ; Heb. vi. 17 ; his seal of the blood of Christ, the Mediator, Heb. ix. 16, 17, the earnest of his Spirit, 2 Cor. i. 22. Let the true Israelites hence gather strong consolation. Christians, you are not worthy to be beloved, but God is worthy to be believed. The promises are as sure as they are great. Though all the world falter and deceive you. yet the promises of God are firm and i stable. God will try your faith, but never disappoint I it. Judge of his faithfulness, not by his providences, 1 but by his promises. Of this more in the last part of I the verse. I Obs. 14. The great God has all the creatures at his command. He commands in chief, and the creatures are his hosts ; even from the least of the lice that crept upon the poorest Egyptian, to the most glorious angel in heaven. If he say to a plague. Go, it goeth; if. Come, it cometh ; they all fulfil his word : the un- ruly sea tamely stands still, if God command it, Psal. cxlviii. 8 ; lxx\-ii. 16 ; yea, though of itself it be un- kind and raging, it lovingly opens its bosom to en- tertain the Israelites. He can make the swift sun to stop its course. Josh. x. 12 ; yea, to go backward, Isa. xxxviii. 8. The greedy and cruel lions are muzzled up and grow gentle at God's command. If God speak unto the fish, it shall take, retain, and restore Jonah. How should this relieve the faithful in all their exigences ! Their Friend, their Father, has all the world at his command to supply their wants, to deliver them from troubles, to destroy their enemies. Wan roweth, but God bloweth. The Eg>-ptians pur- sue, but the wind, the sea, the chariot-wheels shall all obey the God of Israel. Never need a true Israelite fear who has such a Friend. Never can an Egyptian be safe that has such an enemy. Obs. 15. Wicked men grow not wise till it be too late. "Why could not the Egyptians as well refrain from the pursuit of Israel, as endeavour a retreat ? It had been better for them not to have entered into the sea, than to struggle to get out when once they were in it. They might with more wisdom have said, Let us not follow after ; than have said. Let us fly from the Israelites. Wicked men do not believe their danger till they feel it. Satan suffers not their eyes to be opened till, with the blinded Syrians, they are in the midst of their enemies. O sinner ! labour to be wise betimes; in this thy day know the things that belong to thy peace. It is easier to be warned of the wrath to come, than to wade out of it. Obs. 16. God makes those conditions and employ- ments easy to his people, when they are once in them. w hich before seemed impossible. Israel rather thought that the wilderness should have given them graves, tlian that the sea should have given them passage. They who feared that none could roll away for I them the stone of the sepulchre when they came, < found it rolled away to their hands. The works of 1 God are sweet in the performance, which are unplea- sant in their undertaking: the yoke of Christ is grievous to take up, but easy to bear and undergo. It is otherivise in the employments of sin ; they are easy and delightful in the beginning, but bitterness in the end. The Israelites find the sea shut against them when they approach it, but it was open in their passage through it. The Egyptians found it open at their approach, but shut when they would return. The ways of God are narrowly broad ; the ways of sin broadly narrow. Israel has nothing to do but to follow God, and to believe. For tneir way, if mercy do not find it easy, it will make it so. The second part of this example of the Israelites is their destrucrion after their forementioned deliver- ance, in these words ; " Afterward destroyed." Two things may here be explained. I. What this destruction was which befell Israel afterward. II. AVherein the eminency and remarkableness of this destruction which was afterward, appeared. I. For the first. The Scriptures record sundry destructions brought upon the Israelites while they were in the wilderness, after their deliverance from Eg\-pt : as, 1. Some were destroyed after their idol- atrous worshipping of the golden calf, by the com- mand of Moses, to the number of three thousand men, Exod. xxxii. 28. 2. There was a destruction by fire which the Lord kindled, mentioned Numb. xi. 1 — 3 : whether this fire brake out of the earth, or came from the pillar of fire which went before the Israelites, or was poured upon them from heaven, it is not ex- pressed; certain it is, that it was a grievous burning; and therefore the place where it burnt was called Taberah. 3. Another destruction by the plague we read of in the same chapter, ver. 33, at Kibroth-hat- taavah, after the people had impatiently and discon- tentedly lusted for flesh. 4. There is a destruction by fiery serpents, recorded Numb. xxi. 6 ; where, after their murmuring for want of water, it is said, " much people of Israel died." 5. Many of the Israel- ites were destroyed about the conspiracy of Korah and his accomplices, related Numb. xvi. 31 ; where, besides the swallowing up of sundry in the earth, and the consuming by fire of two hundred and fifty who offered incense, fourteen thousand seven hundred more were destroyed for murmuring and raging against the former judgments. 6. For committing whoredom with the daughters of Moab, and bowing down to their gods, we read. Numb. xxv. 9, of a plague by which died twenty-four thousand. 7. Besides the death of ten of the spies who brought up a slander upon the promised land, a discomfiture of the Israel- ites by the Amalekites and Canaanites is recorded, Numb. xiv. 45, for a rebellious attempt to invade it against the will of God. These destructions by vio- lent death are the principal which are mentioned particularly in the sacred story. But though the destruction which is here intended by the apostle is not exclusive of these, yet is it to be extended be- yond them, and to be understood of that more general destruction, which, Numb. xiv. 29, is threat- ened against all the Israelites from twenty years old and upward, whose carcasses for forty years fell in the wilderness, because of their rebellious and un- believing murmurings against God, upon the evil report which the spies had brought upon the land of Canaan. II. The eminency and remarkableness of this de- struction ; it was a dispensation compounded of severity, principally intended, and mercy, also com- prehended, in the setting down of this example. First, For its severity. This appears in. The persons-who were destroyed ; and, The season when they were destroyed. 118 AN EXPOSITION UPON Vkr. 5. 1. The persons who were destroyed are consider- able, 1. In their quality and privileges. 2. In their quantity and number. (1.) In their quality, noted in the word " them." They were "the seed of Abraham, the friend of God, Israelites according to the flesh." Not heathens, but a peculiar, a chosen people, privileged above all the people of the earth, to whom belonged the covenant, sacrifice, sacraments, worship ; of which Christ came according to the flesh, 1 Cor. x. 3, 4; Rom. iii. 2; ix. 5. A people who so heard " the voice of God speaking out of the fire " as none other ever did, Deut. iv. 33 ; to whom God had " shown his statutes and his judgments," after which manner he " had not dealt with any nation," Psal. cxlvii. 20. In a word, a people whose privileges Moses thus admires ; "Happy art thou, O Israel: who is like unto thee, 0 people ? " Deut. xxxiii. 29. How conspicuous was Divine severity in destroying a people so near, so dear to him ; and whom he only knew of all the families of the earth ! " O Lord," saith Joshua, " what shall I say, when Israel turneth their backs before their enemies ! " Josh. vii. 8. O smart severity, thus to fetch blood from a son, a first-born ; to destroy not Egyptians, Canaanites, but even Israelites ! (A) The persons destroyed are considerable in their quantity and numbers. The power and mercy of God were not more remarkable in the recruiting of seventy souls in two hundred and fifteen years to six hundred thousand, besides women and children, than in reducing so many hundred thousand in forty years to two persons, a Joshua and a Caleb. Oh how angry was their Father, to go round his family with his rod ! yea, how just was their Judge, to ride such a large circuit with his sword ! 2. The severity of this destruction is considerable in the season when they were destroyed, noted in the word " afterward ;" after they were saved out of the land of Egypt ; and so it was a severity which admits of a threefold amplification. (1.) This destruction of the Israelites afterward, was a fall after an eminent advancement. The higher a place is from which a man falls, the more dangerously does he fall. How woeful is it to have been happy! It is a double mercy, to be raised up from a low to a bigh estate ; and it is a double misery to be thrown down from a high to a low degree. " Thou hast lifted me up, and cast me down," saith David, Psal. cii. 10. And thus Job amplifies his misery with admirable elegance. Job xxix. per tolum, and chap. xxx. : " Young men saw me, and hid them- selves; princes refrained talking," &c. "But now they who are younger than I have me in derision, whose fathers I would have disdained to have set with the do^s of my flock," &c. Oh how glorious was Israel in their Egyptian preservation, their Red- Sea deliverance, their wilderness provisions and pro- tections ! being, as Moses in admiration of their happiness breaks out, a people to whom none was like, in being saved by the Lord. And if so, then was no people so miserable in being forsaken by the Lord. (2.) This destraction of the Israelites afterward, was a miscarriage after vast cost and expenses laid out upon them. How angry is that father with his son, who casts him off after all his care and cost of education ! How hateful is that house to the owner, which he pulls down after vast and immeasurable expenses about its structure and furniture ! How much anger did God express in the destruction of the temple, when after all the cost which David and Solomon laid out upon it, the Babylonians burn it to ashes, and carry away all the gold and sump- tuous monuments thereof! Was ever God at such charges with any nation as he was at with Israel ? For their sake he turns Egypt upside down, he re- buked kings, he scattered and destroyed armies ; the wild water waits upon them in a standing posture ; the pillar of a cloud and fire conducts them ; the heavens pour them down miraculous showers of angels' food ; the rock splits itself into cups, and gives them drink ; their garments continue fresh, and grow not old ; and, which is infinitely beyond all this, God renews his covenant with them, and gives them a law from heaven, speaks out of the fire, and sends them an epistle to instruct them, written with his own hand : and after all this cost and care, how great must Israel's destruction be ! (3.) Yet further, this destruction of the Israelites afterward, was a sad disappointment of highest ex- pectations. Israel was now cast away, as it were, in the haven. They who not long since were singing and dancing at the spectacle of floating Pharaoh and his followers ; they who had passed through the fur- nace and the sea, and escaped both their oppressors and pursuers ; they who had safely marched through a hot, howling wilderness, even unto the borders of the promised land, and were now safely arrived at the confines of Canaan ; in a word, they who had nothing now (as they hoped) to do but to enter and take possession of a land flowing with milk and honey ; are not only forbidden to enter it, but com- manded back to the sandy and scorching wilderness, there to spend the residue of their few and evil days, Numb. xiv. 25, 29, 30. O sorrowful, stupendous disappointment ! Secondly, Even in this destruction of Israel the mercy of God was more remarkable than his severity. If Israel's scourge be compared with Israel's sin, they had no cause to complain. They might rather won- der at what did not, than at what did befall them ; rather at the mercy which was left, than at what was removed. Well might Israel say with Ezra, " The Lord hath punished us less than our iniquities deserve," Ezra ix. 13; and with the church afterward, It is the goodness of the Lord that we are not consumed, Lam. iii. 22. Look upon Israel's provocations, in Egypt, at the sea, in the wilderness, their murmur- ings, idolatry, their unthankfulness for and forget- fulness of God's multiplied mercies, their rebellion against their godly governors ; their hypocrisy, covenant-breaking, lingerings after their old Egypt, unreformedness under all the dealings of God with them ; especially their distrust of God's power and goodness after frequent and abundant experience of both ; look, I say, upon all these, and then wonder that this destruction should be, 1. So slow, and not more speedy. 2. But in part, and not total and universal. 1. It was a destruction mercifully mitigated, in respect of the slowness and deferring thereof. How much longer was God about destroying a handful of sinners, than he was in creating the whole world ! Israel, a people that could not be kept from sinning, had a God that could hardly be brought to punish them. Had the fire of God's wrath been proportioned to the fuel of their sins, he would have destroy- ed them in a moment. " Forty years long was I grieved," saith God, "with this generation," Psal. xcv. 10; and so long endured he their manners in (he wilderness. Acts xiii. IS; daily suffering that which he beheld, abhorred, and was able to have punished every moment in those forty years ; instead whereof all that while he waited for their repentance, and was at the expense of supplying them with miracu- lous provision, direction, protection, feeding them, and attending them as ^'p""*"?'""'" carefully as the nurse her froward infant. Ver. 5. THE EPISTLE OF JUDE. 119 2. The destruction of the Israelites was but in part, not total. For besides the sparing of Caleb and Joshua, who believed the promise of God, all who believed not were not destroyed ; for all under twenty years were exempted from the forenamed de- struction, and reserved, that God might still have his church among them, and that there might be of them a people left to possess the good land, according to the promise. And in this respect it was, that upon the prayer of Moses for the pardoning and sparing of the people, God answers, that he had pardoned them according to the word of Moses, Numb, si v. 13 — 20. For although he spared not the persons of the elder and rebellious multitude, yet Md°EJltIn d'ai'a ^c Spared the stock of Israel, remitting vrnia. caiv. in the punishment of present and Universal death, and not blotting out their memo- ly, lest the seed of Abraham being extinguished, his covenant should have failed and fallen to the ground. The distrustful refusal of. the parents to accept of the promised land made not God unfaithful, for the blessing which they rejected was performed to their children ; God resenting a seed to propagate his church, and tempering his severity inflicted upon some with mercy afforded to others, though deser^■ed by none. Obs. 1. The most numerous company of sinners are unable to withstand an angry God. He can easily destroy six hundred thousand persons in a few years, and a hundred fourscore and five thousand Assyrians in one night, 2 Kings xix. 35. " Though hand join in hand, yet shall not the wicked go un- punished," Prov. xi. 21. He to whom it is all one to save by few and by many, can as easily destroy many as one. Numbers are nothing with God. The whole old world of sinners are no more in the hands of God than a handful of worms. The greatest combination of sinners are but stubble to the flame, and but as snowballs to the sun. He can as easily cast down multitudes of sinning angels, as they can crush an ant upon a molehill. There is no proportion between created strength and uncreated Omnipotence. The powers of all the world are but borrowed of him, and as 'purely dependent upon him as the stream is upon the fountain, the beam upon the sun. How can that power be too hard for him who gave it, and can withdraw it at pleasure ? Never let multitudes dare to oppose him, nor one poor weak saint fear to trust him. Obs. 2. The worst cause commonly hath the most abettors. Had this been put to the question, whether ■wnll God keep his promise in giving to Israel the land of Canaan ? Caleb and Joshua would have been overvoted by almost six hundred thousand Israelites ; who nevertheless would have as much failed in their cause, as they exceeded in their numbers. The mul- titude is but a weak argument to prove a strong cause. The most have ever been the worst. Right- eous Noah stood in a manner by himself, against the whole world of ungodly. The prophet Elijah was not the worse for being opposed by four hun- dred Baalites, nor they the better for having only one Elijah to withstand them. Let us walk by rule, not example. Numbers commonly no more please God than they can oppose him. It is better to go to heaven with a handiiil, than to hell in a crowd ; and to enter in at the strait gate with few, than at the broad with many; to go into Canaan with Caleb and Joshua, than to fall in the wilderness with six hundred thousand. Obs. 3. No privileges abused can exempt from punishment. The soul of God may " depart from Jerusalem," Jer. vi. 8 ; and Ariel, the city where David dwelt, has woe denounced against it, Isa. xxix. | 1. God may forsake his tabernacle in Shiloh, "de- liver his strength into captivity, his glory into the enemy's hand," Jer. vii. 12; Psal. Ixxviii. GO, 61; and " pluck the signet from his right hand," Jer. xxii. 24. " With many of the Israelites God was not well pleased ; for they were overthrown in the wilderness," 1 Cor. x. 5. To him that breaks the law, circumcision is made uncircumcision, Rom. ii. 25. Chorazin, Bethsaida, Capernaum, get nothing by the mighty works of Christ, and their elevation to heaven, but greater woes and falls. Matt. xi. 23. God delights not in outward privileges, but in inward purity. The new creature, worship in spirit and truth, a Jew inwardly, an Israelite indeed, circum- cision and brokenness of the heart, only please the eye of God, John iv. 23, 24; Gal. vi. 15; and with- out these external service is but painted atheism. As the " pure in heart shall only see God," Matt. v. 8, so God only sees the pure in heart with contentment. God loathes sin wherever he sees it, but most of all when it is sheltered with appearances, professions, and privileges. A name to live, external ordinances, circumcision in the flesh, the temple of the Lord, commend us not to God. " I will punish," saith God, " the circumcised with the uncircumcised ; Egypt, and Judah, and Edom, the children of Ammon and Moab ; for all these nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in heart," Jer. ix. 25, 26. The Bible in thy house, the word of grace in thy ear, will not avail, unless the grace of the word be in thy heart ; and the former without the latter will but prove like Uriah's letters, which he carried for his own destruction : Paul accounted all his privileges as dung in regard of the knowledge of Christ. The means of salvation in word and sacraments must be used in faith and repentance. Otherwise, they being out of their holy use enjoyed, ■will turn to our destruction. Obs. 4. God laboiirs to win people by mercies, be- fore he wounds them by judgments. Israel is first solicited by love ; God destroys them not till after- ward ; and if his goodness had made them blush, his greatness should not have made them bleed. Oh how propense was that God to save his Israel ! and how unwilling to destroy them ! He gave them the honey of deliverance and provisions freely, and of his own accord ; he put not forth the sting of punishment till he was provoked. Israel shall first have the cloud to guide them, the sea divided, Egyp- tians drowned, manna showered down, the rocks gushing them drink, and they by all left inexcusable, before they are destroyed. Oh that the long-suffer- ing of God might be salvation, and lead us to re- pentance, and that by submission to mercy we may prevent a conquest by judgment ; and not put the Lord upon a work more unpleasing to him than to ourselves, whose backs do not suffer so much as his bowels when we are beaten, Hos. xi. 8. Obs. 5. Miraculous mercies do not benefit an un- holy heart. After all the salvations that God had bestowed upon Israel, they were fit for nothing but destruction. Every step they took in the Red Sea, they trod upon a miracle of merciful preservation : every time they tasted a crumb of bread or a drop of water, they took in a miracle of merciful provision : every time they looked up to the heavens, they be- held a miracle of merciful direction ; but none of these could work upon stubborn hearts : only he who commanded that more soft rock to give them water, could make their hearts obedient. They who will not be taught by the word, will not be bettered by the rod of Moses ; and without the Spirit we shall be benefited by neither. Obs. 6. Great deliverances abused make way for 120 AN EXPOSITION UPON Ver. 5. feverest judgments. Many times did God deliver Israel, but they provoking him with their counsel, were brought low for their iniquity, Psal. evi. 44: the whole book of Judges is the comment upon this truth, a book made up of the vicissitudes of deliver- ance, provocation, and punishment. Sins committed against the love of a God, are committed most against the happiness of a people. Every deliverance is a bill of indictment against the unthankful. This makes God to call to the heavens and earth as wit- nesses against those children which he had brought lip and rebelled against him ; yea, to profess, that the owner of an ox, and the master of an ass, were more respected by their beasts than he was by his Israel, Isa. i. 2, 3. This makes God to profess, that he will consume his people after he hath done them good. Josh. xxiv. 20; and that he will deliver them no more, Judg. x. 1.3; and elsewhere, that he is weary of repenting, Jer. xv. 6. "After all that is come upon us," saith Ezra, " should we again break thy commandments, wouldest not thou be angry with ns till thou hadst consumed us ?" Ezra ix. 13, 14. Oh that England would, instead of murmuring at its pre- sent distresses, mourn for its abuse of former deliver- ances ; and more fear, without a speedy reformation, that the mercies which still we enjoy shall be removed, than hope that those we want shall be bestowed ! 064'. 7. Sin disappoints the most hopeful expecta- tions of mercy. It stifles it even when it seems to be come to the birth. " We looked for peace, but no good came ; and for a time of health, and behold trouble ! " Jer. viii. 15 ; siv. 19. Who could have expected but that Israel, after so many miraculous mercies, being now upon the confines of Canaan, should instantly have entered ? but, behold, their sin sends them back into the wilderness, there to linger and pine for forty years together. Sinners disappoint God's expecta- tion, and justly therefore may God disappoint theirs. After all the costs bestowed by God upon his vine- yard, " he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes," Isa. v. 2. Israel gives God appearances of holiness, and God gives Israel an appearance of deliverance. They flatter God with shows of that obedience which he deserved, and how justly does God disappoint them of those mercies which they desired ! They fall short of promised duty, and therefore of expected delivery. Oh that we could condemn ourselves, and justify God in the sad disappointments of England's re- covery ! We made show at the first of a thorough reformation, but we soon faltered and made a halt ; and why should God be bound, when we would needs be loose ? Our goodness was as the early dew, and the morning cloud that gocth away, Hos. vi. 4 ; and justly therefore was our deliverance as a morning sunshine, soon clouded and overcast with unexpected troubles. Obn. 8. Even in judgment God remembers mercy. God was good to Israel when he destroyed Israel. God in his smiles will be feared, and in his frowns will be loved ; as it is said of Asher, that his shoes were iron and brass, and yet that he dipped his foot in oil, Deut. xxxiii. 24, 25; so does God ever mix the hardest and heaviest severities toward his Israel, with the oil of mercy and gentleness. He spared the children, when he overthrew the parents. He did as well remember his own covenant as their provoca- tion. He cut off some luxuriant branches, but did not cut down the tree ; he punished some for their sins, he punished not all, for his own glory. He wrought for his name's sake, Psal. cvi. 8. " I said, I would scatter them into corners, I would make the remembrance of them to cease from among men, were it not that I feared the wrath of the enemy," Deut. xxxii. 26. So good is God, that he raises arguments of pity toward rebellious Israel out of himself, yea, out of his enemies, when Israel affords him none. Though justice made him cast his church into the fire to be scorched, yet mere)' made him pluck it like a brand out of the fire, lest it should be consumed, Zech. iii. 2. And a seed he reserves, a remnant, that his church may not be as Sodom, Isa. i. 9. In the vintage of a judgment, he leaves the gleanings of grapes upon the vine of his church. He never shakes his olive-tree so thoroughly, but he leaves at least " two or three berries in the top of the uppermost bough, four or five in the outmost branches," Isa. xvii. 6. Though I make a full end of all nations whither I have driven thee, yet " will I not make a full end of thee, but correct thee in measure ; yet will I notleavethee wholly unpunished," Jer. xxx. 11 ; xlvi. 28. Let not Israel presume upon mercy, if they will sin; but yet let them not despair of mercy, though they suffer. " God will not cast off his people," Psal. xeiv. 14. Though the destruction of his Israel be never so great, yet it shall never be total ; and should many fall, yet all shall not ; the cause, the interest of Christ shall not : and though possibly in a wilder- ness of common calamities, the carcasses of some of his own may fall among others, so as they may never live to enter the Canaan of a longed-for peace and reformation in this life ; yet by faith ascending up to the Nebo of a promise, they may behold it afar off, and see it possessed by their posterity ; they them- selves, meanwhile, repenting of their unbelief and unworthiness, and so entering that heavenly Canaan, where they shall enjoy tlie fulness of that which here they could have enjoyed but in part. The next branch of the example of the Israelites, is, 3. The cause of their destruction, viz. their infi- delitj-, contained in these words, " That believed not." For the explication whereof two things are to be considered. I. In what respect these Israelites are here said not to believe. II. Why they were punished for this their not believing, rather than for any other sin. I. For the first. Unbelievers, 1. Are frequently in Scripture taken for pagans and heathens, I Tim. v. 8; 2 Cor. vi. 14, 15; I Cor. xiv. 23; who are always without the profession of the faith, and oft without the very offer of the word, the means of knowing that faith which is to be professed ; and then it is termed an unbelief of pure negation. 2. Unbelievers are said to be such, who, though they profess the faith, and hear and know the word, yet deny that credence to it which God requires; and their unbelief, called an unbelief of evil disposition, is either a de- nial of assent to the truths asserted in the word, or of trust and affiance to the promises of good contained in the same ; and both these are either temporary, or total and perpetual. Into the former sometimes the elect may fall, as particularly did those two disciples, who by their unljelief drew from Christ this sharp reproof, " 0 fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken," Luke xxiv. 25. And for this Christ upbraided the eleven, when they believed not them who had seen him after he was risen, Mark xvi. 11, 13, 14. And of righteous Za- charias is it said, that he believed not those words which were to be fulfilled in their season, Luke i. 20. Into that unbelief which is total and habitual the reprobate only fall, John vi. 64, 65 ; of whom Christ speaks, " Ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep," John x. 26 ; and afterward the evan- gelist. They believed not, nay, they could not believe, because that Esaias said. He hath blinded their eyes, &c., John xii. 37 — 39; as also Acts xix. 9. "Divers Ver. 5. THE EPISTLE OF JUDE. 121 Certum est, com- plurts fuisse pios, qtii vn\ coinmuU! imptetate non fueniDt implicili, vel mox resi- puerunt. Cal. ID >leb. lii. 18. were hardened, and believed not." These abide in unbelief, and the wrath of God abideth on them, John iii. 3(5. This unbelief of the Israelites princi- pally consisted in their not yielding trust and affi- ance to the gracious and faithful promises, made by God to their forefathers, and often renewed to them- Belves, of bestowing upon them the land of Canaan for their inheritance. These promises, upon the re- port of the spies concerning the strength of the Ca- naanites and their cities, were by the people so far distrusted, and deemed so impossible to be fulfilled, as that they not only wished that they had died in Egypt, but resolved to make them a captain to re- turn thither again : see Numb. xiii. xiv. And pro- bable it is, that the unbelief of the most was per- petual ; but that others, even of those who at the first and for a time dis- trusted the faithfulness of God's pro- mise, by the threatenings and punish- ments denounced against and inflicted upon them, repented afterward of their infidelity, and so believed that God was faithful in his promise, though they by reason of their former unbelief did not actually partake of the benefit thereof However, this their sin of distrust- fulness was their great and capital sin, that sin, like the Anakims which they so feared, much taller than the rest, and which principally was that provocation in the wilderness spoken of so frequentlv in the Scripture, Heb. iii. 8, 12, 16, 18; Psal. scv.'S. And hence it is that God explains this provoking him, by not belie\-ing him : " How long," saith 'or?m om„"ur" he- N lunb. xiv. 1 1 ," will this people pro- P"'-...Cai. in voke me ? how long will it be ere they believe me?" And that it was their great stop in the way to Canaan is evident, in that the punishment of exclusion from Canaan was inmie- ttiately, upon their unbelief, inflicted upon them ; as also by the express testimony of the apostle, who saith that they could not enter in because of un- belief. n. For the second. Why they were destroyed ra- ther for their unbelief than for other sins. 1. Their unbelief was the root and fountain of all the rest of their sins. This evil heart of unbelief made them depart from the living God by their other provocations, Heb. iii. 12 ; Jer. x\-ii. 5. All sins would be bitter in the acting, if we believed that hey would be bitter in their ending. Faith is the ihield of every grace, and unbelief the shield of ivery sin. Faith purifies. Acts xv. 9, unbelief pol- utes the heart. Unbelievers and disobedient, are in the Greek expressed by one word, d-^(i6ovi>Tic, 1 Pet. ii. 7, 8; Heb. xi. 31. What but unbelief was the cause of all those impatient mummrings of the Is- raelites ? Numb. xiv. 27. Had they believed a faith- ful God, they would quietly have waited for the ac- implishment of his promises ; had they believed in ilim who is all-sufficient, they wou'd in the want of ill means of supply have looked upon them as laid ip in God. The reason why they made such sinful laste to get flesh, was because their unbelieving leart thought that God could not furnish a table the wilderness. What, but their not believing a jreat and dreadful Majesty, made them so fearlessly ibellious against God and their governors ? What, int their not believing an all-powerful God, made hem fear the giants and walled cities of Canaan ? aith went out, and fear and every sin got in. They [relieved God too little, and man too much ; by their mbelief making God as man, and man as God. 2. God had afforded many helps and antidotes i^pinst the unbelief of the Israelites. God had fiven promises, fii-st, to their fathers, =ind afterwards to these Israelites their posterity, of his bestowing upon them the land of Canaan for an inheritance, Gen. xii. 7; xiii. 15; xv. 18; xvii. 7, 8; xxvi. 4; Dent. i. 8; Exod. iii. 17; ". 8. His promises, like himself, were faithful and true, and impossible it is that he who made them should lie. These promises were often repeated to their forefathers and them- selves ; and the very land of Canaan is called " the land of promise," Heb. xi. 9. And afterward Solo- mon professed, " There hath not failed one word of all God's good promise which he promised by the hand of Moses," 1 Kings viii. 56. All his promises are yea and Amen. The promises of giving to Israel the land of Canaan God had sundry times confirmed by oath. Gen. xxii. 16; xxvi. 23; Psal. cv. 9: the oath God followed with his seal of circumcision, Gen. xvii. 10, whereby was confirmed the promise of the earthly and heavenly Canaan. To all these God had added the abundant examples of those their holy forefathers, who openly professed their belie\'ing the promise, that their seed should inherit Canaan. Hence Abraham sojourned contentedly in the land of promise, where he had not so much room as to set his foot on without borrowing or buying, Heb. xi. 9 ; Acts vii. 5. Hence also he pur- chased a burying-place in that land, of L" i'",' ", i^ °^'u * which, though living, he had not pos- ciirum. m spem session, yet dying, nay dead, ne snow- lestaietur. Kivet. ed his expectation. How holily soli- qI'^'^- '"■ '° citous was Jacob and Joseph, that their bodies after their deaths should be carried out of Egypt into that Canaan where their hopes and hearts had been while they lived ! To all these ex- amples God had given them, to prevent unbelief, their own multiplied and astonishing experiences of his former power and love. Could not He, who by the lifting up of the arms of one Moses destroyed an army of Amalekites, as easily overthrow the armies of the Canaanites by the hands of six hundred thou- sand Israelites ? Could He who commissioned the very lice and flies to plague Egypt, and at whose command are all the hosts of heaven and earth, want power to deal with the sons of Anak ? Could not He who made the weak and unsteady waters of the Red Sea to stand up like walls, as easily make the strong- est walls of the Canaanitish cities fall down? But they believed not for his wondrous works, they re- membered not his hand, nor the day when he de- livered them from the enemy, Psal. Ixxviii. 32, 42. 3. Their unbelief most of all robbed God of his declarative glory. It was a bold sin, it rifled his cabinet, and took away his chiefest jewel, even that which he saith he will not give to another, Isa. xiii. 8. (I.) It takes away the glory of his truth; it no more trusting him, than if he were a known liar, and as we say of such a one. No further than we see him, I John V. 10; Rom. iv. 20. It endeavours to make God in that condition of some lost man, whose credit is quite gone, and whose word none will take : now to discredit, is to dishonour a man. Unbelievers account it impossible that He should speak true, for whom to lie it is impossible. After all the promises of giving them Canaan, though repeated, sworn, seal- ed, Israel believed not God. (2.) The Israelite): by their unbelief obscured the glory of God's goodness. They did not only labour to mEike their misery greater than God's mercy, but even his verj' mercy to appear tyranny. They often complained that he had brought them into the wilderness to slay them, Numb. xiv. 3 ; and they despised that pleasant limd which God had promised them, Psal. cvi. 24 ; yea, as some note, in regard that ^^^ ^^-^ pu^''^!" the land of Canaan was a type of the heavenly Canaan, they believed not th.it God wc-uld 122 AN EXPOSITION UPON Ver. 5. bring them to heaven, and give them inheritance in that eternal rest by means of the Messiah ; so that they rejected at once both the blessings of the foot- stool and the throne, the earthly and the heavenly Canaan at the same time. (3.) Their unbelief blemished the glory of his omnipotence. They pro- claimed by this sin, that He to whom power belongs, Psal. Ixii. 11, and nothing is too hard, who can do all things but those which argue impotency, as lying, and denying himself ; who made heaven and earth with a word, and before whom all the nations of the world are as the drop of the bucket, and the small dust of the balance, Isa. xl. 15 ; could not crush a few worms, nor pull do\\Ti the height of those giants, whom by his power he upheld. 4. Of all sins, the unbelief of the Israelites most crossed their own professions. They voiced them- selves to be, and gloried in being, the people of God; and they proclaimed it both their duty and privilege, to take God for their God. They sometimes appeared to believe him ; but the unbelief of their hearts gave both God and their own tongues the lie. They pro- fessed that they believed the power of God, and re- membered that God was their Rock j but at the news from Canaan, they showed that they believed that the Anakims and the walled cities were stronger, Psal. Ixxviii. 34 — 37. They professed that they be- iieved the mercy of God, and that the most high God was their Redeemer; but at the very supposal of danger, they thought that they were brought into the wilderness to be slain. They professed that they believed the sovereignty of God ; they returned and inquired after him, and promised obedience to him ; but upon every proof they showed themselves but rebels. So that by reason of their unbelief, and un- stedfastness of heart in God's covenant, they did but flatter God with their mouth, and lie unto him with their tongues. How heinous a sin is it for God's professed friends to distrust him ! How shall a stran- ger take that man's word, whom his most familiar friends, yea, his ovm children, will not believe ? "Thine own nation," said Pilate to Christ, "have delivered thee unto me." Thine own people, may heathens say to God, will not trust thee, and how should we ? 5. Of all the sins of the Israelites, unbelief was that which properly rejected the mercy which God tendered to them. Canaan was by him frequently in his promise offered ; and though all the sins of the Israelites deserved exclusion from Canaan, yet they did not, as unbelief, by refusing the offer of it, reject the entrance into it. As the faith of the Ninevites overthrew a prophecy of judgment, so the unbelief of the Israelites overthrew the promises of mercy, Psal. Ixxviii. 41 , 42. The breasts of the promises were full of the milk ot consolation, and yet these froward children refused to suck and draw them by believing ; and iastead thereof, struck and beat them away by xmbelief and rebellion. Unbelief, as to the Israel- ites, cut asunder the sinews of the promises, so that they could not stir hand or foot to help them, and turned the promises into fallacies. Only unbelief concluded this people under the necessity of destruc- tion, Heb. iii. 19. They must needs perish who cast away the means of recovery. What shall be a remL>dy for him who rejects the remedy ? other sins are sores, but unbelief throws away the plaster. Every sin made Israel obnoxious to destruction, but unbelief made them opposite also to deliverance. This sin stopped, as it were, the spouts and passages of grace. Christ could do no mighty works because of their unbelief, Mark vi. 5. They who believe not, render themselves incapable of blessings, and lay im- pediments in the way of mercy, binding the hands of God lest he should help them. Other sins lay per- sons, as it were, in the grave, this of unbelief lays the gravestone upon them, and makes them rot therein. Upon them VTath abides, John iii. 18. Obs. 1. Difficulties soon discover an unbelieving heart. Many seemingly believing Israelites, upon the news of the Anakims and the walled cities, be- lieved not. Joram's profane pursuivant discovered his temper, when he said, This evil is of the Lord, why then should I wait upon the Lord any longer ? 2 Kings vi. 33. Saul appeared to depend upon God, and sought to him in his troubles ; but when God seemed to neglect him, and gave him no answer, then left he God, and sought to a sorceress. Rotten fruit will not hang upon the tree in a windy day. A shal- low, a highway pool of water will soon be dried up in a scorching sunshine. One who is only a be- liever by a shallow, outside profession, will soon leave believing and professing. For a while he will believe, but in time of persecution he falls away. Wisely therefore God seems sometimes to disregard and reject his own children, to try the sincerity of their confidence in him, 2 Chron. xxxii. 31 ; Deut. viii. 2; xiii. 3; and whether they will cease „ . . ' ,' ... •' -, Nee iratutncoler* to depend upon nim, because he seems desiiiit immen. not to pro\'ide for them. They who d»l''^J:;'/!Z'' depend upon God continually, depend vi.ies.mercesMei ^ , . * , /-, 1 1 -^ videre quod cre- upon him truly. God makes it appear dis. Aug. inPs.i. to all the world, that his people serve '^"■ not him to serve their own turn upon him, and that they are neither hirelings nor changelings. It is the efficacy of faith to believe what we see not, and the reward of faith to see what we believe. How im- provident are those mere professors and appearing Israelites, who please themselves with shows of be- lieving and cleaving to God ! their paint will not endure the washing, nor their refuge of lies keep outM the storm : when sufferings, death, or judgment a proach, their confidences will be rejected. Chris tians ! labour for a faith unfeigned, yea, both trui and strong ; there may come times that will re quire it. Obs. 2. In vain do they who live in unbelief pre tend against their other sins. So long as that lives no sin will die, notwithstanding instructions or cor- rections. Sin may be brought to the place of execu- tion, but it will not die, so long as unbelief brings it a protection ; and while it is backed by this, it will but laugh at all the means used to mortify it. As faith quencheth the fiery darts of the devil, so wil unbelief quench the holy darts of the Spirit. Th sin wliich is armed with it, will not be wounded by the sword of the word ; but will save its skin, much more its heart, till faith set it naked to the strokes ol that sword. Our neglect of and coldness in holj duties, comes from our not believing a benefit thai will bear the charges of fervency and frequency in performing them. Unbelief clips the wings ol prayer, that it cannot ascend ; and turns much pray- ing into much speaking. Whence is all our trouble and impatience in adversit)', but from want of thai grace which comforts the heart in God, and makes us quietly to rest and trust on and in him ? Whence are those base, indirect courses to get a living by; lying and deceiving, to be made rich by a worse than the king of Sodom, but from not believing God to, be an all-sufficient portion, that he will never leavej or forsake us ? From what but unbelief proceed all' the temporizings, baitings, and sinful neutralities? In temptations to all these faith is our victory, and unbelief our defeat, which makes men unworthily render themselves prisoners to every promise and threat ; causing them either to have two hearts, with the hypocrite, or no heart, with the coward. They Ver. 5. THE EPISTLE OF JUDE. 123 ■who have little faith have much fear ; and they who have no faith will be all fear ; even slain, and not by the sword. Whence proceed all our carnal con- fidence, and trusting in an arm of flesh, but from this sin, which makes the heart depart from the Lord ? Jer. xvii. 5. Whence come the unbrotherly breaches and divisions among brethren, but from the distance which by unbelief is between God and us ? Christians being like lines, which come the nearer to one another as they come nearer to the centre. Un- belief lies at the bottom of all these sins. And all mortification of sin which comes not from a principle of affiance in God through Christ is imaginary. How short-sighted are they into their misery, who are troubled for their scandalous sins of drunkenness, adultery, and murder, but neither observe nor sorrow for their unbelief, the mother sin, the main sin, the nursery of all sins ! The soul, saith Luther, is a hypocrite, that sees a mote in the eye of the flesh, but not abeam in its own eye; namely, infidelity, which is incomparably greater than all sins committed by the body. Obs. 3. Great is our forwardness to fall into the in of unbelief. God seemed to study the prevention of this sin among the Israelites, but it broke the bars that he put in the way to stop it. Covenants, oaths, miracles, plagues, were all as easily snapped asunder by this sin, as were the cords by Samson. Even Christ himself marvelled at the strength thereof, in opposing the power of all he had said and done, Mark vi. 6. We are carried unto unbelief, both by the fill' of our own natures, and the wind of temptation. Our hearts, ever since we left God, crave and look for relief from sensible objects ; and having forsaken the :rue, embrace even any opinionative God or good kvhich has enough to flatter into expectation, though lothing to fill or to jield satisfaction. And so great s our natural pride, that we had rather steal than jeg ; rather rob God of glory by resting upon our own ;nuches, than go out of ourselves to depend upon mother for happiness. The batteries of Satan are irincipally placed against faith. He would not care "or taking away our estates, names, liberties, unless le hoped hereby to steal away our faith. He fans lot out the chaff, but bolts out the flour. Satan, :aith Christ to Peter, hath desired to winnow thee iS wheat ; " but I have prayed for thee, that thy faith ail not," Luke sxii. 32. Satan's first siege in Para- Use was laid against the faith of threatenings. He knows that all our strength, like Samson's in his I ocks, is from laying hold upon another : if therefore lie can make us let go our hold, which is our faith, he desires no more. Faith is the grace that properly resists him, and therefore he principally opposes it : Unbelief befriends Satan, and therefore he most pro- Inotes it in our hearts. Oh that we might most fear Ind oppose that sin which is most difficultly avoided, l.nd most dangerously entertained! Of all keepings, ^eep thy heart ; and of all means principally use ihis, of keeping out unbelief. \ Obs. 4. Nothing more displeases God than the Iorsaking of our own mercies. In the true lo^nng of urselves, we cannot provoke God. He is angry i"ith Israel because they refuse that which might lake them happy. God loves to be giving, and is leaded with them who are always taking in his oodncss. Unbelief obstructs mercy, and God op- poses unbelief. He delights in them who hope in lis mercy. He has such full breasts, that he is most iaiiied when we will not draw them by believing. lie great complaint of Christ was, that people would ot come to him for life. He was grieved for the lardness of their hearts, and incensed against those ■uests that would not come when they were invited to the feast of his gospel dainties. He is so abundant a good, that he wants nothing ; or if he does, he wants only wants. If he be angry with us, how should we be displeased with ourselves, for rejecting mercy ! It is the proud and unbelieving soul which God only sends empty away. They who will buy his benefits, must leave their money behind them. How inex- cusable are they who perish ! they starve and die in the midst of fulness. But, alas, we are the poorest of beggars, not only wthout bread, but without hunger. O beg that He who bestows grace upon the desires, would first give us the grace of desire. Obs. 5. None are such enemies to unbelievers as themselves ; nor is any folly so g^eat as infidelity. "The business and very design of unbe- NuUum eenus lief, and all that it has to do, is to stop insipientis, infi- mercy, and hinder happiness. Every fnt'us.' 'fie'ril; da step which an unbeliever takes is a de- Cousid. parting from goodness itself, Heb. iii. 12. And no wonder if such a one carry a curse along with him, if he " be like the heath in the desert, and see not when good cometh," Jer. xvii. 5, 6. Unbelief is like the unwary hand of him who, being without the door, pulls it too hard after him, locks it, and locks himself out. Faith is the grace of receiving, and un- belief the sin of rejecting, all spiritual good. How vainly does the unbeliever expect refreshment by going from the fountain ; or gain, by leaving the true treasure ! Distrustful sinner ! who is the loser by thy incredulity, and who would gain by thy believ- ing, but thyself ? What harm is it to the cool and refreshing fountain, that the weary passenger will not drink ? and what benefit is it to the fountain, though he should? What loseth the sun, if men will shut their eyes against its light ? what gains it, though they open them ? What good comes by dis- trusting God, unless the gratifying of Satan in the damning of thyself? How foolish is that disobedi- ence that will not wash and be cleansed from a worse leprosy than Naaman's ; that, like a man in a swoon, shuts the teeth against a life-recalling cordial ; that will not open a beggar's hand for the receiving of a jewel more worth than all the world ; that be- lieves the father of lies, who cannot speak truth, un- less it be to deceive ; and will not trust the God of truth, nay, truth itself, to whose nature lying is infi- nitely more opposite than to our good ! O unbel iever ! either thou shalt believe before thou diest, or not : if not, how scalding will be this ingredient, among the rest of those hellish tortures which hereafter shall complete thy pain, to consider, that offered, sincerely offered mercy was despised ! that the promise of grace and truth daily desired thy acceptance, but had nothing from thee but contempt ! that thou, who art now crying eternally and vainly for one drop, hadst lately the offers and entreaties of the fountain, to satisfy thyself fully and for ever ! If thou shouldst believe before thou diest, how great a trouble to thy heart, holily ingenuous, will it be, that thou hadst so long together such unkind thoughts of mercy itself, that thou didst deem truth itself to be a liar ! How angry wilt thou be with thyself, that thou didst so slowly believe, and so hardly wert brought to be happy ! Obs. 6. Our greatest dangers and troubles are no plea for unbelief. Notwithstanding Israel's tempt- ation, their unbelief was a provocation. A howling wilderness and dismal tidings excused them not from sin in distrusting God. Even He who hides his face from the house of Jacob is to be waited for. When we sit in darkness, and see no light, we should trust in the Lord, and stay ourselves upon our God. Faith goes not by feeling and seeing, but should go against both ; it must both believe what J24 AN EXPOSITION UPON Ver. 5. it sees not, and contrarj' to what it sees. Not out- ward props, but the stability of the word of promise, should be the stay of our faith ; a foundation that ever stands, though heaven and earth should fail, verhiim fiiiei I" thy word (saith David) I hope ; and pabulum. fhou hast caused me to hope, Psal. cxix. 49, 1 14. The greatness of danger must not lessen faith. Dangers are the element of faith ; among them faith lives best, because among them it finds most promises. When the world is most against us, then the word is most for us. Faith has best food in famine, and the fullest table in a time of scarcity. The very earth which we tread on should teach us : this so massy a body hangs in the midst of the air, and never stirs from its place, having no props or shores to uphold it but the bare word of God alone. God must be trusted upon his promise, Cum rojo le without a pawn. A usurer will trust a numtiios sine pig- , * ,. , , , c i ■ n..re, lion hubeo, beggar, a liar, a bankrupt, lor his ;°rmVsp,!St'' pledge ; and shall we believe God no tj'Hii^' Y^'^' further ? this is not at all to trust him, cri'dis. ve'i'eri ° but liis sccunty. It is a lame faith that CitXs'coii'cu'iis cannot go without cnitches. He that arboribi.sque cannot Stand when his stilts are taken w.'l 12.'" ' ''' away, was held up by them, not by his legs. He whose faith keeps not up when outward comforts are removed, stood not upon the promise, but upon earthly props. The failh which Christ commends, is that which believes much, and sees nothing. "Blessed," saitti Christ, "are they who have not seen, and yet have believed." This was the commendation of Abraham's and Ste- phen's faith, Rom. iv. 18 — 20; Acts vii. 5. Such a faith quiets the heart most, in testimony of its own sincerity, and against expectation of any threatened, and in the sustaining of any incumbent, difficulties. Oh how sweet a life leads that Christian who does all by another! who gets the blessing without hunt- ing ; and whose only work is to sit still and trust God ; and, like Joseph's master, to leave all in the hand of another; to have all its comforts compen- diously from one object, and not to take a wearisome circuit about the whole world for contentment ; to sit at his Father's table, and not to beg for food from door to door! And such a faith honours God as much as it quiets the soul. It proclaims that God is avTdmuTOQ, to be believed for himself; it desires not that the creature should be bound for God, though he seem never so backward to perform his promise, and accounts itself as rich in respect of what it has in hope, as what it has in hand. Yea, in the enjoy- ment of comforts, it places its trust only in God ; and if God does not withdraw created props from it, yet it will withdraw its confidence from them ; using them, indeed, in thankfulness to the Giver, not trusting them instead of the Giver. O noble, glo- rious life of believing ! to draw our comforts thus out of the bosom of God himself; not to be be- holden to the dunghill for our delights ; not to live, with worldly men, upon mud and corruption but upon the pure and heavenly breathings of the Spirit in the promise. A life emulating that of the angels ; for though indeed believers use the world, feed and sleep, marry and are given in marriage, yet they only enjoy God, and their better part is wholly solaced with Him that shall suffice them in glory. 06s. 7- It should be our principal care to get be- lieving hearts ; even such a holy affiance in the promises, as may shelter from that destruction which befell these unbelieving Israelites. To this end, (I.) Truly, and upon the terms of the gospel, wholly and solely accept of him who is the Medi- ator of the covenant, and through whom alone every promise in it is made good to the soul, and is " yea and Amen," 2 Cor. i. 20. Out of Christ, pro- mises are but mere speculations ; nor can we, unless united to him by faith, challenge any blessing by virtue of a promise. A Christless person receives blessings as one that finds a piece of silver acci- dentally in the streets, and not as a man who re- ceives a sum of money due upon covenant. (2.) In relation to the promises to be believed, which are the element wherein faith lives, 1. Find them out, and lay them ready : find out a promise suitable to every exigence of thy condition. How can a man claim money upon a covenant, who knows not where that distinct bond is laid upon which he is to demand it ? Go to the several promises for the supply of thy several wants. Mark what promises God has made for pardon, grace, direction, protec- tion, provision, and ever make choice of some one or two of every kind which thou mayst run to with speed. A Christian should do in this case with the promises as one which is given to fainting fits, who carries his aqua-i'itce bottle always about him, and sets it constantly at his bed's head, that it may be at hand. 2. Ponder the promises : go aside, separate thyself, suck and hide their sweetness, dwell upon them. Dive in thy meditations into their freeness. Consider that promise has made God a debtor, and free grace made him a promiser. Into their fulness ; there being enough to relieve the largest capacity, and greatest necessity ; they having more oil than thou hast vessels, even enough to be revealed from faith to faith, Rom. i. 17- Into their stability; they being bottomed upon truth and strength itself, the Strength of Israel, who cannot lie ; as sure as God's own essence, which is pawned by an oath for their accomplishment, for he swears by himself: they being further confirmed by the death of Him, who has bequeathed all the benefits of the promises by his will and testament ; in which respect they are the sure mercies of David. 3. Be con- vinced by the promises to see the whole x'i^'ys"iific''t' heart and meaning of God in them, and ^.'"^'"{""'et™''' to be under the authority and evidence causan/aiiquam of them. Faith is an evidence, con- rbj;!r!.u'rp'i*'i'cxi viction, or a convincing demonstration, m'"! ampiiu? Laban, when he saw how matters stood ''"^'' ' '* ''"' between the servant's message and the affection of Rcbekah, said, "The thing proceedeth from the Lord; we cannot speak bad or good," Gen. xxiv. 50. The Lord having brought thee under the condition of the promise, and since thou canst not deny but that the promise has a stable foundation, say. Lord, I must needs yield, I am unable to gainsay thee, I confess myself overcome. 4. Consent, cleave to, clasp about the promises, as the ivy about the oak ; roll thy soul, and rely upon it ; concur with it, and be car- ried down the stream of it, against the motion of thine own rebelling heart. As Rebekah, convinced that the marriage was from God, being called to speak, answered, " I will go." 5. Plead the promises. In temptation and sense of unworthiness, strong un- likelihood of making them good may be represented to thee, but even then cling to them closely. The woman of Canaan would not be put off by silence and vilifjnng terms ; she was called a dog, yet she held close to the word, that Christ was the Son of David : happy she, that in this she was like a dog, namely, in that she would not be beaten off. Thus Jehoshaphat pleaded with God by the promise made to Solomon, and so prevailed against the children of Ammon, 2 Chron. xx. 1 — 30. (3.) Beware of giving way to the love of any one sin. The love of sin hinders belie\ang. Sin will not act believingly, nor faith smfully. It is the nature of sin to cause guilt and fear it; it expects not perform- Ver. 5. THE EPISTLE OF JUDE. 123 ances, but repulses from God. How can any one depend upon me for a courtesy, who knows that I am acquainted with his underhand and unkind con- trivances against me ? Besides, the love of any one sin hinders from yielding to the terms of the pro- mise: it would be loose, and yet have God bound; whereas he never made his promises to gratify lust, but to engage us to holiness. Nor will faith act sin- fully. Faith embraces the whole word of God, even precepts as well as promises, and respects the rule prescribed as well as the rewards promised ; it works uniformly ; and it trusts to God in the way of his commands, not in the precipices of sin ; " Trust in him, and do good," Psal. xxxWi. 3. Besides, it acts warily, and in the eye of God, and therefore holily, and tells us, that if we must not tell a lie to promote God's cause, much less to procure our own comforts. (4.) Limit not God for the way of accomplishing of his promise. This is the noted sin of Israel ; " they limited the Holy One of Israel," Psal. lxx\-iii. 41 ; „^ „■■ . „ thev circumscribed him for the wav of ucum mctiri suo , • . . , . , iiiduio. Cai. in bestowing mercy withm the nan-ow '^' bounds of their oum apprehensions. Whereas, if he will work, who shall hinder him ? Faith triumphs over difficulties, and measures not God by the narrow scantling of reason ; knowing that things that are impossible with us, are easy with God. This was the excellency of Abraham's so much commended faith, that he considered nei- ther the improbability of performing the promise of having a son when his body and Sarah's womb were both dead, Rom. iv. 19, nor the incongruity of per- forming the command of sacrificing his son, which seemed to destroy both God's faithfulness and his own expectations, Heb. xi. I J". And this is indeed the duty of believers, only to consider who promises, and who commands, and neither to question what is promised, though never so impossible, nor to forbear what is commanded, though never so unpleasing. (5.) AVhen God affords thee creature-props, trust not to them. Men would never be distrustful when the creature departs, if they did not confide in it when it stays. If we would not account ourselves the stronger for having worldly helps, we should not esteem ourselves the weaker for wanting them. Could we live upon God alone in the use, we might live upon him alone in the loss of the creature. It is a noble faith that depends upon God in the strength of means; like that of Asa and Jchoshaphat, the former of whom having an army of five hundred and fourscore thousand to rest upon, when Zerah the Ethiopian came against him, adventured not upon BO feeble a crutch, but expresses himself thus in his prayer : Lord, we have no power, and we rest on thee, 2 Chron. xiv. 8, 11 ; and the latter, when his enemies made war upon him, though he had an army of eleven hundred and threescore thousand fighting men, 2 Chron. xvii. 14, 15, professing thus : " Lord, we have no might, neither know we what to do; but our eyes are upon thee," 2 Chron. xx. 12. He who will account God to be all when the creature is at the best and fullest, will surely account him so when the creature proclaims its nothingness. (G.) Trust God in the serving of his providence, and in the use of such means as he has appointed and sanctified. He that will not do for himself what he can, may not trust that God should do for him what he would. Though man liveth not by bread alone, but by the word (of blessing') which pro- ceedeth out of the mouth of God, yet that word is by God annexed unto bread, not to stones ; and that man does not trust God, but tempt him, who expects to have stones turned into bread. If God has pro- vided stairs, it is not faith, but fury, to go down by a precipice ; thus David's tnisting in the name of the Lord made him not to throw away his sling wlien he went against Goliath. Jacob's supplicating God made him not neglect sending a present to his bro- ther. The fast of Esther made her not forget to feast the king. Second causes are to be used in obedience to God's order, not in confidence of their own help : the creature must be the object of our diligence, though not of our trust. Faith, while it causes us to be so diligent in the use of means, as if God did nothing for us, causes us so to withdraw our trust from the means, as if God were to do all for us. He who in obser\'ing the other rules has also added this, may quietly rest upon God for promised mercy ; lay the matter before God, and humbly put him to the accomplishing part. Verse 6. And the angels uhich kept not their first estate, but left their men habitation, he hath reserved in ever- lasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day. In this second example of God's severity, which was expressed against the fallen angels, these two parts are contained. I. The revolt and defection of the angels. II. The ruin and downfal of the angels. I. In the first, these three particulars are princi- pally considerable. 1. By whom this defection was made. 2. From what this defection w'as made. 3. AVherein this defection was made. 1. It was made by " the angels." 2. It was from " their first estate," and " their own habitation." 3. It was, 1. In not keeping the former; and, 2. In leaving the latter. II. In the second, are considerable these two parts. 1 . The punishment which now they undergo in the prison ; they being in that " reserved in everlasting chains under darkness." 2. The punishment which shall hereafter be laid upon them at and after their ajipearing at the bar ; they being reserved, &c. "unto the judgment of the great day." In the former, their punishment of the prison ia twofold. 1. Reservation " in everlasting chains." 2. " Under darkness." In the latter, their punishment is considerable, 1. In that to which they shall be brought, viz. to "judgment." 2. In the time when they shall be brought to judgment, viz. at " the great day." I begin with the first part, their defection and re- volt ; and therein I consider, I. The persons by w'hom this defection was made, viz. the angels. The word ayyeXoi, angels, is a term pe- culiar to the Scripture ; profane writers Anseiorum no- .r ' * men Srtcrx scnp- among the Grecians express them by lurs pHcuiii.re: the word Aal/iovec, and those among Ces'G'rai'r'iIfr'I^o- the Latins, by the word Genii. It ';■■'" Aa,u6,^v. properly is a word which intends the terc ^Mirimunt. office of angels, and signifies no more uis^'ie'^'p.'m."'- than messengers, or those who are sent at the command and by the commission of their superiors. And yet it comprehends and recalls to mind the essence of angels, which is considerable 126 AN EXPOSITION UPON Vkr. 6. before the office, and without which the office is hut a mere notion. Briefly therefore for the explaining thereof, I shall consider, 1. The nature and essence; 2. The office and employment of angels. 1. For their essence. Angels are spiritual and in- corporeal creatures, subsisting by themselves. ( I .) By the name of spirits the Scripture com- nomenesriiaturK. monly expresses the essence and nature •*"s- _,_- of angels ; and it is used both to denote good and bad angels : of the former it is said, " He maketh his angels spirits," Psal. civ. 4 ; a place cited in the New Testament, Heb. i. 7. Of the latter it is said, There came forth a spirit to per- suade Ahab to go to Ramoth Gilead ; who afterward proved a " lying spirit in the mouth of all his pro- phets," 1 Kings xxii. 21, 22. And when they brought to Christ many who were possessed with devils, the evangelist immediately subjoins, that "he cast out the spirits with his word," Matt. viii. 16. And our Saviour plainly expresses that such persons who have not flesh and bones, and such are angels, are spirits, Luke xxiv. 39. Nor is it imaginable but that those are spirits, of whom a legion, that is, at least six thousand, according to Hierom, may be in one man ; but this is clearly asserted concerning the devils, or evil angels, Luke viii. 30 ; where it is added, that many devils were entered into the man. Nor can any but spirits get entrance into bodies without moving or hurting them, and into prisons and other places when closely shut up, and most narrowly watched. It is true, angels have often appeared in human bodies and shapes. The Son of God, before his incarnation, as also the Holy Ghost afterward, did so; and yet it follows not hence that their essence is corporeal ; as neither can it be evinced that souls are corporeal, because Moses ap- peared to the disciples in an outward shape. These their bodies might either be such only in show and appearance, or if they were true bodies, they were only joined to them for a time by God's power, and afterward resolved again into their own principles, as also were their garments, which the angels wore while they conversed with men. And whereas sundry of the fathers have as- serted that the angels are corporeal, and have bodies of their own, they are to be understood commonly as speaking of them in comparison of God, as if though being compared with us they are spirits, yet compared with God they are bodies. And certain it is, that angels are not spirits purely and altogether simple, as God is, who only is that most simple Spirit ; and yet it is conceived by learned Zanchy, that their bodies are more refined, subtle, and pure than either bodies aerial or celestial, which were created out of the first matter, and that the sub- stance of the bodies of the angels is very like to the substance of the heavens of the Blessed, or the em- pyrean, wherein (he saith) they were created, and which are of a corporeal substance, but far more ex- cellent for their purity than the other heavens. From this spiritual nature of the angels flows their immortality, incorruptibility, or immutability; for since they are immaterial, and free from all contrary qualities, composition of matter and form, and the contrariety of qualities, being the causes of intrinsical corruption, they are rightly termed incorruptible. Indeed, only God is simply immutable, who is a being of himself, and not by participa- ^ew'ivTJrt. *'°" ' ^""^ cvcry Creature is mortal, mu- table, and may be brought to nothing by Him who made it of nothing, should he only with- draw his sustaining power. But a thing may be said Tertul. lib. de carne Chrisli et contra Praxeam. Aug. de 'I'rin. lib. e. c. 7.1ib. .1. c. 1. De div. Daem. cap. .?. 5. I. 15. c. £.1. de Civ. Dei. Pern. ser. 5. in Cant. Giee.Mor. 1. 2. c. ?. Polan. Si'Dtag. 1779.pag. to be mortal and corruptible two ways, either by a passive power which is in itself, or by an active power which is in another, and upon whom it depends : now although in the nature of angels there be no passive power whereby they are corruptible, yet in respect of the active power of God, upon which their being depends, they cannot simply be termed incorruptible, because if God withdraw his power, they would instantly perish, though denomination being from the nearest and internal cause, they may properly be called incorruptible. (2.) Angels are true subsistences, or substances by themselves and separately subsisting. The Sadducees of old, and the libertines of later ages, have held that angels are only certain inspirations, motions, and inclinations of the mind ; and that the good of these are the good angels, and the bad of these the bad angels. But that they are rcra ii^KTra^erd, that they are substances, and truly subsist by themselves, is most clearly evinced, 1. From their creation : God created no ac- cidents separately from their substances ; accidents were concreated in and with their substances. But angels were created by themselves, and not in any subject. 2. From their actions : they praise God, they worship the Son, they are heavenly messengers, they assume bodies, defend the faithful, they have wrestled, eaten, been received as strangers, had their feet washed, &:c., they shall gather the elect from the four corners of the earth, they shall come with Christ to judgment ; none of which actions could be done, unless they were substances. 3. From their endow- ments : they have life, power, understanding, wis- dom ; they are immortal, they excel in strength : some things they know not, as the day of judgment. Some of them sinned, others abide in the ti-uth. 4. From their happiness and misery : some of them behold the face of God, and are blessed and glorious, Matt, xviii. 10; others are punished "in everlasting fire, prepai'ed for (he devil and his angels," Matt. xxv. 41 ; Mark xii. 25. 5. From that likeness which we shall have to them in heaven, where we shall be as the angels : shall we there cease to be true sub- stances ? This for their essence. 2. The consideration of the office of angels follows, and this the word angels properly denotes, which is not a word expressing the nature, but the office of angels ; and the words both in the Hebrew and Greek intend the same, importing messengers, t--|,-,o>.r) or such as are sent. The word angels or -A-rveXc'iiuncii, messengers is applied in Scripture both j^s""- *"""• "'• to good and bad angels, Luke vii. 24. ( I .) To good angels most frequently, who are those ministering spirits spoken of Heb. i. 14, and are in Scripture more commonly "".f^^,"" ^"• called by a name of office than of e« e(. qund est, 1 j~t -I T f 1 . • ii- si'iritus est: ex nature, because God delights m their e„ quod asit, an. service, and they themselves are more f.saf ci,;. "' '° glad of obeying God than of their very being. In regard of office, that Christ himself accept- ed the name, and is called the Angel of the cove- nant, Mai. iii. 1. They are by God sent forth for the good of his people. Hence they are called watchers, ministering spirits, Dan. iv. 1 7, (S:c. And for those who shall be the heirs of salvation they minister three ways. [1.] In their life. I. By defending them from their enemies. " Their angels," saith Christ, " always behold the face of my Father," Matt, xviii. 10. Michael and his angels fought in defence of the church, Rev. xii. 7; and the prophet Elisha spake of the angels, when he told his fearful servant that there were more with them than against them, 2 Kings vi. 16. The angels of the Lord pitch their tents about them that fear him, Psal. xci. 11 ; Dan. x. 20; Psal. xxxiv. 7. An angel it was that slew the army Vkb. 6. THE EPISTLE OF JUDE. 127 of the Assyrians, Isa. xxxvii. 36 ; that delivered Peter out of prison, Acts xii. 7 ; as also preserved Lot, Gen. xix. 15. 2. By comforting them. Thus an angel encouraged Jacob when he feared his brother Esau, Gen. xxxii. 1, 2; an angel it was who bid Mary not to fear, Luke i. 30; and who stood by Paul, and bid him be of good cheer. Acts xxvii. 24 : when Daniel had fasted and prayed, an angel it was who said, " O Daniel, greatly beloved," &c. ; and afterward, " Fear not," Dan. x. 19. The women at the sepulchre met with an angel, who comforted them. Matt, xxviii. 5. Yea, an angel appeared unto Christ, and strengthened him, Luke xxii. 43 ; the servant comforted the Waster. 3. By inciting and stirring them up to holiness, and in furthering their salvation : they suggest nothing but what is agree- able to the will of God ; they can no more suggest a doctrine contrary to that which is revealed in the Scripture, than they can be accursed, Gal. i. 8. The law was revealed by the disposition of angels, in re- spect of their service and attendance in the giving thereof, Acts \'ii. 53; Gal. iii. 19: by an angel was the incarnation of Christ foretold to the virgin, and by a multitude of angels was it proclaimed afterward, Luke i. 30; ii. 8, 13. These instruct the apostles concerning the coming of Christ to judgment. Acts i. 11, and forbid the worshipping of themselves as idol- atrous. Rev. xix. 10. An angel leads Philip to ex- pound the Scripture to the eunuch, Acts viii. 26 ; sets Peter at libertj' to preach the gospel. Acts xii. 7 ; bids Cornelius send for Peter, to be instructed by him. Acts X. 3—6 ; and prays Paul to come over to Mace- donia to help them, namely, by preaching the gos- pel. Acts xvi. 9. [2.] In and after their death. An angel strength- ened Christ when he was in his great heaviness of soul. Angels conveyed the soul of Lazarus into Abraham's bosom, Luke xvi. 22 : he who, living, was licked by dogs, is, now dead, attended by angels. The glorious angels are as forward to carry the souls of the faithful to heaven, as every one is to share in the bearing the body of a great prince to the grave. The good angels, in this work of conveying souls, are thought to watch, for prevention of the bad, who always seek to devour the saints, living and dying. At the end of the world the angels shall be the glorious attendants of the great Judge, shall cite all to appear, and shall separate between the good and the bad ; gathering the elect from the four winds, from one end of the heaven to the other; so that there shall not one be lost. Matt. xxiv. 3L (2.) The term angels or messengers is also in Scripture bestowed upon the wicked and unclean ^. , . , . spirits. Thus it is said that God sent evil angels among the Egyptians, Psal. Ixxviii. 49 ; and of this the apostle speaks in that scripture, " Know ye not that we shall judge the angels?" 1 Cor. vi.'S; and 2 Pet. ii. 4, "He spared not the angels that sinned." And these evil angels are employed, [1.] In exercising the faithful with temptations, Job i. ; Luke xxii. 31, which God always turns to their good : these angels stir up terrors against the faithful inwardly, and troubles outwardly. Satan sent his messenger to buffet Paul, 2 Cor. xii. 7. He casts the faithful into prison, Rev. ii. 10. He casts his fiery darts, sometimes tempting and alluring, at other times affrighting and dismaying. [2.] In be- ing the executioners of God's displeasure against the wicked, whom, for their wickedness, God delivers up to these wicked angels, to blind, harden, and bewitch them with sin, 2 Cor. iv. 4; Gal. iii. 1, and then to drive them to despair for sin, Matt, xxvii. 5. Satan employs them as slaves in the basest work, and re- Wards them as slaves, with the smartest stripes ; often in this life, as in the case of Saul, and Judas, and Abimelech ; always after it, both by dragging away those souls to punishment who have followed him in sin, and by being a tormentor afterward of these of whom first he was the tempter. Obs. 1. How glorious a majesty is the God of an- gels ! If the lowest of earthly creatures, if a blade of grass, a worm, an ant, speak his wisdom and power, how much more those glorious spirits who excel in strength and understanding ! How pure and simple a being is that God who is the Father of all these spirits .' How glorious he whom angels adore, and before whom principalities fall down ! How strong is he who, with one word of liis mouth, made so many thousands of those angels, one of whom over- threw a hundred fourscore and five thousand men in one night ! How wise he who is the Father of all that light which angels have, and which is but one ray of his sun ! Infinitely greater is the disproportion between one God and all the angels, than between all those glorious hosts and the least ant upon the molehill. How can that King of glory want forces, who has such a militia, so many thousands of such chariots to ride upon, such a heavenly host as all the millions of angels ? Psal. Ixviii. 7, 8. Wonder, O man, that this Slajesty, who is furnished with the at- tendance of angels, should accept of the services of worms ! that he, the beholding of whose face is the heaven of those blessed spirits, and who has their beauties constantly before him to look upon, and the sweetness of the exactly skilful and melodious music of a concert, a choir of angels to delight him, that this God should accept of the chatterings of cranes, the blackness of Ethiopians, the stammerings, the lispings of infants, the jarrings of our poor broken instruments, the bungling sen-ices of which even poor we ourselves are ashamed ! "What a word of condescension is that of Cant. ii. 14, " Let me see thy countenance, let me hear thy voice ; for sweet is thy voice, and thy countenance is comely ; " and John iv. 23, " The Father seeketh such to worship him ! " Lord ! thou dost not seek thus because thou wantest servants, but because we want work ; not because thou art defective in attendants, but abundant in grace and rewards, and delighted with that of thy- self which thou seest, wherever thou findest it. Obs. 2. How highly advanced is he who is God and man ! The excellency of angels speaks the greater excellency of him, who is above all princi- palities, and power, and might, and dominion, who hath a name above every name, Eph. i. 21 ; Phil. ii. 9, who is made better than the angels, whom all the angels are to worship, Heb. i. 4, 6, and unto whom angels, and authorities, and powers are made sub- ject, 1 Pet. iii. 23. When Christ was upon earth, the angels were his ministers. Matt. iv. II : angels pro- claimed his entrance into the world. Yea, not only at his incarnation, but at his temptations, resur- rection, ascension, angels attend him, ser\'e him, worship him. Our King has not a guard of men, as the great princes of the earth, but a guard of princes; and not of princes only, but even of principalities and powers. Christ is the Lord of the holy angels. The eyes of the cherubim are fixed upon the mercy- seat, Exod. XXV. 20 ; the angels look upon Christ as their Master, expecting his commands. The vail of the tabernacle which covered the most holy, expressly signifying the flesh of Christ, which, hiding his Divinity, made way for us to heaven, was made of broidered w'ork with cherubim, Exod. xxvi. 31 ; there being hereby noted unto us the service which the angels give to Clirist as man. They are call- ed the angels of the Son of man, Matt. xvi. 27. Christ took not upon him the nature of angels, and 128 AN EXPOSITION UPON Ver. 6. yet they undertake the service of Christ. Blush, 0 man, that angels should ohey him, and that thou shouldst rebel against him. Oh, since he is come to his own, let them receive him. Let not Christ suffer for his condescension. If submission to Christ be the grace of angels, contempt of Christ is the sin of devils. 0 kiss the Son, subject your- selves to him, and so stoop to your own blessedness. And take heed of disgracing that nature by sin, and of making it lower than devils, which Christ has ad- vanced above angels. Obs. 3. How much below angels is poor mortal man ! When David saw the moon and stars, he had self-debasing thoughts, Psal. viii. 3; how much more should we, when we contemplate angelical excel- lency ! Even the best part of man, his soul, is lower than angels. An angel is a perfect soul, and a soul but an imperfect angel ; for the angel is an entire, perfect, spiritual substance, but the soul is a spirit but imperfectly, and by halves, because it is the form of the earthly body, and hereby a part of a man. An angel is all spirit ; man part spirit, and part flesh ; partly like an angel, and partly like a beast : an angel is all gold ; a man partly gold, partly clay. How childish, yea, brutish and dull is our understanding, in comparison of that of angels ! What great pains man takes for a little knowledge, how is he beholden for it to his senses, and discourse from the effects to their causes; and after all industry, how doubtful, superficial, and staggering is he in his apprehensions ! but angels behold things with one view, at once discern things, both effects and causes, and pierce into the substance as well as the accidents of things. As much difference between the know- ledge of men and of angels, as there is between the sight of an owl and an eagle, an illumined doctor and a sucking child. How weak and impotent are the operations of the soul of man in comparison of those of an angel ! The soul by the command of its will can only move its own body ; and that, too, how slowly, how creepingly, and with what a dull pro- gressivencss upon the dunghill of this earth ! nor can it bear up this upon the water, in the air, and carry it whithersoever it will ; whereas these spirits, with their alone force, can carry vast and heavy bodies upward, and whither they please. One angel wants no weapons, nay, no hands, to destroy a whole army. How far below the angels are we in habita- tion ! The poorest pigeon-hole is not so much in- ferior to the ivory palaces of Solomon, or the black- est under-ground dungeon to the most magnificent mansions of a king, as is man's habitation to that of the angels. How glorious is that court which is adorned with the presence of the King of glory ; and how blessed those attendants which ever behold his face therein ! Poor man has no better lodging for his noble, heaven-born soul than a cottage of clay, and that too so frail and crazy, as were it not once or twice every day daubed over, it would fall about his ears ; and whithersoever he goes he is forced to carry, to drag this clog, this clay, this chain with him : whereas angels, free from the shackles of flesh, can move from heaven to earth, from earth to heaven, even as swiftlj' as can our very thoughts ! Poor man ! wilt thou yet be proud ? Oh that we were as low in heart as in condition ! How uncomely a garment is pride for those who embrace the dunghill, when the glorious angels are clothed with humility ! But, alas, as the heiglit of heaven cannot make an angel proud, so neither can the lowness of earth, no, not of hell, make sinners humble. Oh that we might only have high thoughts of that condition, wherein we shall be equal to the angels ! Luke xx. 3G. Lord, though 1 beg that I may be more thankful for the mercies i(Ja77eXo(. which I enjoy, than dejected for the troubles which I endure in this life ; yet grant, till I come to be like the angels in the full enjoyment of thyself, that about the sweetest of earthly comforts I may rather be employed with patience than delight. Obs. 5. Angelical services require proportionable abilities. As angels excel in forwardness, so in suf- ficiency, to be God's messengers ; they are wise, strong, swift. " Provide thou," said God, when he directed Moses what officers to choose for public em- ployment, " out of all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth," &c., Exod. xviii. 21. Not favour, money, seniority, &c., but grace, wisdom, and courage, must advance men unto rule. A steed is not commended for prancing and trappings, but for swiftness, and holding out : officers in church and state are not for sight, but for senice. AVe judge not of a pillar by its beauty, but by its strength. Should the pillars of a building be all gilded and adorned, yet if within they were rotten and crazy, we should fear to abide within that building. It is better to be under a zealous, faithful John Baptist, though his raiment be hair and leather, than under a silken Diotrephes, who is all for pre-eminence, nothing for performance. Oh with what unworthy trash and mbbish have we, and still do we, put off the great King! In prelatical times, he that could but sing, and cross, and cringe; and since, he that can but make a noise, and has but boldness enough for an hour; was and is sufficient for that work which re- quires the abilities of an angel. Cursed be that de- ceiver, who hath a male in his flock, and sacrificeth to the Lord a cori-upt thing, Mai. i. 14. And what but curses from God and man those will meet withal, by whose means such cori'upt and contemptible services are offered to the great King, I do not un- derstand. Is thy lame, thy sickly, thy dullest child, the refuse of all thy number, good enough to make a minister ? Had Achish no need of madmen, and hath God need of idiots ? 1 Sam. xxi. 14, 15. Obs. 5. Angelical abilities require proportionable services. Angels excel in sufficiency, and they like- wise excel in forwardness, to be God's messengers. They are wise, strong, swift ; but they think not their best and greatest gifts too good, too great for Him that is the best and greatest. God expects his tribute out of all our receipts, and they should be all for him, as they are all from him : Where much is given, much again is required, Luke xii. 48. They w ho are full should be free, and pour out to others. We must return as we have received. They who have received the endowments of angels, should return their employments. He who hath ability to do better than others, and yet is but equal to them, does there- fore worse, because he does not better. How un- worthily do those deal with God, who are angels for taking in, and yet below the very brutes for laying out their abilities ! even the very oxen are strong t'o labour. How bad, how hard a master is God pro- claimed by such servants, who can, but will not work! How little is the place, the age wherein they live, beholden to them ! David served his genera- tion, and then fell asleep; but these fall asleep while they should be serving their generation, and rest from their labours even before they are dead. How just with God is it that those who will not give God the interest should forfeit the principal! and that they who will not use should lose what God hath given them ! Gifts will not be augmented, unless acted ; nay, how frequently, but sadly, have I ob- served, that they who have been even angels for their abilities, have by sloth and sensuality grown even below men, and lost the edge and smartness of Ver. 6. THE EPISTLE OF JUDE. 129 all their parts ; and, like unsavoury salt, been good for nothing but the dunghill ! Obs. 6. Greatly is that God to be feared who has all the angels at his command. Sinners are never safe when most securely sinning. If God speaks the word, angels will execute his pleasure upon them. Who dares to provoke a general who is at the head of a powerful army ? The heavenly hosts only wait for the word, to destroy the enemies of their Master and Commander-in-chief. An angel smote proud Herod, who robbed God of his glory. How fool- ishly bold is that sinner who thinks to prevail against God by rebellion ! The best policy is for us to cast down the weapons of sin, and to make him our Friend in Christ who is the Lord of all those glorious hosts ; and if a king should consider whether he be able with ten thousand to meet an- other king coming with twenty, how should we con- sider whether our hearts can be strong in contending with that God, between whom and us there is an infinite disproportion, and as we are sinners, an in- finite opposition ! 06a'. 7. God's people are always safe. The angel of the Lord pitcheth his tents about them that fear him, Psal. xxxiv. 7- None are so nobly attended as saints ; they have a life-guard of angels to encom- pass them about : angels are as careful of the faith- ful as a nurse of her sucking child ; they bear them up in their arms, that they dash not their feet against a stone, Psal. xci. II, 12. God at the birth of the faithful puts them, as it were, out to these to nurse ; and at their death he makes these nurses bring home his children again. They keep them from receiving hurt from others, and offering hurt to themselves. The faithful are not to be judged by what we see of their danger, but what we read of their safety. Could they but open the eyes of their faith, they miglit see the mountains full of horses and chariots in all dangers, and more with them than against Ihem. 04a'. 8. It is our duty to take the care of those who are below us. None can be so much under us as we are under angels. If those heavenly spirits attend upon a lump of earth, how regardful should we be one of another, as being in the body ! Heb. xiii. 3. How unsuitable is it to hide our eyes from our own flesh ! Isa. Iviii. 7. The angels are not ashamed to ser\'e us, though we smell of the earth and the dungeon ; and more condescend than a prince in attending upon a man full of sores and vermin : let us " condescend to men of low estate," Kom. xii. 16, and account no work too low for us but sin. 06a-. 9. Tlie higher the privileges are which any abuse, the greater shall be the punishment for abus- ing them. Angels were creatures placed in the liighest form of the creation : for their nature, they are spirits ; for their dignity, they are principalities and powers ; for their employment, the messengers of the Most High, Rev. x. 1 ; in strength they ex- cel, Psal. ciii. 20 : the devil is called the strong one. Matt. xii. 29. Angels can break iron chains, open prison doors and iron gates ; one can destroy whole armies, 2 Kings xix. 35. They are the hosts of heaven, God's militia, his chariots, Psal. Ixviii. 17. For their wisdom, Dan. viii. 16; x. 14, they are termed by philosophers demons and intelligences : admirable is their knowledge, natural, experimental, revealed. The widow of Tekoah told David that he was wise according to the wisdom of an angel of God, to know all things o:i the earth, 2 Sam. xiv. 17; xix. 27. And when the Scripture attributes the highest praise to inferior creatures, the com- parisons are borrowed from the angels. The king of Tyre is called an anointed cherub, Ezek. xxviii. 14. The most eminent among men are called angels, Matt. xi. 10; Rev. ii. I. David admiring man's glory breaks forth thus, "Thou hast made him little lower than the angels," Psal. viii. 5. They saw the face of Stephen as if it had been the face of an angel. Acts %d. 15. If I speak, SUl^r p?^"'"' saith Paul, with the tongues of angels, u'"''^ loc"!'"- . t r^ ■•' 1 TCxi-T li Lonii. in Acts VI. 1 Cor. xiii. 1. If they had tongues, they would speak incomparably better than the most eloquent orator. "Man did eat angels' food," Psal. Ixxviii. 25. But the higher the created excellencies of angels were, the lower sin pulled them down. Sin will make one who is an angel for perfections and privileges, become a devil for impiety and punish- ment. If an angel sins, he makes himself a devil ; if he falls, he falls as low as hell. The more accom- plished any one is with abilities, when that is want- ing which should sanctify and season them, the more destructive their abilities become to themselves and others. The better the weapon is which a madman holds, the more dangerous is his company. Nothing more precious and beneficial than a nnicom's honi in the apothecary's shop, but nothing more deadly than it when used by the fierce creature to wound men. None have done the church of God so much hurt, or tempted so many to sin, as some whom we may call fallen angels ; who, by their places, were the Lord's messengers, and for their knowledge, as the woman of Tekoah said of David, like an angel of God, 2 Sam. xiv. 17. Great pity that their abilities had so bad a lodg- '°S"hab°ai!^ ing ; and that either tlieir heads should be so good, or their hearts no better. Whom has the devil used in all ages for heresiarchs, and ringleaders into heresy and profaneness, but fallen angels, popes, popish prelates, Jesuits, and men reputed, at least for subtlety, and often for piety ? But tlie eminency of their abused parts and places makes a dismal addition to their wretchedness. None has God left to fall so irrecoverably ; nor is the lost savour of this salt again to be restored ; for what salt is there that shall season unsavoury salt ? Nor hath God spared to throw some of them, the popish apostates, already on a dunghill of disgjace, and made them trampled on by all ; and, without repentance, the present se- ducers must look for the same reward. In a public minister of church or state smallest sins are abo- minations, blasphemies. God will be sanctified in those who draw near to him in any eminence of em- ployment. If a prince have servants in places re- mote from his person, he expects that they should not disgrace him by their carriage ; but if they wait upon him at his table, then he expects more exact- ness of deportment from them. God looks for holi- ness in all his servants, but most of all in liis angels, those whom he prefers to places of ministry and nearest service about himself The second particular considerable in the revolt of the angels is, from what they made their defection. I. From " their first estate." II. From "their own habitation." I. For the explication of the former. These words " first estate" are in the Greek contained in one word, apx.'), which sometimes signifies principalitv ; some- times, and most properly, beginning. And hence it is that QCcumenius and some others conceive that the angels are here said to leave their principality, height, eminency, principal dignity which they had by creation above all the creatures ; angels being by Paul called, Col. i. 16, principalities, dpxal. This in- terpretation, saith Junius, seems too narrow, though not altogether, as Beza thinks, to be excluded. Others by this beginning understand God himself, who waa 130 AN EXPOSITION UPON Ver. 0. the author of their first heing; tut this seems to be a harsh phrase and expression, to make the keeping V, . of their beginning', or first estate, to be «uam oricinem. Ill adhenng to and acquiescing m hoa, in'q;r'onJi';r" who gave them their first being. The •lani, q. d. jusii- ijest interpretation, and that wliich is Eii"toT?.''seu- most agreeable to tlie scope both of these tent.dist. 3. and Other scriptures, seems to be that which makes this their first estate to be that original and primitive condition of angels, not as they are substances spiritual and immortal, (for such even the fallen angels are,) but as they were created with their original holiness, righteousness, or integrity of nature ; in which respect the elect angels which *'ere preserved from falling are called the angels of Sod, of the Son of man, holy, and such as behold the face of God. This " first estate" which Jude saith these wicked angels kept not, Christ expresses by this one word, " truth ;" where he saith that the devil did not abide in the truth, and hath no truth in him, John viii. 44. By truth in this place is to be understood that righteousness and true ^T\''u''''" holiness, holiness of truth, wherein Stands the image of God, Lph. iv. 24 ; nor is it unusual in Scripture to express that recti- tude of heart and life which is bestowed upon re- newed persons by the word truth. " Remember," saith Hezekiah, "how I have walked before thee in truth," 2 Kings xx. 3. And fitly may holiness be called truth, because it neither deceives him in whom it is by false hopes, nor any other by mere shows. We must not think that argels were inferior to men. If man from the beginning was holy, why not angels? And as bodies cannot be said to fall, but from a higher place than that into which they fall ; so neither can there be a fall of spirits, but from the height of some good which formerly they had ; which fall from good is not so much in regard of local mo- tion, as of their defection from righteousness to sin, of which their change of place is afterwards a punish- ment. And how can any but most impiously imagine, that He who is perfectly and absolutely good, and goodness itself, should create evil ? And if God does righteously punish the sin of angels, then God did not create them sinful; for how can God punish for the being of that which he himself made to be ? And it is by all the learned exploded for impious Maiii- cheism, to hold that any creature is evil by a neces- sity of nature. It is plainly expressed, " God saw all that he had made, and it was very good." The crea- tures were good with a goodness of nature, and very good because to the goodness of every particular creature there was an accession of the goodness of that order, whereby they all harmoniously suited and agreed with one another for making up the beauty of the whole. And whereas some object that the wolf is by nature ravenous, and the fox subtle and deceitful, therefore that angels may possibly be subtle and cruel by nature ; it is answered, that this is the dignity and excellency of intel- £"to compira-" Icctual nature, either angelical or hu- tione perons pst man, that what is the nature of beasts homo, ut vitium . ' . . , , r_ , . , iioniinisnaturasit IS a siH lu augels and man. Xo whicri K™o;ig!*c". «x' may be added, that the forenamcd qualities of cruelty and subtlety in angels and man would be against a law given to them ; but this cannot be said of those beasts which are not capable of a law. Holiness then it was which at first God bestowed upon the angels, and from this first estate of holi- ness they made a defection. A heinous offence ! ■whither we consider what this holiness was bestowed upon them, and when it was bestowed. (I.) It was a conformity to the original pattern of purity and excellency. It was that by which they as much re- sembled the great and glorious God as creatures, yea, the best of creatures, could do ; that whereby they who stood are still called the sons of God, yea, gods, Job i. 6 ; Gen. xxxiii. 10. To cast dirt upon, or to cut in pieces, the picture of a king is a heinous oifence, but to trample upon and spoil the image of God is an infinitely more heinous indignity. We are wont to burn or openly disgrace the pictures only of traitors or eminent offenders ; and we account that the dishonour of the picture is the dishonour of the person : the image of God in man was very excellent, but it was far more excellent in an angel, who was a subject more capacious to receive it, and wherein it might more gloriously appear. But, (2.) When was this holiness bestowed ? It was bestowed upon angels at their creation. It was given to their nature ; it was their " first estate." These angels were, as it were, crowned in the cradle. God was a Benefactor to them betimes. And what an impiety was it to trample upon so early a mercy ! That land which comes to us by inheritance, with Naboth, we love to keep, though bequeathed by an earthly father ; yea, a gift which is bestowed upon us as soon as we are born, we love to keep all cur days ; but these angels threw away a gift even born with them, as old as their beings, conveyed by God himself. II. The angels forsook also "their own habita- tion." By these words j-o iliov oUrirripiov, " their own habitation," some understand those heavenly places of happiness and glory in this sense, as if for their defection from their original holiness they were cast out, and compelled to depart from them ; but because the punishment of their fall is subjoined in the second part of the verse, I conceive, with learned Gerhard and others, that by "their own habitation" we are rather j^pel'lf '4 here to understand that proper station and set office in heaven, wherein their great Lord and Master was pleased to fix them for serving him ; the apostle comparing them to a company of fugitive soldiers, who leave their colours, and that station in the army where by their Commander they are placed. And this interpretation seems to be much favoured by these words to iliov, " their own," that place pro- perly and peculiarly appointed, allotted, and set out for them by God ; viz. to serve and honour him in ; and this is the force of the word in other places of Scripture, when used either concerning persons or places. God in the beginning appointed several places for his creatures, wherein they were to per- form their sei-vices unto him ; and, like a master of a family who has sundry servants, distinct offices to all sorts of creatures. Heaven was the place of angels, and the melodious praising of God in heaven the work of angels: and, possibly, in heaven those glorious spirits might have their several parts pecu- liarly appointed to each of them, all of them together making up the celestial harmonj^ ; and because there are sundry titles of dignity given them in Scripture, it seems to follow, that there are sundry sorts of duties allotted to them ; from which several duties, for in respect of their nature angels are all alike, some are simply called angels, some archangels, some powers, some principalities ; though what the par- ticular differences between these are, and what the offices of these, I confess, with Austin, I Tor .i.inEnchir. understand not. I conceive it is nei- '■ "^• ther my duty to know, nor my danger to be ignorant of these things. The bold determinations of Aqui- nas and other schoolmen herein, are by the most learned and godly writers rather noted than liked. And this forsaking of " their own habitation" seems in a due and proper sense to be subjoined to the former Ver. 6. THE EPISTLE OF JUDE. 131 expression, of the falling of these angels from their original holiness, and intended by the apostle to be its effect ; as if, because they kept not their natural integrity, they therefore forsocsk their appointed duty and office wherein God had set them. For, as Junius well remarks, these angels having deprived their nature of viTiat good was in it before, since it could not be idle, it did not now incline to and act in former, but con- trary ways and employments ; for that privation being put, the effects thereof must needs follow ac- cordingly in the same kind ; as a man being blind, suitable effects and operations will succeed. Hence it is that Christ, to this privation of holiness and not abiding in the truth, most fitly annexes the impotent inclination of the de\-il to sin in these words, " There is no truth in him ;" and the action whereby he ex- pressed that inclination, which was, in being a mur- derer. By reason of this defection then from his original holiness he became a liar, an adversary to God and all his, a tempter, a murderer, a spirit of uncleanness, a slanderer, a devil. So that from the former privative action of forsaking his primitive in- tegrity, as from a fountain, flowed a voluntary and incessant acting suitable thereunto, and opposite to the duty which at first God appointed him. And now for the high nature of this offence of the angels in leaving "their own habitation," it must needs be answerable to the forementioned cause, viz. the revolting from their original integrity. Bitter was that stream which came from such a fountain : how high a contempt of God was this ! 1. To slight the place of his presence, in which is fulness of joy, and at whose "right hand there are pleasures for evermore," Psal. xvi. 11. If it be a heinous sin not to attain that presence when we are vathout it, how insufferable a provocation is it to despise it when we have it ! The presence of God is heaven upon earth, and the heaven of heaven. The forsaking of this was the despising of all good at once, even of that which was able to satisfy all the desires and capacities of all the creatures to the brim. Nay, the glorious perfections of God satisfy God himself; and if they can fill the sea, how much more a little vessel ! 2. Heinous was the impiety of these angels in leaving their own habitation, as it was forsaking that office and station wherein God had placed them. (1.) They were the creatures, nay, the sons of God, Job i. 6. He made them, and therefore it was their duty to serve him ; the homage of obedience was due to God for their very beings. He gave them those hands which he employed ; he planted in them those endowments of which he desired the increase. (2.) They were of the highest rank of all the crea- tures. If he expected work from the weakest worm, how much more might he do so from the strongest augel ! If God required the tax of obedience from the poorest, how much more due was it from those richest, those ablest of creatures to pay it ! And, (3.) As God had bestowed upon them the best of all created beings and abilities, so had he laid out for tliem the happiest, the most honourable of all em- ployments. AH creatures were his subjects, but these his menial servants ; or, other creatures did the work without doors, these waited upon his person by an immediate attendance. This employment was both work and wages. 'What was their work, but to be- hold the face of the King of glory, and to praise the glory of that King ? and what other happiness is desirable, imaginable ? Obs. 1. Holiness, the image of God, makes the dif- ference between an angel and a devil. When an angel leaves liis integrity, he becomes a devil. If he keep not his primitive purity, he parts with hia primitive pre-eminence. The original holiness of the angels is set out by the word apx'i, which signifies dignity. Cut off Samson's locks, and he will be even as another man. Though never so many other accom- plishments be left behind, as spirituality, strength, wisdom, immortality ; yet if holiness be gone, the truly angelical part is gone. That which is to be desired in a man, yea, an angel, is goodness. All the stars cannot make a day. Should a whole sheet of paper be filled only with ciphers, they could not all amount to the smallest number ; nor can the rarest endowments ^nthout grace make a person excellent. The righteous, not the rich, the honour- able, the learned, is more excellent than his neigh- bour. There is nothing will have a lustre at the day of judgment but purity. Riches and honours, like glow-worms, in the dark, blind night of this world glister and shine in men's esteem ; but when the Sun of righteousness shall arise in his glory, all these beauties will die and decay. How much are they mistaken, who shun and abhor Christians as devils, because they are poor, deformed, disgraced, though they keep their integrity ! and how great their sin, who hate them because they keep their integrity ! but the world will love its own. Black men account the blackest most beautiful. Would we look upon men with a renewed eye and Scripture spectacles, we would judge otherfl"ise. The poorest saint is an angel in a disguise, in rags ; and the richest sinner is, for the present, little better than a gilded devil. Holiness, though veiled with the most contemptible outside, is accompanied with a silent majesty ; and sin, even in the highest dignity, bewTays a secret vileness. Obs. 2. Truth and holiness can only plead anti- quity. The first estate of the fallen angels was holy ; sin came, or rather crept in afterwards : holi- ness is as ancient as the Ancient of days ; and the essential holiness of God, the pattern of that which was at the first created in angels and man, is eternal and uncreated. Sin is but an innovation, and a mere invention of the creatures. A sinner is but an up- start. They who delight in sin do but keep alive the adventitious blemishes of their original, and the memory of their traitorous defection from God. Oh that we might rather remember from whence we are fallen, and in Christ recover a better than our first estate ! To any who pretend the greatest antiquity and longest custom for error, or any other sin, it may be said, " From the beginning it was not so," Matt. xix. S. And custom wthout truth is ^ ... , , , . . - Consuehido sine at the best but the antiquity ot error, vemaie. vttustas The old path and the good way are put "' """"■ ^"'• for the same, Jer. vi. IG. If the removal of the an- cient bounds and landmarks which our fathers have set be a sin so frequently prohibited, Hos. v. 10; Prov. xxii. 28, how heinous is the %iolation of the ancient boundary of holiness, which at the first was fixed by God himself! Obs. 3. The depravation of nature introduces all disorder in practice. When these angels had left their original purity, they soon forsake their original emplojTnent ; and the devil abiding not in the truth, becomes a murderer. All the irregularities of life, are but derivations from unholy principles. The corrupt tree yields not good fruit. Matt. vii. 18. Out of the evil treasure of the heart are evil things brought forth, Luke vi. 45. The wheels of the clock going wrong, needs must the hand do so ; the transla- tion will be according to the original. We see at what door to lay all the prodigious impieties in the world, which are but the deformed issues of corrupt nature. How foolishly are men angry with them- 132 AN EXPOSITION UPON Ver. 6. selves for outward and visible transgressions in their lives, when they tamely and quietly endure an un- changed nature ! like men who manure and water the roots of their trees, and yet are angry for their bearing fruit. How preposterous, and how plainly begun at the wrong end, are those endeavours of reformation which are accompanied with the hatred of renovation ! If the tree is bitter and corrupt, all the influences and showers of heaven cannot make the fruit good. When these angels had lost the in- tegrity of nature, even heaven itself did not help them to it. How miserable, la.stly, is he who has no better fountain than corrupt nature for issuing forth all his services ! Even the best performances of an unrenewed person cannot be good, coming not from a pure heart, a good conscience, and faith un- feigned ; they are but dead carcasses embalmed ; and at the best but hedge-fruit, sour and unsavoury, till they who bear them are ingrafted into Christ, and partake of liis life, Phil. i. 11 ; Eph. ii. 10. 06^. 4. Corrupt nature cares not for the joys, joined with the holiness, of heaven. As soon as these angels had left their first estate of integrity, they forsook even that holy, though most happy habitation. Hea- ven itself was no heaven to them, when they became unholy. A sinner may not unfitly be compared to a common beggar, who had rather live poorly and idly, than plentifully in honest employment. How great is the antipathy of corrupt nature to heavenly per- formances, when they will not down though never so sweetened ! The enmity of sin against God and holiness is not to be reconciled. How little are we to wonder that heaven is a place only for the pure in heart, and that Christ at the last day will say to the workers of iniquity, " Depart from me," ilatt, vii. 23 ; since they not only in this life say to God, "Depart from us," Job xxi. 14; xxii. 1/, but should they be admitted into that habitation of bliss with unholy hearts, they would be unwilling there to con- tinue with him ! Let it be our care to be made meet for the inheritance of the saints in light, if we expect to have, nay, to love, the joys thereof. Obs. 5. How irrational is every sinner ! There is no person in love with any sin but is indeed out of love with his own happiness. These angels, for a mere supposed imaginary happiness of their own con- triving, piart with the real blessedness of enjoying the satisfying presence of the blessed God. None can become a devil, till first he become a beast. A sin- ner can with no better plea of reason yield to any temptation of sin, than could Samson to that motion of Delilah, " Tell me where thy great strength lieth, and wherewith thou mightest be bound to afflict thee," Judg. xvi. 6. Wicked men are rightly called unreasonable, 2 Thess. iii. 2, or absurd, such wliom no reason will satisfy ; and brute beasts, led with humour and sense against all reason, Jude 10 ; Psal. xlix. 20. Who, that had not laid aside even reason, would lose his soul for a trifle, a shadow, and die (as Jonathan said) for tasting of a little honey ? He who accounts it unreasonable to part with the poorest worldly commodity without a valuable consideration, much more to exchange a conveyance of a thousand poimd per annum for a painted paper, is yet much more absurd in sinning against any command of God, which is backed with the very height of reason, both in respect of our duty to the Commander, and benefit by the command. Obs. 6. It is a sin for any, even the highest, to ex- empt himself from service. Angels have their tasks set them by God, which they must not leave : there is no creature but has an allotment of duty. Though we cannot be profitable, yet must we not be idle. God allows the napkin to none upon whom he has bestowed a talent ; nor has he planted any to cumber the ground, and only to be burdens to the earth. If we are all of him, we must be all for him. It is not consistent with the sovereignty of this great King, to suffer any subject within his dominions who will be absolute, and not yield him his homage ; nor to his wisdom, to make any thing which he intends not to use. The first who adventured to cease from working was a devil, and they who follow him in that sin shall partake with him in the suitable punishments of chains and darkness. It is a singular mercy to have opportunities of service, abilities for it, and delight in It at the same time. It is the privilege of the glorious angels, to be confirmed in their work as well as in their happiness. God never is so angry with any, as those whom he turns out of his service. Obs. 7- The glorified are in heaven as in a habita- tion. Heaven is in Scripture often set out by ex- pressions importing it to be a place of stability, set- tlement, and abode ; as, " everlasting habitations," Luke xvi. 9; a "Father's house, mansions," John xiv. 2 ; a " building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens," 2 Cor. v. 1 ; "a city, a city which hath foundations," Heb. xi. 10, 16 ; a "continuing city," Heb. xiii. 14; "a rest," Heb. iv. 9. How suitable are fixed and immovable affec- tions to this permanent and stedfast happiness ! every thing on this side heaven is transitory. " The fashion of this world passeth away : here we have no con- tinuing city." Our bodies are tabernacles and cot- tages of clay, which shortly shall be blown down by the wind of death ; j'ca, their falling begins with their very building; and jVyutTuovJ." this whole world is a habitation which '" .i^p "apm^a ere long will be consumed by fire. Let eiTtXm'o^Mpo- us love the world as always about to ''avJ-^,)('':°Tm leave it ; and delight in the best of KuTrix..»,«. isW. earthly enjoyments only as refresh- ""'^ ■ -'p- ments in our journey, not as in the comforts of our country ; only as things without which we cannot live, not as things for which we do live ; not making them fetters, but only using them as furtherances to our place of settlement. Wicked Cain was the first that ever built a city, and yet even then the Holy Ghost brands him with the name of a vagabond. The godly of old dwelt in tabernacles ; and the reason was, because they " looked for a city which hath founda- tions, whose builder and maker is God," Heb. xi. 9, 10. To conclude, let the sin of these angels in leaving this habitation make us fear lest we should fall short of it ; let us be thoroughly sensible of our misery by nature, in being born without a right to it, and in- terest in it. Let us speedily get into, and constantly keep in, the way that leads to it. Christ is that way ; let us by faith procure Iiim, as one who has purchased it for us by the merit of his obedience ; and in him let us continue, that he may prepare us for it by his Spirit of holiness. Let us profitably improve those ordinances which are the gates of heaven ; let us content ourselves with no degree of proficiency by them, but proceed from strength to strength, till at last we appear before God in this habitation. The third branch of this first part of the text, containing the sin of these angels, is this. Wherein this defection of the angels was seen, and did consist. This is expressed two wavs. 1. Ne- , ,. ^ gativelv, 1 hey kept not, ixrc. 2. e. kotu^joukw. Affirmatively, "They " left their," &c. °'"'- '" " *■"• The nature of the subject, and indeed the very expressions of the apostle, of not keeping, and leaving, require us to explain three particulars. I. What was the original cause that these angels made a defection, or that they " kept not their first estate." Ver. 6. THE EPISTLE OF JUDE. 133 hil riebet nisi Junius in loc. II. What was that first sin wnerehy this defection was made, or their first estate not kept. III. In what degree and measure it was made, it bein? here said they " kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation." I. What was the original cause that these angels made a defection, or that they " kept not their first estate." 1. God, who is infinitely and perfectly good and holy, the fountain of all goodness, and goodness it- self, was not the cause of the sinful defection of these angels ; nor had it been justice in God to have condemned them for that which himself had caused; or to make them fall, and then to punish them for falling. And whereas it is objected; that God might have hindered them from falling, therefore he was the cause thereof; I answer, 1. Not every one who can hinder an evil is accessory to it, unless he is bound to hinder it; but God was not here so bound. . Nor owes he any thing to any of his ex''officio debcnt" crcaturcs further than he binds him- Deo. Deus ni- gg]f_ Angels and men are bound to God ex officio, by duty : nothing from God is due to them but of his own good will and pleasure, when freely and of his own accord he binds himself to them by his promise of grace. Angels and men owe to God all they are, ■all they have, all they have lost ; they are debtors to God by nature, and even nature itself is owing to God. 2. Nor, secondly, were the angels Msenaiuram.qus made to sin (as the Manichees fondly modo'poies"."" and falsely imagined) by some first evi"l Aug. con. e'Ep. cause, which (as they held) was the original and fountain of all sin ; and whereby a necessity of sinning lay upon creatures from the very being of nature, which therefore could not be changed from being evil, but was so, unavoid- ably, unalterably. 3. Nor, thirdly, do I conceive that this sin of the angels proceeded from any error or ignorance in their understanding before their sin, as if their under- standing first judged that to be good which was not, and therefore they aften\"ards sinned in willing and embracing that good; for this were to make them erroneous before they were unholy ; miserable, before they were sinful ; whereas the ignorance of that ■which ought to be known is a part of sin, and all miserj' is a fruit of sin. That ignorance or error, saith Ilia ignorantia Estius, whereby he who sins is ignorant sive error seiun- and erroncous, pTopcrlv is not a cause cum quern omnis /• • i , t^i • V • <. peccans isnorat ot Sin, but Something ot siu ; lor a man Don"st'causa"° who judges amiss sins iuchoatively ; as peccaii.sedpotius he whosc Will chooscth wickcdly, sins Peccai enimlio- consummativelv and completely ; for S?io°„tK°.',?,H?'' all sin, he saith, as it were, consists and cat. Peccat in- IS made Up of two parts, false judg- cdnsu'mmatf"e' mcut, aiid evil election; and the error ?oStki°maie"°'' of judgment is not to be separated from eligit. Nam cm- siu, but to be included in and involved quasrrtuabus Under the sin itself of evil election, as iliispaitibus con- something intrinsical to it; and that Stat, &c. Lrror =* , . , . . , juiiirii nonest cvcry One who Sins, properly is said to ^ecJato!'sed''m ^TT in that he sins, and impn-operly said plena ejus rai.one to sin by Or from error. And thus the mcluditur. Es- , "^ Til tius in I. 2. Sent, souudest amoiig the schoolmen answer '"■ ""■ the objection against the possibility of the fall of the angels, taken from this ground, that every sin proceeds from ignorance, which cannot (say they) be true of the sin of the angels. 4. Fourthly, I conceive that sin, being a defect, a privation of good, and a want of due rectitude, has not properly any cause whereby it may be said to be effected or made. Sin is not a nature or a being, for then it would be a creature, and appetible, every creature desiring its being, and by consequence good. Nor yet is it a mere negation of good, for then the bare absence of any good belonging to another crea- ture would be a man's sin. But sin is a privation of that good which has been and should be in one. Now as sin is a privation and defect. Let none, saith Augustine, inquire after the efficient cause of an evil and sinful will, of this D^i"^i; 'jl.'i'.'f. there being not an efficient, but only a deficient cause ; for to depart from that which is chief and highest, to that which is less and lower, is to begin to have an evil and a sinful will. To inquire therefore after the causes of that defection, when they are not efficient, but deficient, is as if a man would go about to see darkness, or to hear silence ; both which, notw'ithstanding, are known to us ; the former by the eye, the latter by the ear ; and yet not by any species or representation, but by the priva- tion thereof: darkness cannot be seen, unless it be by not seeing ; nor silence perceived, unless by not hearino-. 5. The original or beginning of the sin of these angels, was the defectibility and mutability of their own will ; whereby, though for the present they willed that which was good, and might have willed to have persevered therein ; yet, being mutable, they might also will e\-il, and so fall from God. Every creature, as it is made of nothing, may again, unless sustained by God, return to nothing; and in that respect it was that the intellectual creature might maie a defection from him who created it, and de- viate from the rule of Divine righteousness: for, (as St. Augustine obsen'es.) the being of nature comes from hence, that it is nisi'ex u'liifk?"' made by God ; the defection of nature facta, namranon J, -, •' ... T f 1 ■ posset : per hoc from hence, that it is made ot nothing, ut natura sit. ei If there be any creatures therefore Seo'-.SaTst'' ut which cannot sin, they have not this f^'',™ ",'' j"^.')",'' from the condition of nature, but from es hoc q'uoj de ' the gift of the grace of God. And A'^g^/fav^Dai. Aquinas seems to argue rightly, that, i.i4. c. is. according to the condition of nature, Jfon°e natu°ra''.'sed none is exempted from a possibility of ex done gratis, sinning but only God ; because that sin ^XT' '""' '' being the declining of an act from the rectitude of the rule, it is only impossible for that act not to decline from rectitude, the rule of which is the very power and will of the agent : for, as he well illustrates it, if the hand of the artificer were the very rule of cutting a Solum iHum ac- _. .-'.^ 11°^ turn a reclltudine piece 01 timber, the artificer could not de. imare non but cut the wood evenly and rightly; eu'ia'«t'ips'a"v,r" but if the rectitude of the cutting be by '"? asemis ; si , 111- enim manus arti- anotlier, an external rule, the cutting ficis esset ipsa ro may either be right, or not right. The S;;;f,rnr^°s:;t Divine will is only the rule of his act, '"«''■ "'^i recte , , . 1 • 1 . 1 . I Ii2nuni mcidere : as not being ordained to any higher sed si rcci.tudo end ; but the will of every creature has i'i'i';™i,'i,'ie"n. in its act no rectitude, but as it is regu- "sit incisionem lated bv the will of God, which is its nonreciatn' Di- ultimate end. And hence it is, that KlSt'assolaes?' notwithstanding the nature of the in- reguia sui actus. ,, , /^ J i. -1 • qura non ad sirpe- tellectual creature was good, yet evil is ri.rem tinem or- said to arise and proceed from it ; and aS^VoKnirM that Augustine so frequently, and others cujusiibet crea- ^, 1 .° , ,, \ ./l •* • turaerectitudinem after him, assert, that evil has its on- in suo aciu non ginal and beginning from that which 5»i„='q„",;:iVrgTa: was good. For though e^■il does not pro- tur. Aquin. pai. ceed from good, saith St. Augustine, •'^- • as that good was made by God, yet it ju'if pji.'' '^""j proceeded from good, as that good was made of nothing, and not of God. And whereas it is objected against this, that a good tree cannot bring 134 AN EXPOSITION UPON Ver. 6. forth evil fruit ; therefore evil could not arise from the nature of angels, and the angels could not sin of themselves : it is answered by the forementioned fa- ther, that though a good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, yet good ground may bring forth evil plants ; out of the same soil may grow both thorns and vines ; and though from the good act of the will sin cannot arise, yet out of the same nature may sprout and arise a will either good or evil. Nor was there any begin- ning from whence at first a sinful will should arise, but from the intellectual nature which was created good. Nor does this defectibility of the intellectual creature at all countenance the profane cavils of those who hence would needs infer, that God might have made the world better than he did ; and that he had done so, if he had made the intellectual creature free from all possibility of sinning. For, (1.) It is a question, (though perhaps too curious,) and by some learned among the schoolmen diversely d°s'l°".i"'^Amhn maintained, w^iether it was possible for hit''' c'e' Una ^^^ Creature to have been made impec- soiHsubsiautirt .11- cable by nature, or free from all possibili- n"s;',>."'Xm„r" ty of sinning. Some of them indeed de- iiioriiur, nee «iv termiuc it affirmatively : but herein they &r. m ansdisna- oppose the fathers, Ambrose, Augustme, iloobnc!'x''ia'.""Ne'c ^'^^ Hierom. The two fonnerofwhora e« immoriaii na- tcach, that, because it is said that God graiia. 51 se ad vi- Only lias Immortality, it follows, that he i'fieroniTn"e'' °"'y ^^ immutability, and so by con- •?,"'• A^ej""'- sequence, only by nature impeccability. Jun.'in''fu(ir' The same argument is also used by the I'/'punct V ''' learned Junius, who denies that simply jAqiiiii. I.' p! q. God could havc made the angels better liriaiifsi'Jb^ii'i'tio' than they are by nature, because then sfn?q"riM'mm'c '''^'^J' should have been most constant in per eratiain con- their own perfect goodness by them- suni^'iT'licTi! selves, which can only be attributed to "a'iur* h™«'c'™ ^°^- ^^^° '° ^^^ forecited fathers biles esseni.sed agree the schoolmen of the greatest quod'e'i'srimiS- "otc, among whom Estius asserts, that nus naturaiedici supposing that the angcls had been from possel, quia ciiiii , '^f , °. . ° , , , ipsanaiuradaiiMn tiicir bcginnnig Created such as they tSm.'eaTe!"/" ^''^ now made to be by the grace of con- lamen n'aiura. at- firmation, yet cven so they had not been posset ai'i'ierri! So- impeccable, or free from a possibility of nmi Kfat^a"u Ml"' winning by the condition of nature, but piaiii, sell naiura by the gift of gracc : which although it sua, lion potest. ^ i, ^ j ^ 1 • -^i nee potuit, nee ™'er,b superbiam why a bishop must be no no\-ice, " Lcst," incidat ni tandem saith he, " being lifted up with pride he iiam"^m'd?aboio. fall into the Condemnation of the devil :" ui. m loc. Jq wliich place I do not understand why the apostle expresses the condemnation or punish- ment of the de^-il to deter from pride, unless the devil had fallen into condemnarion for that sin, and unless the apostle had intended to show the danger of being proud, by setting down the punishment of Satan for that sin. But more particularly, if it be inquired wherein this pride of the angels consisted, and what that high- ness was which they affected beyond their measure, I think the answer can be but conjectural and un- certain. Some conceive that it was revealed to the angels soon after their creation, that the human nature should in time be hypostatically united to the Di\-ine ; that the Son of God, in human natui-e, should be the Head of men, yea, of angels ; that hereby man's nature was to be exalted above the verj^ angels, and that they were commanded to worship and submit to him, Heb. i. 6. Hereupon, say some, they desired that the dignity of this union with the Divine might be afforded to their o^vn angelical nature. But, say others, they refused to consent and submit to God's pleasure in the former discover)^ : in this, say they, Vid. Zsnch. de stood the pride of angels. And of this op. Dei. opinion is Zanchy, whose chief argu- ment is taken from that deadly hatred which Satan has ever put forth against the doctrines of the person and offices of Christ, and his incessant opposition to believing and affiance in him. Others conjecture, for indeed none on this point can do much more, that the angels desired to be equal with God, and that they aspired to the Divinity itself. And here they distinguish between a twofold will in the angels. 1. A will of efficacy, which others term a will of intention. 2. A will of delight and com- placency. According to the former, Uiey say that the angels did not desire to be equal with God, as if they had intended or used means to attain to Di\'inity ; for this the angels knew was absolutely impossible ; but according to the latter will of complacency, they say, the angels might desire to be equal to God; namely, wish it as a pleasing and delightful thing to them : as a sick, a dying man, who despairs of re- covery, and desires health without using means to procure it, because he judges it impossible to be ob- tained, yet as a good and most ple;ising benefit ; and thus, they say, these angels had this will of delight, or a telle conditionatum, such a will, whereby, if it had been possible to have attained to the Divinity, they would have used means to have ■ i » done' it: and this was the opinion of sent!"d'jst. 'e?' Scotus, and after him of sundiy others, M'"" '" '"*'■ *• who consider the temptation that Satan laid before our first parents, " Ye shall be gods j" and afterward, being blinded with pride, his endea- ^ouring to have Christ worship him, and his propa- gating the adoration of himself among heathens, under the names of sundry gods. The most probable opinion is that of Su« poiestatu de- Augustine, and after him Aquinas, Ca- nJ'n"suum'''sib'r jetan, and others, who think that the 'p»i essem. a su- • ■, P ^1 1 ■ 1 ■ • t penore coimiuni pnde of the angels was in desinng and onmium beatifico resting in their own natural perfection d"iiu'xe''r'ii,t™'" '' as their ultimate end. That as God is j*"^- "it Civ. Dei, blessed by his own nature, having no superior from whom to draw his blessedness ; so these angels desired to be, and would needs rest in the per- fection of their own nature, neglecting j, 5„n„,h ,),,, that rule of their superior, whereby they 'here » as no other -11 J , J ^. i ^i • ' «ay for angels lo were called to desire to attain super- sin, but by reflei natural blessedness by the grace of °,ao!if,!g "J'X" God. Or, as some express it, this pride ibemseKes. who stood in staying within themselves, re- .filnfratfon of'"" fleeting upon their own excellency, jl^'an" "honour'' and by consequence, affecting an in- 'beir memory of J J c • • i. ' their subordina- dependence of any supenor virtue in tion to God. ami being and working, making themselves oiThim'w"''""^''' the first cause and the last end of their drowned in this own motions ; for since next unto God upo"ihiir adora, every reasonable created beinff is nearest !'°?.' j^""'-?^ , -^ . , ^ V , . Imitation of God unto itself, we cannot conceive how it couui not choos« should turn from God, and not in the ?nJted*.*'HooTe"; next step turn unto itself. '■ '• * '■•■ III. The degree and measure of the K,mo s,n= fidei defection of these angels. They fell credit ap.«iatas finally, they " kept not," &c., they " left nam pUlatem""" their," &c.,' they quite forsook God, his do'vllun^lie""™ image, heaven itself, and that office >erii au? ep. therein assigned unto them. And as d'?vii.'conieiiipi. the holy are confirmed in goodness, so "^^ ^• the fallen angels are hardened in the love of that which formerly they chose. This is intended by Christ, in those words, "There is no truth in him," John viii. 44; they cannot so much as will to do well, but immovably cleave to wickedness. These trees, as they have fallen, so they lie. Angels went so far, that they never turn ; they fell so low, they never arise. This is proved from their eternal misery, which the Scripture mentions in this verse, and else- where frequently ; this everlastingness of their pun ishment including the perpetuity of their sinning, and such an eternal forsaking of them by God, that they shall never have righteousness repaired in them again. The schoolmen are too curious in inquiring into the ground of tliis total and final fall of the angels into sin. Aquinas and his fol- lowers hold that their obstinacy pro- mJironq'uam ceeds from the very nature of the wills pissont carero of angels, according to which (say they) pcona. v'ld. angels are so inflexible and immovable, q '5'|.°a."s.'' ""■ that they can never hate that which once they have chosen, nor choose that which once they have hated ; but, as I conceive, Valentia Aneeli boai non overthrows this opinion, by arguing, j]jl''j'^' 'mmuta that if the immutability of the good biiiiaie'm ex h>. full deliberation chose that which num eiigerum 138 AN EXPOSITION UPON Ver. 6. aiqvieiianpcmaii was good, then the immutability of the 5uilT?ninuIil[bii|- evil angels from evil to good comes not laieii. ex nialo in from nature, but from the iust and total sola privaiione privation of gra-cc. Others of them as- ^'ai'ent. Si/p.'i'." sert, that God preser\'cs in the wills of q. 15. punci. 2. devils a hatred of himself, and that this preser\'ation is an act of punitive justice, and that God causes that wicked habit in the wills of the devils, whereby they are necessarily inclined to sin ; and this impious opinion is asserted by Occham, Bicl, and Aureolus ; which I note by the way, as wishing that while the papists behold a supposed mote in the eye of holy Calvin, they would observe those real beams which are in the eyes of their own most famous schoolmen, as to this point of jt '(ing God the author of sin. But those who speak Viiore modestly and piously than either of the former, give this reason of the obstinacy of the fallen angels ; namely, the total and perfect privation of all holi- ness: which is considerable, (1.) On their part; and so it is that defective and depraved ' ""leci'i'A!''' quality, as Junius calls it, that utter impotency to all good, intended by those words of our Sa\'iour, " There is no truth in him," and flowing from that defection, as its foun- tain, called by our Saviour a not abiding in the truth; and here by Jude, a not keeping their first estate : which defection is so set down by Jude, saith Junius, as that this total impotency to, and privation of, all good in the angels is also comprehended. For (saith he) what they kept not they ceased to have, and were deprived of; and what they were deprived of they lost totally, itpdiraK, as he expresses it, once for all, as those who deprived their very nature of it. And since the nature of these angels, though it can- not be holy, yet also cannot be idle, it inclines in- cessantly to the contrary of that of which it was deprived, there following effects of the same kind with this constant privation. (2.) On God's part, who has determined never to bestow upon the fallen angels relief and assistance for their recovery, which being denied to them, it is impossible that ever they should turn from their sin to God, but to deliver them totally up to the bent of their own depraved nature. God having so laid out their state, and or- dered the nature thereof, that their fall should be the term of their being holy ; and it is natural for every thing not to move when once arrived at its term, but there to stop ; and that as the end of life is Hoc est aiipeiis ''"^ '^'^™^ beyoud which God will not casus, quo.f ho- offer to siuucrs his grace, so that the mors, j-j^jj should even be the same to the angels as death is to man. Obs. I. The best of created perfections are of them- selves defectible. Every excellency, without the prop of Divine preservation, is but a weight which tends to a fall. The angels in their innocency were but frail without God's sustentation. Even grace itself is but a creature, and therefore purely dependent. It is not from its being and nature, but from the assist- ance of something without it, that it is kept from annihilation. The strongest is but a weakling, and can of himself neither stand nor go alone : let the least degree of grace make thee thankful, let not the greatest make thee prond. He that stands should " take heed lest he fall," 1 Cor. x. 12. What becomes of the stream, if the fountain supply it not ? what continuance has the reflection in the glass, if the man who looks into it turn away his face ? The constant supplies of the Spirit of Jesus Christ are the food, the fuel of all our graces. The best men show themselves but men if God leave them; he who has set them up, must also keep them up. It is safer to be humble with one talent, than proud with ten ; yea, better to be a humble worm than a proud angel. Obs. 2. Nothing is so truly ba.se and vile as sin. It is that which has no proper being, and is below the lowest of all creatures ; its very nature stands in the defection of nature, and privation of goodness : what is it but the deflouring and fall, the halting and deformity, of the creature ? So obscure is its extract, that there can be no being properly assigned to it as its original cause. It came not from nature as it was, but as it was of nothing. Sin alone debases and disennobles nature. What prodigious folly is it to be patient under it, much more to be proud of it ! what generous, princely spirit can contentedly be a servant of ser\'ants ? A slave to sin is guilty of a more unsuitable condescension ; sin alone is the soul's degradation. We never go below ourselves but in sinning against God. They who glory in sin, glory in their shame ; they who Jb^lhissimo'Si" are ashamed of holiness, are ashamed >ies'«iis">- Pa- of their glory. Sin removes from the highest, and therefore it must needs be a descending. Obs. 3. In defection from God there is an imita- tion of Satan. He was the first who left his " first estate." Every backslider follows Satan, though every one goes not so far as he ; all decays in holiness are steps towards his condition. Satan's chiefest industry is to pull others after him ; he loves to have followers, and not to be sinful and miserable alone, Luke xxii. 31. If he can make men decline in grace, he can be contented to let them thrive in the world ; he cares for no plunder but that of jewels ; and being the gi-eatest enemy, he studies to deprive us of our greatest happiness. Christians ! of all decays, take heed of those that are spiritual. Better to lose thy gold than to lose thy God; to be turned out of thy house, than to part with holiness and heaven. He that loses all the comforts in the world can but be a beggar, but he who forsakes God becomes a devil. Of this largely before. Obs. 4. It is difficult to be high, and not to be high-minded ; to be adorned with any excellencies, and not unduly to reflect upon them. It is a natural evil to make ourselves the centres of our own per- fections, to stay and rest in our excellencies. Men of power are apt to deify their own strength, 2 Kings xviii. 33, 34, 45 ; men of morality to advance their own righteousness, and to rely on their merits, Rom. X. 3 ; Phil. iii. 6, 9 ; men of wisdom to set up their own reason. How just is it with God to hinder the creature from encroaching upon his own prerogative; to make those low, who otherwise would not be lowly; and to let them SHailis'mal'"r. know that they are but men ! Psal. ix. 19, 20. God singles out such to be the most notable monuments of his justice, and their own folly, who vie with him in Divine prerogatives. Acts xii. 23. If God has appointed that we should go out of ourselves to things below for a vital subsistence, to bread for food, to clothes for warmth, &c., much more will he have us to go out of ourselves for a blessed and happy subsistence ; more being required to blessedness than to life. It is the poor who commits himself to God, Psal. X. 14. Nothing will make us seek for help above ourselves, without an apprehension of weak- ness in ourselves, Zeph. iii. 12 ; Hos. ii. 7. The vine, the ivy, the hop, the woodbine, are taught by nature to cling and to wind about stronger trees. Men commit themselves to the sea naked, and do not load themselves with gold, treasure, and rich apparel. How fearful should poor worms be of that sin which God allowed not in angels, and whereby they be- came devils ! Let us " be clothed with humility," I Pet. V. 5. The adorned with this grace are only Veb. 6. THE EPISTLE OF JUDE. 137 meet to attend upon the King of glory; even an archangel, Michael, has humility imprinted on his name. Humility is the ornament of angels, and pride the deformity of devils. If heaven will not keep a proud angel,' it will keep out a proud soul. In all conditions of highness, we should take heed of high- mindedness. As, (I.) In the highness of worldly advancements : poverty and disgrace are the food of humility; riches and'honour are the fuel of pride. I have read of a bird that is so light and feathery, that it always flies with a stone in its mouth, lest otherwise the winds should carry it away. In high conditions we shall be carried away with pride, ira- less we carefully keep our hearts. David and Asa were both lifted up in their outward greatness. It is hard to walk in slippery places of prosperity, and not to slip by pride : we commonly most forget God and ourselves when he remembers us most. (2.) In the highness of raised endowments, abilities, and Eerformances. It is said of Nazianzen, that he was igh in his works, and lowly in his thoughts ; a rare temper ! our very graces and good works not seldom occasion pride. I have heard of a man who having killed an elephant with his weapon, was himself killed with its fall. And nothing is more ordinaiy than for high services, possibly the conquest of some corruption or temptation, to usher in that pride which may hurt the performers. We should know our good works as if we knew them not. It is a rare Masnaeirara ^'"^ noble temper, when that worth viriLs, manites- which all Others observe is only hid tarn omnihus, . i . . i ., ■ tt /■ luam lesuiiim la- to him m whom it IS. Jrlow tew are lere sanciKaiem. ^}^g,.g ^^.Jjq j^j^^g tj^gj^ beautiful endow- ments by humility, as Moses's parents did their beautiful son for safety ; and with Moses, when he ^ spake with God, pull off their shoes, and hide their faces ; uncover and acknowledge the lowness, the infirmities, and cover the beauty and comeliness of their senices ! When Satan spreads our gifts and graces, let us spread our sins, our weaknesses, before our eyes ; and so the soul may have its ballast evenly Proportioned, and on both sides. There is no poison urts so dangerously, although delightfully, as the contemplation of and reflection on our seeming de- servings. Scotus calls the sin of the ^q^'s^'arr e ""^ angels licxuriam spiritimlem, a kind of spiritual luxury, whereby they were too much delighted with their own excellencies. It is only a Christian of strong grace that can bear the I strong wine of his commendations without the spirit- ual intoxication of pride. It is as hard humbly to hear thyself praised, as it is patiently to hear thyself reproached. That minister, of whom I have heard, was a rare example of himiility, who being highly ap- plauded for a sermon preached in the university, was I by a narrow observer soon after found weeping in his I study, for fear that he had sought, or his auditors un- I duly bestowed upon him, applause. How heavenly was the temper of John the Baptist, when he said, Christ shall increase, but I shall decrease! It was a good fear of Luther, namely, lest the ■'"""cen''^' '" reading of his books should hinder people from reading the Scriptures. Would we account ourselves nothing, (and indeed in ourselves we are so,) we should think it as ridiculous a thing to be solicitous for our own, as for that man's honour who is not yet created. Obs. 5. The better the persons are who become wicked, the more obstinate they are in wickedness. When angels fall into sin, they continue in it with pertinacy : the hottest water cooled becomes the coldest. They whose light of knowledge is most angelical, sin with highest resolution, and strongest opposition against the truth. The greater the weight of that thing is which falls, the more violent is its fall, and the greater is the difficulty to raise it up again. They who leave God notwithstanding their clear light, are justly left by God to incurable dark- ness. None should so much tremble at sin as those who are enlightened ; obstinacy is most like to follow their impiety. It may be impossible to recover them. Seducers, saith the apostle, wax worse and worse, and do not only sliow themselves men in erring, but devils in persevering. But of this before, ver. 4. Obs. t). The happiness of believers by Christ is greater than that of angels merely as in the state of nature. These had a power to stand or fall, we by Christ have a power whereby we shall stand and never fall. By creation, the creature had a power either to abide with God, or to depart from him ; but by regeneration, that fear of God is put into the hearts of his people whereby they shall not depart from God, Jer. xxxii. 40. And this power of not falling is in them indeed, but not from them. The faithful " are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation," 1 Pet. i. 5. They are stab- lished, settled, strengthened, 1 Pet. v. 10. Created will has a power to will to persevere in that which is good, but it hath not the will itself to persevere, neither the act of perseverance, as the regenerate will hath. Of this before, p. 19, 21, 24, 25. Thus far of the first part of this verse, viz. the de- fection of these angels. The second follows, namely, their punishment ; and herein first, that of the prison is considerable ; which is twofold. I. " Everlasting chains." II. " Darkness." I. For the first, " Everlasting chains." It may here be inquired, 1 . What we are to understand by these chains. 2. How and why these chains are everlasting. 1. What is meant by "chains." The word in the original is hafiolQ, in bonds, which bonds are not to be taken literally for those material instruments or bonds whereby things are bound, that they may stand firm and steady, or persons are hindered from acting what they would, or drawn whither they would not ; but metaphorically, as are also those chains into which Peter saith these fallen angels were delivered, for that condition of punishment and woe wherein they shall remain like prisoners in bonds, 2 Pet. ii. 4. The metaphor being taken from the ceiiusinclusos estate of malefactors, who in prison are lenet locus no- bound with chains to hinder them from "".'"'im pi'™ sup- running away, that so they may be kept ^'^'Ji^pV^petuis to the time of judgment and execution; .io.nant. senec. or who by the mittimus of a justice are sent to the gaol, there to lie in chains till the sessions. And thus these angels are kept in chains or bonds of three sorts, (l.) They are in the chain of sin, bomid by the bond of iniquity, as the phrase . , ,, , IS, Acts vm. 23 ; and Prov. v. 22, the wicked are said to be holden with the cords of their sins : and deservedly may sins be called bonds or chains, they both holding sinners so strongly, as that without an omnipotent strength they can never be loosed, as also being such prison-bonds as go before their appearing at the bar of the last and dreadful judgment. The bonds of sin wherein wicked men are held, are often by the goodness and power of God loosed ; but the bonds of sin wherein wicked angels are held shall be everlasting : there is, and ever shall be, a total inability in those cursed creatures to stir hand or foot in any well-doing ; they are in arcta cuslodia, close prisoners in these chains of iniquity, staked down, wedged, wedded to sin, chained as it were to a block : hence it is said, 1 John iii. 8, that "the devil sinneth from the beginning;" whereby may be noted, not only how early he began, but also 13S AN EXPOSITION UPON Ver. b. .. ,. .. how constantly be proceedeth in sin : loius, peccavit for (as ijede well observes) it is not saiu ."a.'"name';'q''uT he sinned, but be sinnetb from the be- diaboius peir»re p-inning ; to note, saith lie, tliat since be peccare desiiut. began, he never ceased to sin : he keeps ^"'' no holy-days, makes no cessation from pride and other impieties ; and as He sleeps not who keeps, so neitber doth he who opposes Israel ; be goeth about seeking, &c., 1 Pet. v. 8. To this purpose our Saviour saith, John viii. 44, the devil hath no truth „.. , . , J in him, to note bis utter impotency, saith Junius, to any thing of goodness and integrity ; and " when he speaks a lie, he speaketh of his own," according to bis custom and di-jjosition ; and when he speaks truth, he borrows it, to the end he may deceive. Satan cannot lay down his sinful inclination ; he is totus m mendacvis de- Calv.in joh. viii. lihutus, saith Calvin, stained and soaked in sin. In a word, this chain of sin, which be has put on, he never can or will put off. (2.) These false angels are in and under the chains of God's power; the strong man is bound by a stronger than himself. The old dragon was bound for a thousand years. Rev. xx., and the chain which curbed him was the power of God: this power hin- ders him both from escaping the evil which he under- goes, and from effecting and causing that evil which he desires. Satan will for ever be mi- ?o«'?ic?i"po't'e"^as, serable in sustaining what he would not, pro maximo lor- and in not obtaining what he would: Est'i. p.m'.TiI's. the impossibility of his being happy ^'"'- necessarily follows bis impotency to be holy, purity being the path to blessedness. All the forces of hell cannot scale the walls of heaven. There is a gulf fixed between fallen angels and happiness which they can never pass over; as they can never return to God so as to love him, so never so as to enjoy him. They are debarred from these joys una- voidably which they forsook voluntarily ; nor is it a small matter of their punishment to be curbed against the bent and violent inclination of their own will, from stirring a hair's breadth for hurting any further than God lengthens their chains. How painful a vexation is it to Satan, that he cannot hurt the soul by affrighting, alluring, and seducing, nor our bodies by diseases and pains, nor our estates by losses, nor our names by disgraces, unless our God gives him chain ! " Satan hath desired to have you," See, saith Christ, Luke xxii. 31. And when Satan besought Christ not to torment him, Luke viii. 28, it is by many interpreted, that the torment aboiTer"a"Sire ab against which he prayed was his ejection bpmine.iiec posse ou{ pf (j^g posscsscd, wbcrebv be was to vici. Esi. iuSent. be hindered trom doing the hurt which "''"'" be desired ; it being immediately sub- joined by the evangelist, " For he had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man :" and whereas the devils further desired Christ that be " would not command them to go out into the deep," ver. 31, Calvin, with others, refer this petition to the great desire of the devils to continue among men, to annoy . and molest them. They grieved, saith abjium'dJmer. Calvin, to think of being cast into the 81, ill qua abiaia (Jeep, wherein they could not have so tit liedenili el 1 ' ■> i •» r i • iijidendifacuitas. niuch powcr and opportunity ot doing *■"''■ harm to men, the destruction of men being the delight of the devil. And this seems fur- ther to be confirmed by the words of Mark, who saith the devils desired that Christ " would not send them out of the country," Mark v. 10 ; whereby they would want opportunities of doing harm to tbe souls and bodies of men. The chain of Divine ^"jude'"^°° power, which restrahis the devil from hurting men, must needs be a consider- able part of his torment, whose work is to go about, " seeking whom he may devour." (3.) The fallen angels are in and under the chain of their own guilty consciences. These, by tbe tenor of God's justice, bind them over to destruction ; they know they are adjudged to damnation for their sins. I^et them be where they will, in the earth or air, these chains of guilty consciences bind them over to judgment ; they can no more shake off these than leave themselves. In these the devils are bound like madmen ; they must endure what they cannot en- dure. Tbe devils fear and tremble, James ii. 19 : hor- ror is tbe etfect of diabolical assent. How evidently did this guilty trembling appear, when they ask Christ whether he was come to torment them be- fore their time ! The sight of the Judge, saith Calvin on the place, made '^''viii."29!""' these guilty malefactors tremble at the thoughts of their punishment ; their evil conscience told them, Christ being silent, what they deserved. As malefactors, when they are brought to the bar, ap- prehend their punishment, so did these devils at the sight of their Judge. Tbe fallen angels shall ever contemplate what they have done, and how they have sinned ; as also what they shall undergo, and how they shall suffer : and hereby, as God delivers tbe damned men into the hands of guilty angels, so he delivers guilty angels over to themselves to be their own tormentors. This fiery furnace of a tor- menting conscience, which of all others Dsemones quo- is the most scorching and scalding, every ^^"'''^' "e'd"'' devil shall carry in bis bosom. This in- gam. suum serum ward and silent scourge shall torment lernum'.^Ka'io him, this ari'ow shall stick in his side, ^ 3 .lacobi. this vulture shall prey, this worm shall 64. Art. -i. aii'ob. gnaw, and this hell shall he carry about ij;*^sicut*sempt him wherever he comes: though he 'enuis a seuiper. 1 1 • 1 i. 1 I liough l.rtniius may change Ins place, yet he never upon iiie plaie changes his state. As the happiness of Sltl'ircrarlimgio the good angels is not diminished when *yi:.«• in their fall than man, by how much What have we to do with you ? are you come to torment us before our time ? The godly sin, but the wicked are IpyaZuftivoi, workers of iniquity, witty and skilful practitioners in impiety. Sin is the woe of a saint, and the work of a sinner: to the former, it is a thorn in the eye ; to the latter, as a crown upon the head. In the former im is, but the latter are in sin : a sober man may have drink in him, but the drunkard only is in drink. A saint, when he sins, is as a poor child when he falls into a pond of water; but a wicked man as a fish in the water, sports and swims in sin as his element ; his bibere is his vivere, he drinks in sin as the fish drinks in water. A sinner performs good duties by fits and starts, but sin is his course and standing employ- ment ; a saint sins by fits, but holiness is his course, and he walks \rith God, though sometimes he is dra\^-n away by a temptation. Oh that they who live in sin, cannot sleep unless they sin, who are sick, with Amnon, till they have satisfied their lusts ; who can walk in sin from morning to night, week after week, year after year; yea, and if they had more lives, they would do so life after life ; would consider who is their father, and whom they resemble, and never be at rest till they get from under the cruel slavery of sin into the service of Jesus Christ, which is tlie true and only liberty ! And let them fear lest the Lord at length give them up to final obstinacy, and say in his wrath, Thou that art filthy, be "filthy still. Rev. xxii. 1 i ; my Spirit shall never more strive with thee ; I will never give one blow more to knock off thy chains, but they shall be like the devil's, everlasting chains ; and thou who boldest thy sin so fast here upon earth, shalt be held and bound by that chain for ever in hell. Obs. 2. Torments cannot reform devils. Hellish horrors cannot change hellish hearts. Sinners will not be persuaded, either by the rising of one from the dead, or their own remaining among the damned. The braying of sinners in a mortar cannot make their folly depart from them. Outward troubles may break the back ; only God, by his supernatural work- ing, can melt the heart. Notwithstanding smiting, people may revolt more and more, Isa. i. 5. After all the repeated plagues upon Pharaoh and Egypt, their hearts were hard. And though God battered the Israelites with successive judgments, yet he testi- fies, they returned not to him, Amos iv. 8. Judg- ments move only by way of outward and objective persuasion, they cannot reach, really work upon, or turn the heart. The smartest outward poverty can- not make a man poor in spirit. The glorified angels are humble in the joys of heaven, the devils are proud in the torments of hell. It is not the inflicting, but the sanctifjnng of troubles that can benefit us. AVhenever the Lord chastens us, let us beseech him likewise to teach us, Psal. xciv. 12; otherwise we shall continue unreformed. 06^. 3. Restraint much differs from reformation. Devils may have a chain upon them, and yet no change within them. A necessitated forbearance of sin may accompany a devilish nature ; Divine chas- tisements and human laws may hide sin, and hinder sinning ; but it is only a principle of renovation whereby we hate sin. Let none please himself with such a conversion as that to which he is forced by his earthly superiors. They who only leave sin be- cause men forbid it, -n-ill, upon the same ground, be brought to forsake any way of holiness. And yet what is the religion of the most, but a mere restraint ? and hence it is that so many have proved apostates : constrained goodness is never constant. The fear of man's laws may make a good subject, it is only the fear of God in the heart that makes a good Christian. Obs. 4. Satan can do nothing but by God's per- mission. God keeps him in a powerful chain. Wicked angels are potent, only a good God is omnipotent. When God gives way, one devil may overthrow a legion, a million of men ; but till God lengthens out his chain, a legion of devils cannot hurt one man, nay, not a silly beast. Matt. viii. 31. God who made can ruin them ; and would do so, were he not able to overrule them, and to advance his own glory against, nay, by all their endeavours, 1 Kings xxii. 21 ; Job i. 12. The consideration of this should both quiet and counsel us. (1.) Quiet us, because our worst enemy is wholly in the power of our best Friend. Satan takes out a new commission from God for every undertaking against us ; and, as Christ told Pilate, he could have no power over us, unless it were given him from above. It was in the power of Satan to carry Christ up, but not to cast him down : he that fears God neither need nor will fear Satan. As the rage of men, so that of devils, shall also praise God, and the residue thereof will he restrain. (2.) Counsel us, to take heed of that heathenish error whereby men commonly give the honour due to God to conjurers and impostors; and of that common fault among Christians, in being more angry with the instrument than patient under the hand that smites them. Obs. 5. vSatan cannot hurt us, unless he gets us within the compass of his chain. If we go not to him, he cannot come to us. All the ways of Satan are deviations and swervings from the way and rule of the word. He who keeps in this way, and walks according to this rule, noiHs'onstmum, keeps himself from the destroyer, and "nn''pm;5t'ii',f-' peace shall be upon him. Satan was cne msi voit-n- fam to beg of Christ to cast down him- self; he cannot cast us down, unless we cast down, ourselves ; he can suggest sin to us, he cannot force us to sin. No man is hurt but from himself, and out of the voluntary inclination of his own mind to evil. The devil cannot infuse wickedness into us, but only stir up wickedness in us ; he cannot bend the will as God does, who by his own absolute power works in a way of creation in us; who without ourselves, and 140 AN EXPOSITION UPON Ver. 6. against ourselves, gives a new heart, and changes a heart of stone into a heart of tiesh. Satan moves not our wills, either by any proper power whicli he has over them, or without our assent first gained to him, but by working upon the imagination ; sometimes so presenting objects to the understanding, as that it apprehends evil in the colour of good ; sometimes stirring up the corruption, passions, and lusts already in us, to darken the understanding, and incline the will. If Satan could hurt us without our will, he could never be resisted in any temptation. The devil is not so dangerous an enemy as our own sin ; this slays ns without him, he hurts us not without this. If Satan plough not with our own heifer, he can get no advantage. Many, having sinned, lay the blame on the devil, who, they say, owed them a spite ; whereas it is their sin, not the devil, which pays it : had they not cast down themselves, the devil could never have done it. The thief indeed is to be blamed for stealing thy money, but it was thy fault and folly to leave thy doors open, and give him en- tertainment. Satan never beats us but with our own weapons. Though David was stirred up to number the people by Satan, 1 Chron. xxi. 1, yet when he came to see his folly, he thought not his sin less be- cause Satan moved him to it, but took all the blame of sin to himself, and said, " I have done very fool- ishly." Let therefore the time we spend in blaming Satan when we have sinned, be spent in opposing Satan, that we may noi sin, James iv. 7 ; let us not " give place to the devil," Eph. iv. 27, but resist him, 1 Pet. v. 9 ; by faith applying the victory of Christ, and viewing present assistances and future recompences ; by prayer bringing God into the com- bat ; by sobriety in the use of comforts, and watch- fulness against all temptations to sin, continuing our allegiance and God's protection, Eph. vi. 13, 16. Adventure not within the chains of a mad dog; sup- ply not their want of length by thy want of watch- fulness. Our natures are tinder and gunpowder ; we had need beware, not only of fiery darts, but the least spark. Obs. 6. God can make an offender his own afflicter, a Magor-missabib, a terror to himself, and constantly to carry his own chains of terror and torment about him. That which makes us enemies to God, makes us enemies to ourselves ; wickedness is its own vexa- tion. A sinner, though he be truly a friend to none, yet never is he so great a foe to any as to himself. Powder which blows up the house cannot itself escape from burning. Such is the power of God's justice, that, without any trouble to liimself, he can make a transgressor his own tormentor, industriously to fetch in matter of excessive horror to himself out of his own bosom; to gaze willingly into that false glass which Satan sets before him ; to be led by that lying cnielty, which misrepresents to the sinner's affrighted imagination every gnat as a camel, every mote as a molehill, every molehill as a mountain, every lustful thought as a Sodomitical villany, every idle word as a desperate blasphemy, every angry look as a bloody murder, every transgression against light of conscience as a sin against the Holy Ghost. In this amazedness of spirit, God can cause a man to turn his own artillery, his wit and learning, upon himself, to argue with subtlety against the pardon- ableness of his sins, to wound his wounds with a conceit that they are incurable, to vex his very vexa- tions with refusing to be comforted. In a word, to turn to his own torment, not only his crosses and temptations, but even the very comforts of his life ; Kii.il pot.i.adeo ■^y'f'^'. '^hiWren, gold goods honours, as Biifp rroponi, ni- that wocful Spira did. It God speak the lll'tSilrrr'""" word, the hand shall rebel and strike I the head, the nails shall tear the skin, quod non ill? vei the teeth shall gnaw the flesh. Those [fn'e.'ve! elSre'rei who are made to take one another's raiiir'nssime. vei parts shall become mutinous, like the prompiissime. Midianites, who sheathed their swords f,fn?'co"'tTviTum in their fellows' bowels. A man for- nequaq?iarn fuisse saken of God has least mercy for him- jmirHodosma'-"" self. Never let us please ourselves, or jraik'tmirin^is-"" envy the enemies of God, in any sinful puiaiionibusnieo- • '. ■ /-, 1 1 " If logicis, cum sanus quietness, since God can make men sen- csfei. n.si. Fian. destroyers. To conclude this, if ever spira, p. ico, i2i. you would be reconciled to yourselves, (1.) Labour to be reconciled to God in Christ. Never will con- science, God's deputy, speak peace, if God himself speak war ; nor will God be at peace, but through Him who is our peace. (2.) Let us maintain a con- stant war with sin. Such is the cruelty of sin, that it always torments those who love it ; and such is its impotency, that it cannot hurt those who hate it. (3.) Let us constantly walk in those ways which are called "peace," Prov. iii. 17; remembering that ho- liness troubles notliing but our lusts, which we should not only trouble, but destroy. Obs. 7. There is no liberty to be found in forsaking of God's service. As soon as these angels had thrown off the yoke of obedience, they put on the chains of bondage ; they were in bondage to sin, and for sin. Every sinner is a captive, he cannot stir hand or foot in heavenly employments. A saint only walks at liberty; the service of God alone is freedom. Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty, and a changing of the chains of slavery for a heavenly activity. None but saints can run the ways of God's commandments, and willingly wait upon their Mas- ter; and hence it is, that only they can perform du- ties either delightful to him or themselves. The ways of obedience, which are torments to a sinner, are the pleasures of a saint; that which the one counts his yoke, the other esteems his privilege, and knows not how to live without daily performing them. And how comfortable is their condition, in having their chains of guilt beaten otT by Christ ! As their services are, so their usage is, thatof sons, not of slaves and captives. Their duties savour of the Spirit of adoption and filial ingenuousness. Their services are without fear ; whereas others are all their life- long subject unto bondage. How are sinners mis- taken, in thinking that liberty is inconsistent with sanctity ! A saint loses nothing but his bonds and fetters by becoming holy ; nor is holiness a chain to any, but those who know no other freedom than a house of bondage. 8. The pleasures of sin bear no proportion to the hoiTors thereof. Its pleasures are light and moment- ary, its chains are heavy, horrid, and everlasting. The act of sin is instantly ended, and the delights of sin soon fall otT; but its chains are strong, and not to be broken ; there is no aqua-fortis to eat them asun- der. How happy were it tliat sinners would be but as wise in preventing, as they will be woeful in under- going, the everlasting sorrows which follow their short sinning ! Oh that when you say you know not how to forbear the breaches of the law, you would ask yourself whether you are able to bear or knock off the chains of the prison ! Foolish sinner ! say no more, as I have sometimes heard thee in thy fits of passion, I must speak, and then I have done : when thou hast done, God hath not done, he then begins ; and should he, as thou deservest, once chain such a wild offender in that black dungeon of hell, he would not have done with thee to eternity. Look upon sin with Scripture spectacles : oh view the chain, the everlasting chain of guilt and horror, through every temptation. Let the meditation of Ver. C. THE EPISTLE OF JUDE. i;i eternity damp and stop thee in thy sinful heats and fun-. If thou canst not find a man who, to gain the world, would be compelled to lie bound upon a bed of roses a hundred years, how shalt thou endure the flames and chains of hell to eternity ? Obs. 9. How eminently is the goodness of God manifested to men more than to angels ! The fallen angels continue under the chains of eternal guilt, helpless without, and hopeless of recovery, ilan, who deserved no better, is loosed from those chains by a strong Redeemer, and by the blood of Jesus Christ they are broken asunder. How should so great mercy quicken our hearts to thankfulness ! Wonder, O man, that God should break in pieces, and throw on to the dunghill of hell to eternity, those golden vessels, the angels, beset with the most pre- cious gems of most shining and glorious endowments, when they had contracted rust ; and that he should cleanse the earthen pot, poor man, instead of break- ing it, when the uncleanness of sin had defiled and eaten into it. I only add, that in one thing the sins of men admit of a greater aggravation than those of devils, they never sinned against the olfers of a Saviour. Unbelieving sinner ! the very devils will condemn thee. If all the examples in the world of ingratitude to God and unkindness to oneself were lost, they might be found again in thee. Thus far of the first part of the punishment of these fallen angels in the prison, viz. their being in " ever- lasting chains." II. They are " under darkness." Two things may here needfully be opened. 1. What the darkness is under which they are. 2. What is their misery in being under it. 1. "Darkness" is in Scripture taken two ways. (1.) Properlv, for the negation, defect, and privation of light, Gen. i. 2, 4 ; Isa. xlv. 3, 7, 19 ; 1 Cor. iv. 5 ; 1 Thess. v. 5; 1 John ii. 8; Rom. i. 21: ii. 19; 1 Thess. V. 8; 1 John ii. 11 ; Jer. sxiii. 12. (2.) Metaphorically: 1. For a secret, hidden, or private place : " What I tell you in darkness, that speak ye in light," Matt. s. 27 ; so Luke xii. 3. 2. For error and ignorance : "To turn them from darkness to light," Acts xxvi. 18. Having their minds darken- ed, Eph. iv. 18. Once were ye darkness, &c., Eph. V. 8. In which respect principally, sins are called the " works of darkness," Rom. xiii. 12 ; Eph. v. 11. 3. For great calamities and punishments. (1.) Ex- ternal: "When I looked for good, evil came unto me ; and when I waited for light, there came dark- ^. . ness," Job xxx. 2(3. " If one look unto ienebr'asTsc'rip'-''^ the land, bchold darkness and sorrow," mirorem'des,? Isa. V. 30. " They shall look unto the Dat. Calv. iu° earth, and behold trouble and dark- ness," Isa. via. 22. " \\ e wait for brightness, but we walk in darkness," Isa. lix. 9. " Get thee into darkness, O daughter of the Chal- deans," Isa. xlvii. 5. (2.) Internal. Thus Heman complains that God had laid him in darkness, Psal. Ixxxviii. 6. " Who is there among you," Sec. " that walketh in darkness, and seeth no light ?" Isa. 1. 10; Jer. xiii. 16 ; Ezek. sxxii. 8 ; Mic. vii. 8 ; Psal. cxliii. . 3. (3.) Eternal, for the uncomfortable teDebr'if'iuciu^.e Condition of the damned in hell, by jeu'eid*""' ^"^' reason of the absence of God's presence, Jude 12, 13. We read of some cast into " outer darkness," Matt. viii. 12; xxii. 13, i. e. without the kingdom of God, which is light, and a kingdom of light. This phrase of "outer darkness" some conceive is an allusion to the darkness which God sent upon Eg)-pt, Exod. x. 23; that Egyptian ] darkness being without the habitations of the Israel- Calv. in Ma(t. ^^^^< ^" ^^^ which was light. Or, as Cal- »»'■• vin conceives, to the darkness wherein they are, who are excluded in the niglit-time from places in which are suppers or feasts, where they set up many lights and lamps. Or, as others, to the dark- ness of prisons, which were oft wont to be without the city. Acts xii. 10. Whatever the allusion is, by this outer darkness is intended a state of the greatest remoteness and distance from the light of God's pre- sence, the joy, yea, the heaven of heaven ; for, as Brugensis well notes by the comparative l„^ g^us. in note, iiiu-ipov, outer, may well be in- .Maii.vni. tended the superlative, utmost, or most without, furthest, or most distant from the kingdom of light, as 1 Cor. xiii. 13, the greater, i. e. " the greatest of these is charity." This eternal darkness, which stands in the withdrawing of the light of God's pleased and pleasing countenance, wherein is ful- ness of joy, and pleasures for evermore, is that here by the apostle intended to be the portion of these angels in their prison of hell. And most fitly is this their woeful estate of separation from God's presence called " darkness ;" because, as the, though but de- ficient, cause of darkness is the departure of the light, so the separation from the favourable presence of God is the greatest misery of the damned ; as the face and comfortable presence of God is the heaven of heaven, so absence from God is the hell of hell. It is not heaven to be in the place of heaven, but to be with God in heaven ; and it is not hell to be in hell, but to be without God's loving and gracious presence in heaven. 2. The misery of this condition of darkness, or separation from God's presence; and it may be am- plified two ways. 1 . Considering from what this separation shall be. 2. How the misery thereof shall be further heightened. (1.) There shall be a separation from the favour- able presence of God, which is, [I.] A full good, com- prehending all good; that wherein all good things are assembled and combined. He who has Him who is all things, must needs have all things. To him there can be made no addition of goodness ; in parting with him, the damned part with whatsoever is good. [2.] A filling, satisfying good, enough and sufficient for him- self; and that which can fill the ocean, can undoubt- edly fill the vessel. God satisfies all the wants and exigences of the soul. " My God shall supplyall your needs." The favour of God is better than life. " The Lord is my shepherd ; I shall not want." Every good besides God is but of a limited nature, answer- ing but to this or that exigence ; but one God answers to everj' want. Bread relieves hunger, water thirst, clothes nakedness, money poverty; God re- lieves in everv want, and has infinitely- 1. ., ^. • , ' , T^ ^ Suninia mors anl- more oil than we have vessels. JJeserv- mse est aiiciiaiio edly therefore is this punishment of loss ffi,Vrnii?re''su°p- frequentlv expressed in the Scripture as iii- ji. Aiig. hb.e. the great woe ot the damned. Matt. vii. 23; Luke xiii. 27; Matt. xxv. 10, 41. The throne of iniquity shall have no fellowship with God, Psal. xciv. 20. Needs must hell be a dismal dungeon, where the sunshine of God's presence never comes. But, (2.) The misery of the loss of this blessed pre- sence of God is further heightened, aggravated, and made intolerably tormenting ; considering, [1.] The damned in hell know the incomparable worth of what they have lost ; their understandings are clear, though they are not changed : their knowledge increases their sorrow. How happy (comparatively) would they be, if their understandings were taken from them, if they could but put out their eyes ! Though they see not God so fully and clearly as do the bless- ed in heaven, yet they see enough of him to rend and grind them with inexpressible vexation for losing 142 AN EXPOSITION UPON Veu. f). him. A company of wretched beggars, who in a dark night stand at the door of that house where there is a wedding-feast, though they see not the stately pre- parations, the furnished tables, the costly ornaments of the married couple and guests so fully and clearly, and though they hear not the sweet music within so distinctly, as the guests themselves who sit at table ; yet by lights in the windows, the voices of mirth, and musicians, with the confused sound of instruments, the passage to and fro of attendants with their cheer, they cannot but observe enough to think themselves, being excluded, very miserable, in comparison of those who are attended at the table, and in the midst of all their mirth and plenty. Christ makes the ap- plication, Luke xiii. 25, '2S; where he speaks of those who stand without and knock, &c., and shall see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the pro- phets, in the kingdom of God, and they themselves thrust out. The rich man sees Abraham and Laza- rus, but afar off: see them he must, though he would not ; get to them he must not, though he would never so fain. And certainly, the large vessel of an angel's understanding holds more matter of this torment than can more shallow capacities. [2.] These damned spirits remember that this loss of the presence of God was a rod of their own making, a woe of their own most wilful procuring; the door which shuts them out of heaven was pulled to with their own hands. How much will it sharpen the edge of their horror, to consider that none forced them to sin ; that the forsaking of God was the choice of their own ■will ; that they had no enemies but themselves ! The treasures of glory were not stolen from them, but voluntarily dissipated, and prodigally misspent with their own hands. How easily could they have pre- vented that loss which now is irreparable ; and have kept their foot out of that snare, out of which they can never wind themselves ! The arrow which falls down upon their heads, was shot up with their own hands ; and the destruction which has caught them, was spun out of their own bowels. [3.] They consider how poor a trifle and contempt- ible a toy it was for which they have lost the blessed presence of God. How does it cut them, to remem- ber that they have lost all things for nothing ; a massy crown, a weight of glory, for a bubble, a butter- fly ; the inheritance of heaven for a song ! What proportion is between a notion, a fancy, and the sa- tisfying fruition of a real good ! How men blame themselves for lodging in a dear inn, where they are compelled to pay as much more as their entertain- ment is worth ! How heartily have I heard men be- shrew themselves for parting with great sums of money, for which they say they never drunk! A minute of pleasure, a poor, silly, slight, shallow no- thing, may the damned say, was all I had, for have he cannot say, to show for myself, my blessedness, my God. O mad exchange ! O amazing dispropor- tion ! deservedly miserable wretch that I am ; I had but a dream of delight for heaven itself. Did ever any fool buy so dear, and sell so cheap ? [4.] They consider who it is that excludes them from this blessedness, even God himself, who is not only a God of power, and therefore able to hinder them from entering, for if he shuts, none can open ; but a God of tender compassions, to some : this God, who made them, will not have mercy on them. Mercy itself is now made wrath. He now thunders in his fury, whose bowels once made a noise, which, though formerly tender, are now harder than flints. AVhat shall open the door, when He who is goodness and love itself shuts it ? [5.] They are therefore hopeless, and utterly de- Bpairuig ever to be admitted to the presence of God : the anchor of hope is now broken; the bridge of mercy is now drawn ; the gulf of separation shall never be passed. The heaviest rock can as easily take wings and fly, and kiss the body of the sun, as can a damned spirit get up into the gracious presence of God. When the door is shut, it is too late to think of entering. Matt. xxv. 10. Knocking, weeping, en- treating are altogether fruitless, Luke xiii. 25. How deeply did the departure of Paul pierce the heart of the Christians with sorrow, when he had told them that they should see his face no more ! O dreadful word, never ! the bitterest word, in comparison of it. is sweet. Obs. 1. Separation from God is the e^^l indeed. It separates from the greatest good. Worldly evils hurt the skin, not the soul ; it is possible they may be corrective, but the loss of God is destructive. God, in depriving men of his gifts, whips them; but in the final removal of himself, he executes them. Scourging is oft the lot of sons, but separation from God is the portion of devils. God may take away every thing in love, unless it be his love. Separation from God is a distinguishing judgment. How much are men mistaken in their estimations of misery ! The most know no other hell but poverty, or some such worldly woe ; whereas outward evils are but ap- pearing, and opinionative, and all their deformity is in the eye of the beholder ; if they drive us, as oft they do, nearer to God, they are good for us ; and nothing is truly bad which separates not from the chiefest good. There is more bitterness in a drop of sin than a sea of suffering. Obs. 2. How gross is the delusion of sinners ! who, for the tasting of the slight and superficial pleasures of a temptation, will lose the soul-satisfying presence of the ever-blessed God ! If all the delights of the earth cannot countervail one moment's loss of the light of God's countenance in this life, what proportion is there between a moment's taste of worldly pleasures, and the everlasting loss of the fruition of God in glory ! Could Satan make his promise good, in say- ing, " All these things will I give thee," truly it would be but a slight performance in the esteem of that soul, who knows that the gain of the world would be followed with an eternal loss of God. The eternal weight of the loss of God infinitely more weighs down all momentary delights, than a moun- tain of lead does a feather. Could sinners part with God upon some valuable consideration, their folly were not so much to be pitied ; but nothing can be given them in exchange for God, because God whom they lose is all things. Obs. 3. The wisest care imaginable is that of en- joying the presence of God in glory. Show your care hereof, (1.) By obsen-ing and laying to heart your distance from God by nature, Eph. ii. 1, 2, 12; iv. 18. We all came into the world with our faces toward Satan, and our backs turned upon God; let no worldly enjojTnents bribe your consciences into a false and feigned quietness while you so remain. If the poor Jews would not be made to sing in a strange land, let not sinners please themselves in this condi- tion of estrangement from God. How have the saints mourned under the apprehension of God's de- parture ! Their lamentations show what sinners must do, either here or hereafter. (2.) By making him your friend, who only admits us into the presence of God. Jesus Christ is that way whereby that gulf between God and the soul is only passed over. There is no seeing his face without bringing Christ along with us ; nor can we more endure the presence of God ■without an interest in Christ, than can the stub- ble endure the flames. Every Christless soul is a Godless soul. The blood of Cluist is the only cement I Veh. 6. THE EPISTLE OF JUnE. 141 wTiich can join God and us together. (3.) By labour- I ing to be made fit for his presence : holiness becomes all those who shall enjoy it. Heaven is no place for dogs ; and without holiness no man shall see God. Heaven must first be in us, before we can ever get into heaven. God forbids his people to have fellow- ship with the works of darkness, and much less will he himself delight in such company. Sin hinders ■ from enjoying God here, Isa. lix. 2, much more here- after. Nor will heaven ever be sweet to that soul I which here accounts not sin bitter. The light of glory would dazzle those eyes which only have been used to the darkness of sin : filthy garments may, undiscerned, be worn in the dark, but not in the 1 light. It is the happiness of heaven, that all its in- habitants are of one mind. The company of sinners : would spoil the harmonious concert of glorified spirits. (4.) By delighting in the presence of and acquaint- ance with God, while we are here upon earth. How shy are men of admitting strangers into their houses ; and how readily do they open their doors to those with whom they are acquainted ! No wonder if Christ bids those depart whom he never knew. Ac- count those duties, conditions, companies to be but empty, in and by which thou enjoycst not something i of God. Content not thyself with that prayer, sab- ! bath, ministry, wherein God hath not discovered his 1 humbling, quickening, strengthening presence to thee, in thee. Let no sacrifice please thee without fire. Love the ordinances because God meets thee in them. If God be not at home, think it not enough that his servants, his ministers, have spoken to thee. Let the society of saints be thy solace, and dearly esteem those in whom thou beholdest any resemblance of God. With the wicked, converse rather as a phy- sician to cure them, than as a companion to delight in them. Let not thy heart be taken with any com- fort, any further than thou beholdest the heart of the Giver in it, or findest thine own raised to serve and delight in him. 06s. 4. No distress should dishearten those here, to whom God will not deny his presence hereafter ; though God brings them into miseries, yet he will ; not exclude them with the miserable. If men cast t them out of their company, yet Christ will never say to them, " Depart from me." If they want a house I to hide their heads in, and a bed to rest their bodies I on, yet their Father's house and bosom will supply both. Let men do their worst, they may send saints to him, not from him. How little do those rods smart, in striking with which the Lord takes not away In's loving-kindness ? What has that poverty more than a name, which is not accompanied and followed with the loss of God liimself ? In a word, I though sometimes the saints sit in darkness, and see I no light, yet is light sown for them ; they shall not lie under darkness: but after the darkest night of desertion, shall arise to them that glorious Sun of God's presence, which shall never go down again, but make an eternal day. Thus far for the first part of the punishment of the angels, viz. that which they undergo in the pri- son. "The second follows, viz. that which shall be laid upon them at and after their appearing at the bar ; and in that, I. To what they are reserved, viz. " to judgment." There are two things may here be inquired after. I. What we are to understand by the judgment to which these angels are reserved. 2. How the angels which are punished already, are yet said to be re- served to judgment. 1. For the first. Though the word icpiirif, judgment, 13 frequently in Scripture taken more largely and iaijiroperiy, for the cause of punishment, John iii. 19, for the government of the world, John v. 22, amendment or reformation, John xii. .31, &c., for the place of judgment ; yet in this place it comes more closely to its own proper signification, according to which it imports a judiciary trial of and proceeding about causes. In which respect it is taken in this place, and oft in the New Testament, for the solemn action of the last and general judgment. Matt. x. 15; xi. 22, 24 ; xii. 3() ; Mark vi. 11; 2 Pet. iii. 7, where we read of the " day of judgment ;" and Eccl. xi. 9, 12, 14; Luke x. 14; Heb. ix. 27; x. 27, where there is mention made of this judgment. Which judgment consists of three parts. (1.) A discussion and manifestation of the faults for which the pri- soners were committed. (2.) A pro- „ • . ii, r Veritas in inqui- nouncmg sentence upon them for every siiimif, nuHitasia crime discussed and manifested. (3.) t'enillls''in"eiecu- A severe executing upon them the liune. sentence so pronovmced. (1.) In this judgment faults and causes shall be discussed and manifested ; and judgment is sometimes in Scripture put for this discussion and discerning of causes. Acts xxiii. 3 ; x\n. 15; 2 Cor. v. 14. " Some men's sins are open beforehand, going before to judg- ment," &c., 1 Tim. V. 24, cS:c. And this knowledge of the cause is intended. Rev. xx. 12 ; where we have mention of those who " stand before God," of the opening of the books, and the judging " out of those things which were WTitten in the books." For though at the last judgment God will make use of no books, properly so called, yet all the works of the judged shall be as manifestly known, as if God kept regis- ters, rolls, and records of them in heaven ; and at his coming he " will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts," that the righteousness of his proceedings may appear to all, Ezra iv. 15, 19 ; vi. 2 ; Esth. vi. 1 ; Dent, xxxii. 34 ; Psal. Ivi. 8 ; Hos. vii. 2 ; 1 Cor. iv. 5. These books of discovery are two ; that of God's omniscience, and that of the creature's conscience. [1.] According to the former, every creature is mani- fest in his sight, and all things are opened unto his eyes, Heb. iv. 13; he has a " book of remembrance," Mai. iii. 16; he needs not that any should testify of man, for he knoweth what is in man, John ii. 25. As God hates sin wherever he knows it, so he knows it wherever it is, Jer. xxiii. 24. Men may hide their sins from men, from God they cannot, Mai-k iv. 22 ; Rom. ii. 5, 1(5. Men may, like foolish children, when they shut their eyes and see none, think that none sees them ; but the light and the darkness are both alike to God ; nor can any, by seeking deep to hide their counsels from the Most High, help him- self, Isa. xxix. 15. Never has one sin since the creation of the world slipped '''il'/ctoli'iur''"^' from the memory of God's knowledge, though he has been pleased to put away the sins of some out of the memory of his vengeance ; nor does he forget any sin out of necessity, but merely out of mercy. [2.] According to the latter, the book of conscience, the Lord will, in the general i,|jmjj,iex reus judgment, bring to every man's remem- testis, toitoi^, fla-' brance what he has done ; he will set ^^ ""'' the sins of the wicked in order before them, Psal. 1.; their consciences shall then be dilated and irra- diated by the power of God. Here in this life con- science is bribed, and gives in an imperfect, but then it shall bring a full and impartial evidence against sinners, who shall be speechless, and have their mouths stopped : hence it is said, Jude 15, that God shall i^tXiyxdv, " convince all the ungodly." Their faults shall be so demonstrated to them, that they shall have nothing to object, but shall be compelled to acknowledge all, both in point of fact and desert. 144 AN EXPOSITION UPON Ver. 6. put tor KajaKpi Isa. V. 3. That whicli before was almost impercep- tible, shall, being held to the fire of vengeance, and the light of conscience, be made legible. (2.) In this judgment to which these angels shall be brought, there shall be a decisive, definitive sen- tence ; and frequently and most properly in Scrip- ture is judgment taken for a decisive passing of sen- tence, Matt. vii. 1 ; John xviii. 31 ; Acts xxiv. 6 ; xvii. 31; Matt. xix. 28; 1 Cor. vi. 3; Acts iv. 19. To the fonner sentence, viz. that of their own con- sciences, shall be added that of the Judge, whereby they shall be adjudged to the punishment of loss and pain for ever. A sentence which shall be openly pro- mulgated. Heretofore it was written down in the book, now it shall be pronounced before all the world. A sentence which shall be published soon after that of benediction has been uttered to the godly, that so the damned may grieve the more, to consider what they have lost; and the saved rejoice, to observe what they have escaped. A sentence, every syllable of which is more dreadful than ten thousand thun- der-claps, roaring in their ears to all eternity. Won- der one may, that so much woe can be couched in so few words. In being sentenced to depart from God, what pleasure are they not adjudged to lose ! In being sentenced to the flames, what pain are they not adjudged to feel ! (3.) In the judgment to which these angels shall be brought, there shall be an execution of the sen- ii. 13, KpiV.t ts"'^^ denounced ; and frequently in Scripture is judgment taken for punish- ment to which men are adjudged. Matt. V. 22; Mark iii. 29; John v. 24, 29; Acts viii. 33; 2 Thess. i. 5. The sentence shall not be an empty sound, as a report without a bullet, a noise without a sting ; but it shall be executed without any excep- tion, delay, reply, appeal. The sentence of male- diction shall be a fiery stream proceeding from the throne of the Judge, and sweeping the condemned into hell. The wicked " shall be punished with ever- lasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and the glory of his power," 2 Thess. i. 9; which ExpuUi a facie, pl^ce Bcza cxpounds of their expulsion hacierriiiiiiipsius from the presence of the Lord by that voce. Bez. terrible voice, " Go, ye cursed." Others thus interpret it, The glorious power and majesty of Christ's presence shall suffice to destroy the wicked. If the devils were unable to endure the presence of Christ upon earth, when emptied of glory, upon con- sidering that hereafter Christ should be their Judge; crying out, and asking whether he was come to tor- ment them before their time ; how shall they abide his presence, when filled with dreadful majesty ! 2. How the angels who are already punished, and therefore judged, can be reserved to judgment. %Ve must not conceive (with some) that, be- Dslirones'^sm''' causc they are said to be " reserved to semiiiiernonon- judgment," therefore for the present sed in dieju.iuii they arc not punished; for if the good onWMim'ara'-' ^"gels are, before the general judgment, pieciiiur Ire- in a State of happiness, liatrdi'Toe, always Hi«r.' i.acSi".' beholding the face of God, then why i'ii';.''cap.'c8"' '"" should not the bad be in a state of misery.' Besides, if the souls of wicked men are now tormented in hell, which nevertheless may be said to be " resen'cd to judgment," why may it not be asserted, that the angels who seduced men have been ever since their fall tormented, consider- ing that the fall was that to the angels which death is to ungodly men ? And further, if the fallen angels be in hell, a place of punishment, with the damned Eouls, then it is as certain they partake of the same punishment with them ; as it is absurd to imagine that the holy angels should be in heaven with the souls of the blessed, and not be with them partakers of the fruition of God's presence. There is therefore a threefold judgment which the fallen angels incur: 1. That wherewith they were pun- ished immediately upon their fall, when by God they were thrown into misery. Of this speaks Peter, " God spared not the angels which sinned, but cast them down into hell," &c., 2 Pet. ii. 4. 2. That whereby they are cast out of their dominion, and their power over us destroyed by the death of Christ, John xii. 31. 3. Their full and final judgment, to which they are here by Jude said to be reserved; in respect whereof, though they are in part punished already, yet by it there shall be a dreadful addition and accession to their present torments ; in regard of ignominy, and of restraint. (1.) Ignominy: for they being most proud crea- tures, cannot but deem it an unspeakable shame, [1.] To have all their malice and mischiefs that ever they committed since their fall manifested to all the world; whereby all who have heretofore honoured them as gods shall know their vileness, and look upon them as abominable deceivers, and never be brought, as formerly, to worship them. [2.] To have it publicly seen, that poor man, whose nature is so much inferior to theirs, has done that which they were not able to do, in embracing holiness, and honouring his Creator, and obtaining those mansions of glory which they have lost. [3.] To have it known to all the world how often they would have done evil when they could not, and how frequently even women and children have overcome their fierce and fiery temptations. [4.] To have judgment passed upon them, not only by Christ himself, but even by those formerly poor saints whom they so vilified and persecuted ; even these shall judge the angels, 1 Cor. vi. 3. And that not only, 1. By having their prac- tices compared to those of the damned, as the Nine- vites and the queen of the south are said to rise up in judgment. Matt. xii. 41, 42; Luke xi. 31, 32. Nor, 2. Only by their consenting to and approving of the sentence which Christ shall pass upon the wicked. But also, 3. In regard of that dignilas asses- soria, that dignity whereby they shall be advanced to an honourable assessorship with the Lord Christ, in sitting (as it were) with him upon the bench, or about the throne of judicature. As like- wise, 4. They in that judgment being to J°i"i'i'p5um'e'' appear with Christ manifest victors an?ei.isejus, over all their enemies, by trampling peccni.)! judi.a- upon all the pride, malice, and weak- jl'^ "j "pibu' c 't. ness of devils before the whole world ; ' and holily insulting over them as vile, vanquished, and contemptible enemies : a greater punishment, undoubtedly, to those proudest of creatures, than was that to Bajazet, whose back famous Tamerlane used for a horseblock to raise him up to his steed, when he caused him to be carried up and down as a spec- tacle of infamy in all his triumphant journeys. (2.) By the last judgment there shall be an acces- sion of punishment to these angels in respect of their restraint, because then they shall be unable to se- duce the wicked or to hurt the elect any more. Their chain, now more loose, shall then be so strait, that they shall never come near nor among the saints of God : a vehement vexation to those malicious spirits, whose element is mischief, and their torment restraint from doing hurt. They now deem it some lessening of their torment to be sulTered to tempt men to sin : they think themselves hereby somewhat revenged on God ; as he that defaces the picture of his enemy, when he cannot come at his person, eases his spleen a little ; or as the dog somewhat breaks his rage by gnawing the stone, when he cannot reach Veb. 6. THE EPISTLE OF JUDE. 145 the thrower. They now walk abroad, as it were, with their keeper ; but then they shall be closely confined, yea, dungeoned : now they contain their hell, then their hell shall contain them. In short, a.s the punishment of wicked men shall be at the full, when their souls and bodies are reunited, and both cast into hell ; so the torment of these angels shall be completed, when at the last day they shall be so fettered in their infernal prison, as that there will be no possibility of stirring forth. They are now en- tered into divers degrees of punishment, hut the full wrath of God is not poured out upon them till the day of judgment. Obs. 1. No secrecy can shelter sin from God's ob- servation. He who will make sins known to con- science and all spectators, must needs know them himself. Sins are undoubtedly written in, if they be read out of the book. God need not rack, no, nor ask the offender, to know whether he has sinned or no ; he searcheth the heart, he trieth the reins, Jer. xvii. 10; "his eyes behold, his eyelids try, the chil- dren of men," Psal. xi. 4. He compasseth (he win- noweth) our paths, and is acquainted with all our ways. Whither shall we fly from his presence ? Psal. cxxxix. He understands our thoughts afar off ; knows them long before they come into us, and long after they are gone away from us. All the secrets of our hearts are dissected, anatomized, and barefaced in his eyes. He who knew what we would do before we did it, must needs know what we have done after- wards. There is nothing existing in the world but was before in God's knowledge ; as the house is first in the head before erected by the hand of the artifi- cer. He made us, and therefore knows every nook, and corner, and turning in us ; and we are sustained and moved by him in our most retired motions. How plainly discerned by him is the closest hypocrite, and every devil, though in a Samuel's mantle ! "We can only hear, but God sees hollowness. We do but ob- serve the surface, but God's eye pierces into the entrails of every action : he sees not as man sees ; man looketh on the outward appearance, but God looketh on the heart. How exact should we be even in secret walkings, we being constantly in the view of so accurate an Obser\-er! We should set the Lord always before us. The eye of God sho'ild ever be in our eyes : the presence of God is the counterpoison of sin. Whenever thou art sinning, remember that all thou dost is booked in God's omniscience. Latimer being examined by his popish adversaries, heard a pen walking behind the hangings, to take all his words ; this made him wary how he expressed him- self : but more cause have we to fear sin, since God writes down every offence, and will one day so read over his book to conscience, that it shall' be compelled to copy it ont with infinite horror. God did but read one page, one line of this book, one sin, to the conscience of Judas, and the terror thereof made him his own executioner. Obs. 2. How foolish are sinners, who are so de- siiiiiring at, and yet so fearless before, the pronouncing if I he last sentence ! Most in-ational is that resolu- tii'ii, "Because sentence against an evil work is not ixicuted speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of niL-n is fully set to do evil," Eccl. viii. II. How wise were it to argue contrarily, Because the sentence is deferred, therefore let us labour to have it prevented ; and to say with the apostle, " What manner of per- sons ought we to be!" 2 Pet. iii. 11. The deferring of judgment is no sign of its prevention ; the speedy repentance of sinners would be a much more com- fortable prediction. Wrath, when it is to come, may be fled from ; when once it is come, it is unavoidable. Christians ! be as wise for your souls as the Egyp- tians were for their cattle : who, fearing the threat- ening of hail, took them into houses : faith in threat- enings of judgment, may prevent the feeling of judg- ments threatened. For your souls' sake, be warned to get your pardon in the blood, if ever you would avoid the sentence of the mouth of Christ. If the Judge give you not a pardon here, he will give you a sentence hereafter. It is only the blood of Christ which can blot the book of judgment. Judge your- selves, and pass an irrevocable sentence upon your sins, if you would not be sentenced for your sins. Repent at the hearing of ministers in this your day ; for if you put off that work till God speaks in his day, repentance itself will be xmprofitable. If you harden your hearts here in sin, the heart of Christ will be hardened hereafter in his sentencing, and your suffering. The great work of poor ministers is the prevention of the dreadful sound of the last sen- tence : knowing the terror of the Lord, they warn you. All the hatred we meet with in the world, is for our loving plainness herein ; but we will not cease to warn you with tears, as well as with sweat : we can better bear your hatred here, than either you or we bear God's hereafter; and we had rather your lusts should curse us here, than your souls to all eternity. If our voice cannot make you bend, God's will make you break : if you will not hearken, is it not because the Lord will slay you ? 06$. 3. Great is the sinfulness of rash judgment. It is a sin that robs Christ of his honour, whereby a man advances himself into Christ's tribunal, and which fakes the work of judgment out of Christ's hand ; and therefore the apostle, Rom. xiv. 10 ; 1 Cor. iv. 5, strongly argues against it from the last judg- ment. Christians commit this sin, both by a curious ■.nquisition into the ways of others, for this end, that they may find out matter of defamation ; and princi- pally, by passing of sentence, or giving of censure, against the persons and practices of others without necessity, and not according to the law of charity, which binds us to judge the best of others, so far as may stand with a good conscience and the word of God. Judgment may either be of persons, or their practices : in persons, their future or their present state is to be considered. All judgment of men's fu- ture state is to be forborne ; God may call the worst as well as thee. Three things, saith Augustine, are exempted from man's judgment ; the Scriptures, the counsel of God, the condemnation of any man's per- son. For men's present state ; if we see men live in whoredom, drunkenness, swearing, we may judge them wicked while continuing in this state, and that they shall be damned if they repent not. We may judge the tree by the fruit, and this is not rash judg- ment, because it is not ours, but the judgment of the word of God. Practices are either good, bad, indif- ferent, or doubtful. Good actions are to be com- mended. If actions be evil, judge the facts, not the persons ; yet study withal to excuse the intention, if thou canst not the fact. Indifferent or doubtful ac- tions are to be free from censure ; Christian liberty exempts our neighbour from censure for the former, charity allows us not to be censurers of the latter. If it be doubtful whether a thing were spoken or done, or no ; or being certain to be done, whether well or ill ; in charity judge the best. If a man lay with a betrothed damsel in the fields, the man was only to die, because it was in charity supposed that the damsel cried ; the best being supposed in a thing doubtful, l)eut. xxii. 25, 27. In matter of opinion, if it be un- certain whether an error or no, suspend thy judg- ment till thou know more certainly ; thy brother may see as much and more tlian thvself into that which is doubtful. Our ignorance as men, though 146 AN EXPOSITION UPON Ver. 6. never so knowing, should be a strong bar from rash jiulgment. Besides, who are we that judge another man's servant? this is to rcproacli tiod himself for receiving him. We are fellow servants with our brethren, not fellow judges with God ; we must love, not judge one another ; our Master's house is to be ordered by our Master's will. He who by rash judg- ment destroys the good name of another, is, by some, termed the worst of thieves, in stealing away that which is better than riches, and can never be restored ; and tlie worst of murderers, in killing three at once, his own soul in thus sinning, his neighbour whose name he ruins, and the hearer who receives liis slan- ders. And yet, take away this sinful censuring from many professors, there will nothing remain to show them religious ; whereas a just man is a severe judge only to himself. Ubs. 4. How happy are they who shall be able to stand in the judgment ! I know it is doubted by some, whether at the last judgment the sins of the saints shall come into the judgment of discussion and discovery ; Scripture seems to many most to favour the affirmative, Rev. xx. 12; Matt. x. 26; but that Vi.i A uin a ' "^y shall escape the judgment of con- 87.suppi. Est. in demnation,it is not doubted. That sun l.4.sent.dist. 47. -vyyiic}! discovers the sins of the wicked, shall scatter those of the godly. "There is no con- demnation to them that are in Christ Jesus; who shall lay any thing to their charge?" Rom. viii. 1, 33. Thegreater theirsins are, the grcaterwill theirdeliver- ance appear. The more punishment they deserved, the more they escape. The sins of the saints will prove, as the matter of their songs, so the trophies of victorious mercy. The wicked shall have judgment without mercy, and the godly shall have mercy in a day of judgnient, I Cor. xi. 32. How contentedly may they here undergo that chastisement whereby they escape judgment ! It is better to hear the re- proofs of a father, than the sentence of a judge ; and the correction of a son is much lighter than the con- demnation of a malefactor. It matters not what shall ever be said or done against them, to whom Christ shall never say, " Depart from me." "Do with me what thou wilt," said Luther, " since thou hast pardoned my sins." Obs. 5. The greatest enemies of God will be but contemptible creatures at the last judgment. What underlings then shall those appear and be, who now are principalities and powers ! Satan, who has had so many followers, adorers, who now is the prince of the air, yea, the god of this world, shall then openly ap- pear to be a trembling malefactor at the bar of Christ. As once Joshua's soldiers set their feet upon tlie necks of the Canaanitish kings, so the poorest saint shall at the last judgment trample upon these fallen angels. Death speaks the impotency of men, but judgment even that of angels. Legions of angels shall no more oppose Christ, than can a worm all the angels of heaven. Methinks even all the crowned, scep- tred, adorned, adored monarchs of the world, if ene- mies to Christ, should tremble at the approach of judgment. The greatest safety and honour, even of a king, will then be to be a subject to Christ, and what the emperor Justinian was wont to call himself, the meanest servant of Christ. Robes will Ultimus^Deiser. ^j^j.„ f^u o^_ jj^e dimmer light of hu- man glory will be obscured when the Sun of righteousness shall appear. Let us neither fear nor admire the greatness of any but of Christ, much less that which is set against Christ. How great is the folly of Satan's subjects ! they serve a master who is so far from defending them, that he cannot defend himself, from judgment. 06*. 6. The reason why Satan rages is, he knows that his time is but short; and after this last judg- ment his furious and spiteful temptations shall be ended : and he labours to supply the shortness of hia time with the sharpness of his assaults; like the be- siegers, who having often stormed a town or a castle, make tlieir last onset the most resolute and terrible. A traveller who desires to go far, will go fast if the sun is setting. The shortness of Satan's season occasions his^ swiftness in wickedness ; besides, he is in a state of desperation, he knows there is no possibility of his re- covery ; and as faith is the fiirtherer of holiness, so is despair of all impiety. It was the logic of despair which argued thus, " Let us eat and drink, for to-mor- row we shall die." I wonder not that these last are the worst and the most perilous times. Satan now strives to add to his number, to seduce and pervert souls, because after his judgment he shall never be suffered to do so any more. At all times holy vigi- lancy over our hearts and ways is needful ; but in these times, wherein Satan's judgment draws so near, it should he our care more than ever to keep our hearts with all diligence, to beware of seduction and atheism, and of " being led away with the error of the wicked, lest we fall from our own stedfastness." If Satan double his rage, let us double our guard. Doc- tor Taylor reports of a noble lord, who was wont to say, " That he never would go without a sword so long as there was a papist about the court." Never let us lay off our spiritual weapons, till Satan be taken from us by judgment, or we out of his reach by death. Let us, even taught thus much by our adversary, make the shortness of our time a motive to lay out ourselves the more for God : short seasons require speedy services. The nearer we come to judgment, the fitter let us labour to be for it. Let the sweetest part of our lives be at the bottom, and, as Samson's, let our last prove our greatest goodness. To conclude this, let those poor souls who are daily bufleted by Satan, consider that his judgment is approaching;, that all conflicts with him shall then be at an end; and that the fury of his assaults prove not their suc- cess, but the shortness of continuance. Thus far of the first particular considerable in the punishment of these angels at the bar, viz. that to which they are reserved, " to judgment." II. The time when they shall he brought to judg- ment, viz. at the " great day." Two things for tlie explication of this season. 1. How the word "day" is here to be understood. 2. In what respect it is called a " great day." LForthefirst. There are three opinions. (L) Some take the day here spoken of precisely and properly, as if the day of the last judgment should not exceed that space and proportion of time. (2.) Some con- ceive that by the " day " is meant a thousand years, because some are said to sit on thrones, and have judgment given unto them, (that is, power of judg- ing,) and to live and reign with Christ a thousand years. Rev. xx. 4. But I conceive that this judg- ment and reign of a thousand years cannot be under- stood of the last judgment, because death, the last enemy, shall, in the resurrection, be destroyed : now after the end of the thousand j'ears mentioned by I St. John, Satan shall be loosed out of prison, and] the nations deceived by him shall compass the eampl of the saints about, and the beloved city, and fire shall come down from God out of heaven and devou them. (3.) Others seem more safely to apprehend that the day here men- j'?,M''icmm ex",S. tioned is to be taken improperly, for tur. mcfreum est: time indefinitely, it being in Scripture more diem poni ] very ordinary to put a day for time : ?e'f,emn neSlI"" "In an acceptable time have 1 heard ^;;f ,,'-'';'' '-'"'• thee, in a day of salvation have I sue- "' "''' coured thee," Isa. xlix. 8. " If thou hadst known in Ter. 6. THE EPISTLE OP JUBE. 147 this thy day," Luke six. 43. " Your father Ahraham rejoiced to see my day," John viii. 56, &c. There must be a day wherein that great work of judgment shall begin, but its duration is to be measured by the nature of the thing, and the counsel of God. With Augustine, I determine nothing peremptorily con- cerning the continuance of the last judgment-day. 2. For the second, the greatness of this day. The titles given it in the Scripture speak it great ; it being called " that day," Matt. vii. 22 ; Luke xxi. 34; 2Tim. i. 12, 18; iv. 8; the " last day," John vi. 39, 40, 44, 46, 54 ; " the day of judgment, and per- dition of ungodly men," 2 Pet. iii. /; the day of God the Lord ; " the day when God shall judge the secrets of men," Rom. ii. 16 ; a day wherein " he will judge the world in righteousness," Acts xvii. 31 ; " the day of WTath, and revelation of the righteous judg- ment of God," Rom. ii. 5 ; the day of the Lamb's wrath. Rev. vi. 17; " the day of Jesus Christ," Phil. i. 6, 10, iS:c. More particularly, this day of judg- ment is called " great" in respect of the Judge, the judged, and the properties of the judgment. (1.) The Judge, who is Jesus Christ. And herein two particulars are considerable. [1.] That Christ shall be Judge. [2.] Wherein his being Judge shall make the day " great." The first is evident, I. From the frequent and ex- press mentioning him as Judge in Scripture, Acts x. 42; Phil. iii. 20; iv. 5; 1 Tim. vi. 14, 15, which as- sures us that " God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ," Rom. ii. 16 ; that " Jesus Christ shall judge the quick and the dead," 2 Tim. iv. I ; that " the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven," 2Thess. i. 7; that "the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father," Matt. xvi. 27 ; that " they 1 shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory," Matt. xxiv. 30; 1 that "the Son of man shall come in his glory," Matt. j XXV. 31 ; that hereafter we " shall see the Son of man I coming in the clouds of heaven," Matt. xxvi. 64; that I the same Jesus who is taken into heaven, shall so I come in like manner as he was seen to go into hea- I ven. Acts i. 1 1 ; that " he cometh vrilh. clouds, and I every eye shall see him," Rev. i. 7. In which re- I spect the day of judgment is called, " The day of the Lord Jesus Christ," 1 Cor. i. 8 : so chap. v. 5 ; 2 Cor. i. 14; Phil. i. 6, 10; ii. 16. And the seat of judgment is called, " The judgment-seat of Christ," Rom. xiv. 10; 2 Cor. V. 10. And some understand that place, Heb. iv.l2, " The word of God is " uptTtme, " a discemer of the thoughts," concerning the hypostatical Word. Nor is the Old Testament destitute of testimonies of this kind, thou,^h somewhat more obscureU^expressed. Abraham speaks to the Son of God, wlien he said, " Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?" Gen. x\-iii. 25. And the Father spake to the Son, when he said, " Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron ; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel," Psal. ii. 9. And that of Isaiah xlv. 2.3, " By myself have I sworn. Unto me every knee shall bow," which the apostle, Rom. xiv. II, applies to Christ, and thence proves that we shall all stand before his judo^ent-seat. 2. By God's appointment of him, and giving him authority to judge : " He is ordained of God to be the Judge ot quick and dead," Acts x. 42. " He will judge the world by that man whom he hath ordained," &c.. Acts xvii. 31. " The Father judgeth no man, but hath committed Humiijtas rarnis all judgment to the Son ; he hath given dSi's'Sorita l^'m authority to execute judgment," Ml. cypr. John V. 22, 27. And all power is given him in heaven and in earth. 3. By his former state of humiliation. As he emptied and humbled him- self according to his human nature, so in that he is to be exalted. " He humbled himself, ^^j^y, -^^^ and became obedient to death," &:c., sieiii sub juiiij^ " wherefore God hath highly exalted .torq.l'iV^cTus him," Phil. ii. 8, 9. And as Christ in his «' '«'f"^ '^y^- human nature was unjustly judged, so in that nature shall he justly judge. " Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many, and he shall appear the second time without sin," Heb. ix. 28. 4. By reason of the necessity of the visibility of the Judge and judicial proceedings at the last day. He exe- cutes judgment " because he is the Son of man," John V. 27, and every eye shall see him. The Judge is to be beheld and heard by the judged. " God will judge the world by that man," &c. In respect of the judicial process, a man must be our Judge ; for God is invisible, and the Judge Talis apparebit shall so appear, as to be seen both of i'j','v,'de?i""b"ii'^°' those whom he shall crown, and of qu"s coronaiurus, those whom he shall condemn. Nor damnaiufus'Mt. can it be but that God will be the more P^osp. justified, and men without all excuse, having one who is bone of their bone, and flesh of their flesh, to be Judge between God and them. Notwith- standing all which immediate, audible, visible ad- ministration of the last judgment by the Second Per- son, this judgment belongs to the other Persons in Trinity, Kar avTOKparnpiav KpiriKijv, in respect of authority, dominion, and judiciary power, though to the Son only rar' oi'icoj'o^iai', in respect of dispensa- tion and office, and external exercise. [2.] For the second, viz. Wherein the Judge makes the day of judgment " great." He makes it a great day, 1. As he is considered in himself. 2. As he is attended and accompanied by others. 1. As we consider him in himself; and that either, as God, or man. (1.) As God. He who shall be the Judge is the mighty God ; it is Jehovah, to whom " every knee shall bow," Isa. xlv. 23. Hence the apostle calls the appearance of this Judge, who is God, glorious, in those words. Tit. ii. 13, " The glorious appearing of the great God." If the great God be Judge, the day of judgment must needs be a great day. How great is the day of an earthly judge's appearance, a man, a worm, dust and ashes ! one who, though he can give, yet cannot avoid the sentence of death ; and one who has scarce a faint reflection of that majesty ^vith which this King of glory is adorned : think then, and yet thoughts can never reach it, what it is for God, before whom the whole world, though full of judges, is as nothing, and less than nothing, and vanity, to come to judge the world. God is a Judge omnipotent, and therefore one whose voice, as the living who are distanced so many thousands of miles shall hear and obey, so even the dead shall hear, being quickened, and shall at his beck come and stand before his judgment-seat. He shall come with great power; and the wicked " shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the glory of his power," 2 Thess. i. 9. Nor shall he use the ministry of angels for necessity, but majesty. God is an om- niscient Judge, infinitely, only wise ; his eyes are clearer than ten thousand suns ; one who will, in the day wherein the brightness of his omniscience shall shine in its full lustre, bring every hidden work to light, and tell to all, as the woman of Samaria said, all that ever they did ; one who does not, as earthly judges, only know what to ask, but what every one will answer ; who wants no witnesses ; nor needs he that any should testify of man, for he knows what is in man. God is a true and a just Judge. The apostle, 2 Tim. iv. 8, calls him " the Lord, the right- 143 AN EXPOSITION UPON Ver. 6. eous judge ;" he will render to every one according to his works. The apostle proves the righteousness of God from his judging the world, Rom. iii. 6 ; and Abraham's question asserts it strongly, " Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right ? " Other judges may do righteously, but God cannot do otherwise. The wills of other judges must be regulated by right- eousness ; but so righteous is God, that righteousness itself is regulated by his will, which is the root and rule of all righteousness. (2.) This Judge shall make the day great as he is man. Greatly amazing and dismaying must his ap- pearance as Judge in man's nature needs be to sin- ners who have denied him, persecuted, crucified, and put him to an open shame ; all whose designs have been to crush and keep him under. With what hor- ror shall the Jews then see their delusion, who would not heretofore believe him to be the Messiah ! Needs must they and others who would not have this man to reign over them, to whom he was a stumbling- stone when low and small, contemptible in his former discoveries upon earth, now find and feel him a rock to fall upon them from heaven, and crush them to powder. Greatly comforting and refreshing must the appearance of this man be to believers, who shall not only behold him to be the great Judge of the whole world, who has taken upon him their nature ; but who has also given to them his Spirit, whereby, through faith, they are mystically united to him as their Head and Husband ; upon whom they have fixed all their hopes and expectations of happiness ; for and with whom they have so long sutfered from the world ; whom they look upon as their treasure, their portion, and for whose coming they have so longed, and sighed, and groaned. In a word, how greatly glorious shall his appearance in our nature be both to good and bad, when in it he shall be decked and adorned with majest)', and clothed with unspeakable glory above all the angels, as he will " come in the glory of his Father," Matt. xvi. 27, " with power and great glory!" Matt. xxiv. 30. The glory of a thou- sand suns made into one will be but as sackcloth to that wherein Christ shall appear in man's nature that great day. The glory of the sun scatters the clouds, but from the glory of Christ's face the very earth and heaven shall fly away. Rev. xx. II. The beams of his glory shall dazzle the eyes of sinners, and delight the eyes of saints. The wicked " shall be punished with everlasting destruction from his pre- sence, and the glory of his power," 2 Thess. i. 9 ; and " when his glory shall be revealed," the saints shall be glad with exceeding joy, I Pet. iv. 13. 2. The Judge shall make this day of judgment great, considering him, not only in himself, but as he is attended by others ; and so he will make the day great, if we consider by iclwm, and by how many, he shall thus be attended. (1.) By whom. They shall be creatures of great glory and excellence. The glorious angels shall be Christ's attendants at the great day; in which re- spect Christ is said to " come in the glory of the holy angels," Luke ix. 26 ; and in Matt. xxv. 31, it is said that " the Son of man shall come, and the holy angels with him ;" and Luke xii. 9, that Christ will deny some before the angels of God ; and 2 Thess. i. 7, that " the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels." These angels that excel in strength are his heavenly hosts, his minis- ters, to do the pleasure of Christ their great Lord and Commander. If at the time of his nativity, Luke ii. 13, temptation, passion, resurrection, ascension, they readily gave Christ their attendance ; how much more shall they do it at the great day, when all the glory of Christ shall be revealed ! If at the promulgation of the law upon Mount Sinai angels waited upon him, Gal. iii. 19; Deut. xxxiii. 2, how readily will they serve him when he shall come to judgment for the execution of that law ! What glory shall be in that day, when the very sen-ants of the Judge, who shall wait upon him, run at every turn, and upon every errand ; who shall blow the trumpet, summon the world to appear, bring the prisoners before the bar, and take them away again ; when even these waiters, I say, shall be angels of power, ^ xhess i - the heavenly host, every one being a-rii>>ol iv<,i- stronger than an earthly army ; holy "'"'■ angels; creatures of unspeakable agility and swift- ness ; glorious angels, who as much exceed in glory the greatest emperor in the world, as the sun in the fii-mament does a clod of earth. Matt. xxiv. 31 ; Psal. ciii. 20. Nor can it be but the day must be very illustrious, if we consider that the saints shall appear also with Christ in glory. Col. iii. 4, that they shall " meet the Lord in the air," I Thess. iv. 17, and be witnesses for, nay, assessors with Christ in judgment, and partakers of that victory which in the last day he shall have over all his enemies ; that all the enemies of Christ and his church shall stand before the saints to be justly judged, whom they in this world have judged unjustly ; and in a word, that every one of these saints shall in their spiritual bodies shine as the sun, Matt. xiii. 43, when it ap- pears in its perfect lustre. But, (2.) Christ as attended will make the day great, if we consider by how many he shall be at- tended. At that great day there shall be a general assembly, a great number, even all his servants wait- ing upon him, both saints and angels ; hence, I Thess. i. 13, is mentioned the "coming of the Lord Jesus ^vith all his saints ;" and Eph iv. 13, the meeting of all. In this glorious concourse there shall not be one wanting. If Christ will raise up every saint from the grave, then doubtless shall every saint appear in glory at the last day, John vi. 39. He will not lose his cost laid out upon them. But if he bestows new liveries upon his servants, they shall all, when adorn- ed with them, wait upon him. Nor shall there be one angel but shall glorify him in that day. If all the angels of God are commanded to praise and wor- ship him, Psal. cxlviii. 2; Heb. i. 6, then undoubted- ly will they perform this duty at that day wherein the glory of Christ shall be so eminently manifested : all the holy angels shall come with the Son of man, Matt. xxv. 31. And if all the angels and saints must wait on Christ, the number must needs be vast, and the multitude exceeding great: of angels there must be an " innumerable company," Heb. xii. 22, my- riads, ten thousands of saints, Dan. vii. 10, or holy ones, Jude 14 (a definite number being put for an indefinite). And "about the throne" are said to be " ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands," Rev. v. 11, ten thousands of saints. An innumerable company of angels attended the solemn delivery of the law at Mount Sinai, Deut. xxxiii. 2, in allusion to which the triumphant ,. , „ c r^\ • * • i. 1 -J Vid. Rivet, in ioc. ascension ot Christ into heaven is de- scribed, Psal. Ixviii., to be with " twenty thousand chariots, even thousands of angels ;" and of those who " stood before the throne, clothed with white robes, and having palms in their hands, there was a great multitude, which no man could number," Rev. vii. 9. Now if the glory of one angel was so great, that those who of old time beheld it expected death thereby, Judg. vi. 22 ; xiii. 22 ; and if for fear of an angel, whose countenance was like lightning, the keepers " did shake, and became as dead men," Matt, xxviii. 4; how great shall be the glory of all the millions of angels and saints at the great day, when Ver. 6. THE EPISTLE OF JUDS. 149 God shall let out his glory unto them, and fill them as fall of it as they can hold, that he may be ad- mired in them ! Who can imagine the greatness of that day, wherein the Judge shall be attended with so many millions of seirants, ever}" one of whom shall have a liven* more bright and glorious than the sun ? The splendour of this appearance at the great day will ten thousand times more surpass that of the attendance of the greatest judges and kings in the world, than theirs excels the sport and ridiculous acting of their more serious solemnities by children in their play. 2. This day of judgment shall be great, in respect, as of the Judge, so likewise of the judged ; and the judged shall make the day great, as they fall under a fourfold consideration, or in four respects : 1. In respect of the greatness of their company and number. 2. The greatness of their ranks and degrees. 3. The greatness of their faults and offences. 4. The greatness of their rewards and recompences. (1.) In respect of the greatness of their numbers. when man)* persons are tried and judged, many pri- soners cast and condemned, we ordinarily say that the assizes or sessions are great, though the number of the persons judged are not so great by a hundred parts as the number of those who stand by to hear the trial. How great then shall the day of judgment be, wherein all shall be tried and judged ! It was of old prophesied by Enoch, that the Lord would execute judgment upon all. Before the throne of the Son of man all nations shall be gathered. Matt. sxv. 32. And in 2 Thess. ii. 1, the day of judgment is called the time of our gathering together unto Christ. " We must all appear before the judg- 'cT^cl 'Sa" ment-seat of Christ, that even,' one may receive the things done in the bodv," Rom. xiv. 10; 2 Cor. v. 10; Acts xiii. 3L "He Cometh vn\h clouds, and every eye shall see him," Hev. i. 7. He is called the Judge of the whole earth, Gen. s\"iii. 25. All men are divided into two sorts or ranks, living and dead, 2 Tim. iv. 1 ; 1 Pet. iv. 5; Rev. xx. 12; and both these shall Christ judge, Acts xvii. 31 ; who hath power over all flesh, John xvii. 2 ; who " shall reward every one accord- ing to his works," Matt. xvi. 27 ; and to whom God hath sworn "every knee shall bow," Isa. xlv. 23; Rom. xiv. II. So that if there should but one be exempted from appearing before Christ at the last day, the oath of God would be broken, which is im- possible. If God number all the hairs of our head. Matt. X. 30, how much more all the persons whose ;hose hairs are ! If he number all our steps, how much more all those who take those steps! Psal. Ivi. 10. And whereas it is said that believers shall not come nto judgment, and that the wicked shall not stand n the judgment, Psal. i. 5 : the former is to be un- ierstood of the judgment of condemnation, as it is 'ranslated, or rather expounded, saith one, in John „ , . V. 24 ; the latter of prevailing in judg- ment, by receiving a judgment of ab- lolution. Men may hide themselves, and fly from nen's courts and tribunals, but the judgment-seat of Christ cannot be avoided. It will be in vain to call 'or the rocks and mountains to fall upon them and »ide them, for the mountains shall melt like wax at he presence of the Lord. There is no flying from his Judge but by flying to him ; and death itself, 'hich prevents judgment among men, shall give up ts dead to this great judgment. (2.) The day shall be great in respect of the judged, they are considered in the greatness of their ranks Jld degrees. Among men, not the judging of ever)- aean, contemptible person, but of noblemen, princes of the blood, or great monarchs, makes the day of their judgment great. How solemn in this world is the judiciary trial of a king ! But how glorious and magnificent shall be the arraignment of great and small persons, of all ranks and degrees, at that great day ! Rev. xx. 12 ; angels and principalities as well as men, good as well as bad. " Watch and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to stand before the Son of man," Luke xxi. 36. " He that judgeth me is the Lord," 1 Cor. iv. 4 ; and, " Every one of us must give an account of himself to God," Rom. xiv. 12 ; they who have been high and mighty, emperors, as well as the poorest outcasts. The tallest cedar, the stoutest oak, must bend, yea, break, at that great day. Christ, he shall " strike through kings in the day of his wrath," Psal. ex. 5. The grave and the judgment-seat put no difference between monarchs and vassals. The grave-dust of a queen smells no sweeter than that of a beggar : none can distinguish between the ashes of an oak and those of a humble shrub. There will be no other crowns worn at that day than the crowns of righteousness ; no other robes than those washed in the blood of Christ ; and these M-ill better fit the head and back of a Lazarus than a rich glutton. True greatness, goodness I mean, will be the only greatness at that truly great day. The glorious sunshine of this day will extingu:-sh the candle of worldly glory. O great day ! wherein majesty shall lie and lick the dust of the feet of Christ ; the stiffest knee bend before his majesty, and the strongest back of sinners break under his wrath ; when the great swordmen and emperors, the Alex- anders, the Ca;sars, who once made the earth to tremble, shall now tamely tremble before him ! (3.) The day of judgment shall be great in respect of the judged, if we consider them as great offend- ers. When men are tried before human judicatories for common crimes, as for pilfering or stealing some small or inconsiderable sum, the day of their trial is soon forgotten, and not greatly regarded ; but when they are arraigned for such horrid and heinous of- fences as the ears of the hearer tingle to hear, and his heart trembles to think of, some sodomitical vil- lany, wilful murder of some good king, the blowing up of a parliament, &c., the day of their judgment is great, and greatly obsen-ed : there is great wonder at their boldness in sin, great indignation against them for it, great joy when they are sentenced, and greater when they are executed. How great then shall this judgment-day be; for how great at that day shall every sin appear to be ! Sin can never be seen to be what it is, or in its due dimensions, but by the light of the fire of God's wrath. In the dim and false light of this world, it is nothing, it is nothing, a trick of youth, a toy, a trifle ; but at the appearing of the light of Di^nne disquisition, when conscience shall be searched with candles, and all paint, pre- texts, and other refuges swept away, the least sin will appear infinite. The cloud awhile since no bigger than a man's hand, will overspread the face of the heavens. The least breach of a law infinitely holy, and the smallest offence against a God infi- nitely just and powerful, will then appear incon- ceivably more heinous than any breaches of the peace, or offences against the greatest of men : there is nothing little which, as sin does, kills and damns the soul ; yea, omne peccatum est deicidium, the least sin -will then be looked upon as striking even at God himself. But how great shall that day be made by the judging of those prodigious abominations, the commissions whereof the earth groaned to bear ! scarlet, crimson transgressions, at which even na- tural conscience is affrighted, as blasphemies, mur- ders, open oppressions, unnatural uncleanaess ! How 150 AN EXPOSITION UPON Ver. 6. gieatly shall the justice of God be magnified in pun- ishing them ! How great the joy of the saints, when the enemies of that God whom they so dearly love, and highly admire, shall be sentenced ! against whom the souls under the altar have so long prayed. Rev. vi. 9 ; when every devil, who has here so often tempted them ; and every adversary, who for their profession of Christ has so cruelly persecuted them; shall be condemned ! (4.) Lastly, Tiiis day shall be great in respect of the judged, if we consider the greatness of their re- wards and recompences. The sentencing to a slight pmiishment, as that of a small fine, a few stripes, burning in the hand, &c., is not regarded greatly, even by the sufferers or spectators ; but the sen- tencing to a loss of all, even of life itself, a terrible death, as burning, pressing, rending limb from limb, starving, hanging in chains, makes the judgment great. The sentence whereby a man for a while is reprieved, recovers a little loss, or has small damages given, is little regarded, and soon forgotten ; but that whereby a man has his life, and with that his estate and liberty, and all that is dear and desirable, granted unto him; this his sentence and judgment, I say, is great, and makes the day wherein it is passed de- servedly to be accounted such. What are all the losses sustained by, or fines imposed on any, in com- parison of the loss of God's presence ? He who loses God, has nothing besides to lose. He who is doomed to the pains of those fires prepared for the devil and his angels, has nothing left him more to feel. The torments of the body are no more comparable to those of the soul, than is the scratch of a pin to a stab at the heart ; nor can there possibly be an ad- dition made to the blessedness of those who shall be sentenced to enter into the joy of their Lord, whose presence not only is in, but is even heaven itself; in a word, there is nothing small in the re- compences of that great day ; great woe or great happiness ; and therefore it is a great day in either respect. 3. This day of judgment is great in respect of the properties of it. As, ( I .) It is a certain day. Were it doubtful, it would not be dreadful ; were it fabulous, it would be con- temptible. [1.] Natural conscience is aflVighted at hearing of a judgment-day. Felix trembled when Paul preached of it. Acts xxiv. 25 ; and though the Athenians mocked when they heard of a resurrection of the dead, yet not at the hearing of the day of judgment. The reason why men so much fear at death, is because they are terrified with the thoughts of judgment after death : were it not for that su- preme and public tribunal, the inward Tufran" ^''"''' tribunal of conscience would be in vain Sua quemque erected. [2.] The justice of God re- cia.suumfadifus, quircs that every one shall receive ac- IanitLtl?ac".'ne,tte Cording to his vvorks. In this life the iieiuriMt ; ha: best men are of all men most miscr- tuna:, ha flam- aljlc, and suincrs oft most happv. All c,?^r''T„'pTso„ tilings fall alike to all, Eccl.' ix. 2. c.c<:r.mP.so.. .. ^ht^ wicked," saith Habakkuk, " de- voureth the man that is more righteous than him- self," Hab. i. 13. There must come a time therefore when the righteous Judge will, like Jacob, lay his right hand upon the younger, tlie more despised saint, and his left hand upon the elder, the now prosperous sinner. There is now much righteous- ness and oppression among magistrates, but it would be blasphemy to say that injustice shall take place to eternity. Gen. xviii. 25; Job xxxiv. 10 — 12; Isa. iii. 10, II. Every unrighteous decree in human i'udicatories must be judged over again, and from the lighest tribunal upon earth tfie saints of God may joyfully and successfully appeal to a higher bar. The day of judgment shall set all things straight and in right order: "It is a righteous thing with God," saith Paul, " to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you ; and to you that are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed," &c., 2 Thess. i. 6, 7. To conclude this, the Scripture is in no one point more full and decided than in as- suring us that this day shall certainly come. Matt. vii. 22; XXV. 31, 40; x. 15; 2 Cor. v. 10; Rom. xiv. 10; Luke xxi. 34; ix. 26; 2 Pet. iii. 9; Tit. ii. 13; 1 Pet. iv. 5 ; and if the other predictions in Scrip- ture, particularly those concerning the first coming of Christ, have tnily come to pass, why should we doubt of the truth of Christ's second appearance ? and if the mercy of God were so great that he would repent of the evil intended against the wicked, yet even that mercy of his would make the judgment so much the more necessary for the good of the elect. (2.) The judgment of this great day shall be sud- den. Christ will come as a thief in the night, who enters the house without knocking at the door. The judgment will come upon the secure world as the snare does upon the bird, Luke xxi. 35. The greater security is at that day, the greater will the day and the terror thereof be to sinners: the noise of fire is neither so usual nor so dreadful as in the night. The approach of the bridegroom at midnight increased the cry of the foolish and sleeping virgins. Matt. XXV. Sudden destruction, or that which befalls them who cry peace, is destruction doubled. (3.) The judgment of this great day shall be searching, exact, and accurate. There shall be no causes escape without discussion, notwithstanding either their multiplicity or secrecy, their numcrous- ness or closeness. The infinite swarms of vain thoughts, idle words, and unprofitable actions, shall clearly and distinctly be set in order before those who are to be tried for them, Psal. 1. 21 ; Matt, xii 36. " God shall bring every work to judgment, and every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil," Eccl. xii. 14; 2 Cor. v. lO. " He will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and make manifest the counsels of the heart," 1 Cor. iv. 5. (4.) It shall be righteous. As every cause shall be judged, so rightly judged, Psal. Ixxii. 2 ; Acts x\ii. 31. Christ is a " righteous Judge," 2 Tim. iv. 8. " In righteousness doth he judge," Rev. xix. II. " The sceptre of his kingdom is a right sceptre ; he loves righteousness," Psal. xlv. 6, 7- The day of judgment is a " day of the revelation of the righteous judgment of God." Righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, it shall stick close to him. This Judge cannot be biassed by favour ; there is no respect of| persons with God, Rom. ii. 11; 2 Chron. xix. 7; Psal. Ixxxii. 2; Job xxxiv. 19. The enemies of Christ justified him in this particular, that he " re- garded not the persons of men," Matt. xxii. 16. Kindred, friendship, greatness, make him not at all to warp and deviate from rigiiteousncss. He is not mistaken witli error; "he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears," Isa. xi. 3. This Judge shall never be de- luded with fair shows and outsides, or misled by colourable but false reports, as earthly judges maybe, because they cannot pierce into men's hearts to dis- cern their secret intentions as Christ can, whom no specious appearance can deceive ; he sliall never ac- quit any who is in truth faulty, or inwardly unsound, nor upon any flying report or forged suggestion proceed to the censure of any. He shall never be in danger of being misinformed, through untrue de- positions, but he shall always proceed upon certain knowledge in passing his own sentence upon any, I Ver. 6. THE EPISTLE OF JUDE. 151 John vii. 24; 2 Cor. x. 7; Jer. xvii. 9, 10; Gal. vi. 7. (5.) Tbis judgment shall be open and manifest. " There is nothina; hid but shall be revealed." Sinners shall be openly shamed, their secret sins, their specu- lative impurities, their closest midnight impieties shall be publicly discovered, and their feigned hypo- critical appearances shall then be unmasked. Then saints shall be openly honoured ; the good which they have done in secret shall be divulged; from their sins, against which they have mourned, prayed, believed secretly, they shall be acquitted openly and honourably ; from all the censures, suspicions, asper- sions, and wrong judgments upon earth, before all the world of men and angels, they shall be publicly cleared. In a word, as the Judge is righteous, he will be knoicn to be so ; and therefore not only his sentence, but its equity, shall be manifestly known. Ever)' tongue shall confess to God the just proceed- ings of that day ; and Christ shall be clear when he judges, and justified when sinners are condemned. (6.) This judgment shall be immediate. Christ will not any more judge by man. They whom he has intrastcd with judicature, have often miscarried in the work; acquitting where they should condemn, and condemning where they should acquit; now therefore he will trust others with the work no more, but take it into his own hands. Judgment here among men is the Lord's mediately, but the great judgment shall be his immediately. Sinners might hope to escape while sinners were their judges; saints might fear cruelty while sinners were their judges. In a word, when frail, sinful man is judge, he, like the unjust steward in the gospel, who cut off fifty in the hundred, punishes malefactors by halves, and with him wicked men can tell how to deal ; but can their hearts endure, or can thfir hands be strong, in the day wherein the Lord shall deal with them ? Ezek. xxii. 14. ^^^len Gideon commanded young Jether to slay Zebah and Zalmunna, he feared to draw his sword against them, being but a youth, but Gideon himself arose and fell upon them, and as was the man, so was his strength, for he instantly slew them, Judg. viii. 20, 21. And God commands those who should resemble him in righteousness, to cut down sin,' and cut off sinners; but, alas, they are oft either unwilling or afraid to draw the sword of justice, and therefore the Lord himself ■will come and take the sword into his own hands, and as is he, so will his strength be found and felt to be, infinite. The moun- tains and hills will be but light burdens to fall upon sinners, in comparison of this mighty God. (7.) This judgment shall be the last judgment. The sentence that there shall be pronounced, is the final, conclusive, and determinating sentence. The day of judgment is frequently called " the last day," John xi. 24; xii. 48 : "the last day" and the "great day" are sometimes put together, John vii. 37. "Wick- ed men have had in this world many days of judg- ment by the word, by temporal troubles, by the ex- amples and warnings of the saints ; but now their last day, their last judgment, is come, after which there shall be no more trial. Former judgments might be reversed upon repentance, but this last is irrevocable. Repentance will not move the Judge to repent of his sentence ; repentance will be hid from his eyes, Jer. xi. 7 — 9. From his sentence there can be no appeal, nor is there any judicator)- above or after it. (8.) This judgment is called eternal, Heb. vi. 2. How great are those days wherein an «um"'Mt"vi'x''T" earthly judge sentences 'to a temporal phahttum iiiius punishment of a few minutes ! but Christ sentences to an eternal state ; the effect of his judgment shall last for ever. An earthly judge allows men to put the sentenced to death out of their pain, at their execution ; but this shall be the bitter ingredient in the sentence of the great day, namely, that the sentenced shall be executed, but never die. " Depart from me, ye cursed, into ever- lasting fire :" departure for loss, and fire for sense, are the greatest punishments; but this "everlasting" is that which makes both insupportable. Dreadful sentence ! Without this " everlasting" departure hell would not be hell. This " everlasting" burns hotter than the fire, or rather is the heat of the fire in hell ; and oh the bottomless ocean of sweetness in this word " ever," when joined with being with the Lord ! this is that which, like the faggot-band, binds all the scattered parcels of heaven's blessedness together, and keeps them from dropping out ; in a word, this stability of happiness is that wliieh makes it happi- ness. Great day ! wherein there is a sentence to no estate shorter than eternity. Obn. 1. Great is the vanity of all earthly greatness. "VMiile we are in this world, troubles and comforts seem far greater than they are ; the former we think too great to bear, the other too great to forsake. How men groan under small burdens, and how they ad- mire the poor enjoyments of the world ! but when this great day is come, neither of these will seem great. How small will former disgraces be esteemed by those who shall be honoured before all the world ! How contemptible shall poverty be in the thoughts of those, who shall ever be enriched with the satisfjing enjoyment of God himself! How slight, yea, forgot- ten, will the few bitter drops of pain be to those who shall be filled with rivers of pleasure ! What poor trifles ^\-ill all the profits and revenues of the earth be esteemed, when all the stately edifices and the richest treasures upon earth shall be consumed in the flames ! What a bubble, a shadow, will all worldly honour and dignities appear, when the faint candle- light of the earthly glory of the greatest monarchs shall be swallowed up in the glorious sunshine of the appearance of the King of kings, and Lord of lords ! How will sentencing to the everlasting flames of fire and brimstone blast those former dreams of pleasure in cool and pleasant arbours, costly per- fumes, and siunptuous banquets ! To those who so admire earthly enjoyments, I say, as Christ to his dis- ciple, when he showed him the buildings of the tem- ple, " Seest thou these great buildings ? there shall not be one stone left upon another," Mark xiii. 2 ; the flame of that day will devour them, as easily as the fire from heaven consiuned the stones and the sacri- fice, and licked up the water about Elijah's altar. 06*. 2. Boldness in sin is no better than madness. The great judgment-day is by the apostle called " the terror of the Lord." And though it may be our sin to be affrighted at men's judgment-days, and to be afraid of their terror ; yet is it our folly not to fear this great day of the Lord, and a great punishment of sin not to fear the ^i^sni peccaii punishment ot sm. \\ hat judge wouid tun judkn per- not be incensed, if, when the prisoners Ko.Te T*em.' ^"^^ were warned of his solemn approach, they grew more licentious and madly merry ! Against that servant, saith Christ, who shall say in his heart, My Lord deferreth his coming, and shall eat and drink with the drunken ; shall his Lord " come in a day when he looketh not for him, and cut him in sunder," &c., Luke xii. 45, 46. Although Gaal and the Shechemites, while fortifying the city against Abimelech, were eating, drinking, making mern-, and cursing him, and at the approach of Abimclech's army were told by Zebul that they saw the shadow of the mountains as if they were men ; yet when his 152 AN EXPOSITION UPON Ver. 6. army drew near, he who had before dehided now terrified them. "Where," saith Zebul to Gaal, "is thy mouth wherewith thou saidst, Who is Abime- lech, that we should serve him ? " Judg. ix. 38. Wicked men, who now sport in sin, and look upon judgment at a distance, make a mock of jJlHids.r.f 'ecu! it, and the devil tells them that all the rioresquan.i..que terrifvini? sermons they hear concern- nunc rtisciK tin- ing the day ot judgment are but the "oprKvI.n'it'i^'"' shadows of the mountains, and the dark Gr«.'. Mor. 1. 14. productions of the melancholy fancies of some precise minister ; but at the near- er approach of this great day, when judgment is at the door, and the aiTnies of vengeance rushing in upon them, how will their mouths be stopped, their false confidences be rejected, and how great will their folly appear in being so weak, and yet presumptuous at the same time ! O sinner ! more fear of this great day would better become one that has no more force to resist it. The way to be fearless hereafter, is to be fearful here : happy is that fear which prevents future trembling. Obs. 3. Our meditations of this great day should be deep and serious. Great things are greatly observed, and make deep impression. Though feathers and cork being cast upon the water are wont to swim, yet lead and iron sink into it ; though slighter thoughts become matters of less concernment, yet se- rious things should be seriously regarded, and tho- roughly admitted into our meditations. It is said of the wicked, that the judgments of God are far above out of his sight, Psal. x. 5. Let not trifles expel out of the mind the thoughts of the eternal judgment, as the eye is sometimes hindered from viewing an object of vast extent by putting that before it which is not bigger than a single penny. Obs. 4. Great should be our desires and longing after this great day. Christians only sin in seeking Non pntest esse those things that are falsely and appear- veriisCiirisiiHiius, jnglv great t but the blessings to be en- nec recital e or .(fi- . ^^ -^ '^ . : ^ '^ . oneni (lorniiiirani, joycd at tlus great day are truly great. SuncXTdesi-'' Weshould lovethe appearance of Clirist, deiat. Luth. and look for and haste to the coming of the day of God, 2 Pet. iii. 12. If we would approve ourselves for the spouse of Christ, let our note be. Come, oh why is his chariot so long in coming? lies du/cis, mora molesta, the sweeter the enjoyment, the stronger the desire. Be ashamed, O Christian ! that the day should be so great, and thy desires so small ; that a spouse should so desire the day of her marriage, a prisoner his liberty, a malefactor his par- don, a labourer his rest, an heir his inheritance ; and at thou shouldst be so sluggish and remiss in re- garding that day which removes every soitow, sup- plies with every comfort ! Obs. 5. Our chief care should be that this great day may prove a good day to us, even as good as it is great. The judgment-day cannot be a good day to those to whom the Judge is not good. " There is no condemnation lo them that are in Christ Jesus," Rom. viii. I. The comfort of a Christian at the judgment- day will be, to be one with the Judge, and to be found in him by faith, not having his own righteousness, Phil. iii. 9. The Judge will not endure that they W'ho are his own members should be cut off. He who hereafter shall be the Judge, is now the Advocate of believers. It can never be a good day to those who are in love with that which makes it and every day evil. They who love sin must needs fear judgment. If sinners cannot endure the light of the word in the ministry, how shall they endure the light of Divine disquisition at the day of judgment ? Men who have taken in smuggled goods, or prohibited commodities, cannot desire the company of the searchers, who are appointed to open their packs. The packs of every sinner shall be opened at the great day ; the hidden things of dishonesty shall be discovered, and every conscience ripped up. Empty your hearts of the love of every secret sin, if you would not fear a searching. Sins unthought of will then seize upon the wicked iniawares. At this great day, the purity of the heart will more profit than sub- ?u'm piOTuen'''e« ; tlety of words, and a good conscience imiT'iviso quasi J TT 1 -^ ex msidus. Bern. than a full purse. How happy were it that men would by repenting here prevent repent- ing hereafter! It cannot be a good day, if the en- joyments of this world be accounted the chief good. He who has no other paradise but his gardens, no other mansions but his beautiful buildings, no other God but his gold and possessions, cannot delight to see those tlames which shall consume them. He will certainly cry out as a man does who has laid up all his treasures in a house set on fire, I am undone, I am undone. Covetousness proclaims both the world's old age, and its nearness to and the unwelcomeness of its dissolution. AVares laid up in a low, moist room will be corrupt and rotten ; but those laid up in a high loft will be kept safe : and if we lay up our treasures only in this world, they will cormpt and come to nothing ; but those which we treasure up in heaven will be ever safe and sound, Matt. vi. 20. It can- not be a good day to them who are overtaken with it, upon whom it comes as a snare upon the birds, who are taken as the old world was with the flood, whose wine was turned into water, and whose drunken se- curity was swallowed up in a devouring deluge, Luke xvii. 2(5. Lastly, it can be a good day to none but to those who do good, who in the general are personsof a holy conversation, Tit. ii. 12, 13; 2 Pet. iii. 11. " To him who ordereth his conversation aright will God show his salvation," Psal. 1. 23. Christ will bless people, not by the voice, when they shall say they are Christians ; but by the hands ; he will handle and feel them, 1 Cor. xv. 5, 8 ; 1 John i. I. And more particularly, it is a good day to those only who have done good to the afflicted friends of Christ. No good duty is acceptable to Christ if we reject works of mercy. How cheerfully may he look upon the Judge, who has saved the lives of the Judge's wife and children ! The saints are tied to Christ in both relations. Matt. xxv. 40; 2 Cor. xi. 2; Psal. xvi. 3; 2 Thess. i. 5 ; Eph. v. 1. What can ciTjelty and oppression expect from Christ at that day, but the measure which Zebah and Zalmunna found from Gideon, who were slain by him for slaying his brethren? If not relieving the saints deserves a, curse, what shall robbing them do ? Obs. 6. Great should be the consolation of every 1 friend of Jesus Christ in thinking of this great day. It shall be to them a good day. A day of clearing I from alt undue impulalions. Moses being charged with ambition in taking too much upon him, com- forted himself with the thoughts of the morrow : To- morrow (saith he) shall the Lord show who are his, Numb. xvi. 5. When the counsels of the heart shall be manifest, every one shall have praise of God, 1 Cor. iv. 5. When a Christian is called a dissembler and a hypocrite, he may say at the great day. The Lord shall show whether it be so or no. All slan- ders and defamations shall fall off from the saints, as drops of water from an oiled post. The weight of their glory shall weigh down all their light and slight disgraces. In all the uanls and losses of the faithful for Christ in this life, how great may be their consolation ! Great shall be their reward in heaven, Matt. V. 12: none shall be losers by Christ that are losers for him. The day of judgment shall be the day of restitution of all their comforts. God takes Ver. 7. THE EPISTLE OF JUDE. 153 away nothing but what he gave, and what he will again restore, yea, for which he will restore a thou- sand-fold. This great day should relieve us against the length of our troubles, and the slo^vness of deli- verance. Though God asks day for the rewarding of his children, yet the greatness of the recompences of that great day shall infinitely more than countervail for the slowness of bestowing them. In all ob\curiti/ and contempt how mav the saints rejoice, to consider that at the great day t"hey shall appear with Christ in glor}-, and shine as the sun in the firmament ! ^Vhcn a master is absent from a school, the scholars are mingled together ; those who are of the highest form are perhaps standing amongst those of the lowest ; but when the master comes into the school, every scholai takes his right place ; so at the last day every one shall have their due place allotted them, though BOW there appears nothing but confusion. This great day may comfort saints in their greatest dis- tances. In this world they are oft far from one an- other, both in respect of places, opinions, and aflec- tions ; at this great day they shall all meet, yea, and " in the unity of the faith of the Son of God," Eph. iv. 13. In all the cruelties and unkindnesses of wicked men. It is the duty of the saints in this life to be patient among, but it shall be their privilege hereafter to be freed from the company of the wicked ; they shall neither be troubled with sin, nor sinners, nor sorrows : the day of judgment shall be a " day of re- demption," Luke sxi. 28; Eph. iv. 30, of refresh- ment, Acts iii. 19. The thoughts of this day may support them in their absence from Christ. Quomodo Chris- At that great dav thev shall meet with tus cum dainnabit ,, . t,°i * ,, '• c .i quern propria their Kedccmer, tlieir Spouse, tlieir Xmbms'lTb.'de Head. How shall not Christ save those jacob^cap. 6. from death, for whom he has suffered judiiare le, nisi death? Who shall comc to judge the troie^'Vug.'i"' saints, but he who came to be judged psai. cjlvii. for them ? Verse 7. Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to forni- cation, and going after strange fesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal Jire. This verse contains the third example of God's severe displeasure against the sinners of former times, and it is that of " Sodom and Gomorrha," which the apostle sets down by way of comparison, noted in these words, " Even as ;" the former part, or proposi- tion of which, is in this verse, and the reddition, or second part, in the two next following. In this example I observe four parts. I. The places punished ; " Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them." II. The deserving cause of their punishment; " In like manner, gi^'ing themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh." III. The severity of their punishment; " Suffering the vengeance of eternal fire." IV. The end and use of their punishment; they " are set forth for an example." I. The places punished; " Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them." Four things may be by way of explication in- quired into. 1. What places these cities of "Sodom and Go- morrha" were. 2. What were these " cities about them." 3. "Why Sodom and Gomorrha are rather named than those cities about them. 4. Why these places are rather named than the persons and inhabitants thereof 1. What places these cities of Sodom and Go- morrha were. We read. Gen. xiii. 10, upon occasion of Lot's choice of the plain of Joi-dan for the place of his habitation, that all that plain " was well water- ed every where, before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrha, even as the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egvpt, as thou comest unto ,,„^ „,., ^,.„ 1 T 1 1 • • HOC cave cum Zoar." The river Jordan beginning u rano reieras ad from the mountain Libanus, and rising, fii°i'I^ptoTqiI^i say some, out of two fountains, called x.syyt,:m vein Dan and Jor, which joined together masime, qua ex make the name Jordan, after it has run, g"r ;''Td"Don''vu!t saith Pererius, about fifteen miles, falls ^,"^''„'^""] "'"°Ji°''j into the lake Samechonitis, the same inqSam iiia'jor- which is called the waters of jMerome, j'r'i'iua'qua i"r Josh. xi. 7, then passing along by Cho- inse^orem. Wer- j r^ i- 11 • '. *l cerus in locum. razm and Capernaum, tails into tlie lianc lectionem lake Gennesareth ; and so having con- ^j'^j,'s,'."|'u"?'Mer- tinued a current of a hundred miles in "}"f' Pererius, length, it falls into the lake Asphaltites, ' '■ or the Dead Sea, where these cities of Sodom and GomoiTha stood, and with its most pleasant streams enriches and adorns the plain through which it passes with such great fertility and pleasantness, that it is compared to the garden of God. This expres- sion, " the garden of God," as some think, is given to these places after the manner of Scripture, wherein things which are eminently great and goodly are attributed to God; all excellency both being from and for him ; and that these places being so great, it might seem, if God himself would dwell upon earth after the manner of men, he would make choice of them as the spot for his mansion or garden. Luther rejecting this inter- gS^" iTu^''^ pretation as iudaical, thinks, though luissePa.adisum. according to my observation without company, that this place of Sodom and Gomorrha was Paradise itself, or the garden of Eden. I rather conceive with Augustine, Calvin, Mercer, Ri- vet, and others, that the place in which Sodom and Gomorrha stood, for its wonderful delightfulness, is compared to that garden of God, properly called Paradise ; or that garden of Eden, called " the gar- den of God," because planted by God himself, in which Adam was first placed, and whence afterward he was expelled for sin ; the rather, because, as in the description of the pleasantness of the garden of Eden it is expressly said, that " it was watered with a river ;" so in this place the watering of this plain with Jordan is particularly mentioned as that which made it so fruitful and delightful ; and thus we are in other places to understand this adage of " the garden of God ;" as Isa. li. 3, " He will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the Lord." So in Ezek. xxviii. 13, it is said of the king of TjTe, that he 'jj y^^'.^^^^J" had " been in Eden, the garden of God." And that these places where formerly Sodom and Gomorrha stood, are compared to that same an- cient Eden in which Adam was placed, I am yet the more inclinable to believe, because Egv'pt, mentioned in the next branch of the comparison, is a place properly so called ; this plain, wherein dwelt the Sodomites, being also said to be like the land of Egypt ; a country whose fruitfulness, by reason of the overflowing of the Nile, ^Z^"%'ioa'm. was so great, that it was commonly lle, have felt the weight of God's power, and their own impieties. God once asked Nineveh whether she was greater than No, Nahum iii. 8. Let me ask London, whether she is greater than those cities which, for sin, God has made small, yea, brought to nothing. He who in former great plagues has made grass to grow in the streets of London for want of passengers, is able again to "stretch out upon it the line of confusion, the stones of emptiness," Isa. xxxiv. 11, and to turn the glory of our dwellings into ploughed fields. The fear of God is the strongest refuge, and righteousness a stronger bulwark than walls of brass, Prov. x. 25. How great is the folly of the greatest city, to be at the same time sinful and secure ! There is no fortifi- cation against, no evasion from the Lord. There is no way to fly from him but by flying to him; by making him, in Christ, our friend; by becoming enemies to sin, and by reforming. Obs. 6. Sin brings a curse upon every thing that belongs to man. The sin of Sodomites overthrew them, their houses, their cities, their children, yea, their plain, and all that grew upon the earth, Gen. xix. 25. The curse of thorns and briers grew out of the soil of sin. The punishment of Amalek reached even the infant and suckling; yea, the ox and sheep, the camel and ass, 1 Sam. xv. 3. That which was made and bestowed for man's comfort, may justly be destroyed for man's wickedness. Who wonders to see the children, the followers, the palaces, and gar- dens of a traitor to droop and decay ; and the arms of his house, and the badge of his nobility, to be de- faced and reversed ? That which is abused by man to the dishonour of God, may justly be destroyed by God to the detriment of man. How deservedly may God demolish and dismantle those fortifications, and break in pieces those engines, in and by which re- bellious man fights against his supreme Lord and Sovereign ! How profitably may we improve all the miseries which we behold dispersed upon the whole creation ! How fruitful a meditation may we raise from the barrenness of the earth ! A fruitful land turneth he into barrenness, for the wickedness ol them that dwell therein, Psal. c^di. 34. All the monuments of ruin, the demolished monasteries, and overthrown abbeys, and subverted cells of sodomiti- cal and lazy friars, full fed and unclean inhabit- ants, are but the scratches that sin hath made upon the fair faces of nations. Oh that England would look with Scripture spectacles upon all its fired towns! and razed mansions, and say, and believe, If sin had not been, these had not lain here ; . . . and that these demolitions are but the '* '^'" foot-prints of sin ; that so having foimd out sin, we may voice it, and deal with it as the Philistines did with Samson, who, said they, was the destroyer of their country ! Judg. xvi. 24. Certainly, that which wants reason is by God ruined, that we who have reason may thereby be reformed. We should say in the destruction of the creatures, as David in the death of his subjects, I and my father's house have sinned; " these sheep, what have they done ? " and we should ii> look upon God's taking away of abused comforts as f|' stoppages in our way of sin, and the withdrawings of ' the fuel of lust; God as it were firing our ships, and breaking down our bridges, lest by these we should depart from him. Obs. 7. Great is the diflference between God's chas- tising his people and punishing Sodomites. The universality of Sodom's ruin followed the community of its sin. The church of God is never destroyed ut- terly, but in it he always leaves a number : " ISxcept tlie Lord had left us a seed," saith Paul, " we should have been as Sodom, and like unto Gomorrha," Rom. ix. 29. Though a householder spend and sell the greatest part of the corn of the harvest crop, yet he will be sure to resei've a little seed-corn to sow his ground for a new crop. Though Sodom be utterly consumed by fire, yet Jerusalem is as a brand plucked i out of the burning, Amos iv. 11. God makes a light I account of whole cities full of sinners, he takes away the ungodly of the earth like dross, Psal. cxix. 119, which is put into the fire to be consumed ; his own people being like gold only, put in to be purged. A man, when his house is on fire, more regards a small box full of jewels than a great room full of ordinary lumber. God having intimated to his people that Ver. 7. THE EPISTLE OF JUDE. 157 they deserved to be made as Admah and Zeboim, Hos. xi. 8, the two cities that were destroyed with Sodom and Gomorrha, he subjoins, ver. 9, " I will not return to destroy Ephraim:" by ■ "i'^''""" '" not returning to destroy, he means he will not utterly destroy ; he will not be like a conqueror, who, having overcome a city, and in the heat of blood destroyed all with whom he met, at length gives over, but afterward returns to make a total destruction thereof: though God make a full end of all nations, yet he will not make a full end of his people, but correct them in measure, yet not leave them altogether unpunished, Jer. xxx. 1 1 ; xlvi. 28 ; he will ever have some to serve him, md to be monuments of his mercy, Zech. iii. 2. God will deal with his people as he enjoined tliem to do in gathering their grapes at vintage. Lev. xix. 10, the 'leaning of grapes he will leave in it, and as the shaking of an olive tree, two or three berries in the top of the uppermost bough, Isa. xvii. 6 ; vi. 13; s. 22. God will have evermore some of his people above the reach of their enemies. This indulgence of God should both teach us humility, considering what we t serve ; and thankfulness, considering what we cape, it being the Lord's mercies that we are not _ .terly consumed. This for the first part of this seventh verse, viz. the places punished. Now follows, II. The deserving cause of their punishment, ex- Messed by the apostle in these words ; " In like nanner, giving themselves over to fornication, and joing after strange flesh." wherein he sets down, 1 . The sin of some ; namely, )f the cities about Sodom and Gomorrha, which was n sin " in like manner." 2. The sin of all the cities destroyed. Wherein I consider, (1.) Into what they fell; viz. mcleanness ; yea, one of the most odious sorts of un- Iileanness, Sodomy, or pollution with " strange flesh." I (2.) The degree or measure of their embracing this in ; they gave themselves over to the one, they went ifter the other. _ In the explication of this second part, viz. their in, three things principally are considerable. 1. What we are to understand by this sinning "in ike manner." 2. "SA'hat by " fornication and strange flesh." 3. What by this " giWng themselves" to the former, ind "going after" the latter. For the first. These words, " in like manner," in the inginal, rbv d/iotov -ovtoiq rpoKov, some refer not to the itiesof Sodom and Gomorrha, but to the Israelites and ngels of whom the apostle sj)ake in the foregoing erses ; as if he had intended, that these cities about Sodom and Gomorrha sinned after that manner in vhich the Israelites and angels sinned ; and their »nly reason is, because the gender is changed in this rord ToiiToic, which (say they) cannot be referred to he cities of Sodom and Gomorrha, but to those Is- aelites and angels of whom he spake before, and ,„ , , who sinned, though not by that bodily loc non aa Is- , ' i - i t i <. i »«liias. el ange- uncleauness which Jude afterwards Si^nam''e'i"Go'' mcutions, yet by spiritual whoredom, in wrhainreieco making defection from God. But I Tontimen ToiTo.t conccivc, witli iieza, (_al\nn, ana tstius ™a!i"lnro£'' "Pon the place, that Jude intends that "'-"ji.'i^iT "'' ^^'^^^ cities about Sodom and Gomorrha itr'caU.in sinned after the same manner with 'id. etiam Re- thcse greater cities, whose steps and am ; et Estium examples they followed, and therefore were involved in their punishment. We jever find in Scripture that the Israelites sinned in oUowing strange flesh, nor can we either according Scripture or reason attribute this sin to angels; and as for the change of the gender in the word ToiiToiQ, by a metonymy of the subject, the Scripture often puts the city for the inhabitants of the city, as Matt. viii. 34, " The whole city went out to meet Jesus," &c. 2. We are to inquire what the apostle here intends, 1. By "fornication;" and, 2. By "strange flesh." First, " fornication," I take not properly and strictly for that act of uncleanness committed between per- sons unmarried ; but as in Scripture it is put for iioixtia, adultery, where Christ saith, " Whosoever shall put awav his wife, saving for the cause of fornication," &c.. Matt. v. 32 ; so is it x6"o°''^op«;ac. here to be taken for all sorts of carnal uncleanness, and as comprising all breaches of chastity. The impure pens of those more impure penmen, the Jesuits, and among them of Thomas Sanchez, in his Treatise of Matrimony, have in their casuistical dis- courses treated this subject fit for those whose father, his unholiuess the pope, invites to the public profes- sion of fornication. Rivet observes, i-^nj ^^^ ^^^ they utter such things as scarcely Satan Diaboius ipse, himself with all his study would have hibeiii"'. suggere- suggested, examining not onlv the kinds f'^,''"'^"- ^""J"" oo ' & . lutn genera, spe- and several sorts, but even every man- cies, sed et mo.io> ner, object, subject, circumstance of this objem.'mimii'a- sin so exactly, that chaste readers cannot U'" esaminant. , , ■.', Ill- IT . Kivet m DecaJ. read them without blushing and abomi- p- 243. nation. To mention therefore only the principal sorts of carnal uncleanness, and such as we find (though with sacred modesty) set down in Scripture. This sin, if practised with a man's own body, ac- cording to the opinion of some, is called fxaXoKia, and aKaOapaia, elFeminateness and uncleanness, for which God slew Onan, Gen. xssWii. 9 ; 1 Cor. vi. 9 ; Col. iii. 5 ; if with a beast, it is bestiality, a sin forbidden and severely to be punished by God's law. Lev. xviii. 23; XX. 13; if with mankind unwillingly, the party patient not agreeing, it is called ravishing, Exod. xxii. 19; Gen.xxxiv.2; 2Sam.xiii. 14; if the parties agreeing be males, they are called dptjivoKoirai, and their sin, to the perpetual infamy of Sodom, is called Sodomy, Rom. i. 2/ ; 1 Tim. i. 9 ; 1 Cor. \\. 9. The parties being of a different sex, and if the sin be com- mitted with more, there being a pretext of marriage, it is called polygamy ; there being no such pretext, whoredom, or uncleanness, transported to the abuse of many. If uncleanness be committed by parties between whom there is consanguinity or affinity in the degrees forbidden by God, it is incest ; if by par- ties not so allied, when both or either of them is married, it is adultery. Lev. xviii. 20; Prov. ii. 16, 17; V. 7, S, 20. If the female be a virgin, and not married, it is stuprum, or deflouring her; if she be retained peculiarly to one, she is a concubine, Judg. xix. I ; if the act be oft repeated, it is called luxury ; and he who sets himself after it, a whoremonger. Nor is it impossible but that uncleanness may be between married couples, when the use of the marriage bed is in a season prohibited, or in a measure not moderated, or in a manner not ordained, or to an end not war- ranted. To all which may be added the sin called knocinium, when a female is prostituted to the lusts of another, either for gain or favour; forbidden. Lev. xix. 29 ; with which some join the toleration of un- cleanness, either in private families or in public states, as in Rome that spiritual Sodom. As also all those things which incite, dispose, or provoke to actual un- cleanness ; as immodest kisses, embraces, glances, filthy speeches, impure books, amorous songs, mixed, dancings, and lascivious attire. And lastly, the con- cupiscence, boiling or burning lust fulness of the heart, out of which " proceed evil thoughts, murders, adul- 153 AN EXPOSITION UPON Ver. 7. teries, fornications," Matt. xv. 19 ; called 1 Cot. vii. 9, burning; and Col. iii. 5, "evil concupiscence." It is most probable that these impure Sodomites at first began at some of the less heinous of the forementioned sorts of uncleanness, and that they went through most, if not all, of them before they be- came such hellish proficients and practitioners in their villanies, as to abuse themselves v.dth mankind ; the heinousness of which abomination swallows up the mention of the rest. They left the na- ^'"'p'lw'''"' t"'iral use of the woman, and burnt in lust towards one another, and, as Jude saith, followed " after strange flesh." Briefly, though suitably to this branch of explica- tion, I shall add to the discovery of the sorts of un- cleanness a touch of the peculiar odiousness of this sin. ( 1 .) It is a close and cleaving sin, much cherished Viii. Mr. D. Ro- ^y corrupt nature. It bears, as a re- eers. iu hu excel- vereud divine notes, the name of its caiiefi Mairimo- mother, whicli is called in general lust, Dial Honour. q^ concupisccuce ; it has the name of its kind, and therefore it is lust eminently ; it lies near the heart, and sleeps in the bosom. (2.) It is an infatuating sin, Hos. iv. 11, taking away the heart ; even David was led with a stupor of spirit for a whole year togetlier after his uncleanness. How did this sin beset Samson ! It blunts the edge, not of grace only, but even of reason also ; even Solomon himself could not keep his wisdom and women at once. (3.) It is an injurious sin to others. It loves not to go to hell witliout company. An adulterer cannot say, as some other sinners may, that he is his own greatest enemy. How many, besides those whom it kills in soul, does it wound in body and name at one shoot ! and for this wound there can be no salve of restitution or recompence. (4.) It is an attended sin ; not only inducing others to sin, but it brings on other sins with it; it is like the needle which draws the thread after it; idolatry, perjuries, murders, riot, defrauding even of nearest relations. The apostle joins fornication and wickedness, iropvila and Trovtipia, together, Rom. i. 29. An unclean person runs down the hill, and cannot stop his course in sin. (5.) It is a dishonourable sin to the body, and peculiarly said to be against the body, 1 Cor. vi. 18. The un- clean person makes himself a stigmatic ; he brands his body, and leaves upon it a loathsome stain. Other sins comparatively are without the body, by it, not in it; this both, it being a more bodily sin, and re- quiring more of the body for perfecting it. {(>.) It is a sacrilegious sin; it takes away from God that which is his own : he made our bodies, and curiously wrought them like a piece of tapestry, and he will not have them spotted, Psal. cxxxix. 15. Our bodies are the members of Christ our mystical Head, united strongly, though spiritually. If it were heinous for David to cut ofi" the skirt of Saul's garment, what is it for any to divide between Christ and his mem- bers, and that by making them the members of an harlot! Our bodies are the temples of the Holy Ghost, 1 Cor. vi. 15, 16, 18, 19; dedicated, there- fore not to be profaned. (7.) It is a heathenish sin. Gentiles walk " in the lust of concupiscence," 1 Thess. iv. 5. And a sin before conversion ; " Such were some of you," 1 Cor. v\. II. A sin of night and darkness, Rom. xiii. 12, wherein men care not how much their apparel is spotted or torn. A sin not to be named among Christians ; in a word, a sin not of saints, but of Sodomites ; who, 2. Are specially taxed with the breach of chastity in pollutions by "strange flesh." The words in the original are aapubg irkpuc, properly signifying another fle:sh. Whereby the apostle intends, such a flesh as was another, or different from that which was afforded wondy to cat 111 call. Viil. sex. Willel in Lev. P. 504. to their natural use by the law of nature, or a flesh that was made by God to another use and end than that unto whicli they abused it. Or, as ULcumenius thinks, that flesh which they followed may be called another, or strange, because God never appointed that male and male, but only that male and female, should be one flesh ; in which respect, the flesh of a male must always be another flesh. And Chrysostom well observes on Rom. i. 27, that whereas by God's ordi- nance in marriage two became one flesh, both sexes one, by Sodomitical uncleanness the same flesh is divided into two. Of this sin of pollution with strange or another flesh, in Scripture two sorts are mentioned : the one, carnal joining with a beast, which is of another kind, prohibited Lev. xviii. 23, and punished with death. Lev. xx. 15, wherein it is observable, that the very beast is also appointed to be slain, by which was manifested the detestableness of that sin, in that it pollutes the very beasts, and makes even the un- clean creatures more unclean, and the beast below a beast, and not worthy the living the ;\,| jp^^^ |„_ very life of a beast ; but especially (as noximn animal Calvin notes) the Lord would show how S"* "nMn much this sin displeased him, when he jl',"''"'- ^^^^ commands tliat even tlie harmless beast, fas, iiequo ne lari neither capable of nor provoking to the 1^001 "ilwful'^io" sin, was punished with death. (2.) The speak, or, as Var- ' i^ ^ n X. ro ilenvetli It, as other sort 01 pollution by strange flesh ihouph iiiej- who was that which is properly termed "eTan'ed'.'s^iTSol Sodomy, committed when persons de- file themselves with their own The sin which the Gentiles committed when " God gave them up to vile affections," or af- fections of dishonour and ignominy, whereby men with men wrought that which was unseemly, Rom. i. 27 ; whereby, as they had left the author, they were also suffered to leave the order of nature. A sin called an abomination, Lev. xx. 13, sending an abominable savour unto the Lord. Incest with the daughter-in-law is called confusion ; with the mother and daughter, wickedness. This sin of Sodom is called iSciXvyna, abomination. The i|iSt\vy^ihol, abominable, are numbered among the '• fearful, un- believers," &c., who " shall have tlieir part in the lake which burnetii with fire and brimstone :" by abomin- able, many learned men understand those wlio are given to this sin against nature, as if abomination properly belonged to it. In adultery, i„fami.-e irro?a- violcnce is offered to marriage ; in in- ''"■ '"'' i'"":auK cest, to affinity ; but m this sin, as 1 os- p„ j„ q,,„j ^^,3." tatus observes, infamy is offered to the none a.i Deum 1.1 ^ Aixi ■ Sub noniuie tetra- whole human nature. And Ferenus Brammaion. iii- notes, because it is said these Sodomites ^""'e'/r^jlr',"'"'' were sinners before the Lord, the word sisuiii< atur eos being Jehovah, that it is signified tliey va"ie''pec'c!lsse".™ sinned against the right and light of •*""■ '" "«"■ *'"• nature. And it is called, as Gerard notes. Sap. 14. 26, ysj-fo-fwc ivaXXnyj), a cliangiug of birth. The un- savoury sulphur that was mixed with the flames of Sodom, and (if travellers may be believed) the still continuing stencli of that sulphureous lake where Sodom once stood, seem to be comments upon the ab- horred unsavouriness of this sin. By the law of Theodosius and Arcadius, Sodomites were adjudged to the fire. Among the Athenians the offender was put to death, and the sufferer was debarred from all office. In the council of Vienna, the Templars who were found guilty of this sin were decreed to be burnt. Among the Romans it was lawful for him who was attempted to that abuse to kill him who Probus artoie- made the assault; and thus C. Lucius 'Xequam lu'ii" did, who, as TuUy saith of him, had piter perpeii rather do dangerously than suffer 'iilioii.' '^ ' *"* Ver. 7 THE EPISTLE OF JUDE. 1J9 OnaimiiEnaii- shamefullv. In short, against this sin one lanium ne- of Sodomv no indignation, as Lactan- VhKi't'orticmm tius speaks, is enough. The greatness linsiiiie. iceifiis of the sin overcomes the office of the ti'aijniluilo. Piaet , m n- i • • /-n ■ iiiitre. I art. I. tongue. J crtnllian brings in Chris- cui'tu"'' '''^ *°'° tianity triumphing over paganism, be- cause this sin was peculiar to heathens, and that Christians neither changed the sex, nor accompanied with any but their own wives. This and such like, as Tertullian speaks, are ^H"nsil-a."'re'rtun. "o' SO much to be called offences as ■ I.- iHid. K;i.niJnt. monsters ; and not to be named with- q!!ia'>'k"atVu-'"'" out holy detestation by saints, though in 'rcor"vi'"™ ^'^^^ ^^ Committed without shame by Sodomites. Thus having in the second place spoken of the " fornication" of these Sodomites, and their pollution by " strange flesh," it remains that briefly, in the third place, we sliould inquire what was their " giving them- selves over" to the former, and their " going after" the latter. Both these are contained in a double expres- sion in the original ; the first is the preposition k; being in composition in the word k-iropraVaffai, by the addition whereof the signification of the word saith Gerard, is dilated, enlarged, increased ; as also are the significations of other words by the same preposition. The second is in the words aVfXeoStmi iiri'iTK;, Sec, "goingafter," Sec, whereby is intended more than the accepting or embracing, even the prosecut- ing the motions of their unnatural uncleanness. In sum, I conceive by these expressions of their " giving over themselves," and " following after strange," Sec, here is noted, besides the original root and fountain both of uncleanness and all other lusts ; I mean, that fames innalus, that inbred occasion of sin ; as also, besides the arising of unclean motions in the heart, the delighting in such motions, the consent to those motions so delighted in, the actual perform- ance and execution of those motions so consented to ; I say, besides all these, which are supposed in these expressions of the apostle, there is intended the more hideous height and prodigious eminence of this Sodomitical uncleanness ; and that in sundry re- spects. As, (I.) Of their making pro^^sion, and in projecting for their lusts. Both by spending their time, pains, cost in fetching in and laying on its fuel ; the con- stant providing and pouring on of oil to keep in and increase the flame, by fulness of bread, and excessive eating and drinking ; and also by listening after, re- lating of, and laying out for such objects as seemed to promise most satisfaction to their unsatiable lusts, which appeared by the sudden notice and shameful resentment of the arrival of Lot's beautiful guests. (2.) The excessiveness and exuberancy of their lust, even to the consuming, wearing, and wearying themselves by uncleanness ; the boiling over of their strength and lusts together, though with difference, the former being hereby impaired, the latter in- creased ; and in a word, their becoming hereby their own destroyers and Satan's martyrs. And this the apostle Peter intends clearly in that word, iakXyiia, 2 Pet. ii. 7, where he speaks of the uva'!-poIe and fountain thereof. Da- vid began at the right end, when he abhorred and con- fessed that poison wherewith his mother had warmed him in the womb, Psal. li. 5. Actual abomination comes from the natural pollution. Inbred concu- piscence is the body ; that outward is but a toe or a finger of that body. The inward dunghill, if unre- moved, will steam forth into a thousand adulteries : till this be healed, thy cure will be but palliative, not eradicative. Tertullian holily derides the folly of the heathen Democritus, who, to prevent lust, would „, . . . needs put out his eyes. The Christian, ociiiis rcBniiiiam saith hc. Can safely look upon a woman, ]ibuL^)Sco! tieing mind-blind to lust. Lay thy est. Ten. Apoi. mine under the foundation; silence '■ ■* ■ that bosom orator which pleads for un- cleanness. The bird which gets loose from the stone or stick to which it is tied, if flying with the string about its leg, is entangled in the next bough. Though some courses of actual uncleanness be for the present escaped, yet if the entangling inclination be still entertained, it will insnare upon any after jccasions and temptations. (2.) Banish unclean contemplations and ideal un- ;leannesses. Cleanse the thoughts ; stifle them when they begin to plod and plot, and contrive uncleanly ; let not thy spirit be their thoroughfare : " Cleanse your hands, ye sinners," James iv. 8. Satan, when he inflames with lust, throws his fireballs into the thoughts. Fill these table-books with holy con- templations, that there may be no room in them for the impression of unclean injections. (3.) Beware of plausible excuses for extenuating uncleanness. Abhor the aprons of fig-leaves, of na- ture, constitution, allurements, example. Look upon this sin as it is, not as it is coloured ; behold it with Scripture spectacles ; consider its true complexion under the falseness of paint ; and contemplate it as tumbling in the mire of its own filthiness, and in the blood of thy precious soul. (4.) Fear God. He who fears God can never find a place dark enough to offend. Joseph knew that all the favours of his Egyptian mistress, or of Egypt itself, could not buy off the guilt of this one sin. Dream not of impunity ; " whoremongers and adul- terers God will judge ;" secrecy, power, can never carry it away from omniscience or omnipotence : what a silly shelter is closeness ! Thou canst never shake off tliy punishment, unless thy being, thyself. It is easy for God to make thee terrible to thyself, and thine own tormentor ; yea, more desirous to utter thy sin openly for thine ease, than ever thou wast to act it secretly for thine honour. (5.) Fear thyself; renounce all self-confidence, and venturousness upon thine own strength. The Lord is as truly the keeper of the heart as of the city. Rather fear than scorn snares, 1 Cor. x. 12. The best way never to fall is ever to fear. (6.) Take heed of feeding the humour of lust. 1. Keep thyself from being fit ground or meet mould for the devil to cast in his seed; whether, 1. By gluttony ; or, 2. By idleness : both these were Sodom's sins, Ezek. xvi. 49. [I.] Gluttony, saith one, is the gallery that lechery goes through. Luxurious living, saith Jerom, quickly disposes a man to lust. Swine love not to tumble in dry dust, nor does the spirit of uncleanness delight in a body exercised to fasting : though the body is not to be starved, yet neither to be pampered ; the body must be kept down, that lust grow not imperti- nent, 1 Cor. ix. 25. The right way to put out the fire of lust, is to withdraw the fuel of excess : a pampered horse is hard to rule ; a servant delicately fed will be cheek-mate with his master ; the flesh too much cherished will kick ^iZ'Sdt!S.°' against the soul : keep under the beast by taking away the provender. The stomach is an unpatient suitor; but having food and raiment, let us therewith be content. They who have taken the measure of man's throat, say it is less than in other creatures of answerable proportion, to teach us tem- perance. Satan chooses to enter into the greedy swine; Esau was a greedy eater and a fornicator. Looking upon the wine when it is red, and giving its colour in the cup, and looking xipon strange women, are put together, Prov. xxiii. 31, 33. Paul allows even weak Timothy but a little wine, I Tim. v. 23. [2.] Idleness, another of Sodom's sins, is also a feeder of uncleanness. Chambering, or lying in bed, is joined with wantonness, Rom. xiii. 13. Our sleep, saith Jerom, must not be the burial of one suffocated, but the rest of a suffoMi?."sed'^re- wearied man. The standing pool will J,"'" ^^^"■ gather filth, and be full of toads and vermin. Labour is a good remedy against lust. The same servant is called slothful and wicked. Matt. XXV. 26. Slow bellies are called evil beasts. Israel was safer in the brick-kilns of Egypt, than in the plains of Moab. Lust conquered good David, when lie was idle and at ease. In troubles, when he pre- vented the morning watch, he was innocent and holy ; but when Satan finds him indolent, he thinks him fit for a temptation. Lust can be no stranger to an idle bosom. While we work not ourselves, Satan works on us. The sitting bird is the fowler's mark. , The heavens that are ever in motion are always pure, i By how much the greater I am, (saith „ ^ . 1 i,?i- III Quo major sum, one,) by so much the more I labour; magis laboro ; et by how much the more I labour, by so ?„'|yo""5i?,.'''''°™' much the greater 1 am. (2.) As we must keep ourselves from being meet mould or fit ground for the devil to cast in this seed of lust, so must we also beware of those objects and allurements which water concupiscence. Set a watch before thy senses. The sons of God looked on and lusted after the daughters of men. Gen. vi. 2. The eye of David and Joseph's mistress led their hearts, 2 Sam. xi. 2. Thamar desiring to be unclean with Ju- dah, " sat," as we translate it, " in an open place ;" but it is in the Hebrew, " in the door of the eyes," Gen. xxxviii. 14. Sin gets in at the senses, like the wind at the crevice. The order of sin is the same with that of Achan ; 1 saw, I coveted, and took. Looking upon a woman and lust- '''.C "''"^ specias, - , or T,- ,, otiose nou specta- ing alter her are put together. Matt. v. ris. luspccias 28; and we read, 2 Pet. ii. 14, of "eyes ^li^iSsTBe"',;? full of adultery," or the adulteress. But willingly neither be nor behold a provocation of sin. God will preserve thee in thy ways, not in thy wanderings. Dinah was not safe out of the woman's orb, the house : only to see is not sufficient warrant to draw us to the suspected places. What wise man will go to a house infected with the plague only to see the fits of the visited ? It is good to keep tempta- tion at the stave's end, and not to let it into the grapple ; for though possibly we may fight and con- quer, yet it was our fault that we were put to fight. The project of Balaam was too prosperous ; had the Moabites sent their strongest soldiers to persuade the Israelites to idolatry, they had been returned with contempt : but as God fetches glory to himself out of Ver. 7. THE EPISTLE OF JUDE. 163 the worst actions of men, so men often undo them- selves by the fairest works of God. Thus far of the second particular considerable in this example of Sodom, viz. the cause of their punish- ment. Now follows, III. The severity of their punishment, their " suf- fering the vengeance of everlasting fire." The punishment being set out, 1. More generally; so it is called " vengeance." 2. More particularly ; so it was a vengeance mani- fested by " eternal fire ; " wherein is considerable, (1.) By what they were punished; by "fire." (2.) In what measure or how long they were pun- ished ; the fire is " eternal." I shall here inquire what we are to understand by "vengeance," and the fire here called " eternal." 1. The word dUri, here translated vengeance, is of a signification belonging to the proceedings of courts of justice; and it is taken several ways. (I.) Properly it signifies right or justice ; in which respect, among the heathens, the goddess of just vengeance. Nemesis, Nondubiioqum ■«"!« Called lU^, justice, or vengeance, ■iciit piurinus lo- Acts xxviii. 4 : "No doubt," say the hRT- pro «!i"i,'pn'^'.""^ barians of Paul, " this man is a murdcr- ««p,tr.tpro«aTa- pf whoffi, though hc hath escaped the imn pnnaiur hoc sea, yet T) ciKri, vengeance sufieretn not &''B«?m" to live." (2.) It is taken for the sen- Act, xitv. tence of condemnation given by the diiscrieint..iain judgc, as Acts sxv. 15, Where It is said i"'icu'l!oS'L^- that "the chief priests and elders de- rin. in Act. XXV. sired to have lUtt, judgment, against Paul." (3.) For the punishment itself inflicted after the passing of sentence : thus, 2 Thess. i. 9, the apostle saith the wicked shall be punished, ^I'lcrji' Tiffsffi : and thus it is taken in this place by Jude, who fitly expresses the punishment inflicted by God upon the Sodomites by this word, because it was most justly, and according to the merit of the ofience and oflfend- ers, executed by the Judge of all the world, who is righteous in all he brings upon sinners ; yea, is right- eousness itself; whose verj' judgments, even because they are his, are just and righteous. And as to the case of Sodom and Gomorrha, so eminent was the righteousness of God's judicial proceeding, that he ■would go down to see whether they had done alto- gether according to the cry of their sin, Gen. xviii. 21 ; where he speaks after the manner of men, who ought not to condemn any before an accurate examin- ation of the cause. But of this, by occasion of the words (judgment, and the great day) much hath been spoken in the foregoing verse. 2. The fire wherewith these Sodomites were pun- ished. They burnt with a threefold fire. (1.) The fire of lust (both sin and punishment). They burned in their lust one toward another, and God gave them up to uncleanness, and to vile affections, 1 Cor. vii. 9 ; Rom. i. 27. (2.) The fire which was rained down from heaven upon them. Gen. xix. 24, the remarkableness of which punishment by fire appears in sundry respects. It H.5 verbis sisnifi. '*^'^^' ['-3 ^ miraculous fire, out of the iaturquo.1 praciirr coursc of nature. Brimstone, to which cureumrimrlcu™ souie add Salt, and all that vast quantity lu.i. nperaius fsi. of fierv matter, were never produced bv •dihir rei.iiam natural causcs ; God it was who provided c.'iT.r""'";,'';"!" the matter for so great a flame, the fall rail ocdme ..cior whereof also he ordered for time and raiidum sulphur placB. Hence it is said that the Lord ''I'l'tTiiiu'.Va'"^' rained brimstone and fire from the Lord ; Jt^.na. 1. aivtan. that is, by an elegant Hebraism, from re? CTv". Muse, himself, the noun being put in the place Hivei.i,:. ^f jj^g pronoun, as 1 Sam. xv. 22 ; 1 Kings viii. 1 ; 2 Tim. i. 18, &c., to show that the raining there mentioned was not from the strength of natural causes, nor after a natural manner, but im- mediately from the Lord himself, and by the putting forth of his own omnipotent arm. [2.] It was an abundant fire, of a vast quantity ; and hence it is said to be rained down ; it was not a sprinkling, but a shower; here were not sparks, but flakes, sheets of fire, rivers of brimstone. [3.] It was a sudden fire. It came not by degrees ; when the morning arose, or at break of da}', there were no tidings of destruction ; till then Lot was in Sodom ; and yet when the sun arose, fire was rained down ; and early in the morn- ing Abraham beheld the smoke of the country, Gen. xix. 24, 28 ; perhaps the work was done in a quarter of an hour: " Sodom was overthrown as in a moment," Lam. iv. 6. [4.] It was a tormenting fire. The exe- cution by fire has ever been accounted one of the most afflictive to sense, and therefore imposed upon the greatest offenders. How great is the torment when the skin is puckered, the sinews cracked, the blood scalded ! Famine, the greatest of punishments, is but a kind of fire, whereby the natural moisture is dried up ; nay, fire lends a resemblance to the torments of hell. [5.] It was a destructive fire, utterly consum- ing all upon which it fell ; cities, inhabitants, the plain, and all that grew upon it, Gen. xix. 25 ; and, as Brochardus reports, so far as the vapour arising out of the lake of Sodom is carried by the wind, it makes all places dry and barren, destroying all fruits, grass, plants, and whatever the earth yields, Deut. xxix. 23. And so poisonous is that brimstone lake which is now in the place where Sodom stood, that it is called the Dead Sea, having neither fish nor any caiied also the living creature therein. And this is salt sea, joim iir. confinned by the prophet, who foretell- '^' ing how these waters should be healed by the waters running out of the sanctuary eastward, on which side this lake is situate, and that then the creatures should live therein, that there should be a multitude of fish, and that the fishei-s should stand upon it from Engedi even unto Eneglaim, the two cities at either end of the lake, hereby implies, that for the present, before this healing, the waters were dead, that no fish nor any creatures lived therein, and that no fishermen frequented the same, as they did the lake of Gennesareth and other places s irreparable, to last to the end of the ]frois Kiermis world, these cities being never to be cuius' e'fiecius 'in rcstorcd ; and in this sense eternal is peL'crn'meilt!'^' oftcn taken in Scripture, where we read of the eternal hills, Deut. xxxiii. 15; perpetual desolations, Psal. Ixxiv. 3 ; that the land of Canaan was given to the seed of Abraham for an everlasting habitation. Gen. xvii. 8, and for ever. Gen. xiii. 15 ; that the Levitical ceremonies are for ever, Lev. vi. 22; Heb. v. 6; vii. 17. [2.] Because these cities suffering the punishment of I're and brimstone described in Genesis are a tj-pe oi figure of everlasting fire, and of the eternal punishment of lilud [i"nis a;ier- wicked nicu therein. And this some nusjeisfjungipo- leamcd men seem to make good out of test cum illo, pre- .1 ^ ^ T il j nam sustinentes ; the text, reading thcse words, as re- ap'ia?i°''iiif™'?i!" frrring eternal fire to example, thus, exempium : ut sit " are Set forth for an example of eternal sensus. Sodoini- ^ ™. . ,, x tirum iiiud incen- fire, sullermg vengeance;" not as our plum ^gnu Kter-" translators do, who refer eternal fire to ui. Perer. in vcngeancc, thus, "are set forth for an Est^umq'uoque' example, suffering the vengeance of injudam. eternal fire:" by which construction they gather, that the fire which irreparably has de- stroyed Sodom, was a figure or tvpc of that eternal fire reserved for wicked men in hell, and by which sinners ought to be warned. And, as learned Paget, in his treatise called Meditations of Death, observes, hell is denominated from the similitude of this place. The lake of fire burning with brimstone. And of the great whore it is said, " Her smoke rose up for ever and ever." " And God," saith he, " has made a visible hell in that great lake which had once been a pleasant plain." And Brochardus, who spent ten years in viewing the country, saith, " That the Dead Sea is always black, smoking, and the very face of hell." Nor yet do I conceive, because in these words " eternal fire" Jude may also include the punish- ment of the Sodomites in hell-fire, that therefore they are there tormented with material or bodily fire : it is sufficient that the torments of the damned are set out by the pains of fire, than which no creature is accounted by men more tormenting ; so that un- doubtedly they are unconceivably greater, and more exquisite, than are any which can be caused by mate- rial fire ; and they are more tonnenting in sundry re- spects. Hell-fire burns the soul ; Christ bids us fear none but soul torments. Matt. x. 28 ; and, indeed, if we can bear them least, we should fear them most. Hell-fire, though it burns, yet it consumes not ; the wicked shall be its perpetual fuel, and it shall be a J living death preying upon them, not making an end I of them. Hell-fire cannot, as ours, be relieving or refreshing ; they who are in it shall never say, " Aha, I have seen the fire," Isa. xliv. 16; but. Oh, " I am tormented in this flame," Luke xvi. 24. Hell-fire is blown, not as ours, by the breath of man, or any other created blast, but by God himself, whose breath is both the fire and a stream of brimstone, Isa. xxx. 33, and the bellows. A powerful God powerfully punishes ; as is he, so is his strength. How unsup- portable must needs be the pains inflicted by angry Omnipotence ! Hell-fire cannot be extinguished, Matt. XXV. 41, 46; nor tears nor time can put it out. The many tliousands of years that the effect of Sodom's fire lasts upon earth, are but a faint re- semblance of the true everlastingness of hell-fire. Nor yet is God unjust in punishing tliose eternally who have sinned but a little time : he measures the punishment by the greatness of the offence, not by the time of doing the crime. Treason or murder may be committed in an instant, but the punishment may last for scores of years ; nay, when men punish by death, there is a removing of the malefactor from the society of men for ever ; and if the ofl^ence commit- ted against God be infinitely heinous, why may not the punishment be infinitely lasting ? besides, how ordinarily do men sell away their possessions by bar- gain, or refuse an offered gift in a moment, which thereby they part with for ever! and how justly are sinners deprived of true blessedness, (and that is not less than eternal,) which in a short time they refused and sold away for the satisfying of their lusts ! Nor can it be unjust with God to punish those in his eternity who have sinned against him in theirs, who, if they had to eternity been allowed to live, would have improved it altogether in sin ; yea, and who dis- positively, and in respect of their inclination, did so. Obs. \. The sin of uncleanness is remarkably fol- lowed with vengeance. As pleasure is that which the unclean mainly expect, and which this lust principally promises, so woes and pains are after- ward by God constantly inflicted : fornication and vengeance are by Jude joined together. (1.) Spiritual vengeance attends upon this sin. It insnares and captivates the soul ; God oft justly saith to the lovers thereof, " He that is filthy, let him be filthy still." It is both an inlet to all impiety in the world, (a lustful man hesitating at no sin that may bring him to enjoy his impure pleasure,) and also a lust which so binds down a sinner, ingulfs him in, and engages him so deeply to the love of itself, that notwithstanding the longer he lives in it the more he is afflicted and weakened by it, yet the more unable and unwilling he is to leave it: it lies down with sinners in the dust. Seldom is this sin found in the way of repentance : " A whore is a deep ditch," Prov. xxiii. 27. Few are the foot-prints of returners from this den, and they too have escaped very narrowly. Instead of repentance, it labours concealment ; and men rather study to hide it than to turn it out of doors ; to cover it with a rag of secrecy, than to cure with the plaster of repentance. Nor doth this sin less di.tquiet than captivate ; it wastes both the strength of the body and the peace of the conscience : its pleasures are short, its terrors are lasting: by how much the sweeter Satan makes it in the mouth, by so much the more bitter God makes it in the stomach. Till! fall into this sin brake David's bones, Psal. li. 8 ; the deep impression of its stain, and the communi- cativeness of its guilt and defilement to others, are standing troubles to the conscience, when once it is awakened. (2.) This sin is pursued with external vengeance. Ver. 7. THE EPISTLE OF JUDE. 165 I. Upon the name ; a dishonour is gotten, and a reproach that shall not be wiped away, Prov. vi. 33. Though the sore may be healed, yet the scar abides, although repentance should be the plaster. Though Samson and Solomon were pardoned, as to their own execution, yet were they burnt in the hand, and branded in the forehead, for a warning to others. Such was the hatred of God against this sin, that God hath not left it a blank, but a blemish, in David's story ; nay, so deep was the spot of dishonour which cleaved to this sin, that the bastard issue of the adul- terer was shut out from the congregation to the tenth generation, Deut. xsiii. 2. 2. Upon the body. It makes a man the devil's martyr. This sin is the seed of diseases ; and though it loves to lie hid in the shop, yet the distempers bewray it which are laid in open view upon the stall. The noisome breath, the un- clean botches, the inflamed blood, the consumed flesh, Prov. v. 11, the speedy age, the short life, of many, are some of the most favourable productions of carnal uncleanness. The penalty inflicted by the law of God upon adultery was death by stoning, as it is generally thought ; and for some other excesses in this sin, death by burning. Lev. xx. 10; Deut. xxii. 22. The woman suspected of adultery, drink- ing those waters of jealousy which (if she were guilty) plagued her with the rotting of her belly and thigh, was a clear testimony of the heinousness of this sin, Numb. v. 27 ; and if these instances suffice not, remember the death of twenty-four thousand Israelites at Peor. 3. Upon the estate. Lust is a flame that has burnt down whole families, cities ; it spoiled Da\-id's posterity of the greatest part of his kingdom ; it gives rags for its livery ; and though it be furthered by the fulness, yet it is followed with a morsel, of bread, Prov. v. 10; vi. 26. It is a fire (saith Job) that consumes to destruction, and roots up all increase. Job xxxi. 12. It is a secret canker and moth in the substance of the wealthiest : witness the destruction of many noble families and irreligious houses in England. (3.) Eternal vengeance follows this sin. 'Whore- mongers and adulterers God himself will judge, Heb. xiii. 4. God returns flames for flames, and revenges the hell of this fire in the heart with the fire of hell. The strange woman lodgeth her guests in the depths of hell, Prov. ix. 18. Nor shall dogs be admitted into the new Jerusalem, nor the unholy see the face of God, Rev. xxii. 15. How great then is their sin who account this carnal uncleanness no sin ; who drink down this pleasant poison of stolen waters, and never think of its certain operation ; and throw- ing this firebrand into their beds, their bodies, fami- lies, revenues, say they are in sport! What pro- iliLjious heaven-daring impudence is it to glory in tliis both sin and shame ! What are those bold en- ticers to it, by paint, speeches, naked breasts, (fire and brimstone shall one day cover them,) but the devil's decoys, the emissaries and factors of hell, the stratagems of Satan, the increasers of transgressors ? Prov. xxiii. 28. Let it be too much for Rome to suffer it to set open shop by toleration : why do we punish the stealing of a piece of silver with death, if we connive at these whose theft flies higher, even at estate, health, honour, life, nay, the soul itself? In short, how nearly does it concern those who have burnt in these impure flames of uncleanness, and thereby have also kindled the flames of God's wrath, to labour to cool and quench them with the blood of Jesus Christ, which alone can allay the heats of sin in them, and wrath in God ; as also to cast their tears of godly sorrow into the flame ; because they have not been pure-hearted Josephs, to become broken- hearted Davids ! while for the future they carefully avoid all those objects whereby their lust has too frequently been, and is too forward again to be in- flamed. Obs. 2. God punishes sinners in a way of judiciary process, even with the greatest equity and righteous- ness. His vengeance even upon Sodom was Hkt), a vengeance of justice. In his proceedings with our first parents after their sin, as also with Cain and the Babel-builders, first he accurately examines and in- quires into the fact, and afterwards he pronounceth sentence. Gen. iv. ; xi. 1 — 9. As the word " venge- ance," here used by Jude, has righteousness in- cluded in its signification ; so in the work of venge- ance, as related in Genesis, righteousness is as openly displayed as wrath. The ciy of Sodom's sin was no uncertain rumour, requiring that God should go down and see, for his better information, whether they had done altogether according to the cry thereof, Gen. xviii. 21. He who knew the secret sins of the heart, could not be ignorant of the proclaimed sins of Sodom ; nor was any proper deseension consistent with his omnipresence, nor information ^rith his omniscience ; but hereby he would become exem- plary to judges, who ought to take heed of their pre- cipitancy in judgment, and never proceed to con- demnation without accurate examination. In Sodom's punishment there was a map of hell, a sea of wrath, not a drop of injustice. Sin can make God angry, not unrighteous ; though sometimes he may destroy his creatures, yet never deny himself, flow con- tented should this make us to be under the smartest providences ! A gracious heart will justify God when God sentences him. "Thou art just" (saith Nehemiah) " in all that thou hast brought upon us ; for thou hast done right, and we have done wickedly," Nell. ix. 33. That we are spared, it is mercy; that we are punished, cannot be injustice. Could we have harder thoughts of sin, our thoughts of God's dealing would be more honourable. Obs. 3. Great is the patience and long-suffering of God even toward great sinners. God overthrew not Sodom till they gave themselves over to fornication ; till they were impudent in sin, and it became crying: God did not show that he heard it till they pro- claimed it to every one. He puts not his sickle into Sodom till it was ripe. He goes down to see " whether they had done altogether according to the cry of it ;" altogether, or, as the Hebrew has it, whether they had made a consummation, i. e. whether their iniqui- ties were full ; God hereby showing his purpose to spare them till it was so. He loves to clear his justice before man, as well as to execute it upon man : he shows how mercy pleases him, even when he puts forth justice. There is no judging of God's love by our impunity, or having the space without the grace of repentance. God bears with the wicked, but yet not that they may be so. The longer the sinner is spared, the more the sin is aggravated. Sinners are beholden to God for their being spared so long, to themselves for their being spared no longer. Un- less Sodom's sin had cried importunately, God had not answered it. Even by this expres- , sion of the crying of sin (saith Salvian) nii'"«'uac'iet ur** God shows how unwilling he is to f;:Z7eJtiil'n, punish sinners; and that mercy per- cUmor cogit ut suades him to spare them, did not the l^ov'T.i.'' crv of sin constrain him to punish them. 'Obs. 4. The justice of God is not abolished by his mercy. So good was God in his gracious condescen- sion even to the lowest step of Abraham's request for Sodom, to such a measure did God suffer the sin of unpunished Sodom to swell, that justice seemed to be laid aside ; but though it had woollen and leaden, silent and slow feet, yet had it also iron hands, which 166 AN EXPOSITION UPON Ver. 7. at length the Sodomites felt to their cost. Justice may be dormant, and yet not cease to be ; it may be said of it, as once Christ did of Lazarus, It is not dead, but sleepeth. God is long-suifering, not ever suffering. The rising of the sun in the morning was no sign that fire and brimstone should not fall upon Sodom before the evening. God's forbearance to strike shows not that he will always spare, but that we should now repent. If we will sin by his long- suffering, we shall smart by his severity. " These things hast thou done, and I kept silence ; and thou thoughtest I was altogether such an one as thyself ; but 1 will reprove thee," izc, Psal. 1. 21. When God comes to exact the punishment, he will require in- terest for his forbearance ; and indeed God is never more angry than when he suffers men to go on se- curely and uninterrupted in sin by sparing them. Let not the indulgence of God make us presume, but let us understand the language of love, that we may not undergo the load of his wrath. These Sodom- ites, notwithstanding their sin, were so securely asleep in their delights of eating, drinking, buying, selling, planting, building, Luke xvii. 28, that nothing could awaken them but the fire which destroyed them. This point should also be improved for imita- tion. To spare all offenders is cruelty, equal to a sparing of none. Asher's foot was dipped in oil, yet his shoes were iron and brass, Deut. xxxiii. 24, 25. Obs. 5. Nothing is so dreadful as the wrath of God. Sodom's fire and brimstone showered down in a sweeping and overwhelming plenty, are but sha- dows of the wrath of God incensed. " Our God is a consuming fire," Heb. xii. 29 ; his WTath is the fire, yea, the very hell of hell. When God Almighty sets himself to torment, and to show what he is able to do against a worm; God, (I say,) who can marshal and draw into a body all the forces of the creation together, and then can draw forth all their virtue and vigour, and, which is more, set on every degree of that force and vigour according to the strength of his own all-powerful arm, yea, and create infinitely more and greater torments than we can either oppose or apprehend ; how sorely, how unsupportably, shall his wrath rack and tonnent the creature ! How great and how inexcusable is the stupidity of every sin- ner ! The fire on earth is but painted and imaginary, in comparison of God's wrath. If he who cries Fire, fire, at midnight, at once both wakens and affrights us, how amazingly should they affect us who know and denounce the terror of the Lord ! Who know- eth the power of his anger ? even according to his fear, so is his wrath, Psal. xc. 11. What interest have we in the world comparable to that of making him our friend in Christ ? he is the severest enemy, but tlie sweetest friend : " When his wrath is kindled but a little, blessed are all they that put their trust in him," Psal. ii. 12. Greater is the disproportion be- tween the pleasure and pains of sin, than between a drop of honey and an ocean of gall. Consider, O sinner, when thou art bathing thy soul in the fire of lust, how thy soul shall burn in the flames of hell ; and remember that fire and brimstone lie under the skin of every Sodomitical apple, and are in the belly of every lust. Meditate, O saint, of the love of Christ in delivering thee from this eternal fire, this wrath to come, in becoming a screen between that flame and tliy soul, in cooling thee, though by scorching himself. To conclude this, if he has delivered us from this eternal, how patiently should we endure any trjing fire, and how cool should we account the hottest service in which God employs us in this life! All is mercy besides hell. And how should we pity and pull back those who are posting, and that labori- ously, toward these pains of eternal fixe ! Obs. 6. God's anger changes the use of the crea- tures; it turns helps into plagues. The fire which God appointed to warm and purify, shall, if God be our enemy, consume and burn us to ashes ; the air shall poison us ; our houses shall be prisons to keep us for execution by flames; the sun shall hold, or rather be, the candle to give light to our slaughter, as in Joshua's time ; the earth, w hich should bear, shall devour us ; the seas, which sene for conveyance, shall swallow us up ; the stars, which at some times are sweetly influential, shall, if God be angry, fight in their courses against Sisera; the heavens, which are wont to afford their fruitful drops, shall shower down fire and brimstone, and by both barrenness. The most useful creatures of God, if he bid them, shall go upon errands of destruction, in obedience to their Commander-in-chief, who can commission and em- power for services of severity and revenge, not only his chief oflScers, the glorious angels, but even his common soldiers, the poorest of creatures. If he be our foe, even those shall hurt us from whom we have formerly received and now expect most friendship. Our greatest comforts shall become our greatest crosses. The wife of the bosom, the children that came out of our loins, may become our butchers and traitors ; yea, God can make ourselves our own dead- liest enemies. Let none be secure in their freedom from enemies till God be their friend; nor in the multitude of friends, so long as God is their enemy. God can punish unexpectedly, even such a way as we never dream of Jerusalem, saith the prophet, " came down wonderfully," Lam. i. 9 ; and what Sodomite ever heard before of a shower of fire ? but unheard-of sins procure unheard-of punishments. Obs. 7. Most heinous is the sin of contempt of the gospel. These Sodomites were sinners and sufferers even to amazement. Sodom was a hell for sin, and typically a hell for punishment ; and yet Christ saith, " It shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgment, than for the. city" which is guilty of this sin, Matt. x. 15. Un-T belief is worse than Sodomy. Of all sins, gospej sins damn most unavoidably. The pollutions Sodom defile not so deeply as doth the refusing < that blood which should cleanse us. How dangerou is the condition of that man who, pleasing himse^ in a civil conversation and freedom from those sir which bring him within the compass of man's law allows himself in that one which concludes liim un^ der the curse of the law of God ! Obs. 8. God often proportions the punishment to the sin. Sodom's sin was against the light and use, their punishment against the course, of nature ; they fetch up hell to the earth, and God sends hell out of heaven. Their sin was notorious, and proclaimed in the face of the sun ; their punishment was, nay, yet is, visible to all the world. Their sin was universal, and the raining of " fire and brimstone," saith Christ, " destroyed them all," Luke xvii. SO. Their sin was a flame of lust, and their punishment a flame of fire, Exod. xxi. 24. Their sin was filthy, not, without abominating it, to be named ; their punishment, as by fire, so by brimstone, was so unsavoury to the smell as not to be endured. How happy were it for us, if, as our sins lead God to inflict such a kind of punishment, so that punishment may lead us back again to find out the sin ! But of this before, ver. 5. Obs. 9. Great is God's care of man's safety and human society. How angry was God with the Sodomites for a sin committed against their own bodies, and the honour of one another! God has appointed and executed punishments for and upon any that shall abuse poor sinful man ; and with whom IS God so angrj' as with those who hurt themselvei Ver. 7. THE EPISTLE OF JUDE, 1<7 most ? How strong a hedge has he set about man's welfare in his ten commandments ! in them he dis- tinctly provides for man's authority, life, chastity, estate, name, and generally in them all for his soul. All the rebellions, murders, rapes, oppression, de- famations, &c. in the world, whereby men sufTer from men, are from hence, that God is not obeyed by men ; and all the violences among men proceed from the violation of the law of God, which, were it observed, what a face of calmness and comeliness would be upon the whole earth ! God is infinitely better to us than we are to ourselves, to one another. How observable is the difference between those places where the fear of God sways and others, even in re- spect of civil, comely, and honest behaviour! To conclude, though God might have enjoined us the worshipping and serving of himself, without any re- gard to our own benefit, yet such is his love to man, that as no command hinders, so most are intended for the furthering of man's outward welfare. How strong an engagement lies upon us to be studious of giving him that honour which we owe, who is so careful to make that provision for us which he owes us not ! Thus far of the third particular, the severity of the punishment inflicted upon the Sodomites, viz. " the vengeance of eternal fire." IV. The end and use of that punishment, in these words, " are set forth for an example." Two things must here be explained. 1. What kind of example these Sodomites were set forth to be. 2. Why any example of this kind was thus set forth. For the first. The word example in ^UroSifi'ido.^h"' t^e Greek is Stlyfia, and it signifies not iiico is,,u..T.{u, only that which is openly shown, and osiei.ir,, ( „i. ii. pomted at, Mark xiv. 15; John ii. 18, q'Lm.'ijTMiuWi-' ^"d exactly to be observed ; as Matt. viii. run. rsium spi-c- 4, Christ Commanded the leper, whom skill oiim liom'a- he had cleansed, to go and show himself "icios'."man'irus" t° *<= prfcst ; SO Mark i. 44 ; Luke v. reiro lievincii?, 14. But also a showing by way of ex- inronsiecriim ho- • ^ • j? i i ■ niinuiii.a.ip rpe posmg to opcu infamy and disgrace; nomi'n'i'JmM'ure^e ^"^ '^^"^ ^' ^^ ^^''^' *^*' Christ " having soiH.an'. si2ni- spoiled principalities and powers, ilny- omiiibiis propn. /iarifff, made a show of them openly ;" rent in^''"pet '\!' ^'here the word signifies, saith Zanchy, a leading, a showing them in the public view of all spectators, to their perpetual infamy, as captives were wont to be led with their hands tied behind them; the compound word Tapa^fty/iori^M sig- nifying to set an oflTender before others as a public spectacle of shame and infamy, for the warning of all the beholders ; in which sense this word fi'tyiia is to be taken in this place, as also is that word vTToSiiyfia, used in 1 Pet. ii. 6, parallel with this of Jude, and translated also example ; it also signifying the setting before the eye, or subjecting something to a man's view or sight, not only for caution and warn- ing, (saith Gerhard,) as in that place of Peter, but even for imitation also, as John xiii. 15 ; James v. 10; and sometimes it signifies a type or figure of some- thing, as Heb. viii. 5 ; ix. 23. These punished Sodomites, then, were set forth for an example, not of imitation, their courses thus de- scribed and punished requiring rather our detesta- tion ; nor, therefore, of God's mercy and compassion, as Paul saith of himself, that in him Jesus Christ showed forth all long-suffering irpoj vTruTviruiaiv, for a pattern and example to them who should hereafter believe. But, (I.) For an example, by way of pattern, type, and figure of those who are tormented in hell with fire truly eternal, in which respect some read the text not with a comma after the word liiyfia, example, as our translators and most interpreters do, who read the words thus, " are set ^^''-rarieljua''' forth for an example, suffering- the venee- 7^?°' .uif""" ance, ice. ; but with a comma alter vei icgi p..ssuut the word fire, thus, are set forth for an l"^^^ iTeZ'tW example or figure of everlasting fire, Ma.msusensus, rr ■ .1 1 T f propnsitae sunt suffenng vengeance: though when I enempio; vei consider that parallel place in Peter, p^X"'"" where it is said that they are made an a^noi.. propn- example to those that afterwards should Ss^eiernrrpno? live ungodly, I conceive we should !,'i["j",l'i-'u'|°c'uin rather keep the ordinary reading, viz. 1°™ Peu of God : the powers that be are ordain- '," i"? r""sistit ed of God. And though magistracy is P:>ifst «» iie.>r- an ordinance of man in regard of the nI,","';lJI;tsiesse'''* subject, it being borne by man ; the ob- s,'''c'^ several nations: yet not in regard of Aug ir. ile. in the invention or institution thereof, ^'p^-, ,'j'' PaJ"um which is only from God. '" 't™"- In it are considerable also, the power itself, the acquisition thereof, and the execution of it. The ac- quisition may be from the devil, by briber)-, fraud, cruelty, intrusion, invasion. The execution, or man- ner of using this power, may be from him likewise, as when superstition is set up instead of religion, and cruelty for equity, by those who govern. But au- thority itself, dominion, principality, are from God, though not tyranny. Riches gotten by usury, ex- tortion, &c., cease liot to be good in themselves ; yea, and the gifts of God: and as the owner of these un- justly procured riches may be said to be a rich man; 176 AN EXPOSITION UPON Ter. 8. anil he who has lenming, though procured by un- lawful means, may be said to be a learned man ; so the possessor of a most unjustly obtained authority may be said to be a magistrate, and in authority, 1 Kings XV. 27 J xvi. 2, 7 ; xiv. 14; Dan. iv. 17, 25; Prov. viii. 15. (2.) This sin of the seducers was a sin against the welfare and happiness of the public. They being weary of magistracy, were weary of all the comforts and blessings of peace ; and in being desirous to throw down the pillars, they endeavoured to pull down the building upon their own and others' heads. What would nations be without government, but the dens of wild beasts ! " Judah and Israel dwelt safely every one under his vine and fig-tree all the days of Solo- mon," 1 Kings iv. 25. Even Nebuchadnezzar was a tree under which beasts of the field had shadow, in whose boughs the fowls of the heaven dwelt, and of which all flesh was fed, Dan. iv. 12. The funerals of a political parent millions of children will cele- brate with tears. Over Saul, who was wicked and tyrannical, doth David bid the daughters of Israel to weep, who clotlied them in scarlet, 2 .Sam. i. 24. Nor was it, according to some, any of the best of kings who is called " the breath of our nostrils," Lam. iv. 20. And it is observable, when God threatens the taking away of the staff of bread, and the stay of water, he adds, as no less a judgment, the taking away " the judge and the prophet, the prudent and the ancient," &c., Isa. iii. 2. (3.) By this despising of government, they were in an especial manner their own enemies, and sinned against their own happiness. The overtumers of lawful magistracy shall find their calamities to arise suddenly, Prov. xxiv. 22. " He who breaketh a hedge, a serpent shall bite him," Eccl. x. 8. "An evil man seeketh only rebellion, therefore a cruel messenger shall be sent against him." It has been observed by some, that most, if not all, those whom the Scripture mentions as opposers of magistracy, have been punished by violent death, God not vouch- safing them so much as a reprieval to a death-bed. Koran and his company, Athaliah, Absalom, Zimri, Joab, Sheba, Adonijah, with many others, will prove this; and besides the vast supply which foreign liis- tories afford, how hath vengeance pursued all the re- bellious mentioned in our English Chronicle ! Who has not heard of Becket, Montfort, Mortimer, the Percies, Tyler, Warbeck, the saltpetre saints, with sundry others, whom God made marks of vengeance for removing the ancient land-marks set for order and propriety in the nation ? Nor do I remember that ever God suffered any one godly man, mentioned in Scripture, to put any lawful magistrate out of, or indirectly to put himself into, government. I say, I remember no instance of either. Obs. 1. How provident is God for man's peace and welfare ! Without dominion we sliould be worse than beasts : it is the breath wliich so many thousand creatures draw ; take it away, and none can say. This is mine. If the magistrate were not a god to man, man would soon prove a wolf, nay, a devil to man. There is no creature which so much wants a ruler as man. We may say of all other creatures, Nasciintur artijices, they are born craft-masters, they were apparelled and armed by nature, they are their own cooks, physicians, builders, even at their first entrance ; only man came in without strength, weapon, clothes, or skill. How good is God to provide pro- tectors for him ! Violent and bloody men fear not hell so much as the halter; like beasts, they are more afraid of the flash of powder than the bullet ; and Chough their fear of the magistrate saves not their souls, yet many a time has it saved our lives.. With- out magistracy robbery would be a law, and men (like dogs) try all right by their teeth : where there is no ruler, every one will be a ruler ; he who has no ruler over him, will be a tyrant over another. When there was no king in Israel, every Micah had a house of gods, and the Levites went begging, Judg. xvii. 6 ; xviii. 1, 14. It is just with God that they should feel the curse of anarchy who never were thankful for regular dominion. 064'. 2. God is highly provoked by sin, when he suffers magistrates to be burdensome to a people, and dominion to be abused ; when their deliverers and saviours become their destroyed, and they, like Ephraim, oppressed and broken even in judgment. It was threatened as a sore judgment, " I will give children to be their princes, fuSto™„"J's"'* and babes to rule over them." For the p""" «>r.ja pik- sins of a people, many and bad are the *""" '"^'""' princes thereof, Prov. xxviii. 2. And God often sets up wicked governors over people, not because they are worthy to rule, but these worthy to be so ruled. God may give a king in his anger. He speaks often of princes who were wolves ravening to the prey to shed blood, Ezek. xxii. 27 ; Micah iii. 1—3; Zeph. iii. 3. How righteous was God in making Abimelech a scourge to the Shechemites, who had made them- selves the stirrup to his ambition ! And undoubtedly if God may suffer the prophets of a people to be fools, and the spiritual men to be mad, to delude and mis- guide the people " for the multitude of iniquity, and the great hatred," Hos. ix. 7; he is not hindered from suffering the princes of people who refuse to be reformed, to be Jeroboams to their souls, and Reho- boams to their bodies, pernicious to both. Oh that people would spend more time in blaming their sins, and less in complaining of men, and but sadly and impartially examine their liearts, whether the parting with the gospel and ministry would ever fetch a quarter so many complaints from them, as an incon- siderable sessment ; or whether sin startle them so , much as a tax ! and if they find their consciences to give in verdict for God, let them adore his righteous . severity. Obs. 3. God is much seen in causing men's subjec- tion to magistrates. All naturally love to excel in worldly greatness, and like not superiority in others. Every one, saith Calvin on 1 Pet. v. 5, hath in him the mind of a king : that one therefore should keep millions of men in order, restrain, constrain, correct, command ; how could it be but that God liimself has imprinted the characters of Divinity upon him ? and but that there is a Divine constitution in a human person ? It is thou, O Lord, that subduest my people under me, saith David, Psal. cxliv. 2. And Psal. Ixv. 7, the stilling the noise of the seas, the noise of the waves, and the timiult of the people, are put de- servedly together, the latter manifesting the power of God as much as the former. How did David allay ; the fury of those furious spirits, who so eagerly de- sired to take away the life of Saul, but by this, " Ha" is the Lord's anointed ? " And hence ijrinces should gather, when people cast off subjection and despiseTj their dominion, that they themselves have despisedl God, provoked him to pour contempt upon them;| and to make them, for cutting off their lock of loyalty I to God, to become even as other men; and hencel also people should learn to whom to return the praisesi of their peace and safety, not only to the power andl policy of their governors, but principally to the ordi-f nation of that God by whom kings reign. Obs. 4. The power given by God to magistrates should be improved for the Giver. Their dominion should advance that of the chief Lord : the greatest kings are his vassals. , The highest earthly powers Vr.H. 8. THE EPISTLE OF JUDE. 177 Fliall give an account to a higner hereafter, and must tlierefore be regulated by, and serve for, promoting a hitrher for the present. The king is commanded to write him a copy of the law, and keep all the words thereof, Deut. xvii. I^. ^Vhen the crown was put upon the head, the testimony was also put into the hand of Joash, 2 Kings xi. 12. The tirst table should be first in the magistrate's care. Even kings and rulers must kiss the Son, Psal. ii. 12, and advance his kingdom ; and provide that their subjects may not only live under them in peace and honesty, but also in godliness. If this must be the end of the subjects' prayers, it must be the end of the magistrates' government. These "shields of the earth" should protect God's glory, Psal. slvii. 9. The " fat upon the earth" must worship Christ, Psal. xsii. 29, and "all kings fall do^Ti before him," Psal. Ixxii. 1 1 . The church, infant-like for weakness, must be nourished and nursed, yea, and that by kings and queens, Isa. xlix. 23. How unsuitable is it for them who are called gods, to cast otf all care of the honour of God ! and for them who are called shepherds, to take no care that their subjects should have the pastures of wholesome doctrines ! to suffer them to wander in the ways of sin and hell, without any care to reduce them ; and to give leave to grievous wolves, seducers, to devour them ! They who make all the care of the magistrate to concern the worldly wel- fare, without any regard of the souls of people, make him like an ox-herd, who thinks he does enough in providing fat pasture for his cattle, suffering them willingly to be carried by droves to the shambles. And why political as well as natural parents should not take care that their children are " brought up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord," Eph. vi. 4, I understand not. Ample testimony is given to Da- vid, Solomon, Asa, Jehoshaphat, Hezekiah, Josiah, of their zeal for religion. Nor ever is the contrary mentioned in any of the other kings, but as their great sin and infamy. Nor ever will the names of Constantine, Theodosius, Justinian, cease to be pre- cious for their care of the church of Christ. Even the heathens, Aristotle and Plato, acknowledge that the chief care in a commonwealth should be about religion ; the most beautiful structm-e of a civil govern- ment is erected upon the sand, unless religion be the foundation. In sum, though the power of the magistrate, as such, in the holy things of God, is not formul, in- trinsical, and spiritual, so that he should administer therein, as if Christ had committed the keys to him, yet it is objective, to be employed about ecclesiastical causes, though politically, and to provide for the benefit of the church ; and that by removing the impediments of religion, by preserving its main- tenance, by convening assemblies for reformation, &c., and by taking care that matters ecclesiastical be duly managed by those who administer therein. Though the magistrate himself exercise not the art of physic, yet he takes care that none shall abuse that art, or exercise it hurtfully, 2 Kings xv. 14 ; 1 Cor. ix. 14 ; 2 Chron. xxxi. 3 ; xxix. 4 ; 2 Kings xxiii. 1, 2. 06s. 5. The enemies of godliness soon become op- posers of civil dominion. The apostle had told us that these seducers denied the only Lord God ; and here he saith, they despised dominion. They who fear not God, will not be afraid to " speak evil of dig- nities." The despisers of Saul were the sons of Be- lial. Good men will not be Ijad sxibjects, nor will bad men conscientiously be good subjects. The fear of God is the best foundation of obedience to the magistrate. Remarkable is the order of obedience prescribed by the apostle, " Fear God, honour the king," I Pet. ii. 17; and by Solomon, " My son. fear thou the Lord and the king," Prov. sxiv. 21. jNIen may from a principle of policy forbear opposing magistracy as a danger, but only from a principle of conscience can they abhor it as a sin. The fear of man is but a weak bond, and as easily broken as were the cords by Samson. What a noise leave these words, " Submit to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake," in a religious ear ! Whatever in- terest or reputation dictates, the declaration of God's will to a gracious heart is the end of all strife. The discoveiy that such or such a course has a sin against God in it is enough for a saint ; no more disputes then : the threats of a thousand hells are not so dis- suasive. Human laws may make men hide, only God's laws can make men hate, disobedience. A mere man is firm and steady in no relations. The greatest interest of magistracy is to advance religion. If they provide for the keeping of God's laws, the observation of their own will follow of course. David discovered himself to be a good man, both in sparing Saul in the cave, (oh how well was it for Saul that he fell into the hands of a David!) and a wise man in setting his " eyes upon the faithful of the land," and in tsiking the perfect in their way to serve him, Psal. ci. 6. The way for the magistrate to bring men under his subjection is to plant the gospel, and to make them subject to Christ. The power of the word in the consciences of people binds more „ . . strongly to obedience than the power of mu'ui''nemL'i!'' the sword over the bodies of the people. pe'Ja,on"Tert™ And if God always restrain people from rebelling against governors, who shall tolerate in peo- ple all sorts of rebellion against God? What means that of 1 Sam. ii. 30, " Them that honour me," &c., "and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed ? " Obs. 6. Christianity does not destroy, but strengthen magistracy. The seducers and libertines are here by Jude condemned for despising dominion. One ordinance of God does not abolish another. The laws of Christ in his church bring not in lawlessness into the commonwealth ; nor is God a God of order in the first, and the author of confusion in the latter ; yea, contrarily, he maintains government in the common- wealth for the good of his church, that it may find a harbour therein ; and keeps up the pole of civil do- minion, that the weak hopbine, the church, may be sustained. The spiritual authority of Christ divides not civil inheritances ; his sceptre swallows not up, as did Aaron's rod the other, the sceptres of worldly monarchs ; nor does He who came to give heavenly, take away earthly crowns. The weapons of Christ's kingdom are not carnal. He who, when he had a right, would not be made a king, gives no liberty to those who have none to put out those who have. It is the labour of Satan to persuade civil governors that Christ's kingdom is the greatest enemy to theirs. Thus Haman represented the Jews to Ahasuenis as a people that would not obe}' the king's laws, Esth. iii. 8. Thus the courtiers of Chaldea accused the three companions of Daniel of rebellion against the king's edict, Dan. iii. 12. By this fetch likewise the ene- mies of the Jews hindered the building of the temple, Ezra iv. 13. How often was Paul accused for sedi- tion among the Jews! Acts xvii. 18. Nay, Christ himself was accused and executed for an enemy to Caesar, Luke xxiii. 2. Thus papists seek to wash themselves by throwing dirt upon the sers-ants of Christ. Were ever accusations more senseless than for Harding to say that Luther animated iSIunzer in his rebellion, which was by that man of God so zealously opposed ? But the whore of Babylon loves to lay her own brats at her neighbours' doors. In shoft the weak ground of this imputation of re- N 178 AN EXPOSITION UPON Ver. 8. bellion to the godly, has been their refusing to obey such commands of magistrates as tliey apprehended sinful. And tnily, in this case, when Christ calls another way, I neither owe burial to my dead, nor obedience to my living, though political, father. And, as TertuUian holily descants upon those words of Christ, " Render to Caesar the things which are Caesars, and to God," &c., "It is well added, 'and to God the things that are God's;' that is, give the image of Csesar to Caesar, which is on his coin ; and give the image of God to God, which is in man ; so Tert. lib. de Idol, as Caesar may have thy money, but God "^- '*• thyself." And.accordingtothecivilians, fuTcUi:[Tu'°m^"' we must not give obedience to him that pune non pareiur. gives law Out of liis own territory, so neither obey man when he goes beyond his bounds in commanding against the word ; and in this the apos- tles. Acts V. 29, and the three servants of God in Babylon, have been our examples. Obs. 7. Lust opposes restraint, is an enemy to do- minion, loves not to be bridled. Libertines " despise dominion," and reject magistracy, because thereby their licentious humour is restrained. Acts xix. 27. The mad upon lust, like the mad dog, are the more enraged by the chain which curbs. They who run to excess of riot in this their pouring forth, if they meet with opposition, like the stopped stream, swell the higher, and overflow the banks. This opposing of restraint goes along with every lust, but especially with that of carnal uncleanness ; they who defile the flesh reject dominion. The sons of Eli were lustful, and withal disobedient to the command of the magis- trate, 1 Sam. ii. 22, 25. The Gibeonites were as re- fractory to the message of Israel as they were addicted to filthiness, Judg. xx. 13. The Sodomites were at the same time both set upon their uncleanness and enraged against Lot's counsel. The Anabaptists of Munster were grown to that height of uncleanness, that they openly taught men might marry as many wives as they pleased ; and John of Leyden, their king, upon a pretended revelation from heaven, pre- sently married three ; and they who were most bold in this kind, and took most wives, were accounted the best men, and most commendable. But the fruit of this doctrine was, their teaching that before the day of judgment, Christ had a worldly kingdom, and in that the saints only had dominion ; that this king- dom was that of the Anabaptists newly begun, wherein magistracy was to be rooted out; and although Christ and his apostles had no civil government, yet that they had committed tlie same, with the power of the sword, to those who after them should teach in the church. Nor is it possible but that lust should vehe- mently oppose restraint, considering its propensities a.nd motions are natural, and therefore strong, as also furthered by all the helps which a powerful and im- pure spirit can invent and apply. False then is the pretence of libertines, who would be thought only to oppose the irregularities of magistracy or ministry, when it is clear that their lusts are most offended at the existence of their offices, and the conscientious discharge of them. And much should this comfort those who are thus conscientious, in the midst of all the rage and reproach with which they are followed for their faithfulness. It is a sign they have dis- quieted men's lusts ; and, as Luther once said, when Satan roars, they have given him a full blow. Nor yet should the unquietness and troubles of the world be laid at the door of restraint and dominion. If re- ligious opposition draws out men's rage, il does it by labouring to keep it in, or rather to take it away. From men's lusts are wars, in that they will not stoop to God, who will not lay aside his dominion to gratify licentiousness. In a word, we may hence gather the insufhciency of human laws, nay, any external means, to change the heart from a love of sin ; tliey may possibly restrain and curb, and frequently irritate and enrage sinners, it is only the power of grace at once to take away the disobedience of the life, and the despising of the heart. To conclude, we may hence learn the direct way to avoid the sin of these seducers : oppose lusts, these put people upon oppos- ing magistracy; such are, (1.) Covetousness, when men desire to set the nations on fire, that they may steal away the goods ; and to have states wrecked, that the goods may be cast upon their coasts. (2.) Dis- contentedness with our condition. The trees in Jotham's parable pleased themselves in their own station, of privacy and usefulness ; and she was a wise woman who contented herself with her abode among her own people. (3.) Ambition and aflecta- tion of superiority. It is better to be fit to rule, than to rule and not to be fit. He is only worthy of honour of whom honour itself is unworthy, and to whom it even sues for acceptance. Absalom aspired to be high in his life, and he was in his death as high as the boughs of the tree ; a fit reward for his ambitious climbing. (4.) Envy at the height of others, whereby men look into the failings of magis- trates to blemish them, and will not see the gifts and graces of their superiors, but only with repining; grieving, not because things go ill, but because they go no worse: a cursed temper ! (5.) Self-eonceited- ness, whereby, with Absalom, men think themselves fitter to sit at the stern than any placed there already. (G.) Implacableness, whereby private injuries are re- tained with a watching of all occasions of revenge, though to the involving of multitudes in the co- partnership of their own sedition and destruction. In a word, so long as we love lust, we cannot con- scientiously obey magistrates ; and yet so long as we have lust, we cannot be without magistrates. The Lord fit us for that condition wherein we shall not be troubled with the former, nor stand in need of the latter. The second argument brought by our apostle to in- cite these Christians earnestly to contend for the faith opposed by the seducers, is taken from the cer- tainty of the destniction of those ungodly men. This argument he handles from the fourth to the seven- teenth verse. In managing which, having first mentioned sundry examples of God's judgments which befell the great sinners of former times, ver. 5 — 7; he now secondly adds, that these seducers lived in the very same sins which God had punished in those sinners of old ; and this he prosecutes in the eighth, ninth, and tenth verses. And then thirdly, from ver. 10 — 17, he infers and amplifies this con- clusion. Woe to them, ver. 11; q. d. Therefore these seducers shall likewise perish. This eighth verse, then, is part of that second branch, wherein the apostle shows that these se- ducers lived in the same sins which God had punished | in others. Having treated of opposing authority in its first branch, viz. the despising dominion, I now proceed to speak of it in the second branch, contained in these words, they " speak evil of dignities." By way of explication, I shall inquire into these two particulars : 1. Why the apostle calls magistrates, or persons in authority, "dignities?" 2. What was the sin of speaking evil of those dignities ? 1. For the first. The apostle calls them "digni- ties," in Greek, cpl,ag, glories, because of that glory^ and excellency wherewith God is pleased eminently and peculiarly to adorn them, whereby they raise in Ver. 8. THE EPISTLE OF JUDE. 179 Est vis quKdam the minds of people a singular admira- MPs^'sihi'toSat tion and veneration to themselves, join- in hnmiiiuin ani- ed with fear. To this purpose speaks JUaSn aSra. the prophet concerning Nebuchadnez- llnSeln.Wcum'^' ^^^ '■ " ^he ^ost higl^ ^°^ S^''''^ Ncbu- utraqiie conjunc- cliadnczzar majesty and glory : and for Gj?h'."de''lllag. the majesty that he gave' him, all P"'- people, nations, and languages trembled and feared before him," Dan. v. 18, 19. And more particularly, this dignity or glory appears, (1.) In those glorious titles wherewith magistrates are dignified and adorned above others. Hence they are called " kings," Luke xxii. 25, " princes," ^latt. XX. 25, great men, " rulers," Rom. xiii. 3; Gen. sli. 43, " powers," Luke sii. 11, " governors," 2 Chron. xxiii. 20, " nobles," Jer. xiv. 3, " mighty ones," Ezek. xxxi. II, "captains," 1 Sara. ix. 16, "chil- dren of the Most High," Psal. Ixxxii. 6, " the sons of the mighty," Psal. Ixxxix. 6, fathers, anointed, sa- viours, and, as the upshot of all, gods, because they are from God, and ought to be for God : they are ap- pointed by him, and to be employed for him ; they stand in the place of God, and are his vicegerents on earth, and have a particular charge and power of executing the judgments of God among men. " Ye judge not," saith Jehoshaphat to his judges, " for men, but for the Lord," 2 Chron. xix. 6. (2.) In those endowments and qualifications where- with God has adorned them for executing their offices ; God never bestowing employments without H lavit ■ or endowments. Saul being chosen king, quod ante erat' is Said to have another heart give.n him, SfcorreBafe""'- 1 Sam. X. 9. He had those heroic gifts Abui. Aiiiuset and kingly abilities of wisdom, valour, buii. Hug. Car. &c., iufuscd iuto him, which enabled &t'baiTqma"^.i lii°i 'o discharge his place of govern- •sinas q'uaesierai, mcnt. Hc who formerly sought asses, jam de regni dis- ^ i • ^i i .. ' v r posiiione cogiia- now Spent his thoughts about preserv- ht. Greg. jjjg jjjg kingdom. ^Vhen David was anointed king by Samuel, it is said that the Spirit of God came upon him, 1 Sam. x%-i. 13, which fur- ' nished him with gifts, as of sanctification, wherewith though formerly endowed, yet possibly not in so great a measure as now, so of regimen and govern- ment ; and, it may be, of prophecy and poetry. Numb. xi. 17; 2 Kings ii. 15; Exod. xviii. 21; Deut. i. 13. (3.) In that due respect or honour which is yielded to them. This is, first, Internal ; consisting, 1. In an honourable opinion and high estimation of them. Despising and thinking evil with the heart, will make way for despising and speaking evil with the tongue : the people thought David worth ten thousand of them. It was Korah's sin to think, for else he had not said as he did, that Moses and Aaron were no more excellent than the rest of the people. Numb. i Xvi. 3. 2. This internal honour stands in a reverent and awful fear of them ; a duty which we owe to our I parents, either by nature or analogy. Lev. xix. 3. Secondly, External; as, 1. To rise up when the 1 person of the magistrate is in presence. Job xxis. 1 8. 2. As in most countries, to uncover the head. 1 3. To bow the body, 2 Sam. xxiv. 20 ; the knee. Gen xli. 43. 4. To stand, Exod. xviii. 13; 2 Kings r V. 25. 5. To be silent when he speaks, and to at- tend, Job xxix. 9, 10. 6. To use words of submis- 1 sivcness, as Gen. xlii. 10, they call Joseph, My lord, and themselves his servants, ver. 13. 7. To obey, ! Josh. i. 16, though in the Lord, Eph. vi. I. 8. To pray for the magistrate, 1 Tim. ii. 1 , 2. • yy p^,j^ , (4.) Lawyers and politicians mention ' Rtp'ui., 1. i!<-. 10. sundry ^Hi-a OTa;ViriQ, blaspheming, or "speaking evil of you." So Rom. iii. 8, KaGwg ^Xaacjirniovfitda, " as we be slanderously reported." And here in this place the word is spoken concerning defaming, or speaking evil of persons in authority ; a sin with which the seducers are in this place charged ; they being such, who, because they could not by the power of their hand remove and displace magistrates, would do their ut- most to blast and abuse them by the poison of their tongue. This sin of speaking e\'il of dignities may be several ways committed. Sometimes more secretly, by whispering only, or libelling, for fear of censure : scandals of governors have seldom any fathers ; they kill, and make no report ; they steal away reputation. Sometimes more openly, and before any, promis- cuously : and both these ways of evil speaking may be in a way either of murmuring, or of mutinying. Of murmuring. When the people are in any distress, oft the first stone of com- "hT aff«fii°"aot plaint is thrown against the magistrate, piomeriiomini- The Israelites want water, and they promptum'estin pray not to God, but murmur against (je'iJJfcKi.'et' Moses, as if he had made the waters aniun sui acer- bitter, and the wilderness dry. It is a ilit'li eS!"' kingly condition to deserve well and J'"|''J- p"'-^'- hear ill. If men prosper never so much, they only applaud themselves; if they suffer never so little, they murmiir against their rulers. Of muti- nying. Sometimes men so speak evil of magistracy, as to raise up evil against them. Muimurers offend out of impatience, mutineers out of envy : by the former, governors are taxed for not taking enough ; by the latter, for taking too much upon them. Numb. xvi. 3. Though Moses's command was a burden to him, yet was it an eyesore to others, Korah and his company. This sin offends both by uttering against rulers things false and evil : thus Absalom unworthily tra- duces his father's government, by telling the Israel- ites that there was no man deputed of the king to hear them, 2 Sam. xv. 3 ; and Shimei cursed and reviled David, by calling him a bloody man, and a man of Belial, 2" Sam. xvi. 7. And by uttering things true and good, falsely and evilly, as sometimes, though reporting, yet lessening, extenuating, and detracting from their good actions, or depraving them as done of bad intents, for bad ends, or in hypocrisy ; by un- covering their secret infirmities, by amplifying and aggravating their ftiults ; affirming that miscarriage to be deliberately done, which was done rashly; or presumptuously, which was done weakly, &c. • The sinfulness of this e\-il speaking appears several 180 AN EXPOSITION UPON Ter. S. ways. (I.) By its notoriously thwarting and op- posing tlie evident commands of Scripture.* " Thou shalt not revile the gods, nor curse the ruler of thy people," Exod. xxii. 28; Eccl. x. 20; a text cited by Paul himself. Acts xxiii. 5, who there, as I hum- bly conceive, apologizes for himself for his sudden and unadvised expression, in calling the high priest a whitcd wall ; the words ouk fiStm not signifying, I knew not, absolutely ; but, I wist not, I considered not, I heeded not, I took not sufficient notice how he was the high priest : q. d. In my haste I termed him whited wall, which term, I confess, might well have been spared, not because it was false, but not fit, nor consonant to that which is written. " Honour the king," 1 Pet. ii. 17. " Render to all their dues," &-c., " honour to whom honour," Rom. xiii. 7. The will of God, against all pretexts imaginable, should be the end of all strife. (2.) Because the speaking evil of dignities is the speaking evil of God himself, who ordained them. If he who mocketh the poor, then , „ . much more he who rcvilelh the ruler, Imapinem Uei , ii'-n^i -n •■•. rex gesiai. id- rcproacrieth ms Maker, rrov. xvu. o. am;.nHus"si?sf I" the Contempt of magistrates God ac- non piopti-i se, counts liimsclf coutemued : " They have et funttionis sua not," saitli God to Samuel, "rejected '^^''^- thee, but they have rejected me," 1 Sam. viii. 7. And this was the true cause why God was so angry with Miriam and Aaron, who spake against Moses : " Wherefore were ye not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?" Numb. xii. 1, 8. To speak against him whom God appointed and set on work, is to speak against a great one indeed. (3.) By the punishments inflicted upon such revilers, which are evident in the example of Miriam, Absalom, Korah, &c. All princes are not like Peneri? '"'"""' Titus, the delight of mankind, who Nciiome iiiMqui gaid, Nouc Can reproach me, because I tesl.llropierea do nothing that can be reprehended ; Suoarepr'e&i and thosc thlugs whlch are spoken of nieieaiur : e.i me falsely, I altogether neglect : for driiie "iKTunim-, Tibcrius, when Paconius had scattered g-^^rsusneghso. rcproacliful verses against him, wrote to the senate to appoint severe punish- ment against him ; and although many princes have remitted the injury as offered to their own persons, yet as prejudicial to the good of the commonwealth, they have, and that deservedly, punished them. And however princes themselves have spared such railers, yet God would not suffer them to go unpunished, as in the case of Shimei, whom, though David spared, yet God spared not. (4.) This speaking evil of magis- trates is a spreading evil, hurtful to others : the re- viler kills many with one shoot; himself, speaking wickedly ; the ruler, whom he accuses unjustly ; his hearer, who listens to him credulously. A reproach- ing tongue, being, though worst to himself, yet hurt- ful to those who hear him : and who knoweth how great a fire the tongue of one reviler may kindle ? Lev. xix. 16 " a Seldom such a pedlar opens his pack taleiijarrr." ' VaT of warcs but some or other will buy. fitker up and No music IS SO swect to niost, as to hear ''°"°- well of themselves and ill of their rulers. People's hearts and ears are commonly tinder and touchwood, presently taking fire when any spark of defamation flies from the fire of a reviler's tongue ; and how great a flame such a spark may kindle, we may see in the cases of Absalom and Sheba. Obs. 1 . Great is the audacious extravagancy of an unmortified tongue. James, chap. iii. 6, calls it a " fire ;" and here we see it aspires like ^jtuu^m^f' fi''^> and moves upward, and fastens upon such things as were much above it. Peter saith these seducers " are not afraid to • See p. 175, concerning the sin of despising domiaioa. speak evil of dignities," 2 Pet. ii. 10: the tongue set on fire by hell below, fires even upon those which are called gods, and are in the highest and most eminent degree. " The tongue speaketh proud things," Psal. xii. 3. " In the mouth of the foolish is the rod of pride," Prov. xiv. 3. In which place the fool's tongue may either he termed a rod of pride, which for proud speaking shall whip the fool him- self; or else a rod which by the fool's proud speak- ing whips and lashes any other. The Septuagint read it. The fool's tongue is (SaKrijpi'a iJ/Spfiif, a rod of reproach ; and some conceive in using the word "iisn Gr. pajiliov, (according to some,) Solomon al- ludes to the custom of magicians, who by their rods were wont to do their magical exploits and false miracles of transforming, metamorphosing, and changing the shapes of things, Exod. vii. 12; as if these proud railers by the rods of their tongues, their revilings and slanderous moused Tra'ifeT reproaches, laboured to metamorphose ;uinrrat; levner ^1 - 1 ■ ii 1 transit, sed eravi- and transform men, making tire lionour- ter unit ; levuer able to appear base, the learned most re^iSfliorai"™ illiterate, and the upright most dis- fardevoiat, aique 1 . mi ■! c 1-1 I, i • adeo facile violat honest. The pride of the heart is charitaiem. most frequently discovered by the ,'^fp"cust™' ''° tongue. Rabshakeh threatened he would make them " eat their own dung." The tongue threatens God himself : " I will ascend into the heavens, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God," Isa. xiv. 13. " Talk no more exceeding proud- ly," saith Hannah, 1 Sam. ii. 3. " They set their mouth against the heavens, and their tongue walketh through the earth," Psal. Ixxiii. 9. " Our tongues are our own ; who is lord over us ? " Psal. xii. 4. The tongue, though small, opposes the greatest. It was a gracious care of David to take heed to his tongue, Psal. xxxix. 1. Man's glory, his tongue, must not be employed against God's glory, or the magistrate's, here called glories. The tongue, of which we had not the use till we had the use of reason, was never appointed to be used without reason, for pride and passion. He who made the tongue soft and pliable, all flesh, without a bone in it, teaches us that it should not be harsh, rugged, and proud in its expressions : the double rail or hedge of the teeth and lips shows that this wild beast is very unruly, James iii. 8, and that it ought to be kept in. The best way to keep i the fire from breaking out at the chimney, is to quench the coals upon the hearth ; a I cool and humble heart will abate the '"""°^„'^"°"''' 1 heat of the fiery tongue. Obs. 2. Dignities lie open to the lash of the tongue. The more eminent the person, the more censured ' is his action : the highest towers are most frequently blasted with lightning ; nor power, nor innoccncy can protect from imputations. The fire of the tongue dares touch even laurel, which lightning (they say) never blasts : the sword of the mouth will adventure even upon the mouth of the sword. When Saul was chosen, and carried and lifted up with highest accla- mations, the sons of Belial despised him, 1 Sam. x. 27. It is a vain ambition to expect the good word of all. It is an equal weakness to be proud of the ap- plause, and impatient under the reproaches of the multitude : the care of all, especially of governors, should be rather to be worthy of honour than to re- ceive honour, rather to be honourable than honour- ed ; and not so much to seek quiet abroad, as in themselves and the conscience of their upright and sincere endeavours. It is better to deseiTe well, and to hear ill ; than to deserve ill, and to hear well. Obs. 3. Magistrates should take heed of blemish-'; ing their dignity, and losing their glory. The apos-i tie here calls them dignities or glories. And to' Ver. 8. THE EPISTLE OF JUDE. ISI maintain their glon-, it is not enough to be magni- ficent and outwardly pompous in their attendance, apparel, diet, buildings, &:c., but let them show them- s-clves dignities in their entrance into their places, and in their deportment when they are entered. (1.) For their entrance, let it not be sordid and un- worthy, in the way of suing by friends, money, &c. Such should be preferred, not as would have places, but such as places would have. Olives, vines, tig- trces refuse their honours ; brambles catch hold on preferment. Saul's modesty in hiding himself when chosen king, detracted not from his dignity when he Cum omnia fa- accepted it. It was a high commenda- lereiut impi-Mre tion of Tlicodosius the emperor, that crtt'at'u't irape-'' when he had done all that could make '""='■ him worthy to rule, he would do no- thing that he might rule. The worthiest to govern, are they often who think themselves unworthiest. Fo .ligniorerat Let Christ herein be the pattern, who q.i. ma:;isse humblcd himself; but he left his ex- niun.''''ii.'e'r'''m altation to his Father. How is dig- LiMiaph. Nepot. j,;ty debased, when they are advanced, not who deserve best, but bid fairest ! when money makes the magistrate, and shall pro\-ide prefer- ment for him who is not at all fit for that ! What M cinder is it to see that they who buy their places dear, should afterward sell justice dear also? (2.) In their deportment when they are entered. Let magis- trates keep up their glory, [1.] By wisdom and under- standing ; if no Christian, much less must a magis- trate, be a child in understanding: a fool cannot be harmless. A king in our English expression im- ports as much as cunning, or knowing, from the old Saxon word koening. Wisdom makes a man's, espe- cially a magistrate's, face to shine : wisdom and ma- gistracy cast a reciprocal lustre upon one another. Solomon's wisdom made him more glorious and sought to than his wealth. It was a notable speech of our Henry the First, A king without learning is but a crowned ass : that creature is but contemptible under the richest ornaments. If a ruler's calling hinders him from the study of many coramendable parts of learning, yet let it put him upon such studies as are necessarily requisite to the understanding of govern- ment : " The wisdom of the prudent is to understand his way," Prov. siv. 8. To preserve dignity, a magis- trate in his place must carry himself, [2.] Courageous- ly. Solomon's throne was beset with lions, not with apes. They who oppose vice, had need of heroic spi- rits : cowards are fitter to be slaves than rulers. A magistrate in his own cause should be as flexible as a reed ; in the cause of God, as stitf as an oak. A timorous ruler is a hare in a lion's skin : all dare med- dle with him, who dares meddle with none. And it is just with God, that he should sutfer by the subjects, who dares not make their sins sutfer by him. [3.] Let dignity be upheld by the hatred of covetousness, base and filthy lucre. How unseemly is it for a golden spade to dig in a dunghill ! for the robe of an emperor to stop an oven ! Let not those who are called gods grovel in the earth : what is not cheap to him, to whom money is dear ? How unfit is it for a magistrate to soar high in respect of his place, and at the same time, like the kite, to have his eye fixed upon the dunghill, or carrion ! It is the judgment of God against covetousness, that they who follow gain as their god, shall yet account another a base miser for doing so. It was a noble speech of Themistocles, who seeing a precious stone upon the ground, bid another take it up ; For thou, said he, art not Themis- tocles. [4.] To preserve dignity, let magistrates carry themselves usefully, industriously, for the public good. There is a near conjunction between dignity arid dtity. The shadow of honour attends upon the body of service. It was a true speech of the wise old counsellors to Rehoboam, " If thou wilt be a ser\-ant to this people," &c. " they will be thy servants," 1 Kings xii. 7- The tree which is most deeply rooted flourishes and spreads most ; and the person who is most deeply and lowly engaged in seri'ice, shall best flourish and spread in renown. Empty are those titles which are only obtained by birth, retinue, and favour, &c. The titles of most illustrious, excel- lency, right honourable, &c. bestowed upon an un- profitable governor, are but nicknames and upbraid- ings for his not being what he should, and is said to be ; and as unduly given him, as the names of whole- some drugs are put upon empty boxes in the apothe- cary's shop. [5.] Let dignity be upheld with piety. Holiness is the lustre of all other accomplishments, and the most lasting foundation of honour : " They that honour me will I honour." If religion at the bar make the profane magistrate to tremble, much more may religion on the bench dismay a profane offender. When the lusts of wicked subjects make them willingly reproach religious rulers, their con- sciences shall make them unwillingly honour them. Never did those magistrates long preserve their own names, who suffered God's to be profaned. The greatest potentate on earth cannot be loose and un- godly by authority ; their place will not bear them out in it. Religion is no disparagement to magistracy. How needless, how unsuitable is it for great ones to fear nothing more than to have a name to fear God! 06*. 4. How highly is God provoked, when he makes these dignities and glories unglorious ! It is no small offence that puts the Lord upon pouring con- tempt upon princes ; that makes him stain the pride of their glory, and cover it with shameful spewing. When Manasseh shall be fettered, Jehoiakim be g broken idol, " buried with the burial of an ass," and the signet upon the right hand plucked thence, and thrown on the dunghill, Jer. xxii. 19, "24, Nebuchad- nezzar turned into a beast, &c. ; when the Lord deals thus with rulers, they should look beyond a rebel- lious, headstrong people: they have yiegotium cum Deo : their work is to look inward and upward, to study what their sin has been which has incensed God to debase that which he commands all others to honour. If the Lord suffer people to cast off the yoke of their obedience to princes, surclj' princes first cast off the yoke of obedience to God. " They who despise God shall be lightly esteemed," 1 Sam. ii. 30. If it be the Lord who subdues the people under princes, Psal. x\-iii. 47, it is he that subdues princes under their people. It is God who "stilleth the noise of the seas, and the tumult of the people," Psal. Ixv. 7. If he remove the banks and bounds of his protection, the proud waves both of seas and po- pular tumults will overflow the highest mountains. If at any time princes are overborne by such an over- flo\\"ing scourge, let them examine themselves whether they have not transgressed the bounds of God's com- mandments ; whether if God deal with them as with Saul, Manasseh, Nebuchadnezzar, Zedekiah, Jehu, Jeroboam, they have not, with them, been disobedient, idolatrous, proud, and oppressive. The alterations of governors and governments peculiarly belong to God's prerogative royal. He " ruleth in the king- dom of men, giveth it to whomsoever he will, and setteth up over it the basest of men." And the put- ting of proud princes and people upon a holy and humble consideration hereof, which can never be, unless not only his bare permission, but even his po- sitive working, and such as flows from his effectual ordmalion, be acknowledged, is clearly intimated in Scripture to be one main end of the severe dispens»- 182 AN EXPOSITION UPON Ver. 8. tions of providence, in pulling down governments and debasing dignities, Dan. iv. 17. 06s. 5. It is lawful for magistrates to preserve their authority by a certain external, though decent and moderate, pomp and majesty. They may lawfully use and receive titles of lionour, and have attendance, apparel, buildings, diet, suitable to their dignities ; the Spirit of God here calls them dignities, or glories. Paul gave to Festus the title of " most noble," Acts xxvi. 25. God himself has cast upon rulers a beam of his glory; honour and majesty hath God laid upon them, Psal. xxi. 5. " The most high God," saith Daniel, "gave Nebuchadnezzar a kingdom, and majesty, and glory, and honour," Dan. v. 18, 19. Faithful and godly Joseph, when advanced, was adorned with Pharaoh's ring and a gold chain, ar- rayed in vestures of fine linen, riding in the second chariot which Pharaoh had, they crying before him, "Bow the knee," Gen. xli. 41, 43. Jude here puts dominion and dignities together. Magistracy decked with dignity, is oft hated and envied ; and stripped of dignity, is always scorned and contemned. The fomenters of anarchical confusions well know this, who endeavour to overthrow dignities that they may thereby destroy dominions. Nor yet ought magis- trates to please tliemselves with titles and dignities, empty of that goodness and worth which should ac- company and adorn greatness ; they should not so affect the title, as to neglect the thing and work of which their titles admonish them. Glorious titles and dignities, contradicted by a wicked and undue deportment, proclaim equally both the sin and shame of those upon whom they are cast. To conclude, though rulers should be honoured, yet not adored ; they should so endure to Proliilfiti sunt nitilediti, nnn idis iiwi'oran ' ^^ acknowledged the people's superiors, Aug. q. ii6. in £xod. as to fear to be accounted God's equals. Soon was Herod the food of worms when he patiently endured to have his voice cried up for the voice of God. Historians mention the sacri- legious impiety of Domitian, who would Dom!'c'Vi3 ^^ called by the people. The lord our god. To these may be added the proud usurpations of the pope, who exalts himself above all that is called God, who pretends to pardon sin, and to be the head of the church ; and of those princes that have taken the title of most mighty, most invincible, &c. Obs. 6. It is our duty to be cautioned against tlat- tering governors. They are dignities and glories, but should not dazzle our eyes into a sinful winking at their sins. Though they are not to be reviled, yet neither soothed when they offend God. What ill have governors deserved at our hands, diri"runt'nonS t^at wc should, instead of friends, be yiiioruMi inieau- their flatterers ? and that they only of all the men in the world should be without friends, that is, reprovers ? We must honour them instead of, not against God : " Say unto the king and queen,' Humble yourselves," Jer. xiii. 18. More than once we read that Samuel reproved Saul, 1 Sam. XV. 28; nor did Nathan spare David, 2 Sam. xii. 1 — 14; or Elijah Ahab, 1 Kings xviii. 18 ; or Isaiali Hezckiah, Isa. xxxix. 6 ; or the Baptist Herod, Matt. xiv. 4. The danger of flattering rulers reaches be- yond themselves. The soothing of such in sin is the casting of a bag of poison into a common fountain serving for the use of the whole city. Nor yet ought the reprehending of public persons to be practised without mvich prudence, lest by it the disease be rather irritated than cured. Singular was the wis- dom of Nathan to draw the sentence of David against himself out of his own mouth, 2 Sam. xii. 5 — 7; 1 Kings XX. 39. Nor do all sorts of faults require the same severity in reproving: some sins are warts, others are ulcers ; some are secret, and then the plas- ter should not be broader than the sore, the repre- hension more open than the offence. Care is to be had lest reprehension degenerate into sedition ; preaclicrs for conversion should have another aim. In short, in every reproof, difference is to be put between the person and office of the magistrate ; the dignity of the office should not suffer for the vices of the person, nor should the vices of tire person be spared for the dignity of the office. This for the specification of the faults of these seducers, which was the first branch in the first part of the text. The second branch of this first part of the text follows, viz. the aggravation of these faults, in that the apostle saith, that these seducers sinned " likewise also." In which two words the apostle ex- presseth a twofold aggravation of their sins. The first stands in the harmony or consent between the sins of these seducers and the wickedness of those who went before them ; they sinned " likewise." 2. The second stands in the obstinacy of these sinners in their impieties, they sinning „. .,. i, 1 ,, -ri 1 -i . ••! Similiter tamen. " also," or, as Beza reads it, notwitli- standing tliey knew the forementioned severe judg- ments which had befallen the former sinners for their impieties. 1 sliall but briefly touch upon both these by way of explication, the difficulty not being great, although the matter contained in them profitable. 1. The harmony or consent of these seducers with former sinners in their wickedness is expressed in this word 6/ioiwg, likewise ; a word importing as much as those words in the seventh verse, where the apos- tle saith that the cities about Sodom and Gomorrha did o/ioiov ToiiToii; Tfioirov, in like manner give them- selves, &c. If it be demanded wherein that agree- ment or consent which was between these seducers and former sinners consists ; it is answered by some, that the apostle did not intend that these seducers walked precisely in the same particular sins in which the forementioned sinners, the Israelites, angels, So' domites, had lived ; or that they traced them nari TTola, step by step, in every several sort of wicked^ ness, but only that they were in general very grievous and heinous sinners, as those of old were, giving themselves with them over to all manner of impiety. But comparing the practice of these seducers with the sins wherewith the Israelites, angels, Sodomites were charged, as also considering the word " like- wise " most properly imports such a connexion of this verse with the former, as is intended that these seducers imitated those former sinners in those very sins which were before by the apostle mentioned, ver. 5—7 ; I conceive it may be best answered, that the agreement here mentioned by Jude between the former and latter sinners, was an agreement in the same sins for sort and kind ; and that he intends, as the Israelites and angels proudly refused to yield due obedience and subjection to God ; the former rebelling against God who governed them immediately, the latter despising that government which he exercised over them by his servant Moses ; and as ,,.,„,.„ ,„ . . ,„ | 1 (-. 1 • • T 1 1 /.i 1 • Videtur Jtidas la- the oodomites sinned by sensual filttii- .licare Gnosiicos ness and carnal uncleanness, in like s^m'il-'s'.'qu'asf'' manner did these seducers " defile the fem'"i'rni'iai'cnl''r*' flesh, and despise dominions," &c. And vid.Jusiimaa yet 1 douljt not but the apostle in this '" ''^■ word " likewise " insinuates a farther agreement be- tween these former and latter sinners ; and that was in the same piunishmeiit which was likewise to fall upon those who lived in the same sins for whicli they of old were punished. The second aggravation of the wickedness of these Ver. 8. THE EPISTLE OF JUDE. 183 seducers is taken from their obstinacy in sinning, contained in this expression, fiivrot, "also," or notwith- standing; noting that these seducers sinned, although they well knew what judgments of God had befallen the forementioned sinners for the very same sins of which they were guilty. These angels, Israelites, Sodomites had been whipped (as it were) before their eyes ; God had laid them before them for a hly/ia. as Jude spake before, an example to them who after should live ungodly, ver. 7. These judgments were as a buoy before the anchor, to prevent the dashing of future generations against the same destruction. Yet these seducers sinned notwithstanding these judg- ments of God upon those of old, Rom. i. 32; like a thief, so mad upon cutting a purse, that he commits that offence even under the gallows whereon one was newly hanged for the same fault. Obs. 1. Great is our pronenessto follow corrupt ex- ample. Of this before, p. 160. Obs. 2. There is a proneness to sin in every age of the world. Israelites and Sodomites before, and these seducers afterward, provoke God. A doctrine that puts the godly both upon a holy contention against, and contentation under the iniquity of their times ; they should be both patient and zealous : patient, to show their submission to God's providence ; zealous, to preser^"e their own purity ; they must shine as lights in the midst of a crooked generation, Phil. ii. 15. Even the godly are as ready to savour of the follies of their generation, as waters to receive a twang from the earth through which they run. Obs. 3. The wicked agree in snining; they run together into the same excess of riot, 1 Pet. iv. 4. Hand may join in hand against holiness. This unity is but conspiracy, it is against unity. God's people should be ashamed of their divisions even by the ex- ample of sinners. Obs. 4. Greatest severities are in themselves insuf- ficient to work upon sinners. These seducers sinned notwithstanding the punishing of the same sins for- merly. What a calamitous catalogue of judgments do we find mentioned by Amos, chap. iv. ! and though all of them had been inflicted upon the people, yet did not the punished return to the Lord. They turn not, (saith the prophet,) " to him that smiteth, neither do they seek the Lord of hosts," Isa. ix. 13. And Lev. xxvi. 39, it is not threatened only as a judg- ment, that the people should be carried into their enemy's land, but, which is far worse, that there they should pine away in their iniquities ; though their liberties, estates, lives were consumed, j-et their sins outlived them, and remained. Their iniquities did not pine away in them, but they in their iniquities. The prophet Hosea compares them to a foolish child, that stays in the place of breaking forth of children, Hos. xiii. 13. Men may be in troubles, and yet rather die there than seek by repentance to be delivered ; like as tlie prophet in that passage uses the comparison of a foolish child, which though in a dark, stifling womb, there continues, though to the destruction of itself and mother. There is an insufficiency in all outward dis- pensations to change the disposition of the heart : the back may be broken, and yet the heart remain un- broken. Though de^Hls be thrust down into and tor- mented in hell, yet they ever continue proud and un- reformed. Ahaz trespassed the more the more he was distressed, 2 Chron. xxviii. 22: judgments may irri- tate, not remove sin j they may make us fret and rage by stopping us in a way of sin, as a dam makes the torrent the more to rise and swell, but they cannot turn or dry up a stream of corruption. Resistance occasions it to break forth afterward with the greater violence. Great wounds cannot work in us good wills: unless grace inwardly renews us, as well as troubles outwardly restrain us, there will be no true turning to God. The more God stopped Baalam in his way, the more mad he was to be going on. A man who is stopped in the street with a cart, is not made thereby out of love with his journey, but the more re- solved to go on the faster afterward. It is a singular mercy when an affliction is wrought into us : if God has a mind to do us good, he will make us good by all our troubles. This is the depth of misery, for God to say, Let him that is filthy, notwithstanding his wash- ing, continue so still. Consider in every trouble thy work is with God, and that not only to observe him sending it, but to beg his blessing upon it. Beseech him that no wind may go down till it has blown thee nearer thy haven, to take off no plaster till thy sores are healed ; pray not so much with Pharaoh, to have the frogs, as with David, to have thy sins, taken awaj'. Calamities are then removed in mercy, when sancti- fied before thev are removed. Love me ,.- „ . „ , ,. not, Lord, said Augustine, with that love de via, sed quo wherewith thou puttest one out of the "^"■'■■'gis dev.u.n. way, but reduces! him that is wandering. Thus we have explained the first part of this verse, ^^z. the faults wherewith these seducers were charged, both in their specification and aggravation. Now follows, II. The fountain from which these faults issued, intended in this expression, " filthy dreamers." In the explication of which I shall show in what sense the apostle here gives these seducers this title, and the sin and misery in being such as this title imports. "The word here interpreted " filthy dreamers," in the Greek is iwimaZo^tfoi, signifying ■EwTrMocrT^t properly such who are dreaming in sleep. somniator. Beza renders the word sopiti, such who are fast or sound asleep, in a deep, dead sleep. Erasmus and Vatablus, delusi in somniis, such who ,^^^ .. . are deluded in dreams. The Vulgate it'^'uax^J-r'^'i wholly omits the translation of the word; "'"?"="''• '*''*'• but the word properly signifies such who in their sleep are dreaming; and thus Joseph is called iwn- viaarriQ, a dreamer ; and in Acts ii. 1 7, it is said, " your old men " ivinrvia ivvirvianiijaovTai, "shall dream dreams," importing likewise thus to dream in sleep. And these of whom our apostle here speaks may be termed dreamers in sleep, either in a proper or in a meta- phorical sense. If, (1.) In a proper sense, then these seducers were dreamers in their natural and bodily rest and sleep : thus they, mentioned Acts ii. 17, dreamed dreams in their natural sleep ; and thus Gagneius, Vatablus, Salmeron understand this place ; as if the apostle had intended, that „ , these impure seducers put forth and ex- hbuio usque ad pressed their filthy lustfulness in their 3°pn';,'',"„*?j;j;" very dreams, when they were asleep, ppiiutiones. i Thus likewise our own learned interpret- " " ' ers understood this dreaming in sleep, as is plain by their rendering the word ivvKviaZ,6fiivoi, by " filthy dreamers," as conceiving that these seducers in the/ unclean dreams had defiled and polluted their bodies when they were in their natural sleep ; not that the word ivvTTvialo^ivoi admits of the interpretation of filthy dreams by the force of its own signification, for in Acts ii. 17 it is used in a good sense, namely, of holy and pure dreaming; but the foresaid interpreters were pleased so to refer this word to the following expression, viz. " defile the flesh," that they inter- preted it of that dreaming in sleep wherein these se- ducers defiled their bodies by nocturnal pollutions, Lev. XV. 16. A strong inducement hence may be gathered for every one to hate that odious and, I fear, too common a sin of self-pollution, and to keep their hearts with all diligence from those impure 184 AN EXPOSITION UPON Ver. 8. thoughts in the day-time, which may otherwise make them filthy dreamers in the night ; and when they go to sleep, to beseech God to keep the key of their imagination, that it may not run out into dream- ing impurely. But secondly, others, and those the most, better in- terpret this dreaming of which Jude speaks meta- phorically, or in a borrowed sense ; conceiving that the apostle here in calling these seducers dreamei's in Bleep, compares them to such ; and that, In respect of sleeping, and of dreaming in sleep. I. In respect of sleeping, these se- "'"septulg""'" ducers may be compared to dreamers in sleep ; they were spiritually drown- ed, overwhelmed in a deep, sound sleep of sin ; such a deep sleep as the prophet mentions, " The Lord hath poured upon you the spirit of a deep sleep," Isa. xxix. 10, a dead and midnight sleep. " Let us not sleep as do others," 1 Thess. v. 6. " While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept," &c., Matt. XXV. 5. This spiritual sleep in sin is threefold, as divines observe. (1.) That natural sleep whereby every one is overtaken, and is both unable and unwilling to move himself to the least super- natural good till God awake him by his Spirit, and efiectually say imto him. Awake, thou that sleepest, and stand up from the dead. (2.) That slimiber, or the remains of that natural sleep in the godly, con- tinuing in them even after they are awakened out of their dead sleep of nature ; they being hereby oft overtaken with spiritual slumber, by reason of the relics of sin still abiding in them. This the spouse acknowledges, " I sleep, but my heart waketh," Cant. V. 2. (3.) The third is a judicial and penal increase of that natural sleep, and that deadness of heart, by the custom and continuance in sin. This is properly that forementioned deep sleep, Isa. xxix. 10, poured upon the impenitent Jews ; and this last is that which is here attributed to these seducers. And in two respects may such sinners be compared to men in a deep sleep ; in regard of the causes, and the etTects of sleep. [I.] The causes of sleep. I. The sleep of tlie body comes from obstruction and binding up of the senses by vapours which arise out of the stomach ; so the spiritual fumes of worldly cares and desires obstruct the senses of the soul ; therefore our Saviour speaks of being oppressed, or overcharged, with sur- feiting and drunkenness, Luke xxi. 34. Prosperity is a vapour, which if it overcome not, yet weakens the brain, as strong waters do. This was the cause of David's, Solomon's, and Asa's sleep. 2. Sleep ariseth from weariness and want of spirits ; and there is a weariness causing spiritual sleep, namely, that which arises from too much expense of the strength of the soul upon other matters, impertinences that concern not its true happiness and welfare. 3. Oft sleep comes from want of exercise ; and when there is a cessation from spiritual exercises, prayer, hearing, sacraments, meditation, there follows a spiritual sleep : these are the fuel of grace ; and he that will not ex- ercise himself to godliness, 1 Tim. iv. 7, shall never keep himself long awake. 4. Sleep may come from sleepy yawning and slothful company ; the company of spiritual sluggards causes spiritual sleep. Cold, formal persons cast a damp upon the heat of others ; frozen company derive a spiritual iciness ^d.um?' Am'lsi' into Ae souls of those who converse much with them. 5. Some are made to sleep by singing and music ; and many by the flat- teries and sinful soothing of false doctrines, of liber- tinism, or Arminianism, &c., and by the unfaithful- ness of those who dare not reprove for, but soothe in sin, are cast into a spiritual sleep. [2.] Sinners may be compared to men in a deep sleep, because of the eflects of sleep; and that in respect, 1. Of their want of shame and bash ful- ness in sin ; they who are asleep, though naked, yet blush not : these seducers proclaimed their sin like Sodom. They could not blush, saith the pro- phet, Jer. viii. 12 : a blushing colour is not the colour of such impudent ones. 2. Of their unarmed- ness and liableness to danger. In sleep, the most precious thing men carry about them may be taken away without resistance ; they suffer that to be loose which they held fast before, be it ever so rich a jewel. Sisera was slain in his sleep, and Ishbosheth ujion his bed, and in spiritual sleep men suffer the precious jewel of truth, and the profession thereof, to be wrung from them, and may be robbed of all that good which they had. There is no temptation, sin, or judgment but a sleeping Christian is exposed to; he is a field without a fence, a city without a watch, he hinders no invader, he is ruined without resist- ance. In the approach of judgments, he is naked ; he makes not the name of the Lord his strong tower, he cannot act faith to close up himself in the wounds of Jesus Christ. The people of God in the midst of troubles are above them, whereas wicked men, though without trials, are ever exposed to them ; they fence their estates, families, Sec, not their souls. 3. In re- spect of unactiveness, and being without motion. Men in a deep sleep are without sense and motion : wicked men act not, move not holily ; what they do they do without delight ; they are summer-sluggards, harvest-sleepers ; though the work be great, there is no working. A sleeping sinner works not out his salvation, he ofTers no violence to the kingdom of heaven, he strives not to enter the strait gate, he wrestles not in prayer, he lives as if he had nothing to do in the world ; heaven is not his business : he is, but he lives not ; he is a spiritual drone, a mute, a cipher, a nullity, a superfluity in the world ; like Jeremiah's rotten girdle, or bad figs, Jer. xiii. 1 — 12; xxiv. 1 — 10; or like Ezekiel's vine branches, weak and unfruitful, good for nothing but the fire, not fit to make beams or rafters of, Ezek. xv. Such a kind of rest as this to a saint would be his greatest un- quietness ; unserviceableness is a kind of hell upon earth to a godly man. 4. In respect of unwilling- ness to be disturbed, stirred, or disquieted. Men dis- posed to sleep desire to be alone ; they who are spiritually sleepy avoid such company as would rouse them from their sloth ; they compose them- selves to rest, draw the curtains, put out the candle, are afraid to be disquieted by the light ; they are loth to do what they know, and to know what either they do or should do. " They that sleep," saith the apostle, " sleep in the night," 1 Thess. v. 7 ; they are angry with the word and ministers, because they will not let them sleep quietly in sin : such as will let them alone in sin, and never disturb them, are the quiet, honest men; they will not endure wholesome words, sound doctrine. 5. And especially in respect of insensibleness, stupidity, blockishncss. Men in a deep sleep feel nothing that is !Evi.irwai:outi,i)i, done to them. Inis 1 conceive Jude lidi at miinnis principally aims at, for " likewise also," oi',m"5'"insus'ha- or notwithstanding, saith he, they knew '"•''<■"' p""'us so- PIfOS XJGZii In the judgments of God upon others, yet foe. still they sinned, they slept : so sense- pS;l;,ln!.''Se^,ia'i; less and stupid were they ! their con- i'"'«i. m n™ «ii- sciences were seared with a hot iron, fceunaie. a qua 1 Tim. iv. 2, " past feeling," Eph. iv. alirn^mTni's,''"' 19, bound up by a deep beuumbedness somnus puciniem 11 L ' ■ *l ■ *l i. et sensiiin tollat. caused by custom m sin: this was that Loim. m lot. deep sleep poured upon them by God, Ke«cvTr,o,air. like that which befell Adam, whereby w""'- Ver. 8. THE EPISTLE OF JUDE. 185 ija^^x^i^x 10. though a rib was taken out of him, yet Rcm'xi.B! he perceived it not; like that also of "w""'"" Saul, Sisera, and Jonah. The apostle K like a trumpet make them prepare for a battle. (3.) They are insensible of the stirrings and joggings given them in their spiritual sleep, the most faithful admonitions of friends. A rebuked scorner hates both rebukes and rebuker ; though oft reproved, he hardens his neck. (4.) They are insensible in this their sleep of being uncovered and stripped of their clothes ; yea, of being wounded and maimed by God's severer strokes and bloody stripes. Though the water-pot and spear be taken from the bolster, yet they stir not. Like the hen, which loseth now one, by and by another, then a third chicken, till the kite have almost snatched away all her brood ; and yet she follows her scraping and picking as eagerly as ever. They regard not the works of God ; when the hand of the Lord is lifted up, they will not see. Though grey hairs be upon them, they know it not. 1. They are insensible who wounds, they think not of the hand of God in the miseries that befall them, they consider not they have negotium cum Deo, to do with God, when men hurt them ; all their study is how to avenge themselves upon or reconcile them- selves to the instrument. 2. They are insensible why they are wounded, of sin the deserving cause ; they, neither looking upward nor inward, are not driven by what they feel to consider what they have done ; no man saith. What have 1 done ? They search not after the Jonah when any storm arises : every thing shall be blamed sooner than sin ; though there be many a foot-print of punishment upon thtm, they trace not the foot, the sin that made it. 3. They are insensible of the way to cure their wounds ; they turn not to the Lord their God for all this. They are like a foolish child, that stays " long in the place of breaking forth of children," Hos. xiii. 13. They had rather stifle themselves in the womb of sin and punishment, than come forth by repentance. They turn not to him that smites. They use every way to remove punishment but the right, so that they " pine away in their iniquity," Lev. xxvi. 39 ; and though their books were torn, yet their lessons are not learned. 2. These seducers are compared to dreamers in sleep, in regard of their dreaming ; that is, their vain, false, empty imaginations, dotages, doctrines, which. in the end, like dreams, deceived themselves and their followers. A dream, when a man sleeps, seems to have truth and reality in it; but when he awakes, it quite vanishes awav. He who utters his own fool- ish conceits and vain delusions, is, in common speech, said to dream, and to speak his own dreams ; and thus these seducers, instead of the truths of God, vented their own fables and groundless fictions, fancies, and dreams. In this sense Epiphanius un- derstands the apostle Jude, when he ui'il''u"i" ^uv calls these seducers " dreamers :" Jude l^^,^"Z^"^ ^i. speaks not, saith he, of them who dream- tmi. pnunra, nii ed in bodily sleep, but of such as utter ^^p,°,;:"i't \iVIJ?' their words like them who dream, and "if"- . - . , , , 1-^1 ^L Oif nfpnrts tivvn- not like those who speak witn the so- v.nVecut \hei , briety of such as are awake. To the l°'l,!"^°'^\,iiMoi,r same purpose speaks Irenseus likewise, aijC'v -rp^if^iiut lib. 1. cap. 20. They put off, saith he, iiia. Cmf. gangrene, it creeps by degrees. The '■ ^' ''' ^' deceitful modesty of sin, by asking little at first, quickly entices us to more. Small beginnings usher large proceedings. One bit draws down another. As every good work increases our ability for obedi- ence, so every sin leaves upon the soul a readiness for further disobedience. The not resisting the first in- clination to sin, makes way to stupefaction by sin. He who dares not wade to the ancles, is in no danger of being swallowed up. (4.) Labour for faith in threatenings. Restrain not belief only to what God has promised. Let faith comprehend all truths in its vast bosom, and overcome all the improbabilities that seem to keep away judgment, as well as those that seem to keep away mercies. Noah was not drowned in a deep sleep of sin, and in a deluge of waters, with the old world ; and the reason was, faith taught Noah to fear, and fear, that watchful grace, prevented feeling, Heb. xi. 7. Faith makes a man solicitous for a while, Ver. 9. THE EPISTLE OF JUDE. 189 and safe to eternity. Naturally we are more moved with fear than stirred with hopes. (5.) Vigorously and constantly exercise thyself in godliness. Never think thou hast done enough. Think not thy work is ended till thy life is ended. Take heed of remissness in holy duties. Fer\-ency of spirit is by the apostle joined with serving of the Lord, Rom. xii. U. Let the tempter ever find thee employed. " The night comes when no man can work," John ix. 4 ; but as long as the day lasts no man must loiter. As sleep causes idleness, so idleness causes sleep. Strive to attain to the highest pitch of grace, and yet ever be working as if thou wert at the very lowest : " Forget those things which are behind," Phil. iii. 13. Take heed of turning thy spur into a bridle, namely, of making that former practice of holiness, which should be an inducement to thy further active progress, a hinderance from proceeding therein. All the steps we have taken are lost, if we give over before the race is run. (6.) Keep company with waking Christians ; such as neither dare sleep in sin themselves, nor suffer any to sleep who are near them. In the sweating sick- ness they say, that they who were kept awake by those who were with them escaped ; but their sick- ness was deadly if they were sufl^ered to sleep. The keeping one another awake is the best fruit of the communion of saints. The apostle speaks of pro- voking one another to love and good works, of ex- horting or calling upon one another, Heb. x. 24, 25. (7.) Watch over thyself in the use of such things as are in themselves lawful. In lawful things there is least fear, and therefore most danger. More perish by meat than by poison; because every man takes heed of the hurtfulness of the latter, and fears not any harm by the former. Satan lies in ambush be- liind our lawful enjoyments. Christ was once lost at a feast, and oft since in worldly abundance. Pros- perity never waked any out of sin. It is as hard to be full and watchful as to be empty and contented. Sobriety and vigilance are put together. Take heed lest the vapours of sensual enjoi.'ments overwhelm thee, Luke xxi. 34. Let the things of this life be thy solatia, not thy negolia ; thy refreshments, not thy employments ; iLse them as the things, not for which thou dost live, but without which thou canst not live. They who are inclined to be gross in their bodies should use much exercise ; and tliey who have abundance in the world should take mucli pains with their hearts, lest while they get the world they lose their God. Verse 9. I'et Michael the archangel, when contending with the deiil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee. These words contain an aggravation of that heinous sin wherewith our apostle had charged these seducers in the foregoing verse ; their crime was, their speak- ing e\-il or blaspheming of dignities : the greatness of this sin the apostle evidences and evinces by com- paring it with the contrary meek and humble car- riage of the " archangel," even towards the worst of creatures, the " devil " himself. This comparison the apostle first propounds, ver. 9, wherein he describes the meek and humble carriage of the archangel towards the devil in his contending with him ; and secondly, he accommodates and ap- plies it to these seducers, ver. 10. L In the comparison propounded in ver. 9, there is intimated a threefold amplification of the sin of these seducers, by comparing it with the deportment of the archangel. 1. In respect of the persons compared: and this branch of the comparison is double. (1.) Between a chief angel and vile men. If Michael an angel, an archangel, durst not rail, how impudent and proud are men, dust and ashes, to adventure to do so ! (2.) Between magistrates and the devil. If he did forbear to re^^le the devil himself, the enemy of God and his church, the worst of evil ones, and one who was his inferior, how great was their sin who would speak evil of magistrates, called gods, and set up by him, as those to whom they ought to be in subjection ! 2. The second branch of the comparison whereby their sin is amplified, was from the different cause about which the angels and these seducers were em- ployed. The cause for which the archangel con- tended was good, clear, and righteous ; namely, the burial of " the body of ISIoses;" a work very good, whether we consider the authority of him who en- joined it, God himself, or the end of the injunction, the preservation of the people from idolatry. But the cause which these seducers had undertaken was wicked and sinful, considering that it was the blas- pheming of that order which was instituted and ordained by God himself, and by his special command to be highly honoured and esteemed, Tit. iii. I ; Rom. xiii. I ; I Pet. ii. 17. 3. The third branch of the comparison, whereby the apostle heightens their sin, was the different car- riage and deportment of the archangel towards the de\-il from that of these seducers toward magistrates. The archangel reasons humbly, and disputes ; the seducers peremptorily determine the question, pass sentence, and give judgment. The angel commits his cause to God, and appeals to him for redress and re- lief; the seducers are judges in their own cause, break their bounds, detract from God's authority, and usurp his throne. The angel in the fervour of contention, when most highly provoked, was patient and himible ; these, provoked by none, rage and re\'ile. These are the particular branches of the comparison set down in this verse. If it were needful, before I handle the several parts of the verse, to premise any thing by way of vindi- cation of it, and the whole Epistle, from the exception of those who allege that the Epistle is not canonical, because the contention about "the body of Moses" is not mentioned in Scripture, but was only a tradi- tion ; I might answer, 1. With learned Junius, the substance of this his- tory is mentioned in Scripture ; therein we finding that the Lord buried Moses, and that " none knoweth of his sepulchre unto this day," Deut. xxxiv. 6 ; so that it is plain that the body of dead Moses was buried by God, i. e. either by his own immediate power, or by the instrimiental power of an angel, as seems from this place most probable, and also that the par- ticular place of his burial was altogether unknown to men and devils. It is true, the Scripture mentions not circumstances, either a contention of Michael with the devil, or the carriage and expressions of either party in that contention. But therefore, 2. Though these passages here set do\ra by Jude are not expressed in the sacred story, yet it is suf- ficient for us that they are now by the apostle, who was led by the Spirit of God, inserted into holy writ. Possibly, as Rivet notes, this story was not delivered to the apostle by tradition, but revealed to him by the Holy Ghost. Some indeed say it was taken out of a certain (uncertain) "^p- »«!►. '• S- book, called the Ascension of Moses, 190 AN EXPOSITION UPON Ver. 9. anil mentioned by Origen. Others, th^t it was handed by tradition from generation to generation. But granting either of the two last, is the Divine authority, either of tliis passage or of the Epistle, tlierefore to be doubted ? By the same reason sundry other places of Scripture must be questioned. Frequently the Spirit of God in the Scripture sets down that as done in former stories, which was not at all there mentioned, as Jannes and Jambres withstanding of Moses, 2 Tim. iii. 8; Jacob's worshipping on the top of his staff, Heb. xi. 21 ; Moses saying that the sight upon the mount was so terrible, I exceedingly fear and trem- ble, Heb. xii. 21 ; that Joseph's feet were hurt with fetters, and that he was laid in irons, &c., Psal. cv. 18. Yea, how ordinarj- is it for the penmen of Scrip- ture to make use of sentences taken out of heathen poets ! as that of Menander, 1 Cor. xv. 33, " Evil communications corrupt good manners." Of Epimc- nides. Tit. i. 12, " The Cretians are always liars, evil beasts, slow bellies." Of Aratus, Acts xvii. 28, " In him we live, and move, and have our being." The Spirit of God, which could sanctify passages taken out of heathens, and make them canonical, might do the like by this relation or tradition, if it Were so, of the archangel's contention with the devil, and by in- ducing the apostle to insert it give it the stamp of Divine authority, and so render it to us most certain and infallible. By this we at once answer both those who reject this Epistle, because Jude brings an ex- ample from tradition, no where recorded in Scripture ; and likewise the papists, who offend in the other ex- treme of excess, from hence pleading for a liberty in the church to join traditions with the holy Scripture : whereas they can neither prove that the apostle had this story by tradition ; for why might not the Spirit of God reveal to the apostles what had been done before in ages past, as it did to the prophets what should be done afterwards in ages to come ? nor that it is law- ful for us to do all that the apostles might, who, as Rivet well notes, did many things by a 474'' "A'»!si.!ii singular and peculiar right, wherein '{l""fis""';"'!"'t i>°"6 either ought or is able to imitate in'qu'ii'us'nem'o them. Tliis premised brieflv, I come pofestMsimtori. to the words of the verse, \vherein we have three parts considerable. I. The combatants ; " Michael the archangel," and " the devil." II. The strife and contention itself; set down, 1. More generally; so it is said they contended. 2. More particularly ; and so it was a disputation about the body of Moses. III. The carriage of the archangel in this con- tention, which was twofold : 1. Inward, in respect of his disposition, set down negatively ; he " durst not bring a railing accusation." 2. Outward, in respect of his expression, set down afhi-matively ; he said, " The Lord rebuke thee." I. The parties contending, " Michael the arch- angel," and " the devil." In the explication whereof, we shall consider. First, " Michael the archangel," who is described two ways, or from a double name. 1. Of his person, and so he is called Michael. 2. Of his office and place, and so he is called an archangel. The name of his person is Michael. This name signifies, who is as, or like, or equal to God. But who this person should be, learned men agree not. Some conceive that the Son of God, the second person of the Trinity, is licre called Michael : others, that a holy and created angel is here by Jude intended by the name of Michael ; and that as by the name of Ga- briel, so likewise of Michael, a certain angel is to be understood. And that this latter is the true opinion, eeems to me undeniable for these reasons. 1. Be- cause Michael, Dan. x. 13, is called one of the chief princes, that is, of the chief angels or arch- angels ; but how this can fitly be spoken of Christ, I understand not, whom we must not account one of the number of the angels, but one without, or rather infinitely above that number or order, even the om- nipotent Creator of angels as well as men. Col. i. 16. 2. An angel, ver. 21 of the forenamed chapter, de- scribing the difficulty of his work, tells Daniel that there was none that held with him or strengthened him but Michael. But this expression , (as learned Gomarus notes) seems to Dei niiiisuaoia- he unfitly applied to Christ, because V,"oni'^'ii''cii''° there can be no greater strength named loi"- 1- p- "17. than that of Christ, whose power is in- ^ '^'"'"■'■'■^'■"'r- finite. To say. There is none with me but the Son of God, seems a harsh expression ; he who has the Son of God to stand by him wants no other. 3. Jude calls this Michael an archangel : but as we never read in Scrip- ture that Christ is called an archangel, or a chief, or the chief angel ; so, 1 Thess. iv. IG, we find that Christ and the archangel are manifestly distinguished, the apostle saying that " the Lord shall descend from heaven with the voice of an archangel." 4. It seems also to be very unmeet to say of Christ, that he durst not bring against the devil " a railing accusation," Christ being the Lord and Judge of devils, and whom he shall at the last day condemn to eternal punisli- ment. Yea, we find that he passed judgment upon him, and pronounced him a murderer, one that has no truth in him, a liar, and the father of a lie, John viii. 44; a sentence which the angel, here disputing with the devil, though he had just cause, yet durst not utter, he only saying, " The Lord rebuke thee." 5. The apostle Peter speaking of this very matter, and aggravating the sin of these seducers by this humble carriage of their superiors, plainly speaks not of Christ, but of the holy angels ; he saying thus, " Whereas angels, which are greater in power and might, bring not a railing accusation," &c., 2 Pet. ii. H. Nor does the argument drawn from the significa- tion of the name Michael, prove that by Michael we are here to understand the Son of God. This word Michael, by interpretation, (say some,) is qui iicut Deus ; and, according to them, imports one that is as, or equal to, God, a name which cannot agree to any creature. But it is answered, that the particle 'C in the Hebrew is not here to be taken relatively, as signifying one who; but interrogatively, who is? and it is ever in Scripture so taken, when used in expressions wherein the name of God is celebrated ; as Exod. XV. 1 1, " Who is like unto thee ?" &c. So Psal. XXXV. 10, " All my bones shall say, Lord, who is like unto thee ?" So Psal. Ixxi. 19; Ixxxix. 8; Isa. xliv. 7; Jer. xlix. 19; 1. 44. And thus the giving of this name Michael to the creature, is no dis- honouring of God, by making it equal to God; but rather an advancing of j';;;„';™g|f;"J„^- God, by a humble confession or acknow- ain-natm iiiius a ledgment of the matchless majesty of ' that glorious God whom none can equal. And hence, as the name Micaiah is imposed upon one who was a holy prophet, so this name Michael is in Scripture frequently found to be imposed by the people of God on their children. Numb. xiii. 13; 1 Chron. v. 13 ; yea, Jehoshapliat gave this name to one of his sons, 2 Chron. xxi. 2; per- I'ieri potKt^ut haps in token of thankfulness for that zi-ium. nomeii id glorious victory which in his reign God |,';;|'eT^."'£'o? '"' bestowed upon him and all Judah, 2 Chron. xx. And possibly for the zeal of this angel in vindicating the glory of God was this name Mi- chael given him. 2. Tliis first party contending is described by the Ver. 9. THE EPISTLE OF JUDE. 191 name of his office and place, and so he is called the archangel. It is here demanded, 1. Whether he was the only archangel, the chief of all the rest of the i angels, or only one of the archangels, or chief angels ? , 2. AVherein this principality and superiority stands ? Questions whereof the Scriptures, and therefore we ought to, speak sparingly. 5"or the first. The Scripture speaks not any where of archangels in the plural number, nor of more than one archangel. " The Lord himself shall descend from heaven with the voice of the archangel," 1 Thess. iv. 16. Some conceive, that as there is one chief of the evil angels, called the " prince of the devils," who are called " his angels," " the devil and his angels," Watt. XXV. ; so likewise that there is one chief or principal among the good angels, and that he is this ilichael ; and thus they understand that place of Rev. xii. 7, where " Michael and his angels " are mentioned as fighting with the devil and his angels. And divers of the popish schoolmen account tliis " Michael the archangel " to be superior to all those three hierarchies and nine orders of angels, one whereof, they say, is that of archangels, which they boldly affirm to be in heaven. (2.) The second question. Wherein the superiority and pre-eminence of this archangel stands ? is more difficult to resolve than the former. The schoolmen following Dionysius, Gregory, and others, ground- kssly assert that the angels are distributed into three ranks and hierarchies ; and that each of these three contain three several orders. The first of the three ranks and hierarchies, they say, comprehends cheru- bims, seraphims, and thrones ; the second, dominions, principalities, and powers ; the third, mights, arch- angels, and angels. Nor do they only show their boldness in ranking and dividing them thus into these three hierarchies and nine orders ; for how can they precisely assert that they should be thus mar- shalled in rank and file, distributed and divided after this manner, and that there are just so many and no more order3 of angels ? but they presume to tell us the reasons of all these several appellations, and to set down the several properties and offices which are allotted to all these orders of angels w'hereby they are distinguished among themselves. The seraphims, they say, are so called because they are inflamed, and inflame others, with extraordinary and ardent love to God. The chembims are named from their excelling in the light of knowledge. The thrones are those who contemplate and adore the judiciary equity and righteous judgments of God. And the angels, those who are contained in this first classis or order, are never sent forth (a bold assertion, and contrary to Scripture, which saith, " They are all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation," Heb. i. 14) upon any ministry or employment, but their work is only to wait immedi- ately upon God. In the second rank and hierarchy they tell us, that dominions are those that govern and order all the offices of the other angels. Principalities, such as are set over people, and provinces, nations, as their keepers and princes. Powers, such as are to restrain and keep under the powers of devils. For the third rank, they dictate, that those upon whom they put the title of mights, have the working of miracles ?'!."rnh''i*oi''' for their employment ; that archangels are messengers employed by God in matters of greater and weightier concernment, and angels in lesser business. How audacious the vanity of these assertions is, how much without, yea, against the warrant of Scripture, it is evident by the naming of them. Where find we in Scripture that seraphims are cither a certain or the first order of angels, and tiiat they are so called from their ardent love of God ? There is nothing attributed to these seraphims in Isa. vi. 2, where they are mentioned, which may not agree to all the rest of the angels ; nor can it thence be proved that they are called seraphims from their ardent love to God. The word seraphim r;.^-,•^, in the Hebrew signifies tinrpijarag, iiicen- sores, such who set on fire. It is a name given to the fiery serpents, Numb. xxi. 6, 8 ; and it is much more probable that they are so called, not from their office or inward gifts, but from the external likeness in which they appeared. As Ezekiel, i. 13, speaks of the living creatures, that their appearance was like burn- ing coals of fire, and like the appearance of lamps. Nor can it be proved from the signification of the word cherubim, that they are so called from their great knowledge ; for though some (indeed) say the word cherub signifies, as a multitude (which yet must be far fetched, to import ^''^iT.'J^j',;.'^'" the abundance of their knowledge) ; yet others more probably conceive that it signifies, as young men, or intimates their appearance in a winged shape ; and so indeed by the command of God they were shadowed out, Exod. xxv. 18. Nor are they less mistaken in making the overseeing and ruling of provinces the work of principalities ; for if any such thing belong to any angels, it may be with more pro- bability attributed to the archangel Michael, who, according to some learned men, is said to be, under Christ, the prince of the Jews. This opinion they found on Dan. x. 21, where he is called "Michael your prince." It is generally conceived by ouj more learned and modest interpreters, that those several expressions of thrones, dominions, principalities, powers, Eph. i. 21 j Col. i. IG ; Eph. iii. 10, do not signify purely the same thing, but divers orders and ranks of angels ; and this they prove from the dis- junctive particle or, put between thrones, dominions, principalities, powers ; and also from that place of Dan. x. 13, where Michael is said to be one, or the first, of the chief princes ; likewise from the title of an arch or chief angel. Lastly, because there is an order among the de^-ils wliich they lost not with their integrity at their fall. But what and wherein this order among the angels should consist, and how they difler, they modestly profess they dare not de- termine ; that it is curiosity to inquire into, and rash- ness to define this secret ; that this is a learned ig- norance : and herein Augustine joins with them, who saith. How those names of angels diffijrlet them speak who are able, if yet S.^rtoXllbu"- thev are able to prove what thev speak : '"■ Jicantqui pos- I profess my ignorance herein. And smitprobareq.iod this by way of explication of the first f^^^Xn^^^^Zl. party here contending, "Michael the fi'e"r. Enthinj. archangel." It follows that we .speak of the second, who is here said to be " the devil." 2. Of the word devil, in the Greek ?ia'/3oXof, I meet with sundry interpretations among the learned. Some, as Gerson and Bonaventure, say that the word sig- nifies falling, and tending downward ; „ ceorsum and the devil, say they, not being able jl'"-"'- . to keep up in his former height of glory Magnificat' and excellency, but compelled to de- ^p"n"?'dist.kq. i. Sii'nd from it, is not to be moved from Dicius esuiiauo- , . ,. V.,1 1 ■.! Ins. quia nt-orsum his malice. Others also, witli more hu^,,. ei tx hoc wit than strength, say that tlie word ;;'„;,':.;;y|l,';'»Di,. diabohi^ comes from dia, which they tn.im non vaiens , , ] t I ■ conscen'lere, sea sav is as much as two, and bolus, si^- compuisusde- nif)-ing a draught taken up in a fisher s |^JSmj'us°',',n, et net, because when the devil draws man invi.inexMiie'o- iiito his net, he makes of him, as it "'* "J"^- were, a double draught, by destroying both body and soul. The ordinary and true derivation of the word is from ^lajSa'-Uu to slander, calumniate, and falsely 192 AN EXPOSITION UPON Ver. 9. to accuse; and hence the appellative name of devil is often in Scripture used for any false accuser: thus Judas is called devil, " One of you," saith Christ, " is a devil," John vi. 70. The wives of deacons must not be Sidi3o\oi, slanderers, 1 Tim. iii. 1 1 ; and the apostle speaks of some who are treacherous, false accusers, or devils, &c., 2 Tim. iii. 3. So Tit. ii. 3, concerning the aged women he saith, that they must not be false accusers, or devils; in which sense some understand that command of Eph. iv. 27, Give not place to the devil, or to any false accuser, or slander- er, who shall come with slanderous reports against another ; the apostle giving that precept as a direc- tion to the observing of what went immediately be- fore ; namely, that the sun should not go down upon our wrath. False accusers being makebates and kindle-coals between persons, are to be opposed and resisted. More especially, the word devil is taken for an evil spirit, or angel. Matt. xiii. 39 ; Luke viii. 12; Acts X. 38; xiii. 10; 1 Pet. v. 8; 2 Tim. ii. 26, &c. ; and yet more especially the term de\'il is at- tributed to the chief or prince of devils, called so by way of eminence. He tempted Christ, Matt. iv. 1. He and his angels fight with Michael and his. Rev. xii. 7. See Matt. xxv. 41. Thus it is taken here. And clear reason there is why Satan should thus be called a slanderer or false accuser. Some say, be- cause of his accusing of God to man, and that prin- cipally by that first accusation, wherein he accused God of falsehood, by saying, notwithstanding what God had threatened, that they should not die ; and of envy, by telling them that God knew that in the day they did eat thereof they should be like gods. And this is the opinion of Justin Martyr, in that excellent exhortation of his to the Greeks : The u'roi'ZiJ'TdJ" Scriptures (saith he) call that enemy !h,ep«,^„vi,r,- of mankind the devil, from that first Parajn. ad Grac. slander or calumny which he brought ^' "" " "'■ to man. And thus he is still a slanderer, laying his accusations sometimes against God's jus- tice, persuading sinners that God allows them in their sins, so driving them to presume; sometimes laying them against his mercy, persuading those who are humbled that their sins are greater than can be forgiven, so driving them to despair ; sometimes against his faithfulness, omniscience, &c., frequently against his providence, making men believe that God has no care of the ordering and governing of things in the world ; the good are miserable, and the wicked happy. When Christ was on earth, he was accused by the devil to be an impostor, that cast out devils by the help of Beelzebub, &c. Falsely did he accuse God to Christ, by clipping his word, and perverting the Scripture to a pernicious sense. 2. He is (according to others) called an accuser for accusing man to God. This is the opinion of ■n- k„i „■ • Lactantius. The devil, saith he, is naioiein voca- Called an accuscr, because tor those very quSi criin!n"hi faults to which he tempts and allures us '''ilil'^im d'eierV ^^ accuscs US, by laying them before iliict. 111.. ?. In-' God. " The accuser of the brethren is sill. cap. 8. g^g(, [lo^j^ru^ which accused them before our God day and night," Rev. xii. 10. He objects things before God for the disgrace and hurt of the godly. Thus he accused Joshua the high priest for his sins noted by filthy garments, Zech. iii. 1,3. As also Job, for self-seeking. Satan spies the least sins in them, these he aggravates, and for them pleads their unwor- thiness of the least mercy : the sins which in them are weaknesses, he represents as wickednesses ; the sins which they condemn in themselves, and for which they condemn themselves, he lays before God to have him also condemn them for them, claiming the jus- tice of the law, and the execution of the curse, against and upon them. This accuser diminishes, wrests their best actions, as if performed to a wrong end, and hypocritically; thus he accused Job of serving God only for wages, hereby representing all his services to be void of sincerity. In nothing is the malice of Satan so clearly discovered as in accusing the godly before God. For, (1.) Hereby he shows his desire to do them the greatest hurt, which is to bring them out of favour with God, to separate them from their only friend, by being a tale- bearer and slanderer : "He accused them " «"TnjupS» before our God," Rev. xii. 10. And, (2.) Such is his malice, that he will endeavour that which he can but endeavour, and never efiect; yea, in the undertaking whereof he is sure to miscarry. Oppose them he will, though hurt them he cannot, and is sure to hurt himself; putting forth his poison, though he have no power ; accusing saints before a God who sees the falseness of his accusations, whose power, justice, and mercy ever makes him rebuke the accusing devil, and pity the accused saints, Zech. iii. 1 — 3. And in respect of this accusing the faithful to God, I conceive that Satan is principally called our adversary, 1 Pet. v. 8, in the original, avriSiKog ; a word that properly signifies an adversary, pleading or contending against another before a judge in judg- ment ; in which sense it is used Matt. v. 25, " Lest thy . adversary," uvtHikos, " deliver thee to the judge," &c. : Ml so Luke xii. 58, " When thou goest with thine adver- ll sary," fierd rov cIvtiIUov, " to the magistrate ;" so that when the apostle calls the devil our adversary, he in- tends that he is our adversary by way of accusing us before the Judge of heaven and earth. And very fitly may this our accuser be called an avriSiKog, or adversary in judgment, because he who contends with another before a judge commonly labours to pervert his cause by slanders and false accusations, which (as hath been said) aptly agrees to this our adversary ; and hence it may be, that when the Septuagint meet in the Old Testament with the Hebrew w'ord Satan, an adver- ' sary, they translate it by the Greek word SidpoXoQ, ii false accuser, 1 Chron. xxi. 1 ; Job i. G ; Zech. iii. 1. 3. Our enemy is here called the devil, or false ac- cuser, because he accuses one man to another ; stir- ring up hereby strife and contention between man and man : and as sometimes he accuses the godly to ■ one another, as plain-hearted Mephibosheth to David | (his devilish stratagem in these times) ; so most com- monly he accuses the godly to the wicked. Thus he accused Joseph of incontinency, David of treason, Daniel of disobedience, Elijah of troubling Israel, Jeremiah of revolting, Amos of preaching against the king, the apostles of sedition, rebellion, alteration of laws ; Paul was accused as a pestilent fellow, and one that taught against the law of Moses; Christ himself was accused of gluttony, sorcery, sedition. And how skilful a master he is in this hellish art of false accusation, appears in that he accuses the faith- ful, though never so innocent, devising what he cannot find, Jer. xviii. 18; nay, not only though they are, but even because they are holy ; for the matter of their God, for praying, hearing, fasting, keeping sabbaths, preaching the truth. He accuses them oft by those who are tied to them by dearest relations ; David of injustice by Absalom. He accuses all the godly for one man's offence, " Thus they are all," &c. ; nay, for a personal failing in one or two he accuses the wdiole religion itself ; railing against the sun be- cause one has stumbled in the sunshine. He has an art to accuse for that of which he and his are most guilty ; thus he accused Joseph of incontinence, Elijah of troubling Israel, Christ of being an enemy to Ca;sar; yea, of that to which the accused are most Veb. 9. THE EPISTLE OF JUDE. 193 contrary, as in those instances appears, accusing even the sun of darkness. And God hereby makes their in- tegrity more apparent, either here or hereafter. Slan- ders are but as soap, which though it soils for the pre- sent, yet it makes way for wliiteness. The sun of their good fame shall break out gloriouslj' from under the cloud of slanders ; God will " bring forth their righteousness as the light, and their judgment as the noon-day," Psal. xxxvii. 6 ; yea, which is the greater advantage, the smutchings of slanders shall brighten the graces of God's people, their humility, peace, watchfulness, faith. The tongues of sinners are but as brushes or rubbers to fetch off the dust which is but too ready to fall upon the graces of saints. The devil is Satan, and therefore he is a devil ; he is an adversary to Christ, to holiness : what will not malice say ? Now Christ is gone beyond Satan's reach, he throws the dirt of slanders upon his pictures, and on them most which are fairest and most resemble him. He loves to trouble them in their way whom he can- not hinder of the end. The devil is a serpent, and therefore he is an accuser ; he has subtlety to invent, as well as malice to utter his slanders. He is the god of the world, and has the tongues of wicked men at his command; if he saith to one. Go, it goeth, &c. He has found the successfulness of this engine of accusation, he has murdered thousands with it, and thereby ever brought religion into suspicion and dis- grace ; he has many receivers, he will therefore thieve away the names of saints ; his calumnies easily enter, and hardly depart. 4, This adversary may here be called a devil, an accuser, because he accuseth a man to himself and that in two respects: (1.) He makes a man think better of himself than he should ; tells him he is going to Dothan, when he is going to Samaria ; that the way to hell is the ready way to heaven. As Ab- salom told the people flatteringly, " Thy cause is good ;" so he, Thy case is happy ; strangling them oft with a silken halter. (2.) He makes men think their estate worse than it is, by stretching the sins which he has drawn them to commit beyond all the measure of mercy and possibility of pardon, to bring the sinner to despair. Thus he dealt with Cain and Judas. He who once told men they might repent when they would, and it would be time enough hereafter to call for mercy, now affrights them with apprehensions that the day of grace is at an end, and that it is too late to make their peace with God. He who was of late a tempting is now a tormenting de\-il. Hitherto of the explication of this first part, the parties contending; the observations follow. Obs. 1. The higher our eminence is, the greater should be our humility. The more glorious any one is for endowments, the more humble should he be in beholding them. This eminently glorious angel, this archangel, has humility stamped upon his name; by it he does not ask, Know you not who I am ? or, AVho is so great as I ? but, Qm.i si'cut Dominus, Who is like the Lord ? The more thou art above others in the height of place, the more shouldst thou go beyond them in the grace of humble-mindedness. Humility is an angelic grace. No creature so high as an archangel, no creature so humble as he; and the highest is the humblest angel. None so low as the devil, and none so proud as he : the devil tempts Christ to worship him ; the archangel worships Christ. "We must, though high, take heed of high- mindedness. "When we shine most with outward glory, we must not know- it ; know it we must, so as to be thankful, not so as to be proud. What have we that we have not received ? The more we have received, as the greater shall be our account, so the greater should be our acknowledgment. They who partake of most gifts do but proclaim, like beggars, that they have oftenest been at the door of mercy. When any great performance has been wrought by us, we should fear to arrogate the praise thereof to ourselves; herein imitating Joab, who when he had as good as taken Rabbah the royal city, sent mes- sengers to David to come and complete the conquest by taking it fully, lest the city should be called after his name, 2 Sam. xii. 27, 28. He knew the jealousy of kings in point of honour ; he wisely might re- member, that attributing more thousands to Saul than to David, though but by female singers, had almost cost David his life. God is jealous of his honour, he will not give it to another, nor might any one take it to himself. Ois. 2. The highest dignity is to be much in duty. In this word archangel here is equally both com- prised superiority and ser\-ice : an archangel is in English but a high and supreme messenger or waiter. The ser\ice of God is the glory of the highest angel. How poor a creature would Michael have thought himself, had he not been a messenger to Christ ! It is well observed by some, that angels are more frequently called by their name of office than of nature; oftener angels than spirits; as if they more delighted in their being dutiful than in their very being. And a saint is as thankful that God will deign to be his master, as a sinner is proud tlftit he can make men to be his own servants. Theo- dosius, the good emperor, esteemed this the highest of all his titles, Ultimus Dei servus, The lowest seri-ant of Christ. A person is truly so honourable as he is useful. Paul's glory was not that he had ruled and domineered, but laboured, more than they all ; yea, in the meanest services for Jesus Christ ; not in planting of and preaching to churches, or in governing them only, but in stripes, prisons, journeys, weariness, perils, hunger, thirst, cold, nakedness, 2 Cor. xi. 23 — 25. The meanest service about a king is honourable. Many think the glory of a minister or magistrate consists in great revenues, fat benefices, large incomes, shining retinue ; but ask an archangel, and he will say it is in being a sers'ant, a messenger. How unglorious is a man in scarlet, purple, gold, crowns, nay, with the most eminent and angelical parts, if he serve not Christ by all ! He is at best but like a small letter in the midst of a great em- bellishment ; where there is, though much flourish, little benefit, much hindcrance to the reader. Oh how happy we, if among us every one in eminence laboured to join the arch and the angel together ! otherwise, he who is most eminent in dominion may but prove an arch-tyrant ; eminent for riches, an arch- usurer ; eminent for learning, an arch-heretic. Obs. 3. The sovereignty and dominion of God ex- tends itself even to the highest of created beings. Even from the lowest worm to the highest, the arcli- angel, all are at the beck of the great God ; as every soul must be subject to the higher power, so every soul and power must be subject to him who is tlie highest ; he who excepts himself de- „ - ■ 1 ■ li- rr-i ^ . . ^ Qui se excipit, se eeives fiimself. Hie greatest are at decipit. Uem. God's disposal ; they must either be "'' '""^""• voluntary servants or involuntary slaves. God is the God of the mountains as well as the valleys. He is indeed the God of the valleys to fill them, but the God also of the mountains so as to be above them, to level and pull them down. No proud Pha- raoh must say, " Who is the Lord, that 1 should let Israel go?" Angels are great and high, but God is greater. Angels excel us, but God even them in strength, infinitely more than do they the lowest worm. If one angel can slay a hundred fourscore 194 AN EXPOSITION UPON Ver. 9. and five thousand, what can the Goa of angels do ? This lessons both high and low ; the highest adver- sary to take heed of opposing the high God : are they stronger than he ? If he was a fool who thought himself wiser than Daniel, Ezek. xxviii. 3, much more is he such who thinks he is stronger than God. The proudest Pharaohs, Nebuchadnezzars, must either break or bend ; God will either be known of them or on them. The great design that God had in send- ing Nebuchadnezzar from his Babel among the beasts, was, that he might learn this lesson, that the Lord " ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will," Dan. iv. 17. This is his con- troversy with us still, and never will it end till he has prevailed over us, and is seen to have the better of us. This subjection to God is that lesson which sooner or later every one must learn. The true in- terest and wisdom of the greatest potentates is to learn it here in the way, lest they perish from it. It teaches also the poorest saints : as in all their pri- vileges God will j-et be known to be their Lord as well as their Friend, and therefore will be served with holy fear ; so in all their sufferings from their proud enemies, they may say with Solomon, " There be higher than they," Eccl. v. 8. " The Lord on high is mightier than the noise of many waters, yea, than the mighty waves of the sea." The great God is their good friend ; he who has the service of angels, has good- ness and protection for them. When the strongest servant in the house beats and abuses them, the weakest child of God may say, I will tell my Father : he can and will redress every saint's injury. 06.5. 4. Great is the comeliness of order. Even angels have and love it. There are angels, and there •J hore must be a '^ One (at Icast) archangel. In hea- rii-iiani}' among vcn, cvcu amoug the creaturcs where m.,ke no good uod mimediately maniiests his pre- '""^"^- sence, there are thrones, dominions, principalities, powers ; what the difference is, we know not ; that there is a difference, we know : nay, the devil, who is the great enemy of order and go- vernment on earth, observes and upholds a kind of order and rule in hell. Even there is a prince of devils, and the devil and his angels. Though it is true, the most powerful devil is the most powerfully wicked ; nor heaven, nor hell allows of a parity ; though there is no good, yet there is some order in hell. Holy angels are no friends to levelling. They are mistaken, fanatic spirits, who think it a point of perfection to be without superiors : would they be more perfect than the glorious angels ? The truth is, they cry out for this liberty that they may be in slavery to their lusts, which government curbs ; and not so much that they hate government, the love of which is implanted in all by the light of nature, as because they hate those hands in which it is ; they would fain get it into their own ; and could they once do so, though none could govern so ill, yet none would govern so nmch as themselves who most cry down ruling. They who most oppose government in others, most desire the government over others. Evil angels, who will not be subject to God, are most tyrannical over men. Satan, who would not continue in the worship of God, tempted Christ to worship him. Order is the beauty and safety of places. They who are weary of it are weary of their own happi- ness. 06*. 5. The devil is a hurtful spirit. His work is to do mischief; his name devil speaks him a de- stroyer and wounder of names ; and all his names import misehievousness. He and his angels are call- ed eacodemons, evil angels, frequently in Scripture evil spirits ; not evil only in regard of the bad which is in them, but also of the hurt which is done by iii. IS; ; .lob xxviii. 22 ; xxvi. them. The devil is Abaddon, per- dition. Rev. ix. II ; he is perdition or f;f„',i.'""" destruction itself; not only passively, ' "" but even actively also : and as we call a wicked man scelas, wickedness, for most wicked; so is the devil called per- Afro^^t' tongue strange; nay, count it strange when this tongue is not fired upon thee. The Son of God himself was in this fire before thee, nay, is in it with thee. If the flame be hot, remember the company is comfortable and cooling. Had it been enough to have been accused, there would never have been one innocent. God indeed suffers this fire to burn thee, because thou art not pure enough ; but the devil kindles it because thou art not impure enough. It is a sign that thy tongue vexes Satan, when his tongue vexes thee. Remember that thy name is bright in God's sight, and like the sun, glorious heavenward when most clouded earthward. God takes a greater care of his servants' names than they do of their own. " \Vherefore were ye not afraid to speak against my servant Moses ?" saith God to Aaron and Miriam, Numb. xii. 8. Besides the accidental good which slanderers do thy soul for the present, by making thee humble, watchful, self-searching, there will come a time wherein they shall make resti- tution in specie of all thy stolen reputation. They stole it from thee in secret, but they shall restore it before men and angels, and that with interest. Thv innocency may be hid, ?"'*'!",'V^'l°' but not extmguished ; and lie that will- n.pa. iste noi^m ingly detracts from thy name, though T,' 'es' ™Iug." unwillingly, adds to thy reward. Obs. 7. To censure every one that is accused is tu condemn the innocent. It is not ground enough for thy censure that they are accused, for Satan may cause that ; but, if called, thoroughly sift the accusa- tion ; "judge righteous judgment," John vii. 2-1; and look not only upon the outside, but enter into the bowels of the cause. Bare accusation makes no man guilty : commonly the slanders of wicked men speak the person, and often the cause also good. Be slow of belief; hear both sides ; let both thy ears, like balances, take in equal weight. It is true, charity believeth all things, but they all are good things ; it also hopeth all things, I Cor. xiii. 7. There is no harm in suspending thy belief till proof comes. If thou shootest thine an-ow too soon, thou niayst haply hit a Jehoshaphat, dressed up by Satan in Ahab's at- tire. It is better to acquit many guiUy, than to con- demn one innocent. In doubtful cases hope the best. God went down to see, when the cry of Sodom came up to heaven, though he saw before he went down. It is good to be forward in accusing thyself, and by that time that work is well done, thy censorious cre- dulity will be cooled when thou hearest reports of others. Obs. 8. How harsh and cruel a master does every wicked man serve ! The devil puts his servants upon sin against God, and then accuses them for those sins to God, themselves, and others. He that at the first allured Saul to disobey God by sparing Amalek, afterwards drive him to' despair, by representing his sin and God's wrath when he appeared in the shape of Samuel. The sins which his temptations repre- sent but as tricks and trifles, his accusations will aggravate even to a mountainous proportion. He that in the former saith. Thy sin is so small, thou needest not fear it ; nay, perhaps tells thee is a great good; will afterwards make it appear so great an 196 AN EXPOSITION UPON Ver. 9. evil that thou canst not bear it. Though at the first he tells thee it is so small that God will not see it, yet at last he suggests it so great that God will not forgive it. The time thou now spendest in hearing his accusations, would have been better spent in op- posing his temptations. Who would serve such a master, who, instead of standing by his servants for their diligent service, will stand up before God and man against them ? While they are serving him, he is quiet ; when they have done, he pays them with ter- rors, and persuasions that they are damned wretches : and yet this is the prince of the world, who has more servants than Jesus Christ ; though he, instead of accusing for, covers sin. Oh that sinners were so wise, as in time to look for a new service, and to stand astonished at this amazing folly, that they should more delight to serve him who sheds their blood, than Him who shed his blood for them ! Obs. 9. Great should be our care to prevent false nccusations, to stop Satan's mouth, and the mouths of sinners, which are so ready to be opened against us ; to take heed that they speak not reproachfully and truly at the same time. (1.) It ought to be our care to make straight steps to our feet, seeing we shall be sure to hear of the least halting : we ought to walk circumspectly, Eph. V. 15. If wicked men will make faults, at their own peril be it; let them not find them made to their hand : though we may account such or such an error to be but small, yet the slanderous beholder will look upon it with an old man's spectacles, and to him it will appear great. The sharp weapons of slanders must be blunted by innocency. Let the matter, manner, and end of every action be good, and then God will justify, if Satan slander. (2.) Never leave integrity, to remove infamy. He that will part with a good conscience to get a great name, shall lose name and conscience too. (3.) Defend and plead God's cause against false accusation. If we be shields to his, he will de- fend ours. (4.) Let us be as careful of the names of others as of our own. Let us not receive, believe, laugh at the slanders cast upon others. Our name will be enter- tained at our neighbour's houses as his is at ours. We must open our mouths for the dumb, the absent, the innocent. (5.) Be willing the godly should reprove thee. He who will not hear a just admonition, may justly hear an unjust accusation : the smitings of friends will prevent the stabbings of enemies. Godly rebuke embraced will preserve thee from reproach and be- ing a by-word. (6.) Accuse thyself before God, humble thy soul for whatever thyself and others can allege. Be more vile in thine own than thou canst be in the thoughts or mouths of others ; and thereby fly to Jesus Christ, who will answer all accusations within or without thee ; the clefts of that Rock being the best refuge against the pursuit of slanderous tongues. Oh how sweet is it to say in the midst of slanders. Well, yet, my soul, God has nothing to lay to thy charge ! Oba. 10. False accusers imitate Satan, they are the devil's first-born, and bear his name. 'Their tongues are set on fire of hell : but of the greatness of their sin I shall have clearer occasion to speak in the third and last part of this verse, as also of the helps against it. This for the first part of this verse, the parties con- tending ; " Michael the archangel," and " the devil." Now follows, II. The strife or contention itself; " Michael eon- tending with the devil, disputed about the body of Moses." Qui hicsitat, al- terranlibiis sea- tenliis. secum SUMS! iitigatet isreptut. Bud. HI coiiimeot In the explication of this contention, I shall speak, 1. Of this combat, as it is described more generally; so here it is said that Michael contended. 2. As it is set out more particularly, in the particular case and cause in which he contended; " Michael disputed about the body of Moses." 1. More generally. It is said that Michael con- tended, haKpivofxii'oq. The word, saith vox j,„«p,v6u, Justinian, is borrowed from courts of '»■! foren>is est, judicature, and belongs to judgments ; sprTtai" 'jisiiui- SmxpivtaSai S'lKij, is to contend in judg- "" '" ''"^• ment. The word in Scripture is used several ways, and often signifies to hesitate, and stagger, or doubt, Rom. xiv. 23; Matt. xxi. 21 ; Rom. iv. 20. And the word imports a doubting with a contention : he that doubts or hesitates in a business, being by ditferent opinions drawn several ways, finding a struggling and a con- tention, as Sudeus notes, within him- self, as unresolved what course to take. The apostle speaks of doubtful or contentious disput- ations, or (as the word signifies) con- tentions of disputations, Rom. xiv. 1. :^,'"j;"S,ei?H-°" They of the circumcision (SuKpivovTo) liunes dispuiaiio- contended with Peter, Acts xi. 2. It may here be demanded. What are those conten- tions between good and bad angels ? It is answered, that they are either about things, I. Of temporal; or 2. Of spiritual concernment. (I.) About temporals, and so they contend, the good angels for, and the bad against, the outward welfare of the people of God. The good angels, like soldiers, pitch their tents about the godly, Psal. xxxiv. 7, to protect them, where Satan pitches his forces to destroy them. Evil angels strive to drive men into places of danger; the devil would have had Christ leap from the top of the pinnacle ; but the good angels keep us in all our ways, and bear us up in their hands, Psal. xci. 12; Matt. iv. 6. When Elisha was beset, the mountain was full of horses and chariots, 1 Kings vi. 17. The devil, who stirred up : Daniel's enemies to destroy him by the lions, was ; disappointed by that good angel, who shut the lions' ' mouths, Dan. vi. 22. The angels of God defended i Jacob from the fury of his brother Esau, into whose 1 heart Satan had put it to contrive Jacob's death. Gen. xxxii. 2. Satan endeavours the destruction of people j and countries ; but good angels fight for their safety. When Satan prevailed with David to number the j people, he left him fewer to number by seventy j thousand, 2 Sam. xxiv. 15. Michael the chief of thej chief princes protected the Jews against the tyranny of the Persians, Dan. x. 13. And an angel smote al hundred fourscore and five thousand which came to I destroy Judah, 2 Kings xix. 35. An angel went be- tween the Israelites and the army of Egyptians, I Exod. xiv. 19. When Satan stirred up Jezebel! to seek and vow the death of Elijah, persecuted! Elijah Wcis fed and preserved by a good angel,! 1 Kings xix. 5. Devils labour to destroy the families and estates of the godly, as in the case of Job ; the angels of God are their guard, when it is for their good, to protect them, and encamp about their persons and habitations. (2.) The contentions of good and bad angels are about spiritual things. Jesus Christ, who is the spi- ritual Head and Husband of the church, was by evil angels with deadly hatred opposed ; good angels ad- mire, adore, advance him. When Christ was in the womb, Satan would have had his mother suspected of uncleanness, so that her husband was " minded to put her away ; " but the good angel affirms, that what was conceived in her was " of the Holy Ghost." The de- vil sought to murder him in his infancy ; the good p Ver. 9. THE EPISTLE OF JUDE. 197 angels appeared in multitudes praising God at his nativity, and one directs Joseph to carry Jesus into Eg)-pt for his preservation from Herod's cruelty. The ievil tempts Christ, and tosses him from place to place. Matt. iv. ; the good angels, when he was after- ward faint and weary, came and ministered to him. The devil, through the whole course of his life, stirs up persecution and raises slanders against him, enters into Judas to betray him, and into the Jews falsely to ac- :use and crucify him ; but as one good angel appear- :d from heaven in his agony strengthening him, so Rould more than twelve legions of such, had God but given a commission, have waited upon him, and rescued him from his enemies. The devil's malice against Christ died not with him ; but to baffle the glory- of his resurrection, he suggests the aspersion of his disciples, their stealing away his body by night. The good angels attest the glory of his resurrection to those who came to the sepulchre, and afterward his ascension to those who looked toward heaven ; as- suring them also of his return to judgment. Nor is the contention of good and bad angels less about the church of Christ. The good angels rejoice at the enlargement of Christ's kingdom, the conversion of onf sinner ; and it is a pleasure to them to be present . at the public ordinances, and to look into the mystery ■ of the gospel, 1 Cor. xi. 10; Eph. iii. 10. As im- po>sible it is they should preach another gospel as to be accursed, Gal. i. 8. They further the gospel, and preserve the true worship of God, forbidding the worship of themselves. The law was given by their ministr)'. Gal. iii. 19. The angel directs Cornelius to send' for Peter, Acts x. 1 — 7. The angel brought Philip to instruct the eunuch ; invited the apostle to come to Macedonia, and help souls to heaven ; de- livered Peter out of prison to preach the gospel ; carried the sou] of Lazarus to heaven ; resisted Ba- laam in the way wherein he came forth to curse Is- rael, &c. " Michael and his angels " fight for the de- fence of the church against all the injuries of the devil. Rev. xii. But the devil is the grand adversary of souls. Evil angels labour to stop the passage of the gospel ; they put forth their power in Jannes and Jambres to resist Moses in his ministry. The devil offers himself to be a lying spirit in the mouth of all Ahab's prophets. He stands at Joshua's right hand to withstand him in his office, Zech. iii. 1 ; he soweth tares in the field, where the good seed of the word is sown. Matt. xiii. : false doctrines are the doctrines of derils, 1 Tim. iv. I. Satan hindered Paul once or twice from his journey to the Thessalonians to con- firm their faith, 1 Thess. ii. 18; he raises persecu- tion against the church ; he " cast some into prison," Rev. ii. 10. And where he cannot hinder powerful preaching, he contends to make the word sundry ways ineffectual : some he holds fast in unbelief and contumacy; from careless hearers he snatches the word ; those who hear attentively, he hinders from practising ; and of some kind of practisers he often makes apostates. 2. The strife and combat between Michael and . the devil, set forth more particularly in the particular case and cause thereof; the archangel " disputed about the body of Moses." And here, 1. What he did; " he disputed." 2. About what he did it, or the subject of that dis- putation ; " the body of Moses." (1.) " He disputed," ^uXtyero. The word signifies a , contest by argument and reason ; besides which manner of strife there is no other, say some, after which spirits can strive and contend one with another. I shall not riciiJ"p'!'i56. dispute the truth of that assertion, the mos angelicus, the manner of angcli- JoBlinian id Ioc. cal disputation, being to us so dark ; nor shall I now inquire how angels represent their minds and appre- hensions one to another in their disputations ; but sure I am, that as the arguments which this holy archangel produced against the devil to justify his action were strong and cogent, as being drawn from the revealed will of God, so the practice of disputing for convincing the adversaries of the truth, or stop- ping their mouths by arguments grounded upon that foundation, was frequently used by the apostle Paul, and to be imitated by us ; who, were our words softer, and our arguments stronger, might more convince the adversary again^ whom, and credit the cause for which, we contend, Acts xvii. 17; xviii. 4, 19; six. 9; XX. 9; xxiv. 12, 15. If it be here demanded, "Why this archangel would dispute with anincorrigible adversary? it is answer- ed. He disputed not with hopes to recover his adver- sary; but, [1.] To credit his cause. It was a right- eous cause, and was worthy of a strong advocate : though the adversary against whom we reason de- serves neglect, yet the truth for which we argue de- serves our contention. [2.] To apologize for himself. He might have been looked upon as one who resisted and opposed Satan upon bare resolution and self-will, and would effect his desire by bare force, had he not disputed the equity of his proceedings with the devil. [3.] To render the devil the more inexcusable. Though he was so far from being bettered or amend- ed by all the disputation and reasoning of Michael with him, that he was the more enraged against the truth ; yet he must needs be more clearly convinced that he opposed the righteous and holy will of God. (2.) For the subject of this disputation, it was (saith Jude) " about the body of Moses." The principal doubt in this branch is, what should be the cause of this contention and disputation between Michael and the devil about the bodj- of Moses. Various causes are by sundry interpreters mentioned. I shall re- hearse some of the most probable, and cleave to that which I conceive to be the true one. Some affirm that the body of Moses is here to be taken figurative- ly, not for that body which was buried on Mount Nebo, but for that holy priesthood about which Satan resisted Joshua, Zech. iii. I ; because this priesthood, as a shadow, was to be restored at the re- turn of the captivity, and to be in Christ truly fulfil- led, whom the apostle calls "the body," Col. ii. 17, that answered the shadows of the law. Others also, making this place of Jude to refer, though after a different manner from the former, to that „ . . - r, , ... , . x-u i V .1- Opinio myshca of Zech. 111. 1, conceive that by the fst.ui corpus body of Moses we are here to understand Sa^dsarac'syna- the synagogue or church of the Jews; gosHm Uberari the delivery whereof from the captivity boUi" Jeca'pii'Ji- of Babylon Satan, say they, opposed, and Loriif 1n^i«:""' Michael contended for. But besides the arguments which have been brought already to prove that this Michael here mentioned by Jude was not Jehovah, as was he who is mentioned Zech. iii. 1, it seems a harsh ex- pression, and no where used, to call either the Mosaic priesthood as fulfilled by Christ, or the synagogue and church of the Jews, " the body of Moses." Some conceive that this contention about the body of Moses was from Michael's endeavouring, and the devil's opposing, the honourable burial of Moses; to whom, say they, the devil would have had burial de- nied, because of his slaying the Egyptian in his life- time ; and that the devil contended that the body of a murderer belonged to him to dispose of. But this opinion seems false, both in regard of the great dis- tance of time which was between the slaying of the IDS AN EXPOSITION UPON Ver. 9. Egyptian and this contention ; as also that the devil knew either that the slaying of the Egyptian was no true murder, or, if it were, that it was forgiven by God, who sundry times after it manifested tokens of signal love to his servant Moses. It is therefore lastly and most truly asserted by others, that Michael therefore " contended with the devil about the body of Moses," because the devil endeavoured, contrary to the express will of God, that it might be buried in some open and well-known place, that the Israelites, who were always too prone to idolatry, might thereby be drawn to give Moses Divine adoration. Michael, in zeal to the honour and obedience to the will of God, opposed the devil, and contended that the body of Moses should be buried in a secret place, where no man might know of his sepulchre, Deut. xxxiv. ViH chrvsost 6. This last is the opinion of most, if Horn. ■!. in .Mat. not of all, modcni writers, both pro- p,"7"i'i'!'',\nrbr''2 testant and popish, and of many of the OBic. t. 7. ancients. The most think that Satan in his contention aimed at stirring up the people idolatrousiy to worship the very dead body of Moses ; and some affirm, though I suppose without ground, that after his death his face retained its former shining lustre : and to pre- vent the idolizing of Moses's rod, they conceive that Moses took it away with him when he went to die ; it being that rod whereby he had wrought so many miracles, and which was called " the rod of God." Others rather think that Satan intended to have put the Israelites upon the idolatrous worshipping of Moses's soul, or ghost, by the discovery of his sepul- chre ; this opinion seems to me very probable. I know not that the worshipping the relics of dead men's bodies was an idolatry used in those times. I suppose it will not be denied but that it was the practice of the heathens to worship the ghosts or souls of the dead, who in their lifetime had been eminent for their greatness and beneficence ; hence Jupiter, Mercury, jEsculapius were counted deities after their deaths for that good which their survivors had received from them while living; and heathens used this their idolatry by having among them the tombs and sepulchres of the deceased. Thus the Cretians worshipped Jupiter for their god, whose sepulclire they boasted they had among them. And _ ... hence Lactantius holily and wittily de- QuninoHo potest ■ , ., ^ i - it ileus alibi esse ridcs them tor honouring a god, who iuu5''ai'i'bi'i'i'avre (^s they thouglit) was in one place ten. piiim, alibi living, ill another place dead; who in lactant. 1. 1. c. one place had a sepulchre, in another "■ a temple. The Roman emperors, after their deaths, were deified at the burning of their bodies ; which being burnt, their souls were worshipped by the name of manes ; and upon their sepulchres they engraved _.. ^ these words, To the gods, the ghosts or souls of the departed ; blindly believing that the souls of the departed resided about, or were present at, the places where their bodies were buried. These souls of the departed, heathens were wont to worship and consult at their graves and sepulchres ; a practice which from heathens was received by the Israelites also. Hence we read of the idolatrous Jews, " who remained among the graves, and lodged in the monuments," Isa. Ixv. 4; namely, to consult with the spirits of the dead ; as is clear from Isa. viii. 19, where the prophet reproves the people for con- sulting for the living with the dead, i. e. with the souls or ghosts of those who were dead and departed. And at these graves and sepulchres of the dead were idolaters wont idolatrousiy to feast and banquet with those sacrifices which they had offered to the honour of the dead. Hence we read of the great idolatry of the Israelites, in eating " the sacrifices of the dead," Psal, cvi. 28. This idolatrous custom of seeking to the dead at their tombs or sepulchres the devil in- vented, that these deluded idolaters, who expected to consult with dead men, might indeed and really re- ceive answers from, and so worship him ; for though he persuaded his vassals that they who were dead gave them their answers, yet indeed those answers came from him. And to this practice the devil might easily have brought these Israelites, could he have obtained the discovery of Moses's sepulchre ; which, containing the remains of so famous a lawgiver, and one so eminent above all the men in the world for ' acquaintance with God, would in probability upon all exigences have drawn idolaters to it for the adora- tion of and consultation with Moses ; (especially con- sidering the great and constant need of direction in which the Israelites stood while they were in the wilderness for their passage to Canaan ;) though in- deed the name of Moses was to have been but a stirrup, to have advanced the adoration even of the devil himself; who, as he was the sole contriver of this idolatry, so would have been pleased most with it, and honoured only by it ; it being as much beyond the power of idolaters or devils to deal with a true, since dead, Moses, as it ever was against the will of Moses to have any such dealing with them. If it be here objected, that the Israelites did not worship at the sepulchres of Abraham, Jacob, Joseph, and the other patriarchs, and therefore that neither they would have idolatrousiy worshipped Moses, if they had known the place of his burial ; it is answered, that there was far greater likelihood and danger of their idolizing Moses than any of the forementioned patri- archs ; and that both for tiie honour which Moses had received from God, and also for that good which the Israelites had received by Moses. [I.] In respect of the former, none of the godly ancestors of the Israelites were so illustrious as was Moses for work- ing miracles, and so many renowned performances, both in Egypt and after the Israelites came out of it; none by the testimony of truth itself being like Moses, whom God knew face to face ; none who had the reputation of being so frequently and long with God, and of being a lawgiver to the people, and a mediator between God and them, to fetch them laws from God, and to carry their desires again to God; to be taken up, that he might converse with God, to the top of a flaming mount, the foot whereof no other person might touch upon pain of death ; to have a face so gloriously shining, upon descent from God, as if God had imparted to him a kind of ray of Divinity ; in a word, to have God say of him, as he did to and of Moses, " I have made thee a god," a speech not yet forgotten by Israel, to so great and puissant a mon- arch as Pharaoh. [2.] In respect of the great bene- fits that God bestowed upon the Israelites by Moses; never did they receive the like by any other instru-; ment in any age ; who ever was there besides Moset by whom God sent so many miraculous plagues upon their enemies ? by whom (at the holding up of aj rod) he divided the sea, and sent six hundred thoi| sand men through it dry-shod, and afterwards cause it to return upon and swallow up their enemies ; bjl whom he split the rocks into cups, and gave then water in a scorching wilderness, and fed them witll miraculous showers of bread from heaven, &:c. It isl therefore probable that one so eminently honourecl of God, and beneficial to Israel, as was Moses, hacl his grave been known, would after his death havtl been idolatrousiy worshipped, and perhaps, too, conJ suited as their guide in the remainder of their jourj ney into the land of Canaan. Yea, Epiphanius reports, that in Arabia, Ver. 9. THE EPISTLE OF JUDE. 109 Moses, for the miracles wrought by him, w:is ac- coanted a. god, and that there his image was wor- shipped. And whereas it may be said that the Israelites could not be so blockish as to have worshipped a dead Moses, his mortality being so pregnant a confutation of their idolatry and his divinity ; it is answered, idolatry is a sottish sin ; spiritual as well as carnal ■whoredom taking away the heart. It is just with God, that they who lay by his rule, should also lay off their own reason. Nor yet would the known zeal of Moses, while living, against such a practice as this, have, in probability, kept the Israelites from this idolatrj', had the body of Closes been discovered ; considering not only their proneness to that sin, and their forgetfulness of holy instruction ; but also, that they might haply impute the unwillingness of Moses to be worshipped in his lifetime, and while he was among them, rather to his modesty and humility, than to his disallowing of such a practice after his death, when he should be both absent in body and glorious in soul. In short, needs must that be bad which that evil one is so violent in contending to have effected; norccrtainly would Satan much have regard- ed Moses's body, had it not been to injure the Israel- ites' souls ; and he who by his subtlety had once before with so much success drawn the people to idolatry, and almost to destruction, by the company of the Midianitish women, was much more industri- ous and hopeful, by this means, which had a face of greater plausibility, and would have proved far more hurtful, to have effected the same again. Obs. I. The opposition between sin and holiness is universal ; they never meet but they fight. This enmity flies higher than men, it reaches even to an- fels also. It is in the heart, between a man and imself ; outward, between men and men, between men and angels, between God and both, between angels and angels. Holiness and sin are irreconcila- ble ; their opposition is reciprocal. Holiness can never tamely endure sin, nor sin quietly endure holi- ness. These antipathies can never be reconciled. Such is the opposition between them, that they can- not brook one another, notwithstanding all the plau- sible and rarely excellent qualifications that may be mixed with either. A saint cannot love a sinner, nor a sinner a saint, as such, though either be never so beautiful, affable, noble, learned. The devil meet- ing with holiness, and Michael with sin, though both in an angel, fight and contend with one another. It is in this case as with the dressing of some meats, though the sauce, the mixtures, be never so pleasant, the dressing never so cleanly and skilful ; yet if such or such an ingredient be put in, the food will be loathsome to some stomachs, and will not be tasted. Such a one were a good man, saith a wicked person, were he not so precise and pure ; and such a one were an excellent companion, saith a saint, were he holy and heavenly. Between the wolf and the lamb there is an antipathy of natures. Even (^''■/j,- 'jj™'^ their entrails, (say some,) made into lute- strings, will never' sound harmoniously together. If they live quietly, (as is prophesied, Isa. xi. 6,) it is because the nature of the one is changed. They who act from contrary principles, by contrary rules, for contrary ends, must needs thwart one another. The people of God may hence ;■ be both cautioned and comforted. Cautioned, not to < 'expect to be altogether quiet if they will be holy. ' Their legacy left them is, in the world to find haired and trouble, John xvi. 33. They must be men of contention, though angels for their endowments. Cautioned also they should be that they leave not their holiness; for then, though man's contending with them should end, yet God's would begin ; and the world's friendship is bought at too dear a rate, when with the loss of God's favour. Cautioned, lastly, not to hate the person tdLr'" '""' inLuni virus. of any under pretence of hating his sin ; abhor not the body, but the sore. Zeal must not be destroying, but refining, fire. No man is so good, as for all things to be beloved ; no man so bad, as for any thing but sin to be hated. The people of God may hence also be comforted : when they meet with most contention from men, it is but what angels have met with from devils ; nay, what Christ has met with from men and devils. As Christ is our Captain, so angels, yea, archangels, are our fellow soldiers, iwr shall we any more miscarry than either. The world's bad word is no bad sign. Two things declare what a man is, the company that he keeps, and the com- mendation which he receives. Wicked men cannot speak well of them who cry down their sin; nor is their discommendation any disgrace. Obs. 2. Satan is overmatched in his contentions. Michael an archangel, a good angel, contends with him. Although all the angels are equal by nature, and created with equal power, yet was the power of the fallen angels much impaired by and for their apostacy ; and as the holy angels exceeded them in other qualifications, so likewise in this of power. Good angels, though they are not omnipotent, yet had they not that chain put upon them which was put upon the bad immediately after their fall, whereby they are both restrained from what they would, and oft from what they can. This subjection of the bad an- gels is manifested by Augustine, from that order which God has placed among the crea- tures. The bodies (saith he) which are ^,3;;^o7/'(';i°" more gross and inferior, are ruled in suimhora ei po- a certain order by the more subtle and L'SVaimiu™ superior. All bodies are ruled by a spi- p'"r"si',iriiun7vi- rit of life, and the irrational spirit of tx; et sjiiritus life by the rational ; and that rational pef5piVii!im''vi?i spirit of life which fell and sinned, by "',';i'""s'.',';i ". that rational spirit of life which is holy nonniis desenor and righteous; and this holy spirit by |p,niu"''vira"ra. God himself. Nor do we ever in Scrip- nonaiem.ei pin.n, ture read of any contention between pm ipsuni peum. the good and evil angels, wherein the A.jt-.de irin.i.s. good had not the victory. The devil and his angels fought, and prevailed not. Rev. xii. 8 ; and ver. 9, " He was cast out unto the earth." The devil never fights, either himself or by his instru- ments, but he is foiled, but he falls. Besides, the good angels ever contend for and by a great God, under a glorious and victorious Head and Captain, Jesus Christ ; against a cursed, yea, a captivated enemy, who cannot lift up a hand further than the Captain of the good angels pleases ; in a good cause, for the honour of God, and the welfare of the church: should they ever be foiled, their Captain would lose the most glory. How good is God, to order that the best creatures should be the strongest! How happy saints, in that they have, though an invisible, yet an invincible life-guard, an army of angels to pitch their tents about them, Psal. xxxiv. 7, whose safety there- by can be no more than shadowed by mountains full of horses and chariots of fire! If any thing some- times befall them afflictive to their sense, yet nothing can befall them destructive, nay, not advantageous to their souls. How great is our interest to continue our guard ! These holy spirits are driven away by our filthy conversation, like doves that cannot endure noisome places. They will protect none whose pro- tection draws not allegiance to their great Lord and Master Jesus Christ. O give not the good angels cause to say of us, as David of Nabal, Surely in vain 200 AN EXPOSITION UPON Ver. 9. have we kept all that they have, Sec, I Sam. xxv. 21. A man without angels is not without devils. Miserable is it for the poor sinner to be like a lamb in a large place, exposed to the cruelty of the wolf, instead of being defended by the care of the shep- herd. Miserable (lastly) is the condition of every enemy of Cnrist and his church, who joins with that head, md fights under that leader, which is sure to be foiled -, that walks " according to the prince of the power of the air ;" that wars against the angels of God, yea, with him, the God of those angels. And how can they expect, who have fought for Satan against Michael in their lifetime, that Michael should contend with Satan for their souls at their deaths ? Obi: 3. In all contentions our care should be that our cause be good. Michael contended in a right- eous quarrel. It is commonly seen, the hottest con- tentions are bestowed upon the unholiest causes. Idolaters cry out louder and longer for Diana of the Ephesians, wicked men more strenuously strive for promoting the devil's kingdom, than the saints do for advancing Christ's. How leud did Baal's priests cry to their god for help, and how cruelly did they gash their bodies when the reputation of their dumb and deaf deity was hazarded ! 1 Kings xviii. 26, '2S. How eager were the men of Ophrah that Gideon might be put to death for throwing down the altar of Baal ! Judg. vi. 28. But what a shame is it, that blind zeal should be more eager and active than that which is enlightened ! The goodness of that for which we contend only commends the greatness of our fervour in contending for it. The more fiery and furious a horse is which wants eyes, the more dan- gerous to himself and others is his career. The higher and stronger the winds are which drive the ship upon the sands and rocks, the more destructive and inevitable will be the wreck of the ship. We must first be sure we have a clear, a Scripture way, and then how sweet and suitable a connexion is it to be fervent in spirit when serving the Lord! Rom. xii. II. We should mistrust and fear our course is wrong, when we find our hearts most eager and im- petuous ; and when we are sure our course is right, we should be ashamed that we are so faint and sluggish. 06.?. 4. Satan contends with the strongest, even with the strongest angel. No excellency can exempt any one from his onsets. He adventured upon Christ himself, Matt. iv. The most famous worthies men- tioned in Scripture, Job, David, Peter, &c., could not escape the devil's encounter. This serpent set upon our first parents in their innocence. He com- monly singles out the leaders for combat ; and they often meet with the sharpest assaults. That Chris- tian which is most angelical shall find Satan most diabolical. The devil's malice being most against God, is most against them who have in them most of God ; in them lie labours to be revenged on him ; in the servants he strikes at the Master. And God in wisdom so orders it, that they who have most strength should be most exercised, to make his graces the more manifested to all beholders. God was not de- lighted that Job should be assaulted and tempted, but that thereby Satan should be overcome. And such is the devil's malice, that he will trouble those most in the way, whom he knows he can least hinder of the end. He contends, though he conquers not. Where he cannot destroy our grace, he will labour to disquiet our peace. Satan's assaults are no sign of God's hatred, nor should they be any occasion of our censures. If we be not so fiercelj' set upon as others, instead of censuring them for having no grace at all, let us rather think that they have more than our- selves. They whom Satan least troubles commonly least trouble him. In short, what need have weak- lings of watchfulness, when the devil fears not an archangel ! A weak Christian, when watchful, is in less danger than the strongest when secure. He who sets upon an angel's strength, will not fear hu- man weakness. If he comes upon those who have nothing to help forward his conquest, he will come with a courage upon those who bring him vfeapons. In the best of us there is a strong party for Satan to join withal. 06s. 5. The more God advances any in gifts and employment, the more Satan molests them. If this archangel were not, though some think he was, em- ployed about the burying of Moses's body, yet sure we are he was here emjiloycd in contending for God ; and that he was a choice, if not the chiefcst, of all the servants that God kept in this great family of the world; the great minister and messenger of God to perform his Master's pleasure in matters of highest concernment. Persons of public employment are most fiercely assailed by Satan ; they who are set apart to offices, whereby God is most glorified and his church relieved, are set ujxin by Satan the enemy of both. We never read that Moses, David, Paul, &c. were molested by the devil, till they were ap- pointed to be God's archangels, as it were, his mes- sengers, in delivering, governing, teaching the church. God never employs any in service but to oppose Satan's kingdom; and the higher their sen'ice is, the hotter is the opposition which they make ; and whoever disturbs Satan shall be sure to hear of him : the more watchful any one is to do his duty, the more watchful is Satan to do him hurt. Commonly, God shows his servants in their entrance into duty what they are like to meet with in its continuance; and thereby he gives them such proof of his faithful- ness in supporting them, that all the rage of hell afterward shall only prevent security, not overthrow faith ; awaken, not dishearten them. And ever as the servants of God are afflicted, so are they fitted for his sendee ; God is but training them to a due expertness in high employments. The more any one contends for God, the more let him expect to con- tend with Satan. They who most stop the devil's mouth, least stop his malice. Reckon upon Satan's wrath, if thou goest about God's work : they deceive themselves who expect to be quiet and serviceable at the same time ; such groundless apprehensions are but the inlets to apostacy, and make us forsake our duty, because we cannot perform it with our out- ward ease. To conclude, Satan's opposition should not discourage us from duty, nay, we should look upon it as a hopeful sign of the conscientious discharge of our duty. Let us be sure that we are employed by God in his work, and that we labour to perform it after his mind ; and then let us account opposition our encouragement and crown, as being that which almost only meets us in a good cause. 06s. 6. Decent burial belongs to the bodies of the departed. God himself burred Moses ; nay, (as most think,) the grand argument whereby Satan disputed with the archangel for the publicness of Moses's sepulchre, was the known fitness of bestowing a comely burial upon the bodies of God's servants; nor did Michael at all contend that Moses might not be buried, but that the devil might not he at the funeral, or not have the interring of him. Nature itself teaches a decency of burial. The very heathens readily entertained Abraham's motion to sell him a burying-place ; yea, they had it in their own practice ; " In the choice of our sepul- chres bury thy dead," Gen. xxiii. 6. And want of burial is so hateful, that some have been more re- Vbr. 9. THE EPISTLE OF JUDE. 201 strained by the fear of not being buried than of dving. Abraham was buried in the same cave with Sarah, Gen. xxv. 9, 10; after him, Isaac, Gen. sxxv. 29; Jacob, Gen. xlvii. 30; Joseph, Gen. 1. 25 ; there also was Rebekah bestowed. Gen. xlix. 31. And when the kings and judges of Israel are recorded, their burials, with their places, are also mentioned ; of which there are three ranks. 1. Some deser\'ing ill, only buried in the city of David, the upper part of Jerusalem, wherein was the temple and David's palace, but not in the sepulchre of their fathers : thus was Jehoram, 2 Chron. xxi. 19; Joash, who fell to idolatry, 2 Chron. xxiv. 16; and Ahaz, 2 Chron. xxviii. 27. 2. Others, who were good kings, were buried in the city of David, and in the sepulchres of their fathers. And, 3. Some of the highest merit were buried in the city of David, in the sepulchres of their fathers, and in the upper part of the sepul- chres of the sons of David ; as Hczekiah, 2 Chron. xxxii. 33. Nor was it a small judgment that God inflicted upon Baasha and Jezebel, that they should be buried in the dogs, 2 Kings ix. 37 ; that Jehoiakim should be buried with the burial of an ass, Jer. xxii. 19, dragged out by the heels, and cast into a ditch; and that the king of Babylon should not be joined with the kings in burial, Isa. xiv. 20. Neither was It a slight imprecation which fell from David, Let them be a portion to foxes, Psal. Ixiii. 10; nor a small threatening, that the bones of the kings, priests, and prophets should be taken out of the grave, and laid open to the sun and moon, Jer. viii. 1, 2. Hence David highly commended the burying of Saul, though a bad man, for a good work, 2 Sam. ii. 5. As of a sore judgment the church complains. The dead bodies of thy ser\'ants have they given to be meat to the fowls of the heaven. Sec. ; there was none to bury them. Suitable it is, that so choice and curious a piece of God's workmanship as man's body should not be carelessly laid aside, Psal. cxxxix. 14 — 16; yea, it has been repaired, redeemed, as well as made by God, Gal. iv. 4, 5; partner in redemption with the soul, and bought with the precious blood of Christ, Eph. i. 7; 1 Cor. vi. 20. The body also God hath sanctified, it is his temple. The ointment of sanctification rests not only upon the head, the soul, but diffuses itself to the body, the skirts also, 1 Tliess. V. 23. The chair where the King of glory has sat should not be abused. With the bodies of our de- ceased friends we had lately sweet commerce. The body of the wife was lately entertained with dear embracement ; the body of our child, a piece of our- selves : the body of a dear friend, what was it, but ourself divided with a separate skin ? the body of a faithful minister, an earthen conduit-pipe, whereby God conveyed spiritual comforts to the soul. The body, when living, was a partner with the soul in all her actions ; it was the soul's brother twin : what could the soul do without it? Whatever was in the understanding was conveyed by the sense. The soul sees by the body's eyes, hears by its ears, works by its hands, &c. ; yea, even now still there is an indis- soluble relation between the dust in the grave and the glorious soul ; as the union of Christ's dead body to the Deity was not dissolved in the time of its lying in the sepulchre. Burying-places were not, among the Jews, called the houses of the dead, but of the living. The body is sown, not cast away ; it is not dead, but sleepeth. The grave is a bed, and the churchyards sleeping-places. In short, the glorj- of the body's future state challenges the honour of burial. All the precious ointments bestowed upon the dead of old had been cast away, had it not been for the hope of a resurrection. A great heir that shall hereafter have a rich inheritance is regarded, though for the present he is in rags. And this decent burial of the dead discovers the more than heathenish barbarousness of papists, who not only deny, but recall the granting of burial to the dead bodies of the saints, dig-gins them up again, as they „ . . ^ . did at Oxford and Cambridge, in (jueen Pt-t, Jidrijrs Mary's time; herein worse than hea- ^'""' thens, as testifies the greater humanity of allowing interment, in Alexander, to the body of Darius ; Hannibal, to that of Marcellus ; Ca?sar, to Pom- pey. The comfort of saints is, that the happiness of their souls is not confined to the burial of their bodies. " Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints," Psal. cx\-i. 15, who carefully keeps every one of their bones : and as he left not one out of his book when he made them at first, Psal. cxxxix. 16; so, to be sure, neither shall one be miss- ing when he will remake them ; their very bodies being the members of Christ, and part of that lump whereof he was the first-fruits, 1 Cor. xv. 20. To conclude this, the care of a dead body should not be comparable to that of a living soul. What profit is it for the body to be embalmed and entombed richly, and the soul to be tormented eternally ? As great a folly is, respecting the vile body, joined with neglect- ing the precious soul, as for a frantic mother only to lament the loss of the coat of her drowned child. Nor, lastl}-, ought this care of the bodies of the de- parted, though formerly never so holy, amount to a superstitious reverencing of their relics. Some think that the prevention of this sin was the ground of Michael's contention with the devil. But sure we are, though the devil could not obtain a licence for this sin of Michael, he has obtained command for it from the pope. It is Trident.''sSs'<'4. hard to name that martyred saint who has not left some limb behind him to be adored : to name this folly is to confute it ; for beside its idolatry and derogation from the merits of Christ, it is in- jurious to the saints themselves, giving their bodies only insepullam .sepulturam, keeping them from their honour of rest, and bringing them into the compass of a condition threatened as a curse, Jer. viii. 1, 2. Yea, lastly, this popish foppery of adoring relies is ridiculous, Isa. sliv. 14 — 16. The very popish his- torians tell us that the bones of the worshipped have proved afterwards to be the relics of thieves and murderers ; and common observation proves, that the cross of Christ, the milk of the virgin, and the relics of saints, are increased to such a proportion, as makes them more the objects of derision than adoration. The best reverence we can give to the departed, is to respect their spiritual relics, their holy lives and example. Obs. 7. Satan's aim in every contention is to draw to sin. The body of Moses Satan regarded not any further than to hurt the souls of the Israelites. All his contentions with Christ were purposely to win him to sin. If ever Satan desired any thing which was good, yet it was after an ill manner, or to a wrong end. He would not contend against your estates, lives, liberties, were it not to get advantage against your souls. As God in all his contentions with us aims at advancing our holiness, so Satan propounds this as his end of every contention, the drawing us to wickedness. He would not have con- tended against Job's children, goods, body, &c., had he not aimed to drive him to distrust and impatience. He had not winnowed Job of worldly comforts, but for the winnowing him of his grace. " Satan " (saith Christ to Peter) " hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat ; but I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not," Luke xxii. 31 , 32. The drift of the devil was to sift out Peter's faith. All the 202 AN EXPOSITION UPON Ver. 9. Gratia, mnrsus (Jiaboli. storms lie raises against godly ministers and Chris- tians, are not so much against tlieir persons, as to hinder from holy performances. When he casts some into prison, disgraces, impoverishes, kills them, his aim in all this is that he may hinder the doing of good. He will allow all worldly enjoyments, if there- by he may the better accomplish the end of drawing to sin. He is a spiritual and a malicious enemy ; spi- ritual, and therefore spiritual morsels are only suited to his palate ; grace, like that herb called morsus diaboli, is that ■which he nibbles at ; throw him this head over the wall, and, with Joab, he will soon raise his siege. He is a soul adversary, and no blood is so sweet to him as the blood of souls. Give me thy soul, saitli he, and keep thou, nay, I will give thee, thy goods. Our enemies are spiritual wickednesses iv irronpavioig, in heavenlies, i. e. heavenly things, Eph. vi. 12. He is a malicious enemy, and well he knows that the greatest hurt he can do is to take away the greatest good ; as he most strikes at the best men, so most at the best things in men ; their grace, their soul ; he is truh' a murderer that aims at the heart. God deals with his people in a way of chastisement, the devil deals with them for destruction ; he contends not to take away our gold, but our God. It is the most diabolical dispo- sition to endeavour to put people upon sin, not to be willing to be miserable alone ; nay, not only to be willing to follow and go along with others to hell, but to make them follow or go with us: what a true- born progeny of hell did those papists show them- selves, who drew timorous Christians to recant, and then put them to death, that so they might be mur- derers of soul and body at once ! and w'ho daily by the Jesuits, Satan's factors, compass sea and land to make proselytes ! Let it be the greatest fear of every Christian, lest others should be so much as occasioned by them to sin : grieve much when any sin ; most, when by thy means ; pray that none may be con- founded for thy sake, Psal. Ixix. 6. Our greatest contention should be to advance holiness. All the good which Satan does to the body is to hurt the soul ; so all the hurt which any do to the bodies of others, should be for the good of their souls ; as Sa- tan's lenitives are poisonous, so our very corrosives should be salubrious. Obs. 8. Satan can bring colourable reason for the foulest practices. Even for that which he intended should be the sin and idolatrous snare of Israel he can dispute, and that with an archangel. It is pro- bable he here argued for the fitness of burying iVIo- ses's body in a known place, from the eminence of the man's piety and worth while living; from the great unseemliness, that so faithful and public a serv- ant of God should be buried in obscurity. What ! might he say, shall not the just be had in everlast- ing remembrance ? Psal. cxii. 6. Is not an obscure funeral the way to obscure all that ever Moses did, and at once to make the people forget God's works with Moses's name ? As the worst courses may be coloured over by specious pretences, so there is none so skilful at this art as the devil ; he is an expert lo- gician, and showed himself so in this disputation ; he can make the beautifullest grace seem deformed, and the most deformed sin seem beautiful. He puts the colour of sin upon grace, and the colour of grace upon sin. Never could the true Samuel have spoken bet- ter than did this counterfeit to Saul at Endor; in de- luding Saul, he took the help of Samuel's prophecy: " The Lord hath done even as he spake by me," 1 Sam. xxviii. 17. He often kills men (as David Go- liath) with their own sword; winding himself into them, and them into sin, by that which is the only preservative against sin, the Scripture. He can al- lege something good to hinder from any thing good ; he can overthrow duty by duty ; he draws the fairest glove over the blackest hand, and seems to make the worst cause without all danger or absurd- ity. He had that to say which the Son of God him- self could not refuse ; he disputed against him (though fallaciously) with scripture arguments. Matt. iv. 6 : had he had a Psalter, he would have shown Christ the very place ; nor is there any sinner whom he cannot furnish with a scripture to defend his lust; and such a scripture as the deluded novice has neither skill nor will to answer. The truth which Satan speaks ever tends to destroy truth. In alleging Scripture, he both colours himself and his motion, and frames himself according to the disposition of the parties with whom he deals. He knows the author- ity of Scripture always sways in the school of the church. It is our safest course to hold up against Scripture light all the plausible reasons or scriptures which Satan brings for any opinion or practice ; to ponder, with prayer and study, every allegation, and to consider whether in their scope and end they are not against other direct scriptures, and the principles of religion ; for God's Spirit never alleges Scripture, or propounds arguments, but to lead us into the know- ledge and practice of some truth. This was the rule of Moses, Deut. xiii. 1 , to try a false prophet by his scope. If any scripture or reason be alleged to put us upon sin, though the text be God's, yet the gloss and allegation is the devil's. Obs: 9. In dealing with our greatest adversaries, we must do nothing wilfully, but with the guide of reason. Michael did not, though he could have done it, here shake ofT his opponent M'ithout answer or a rational disputation, though he deserved none ; but to show that he did not withstand Satan's motion merely of a wilful mind, but upon just ground, he answers him, and disputes the case with him. Christ himself did not put off this very adversary of Michael without an answer, Matt. iv. ; and when he refused the most unreasonable request of the sons of Zebedee, he gave a just reason, " It is not mine to give, but it shall be given to them for whom it is pre- pared," Mark x. 40. It is good, though our adver- saries are stubborn, yet to manifest the ground of all those opinions and practices wherein we oppose them : our courses should be so good as to deserve to be jus- tified, though our adversary may be so bad as not to deserve to be answered; and we shall hereby, though not recover him, yet both acquit and quiet ourselves, and possibly preserve others from being infected with that sin, which rather our reason than resolution is likely to prevent. Oba. 10. Satan delights to put people upon giving that honour which is only due to God to something else besides God. He here contends for the servant against the Master, and for the worship of Moses against the worship of God. Satan makes people give that honour to the crea- ture which is due to God two ways ; inwardly and outwardly. (I.) Inwardly. 1. By making people put their trust and confidence in something besides God, to make flesh their arm, to put confidence in man, to trust in horses and chariots. Job xxxi. 24; Psal. XX. 7 ; Prov. iii. 5. 2. By making people set their love and delight upon other things more than God ; to love their " pleasures more than God," 2 Tim. iii. 4 ; to make gain their godliness ; to be idolaters by covetousness, Eph. v. 5 ; to set their heart on that which was made to set their feet upon, Phil. iii. 19. 3. By making them bestow that fear upon the crea- ture which is only due to God, Isa. viii. 13; to fear man's threats more than God's, Isa. li. 12, 13, and him who only can kill the body more than Him who Ver. 9. THE EPISTLE OF JUDE. 203 can throw both body and soul into hell ; to walk willingly after the (though wicked) commandment, Hos. V. 11. (2.) Outwardly. Satan makes people give the hon- our to the creature which is due to God two ways. J. By worshipping that for God which is not; thus the heathen worship false gods, Mars, Jupiter, Diana, Dagon, Baal, Moloch, Mahomet ; and thus papists give Divine worship to relics, stocks, stones, a breaden god. 2. By worshipping God by other means, and after another manner, than he has appointed. That cannot be God's worship which is devised by another, the manner prescribed by himself being refused : the worshipping of God according to man's devices and traditions shall be as far from acceptance as ever it was from his institution. He best knows what he loves best. Nor is it a wonder that Satan thus opposes God's worship, not only because he is an adversary to (jod, and strives to break asunder those bands of allegi- ance whereby the creature is tied to the Creator, and to deprive God of his homage; as also because an adversary to man, whom he endeavours to draw into God's displeasure ; but by the making men to wor- ship the creature instead of God, he aims (o advance his own honour and worship in the room of God's. If men come once to be children of disobedience, and sons of Belial, such as will not submit to God's w-ill, and bear his yoke, they " walk according to the prince of the power of the air," Eph. ii. 2; he is their " father," John viii. 44 ; " prince," John xiv. 30 ; " god," 2 Cor. iv. 4, both in regard of his o\ni usurpa- tion and their acceptation. In all divine worship, whatsoever is not performed to God is performed to the devil, Acts xiii. 10, there being no mean between them in worship. God and Satan divide the world of worshippers ; for although in the intention of the worshippers the devil be not worshipped, yet wor- shipped he is in respect of the invention of the worship, which was Satan's device and appointment ; and hence it is that we meet in Scripture such fre- quent mention of the worshipping of devils. The Gentiles, I Cor. x. 20, yea, the Jews, sacrificed to devils, Psal. cvi. 37; Lev. svii. 7. And the truth is, Satan's contention that the people might find the way to Moses's sepulchre, was but that they might lose the way to God's service, and find the way to his own ; as was more fully shown in the explication. Oh how lamentable is it that so bad a master should have so much service ! that he who sheds our blood should be more willingly and frequently served than He who shed his own blood for us ! To conclude, if holy Michael here contended that others might not worship any other than God, let us more contend that we ourselves may not do so. If Sa^an throw us down, yet let us not cast ourselves down. AVe have another, a better Master, his will let us study ; the voice of his word and Spirit let us hear. Be above all those baits wherewith Satan allures to the adoring of any thing instead of Christ. Know nothing great or good but the seri'ice of Christ. Obs. 11. Satan's great design is to make the holiest persons the greatest occasions of sin. He had much rather that a Moses, who had so zealously opposed idolatry, should be idolized, than one who had him- self been an idolater. The devil loves to wound re- ligion in the house of her friend, and with her own hands and weapons; to make Cromwell, a protestant, to sentence a godly Lambert to death. Oh how it delights him to overcome Scripture by alleging, not of the Alcoran, but the Scripture ! And as he here dealt with the body, so he still deals with the books and writings of God's Moseses, the men of God: for as he fain would have made him who was the greatest enemy in the world to idolatry while living, to have been the greatest occasion of it when dead ; so still he contends by heretics, that they who have been the renowned opposers of heresy in their lifetime, should be accounted the greatest patrons of it when dead. Thus the papists contend that the fathers, Augustine, Ambrose, &c., are theirs, and for their opinions. Thus the Pelagians of our time, that ,,. , , , _ . Augustme, Bucer, Ball are tor tree-will. wm. sionCoJitge But he much more contends, and had *'^""^''- rather that a living than a dead Moses should be a stumblingblock to others. If one who is holy may, thinks he, be useful to me by his dust and relics, how much more by his falls, his scandals, his corrupt ex- amples ! Of all others, let those who fear God take most heed of giving advantage to Satan. AVhen without their knowledge or consent they are by Satan only made advantageous to him, it should be their sorrow ; but when they make themselves so, it is their great sin. 06s. 12. The worst persons are oft compelled both to have and express a high opinion of God's faith- ful ser\'ants. Even Moses, one who was a great op- poser of and greatly opposed by the devil, is yet secreth^ by this cursed enemy greatly honoured. Yea, the people who in Moses's lifetime would have stoned him, would, and Satan knew it too, after his death have idolized him. Our blessed Lord, when he was murdered by his enemies, was by some of them lauded as a just man: the young man calls him " Good Master," Luke xviii. 18; even bloody Herod reverenced the Baptist, Mark vi. 20 ; and Felix trembles at the {Teaching of Paul, Acts xxiv. 25. AVisdom shall sometimes be justified, not only by her children, but even by her sworn enemies. The father of lies, when he alleges Scripture to overthrow it, strongly argues that it is the strongest weapon, and has greatest power over the conscience. God delights to put a secret honour upon his saints and ways, and to make even those who love them not praise them. Ivlany lewd livers strictly enjoin their children to be more religious. Every saint may be encouraged in holiness. God will often make its greatest opposers extol it ; and when in their words they revile it, in their consciences they shall commend it. The praise of an enemy is equivalent to a universal good report. In short, let sinners seriously consider how they can answer this dilemma at the last day. If the ways and people of God were bad, why did you so much as commend them ? if good, why did you not more imitate them also? If Christ were not a good Mas- ter, why did the young man call him so .' if he were, why did he not follow him ? Obs. 13. The greatest respect that wicked ones manifest toward a godly Moses is when he is dead. While Moses was living, he was in danger of being destroyed ; now dead, of being adored, by the Israel- ites. Joram, when Elisha was living, opposed him ; but when dead, laments over him in that pathetical speech, "My father, my father, the chariots of Israel, and the horsemen thereof," 2 Kings xiii. 14. Saul disobeys and rejects Samuel when living, but when dead he with great pains, though no profit, en- deavours to recall, to inquire of him. They build and garnish the sepulchres of the prophets when dead, whom, living, their fathers, led by the same spirit, destroyed, Luke xi. 47. God often makes the worth of his servants to be known by the want of them ; and shows when they are gone, that they -who in their lifetime were accounted the plagues and trou- blers, were indeed the preservers and peace-makers, of Israel. They shall then know, saith Ezekiel, that they have had a prophet among them, chap, xxxiii. 33. And it is a work of little cost, and of 204 AN EXPOSITION UPON Ver. 9. much credit, to extol the dead. The wicked are not troubled and molested in their ways of sin by de- parted saints. Samson could take honey out of that dead lion with which he fouglit when living, and which he slew because it roared upon him. The living, who roar and lift up their voices against men's sins, and labour to rend them from their cor- ruptions, shall be persecuted ; but when dead, ex- alted, to advance the reputation of those who praise them, for sweet and blessed men of God. The papists and many common protestants, who speak highly of Christ, and call him their sweet Saviour, had they lived in his days, and heard him preach against their lusts, would have hated him as much as, nay, more than now they hate those who have but a drop of his fountain of holiness. And, indeed, if a Moses, a servant of God, in his lifetime please wicked men, it is commonly because he is too like a dead man, not so quick and lively against their lusts as he should. It is not idolizing, but imitating the saints, that shows our love cither to God or them. This for the second part of this verse, the strife or contention itself. Now follows, III. The carriage and deportment of the arch- angel in this combat. And first to speak thereof as it is set down negatively, in respect of his inward disposition ; he " durst not bring a railing accusation." Tw'O things are here to be considered in the ex- plication. 1. What it was which Michael did forbear; viz. to " bring a railing accusation." 2. Why it was that he did forbear it ; he " durst not bring" it. For the first, the thing forborne is lfiVp'"inc"pi'"'ierei'- severe commination or threatening, to r^re. Jusimiiin in prevent disobedience in the commanded ; inrrepanHo im- as also (and most properiy) to chide or .''^.X-'incrr','.'*;. reprehend, so as a servant is rebuked L»p- in s Zec. 208 AN EXPOSITION UPON Veh. 9. inter.iicere, el iiy j^jg rnasteT, who both bv his charging minis. Lor. in With threats, and chiding or rebuking, shows, as his authority to command, so his strength and ability to punish, in case tlie party whom he threats and chides is not deterred from going on in his begun enterprise. And becau.se the commands, threats, and rebukes of ^''rlZ"lfh[l1^; God are not verbal, but efficaciously put forth in their effects, this word €7riri/ia'u, here used by Jude, is used by the evangelist to express the authority and power of Christ, in still- ing and calming the winds of the sea, i-n-eTi^i]iTi to!q aVi/joif, he "rebuked the winds," Matt. viii. 26 ; and in casting the devil out of the possessed, iTrniixnai nfi ■TTvii/xaTi, Sec, " he rebuked the foul spirit," Iilark ix. 25 ; and in healing Simon's wife's mother of the fever, tTnTiiiriai rif jrvfurip, " he rebuked the fever," Luke iv. 39. So that this imprecation here used by the archangel of rebuking Satan, (1.) Presupposes Satan's bold readiness to oppose, and resolution to overthrow, the pleasure of God, unless he were hindered by the force of God's threats and rebukes, and the slavishness of Satan's fear, who forbears and gives over any wicked attempt merely for fear of punishment, and by a powerful restraint from God. And, {'2.) It more properly intends the sovereign authority of God over the highest of wicked creatures, and his power, whereby, without any pains, easily, even as by the uttering of a rebuking word, he quells the de\il ; yea, the putting forth of liis authority and power in the curbing and restraining of his impudent malignancy, whereby he resisted the will and plea- sure of God concerning the body of Moses. 2. Why Michael in this hot contestation with the devil interposed this imprecation or desire of God's rebuking him. I answer, hereby he expressed, 1. His confidence in God. 2. Zeal for God. 3. Sub- missiveness to God. (1.) Hereby he would show his confidence that God was able to maintain that righteous cause wherein he was now employed, viz. his opposing of Satan ; the holy angel manifesting, that He whose will and pleasure it was that the sepulchre should be concealed, could easily curb and restrain this evil spirit from accomplishing, though he suffered him to attempt, its discovery. His carriage herein agi'ecs to his name; for as his name Michael signified, Who is like or equal to the Lord ; so by saying, " The Lord rebuke thee," he expressed that Satan's contestations against so great a God were all but in vain, he being a great and powerful Lord, and the devil, though a wicked and rebellious, yet a weak and timorous slave and underling, the Lord being able to chide all the devil's undertakings and contentions into no- thing, even with one word or rebuke of his mouth. (2.) Hereby Michael discovered his zeal for God. Though this holy angel was not so sinfully hot as to revile Satan, yet was he so holily zealous as to plead, yea, to imprecate for God. He who w-as holily pa- tient in his own, was holily impatient in God's cause and quarrel. He prays not here in his own, but in God's behalf, that the foul mouth which had dis- puted against and blasphemed the holy God, might by that God be stopped. Angels are zealous for God's glory. Some think that the name of seraphim is therefore given to some of them for their burning zeal. As God takes the dishonour offered to any of his angels and messengers as offered to himself, so should they more sadly resent the dishonour offered to God, than if it had befallen themselves. Michael here, seeing the devil's carriage impudently dero- gating from God's glory, could no longer refrain, but zealously prays, " The Lord rebuke thee." (3.) Hereby he shows his holy and humble sub- missiveness to God, and forbearance to be his own or his adversary's judge; he remits and refers re- venge to God, desiring that God would take up the controversy : " The Lord" (saith he) "rebuke thee." The holy angel besought God to be mediator between him and the devil in this disputation : he knew well that vengeance belonged to God, and therefore he desires that God would deal with him as seemed best to himself. He repays not evil for evil, neither in affection or expression and speech. God being the righteous Judge, he expects the sentence only from him, who best knew what punishment the devil de- served, and how to vindicate the glory of his own name, and from whose hand the archangel well knew that the devil was not able to make an escape. In short, the devil's sinful opposing of Michael, yea, of God's glory, by contending for the discovery of Mo- ses's sepulchre, was no warrant for Michael to offend God by expressing any undue desire of revenge ; he therefore remits the matter to God's determination, " The Lord rebuke thee." Obs. 1. Satan's forbearance of or desisting from any way of wickedness, is purely from God's threat- ening rebuke, and his powerful chiding him. The archangel saith not. The Lord mend, change, reform thee; but. The Lord hinder, stop, and by his power ef- fectually rebuke thee. Satan may be driven away from some act of sin by God's power,not drawn by God's love ; like a dog, he fears the whip, not loathing that which he is compelled to leave. The devil is held in an everlasting bond of sin ; he is w-edged and wedded to sin ; he " sinneth" (as it is said, I John iii. 8) " from the beginning ;" since he began, he never did nor shall cease from the love, although he may be forced to forbear the outw'ard act of sin. There is in him an utter impotency to any good, nor can he lay down his unholy inclination ; he may be curbed, he shall never be changed. It is ever a torment to him, not a delight, to forbear any wickedness : when he be- sought Christ not to tonneut him, Luke viii. 2S, the torment against which he prayed was his ejection out of the possessed, whereby he was hindered from doing that hurt which he desired ; it being immedi- • ately added by the evangelist, " For he (Christ) had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man." Satan came to tempt Christ of his own in- clination, but he went away by Christ's powerful command. He ceased to molest Job, when lie had vexed him as much as he could obtain leave to do ; when he gives over any enterprise, he changes not his nature, but constrainedly leaves his exercise ; he goes, but it is when he can stay no longer, when his commission is expired. Every commanded perform- ance or forbearance is not a sign of grace. That which is incident to the devil argues no grace in man. Balaam was forbidden to curse the people of God, and he forbears, but forcedly, against his will. Let not men content themselves with the devil's obedience. To leave sin for fear of hell may go along with the love of it more than heaven. When Moses's parents exposed him to the waters, they loved him as much as or more than ever. To leave sin for want of a body to commit it, is not to leave our affection to it ; the leaving of sin at our death- beds is seldom true, ever suspicious. God loves a li\ing Christian : any one will be a Christian dying. Duties without must flow from a gracious forwardness within. Join that in thy obedience which the devil hath divorced, inward subjection to outward ser- vices. It is one thing to be hindered from, another tiling to hate sin. The rebukes of our superiore may cause the former, a principle of inward renovation can only produce the latter. Obs. 2. God's power limits Satan's. Though the Yer. 9. THE EPISTLE OF JUDE. 209 will ot Satan shall never be changed, yet his power is liy God often curbed ; when he is most violently ninning on in any way of opposition to God or man, Gncl can stop and chide him back. With what a holy fearlessness may the godly go on in duty ! The wicked are willingly serviceable to a master who cannot protect them from God's wrath : O let us serve Him cheerfully, who is able and willing to keep us from the devil's rage ; we see likewise to whom we owe our preservation, only to Him who re- bukes devils. 06*. 3. How easily God prevails over his greatest enemies ! It is but (as it were) a chiding and re- buking them, and even in their greatest fury they are mute, and dare not, cannot answer. What more easy than for a master to give a word of rebuke ? a wurd of God's mouth is enough to make the devils tremble; they are all underlings to God, they are before him as nothing: the greatest mountain of >v orldly strength and opposition shall be before God but a mountain of chaiT. If God do " but arise, his enemies are scattered," Psal. Isviii. 1 ; yea. He who sits in heaven "shall have them in derision," Psal. ii. 4; he derides them sitting: the fire does not so ta>ily consume the stubble, the wind dissipate the smoke, the rod of iron break in pieces a potter's ves- sel, as God overthrows his enemies. With a word did God make the creature, with a word he moves it, with a word he stops it, with a word he destroys it; in all these " his word," as the psalmist speaks, '■ numeth very swiftly," Psal. cxlvii. 15. How vain are they who think that worldly greatness, their \\ealth, their strength, their youth, can shield them from the stroke of God's power, whetted with his wrath ! The scythe can get as well through the green grass as the dry stubble. He who has but faith enough to believe himself a creature, may be cau- tioned against security in sin. The most glittering monarch is but a gilded potsherd ; in nothing so mad as to think itself safe in contending with its Maker. Nor is it a less excusable folly to be swallowed up of fear by reason of the worldly greatness of any of God's enemies. Who art thou that art afraid of man that shall die, and the son of man, that shall be made as grass, and forgettest the Lord thy Maker ? Isa. li. 12, 13. At the rebuke of God his and our enemies shall flee and fall. How great is that folly whereby men slight the great God, and fear a silly ■worm ! All the peace and forbearance that God ex- presses towards his enemies proceeds not from his want of power, but from the greatness of his patience ; a strong inducement to us, who are weak womis, to be patient under injuries which we cannot repel ; since God is so full of forbearance, who is both infi- nitely provoked by, and infinitely powerful to be avenged of, his strongest enemies. Obs. 4. The holiest persons are most offended with I practices that oppose God's glory. When Satan dis- I honours God, the holy angel cannot refrain from ^ pra)-ing that God would rebuke him. Michael does , not only dispute for God, but he desires God to plead , for himself. It would have been below Michael to have been affected with any thing a creature should have said or done, imless the honour of God had been concerned : nothing is little whereby God's name, or man's soul, suffers. The more any one , knows the excellencies in God, or has tasted of the j love of God, the less can he endure any thing either done or said against God. Angels, who continually ' behold the beauty of God's face, most abhor that which blemishes or disparages it. Tliese sons of God endure not any thing whereby the honour of ' their Father suffers. Heaven itself would be no heaven to those glorious spirits, should they be con- strained to behold God's name polluted. No mere man ever had on earth so clear a glimpse of God's glory as had Moses ; nor was ever any so holily im- patient when he apprehended a blemish to be cast upon it. The broken tables, the Israelites, which this meekest of men caused to be put to the sword, yea, his request that himself might be " blotted out of the book of life," rather than any blot should be cast upon God's honour, sufficiently prove that he who touched it touched the apple of his eye. How unlike to angels are they who put up no injuries with such a tame contentedness as those which are offered to God's name ! who never say to any. The Lord rebuke you, but to those who dishonour them- selves ; yea, are ready to rebuke themselves whenso- ever they stumble upon any act of zeal ! Surely the fire of such men's zeal is not angelical and heavenly, but culinary and smoky. What likelihood that they shall ever inhabit the place who are such strangers to the disposition of angels ? Obs. 5. It is unsuitable to a gracious temper to recompense evil for evil. Michael here commits his cause and remits revenge to God; suitable to whose carriage is the command of Scripture against private revenge : " Say not thou, I will recompense evil," Prov. xx. 22 ; and, " Say not, I will do so to him as he hath done to me ; I will render to the man ac- cording to his work," Prov. ssiv. 29 ; and, " Recom- pense to no man evil for evil," Rom. xii. 17 ; and, "Avenge not yourselves, but rather give place to wrath," ver. 19. Revenge opposes the mind of God, and both disturbs and expels the spirit which would abide in the soul, and is the spirit of peace and dove- like meekness; and lets in and gives place to the devil, who is the father and fiu-therer of war and re- venge. It divests God of his office. God alone knows how to punish our enemies without passion and in- equality. It makes him, instead of a judge, only an executioner. It takes the sword out of God's hand, and drives him from his dominion. What difference makes it between the party provoking and provoked, save that the last is last in the offence against God ? both are equally displeasing to him, whose law- is by both broken ; and supposing that our enemy has de- served to be hated, has God deserved to be disobeyed ? Nor does revenge less oppose our own welfare than God's pleasirre. The de\'il by this sin bereaves a man of his rea^oa, and, like a bird of prey, which seizing upon a dead carcass, fii-st pecks out his eyes, he blinds his understanding, and then leads him into what wickedness he pleases. By I'evciige we lose all that good which we might gei, even by injuries. Holy patience turns every injury thrown at us into a precious stone, and makes it an addition to our crown. He who has received an iniurv, if wise „ . . . . ., 1 ■ 1 /• Qui injuriam pa- to improve it, has received a favour, a litur, njagis do- reward; and it is against the rule of ;^'Xf,ymi,H,!i,'^!'" justice to return evil for good. What quam de injuria -■ , . .^ , ^ 1 sibi allata. madness is it, because our enemy nas done us wrong, to do ourselves more ! because he has hurt our bodies, to damn our souls ! that we may kill our enemy's ass, his body, to kill ourselves ! that we may tear his garment, to lose our own lives ! What unmanly folly is it to hate those in their sick- ness or madness, whom we love in their health ! to hate those wronging us, whom we would love when they do us good ! When our enemies are most un- kind, thcv show more distemper in themselves than they do hatred to us; and therefore deserve more pity than opposition. What greater cruelty than to cut and wound one who is dead, I mean spirit- ually ! What more ridiculous, than because one has taken away something from us, therefore to throw away all that is left behind ! because he has stolen i- 210 AN EXPOSITION UPON I Ver. 10. RiHicuIum est, oilio tiMctntis in- nrtcentiaiM per- dere. benec. of heaven ! away our cloak, or twenty pounds, therefore to throw our coat or whole inheritance into the sea ! When one has taken from us the cloak of our good name, or a little of our worldly estate, how wild a folly is it therefore to throw away by revenge the beautiful garment of our innocence, yea, the inheritance It is ridiculous, for the hatred of him that hurt us, to cast away that which never hurt, will alwa)'s be helpful to us ; and because we are bereaved of something which we had, our goods, therefore to throw away all we are, our souls. What madness comparable to that, whereby in our prayers we daily pour forth curses against, instead of re- quests for ourselves ! Who would not think him weary of his life, who being struck by one whom he knows to be full of leprosy and plag\ie sores, will spend his time in grappling and contending with him again ? None can avenge himself upon another without spiritual defilement and infection ; and, which is most inexcusable, that malice for which he is so much enraged against another he loves in himself. The empty, transitory, though re- proachful, expression of his brother he lays to heart ; but the sword of revenge, with which the devil endeavours to kill him, he contemns and dis- regards. In a word, what temper is more childish than that of revenge, whereby, like children, men de- sire and delight to strike that thing which hurt them ! It is folly to beat the instrument which wounded us ; our wisdom is, to labour that the wound which is given us may be healed and sanctified. Yea, there is more of "brutishness than manliness, when we are kicked to kick again. Nothing more honours a man than overcoming revenge. He who can master his own revengeful heart, has a spirit truly noble, and fit to govern others. Upon David's sparing Saul, wisely did Saul say thus to David, " The Lord hath delivered me into thy hands, and thou killedst me not: and now, behold, I know well that thou shalt be king," 1 Sam. xxiv. 18, 20. He only has something supernatural in charity who re- quites evil with good, who loves his enemies, does good to them that hate him, wearies them with pa- tience, and writes after a heavenly copy. Matt. v. 14. Obs. 6. The consideration of our having a God to whom we may commit our cause, is the best means to make us patient under wrongs. Michael was a servant to a great Lord, and to him he appeals, and lays the controversy before him : " The Lord rebuke thee." There would be more bearing in the world, were there more believing. Did we look more upon him that is invisible, we should less regard the evils which we see and feel. " Walk before me," saith God to Abraham, " and be perfect." Nothing, either of pleasure or pain, will seem great to him, in whose eye there is this great Lord. The greatest prop in opposition is to have a God to fly to. The greatest loss for him shall be made up again by him. When David considered that God was his portion, he ab- horred to go to other subterfuges, Psal. xvi. 4, 5. They who believe they have a God to right them, will not wrong themselves so much as to revenge their own wrongs. God, they know, will do it more equally, and more beneficially. And the true reason why there is no more willingness, either to forbear any sm, or to bear any sorrow, is because we think not of this great Lord, so as either to fear or trust him. They who can call God Father, may with Christ pray concerning their enemies, " Forgive them." They who can see heaven opened, and Christ at the right hand pleading for them, may with Stephen plead for their enemies, and pray, " Lord, lay not this sin to their charge." Verse 10. But these speak evil of those things which they know not : but irliat they know naturally, as brute beasts, in those things they corrupt themselves. In this verse our apostle accommodates and applies the comparison of Michael the archangel, or further shows wherein the holy and humble carriage of Michael made the sin of these seducers appear more sinful and abominable. The angel was a creature, not only of the greatest created might and power, but also of wisdom and understanding, and knew what the devil was, namely, a wicked creature, and destined by God to eternal perdition ; accurately also he understood that the cause wherein he contended with the devil was just and righteous, knowing the pleasure and will of God concerning the hiding of Moses's sepulchre ; but these, saith he, speak evil of what persons and things they know not ; are out- rageous, though ignorant ; active, though blind. And this want of due wisdom and understanding, in not knowing what they spake against, the apostle illus- trates, by showing what that kind of knowledge was which was left in these seducers ; namely, such as was merely brutish and sensual, and sucli as whereby they corrupted themselves : so that, as they sinned in what they hated and opposed, because they knew it not ; they sinned also in what they embraced and loved, because they knew it, but after a natural, beastly manner, viz. for the satisfying of their sen- sitive appetites. Our apostle with admirable artifice subjoins this second, their natural brutish knowledge, to the former, their ignorance ; because thereby he amplifies most wisely both those sins mentioned in ver. 8, viz. their defiling the flesh, and despising of dominions ; though (as Junius notes) by a hysteron proteroyi, he amplifies the •^""po^jrpoTe- latter, their despising of dominion, in the first place. The words contain principally these two parts: I. The malicious ignorance of these seducers, in speak-' ing evil of what they knew not. 2. Their sensual knowledge, in corrupting themselves in those things which, like brute beasts, they knew. In the former they showed themselves no Christians, in the latter scarce men. 1. Their malicious ignorance ; " These speak evil of those things which they know not." Wherein I consider, 1. Their act; |8Xa?)/(oi/(Ti, they " speak evil," or blaspheme. 2. The object of which they speak' evil, and which they blaspheme ; " those things which they know not." To the first of these I have before, on ver. 8, and ver. 9, spoken. Of the latter^ I now treat. Three things here are to be opened. 1. What the things are which these seducers are! here said not to know. 2. What kind of ignorance, or not knowing ofj those things, it was wherewith they are here charged. 3. Wherein appears this sin of speaking evil ofl those things which they knew not. 1. What the things are which these seducers are here said not to know. Some conceive (as Qilcumenius and others) that the things of which these seducers were ignorant, and spake evil, were sundry doctrines and points ofi faith, and mysteries of Christian religion. The doc- trines of Christianity surpassed their reason, nor could they be perceived Isy the power of nature. These seducers were such as were " ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the! truth," 2 Tim. iii. 7 ; and ha-ring swen'cd from the Ver. 10. THE EPISTLE OF JUDE. 211 faith, turned aside to vain jangling; and desiring to be teachers of the law, understood not what they said, nor whereof they affirmed, 1 Tim. i. 7. They \\ere blind leaders of the blind, not knowing the Scriptures, Matt. xv. 14. In a word, they consented not to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness, but were proud, knowing nothing, but doting about questions and strife of words, I Tim. vi. 3, 4. And particularly, they were ignorant of that main, fundamental, gospel truth, viz. that the grace of God teaches us to deny ungodliness; holding that they were by that grace freed from all holiness of life, and that all were thereby left at liberty to live as they pleased ; so that their lusts, like the dust, put out the eyes of their understanding. Others conceive, more probably, that though the apostle here uses an indefinite expression, in saying ocra, those things, yet he here intends principally, that these seducers were ignorant of the nature, in- stitution, and end of that dominion, those dignities which they so much despised and reviled, ver. 8, that they knew not that magistracy was appointed Tiy God, and to continue, even in the time of the gos- pel, notwithstanding the liberty which Christ hath purchased for us ; in short, they were ignorant of the great utility and benefit of civil government in and til the world ; that it defends justice, opposes vice, preserves public peace, relieves the oppressed, and is that tree under the shadow whereof we quietly and safely sit, and are sheltered. 2. For the second. What kind of ignorance it was with which the apostle here charges the seducers. There are three sorts of ignorance. (L) A happy and profitable ignorance, viz. not to know those things the knowledge wliereof proves hurtful ; thus it had been good for Adam not to have known evil ex- perimentally. It had been good for the Jews if they had never known the corrupt and idolatrous fashions of the heathens; and, in some respect, it had been good for apostates if they had never known the way of righteousness, 2 Pet. ii. 21. (2.) There is a know- ledge of mere and simjile negation ; as Christ knew not the day of judgment, and as illiterate mechanics know not sundry arts and sciences, as physic, astro- nomy ; and this is without sin. (3.) There is an ignorance of evil disposition, and this is twofold. 1. Of frailty, when we are ignorant, and naturally indisposed to the knowledge of those things which we ought to know ; but yet we are holily sorrowful for it, mourn under it, and pray against it. Thus even tlie godly are ignorant. 2. Ignorance of evil disposition may be supine, gross, or affected ; when men like themselves well enough in their ignorance, and their ignorance in themselves ; and this is not only non projiigata, an ignorance not fought against and opposed, but also affeclata, affected and loved, by men who refuse instruction, that so they may sin the more freely, and prosecute evil the more without controlment. This sort of ignorance is not barely ne.scire, a nescience, and not knowing qirJn^ut conH. citlicr of tlic things which we are cnjoin- qilis'air'uRi"'^ ^^ ^""^ bound to know ; but a nolle scire, nesiii ; se.i qiiis- a conccitcd. Contracted, contented ig- sc'il"qiioirnSde. norance, which thinks it knows what it Enclii"' '^' knows not, and desires to unlearn what it knows : the former is the cause of sin, but of the latter sin is the cause ; that ignorance ■whereby men desire not the knowledge of the ways of God, know not (as the psalmist speaks) nor will understand, but walk on in darkness, Psal. Ixxxii. 5. In brief, this ignorance wherewith our apostle charges these seducers is not only that qua neseiunt, whereby they discern not; but qua renpuunt, whereby they despise things needful to be known, approve not tlie things that are excellent, delight in error, quarrel with and resist the truth, and, as Peter speaks of this very sort of men, are willingly ignorant, 2 Pet. iii. 5. The heathen are said not to like to acknow- ledge God ; their blindness was natural, and they also voluntarily chose their superstition before the knowledge of God, Rom. i. 28. 3. Briefly for the third. Wherein appears the sin- fulness of their speaking evil of those things which tliey knew not. (1.) It is a sin discovering the grossest folly. Not to understand is a man's infirmity, but to speak what, and evilly of what, he understands not is his folly. If folly be discovered in speaking much, even of what we know, more is it manifested in speaking any thing of what we know not. If an ignorant speaker, much more is an ignorant reviler, his own enemy ; he shoots up arrows, which, for aught he knows, may fall upon his own pate ; he speaks that in his fury which he cannot unsay, and for which he may be un- done in his sobriety. " He that answers a matter before he hears it, it is a folly and a shame unto him," Prov. xviii. 13. " The heart of the wise teaches his mouth," Prov. xvi. 23. (2.) To speak evil of what we know not is great- est injustice. If he speaks unjustly who utters what is good and just in a cause which he knows not, because it is more by hap (as they say) than by honesty; how much greater is his injustice, who speaks that which is evil and unjust of what he knows not. It is unjust to speak evil of any without a call, though we do know it ; much more when we do not know it. How unequal is it that another should suffer for my ignorance, much more from my- self! It is the happiness of him who suffers, but the sin of him who ofiers the injury, that the former has no fault but the ignorance of the latter. Though David will ever be reckoned among good men, yet his act of ignorant censuring Mephiboslieth, unheard Mephibosheth ! will ever be reckoned among his unjust actions. The like may be said of Potiphar's doing evil to Joseph before he knew his cause, and Eli's censuring Hannah for drunkenness before he heard her. (3.) To speak evil of what we know not argues the height of malice. He may be malicious who speaks the evil he knows, much more he who utters that which he knows not. It is from want of love, to discover the sin we find in another, but it is the ex- cess of malice to make that sin which we could not find. If love makes us believe that good which we know not in another, 1 Cor. xiii. 7, then must it be malice which makes us believe and report that evil of which we are ignorant. To conclude, it is a ma- licious rejoicing in evil, 1 Cor. xiii. 6, to delight in uttering an evil which we really behold in another. But how great a pleasure docs he take in another's evil, who rejoices in his very fancying and imagining that evil against another which he frames in his own thoughts ! (4.) To speak evil of what we know not discovers impudence in wickedness, and a sinful immodesty as well as maliciousness : such an evil-speaking argues that a man has sinned away shame as well as love. What greater impudence "than for a man to outface at once the common observation of hearers, who haply can contradict foolish slander, and also the danger that false accusation incurs among men ; yea, conscience cliecking, and representing God him- self both observing and threatening ignorant and evil speaking. Obs. 1 . None arc so ready to speak as the ignorant. They who know least speak most and oftenest. A 212 AN EXPOSITION UPON Ver. 10. fool is hardly discerned wlicn silent ; his picture is best taken when he is speaiing ; if he '°si'J^i!l!!iqm"u'm?' ^lolds his peace, he is accounted wise ; he is, by Solomon, called "a prating fool :" " A fool," saith he, " is full of words," and is known thereby, Eccl. x. 14 ; v. 3 : empty vessels sound. A wise man has something to do before he speaks, and besides speaking ; namely, to consider, and let down the bucket of his tongue into the well of his reason, before he pour forth words. A fool's work is only to speak ; no wonder then if he does it with greater speed than a wiser person ; and if he, like Jacob in his hasty pro\ading of meat for his father, more suddenly presents the hearer with a kid of the goats than another shall with venison; and more easily brings what comes next hand, and is at the tongue's end, than another does that for which he has laboured : and yet deluded hearers, to whom such a present of empty words is tendered, commonly, like blind Isaac, bless and applaud the bringers thereof sooner and more than those whose words are more weighty, and prepared with greater pains. Their backwardness to learn of others has made them so forward to teach others ; and because they were fruit- less scholars, they are forward and fruitless teachers. And yet these empty speakers, that they may be com- mended by the ignorant for knowing, care not if they arc condemned by those who are knowing for ignor- ant. It is good counsel of the apostle, to be slow to speak, James i. 19, and to take heed of coveting, with Ahimaaz, to be messengers before we uial un'^aTeiv. liavc tidiugs ready, 2 Sam. xvili. 22; and Tj"i?LT„?' "il^ ^vith the empty and ambitious bramble, doiiodisieiefl- of desinng to be erected over others as gu mam. their instructors, when, having never been instructed, we can administer nothing to the hearerbut fruitless words, empty leaves, and unsavoury discourses. The faulty in this kind may well give good measure, for they give but bad weight, and may sell that cheap which costs them nothing. It is inverted order to be teachers before we are scholars. The apostle commands that a bishop be not hSdanaXoe onlj', a teacher ; but SiSdicTiKoe, fit, or meet, or apt to teach, 1 Tim. iii. 2 ; and that he attend to reading as well as speaking, 1 Tim. iv. 13. As without the blessing of God no means are prevalent, so without the use of means no blessing can be expected. It is only suitable, that hie tongue only should be the pen of a ready WTiter, whose heart has first been inditing a good matter, Psal. slv. 1. Nor should the hearer be less careful to discern, than the speaker is to in- dite, a good matter, Prov. sviii. 15. How few hearers have we tliat can yet difference between matter and words ! it suffices the most, if the hour be filled up with an empty noise, without any solid instruction : how rare is it to find, though we run to and fro in the streets of London, a man, I mean, in understanding ! Obs. 2. Ignorance is the cause of opposing the ways of God. "They speak evil of those things which they know not." The opposing and crucif5'ing of Christ himself proceeded from ignorance. "Had they known," saith the apostle, " they would not have crucified the Lord of glory," I Cor. ii. 8. " I wot that through ig- norance," saith Peter to the Jews, " ye did it," speak- ing concerning the killing " the Prince of life," Acts iii. 15, 17. Christ himself testifies of his murderers that they knew not what they did. " And these things," saith Christ, speaking of the unkindness and cruelties of sinners against his servants, " will they do unto you, because they have not known the Father, nor me," John xvi. 3. " If thouknewest," saith Cln-ist to that poor Samaritan, " the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink, thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water," John iv. 10. The reason why those profane ones refused God's service, and asked what profit they should have if they prayed to him, is plainly implied to be their ignorance ; they desired not the knowledge of his ways; and. Who, say they, is the Almighty? &c.. Job xxi. 14, 15. The reason why the heathen did not call upon God, is said to be this, they knew him not, Psal. Isxix. 6. " There is none that understandeth, that seeketh after God," Rom. iii. 11. Ignorance made the Gentiles strangers from the life of God, Eph. iv. 18. It is a sin which never went single ; it ever walks in company, and is an inlet to all impiety. Although the prayer of Christ for his ignorant enemies, showed that God might take occasion from their ignorance to forgive them, yet it plainly implies that the sin to be for- given them took its rise from their ig- . . norance ; their doing was from their not pectSo"'mtem- knowing what they did. An unregene- semes in sup- rate man's practice is a fashioning him- ** '"°' self according to lusts in his ignorance, I Pet. i. 14. Did men either see the deformity of sin, or the beauty of holiness, they would neither delight in the former, nor dislike the latter : when there is no know- ledge of God in the land, there is neither " truth nor mercy," but "swearing, lying, killing, stealing, com- mitting adultery," Hos. iv. 1, 2. The foundation of obedience must be laid in knowledge, which, in a sort, is the root of other gi'aces ; " Grace be multi- plied unto you through the knowledge of God," 2 Pet. i. 2. See also ver. 3. The will and affections are led by the understanding, which sits at the stem in the soul : all the sins of the people are called errors, Heb. ix. 7. As Eve, so others since, are drawn to sin by being deceived, 1 Tim. ii. 14. The first work of grace is to reform the understand- ing. Be ye changed by the renewing of your mind, Rom. xii. 2. And, " The new man is renewed in knowledge," Col. iii. 10. The imaginations and thoughts of the mind are by the apostle called those strong holds and high things exalted against the knowledge, and to be subdued " to the obedience, of Christ," 2 Cor. x. 4, 5. How dangerous then is ig- norance ! He who wants the right knowledge of God is still under the dominion of Satan, who is called " the ruler of the darkness of this world," Eph. vi. 12. This ruler of darkness takes up his throne in dark hearts ; none are turned off the laddei but such whom he first blinds. " I send thee," saith, Christ to Paul, " to turn them from darkness to light: and from the power of Satan unto God," Acts xxvij 18. Ignorance is the beaten path to hell : My people perish for want of knowledge, Hos. iv. 6. Whomso^ ever God will have to be saved, he will bring "to th«j knowledge of the truth," 1 Tim. ii. 4. They who have not known God's ways, shall never, if we ma; believe God's oath, enter into his rest, Psal. xcvj 10, 11. Foolish are they who boast of their good minds and meanings, and yet continue ignorant Witho\it knowledge the mind is not good, Prov: xix. 2. Many cry up practice and good meaning ti' cry down knowledge : ignorant devotion is but fee without eyes, which the farther and faster they carr; us, the greater is our deviation and danger. To conclude this point. How excellent is ever way of God, of which only ignorant ones speak evil besides the ignorant, heavenly learning has no enemj There is none who know it, as we say of some mcr but love it. All the children of wisdom justify he Matt. xi. 19; nor was she ever condemned but b| those who never would hear what she could say fc| herself. How patient should every saint be und( all the reproaches which he meets with for holine from blind sinners, whose tongues are in this ii H Ver. 10. THE EPISTLE OF JUDE. 213 slander! A blind man cannot judge of colours. Much more deserve they our pity and prayers for their want of eyes, than our wrath for their abusing their tongues. Let all our revenge be, to labour to make thepi know and speak better. He who strikes his friend in the dark, will be most offended with himself when the light discovers his mistaken unkindness. Obs. 3. How great is the sin of speaking evil of those things the worth whereof we do know ! If to speak ignorantly and evilly against what is good be a sin, then to speak knowingly and eWlly against it must needs be a greater sin. If they may sin who think they do God sen-ice in speaking against a per- son ; how heinous is their sin who know that they do God disservice, and the devil service, in such speak- ing ! All sin against light, especially reviling against light, borders upon the sin against the Holy Ghost, and adventures to make too near an approach unto it. To speak evil even of what is not good, may be bad ; to speak evil of what is good, is worse ; to speak evil of what is good, though we know it to be so, is much worse, and within one step of speak- ing evil against it because we know it to be so. Such sins more stupify and benmnb the conscience than others, and keep it from sensibleness ; and there- fore it will want a deeper wound (and possibly such a one as shall never be cured) to make it sensible. How deservedly solicitous therefore was holy David in his prayer to be kept from sins of contumacy and presumption! Psal. xis. 13; sins which, as they are more ordinarily committed in days of light and much knowledge, so can they not be committed at so easy and cheap a rate as those which are caused by ignor- ance. 06^. 4. We should speak against known evils, and for what we know to be good. If the wicked fear not to speak evil of the good which they know not, how unsuitable is it for saints to be afraid to speak against those evils which they know to be such ! As it is a sinful forwardness to speak at any time of the things which we know not, so it is oft sinful backward- ness not to speak the things which we do know : " Knowing," saith the apostle, " the terror of the Lord, we persuade men," 2 Cor. v. 11. " We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen," saith Christ, John iii. 11. Shall not sinners forbear to revile holiness, and shall others refrain to with- stand impiety ? How inexcusable is it that ignor- ance should be more active in a wrong than know- ledge in a right way ! When men oppose holiness, they fight wthout eyes; and shall light produce lukewannness ? What a shame is it that Satan should have more confessors and martyrs than Jesus Christ ! If sin and error fear no colours, and covet no comers, should grace and truth do either ? the fool-hardiness of sinners may justly reprove the faint- ness of saints. It is our duty to be valiant for the truth, and to give the glory of God reparations, as it were, by wiping off the blemishes cast upon it by foolish and ignorant men. When we have upon grounded deliberation chosen our love, we should zealously express the love of our choice. Sinners, as they say of young men's thoughts of old, think that saints are foolish, but saints know that sinners are so. Let not their prosecution of sin be more zealous than thy reprehension of it ; nor their opposition of any way of God be more hot than thy contention for it. Let thy fire have more purity than theirs, but let it not be inferior in its fervour. The Christian's ser- pent must not devour his dove. How good a Master do the godly serve, who requires no duty but such as he warrants in and rewards after the doing I Satan's servants are sceptics, and he puts them upon such employments, in the doing whereof they cannot know they do well ; and afterwara they shall know they have done ill, and that to their cost. Obs. 5. Corrupt atfections blear and darken the judgment. These seducers hated the ways of God, and delighted to oppose them, and therefore they did not, would not know them. He who will be dis- obedient in heart, shall soon have a dull head. They who love sin will leave the truth. Lust opposes the entrance of the light. Repentance makes men " ac- knowledge the truth," 2 Tim. ii. 25. " Every one who doeth evil hateth the light," John iii. 20. Men love not to study such truths as will hinder them (being known) from going on in some gainful wickedness. It is from unrighteousness that men imprison truths. They who thought belies'ing the resurrection would hinder their coinse in sin, taught that the resurrec- tion was past, 2 Tim. ii. 18. Lust perverts light, and makes men, instead of bringing their hearts and lives to the Scripture, to bring, to draw the Scriptvire, by carnal and wittily wicked distinctions and evasions, to both, Prov. xxviii. 5. Knowledge is the mother of obedience, and obedience the nurse of knowledge ; the former breeds the • "X'"J« """ latter, and the latter feeds the former. Obs. 6. It is our duty to forbear Q^jp^j^^ ,„^„ speaking against any thing which we cijor.ias expiora- understand not. " He that answereth ni..i 'hiconcinne a matter," saith Solomon, " before he ^"'Jll'^fj^"""" heareth it, it is folly and shame unto sirepuum reddit; SICut ludex, qui siugulas lili^ato- rum causes mm pulsavit.nec au- I pro untiet, necesse tst. Pelrarc. him," Prov. xviii. 13. As men are not to be commended, so neither to be con- demned, before the knowledge of their oimi, siuiiam At, u 1 J .« plane etabsurdam cause. As he causes a harsh and un- leniemiam pio- musical sound who strikes and plays upon the strings of an instrument be- fore he has tried and tuned them ; so he must needs pass a foolish and absurd sentence upon any cause, who passes that sentence before he has seriously heard and weighed the cause to which he speaks. Herein Eli manifested his fault and folly, 1 Sam. i. 14, rashly and weakly charging Hannah with drunk- enness. Thus also Da\-id discovered his folly in gi-sang credit to the information of flattering and false-hearted Ziba against good Mephibosheth, be- fore he had heard what Mephibosheth could allege for himself, 2 Sam. xvi. 3, 4. Potiphar likewise showed himself as unjust as his wife showed herself unchaste, by an over-hasty heeding of his wife's false and forged accusation against righteous Joseph, Gen. xxxix. 19, 20. To these may be added the ignorant censure of those scoffers who derided the apostles, filled n-ith the Holy Ghost, as if filled with new wine. Doubtful cases are to be exempted fi-om our censure. The wheat and coarser gi-ain ]„,,.,. ,ri,|,„ni ei (saith Jerom) are so like one another, loiimn, qnamdiu ^ , , ' 1 1 r ..1 lierba est tt non- when newly come up, and beiore the dum cuimus ve- stalk comes to the ear, that there is no grandis^mfhiudo judging between them, and therefore "'• f' '° <>'^"'- the Lord, by commanding that both aut peVdiSciiis ' should be let alone till the harrest, ad- ^S'e%o''D^ monishes that we should not judge of niinus ne.ubi doubtful things, but refer them to the «"', cSo semen- judgment of God. Even God himself, [^"D^of dl^i"" who clearly discerns the secrets of the termmum reser- T . 1 •' 1 ^ • vemus. Ilieron. heart, and needs not examme any cause ut nobis e»em- for his own information, determines p^",™ f ™Sm°° not by sentence till after examination, ante prasumamus that so he might teach us by his ex- probare'. '"g" ample the method of judging. Gen. Mor. i. ig.c.es. xviii. 21 ; which is, to know before we censure. They who, to make a show of what they have not, a quick understanding and nimble apprehension, will take off a speaker m the midst of his relation, and make as if they knew all the rest of his speech which is 214 AN EXPOSITION UPON Ver. 10." to follow ; and others, who though they will hear the whole speech out, yet not clearly understanding it, scorn to have it repeated again, lest they might be thought slow of apprehension ; by their foolish and ill accommodated answers often grosslj' betray their ignorance and folly. And this speaking of any thing ignorantly should principally be avoided by magis- trates and ministers. By magistrates, because their passing a sudden and over-hasty answer is accom- panied with the hurt of others; and withal, by so much the more should they take heed of this folly, because when they have once passed, p'ro'v^xv'iM'1'3" tliough a rash and unjust, sentence, yet so great a regard must be had to their honours, by themselves already dishonoured, that seldom or never will they be induced to retract or recall any unrighteous censure, when once they have uttered it. Whicli sinful distemper appeared not only in those heathen governors, Herod and Pilate, in censuring of John and Christ, but in that holy man David, in the case of Mephibosheth. By minis- ters likewise should this speaking ignorantly and doubtfully of any thing be avoided, whose work being to direct souls, and that through greatest dan- gers, to the obtaining of greatest happiness ; they cannot be blind leaders and ignorant teachers with- out the infinite hazard of their followers. How un- like are they who will be teachers before they them- selves have been taught, and afhrmers of what they understand not, to Him who spake only what he knew, and testified only what he saw and heard ! John iii. 11,32. Thus of the first part of this verse, their malicious and unchristian ignorance ; " They speak evil of what they know not." Now follows, 2. What kind of ignorance, or not knowing of those things, it was wherewith they are here charged ; " What they know naturally, as brute beasts, in those things they corrupt themselves." In which words two things are mainly considerable : The sensuality of their apprehensions, and of their conversations. (1.) The kind or nature of their knowledge, "What they know naturally, as brute beasts." (2.) The eifect of that their knowledge, " In those things they corrupt themselves." The first is, 1. Propounded and specified in these words, " What they know naturally." 2. Expounded by and compared to the knowledge of the brute beasts, " As brute beasts." Three things here require explication in this second part of the verse. 1. What the apostle here intends by knowing naturally. 2. Why he compares them for this knowing natu- rally to brute beasts. 3. In what respect by this knowing naturally, as brute beasts, they are said to " corrupt themselves." „ . ... . 1. For the first. By this knowing Natural Iter no- ^ n • ,, ^ i . ° runt; i. e. ipsa naturally, m the Oreek ^umicws, is to a-itMbaom^e'sl™" lie understood a knowing only by the ut sunt ea qu:e guidance of nature, merely by their tur, laciu. vin. et senscs, by touchuig, tasting, seeing, &c. ; fnlo'c. ■'"^'"'"^ a knowing whether a thing please sense Naturaiiier, soiis or uo, witliout any Other teaching, or st^nsibus, absque • i ^ i . ii i ■, judRin rationis. any judgment and reason at all ; and it lnimai,a."coeios- respf-'cts those things which belong to cunt, viz. qua: the Sensitive appetite, as meat, drink, peti'i'um°'ensit^ slccp, &c. ; and hcucc it might possibly vuiii, quaiia sunt comc to pass that Gagneius conjectured, polus, til>us, sum- , 1 ■ 1 11 nus. veneris usus. thOUgll WltfiOUt gl'OUnd, tllat iwidravTm, erh. in Pet. ^^^^^ know, is put for ((piaravTai, they desire, or have an appetite. This word " naturally" is opposed to reason and judgment; these sensual 0(7Q 6e 0ffflKIT oputu adlQKptTCUP, if T(l a\07U ^TTi- ajauTai ^wa, Tau- Ta jueTtidit/iKouiTi, uifiTTirCf Jft]Xv)la- i-tTr »j xoTpoi. (Eecuui. Stire naturaliter, est scire non con- silio ullo, non ra- tiiiiie luimana, ni'u Spirilus Di- ni luce, sed "Wo^ov, plater rationetu. sine la- tione. Aniitiantia ralionis ex|)c]tia. Jfez. Aniinalia niuta. Vulg. beat, sonuin. llo- lat. Car. lib. 4. O. 3. persons only knew things as carried to their outward senses. The force of nature only ruled them; rea- son never guided them. CEcunienius expresses it very aptly : Whatever, saith he, with natural force or desire, without putting difference, as irrational creatures, they know, they violently follow, as lustful horses or swine. Junius explains it thus. To know na- turally is to know without counsel, hu- man reason, or the light of God's Spirit, __. „_ and with the blind force of nature and r«<^o naiuj* im- bestial motion, only following natural more.' Juniurin appetite and outward senses. '°'^' 2. Why Jude compares them to brute beasts. The apostle exegetically explains by an apt comparison, what he intends by this knowing naturally ; he saith they know things as brute beasts, in the Greek, dXoya ICia. The woril aXoyot, brute, signifies either mute, or irrational and brute, either without ^j.,^ ^^^, „ speech, or without reason. There being " no irrational creature but is also mute ; that is, though not without a voice, so as fish are said more properly to be mute, yet without speech, which none pisciSus.^ro'S-'' but man useth naturally. Now this 1"™ •^>'A"':..'*' i' knowledge wdiich belongs to brute beasts, is that which arises from the in- stinct of nature, consisting in the senses ; and by the benefit of it brute beasts discern between the food which is suitable and that which is unfit, between that which is beneficial and that which is hurtful ; unto which is joined a natural ajipetite toward such things as tend to their preservation. Of this know- ledge speaks the Scripture : " The ox knows his owner, and the ass his master's crib," Isa. i. 3. And, " The young lions roar after their prey, and seek their meat from God," &c., Psal. civ. 21. And, " They wait upon thee, that thou maycst give them their meat in due season. That thou givest them they gather : thou openest thine hand, and they are filled with good," ver. 27, 28. And, " The range of the mountains is the pasture of the wild ass, and he searcheth after every green thing," Job xxxix. 8. And, " The eagle abideth on the rock," &c., " and from thence she seeketh the prey," ver. 28, 29. And, "Behemoth eateth grass as an ox," Job xl. 15: " The mountains bring him food," ver. 20. Yea, " The ants prepare their meat in the sunmier," Prov. XXX. 25. And by this knowledge of irrational creatures is that of these sensualists here by Jude set forth for sundry reasons. (1.) In their knowledge of things naturally, they desired sensual objects violently and impetuously, They laboured not for them with a holy submissive' ness to and dependence upon God, but followed them| with a brutish fierceness. They were like the liou' roaring after his prey ; when they see what they love, there is no holding them in with the reins either of, reason or religion ; they ran greedily after reward,, subverted whole houses, and taught any error foEJ filthy lucre's sake, Tit. i. 11. They were greed; dogs', (2.) They received no enjoyments thankfully, not considering the Giver ; they drank of the river, takingi no notice of the fountain ; filling their vessel with it, and then turning their backs upon it. They received gifts, but regarded not the hand which bestowed them. Their bellies were filled with treasures (to them) hidden. Like swine feeding on acorns, which though they fall upon their heads, never make them look up to the tree from which they come. AVhen God opened his hand they shut their hearts, denying Ver. 10. THE EPISTLE OF JUDE. 215 the tribute of praises which God expects for all his blessings. (3.) They pleased themselves with the gifts solely, never regarding tlie love of the Giver. Beasts care not with what atTection any thing is given to them so that they have the thing which they want. These sensualists desired not that the gifts which they en- joyed might be turned into mercies ; not considering that the love of God is the fulness of every enjoy- ment : in this worse than some beasts, who suspect a snare when p^o^-ision is most plentiful. These never caring whether the heart of God were toward tliem or no, so as his hand were opened ; and using the gifts of a Creator, not regarding the affection of a Father; not questioning whether their provisions were bestowed upon them as children, with love ; or whether as condemned prisoners, to keep life in them against the day of execution : and in short, like beasts, as the apostle saith, they were made to be de- stroyed, 2 Pet. ii. 12; they so knew these sensitive objects, as not knowing whether they were fatted by them for slaughter. (4.) They knew these things so brutishly, as not to know how to improve them ; they cared not to be fitted by them for sei-vice. Brute beasts only live to eat ; and so these made their sensual pleasures the end of their liWng, never referring them to glory- ends; not making them vehicula, chariots, to caiTV them faster, and to raise them up higher to God in a way of love and duty ; but rincula, bonds, to keep and bind them down to the satisfaction of sense. They used not their comforts as wings, to make their thoughts and affections mount up to heaven ; but as birdlime to their wings, and hinderances from all heavenly both desires and services. (5.) They knew no measure in using these things. They, like swine, wallowed over head and ears in the mud of sensual enjo}Tnents, being themselves gulfs of them, and ingulfing themselves in them ; and not tasting them, but even bursting with them. Like some horses, they had rather break their wind than their draught. Their hearts were overcharged wnth surfeiting, Luke xxi. 34. They ran to excess of riot. Instead of cheering, they clogged nature, turn- ing Christianity into epicurism ; they made their belly their god, and they ser\ed it, Rom, xvi, IS ; Phil, iii. 19. Their sensual appetites were bound- less and unlimited ; they rather pampered than fed themselves. (6.) They so brutishly knew these things, as not to know instruction or any restraint ; growing un- tamed and impatient of the yoke, like a backsliding heifer. They would not endure admonition ; and he, saith Solomon, who hateth reproof is brutish, Prov. xii. \. Like Jeshurun, they waxed fat, and kicked, Deut. xxxii. 15. Hence they despised and opposed all dominion and government, like the wild ass, W'hich snuffing up the wind, is not to be caught, Jer. ii, 24 ; Hos, viii, 9, A brute beast fed to the full endures not to be beaten ; these seducers resisted the truth which opposed their lusts, 2 Tim, iii. 8, and qxiarrelled with the word of life ; like bnite beasts, which though never so sick, will strike at those who let them blood, or give them wholesome drink. It was as easy to catch a hare with a tabret, as to make them hear reproof in their sensual enjoyments. They who are in a harvest of worldly pleasures commonly have harvest ears, not at leisure to hear what may regulate them in their sensual prosecutions. (7.) They knew these things so brutishly, as never to consider of a removal of them, or the approach of the hatchet ; they were sensually secure, like the beast, feeding themselves without fear ; they mocked at the denimciations of judgment, as Peter speaks, 2 Pet, iii,, drinking away sorrow; like the old world, eating and drinking though the flood were ap- proaching, and never considering that their wine was soon to be turned info water, (8,) They so brutishly knew these things, as not to know how to part with them. A beast knows no other woe but want of provender, nor sensualists any other penalty but the parting with sensual ob- jects : these never learn, with Paul, how to want, and how to abound ; or with Job, to bless God when taking away as well as giving. They so addict themselves to sensitive delights that they cannot be without them; and so are they fastened to them, and their heart so set upon them, that the pulling them away is the pulling off their very flesh. When they enjoy them, they are so secure, as if God could never remove them ; when they want them, they are so impatient, as if God could never restore them. 3. In what respect by their knowing naturally they are here said to " corrupt themselves." The words "corrupt themselves" are contained in one word in the original, ipBtipovrai, which signifies pro- perly so to spoil and deprave or mar a thing, as that it loses its former worth and excellency, or is unfit for that use to wliich it should be employed. Among profane writers it is often used to note the violating and abusing of the body by unchastity ; j„venisc G^"- ^1'^- "^^ ^°™<= '^cre grammatici ubi are wlio take elli here for the note of Funi:'ta'verbo''in- the dativc S, and then the meaning of the words is, I have gotten a man to the transitivo, aut Lord ; that is, who after our death shall J'ru''r''p''„ fay"' in our stead ser\-e and worship the """• C!''°- >'• -2 ; Lord. But the best expound eth (as I p ", Vi'i a'bs'.™ said) by with, from, by, &c., and so the r"." 'iiioeu* meaning is, I have gotten a man avv ■[,""■''.','"• Qeui; that is, by the favour, help, and '^' ' ""'^' blessing of the Lord, as his gift, by ratifying his blessing of multiplication, chap. i. 28, and that both blessing my conception of a child, and also my child- 1 birth, without the assistance of a midwife. This may well be the meaning of the place, and Eve's thankful acknowledging Goet. 1. 3. ii. 15. Also it is called the " narrow way," Matt, vii. 14, because grievous and unplcasing to the flesli. Also "the way of understanding," Prov. xxi. 16; ix. 6 ; Isa. xl. 14. " The way of wisdom," Prov. iv. II. " The way of peace," Rom. iii. 17. " The way of righteousness," Prov. xvi. 31 ; Matt. xxi. 32. " The way of light," Job xxi. 13. " The way of ho- liness," Isa. XXXV. 8. " The way of truth," Psal. cxix. 30 ; 2 Pet. ii. 2. " The way of salvation," Acts xvi. 17. (2.) Bad, called the way of the wicked : " The way of the ungodly shall perish," Psal. i. 6. " The way of the wicked he turneth upside down," Psal. cxlvi. 9. " The way of the wicked is as darkness," Prov. iv. 19. " The way of the transgressors is hard," Prov. xiii. 15. " The way of the heathen," Jer. X. 2. The way of one's own heart, Eccl. xi. 9; Isa. Ivii. 17; Acts xiv. 16. An unetjual way, Ezek. xviii. 25, 29; xxxiii. 17. " A way that is not good," Psal. xxxvi. 5 ; Prov. xvi. 29. " An evil way," Prov. xxviii. 10; viii. 13. " The way of a fool," Prov. xii. 15. " Of the froward," Prov. xxii. 5. A way of pain or grief, Psal. cxxxix. 24. A stubborn way, Judg. ii. 19. A broad way. Matt. vii. 13. A way of darkness, Prov. ii. 13. "A way not cast up," Jer. xviii. 15. Under this evil and wicked way falls the way of Cain, here mentioned by Jude, which is not so largely to be taken, as for the whole sinful course and carriage of Cain throughout his life, but for some particular course of his, for which in Scrip- ture he is most condemned and pmiished by God, Ver. 11. THE EPISTLE OF JUDE. 221 and in which he was by these seducers most imi- tated; and that way miglit he made up of tliree principal parts : [1.] The way of hypocrisy. Cain prisianii'l.s sacri- indeed offered a sacrifice to the Lord, fni'ci"i'=i"i"h'ei ra- ^"^ perhaps, though some deny it, every tione n.aiM-ia aut way as good and costly, in respect of anmli'i.flirrniis el the outsidc thereof, as was that of Abel ; Gen' i\^""' '" J"^*- '"^ Sacrificed in a faithless, hypo- T^ ej u. I . critical manner, as is clear from the Ex fide obtiilit i *i i, -f i .^ non solum ex reason whv Abel s sacrifice was better, JiPam M.Sil'pro'! and better accepted with God, than missiouis ; cer(o Cain's. The apostlc declares, Hcb. xi., opercopeiato Abel offered in faith; by which faith, SiVq^nidmerlri, ^e offering a better sacrifice, and better sed propter vie- accepted, it is plain that Cain sacri- sicnifitaiam hac ficcd not m faith ; he performed a good ci'pi'in'l:'ra'ilm work, but with 3 rotten and hypocriti- Dei. Pareus in cal lieart ; not in spirit and truth wor- ""■ shipping God. The faith of Abel in offering his sacrifice stood principally in two things. 1. In eyeing the rule and command of God obedi- ently, who had enjoined it. 2. In expecting accept- ance from God for the merit, not of his work, but of Christ, who was signified by his sacrifice. Of both these Cain, though sacrificing, was destitute, neither offering because he believed the command of God was to be obeyed, nor looking to find acceptance for his person and performance through Christ ; but pro- fanely, customarily, and proudly doing the thing which God commanded, but disregarding the man- ner commanded in doing it. [2.] A second way of Cain, and that principally, as I conceive, here intended by our apostle, was the hatred and murder of his brother, ah\(po):Tovia. 1. He slew a man, herein sinning against the common nature of mankind. 2. He slew one that was his subject, and obedient to him, whom he ought there- fore to have defended against all injury and violence. Hoc nomine non 3- He destroyed not a slave, and a eom- lijjy'wier homi- mon Subject, but his outi brother ; and cida', sed iratri. Some think that Cain and Abel were cda. Muse. t,^.jjjg_ 4_ p^ j^5(. ^-^^ gQQ^ jjjj,^ jjjjj not slay an unjust and wicked man, but a wicked and ungodly slew a just and innocent man. 5. He did not slay him for any fault of his, but for his holy and sincere worship of the true God. 6. He slew him, not stirred up by any sudden rage, heat, or commo- tion of mind, or by imprudence, but out of settled hatred, and in premeditation to take away his life. 7. This murder was committed by Cain after God had admonished him to take heed of that sin. 8. And after he had made a show of friendship and reconciliation to his brother, Gen. iv. 8. Cain talked in a friendly and familiar manner with his brother, and then slew him. Hence this inhuman murder is that sin for which, by the apostle John, Cain is said to be of that wicked' one, 1 John iii. 12. In short, first he inwardly hated and envied his brother, be- cause his sacrifice was better accepted than his own ; and then he expressed this hatred by his cruelty in killing him. His hatred was murder begun, and his nmrder was hatred perfected. He who cared not how he served God, regarded not how he used his brother. Cain begins with sacrifice, and ends with murder. There were in the whole world but two brothers, and the one was a butcher of the other : Abel was the first martyr, and Cain the first mur- derer; and the same cause that moved Satan to tempt the first man to destroy himself and his pos- terity, moves the second man to destroy the third. Groundless envy ! what injurj' did God's accepting Abel do to Cain ? what help against God's rejecting Cain coidd be brought by Abel? It should have been Cain's joy to have seen his brother accepted ; it should have been his sorrow to have seen that him- self deserved a rejection. Could Abel have stayed God's fire from descending ? or should he, if he could, reject God's acceptance to content a brother ? Cain was envious because God or Abel is not less good : he en\-ied that good in his brother which he neglected in himself. In short, Cain's envy made him bloody ; and indeed, as one aptly expresses it, such is this sin, that if it eats not another's heart, it will eat our own. [3.] A third way of Cain was manifested in com- plaining of his curse : " !My punishment " (saith he) " is greater than I can bear," Gen. iv. 13. The words in the original admit of a double reading. Some un- derstand them to be words of despair of mercy, and read them thus. Major est iniquitas mea qiiam par- cere, (so Arias,) My sin is greater than that I should ever obtain pardon. Others think they are words aggravating his punishment, and complaining of its severity ; and they read them thus. Major est punitio mea quam ut J'eram, My punishment is greater than I can undergo. And this interpretation seems to be most favoured by the following words, " Behold, thou hast driven me out this day from the face of the earth, and from thy face shall I be hid, and I shall be a fugitive," &c. According to this interpretation, he does not so much confess the greatness of his sin, as complain of the grievousness of his punishment j and seems not to be so solicitous of reconciliation with God, as of the preservation of his life. But nothing hinders us from taking the words pro- „„ perly, as words of despair of pardon ; iniquitas, poena for those which follow may be an ex- Jj!l?;"'i?e;re, re- aggeration of his calamity, as if he had mmere : verbum said, I am not only, wretch that I am ! "n sTjmS^oiS' without hope of pardon from God, but P°;i7,'J|.- If?^,^ banished also from my dear parents, rare.etianiapud and compelled to wander about in the caiionem^lheni world. And these different interpreta- pi^cendi, ideo est 1 T (T. In voce ambigui- tions were occasioned by the ditterent las. Rivet, m significations of the two words in the '"°' '^' ^'^' original, *jiy and sir:c. The former imports both iniquity and the punishment of iniquity. The latter, both taking away or remitting, and also bearing and sustaining. There is no danger in reading the words either way ; for as the words allow either reading, so his impatience and despair imply each other; his despair of taking away his sin being the true cause of his accounting his punishment greater than could be borne, for it is sin only that makes punishment heavy ; and the complaining of the intolerableness of the punishment a true sign of his despair of the pardon of his sin ; so that it matters not much which way we take. It is plain that he rather accused God of cruelty against himself, than himself of cru- elty against his brother; so that he added to the taking away of his brother's life the denj-ing of God's nature, in making his own sin greater than God's mercy : horrid, heinous either to speak or think ! In short, hereby Cain showed that he could keep no mean ; from security in sin he fell into despair after sin. 3. Why this course of Cain is here called a way. Take it in these following considerations. ( 1 .) A way is that wherein there are sundry pas- sengers. Out of a way passengers or travellers are not to be expected, but in a way persons ordinarily pass to and fro. There is no way of sin, though it be even Cain's, but some, yea, many traverse it. The worst courses find most imitation. " ^Vide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, antl many there be that go in thereat," Matt. vii. 13. The way of sin is most trodden and beaten. Sinners go to hell in multitudes ; and it is as much against 222 AN EXPOSITION UPON Ver. 11. their nature to go to hell alone,, as to go in the way to heaven at all. They encourage one anotlier in an evil way. They wonder at those who go not with them, and reproach them, thinking them mad for going out of the way : " Wlierein they think it strange that you run not with them to the same excess of riot, speaking evil of you," I Pet. iv. 4. (2.) This sinful course is a way, in respect of the expertness of those who walk in it. When men are out of the v^'ay, they often understand not where they are, and whither they are going ; hut in a way which they have often beaten, they go on skilfully and ex- pertly. Hence every one is esteemed expert and believed in his way. He who has been long used to a way will undertake to go in it blindfold ; he knows every turning, town, mark, mile's end. The wicked are witty in sin, they are workers of iniquity, ipyaioiiivoi, Matt. vii. 23, curious contrivers of wick- edness, wise to do evil ; though to do good they un- derstand not, but are sottish children. When in sin, they are in their element, and wiser in their genera- tion than the children of light. Put them out of their way, and they are presently at a loss. How left- handed are they in holy duties ! how untowardly do they discourse of and act for God ! they are children in understanding. (3.) In respect of progressiveness. When a man is in away, he stands not still, and fakes not only one or two, but many steps, goes on step by step. Wicked men proceed in sin ; they grow worse and worse ; they know where they began, but not where they shall end. Cain proceeded from I'ormality in God's service to hatred against his brother; from hatred to dissimulation ; from thence to murder ; from thence to despair. His way was made up of several stages. Every step he took left a stronger engagement to go on. The child of God, by the frailty of the tlesh, may slip, step into sin ; but he does not stand, go on, keep a course in that way. They are the wicked who " stand in the way of sinners," Psal. i. 1. They make a trade of sin. A sinner falls into sin as the fish, the saint as a child, does into the water. In the latter sin is, but the former is m sin. (4.) In respect of its period and tenn. The longest way has an end. The longest course of sin, though of a thousand years' continuance, terminates in de- struction. The full point of every sinful way is damnation ; the end, though not of the worker, yet of the work, is death ; that is the wages of sin. The way of sin is broad in the entrance, but narrow in the conclusion ; it " is the way to hell, goi-zig down to the chambers of death," Prov. v. 5 ; vii. 27. Foolish sinners in good duties separate the means from the end, accounting exactness needless : in sinful ways they separate the end from the means, thinking tor- ments fabulous ; although Scripture equally pre- scribes the former, and foi-etells the latter. God's method is first to bring into a wilderness, and then to Canaan ; Satan contrarily leads from Canaan into a wilderness. God's way is right, and may seem rugged ; Satan's smooth, but false. C*jin never left travelling in his way of hypocrisy, envy, miu'der, till it ended in despair. 4. How these seducers went in this way of Cain. (I.) They went in this way of Cain's formality and hypocrisy. They partook of the same ordinances and privileges with true saints : in name, in tlie skin, they were Christians ; in the heart, at the core, they were unholy ; they pretended to the highest pitch of religion ; but all this while, as the apostle calls them, they were but ungodly men. While they sacrificed outwardly with Cain, they had inwardly the spirit of Cain; like those of whom St. John speaks, who went out from, but never were truly of us. Their impure life was a practical confutation of their verbal profession. In words they professed Christ, but in their deeds they denied him, though the only Lord. (2.) They went in the way of Cain in respect of their hatred and malice against the faithful. None so much envied and opposed faithful pastors and teachers as they did. False teachers Avere Paul's standing antagonists ; they were like Jannes and Jambres, who withstood Moses. The scribes and Pharisees of all others most hated Christ. " Pilate knew that for envy they had delivered him." Seducers hate those most who hinl them most. The faithful minister who shines with the light of pure doctrine these thieves most strike at. The leaders of God's army they principally fight against. The magistrate, whom God appointed for the restraining of sin, they bitterly hated and envied ; and it was not for want of poison, but power, that they did not destroy and pluck up magistracy by the very roots. These sedu- cers were likewise murderers with Cain, the worst of murderers, soul murderers. Their work was to draw men into perdition. They were deceived and de- ceiving, blindly leading their blind followers into the ditch of destruction. They denied Him who is the way, the truth, the life. Their sacrificing was with a murderous intent ; and though, with Cain, who spake most kindly to his brother when he was in- wardly most cruel, they utter fair and sweet expres- sions, yet all to deceive the hearts of the simple. Under every bait of good words there lay the hook of error and heresy. They gave their poison in a gilded cup, and ever came with a hanmier and a nail when they presented butter in a lordly dish; nor ever were they so much the ministers of Satan, as when they transformed themselves into angels of light. (3.) They went in the way of Cain in regard of his complaint and despair. They who walked in Cain's wickedness could not escape Cain's woe. Jude here denounces it against them, and tells us they were " before of old ordained to this condemnation ;" they were beasts, made to be taken ; they corrupted themselves ; they languished and pined away in their filthiness. There was a ditch followed their blind leading; and though the grace of God was turned into lasciviousness by them, and abused as an occa- sion to sin, yet how glad would they have been in the end for one drop of those streams of grace, which once they paddled in and trampled under feet ! They who formerly taught that by reason of grace men might sin, afterward felt that for want of grace they and their seduced followers were sure to smart. They who once preached nothing but grace, afterward felt nothing but wrath ; a just recompence, since with . Cain they account the greatest sin in the commission so small that they need not fear it, in their after- despairing confession find it so great that they are not able to undergo it ; and besides all this, with Cain, to be marked with infamy and dishonour to all posterity. Obs. I. Privileges of nature commend us not to God. We find not seldom in Scripture that the eldest child proves the unholiest. Abel, the ^(,^1; nomen in- younger, was a saint; Cain, the elder, :"mc.'i''suni.°'"''' tli^t no man durst demand the money Cujusdam epis- wliich his debtors owed him, for fear of fingu™ p"radsa clubs and fire ; the houses of any that ffiimascsd™!''" offended them were burnt or pulled F.pisi. f«. Con- dowTi ; and they pulled out the eyes of pi"s'is"1raman1ssi- the ministers, and put them out with mis quassave- chalk and vinegar, cut off their hands, ruiit. wuendam i,t i- n ,• imiimniier pulled out tucir tongucs, cruclly wliip- cSSvoil'ia"" ped and slew them, and then tumbled fusti'busauassant ''^'^'" ™ ^^^^ mud, and then carried ferroque conci- them about afterward in derision. And Ssu'enS'"' though these sectaries pleaded frequent- caicein, inixio ly for toleration and liberty of con- acelo lucicdibili - . , , , _•' . , excosi'aiione Science, yet when under Julian the Epul."iflS:'",M!- apostate 'they had gotten power, who L»9«'»J'siint can declare (saith Augustine) what mai'roiiiE.'infan- slaughter tliev made of the orthodox .' '?nrp''ar'tus'!''ruiii ^U Africa was filled with blood and licuii sccurum desolation ; men were rent, matrons esse in pnssessio- j j ■ f .. i i , i nibussuis. dragged, mtants slaughtered, women pp|at. coDt. Par. ^f:\^\^ child miscarried, none were secure in their houses. But if ever the spirit of Cain breathed in any since his time, or if ever any wrote after Cain's copy in letters of blood, certainly they have been those of the papacy : how deservedly may their head and father the pope be called a Cain in chief, as he is called the son of perdition ! as being not onl)' ap- pointed to perdition, but the author of perdition and destruction. How evidently is his antiohristian cruelty set forth by being drunk v/ith the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus ! Rev. xvii. 6. It is said by some that there is no day in the year which might not be dedicated to a hundred several martyrs, whose blood has been Act. and Mf>n. p. 1861, mTH. Act. and Mon, p. 8ie. shed by the papal power. (I.) Papal cruelty spares not, pities not any degrees, sex, order, age, condition of men opposing their religion. Alphonsus Diazius, another Cain, barbarously killed his , . , ,, own brother, John Diazius, because lie p. an. 751, W4, was a protestant. With what inhuman ''"•i''*- cruelty have protestants been compelled to discover for slaughter their dearest relations, parents, chil- dren, brethren, wives, to carry faggots to burn their godly and painful piastors ! and, which might surpass belief among heathens, children have been con- strained to set fire to their own fathers. And Thuanus reports, that a certain woman, having fled to a secret place to shun the rage of her enemies, being drawn out of it by them, w'as in the sight of her husband shamefully defiled, and then was forced, by some of them who ordered her hand, to give her husband his death's wound with a dra^^m sword. Horrid was that s])ectacle of the child which sprang out of the womb of a woman burnt at Guernsey, which being saved out of the fire, was by the bloody exe- cutioner cast in again, because it was a young heretic. A child of eight years old was by them scourged to death for religion, and a boy under tw'elve years condemned for the six articles ; yea, popish cruelty forbears not either to bury the quick, as one Marion was condemned to be buried alive, or to unbury the dead, by violating their graves, digging out the bodies and burning them; thus they dealt with the bodies of Bucer, Fagius, AVickliff. How frequently has papal power made kings and princes wolves and tigers one against another ! and sent forth cut-throats and \'illains with pardons, to stab and poison kings and potentates of the earth ! their lives by any art (they hold) may be taken away, if the pope hold them excommunicate. Emanuel Sa affiiTns it lawful for one to ^ kill a king, if the pope have sentenced quisque potest him to death, though he be his lawful Apliorde'KisJ" prince. But Mariana gives direction et itexis imtii 1. how it may be done with the best con- '^' venience ; he thinks poison to be the best way ; but yet, for the more secrecy, that it be cast upon the saddles, gar- ments, chairs of the prince, further tells us, that if they who kill such kings shall escape, they ought to be omnem'plsie'riia- looked upon and received as long as !'* nienmnani ii- , ^ A 1,1 1 • liisliatos ju ad n. I de I c.T. 1 ilu- I ler j VlR. 11. THE EPISTLE OF JUDE. 227 those whom they destroy for religion. These popish Cains destroy multitudes of Abels. Infamous is the cruelty of that savage Minerius, the pope's champion, in his bloody enterprise against the Merindolians ; he destroyed twenty and two towns, and murdered the inhabitants, whether they resisted or not ; and when the men of Merindol, flying from his army, left behind them their tender wives and children, this popish bloodhound practised all manner of villany and cruelty upon them. The town of Ca- briers, upon condition that he would use no violence against them, was yielded into his hands, but he falsified his promise, hewing thirty men in pieces in one place ; putting forty feeble women, some preg- nant, into a bani full of straw, caused it to be set on fire at the four corners, and those who got out he caused to be cut in pieces. In this one town were thus mercilessly murdered above a thousand protestants. To these I might add the cruel murdering of about eight hundred protestants in two towns in Cala- „,^. ,„ bria, fourscore whereof had their throats While, Way to . ' , . ... the Church, cut One by one, yet so as that every one Digr. 511. y,^g jgfj Ijjj). j^^jf £ieaii ^y the execu- tioner. And the French massacre, wherein in thirty days were thirty thousand slain. Kot to speak of Famesius vowed '^'f^' incredible effusion of blood which to rule his horse the Spaniards have made among the to the saiUlle ill t t j l c thebhiodof Lu- poor Indians, under pretence ot con- therans. vcrting them to the faith ; they having in the space of forty years slain seven and thirty millions of people ; famishing in three months seven thousand children ; at one time massacring two thousand gentlemen ; and murdering with such cruelty, that, to avoid it, poor men would hang them- selves, with their wives and children. Lastly, and principally, this bloody disposition of Cain discovers itself in the cruel and savage manner of murdering. Minerius (forementioned) cut off the paps of the poor mothers of sucking children, and the children look- ing for suck from their dead mothers were starved to death. It has been their practice to hold men in death so long as they could, inflicting, as it were, a thousand deaths in one, and making them so to die as to perceive themselves Acts anH Mon. to die. What should I speak of their p. ix.9, 805. 860. ijurning men by piece-meal, and that with brimstone, pitch, and tar, &c., with barrels of pitch and tar dropping upon their heads ? Joannes de Roma, a monk, having got a commission to ex- amine the Lutherans, used this torment to force them to accuse themselves : he filled boots with boil- ing grease, and put them upon the legs of those whom he suspected ; and tying them backward to a form with their legs hanging down over a soft fire, he examined them. To this Cain-like cruelty of the erroneous papists, I might add that of the Anabaptists in Gemiany, who were as bitter and bloody enemies to the reformed party as were the papists ; and more opposed God and orthodox Christians than they did the papists themselves ; they always declaring Luther to be worse than the pope. I shall not mention the bloody uproars made by Munzer, John Mathias, John Becold, Knipperdolling, John Geles, Henry Goethlit, James of Kemp, Sec, with their followers, at Wormes, Augsburg, Bazil, Shafluise, Berne, Munster, Amster- dam, &c., filling all places with blood and slaughter; murdering their own natural brethren, yea, their wives, and pursuing the doctrine of the gospel, and the professors thereof, especially the godly ministers, with cruel fury. It will be more than sufficient to See sieiiian. s^' down the words of one concerning Buiiincer. He- this savage Crew, who has taken much tensius, &c. pams in examining their doctrines and Moriatiir, ut sentidtse inori practices ; his words are these. The Mr- Bajiy. spirit of Mahomet was not so hellish in making an open trade of bloodslied, robbery, eon- fusion, and catholic oppression, through the whole earth, as the spirit of Anabaptism. Nor need we think it strange concerning the fiery cruelty of those who embrace and follow false doc- trines. The erroneous in their judgment, may be left of God to apprehend so much truth, and weight, and worth in their errors, that even that thing, conscience I mean, which by its light and tenderness hinders others from sin by discoveringit to them, and troubling them for it, may, being depraved by error, put people upon sinful injuriousness to others, and to thinli that they do God the best sernce, when they are most cruel to his best servants. And, as it is commonly observed, no feuds are so deadly, no contentions so bitter, as those upon which conscience puts men; conscience m-ging more strongly than interest : and as a good conscience is a thousand witnesses to com- fort and excuse for what good we have done ; so may an erroneous conscience be a thousand weights to in- duce us to what evil we have not done. And further, such is man's natural enmity against the way of truth, which opposes his lust and advances God's will, that if the white horse go forth, the red horse will follow him at his heels; and they who carry the light of truth, shall be sure to be maligned and pursued. Hence the idolatrous Ephesians cried out with maddest rage, " Great is Diana," Acts xix. And as the tide of man's inclination, so likewise is the wind of all Satan's endeavours, set against the truth. He who is an old serpent is also a red dragon ; yea, therefore a dragon red and cruel, because a serpent false and deceitful. He did not abide in, nor can he abide, the tmth. As a serpent, he made and was the father of lies ; as a dragon, he shields and is the defender of lies. To conclude : The wisdom and power of God is in nothing more manifested, than in overthrowing error by the weight of its own cruelty and rage, and in making the professors of truth increase by dying ; in making every martyr a stone to break the teeth of those mad dogs who bite them, and to overcome by being overcome. The professors of tnith, then, have as little cause to be secure, as the patrons of error have to be cruel. Never did the liglit shine but the wicked barked at it. If righteous Abel was mur- dered when there was but one Cain, what may he expect when Cains so abound both in wrath and numbers! Martyrdom came into the world early: the first man that died, died for religion. And how careful should Christians be that they leave not the truth of God, to avoid the wrath of men ! It is bet- ter to die fighting for it than flying from it. How much sorer an enemy is the great God than a silly worm ! And they who leave the love of truth will soon leave their love to the professors thereof. Every apostate is in the high-way to become a persecutor. Lastly, It may be a word of comfort as well as caution to all persecuted Abels. Cains do not so much strike at them as at truth in them, and pro- fessed bv them. " I have given them thy word," saith Christ, "and the world have hated them," John xvii. 14. God will vindicate his own cause. Though the enemies are red with the blood of truth's champions, yet their great Captain will one day ap- pear in garments made red with the blood of their enemies, whom he will tread in the wine-press of his wrath ; and the blood of every Abel cries with a loud voice for vengeance, which will never give rest to the righteous Judge, till all those who will not become the friends of his truth, become his footstool for rising up against it. 223 AN EXPOSITION UPON Ter 11. Obs. 9. Great is the difference between the sinning of the godly and wicked. The sin of the wiclied is his way; he delights, proceeds, is skilful in it; sin is a sport to him ; he is a curious artificer and cun- ning worker of iniquity ; he goes on, and proceeds from one degree of wickedness to another. When he performs any good duty, it is not his way; he rather steps into it, or stumbles upon it, than chooses it, or walks in it. Cain's sacrifice to God is not here called his way, but his sacrificing of his brother. God accounts of men by the constant tenor and bent of their hearts and lives. The godly may fall into sin, but he lives not, rests not in sin ; he may, like the sheep, be thrown into the mire, but lie does not, like the swine, tumble, and wallow, and delightfully snort therein. He sins not with full consent; there are some contrary votes in his soul against every sin- ful suggestion. He sleeps, but his heart wakes. Holiness is his way, and whenever he is drawn out of it by some deceitful lust, or by some seducing temptation, he cries out with David, " I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek thy servant," Psal. cxix. 176. He never leaves calling and inquiring till he has got into the right way again ; and when he is so, he walks more humbly, watchfully, evenly, and mends his pace ; he gains ground by his stum- bling; he does not, as wicked men, wickedly depart from God, 2 Sam. xxii. 22. A saint falls, and cries, I fall, as a child that falls into the fire. A sinner falls, and loves to fall, and is like a stone that falls to the centre. As there is much difference between the suffering, so between the sinning, of the good and bad : as sufferings are on the saints, and not on them ; so sin is in them, and not in them. The suffermgs of the godly are on them as afflictive to sense, not on them as penal for sin, so as to sink and destroy them ; but the wrath of God abides on the wicked, and falls upon them as upon its proper place, to remain and dwell upon them : so when the godly sni, they are not swallowed up of sin, grace works them out again ; but the wicked lie soaking in their sin, and, as God speaks. Lev. xxvi., pine away in their iniquity ; and if God should give them to live in the world to eter- nity, they would live it in sin. A godly man is like a pure fountain into whicli dirt is thrown, though it be thick and muddy for the present, yet at length it works it out; whereas a sinner is like a standing water, into which when dirt is thrown, at the best, it does but settle and fall to the bottom ; and when it appears clearest, the dirt is not wrought out, but there abides, and upon every stirring discovers itself. A saint lives not, walks not in sin ; wickedness is not his way : whenever he sins, he looks upon himself as in his wandering, not as in his way. If thou wouldst try thy sincerity, examine the bent of thy heart, and whether sin be thy delight, thy way; or thy trouble, thy disallowed aberration. Ois. 10. Despair is the pei-iod of presumption. The contempt of grace ends in the despair of grace. God graciously warned Cain ; he sins, and despairs, having sinned. These seducers live in sin, notwithstanding grace, and are overwhelmed in woe, and deprived of grace. No poison is so deadly as that which is ex- tracted out of grace. Abused mercy pleads against a sinner most persuasively. Oh that they who are so fearless when they sin, would consider how fearful they shall be when they have sinned ! they who when they are tempted fear no wrath, no death, afterward will be ready to say with Cain, Every one who meets us will kill us. The way to be bold when the wicked shall be afraid, is to be afraid when the wicked are bold. He who is afraid of sin shall not feel punishment. Obs. 11. They who most plead for liberty exercise most cruelty. None would rule so much, and so bloodily, as they who deny others to rule altogether. These seducers who dcspjsed dominions, and spake evil of dignities, for all that, walked in the way of Cain. They wlio would have all others to be ciphers, to do nothing, would themselves be Cains, to do too much. Their little finger was heavier than the ma- gistrate's loins. They who shall peruse the writings 1 of Austin concerning the Donat'sts, and among them ! the Circumcellious, as also the relations of others concerning the Anabaptists of Germany, snail find both these sects to be bloody commentators upon this truth. They who abrogate the law of God, will en- dure no law but that of their own making: though they have cried out of persecution, and complained of restraint, when they have been under the power of others ; yet they have most tyrannised over the spiritual and civil liberties of others, when they have gotten the powei mto their own hands. And it is impossible that, they should rule gently and meekly, who are themselves ruled and ordered by Satan, that cruel one. They who are not delivered from the hand of this enemy will neither serve God in right- eousness and holiness themselves, nor suffer others to do so. Nor will any be so unwilling that others should have liberty in holiness, as they who most love and allow liberty in sin. This for the amplification of the wickedness and woe of these seducers from this first example, viz. of Cain. 2. I come to speak of the error of Balaam ; " And ran greedily after the error of Balaam for a reward." Three things are here to be opened. 1. Their guide, " Balaam." 2. The example he set before them, erring for reward. 3. The manner of their following this example, set forth in their running greedily after the same. 1. Their guide was Balaam. Concerning his prac- tice and punishment, it will be more proper to speak in the following part. Touching his country, parent- age, and office, I shall speak brieffy in this. (1.) His country: we read that it was Mesopo- tamia, and that the town or particular place of Meso- potamia where he resided was Pefhor, Dcut. xxiii. 4; and of himself he saith, " Balak the king of Moab hath brought me from Aram, out of the mountains of the east," Numb, xxiii. 7. This Mesopotamia, and Aram, or Syria, are used indifferently, some- times the one for the other; and not only because some small part of Syria is Mesopotamia, properly so called, but because the greatest part of Syria is called Mesopotamia, or the region lying between those two great rivers, Tigris and Euphrates. Some have thought that this Balaam was a Midianite; and their reason is, because it is said that he was slain with the Midianites when the Israelites de- ' stroyed them. Numb. xxxi. 8 ; Josh. xiii. 22. Of this opinion is Masius, one of the most learned among the pontifician expositors. Pineda in his comment upon Job seeming also inclinable to it. For though the Scripture tells us that he was of Aram or Meso- potamia, yet, say they, under the name of Aram or Mesopotamia, largely taken, is contained so large a tract of countries as takes in Midian ; and some con- ceive that he speaks himself to be of Ai-am, to gain the more honour and credit to himself, because the Aramites and Chaldeans were in those days most famous for divining and astrology. But whether liis abode among the Midianites was because Midian was his country; or whether he took the Midianites in his way liomeward from the king of Moab, to give them counsel to draw Israel to sin ; or whether he returned to them again from his country of Aram or ViR. II. THE EPISTLE OF JUDE. 229 Mesopotamia to receive his wages ; I determine not : sure I am it was a most just retribution of Providence, that he should be among the Midianites when they wrie destroyed; their counsellor in sin deserving to \i and wombs to idols, to devils. And f/lld",,!;;' 'ilmlii! who can sufficiently admire that sottish quam inieniivi-' and sinful pertinacy of Aluiz, who as he "e'r^foveM. "'Men- trespassed yet more against God in his j!?^ '„'!, ^ ^"'"• distress, so he expressed it by sacri- ficing to the gods of Damascus which smote him ! being more desirous in the worshipping of devils to be scourged, than in serving the true God to be crowned ; and, that he might satisfy his lust, more willing to be trampled under Satan's feet than to be taken into Gcd's embraces. See further for this Amos iv. 6, S, 9, 10, &c., the prophet's repeating " Yet have ye not returned," iS;e. And Isa. ix. 13, " The people turneth not to him that smiteth." Nor can the vanit)', unsuccessfulness, and apparent in- effectualness of all the endeavours of sinners, no, nor yet their weariness, weakness, and inabilities, take them otf from their lusts. Hence God speaks con- cerning the Jews, in the pursuing of their idolatrous courses, " Thou art wearied in the greatness of thy way, yet saidst thou not. There is no hope," Isa. Ivii. 10. Though she was tired out with the length of her journeys in sending to idolaters, and saw that all her toiling and tiring out herself was in vain, yet she would not give over, but went on still desperate- ly in that toilsome and chargeable course ; though all her endeavours were fruitless and unsatisfying, yet she never said. Why should I weary myself any longer ? Though sinners observe that nothing which they do profits them, Isa. xxx. 5, 6; Jer. ii. 36, 37; vii. 8; that all their cisterns aiC broken, and will hold no water, Jer. ii. 12; that they sow the wind, and reap the w hirhvind, Hos. viii. 7 ; that their chariot wheels are broken off, and all their bridges broken down j that whatever they labour to lay hold *ER. 11. THE EPISTLE OF JUDE. 233 on flics away from them, as did Joseph from his mistress when she took liold of his coat : in short, not- withstanding the ineffectuahiess of all their labours, they yet are like those Sodomites, who though they were smitten with blindness, yet wearied themselves in feeling for and finding of Lot's door, and were as full of unclean rage as ever. Though the bodies of sinners may grow weary, and thereby the services of their bodies fail and languish, yet their lusts are as vigorous and green as ever ; like a furious rider, never wearied by the length of his journey, though the poor beast under him be tired and worn out. The carcass may be worn and wearied out, but lust is never tired : lust outlives its faculties, and never grows crazy in the oldest body. If the faculty could, fust would still rise up early, lie down late, pursue unclean objects, lade itself with thick clay. [2.] Sinners, instead of being stopped or hindered in the prosecution of their lusts, by the means used to restrain them, become thereby the more violent and outrageous in their courses. The longer the piiests of Baal continued unanswered, and the more Elijah derided them, the more they leaped, the louder they cried, and the more they cut and gashed them- selves, 1 Kings xviii. 22. "Why should ye" (saith the prophet) " be stricken any more ? ye will revolt more and more," Isa. i. 5. Ahaz in his affliction trespassed yet more, 2 Chron, xxviii. 22. The wor- shippers of Diana, when their idolatry was opposed, cried out with the more vehement rage, " Great is Diana of the Ephesians," Acts xix. 28. Jerusalem being called of God to weeping and mourning, in opposition to God, fell to all expressions of joy, in slaying of oxen, and killing of sheep. The rebellious Israelites, who, when Caleb persuaded them to go up to Canaan, refused the undertaking; when Moses forbade them, desperately and obstinately, to their own destruction, adventure upon it. The wicked in the land of uprightness, where his wickedness is dis- covered and reproved, will deal the more unjustly, Isa. xxvi. 10. When Christ had so clearly convinced the Jews of their sin and his own innocency, that they could hold dispute no longer with him, they run from arguments to stones and railings ; " Thou art a Samaritan," (said they,) " and hast a devil," John viii. 48. When he had wrought a miracle on the sabbath day, and justified his action, they were the more filled with madness, Luke vi. II. When Ste- phen had reproved the Jews of their Cum rceli janiias { ■ j i^ (< xi_ apenreniur. ipsas nypocnsy and cruelty, " they were cut cl'a'idtb'an?.' Aug. *° '^c heart, guashcd upon him with their teeth, stopped their ears, ran upon him, and stoned him," Acts vii. 54, 57. When Peter (though a holy man) was charged to be one of Christ's company, he denies it with oaths and cursings of himself. When the prophet told Asa of his folly in making a league with the Syrians, it is said that he was in a rage, and imprisoned the prophet, 2 Chron. KatavaOf ati- ^^ '' "^' ^^ ^Cn God SCUt tO thc Is- le.Y'. Mati.°x)ivi. raelites by his prophets to make known '*' to them their sins, they mocked and misused them, and despised the word which they delivered from God, 2 Chron. xxxvi. 16. As the prophets called the Israelites, " so they went from them," Hos. xi. 2. They would have nothing to do with them or their doctrine. When God would have healed Israel by his word, mercies, and judgments, when he tried to cure the sins of his people, their secret wickedness manifested itself; all the means which he used, instead of healing them, did but stir and provoke the evil humours, and being rubbed on their sores, they kicked and raged the more, Hos. vii. 1. The rage of the mad dog is the more increased by the chain; the swelling of the stream, by the stopping thereof; and they who are hindered in their passage in the street by carts go on the faster afterward. The more rubs and stops Balaam met with in his journey, the more was his fury and vio- lence increased. Nor did the Sodomites ever rage so much as w'hen they were opposed by the gentle admonition of Lot, and the suitable and seasonable punishment of blindness. Nor will this violence and fury seem strange, if we consider, that in the prosecution of lust, wicked men are carried on, both in the way of their own natural propcnsions and inclinations, and also by the strong and vehement impulse of that powerful and impure spirit the devil. The violent and pro- pense motions of a person to any sin are set out in Scripture by the word spirit, because they are na- turally seated in the spirit, and furthered by a bad spirit; stirred up in and by an unholy spirit; so we read of the "spirit of a deep sleep," Isa. xxix. 10; "a perverse spirit," Isa. xix. 14; "the spirit of whoredom," Hos. iv. 12. The natural propensity alone has very much in it to cause a vehemence and swiftness in motion ; but when seconded and set forward by the force of an outward agent, the vehemence of that motion is much increased. A stone thrown and hurried downward moves the swifter, because the natural weight thereof is improved by an accessory impression ; and the natural motion of a person in sin, is made much more eager and impetuous by the impulsions of Satan: sinners then in following their lusts are both carried down the tide of their own nature, and withal vehe- mently driven by the winds of Satan's instigations ; and how swift a passage must needs be made by both conjoined ! Besides, wicked men follow their lusts, and en- deavour their satisfaction as their chief end and good, and they have no other god : gain was Balaam's god, and advantage was the godliness of these seducers. And whatsoever, saith Aquinas rightly, Quicquid propo- any one propounds to himself as his """r tanquam i-ciSi T i ...1 nnis, quoeritur chief end, he seeks and prosecutes With- nuiiaadhibiia out measure. Every man endeavouring "'"sura. Aqum. to obtain that with his best and greatest industry, which he apprehends as the best and greatest good. To conclude : Lust knows no enough, no satisfac- tion, it always desiring more ; ever needy, and there- fore ever greedy ; ever empty, and therefore ever earnest ; lust can find no centre or term, and there- fore it will be eager in motion. Sinners are said to drink " iniquity like water," Job xv. Ki; not only in regard of the easiness of drinking, drink being more easily and speedily taken down than meat, but in re- gard of the excessiveness, men drink water without measure, because without the bridle of fear to restrain them: fear of drunkenness may restrain men from drinking much wine, but men care not how much water they take in, fearing no danger. The apostle speaks of working uncleanness iv -nXtoviXia, " with greediness," Eph. iv. 19, or, as the word properly signifies, with having more. There is enough in the objects of lust to entice it, not enough to content it ; there are reserves of desire in the soul, fresh supplies of lustings new raised, whensoever the old are cloyed or foiled : no more is lust satisfied with its objects, than the fire is with wood, than the grave with car- casses ; the more we give it, the more it will demand ; and if by lading it with courtesies we think to oppress it, the more it is thus oppressed, like the Israelites in Egj-pt, the more it will grow. Obs. 1. Satan makes use of the meetest and ablest instruments to advance his designs. Balaam, a pro- phet, he deems of all other thc fittest to curse Israel. He oft employs refined wits to defend error as Ariua, 234 AN EXPOSITION UPON Ver. 11. SabelliuR, Pelagius, Socinus, Arminius : he carves his Mercury on the most promising pieces. He uses those to pervert the world, who transform themselves into the apostles of Christ, and the ministers of right- eousness, 2 Cor. xi. 13, 15; he speaks by those who know how to use fair speeches, wisdom of words, sleight, cunning craftiness, and can lie in wait to de- ceive, Eph. iv. 14. Satan knows that his cause is bad, and therefore he employs those in managing it who are able to make the best of a bad matter : rot- ten stuffs want most watering, and wrinkled faces most painting ; and error and impiety the most skil- ful pretences, subtle evasions, fairest glosses, and most cunning insinuations. TertuUus is fittest to plead against Paul ; soothsayers to oppose Moses ; a Simon Magus to deceive the whole city. Besides, Satan is most hurtful to the church when he opposes it by subtlety and seduction. Balaam did more hurt to the Israelites by his counsel, than the Moabitcs could by their courage : the daughters of Moab by tempting to adultery and idolatry destroyed twenty- four thousand ; the "sons of Moab could not overcome one ; they whom God hath furnished with the best weapons "of arts and parts, have oft given his church the deepest wounds. Men of great ability should labour to be men of good abilities and great in- tegrity. There is no cminency, either of outward power or inward parts, but Satan labours to make useful and subservient to his own ends and interest, and a stirrup to lift him up into the saddle. How great a pity is it that a good, a clear head, should be accompanied with a bad, an imclean heart ! Tremble to think that any of thy accomplishments should be ornaments to beautify Satan ; that Diahnius cupit thv voice should make him music ; that abs te ornitil. , "^ . i i , • thy Wit, eloquence, strength, authority, should be weapons to fight for him against thy Lord, and their Donor. O let not Satan drink the wine of that vineyard which he never planted, or draw out of that well which he never digged, inhabit that house which he never built. O let all thy endow- ments be engines employed for the Giver. Thy abilities never have their due improvements but when they advance Christ. Never had the ass so rich, so precious a burden, as when Christ sat upon it. Obs. 2. God often gives excellent endowments to wicked persons. Balaam, famous for his prophecies, was infamous for his profaneness : they who are workers of iniquity may prophesy in Christ's name, work mira- cles, and " cast out devils," Matt. vii. 22; both Judas and Caiaphas prove this point. God is a very bounti- ful Master, some bones and ci-umbs he lets fall even to dogs : God's bounty is so full a cup, that though it be filled for his children, some drops run over upon the wicked. And by the endowments of the worst of men God often does good to his church : gifts are mmii/rantia, not smicti/icimtia, beneficial to others, not to the owners; for edifying, not sanctifying; they are (as it were) God's shipping, to convey his treasure of grace upon the shore of his people's souls. God oft gives men excellent parts and abilities to benefit others, as some rich or noble man, who causes the nurse to fare daintily for the good of his child, not out of love to herself. The Israelites were en- riched even by gold that was Egyptian : they who preach Christ out of envy, may yet preacli Christ to the benefit of hearers. A raven brought Elijah food, and wicked men may sometimes profitably dis- pense the food of life ; the dull whetstone may sharpen the knife ; the deaf bell may give a sound to the ears of others ; a sweetly-sounding lute, not itself delighted with the music, may yet recreate, yea, almost ravish others. An unskilful serving-man may open the gate for his master, and let it shut to again before he himself can get through. Balaam's mouth uttered an excellent prophecy of Christ and his church for the good of others, his own heart (meanwhile) being untouched, untaught ; God put the word of prophecy but into his mouth. And further, God will have a tribute of glory even from his enemies. Balaam, in the midst of his rage and covetousness, praised God ; he can extract water out of the rock, and raise children out of stones ; it is not so much glory for God to take away wicked men, as to use their evil to his own holy purposes ; as the heart of Balaam cursed against his tongue, so his tongue blessed against his heart. God makes wicked men to serve him when they think most to resist him; and that which is not, nay, is contrary to the end of the worker, he makes the end of the work. Lastly, God will render wicked men inexcusable even by their own carriage : they who preach and praise the ways of God to others, can have no apology for not practising them themselves ; let none then please himself with parts and gifts of edification without the power of godliness ; these are but like Uriah's let- ters, which cut the throat of him that carried them. A drop of grace is worth a sea of gifts : he that can shed one tear of godly sorrow, presents a more ac- ceptable gift to God than all the silver and gold of Solomon's temple. Light may make a good head, only heat can make a good heart. The devil knows more, and can speak as good a sermon as any man, and yet he is still a devil. Rejoice not therefore in gifts without grace; not (as Christ said) that the devils are subject unto J'ou; but in this, that your names are written in heaven. Labour for that which never was nor can be bestowed upon an enemy ; the Spirit may be assisting, where it never is inhabiting; God may speak to an enemy, he only speaks peace to a friend. Grace is the proper and genuine effect of the Spirit, gifts are but (as it were) the outward artificial effects thereof; and as much difference is there in the Spirit's production of these two, as be- tween a man's possessing his child and making a house. Gifts are dead graces, but graces are living gifts. The greatest ministering gifts expel no lust, mortify no inordinate affection, cleanse no heart. When gifts are in their emiuency, sin maybe in its prevalency. In that man who is the fullest of them, there may be as much room for Satan to dwell as ever. A man may be a great scholar, and yet a great sinner; yea, (unless sanctified by grace,) the greater scholar, the greater sinner and enemy to God ; and so the more gifts, the more condemnation : as it is with a sinking ship, the more it is laden with gold, the deeper it sinks ; so the more a man is laden with gifts, without graces, the deeper he sinks into hell. Indeed gifts may beautify grace, Init grace only sanctifies gifts ; as the gold beautified the temple, but the temple sanctified the gold. To conclude, as there may be a gracious heart who never had these gifts, so they who have them are not certain always to enjoy them : the least drop of saving gi-ace shall grow to a river; but the greatest flood of gifts may decay to less than a drop. There is nothing that God bestows upon us but he may repent of the giving thereof, unless it be grace. Obi: 3. It is both great impiety and ignominy to be a ringleader in sin, like Balaam, to mislead others. The greatest seducer, who has a double portion of wit to teach others error and heresy, obtains no more by this than to become primogejiitus diuboli, Satan's eldest son. It is honourable to lead others to hea- ven, to teach men the way to happiness, to be an Abraham, a Joshua, a David, to instruct our families, to bring our house with ourselves to serve the Lord, to teach sinners in the way; but to be a Jeroboam, Ver. U. THE EPISTLE OF JUDS. 235 an Elymas, a Balaam, how disgraceful, how destruc- tive is it ! Have not men sins enough of their own, unless they make the sins of others their own also ? How deeply shall they he plunged into hell, who are crushed both with their own and other men's sins also ! By every one whom thou hast made wicked, shalt thou, without repentance, hereafter be made woeful. Some think that the reason why the rich glutton desired that his brethren might not come into that place of torment with him, was because the coming of those whom he had induced to sin, would have been an addition to his torment. Seldom will princes pardon the ringleaders of a rebellion ; and rarely is it seen but that the teachers of others to sin have been eminent either for repentance or ruin. Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, who were ringleaders in the rebellion, smarted accordingly. And think, though God peradventure should at any time give thee repentance, how many fresh bleedings and re- newed troubles of soul will, nay, should be stiiTed up in thee by the recollection of thy former putting those upon sin, who, though sinning with thee, it may be, never repented with thee, and so were either by thy counsel or example sent to hell. It was not the least part of Paul's aggravation of his sin, nor of his trouble, even when he was converted, that he had formerly compelled men to blaspheme. If thou hast led others to hell, God will not, without deep repent- ance, bring thee to heaven. And upon none lies there so strong an engagement as upon thee, of doing good to others' souls for time to come. Paul, con- verted, was as earnest to draw men to c?mrr°hephe''rd. Christ, as formeriy he was industrious to drive them from Christ. Obs. 4. Love of lust makes men eiToneous. Ba- laam's love to reward made him say any thing. Of this largely before, page 171- Obs. 5. Desire of gain will carry a man upon any wickedness. It neither fears nor ibrljcars any sinful course for attaining its end. "They that vdi'e"q''^a"i s«"^ ^^'^1 bs rich fall into temptation and a Ari) f 3°'c''r''''' s°3''^i snd into many foolish and hurt- ful lusts," 1 Tim. vi. 9. They meet with many enticements to sin, and they will not fear to embrace any enticement. They are, as Chrysostom ... expresses it, as a city without walls, on Horn. 13. in Act. ^ -j i; .. -^i* i ■ j every side beset with besiegers, and un- able to resist any assault. " The love of money," eaith the apostle, '• is the root of all evil, 1 Tim. vi. 10. Take this away, saith ChiTSOstom, and thou takest away all wickedness, fraud, rapine, war, heresy, theft, lying, and contention. A covetous man, saith he, knows no friend, nay, no God. The love of money gives nourishment to every sin, as the _. . ,. root does to the whole tree. And Aqui- Dicitur radix om- . ^i ^ .i i ■ i ■ niuin maiorum. Has conceives, tliat though pride, in re- •,i siimiit.i.imein gpgct of intention, is the root of sin, as it qu.-e aiimcniiun IS the scopc and end at whieli the sinner KirL ''kquin^ looks in liis siuuing ; the end of obtain- Sr" \ '''Ex'paric '°o '^^^ temporal good things being that inirntionis. su- a man thereby may get a kind of siii- ap'i'cMtus'M"!- gular perfection and excellency to him- leniii.esiiniiium ggif. yef that covctousuess is the root sed ex pane exe- and beginning ot sin, in respect oi exe- nlum".'.i'quo.'r'" cution, as it is that which furnishes a pirebetopportu- man with matter to act and commit sin, pir'ndi omnia de- and gives Opportunity to fulfil all the ArL c. ubYs^i'ipi a. ''f ^ircs of siu. Agreeable to this is that declaration of Solomon, " He that maketh haste to be rich shall not be innocent," Prov. xxviii. 20; and, "Labour not to be rich," Prov. xxiii. 4. He that desires more than enough, will not know where to stop, will break all bounds. To desire beyond the bounds of sufficiency, is to seek for more than man may pray for. No sooner does a man step over this hedge, but he is presently in the wide, wild, and boundless champaign of covet- ousuess ; and being once there, he has no limits to keep him in. Achan's taking the accursed thing; Allah's violent and injurious snatching away of Na- both's vineyard ; Judas's selling his Master; Gehazi's, Ananias's, and Sapphira's lying; Demetrius's conten- tion for idol Diana ; Saul's disobeying God in sparing the cattle ; and Jehu's halt in reformation ; sufficiently prove this truth. The covetousness of the scribes made them devour widows' houses, Luke xx. 47 ; for it the priests made the temple a den of thieves, by admitting money-changers. Sec. They cared not with what corruption they filled the temple, so that they might fill their own treasuries. Popery has hewn the principal pillars of her superstition out of this rock of covetousness. It is a religion wholly comiracted and contrived for gain, not only gotten from the liring, by pardons, masses, confessions, offerings, pilgrimages, worshipping of saints, indul- gences ; by making a money matter of M„iio^quani- the most crying abominations ; ofwitch- miusde. em mil- craft; ofmurder of father, mother, child, !enl'„ua"!ur"m wife ; of incest, sodomy, bestiality, &c. : ^,'!ri,"n''"KTcor''' but also from the dead, who pay large ciemangis de tributes by means of their purgatory ; a '''"""• toy which they cry not up at all for truth, but merely for traffic. Silver is in the sack's mouth of every popish error. Covetousness swallows down any equivocation, oath, lie, perjury. This sin makes the sabbath sabbalum Tyri et Bacchi, a marketing and junketing, a selling and drinking day, Neh. siii. 16; Amos viii. 5 ; that stupifies nature, and makes men without natural affection toward dearest relations, desiring their deaths, instead of preserving their lives. The thirst after gain makes them thirsty after blood, as Balaam, Ahab, and Judas were both covet- ous and bloody. If the hands be not defiled with blood, it is the law, not conscience, that keeps them clean, llany have violated their matrimonial faith and chastity, and the covenant of their God, allured more with the adulterer's purse than his person. And what are all the thefts, false dealings, oppres- sions, usury, but the issues of this sin? Jer. vi. 13. Judas was covetous, and therefore a thief. Theft and covetousness are joined together, 1 Cor. vi. 10. Whence come false accusing, pleading for an un- righteous cause, making the conscience a very hack- ney, nattering men in sin, and having their persons in admiration, but from love of advantage ? Covet- ousness damps holiness, as the damp of the earth puts out a candle. A covetous heart, like places where most gold is, is most barren. Christians, think not to be free of any one, if you will embrace this one sin. To overcome it, (1.) Overcome the unbelief of thy heart; the root of this root of all evil is distrust of God's promise and providence. Sinful care comes from small faith. " Let your conversation," saith the apostle, " be without covetousness ; for he hath said, 1 will never leave thee, nor forsake thee," Heb. xiii. 5. He wlio has God for his, in him finds his gold, and all things else. " The Lord is my Shepherd," saith David; " I shall not want," Psal. xxiii. 1. " If thou return to the Almighty," &c., " then shalt thou lay up gold as dust," &c.; " yea, the Almighty shall be thy defence," Job xxii. 23—25 ; or gold, or choice gold, aurum leclissimum, as Junius reads it. He that by faith makes God his gold, shall never through covetous- ness make gold his god. (2.) Rectify thy opinion of riches. The earth is the lowest of creatures, and made to be trampled under our feet ; and the primitive Christians laid the 236 AN EXPOSITION UPON Ver. 11. price of their possessions at the feet of the apostles, Acts iv. 34 — 37. Gold and silver are fitter to set our feet than our hearts upon. It would be against na- ture for earth and heaven to join together ; what an incongiiiity is it then for our souls, purer than the heavens, to be glued to the clods ! To have much is not to be rich. God is called rich in Scripture, not for money, but for mercy, Rom. x. 12. True riches stand more in doing than in receiving good. Worldly enjoyments have but the name, the show of riches. Nothing but opinion makes them excellent. The common names given to riches are bestowed but abusively. They are not gain ; by them and for them men oft lose their soids. Not goods; they neither make us good, nor are they signs of goodness. They are not substance ; they are but shadows, nor can they so much as shadow the excellency of those which are tnie. They are not means conducing to the chief end, happiness ; indeed they are means to damn and undo many a soul : they are nothing. Solomon saith, they are not, i. e. in point of dura- tion, satisfaction, efficacy, and usefulness, when we are in distress. Quodam c.,dis . (3-) Study the excellency of riches iiineie (iiviiias indeed, true riches; of being rich to .s"q'ua^Mr'"iohim God, rich in faith, rich in heavenly pSce^se,?,",!!- treasures, 1 Tim. vi. 1 1 ; Matt. vi. I<). quid nosiruin. Look upon him that is invisible ; view "^^ the sun, and then thy eyes will be so dazzled, that in other things thou wilt behold no beauty. Consider thy crown, and contemn the dung- hill. Our Head is in heaven ; let Head and heart be together. Let thy soul take a journey every day by faith to thy country, thy treasure, thy Christ. Obs. fi. The power and goodness of God are seen in turning the violent propensities of the heart from any way of sin toward himself. His power; for what but the power of grace can turn the tide and stream of nature ? Human laws can curb us from the act and exercise of sin, but only the law written in the heart can command and cliangc the heart, and destroy in it the love and propensity to sin. We may apply that apostrophe of the ])salmist, " What ailed thee, O thou sea, that thou fleddest ? thou Jor- dan, that thou wast driven back ? ye mountains, that ye skipped like rams ; and ye little hills, like lambs ? " The answer is, " Tremble, thou earth, at the presence of the Lord," Psal. cxiv. 5 — 7. Who but God can stop the sun in its career, and make it go backward ? Who but he can stop a Saul in his journey, and make him go back as well in heart as in body, and become more earnest in praying than he was in persecuting ? The church complaining that she was " as a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke," aptly adds, " Turn thou me, and I shall be turned," Jer. xxxi. 18. The giving of a clean heart is a work of creation ; Create it in me, saith I)a\nd. Nor is the goodness of God herein less observable than his power. How great is that love which doth us good against our wills, and turned us when we were running greedily to our own de- struction ! when we regarded the persuasions of men no more than the wild ass (as Job speaks) does the cry of the driver ! Job xxxix. 7 ; when all the means which friends, parents, ministers could use to reclaim us, were lost upon us ! nay, we became worse, like the woman in the Gospel by going to the phy- sician. Then what love was it for Christ to teach, to touch the heart, and to turn us, when we had run even to hell-gates ! Nor was the smartest dispensa- tion, the most unpleasing stop, the most thorny hedge, any other than an unspeakable mercy, which hindered thee from finding thy way to hell, and running greedi- ly to thine own damnation. How much better was it to be diverted than damned ! Obs. 7. They who strive to hinder sinners in their course, are likely to meet with unkind returns of op- position. Till God turns their hearts, how angrv are men with stops, and vexed that bridges are broken down, when they are running greedily, and march- ing furiously ! All the hatred which ministers meet with, is because they would stop sinners in their way to hell, and will not suffer them to be at peace, when they are going on to eternal pains. Never did any meet with so many cruel and bloody contradictions frjm sinners, as He who in his life, and doctrine, and death most opposed sin. " Am I therefore become your enemy, because I tell you the truth ? " saith Paul. He who was sent to turn people from Satan to God, had all the rage of peo))le and Satan turned against him. Hatred, saith Luther, is the genius of the gospel. Saul's javelin followed David's music. It is very likely, that he who is quiet among sinners, suffers them to be quiet in sin. We .should pity sinners, though, nay because, they oppose us ; if we turn them, they will love and thank us ; and whenever they come to be their own friends, they will be ours. However, the Lord will reward even unsuccessful faithfulness ; and to be sure we can much better bear hatred from the wicked for doing, than from God for neglecting, our duty. Obs. 8. The best way by which to try our sincerity, is willingness to be stopped in any way in which our lusts would make us nm most greedily. If sinners run greedily and violently after their lusts, then none but saints can rejoice when they are stofiped in the prosecution of them, and bless God, as David did for Abigail's counsel, when they are hindered in any sinful career. God promises to his elect a thorny hedge, Hos. ii. 6, if they will be gadding; and they look upon it as a singular mercy, if thereby they are turned back to their first Husband. Only the people of (iod love that preaching which most opposes their lusts, and that angel or messenger of God most which stands ivith the drawn s«'ord of the word (o hinder them in their unlawful journey. The patient and thankful enduring of stops and strokes when we arc sinning, is a very noble, though a bloodless mar- tyrdom ; a true note of true grace. Obs. 9. Men have most cause to suspect their courses are bad when swift ; when they run greedi- ly, that they run wickedly ; when they nm fast, that they run wrong. When we are in any way of God. commonly we do but go, or rather creep ; but in the way of sin, after the error of Balaam, we are ready to run, and that greedily too; we are here carried with wind and tide, our own inclinations and iSatan's impulsions : the Jews cried out against Christ, but not so much as whispered against Ba- rabbas. It was misguided zeal, when the disciples desired that fire might come down from heaven. AVhenever we are furious in any march, we should fear that we are in Balaam's journey ; I mean, we ought to suspect the goodness of that undertaking wherein we are most violent, and to doubt that we are sailing to a wrong port, when with a full gale and a strong tide. A smooth, if a false way, should not delight US; nor should a rugged, if a right way, dis- hearten us. It is no sign thou pleasest God, or speak- est the truth, because men do not oppose thee in what thou doest or sayest. We must be wiser than either Christ or his apostles, if we have got the skill to please the most in doing that which is best. The peaceableness of sinners is but impiety not opposed. Rather should I hope that what I do is right, when wicked men most rage and roar against me for doing it. When the devil roars, saith Luther, it is a sign I have struck him right : that is good which Satan hates. To conclude this. Embrace no opinion because Veb. 11. THE EPISTLE OF JUDE. 237 rielluat ;ininis,at ille. Labitiir et labe- tur. ilorat. it is maintained with multitudes and violence. Fire and faggot of old were but weak arguments to prove the truth of transubstantiation. As strong passions destroy a good, so do they not seldom discover a bad cause. Paul resolved to know not the speech, but the power of them who were puffed up, 1 Cor. iv. 19. The worship of Diana is cried up with more rage, than that of the true God is advanced with zeal. 06s. 10. They who run down the hill little know where they shall stop. These seducers poured forth themselves to the utmost. Who knows in what a sad agreement the very parley and treaty with any lust may end ? Tlie more modest motions which it makes at first, may end in excessive, immoderate pouring forth, and a profuse spending of what we have and are, our time, estates, yea, strength of body and soul, and all which is in our power to bestow npon it. Men foolishly may think, that when they have gone thus or thus far, they will go no further, and stop at their pleasure, and that their lusts will grow dry; as he in the fable, who having a mind to go over a river dry-shod, and seeing it run with a fierce stream, hoped that within a little space it Esperiat .i.im would nm itsclf quitc dry ; but after all his waiting and expecting, the river ran with as full a stream as ever : and so though men think that their lusts will at last grow dry, and that they shall easily step oyer them unto God, yet the sinful desires of the heart will grow stronger and stronger. They are like to be safest who kill lust in the cradle. He who gives way to it now, may justly be given over to it hereafter. He who will, against God's command, step up to the ancles, justly may, beyond his own expectation, wade till he be over head and ears, and so swallowed up. And hence we may gather the de- sirable safety of those ways wherein there can be no immoderateness, and which cannot be loved exces- sively, though never so earnestly. 04s. II. It is from a Divine hand that wicked men are Hindered from greatest outrages, talaam's running was so greedy, and his march so furious, that he had cursed the people, had not God stopped him. It is an arm of Omnipotence that pulls the wicked back from those courses to which their heart stands. No thanks to them that their worst undertakings are not successful. "Whence is it that the world is not over- run with evil, but from this, that men cannot do so ill as tliey would ? When we consider the impure propensities of nature, we ought to be thankful that every man is not a devil to his neighbour. It is God that puts a stop to the sinner, as well as to the sea. Whatever rage of his enemies breaks not forth, is bridled in by God, njnn Psal. Ixxvi. 10. It is not for want of poison in the hearts, but power in the hands, of the wicked, that the people of God are not both cursed and crushed at once. How should we both admire the power and praise the goodness of that God, who hinders the fell and fierce nature of wicked men from venting itself upon the poor un- armed church ! who bridles up and sets bounds to that proud sea of sinners' rage, which is so much higher than the poor humble earth, the church in her low estate ! and to sing after all our deliverances, in the tune of the thankful psalmist, " If it had not been the Lord who was on our side, when men rose up against us ; then they had swallowed us up quick," &c. ; then the waters had overwhelmed us, the stream had gone over our soul ; then the proud waves had gone over our soul," Psal. cxxiv. 2 — 5. " The floods lifted up their voice; the floods lifted up their waves; the Lord on high is mightier than the noise of many waters, yea, than the mighty waves of the sea," Psal. xciii. 3, 4. Obs. 12. God is never more offended with men, than when he gives them most scope and liberty in sin. that they may run greedily. Balaam and these seducers were appointed to destruction, and God lets them run greedily in the way that leads to it. The after permission which God gave Balaam to go to Balak, was worse than the former denial. God suf- fers some things with an indignation, not because he gives allowance to the act, but because he gives a man over to his sin in the act. It is one thing to like, another thing to suifer. God never liked Ba- laam's journey, yet he displeasedly gives way to it; as if he had said, Well, since thou art so hot on thy journey, be gone ; and thus Balaam took it : else, when God after professed his displeasure for the journey, it had been a ready answer. Thou eommand- est me ; but herein his silence argues his guilt. Ba- laam's suit and Israel's quails had one fashion of grant, in anger. How much better is it to have gracious denials than angry yieldings ! to have our way in sin stopped up with thorns than strewed with roses ! God is never more angry than when he is not angry. Never are men in such likelihood of snaring and strangling themselves, as when God gives the greatest length of line. Seldom does God suffer men to be their own carvers, but they cut their own fingers. God, in granting sinful desires, hates, and in denying them, loves, the petitioners. I had rather, said Augustine, have that mercy whereby I am whipped into the right way, than suflered to wander out of it. Obs. 13. How shameful is it to be sluggish in our race toward the eternal reward! Balaam runs greedily toward a false, we remissly toward a sure, reward : he rose up early, and saddled his ass ; the night seemed long to his forwardness; he needed neither clock nor bell to awake him, his desires made him restless. Where is the Christian that deserves not to be condemned even by the lost ? Who presses " toward the mark for the prize of the high calling," &c. ? Phil. iii. 14. Who offers that holy violence to the kingdom of heaven, knocks, seeks, asks, with half that industry for spiritual blessings, for heaven, for life, which wicked men put forth in labouring for their own destruction? I have heard of a philosopher, who, living near a blacksmith, and hearing him up every morning at his hammer and his anvil before he could get out of his bed to his book, professed himself ashamed, that such an igno- ble employment as that smith followed should be more diligently attended than his more serious and excellent studies. Blush, O Christian, when thou seest wicked men sweat in their worldly, and thyself grow cold in heavenly, employments. Surely, were the sweetness, the honourableness, the vastness, the l)rofitableness of God's service seriously considered, holy duties would find hotter affections in us. What a shame is it, that worldlings should be more labori- ously busied about rattles and trifles, than we about the kingdom of heaven and eternity ! This for the amplification of the sin and woe of these seducers from the second example, viz. of Ba- laam. Now follows, 3. The example of Core ; " And perished in the gainsaying of Core." Two things here are principally to be explained. 1. Whom they followed. Core. 2. Wherein they followed him. (I.) In his gain- saying. (2.) In perishing therein. I. Whom they followed. Core. Here it may be inquired who this Core w'as. Besides his sin and punishment, the Scripture mentions his pedigree, his employment, and his pos- terity. (I.) His pedigree: he was of the tribe of Levij 233 AN EXPOSITION UPON Vbe. II. his father's name was Izhar, the brother of Amram, who was father to Moses, Exod. vi. 18 ; 1 C'hron. vi. 2; so that Korah and Moses, whom he opposed, were brothers' cliikh'cn, or cousins-german : the near- ness of this relation couUl not hinder him from at- tempting tlie downfal of those who better deserved to keep than he to get tlie government. (2.) His employment (witli that of the rest of tlie Levites) is mentioned, Numb. x\'i. 9, to be honour- able, they being separated by God from the congre- gation of Israel to be brought " near to himself to do the service of the tabernacle, and to stand before the congregation to minister unto them." The Levites were brought nearer to God than the other tribes, though not so near as the priests. Aaron's sons, the priests, served in the sanctuary in praying for the people, and offering incense and sacrifice. Numb, xviii. 3; I Chron. vi. 49; but the rest of the tribe of Levi were not to come nigh the altar upon pain of death. Numb. iii. 10, but served in offices inferior to theirs. Numb. i. 49, 50. Their work was, [1.] To at- tend the service of the sanctuary, according to the command of the priests. Numb. iii. 6 — 8 ; iv. 2, 3 ; \'ii. 5 ; xviii. 6. When the tabernacle was movable, they were appointed to take it down, carry, set it up, and 10 keep all the instruments thereof, and also with the priests to cany the ark of the Lord ; " to wait on the sons of Aaron for the service of the house of the Lord, in the courts, and in the chambers, and in the puri- fying of all holy things," 1 Chron. xxiii. 28, 29; Deut. X. 8; 1 Chron. vi. 48; ix. 28, 29; 2 Chron. xxvi. 18. Their work was to watch about the taber- nacle, and afterward the temple, to defend it, 1 Chron. ix. 27. They also were to have the oversight of the shew-hread, meat-offerings, unleavened cakes, and of all manner of measure and size ; they had to see that all measures, both of dry and moist things, which were used in God's service, might have their just pro- portion, and that there might be a due length and breadth of all things measured by the meteyard. All manner of just measures for the things belonging to the house of God were to be tried by the measures and sizes which the Levites kept, and these were called the " measures of the sanctuary ; " whether the Levites had the ordering of civil measures and sizes or no is uncertain. [2.] The work of the Levites was to sing praises to God ; and they praised him both by singing holy songs and hymns, and also by musical instruments, 1 Chron. xvi. 4 ; xxiii. 30"; 2 Chron. viii. 14; xx. 19; xxx. 21; Neh. ix. 5. [3.] The Levites were to teach the people the law, according to the good word of the Lord, 2 C'hron. xxx. 22 ; sxxv. 3 ; and this employment was com- mon both to the priests and Levites, Deut. xxxi. 9 — 13; 2 Chron. xvii. 7— 9 ; Ezra vii. 10, 11 ; Neh. viii. 7,8; ix. 4, 5. [4.] To the Levites it also belonged, with the priests, to take cognizance, and to judge in causes about holy things, 2"Chron. xix. 8, 10, 11. So that the priests and Levites were the two ecclesiasti- cal orders in Israel employed about holy things, the Levites making the lesser, the priests the greater and higher order, and yet both called " brethren," Numb, xviii. fi. And in process of time, by the appointment of God, when the worship of God was to be stationary and fixed in one place, Da\'id divided the Levites into sundry orders and ranks, according to their fami- lies, for discharging their several functions and mi- nistries, ha\dng their several courses of waiting and charges allotted to them. See 1 Chron. xxvhi. 13; xxii. ; XXV., &c.; 2 Chron. viii. 14; xxxv. 4, 5, 10. 1'he reason of separating the Levites to the worship of God is plainly mentioned in Scripture : " I have " (saith God) " taken the Levites from among the chil- dren of Israel instead of all the first-born, because the first-born are mine ; for on the day that I smote all the first-born of the land of Egypt, I hallowed unto me all the first-born in Israel," Numb. iii. 12, 13 ; viii. 16; Exod. xii. 23. The first-born then were God's by a particular right of redemption as well as creation, and therefore were in an especial manner to serve him. In other creatures the first-born were to be sacrificed to him, if they were clean beasts ; and if they were not, to be ransomed at a price for the main- tenance of the tabernacle. Now, instead of taking the first-born of mankind to his service, he appointed that the Levites should be particularly set apart for it ; and he chose to be served by one tribe, rather than by a number of first-born taken out of many tribes, as learned interpreters conceive, to prevent con- fusion, discord, and division in holy services ; and by the tribe of Levi rather than any other, for their zeal of his glory in revenging the indignity done unto him in worshipping the golden calf, Exod. xxxii. 26, 28. To conclude ; as Israel was separated from all other people to be the Lord's peculiar. Lev. xx. 26, so were the Levites separated from the sons of Israel to be the Lord's, Numb. viii. 14. And the employment of the Levites, of which this Korah was a chief, and among whom he was famous, was, though inferior to the priests, who were nearer to God in their at- tendances, very honourable. And therefore from the high honour thereof doth Moses argue against the ambition of this rebellious Korah, whose desire it was to invade the priestly dignity also: " Seemeth it," saith he, " a small thing unto you, tliat the God of Israel hath separated you from the congregation of Israel, to bring you near to himself to do the work of the tabernacle?" Numb. xvi. 9. If it be an honour for the greatest subject to have the meanest employ- ment about the body of an earthly prince, how much greater is the advancement of the highest sons of men to have the lowest degree of peculiar service to God ! and truly David, though a king, went not an inch below his state in not disdaining the office of a door-keeper in the house of the Lord, and in putting on a linen ephod. (3.) The posterity of this rebel Korah, we find in Scripture, were spared and exempted from this de- struction of their father, and afterward they were employed by God in Ills service, which some of them holily discharged. [1.] That they were spared is expressed Numb, xxvi. II," The children of Korah died not ;" nei- ther did the fire from heaven, nor the opening of the earth, hurt them. Whether they were in their father's rebellion, and were spared by the prerogative of free mercy, or for God's care of his ministry ; or whether they consented not to the sin of their father, as is most likely ; or whether they repented upon the warning given by Moses, Numb. xvi. 5; I deter- mine not, the Scripture being silent. Nor will it be needful here to relate that fabulous invention of the Jews, by whose relation God wrought as great a mira- cle in saving Korah's children, as he did in destroying Korah himself; for they write, That when the earth opened and swallowed up the father, the children were taken up in the air, and there remained hang- ing till tlie earth closed up again. What way they were saved it matters not, spared they were ; and their names were Assir, Elkanah, and Abiasaph. God is so just, as to be feared in the midst of his smiles j and so merciful, as to be beloved in the midst of his frowns ; his goodness makes him remember mercy in the midst of judgment, although our sins some- times stir him up to remember judgment in the midst a of mercy. [2.] It is evident that afterward they were em- ployed by God as Levites in several services. They Ver. 11. THE EPISTLE OF JUDE. 239 Here " keepers of the gates of the tabeniacle," 1 hron. ix. 19. Their fathers had been over the host jf the Lord; namely, those Levites who encampel ibout the tabernacle, the host of Israel comiinsiing it like the king's tent, Kumb. i. 50; ii. 17. Some of this family " were for the outward business over Israel," 1 Chron. xxvi. 29 ; namely, such things as in the country were to be done, gathered, and prepared for the house of God, and for the service thereof, as all manner of provision, fuel, oil, wine, tithes, first- fruits, &c. Some were, possibly, teachers in the law, and judges in causes ecclesiastical and civil ; for the Israelites being governed by the judicial laws, and the Levites being best exercised therein, they were sent abroad among the several tribes to be judges, Deut. xvi. 18; 2 Chron. xis. 8; xvii. 9. But "the eminent employment to which those of Korah's family ■were designed, was singing in the house of the Lord ; they were " set over the service of the song in the house of the Lord," 1 Chron. vi. .31 ; and " they ministered with singing," ver. 32. And Heman, a Korahite, who is said to be " the king's seer, and to lift up the horn," 1 Chron. xxv. 5 ; that is, say some, a musical instrument ; was the chief musician, 1 Chron. vi. 39, 44, and had his fourteen sons under him, " for song in the house of the Lord, with cym- bals, psalteries, and harps," I Chron. xxv. 6, 7 ; and they are said, with their fellows, to be " instnicted in the songs of the Lord," and to be cunning. Many psalms (as xlii. xliv. xlv. xlvi.) have in their title, " For the sons of Korah ;" and some conceive that some of the psalms were penned by them, particularly that the 46th was their thanksgiving for their escape at their father's destruction, the title saying, of, or " for the sons of Korah ;" to which mention of the sons of Korah the Chaldee paraphrast adds. By their hand was it spoken in prophecy at the time their feither was hidden from them, but they were delivered, and uttered this song; a conjecture which was occa- sioned by those words in the second verse, " We will not fear, though the earth be removed," &c. I rather conceive that the psalm might be indited by David, and that it was appointed for them to set a tune to it. It is generally held that the SSth Psalm was penned by the forementioned Heman ; if so, it speaks him a very humble, godly son (though) of a wicked, re- bellious forefather, 1 Chron. vi. 33, 37. How free God is in dispersing his grace, and how gracious he was in preserving Korah's posterity, is much more manifested, in that Samuel, a man so eminent for being a holy man, God's favourite, and Israel's judge and happv preserver, was one of Korah's offspring, 1 Chron. vi. 27, 28. Thus, by way of explication, we have seen whom the seducers followed. Core. 2. Wherein did they follow him; Jude saith, " in gainsaying," and in perishing therein. (1.) In this gainsaying, [1.] I shall show wherein it stood. [2.] How great the sin of it was. [I.] For the first. The word in the Greek, diriXoyi^i, Signifies contradiction, or gainsaying, either verbal or real. Verbal : " Without all contradiction," x<^p''i """'"jc ivTiXoyiac, " the less is blessed," &c., Heb. vii. 7 ; and the Sadducees are called oi a'vnXtj'ojTfs, those who deny that there is any resurrection. In some places the word principally imports real contradiction or opposition, though not excluding the verbal. Thus, Heb. xii. 3, where it is said of Christ that he endured the " contradiction," a'rnXo- yiav, " of sinners ;" and I understand it in this place to be a contradiction, as by words, so (chiefly) by works. More particularly, this contention, opposition, or conlrndiction which Korah expressed, and is at large described. Numb, xvi., was that insurrection and sedition which he enterprised against Moses, whom he gainsayed, and against whom he stood up, to throw Aaron out of, and to gain to himself, he being of the tribe of Levi, the office of priesthood, wherein Aaron was placed by Divine appointment. Tliis real was accompanied and coloured over with that verbal gainsaying, wherein Korah charged Mo- ses and Aaron with usurpation and ambition, in taking too much upon them. That this gaining of the priesthood was the design is plain from the words of Moses, ver. 9 — 11, where he thus expostulates; " Seemeth it a small thing to you, that the God of Israel hath separated you from the congregation of Israel, to bring you near to himself?" d'c. "And seek you the priesthood also ? for which cause both thou and all thy company are gathered together against the Lord : and what is Aaron, that ye mur- mur against him ? " For accomplishing this rebel- lious design, he not only joins to himself a great company of the chief Levites to throw Aaron out of his office, but incites Dathau and Abiram, who were of the tribe of Reuben, in regard of their primo- geniture before Moses, they being of the eldest tribe, to depose iSIoses from the civil government, and to assume it themselves at the same time. In this work he also joined with them, well knowing, that if Mo- ses continued to enjoy the government of the com- monwealth, he should never be able to carr)- on his design of getting to himself the priesthood. As for these seducers, against whom our apostle here writes, I dare not peremptorily assert that the apostle only intends that they imitated Korah in dis- turbing the order and rule of the church; I doubt not but Korah opposed both civil and ecclesiastical order. It is plainly stated, Numb. xvi. 3, that he, with Dathan and Abiram, and their followers, ga- thered themselves together both against Moses and against Aaron. And supposing that Korah only had opposed Aaron, by labouring to invade p^,,^, ,,„, ,„„. the priesthood ; yet, as Gerard well plum accommo- notes, this example of Korah in oppos- ,um apostofi?"' ing church order might well be ac- !''?'"?' ,°''i=';^. ' ft T T . peccatnrum sint commodated to Judes purpose, were diversa. (ieiii.in his purpose only to show that these " "^'^ ^' ■^'" seducers were enemies to civil order and superiority ; for although the sin of Korah and these seducers had diflerent objects, yet they both agree in resisting superiors. But it is most probable that Jude intends that these seducers, by comparing them to Korah, opposed all order and superiority in church and state, not only despising and speaking evil of civil digni- ties and dominions, as we have foiTuerly showed, but opposing and disturbing the state of all ecclesiastical order. None were such bitter enemies to the faithful apostles and ministers of Christ, who were the shep- herds, guides, governors, and overseers, Ijy Christ set over the flock and family of his church. None laboured so much to pour contempt upon them and their doctrine, prating against them (as John speaks of Diotrephes) '■ with malicious words," 3 John 10, that they, with Korah, might have the pre-eminence, and be looked upon, as Simon Magus their master, as the only great ones ; commending themselves, boast- ing of things without their measure, glorying after the flesh, drawing disciples after them, Acts ^■iii. 10; 2Cor. X. 13; xi. 18; and la- ?eont.'i°ro,,Vorea bouring, bv winding into the church, to qi"»f ^j?"' <'}'.. work the taUhrul ministers out. In a lat.m sibi prxri- word, as CEcumeuius speaks, though ^i'„TSLS5Zu thcv were never so unfit, though un- iwreikorum. uoa called, vet their main studv was to lendi. sed nostra snatch all authority of teaching to J^.^^'^'iS'^'^,- SrsuS themselves. And (as TertuUian speaks aJinceut. ' xeit. 240 AN EXPOSITION UPON Veh. II. do PiKscrip. of heretics) their work was not to con- "m,!!,l'''JI,,"'oTi;! -^'crt heathens, but to overturn tlie la- lis (Dinmoih.et . bours of failliful teacliers, and to pull pHni'i'pluis'que down them to build up themselves, novas opimones Augustiue defines a heretic to be one gignit vei seaui- wlio for any worldly benefit, especially Farm. c.\ ''" for glory and pre-emiiience, either frames or follows new opinions. 2. The great sinfulness of this "gainsaying" ap- pears sundry ways. It was made up of, (1.) Contempt of God's ordination. Moses and Aaron were both placed in their governments by God's appointment, both immediate and express, Prov. viii. 15; Rom. xiii. 1. God was more opposed than these his servants ; and therefore truly Moses tells them, that this their gathering together was "against the Lord," Numb. xvi. 11. Though Da- than and Abiram, Reubenites, had the right of natu- ral primogeniture, yet they vainly challenge pre- eminence where God hath subjected them. If all civil honour flow from the king, how much more from the God of kings ! His hand exalts the poor, and casts down the mighty from their throne. How insufferable a presumption is it for dust and ashes to attempt to mend his work, and to subject his ordination to their own humour ! (2.) Regardlessnessof the public. They cared not what ruin and woe they brought upon the whole com- pany of Israel, by the loss of their lawful, godly, and able governors, so that they might accomplish their own private designs. They were desirous to raise themselves upon the destruction of thousands; and their endeavour was to remove away Israel's shelters and shields, their saviours, shepherds, and pillars; yea, and at one blow to behead six hundred thou- sand men ; to turn God's garden into a wilderness, God's well-governed family into a den of thieves ; and to hasten the death of their political parents, though thousands of children would have celebrated their funerals with tears. (3.) Hypocrisy and falsehood. The rebels pretend that all the congregation was holy, and that Moses and Aaron lifted up themselves. Numb. xvi. 3. Every word was a falsehood. Israel was as holy as Moses and Aaron were ambitious : God lifted them up over Israel, and they dejected themselves ; and what ho- liness was there in so much infidelity, idolatry, mu- tiny ? "What coidd make them unclean, if this were holiness ? The Israelites had scarce wiped their mouth since their last obstinacy, but these flatterers tax their governors, and flatter the people; and yet all this not out of love to these fond and flattered people, of whom they intended to make no other use but to be stirrups to advance themselves into the sad- dle of government. They pretend that all the peo- ple, in respect of their holiness, might make as near approaches to God as their governors ; but their de- sign was hereby to appropriate all administrations into their own hands, and to wipe the poor people of that which now they laboured to take away from their governors, namely, all power. (4.) Discontentedness with their present condition, while they looked upon the few rulers that were above them, they never thought of the many thou- sands of people who were below them. They so discontentedly looked upon the difTerence between the Lcvites and the priests, that they considered not the difTerence between the Levites and the people ; and their thankfulness that they were above so many, was drowned in discontentment that one or two were above them. (5.) Envy at and repining against the due ad- vancement of their faithful governors. " They en- vied Moses also in the camp, and Aaron the saint of the Lord," Psal. cvi. IG. Had Moses and Aaron been but fellows with the rebels, none had been better beloved ; but now they arc advanced, the malice of these rebels is not inferior to the honour of their governors. Their fault was, that God had set them, up, not that they had ever opposed God, or hurt Is-' rael ; so that the trouble of the rebels was not thel badness of their governors, but the goodness of God.f The cursed humour of plain downright envy, which is not troubled that things in the world go ill, either' in point of sin or sorrow, but that they go so well, orl no worse. (6.) Pride and ambition. They aspired to a dig-l nity in which God had placed others, and for and to which they were neither called nor fitted. Theif ambition to be above the people, made them desirousi to be likewise above God who had put others intol that dignity : they who were not fit for the oar desire! to sit at the stern. Though the thing g. j^^ ^. ^j^,,,,- F they desired was good, yet their de- busiioMet.inviiuj siring it out of God's way was wicked. qf.'i'j'deTilIfqu'i If they who are fittest to govern should pJ'J'^^H ""'''"' not accept of rule unless they are drawn, then they who are unfit should not run to take it. Should ambitious Korahs get power by running, they would not be honoured by their great place, but their place dishonoured by them. (7.) Infection and contagion dispersed among others. Korah draws in two himdred and fifty into the conspiracy, " famous in the congregation, and men of renown." The plague-sore in this one Ko- rah infects a great part of Israel. The contagion was worse than the act ; his wickedness was difliisive. He would neither be alone in woe nor wickedness. His abode was so near to the Reubenites, that he soon infuses his poison into Dathan and Abiram : he errs not without many followers. Surely his sin and woe had been sufficient, though he had not drawn in partakers in both ; but it is the constant guise of sinners, both to forbear labouring after hap- piness themselves, and to hinder others ; to run into ruin themselves, and to carry others with them ; though they shall dearly find hereafter that it is not in this case, the more the merrier, every sinner being but a bundle of fuel to make the fire of wrath burn the hotter against any who led him into sin. (8.) Great ingratitude to God and their governors for all that care and cost which they laid out upon them. How unkind a requital was this to God and his servants for the many miraculous protections, directions, provisions, which primarily from him, and secondarily from them, they had received ! What did Moses gain by the troublesome government, but danger and despite ? AVho but Moses would not have wished himself rather with the sheep of Jethro, than these wolves of Israel ? How full of care was Moses that these rebels might be secure ! Magis- tracy is like an upper garment, which a man puts on when he rides in wet and dirty weather; though magistracy be uppermost, and all the dirt and ashes fall upon it, the under garments are meanwhile kept dry and clean. (9.) Boldness and obstinacy in sin. What a pre- sumptuous wickedness was it for Korah and his ac- complices to take the censers and to offer incense! Had they had the least drop of God's fear, their hands would have shaken, and the censers r ■ . • would have fallen out of them. Though si!ia»1n1lifs°siitt» Korah had lately seen the judgment of ;;;?;°['| j^'^l;,^^; God upon Nadab and Abihu, yet his e«cedissent acer- contumacy would not be checked. The voi'e nmnirf'ten- mentioning of the holy censers and in- a^'s^obreiVoTu-' cense should have made him dread his mo, •■'eiiei s..iis own destruction, by intermeddling be- arambitioTil'a™' Yer. 11. THE EPISTLE OF JUDS. 241 piauiiii mundus. yoiid his Calling ; but, as Calvin well ":'''!•!"""' "'1'- notes, hv the favour of the people he nut.« ipsas con banished the fear or bod, and so op- in'NumbPxvil"' poses God, as if he would have put out the sun with smoke. 2. The second thing wherein they followed Ko- rah, was in perdition ; noted in these words, and perish, or " perished," djnJXoiro, " in the gainsay- ing," &c. The time both past and present is often put for the future ; to import and signify the great and undoubted certainty that a thing shall come to pass J that it is as sure to be as if it were al- ready accomplished. And thus the apostle is to be understood, in saying that these seducers perish, or perished, in Korah's gainsaying. The word aTruiXovro denotes not only a bare dying, as in its best signitica- tion, but a dying by some miserable means ; as by hunger, Luke xv. 17. Sometimes a destruction by hell, 2 Thess. i. 9 ; in which respect Judas is called the son of perdition and destruction, John xvii. 12; and the devil is called a destroyer. Rev. ix. 11. And Paul calleth the man of sin " the son of perdition," 2 Thess. ii. 3; he being such both actively and pas- sively. The word, saith Gerard in Harmon, is used to denote temporal, spiritual, and eternal destruction. The simple word oXXu^i signifies to destroy ; but the compound, and such is this here used by Jude, is not without an additional emphasis. Concerning the destruction of Korah we read at large in Numb. xvi. It is much controverted by learned men what kind of destruction this of Korah was. Some think that he was swallowed up in the earth with Dathan and Abiram, thus referring the words of Moses, " If the Lord make a new thing, and the earth open her mouth, and swallow them up," Szc, ver. 30, to all three, Korah, Dathan, and Abiram ; and it being said, Numb. xxvi. 10, " the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up" (meaning Dathan and Abiram) "together with Korah, when that com- pany died, what time the fire devoured two hundred and fifty men." And that Korah also was swallowed up, Ambrose, Richelius, Lorinus, with some others, con- ceive. Others think that Korah was not swallowed up with the rest ; that though all his substance and tents were destroyed by that punishment, and also all that appertained to him, his children only excepted, yet they think that Korah himself was consumed with fire from heaven with "the two hundred and fifty men that otfered incense," ver. 35. Of this opinion are Cajetan, Oleaster, Haimo, Perkins, Tre- melius, Diodate. And their reasons are, (I.) Because it seems by several passages in the history that Moses spake concerning Dathan and Abiram only, and those which belonged to them, when he said, " Hereby ye shall know that the Lord hath sent me," &c., " if the earth open her mouth, and swallow them up," &c.. Numb. xvi. 25, 27 — 30. (2.) When Dathan and Abiram are expressly said to be swallowed up, mention is made, ver. 32, onh', in relation to Korah, that " all the men that appertained to Korah, and all their goods," were swallowed up; Korah himself being not named, as are the other two. (3.) They say that when in other places this de- struction is rehearsed, as Deut. xi. 6; Psal. cvi. 17, there is mention made only of the swallowing up of Dathan and Abiram, with theirs, not of Korah at all. (4.) Some are much confirmed in this apprehen- sion, from that command of God, that the brazen censers of those who were burnt should be made broad plates to cover the altar, for " a memorial that no stranger come near to offer incense before the Lord, that he be not as Korah and his company," Kumb. xvi. 38 — 40. From which command they conceive that Korah was, with the rest, burnt with fire : 1. Because he joined with the rest of the com- pany in offering incense, as is plain, because others were to take warning by his punishment not to offer incense ; and ver. 6, Moses saith, " Take you censers, both Korah, and all his company;" and ver. 17, " Take every man his censer; thou also, and Aaron," &c. Now, say they, it is probable tliat Korah sinning by fire was also punished by fire ; and that joining in the same sin, and being present when the fire de- voured the rest, which was inmiediately after their ofiering incense, he was also joined in the same punislmient. 2. "When Moses speaks here of the offenders, he joins them together in the punishment ; he calls them Korah and his company, in these words, " That he be not as Korah and his company." 3. The censers which were to be plates for the altar are called, The censers of those which were burnt : now Korah's censer was among those which were plates for the altar; because the reason why they were to be plates for the altar was their offering them before the Lord, and their being hallowed, ver. 38, which agree to Korah's censer as well as to the cen- ser of any other. 4. God's command to make plates of the censers of those who were burnt being fol- lowed with this reason, that others " be not as Korah and his company," seems to import that others by looking upon the censers of those who were burnt should take heed of being as Korah and his company, namely, burnt as they were. And whereas it is said that " the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up, together with Korah," &c.. Numb. xxvi. 10 ; some understand that place not of Korah's per- son, but of his substance, goods, and retinue ; and therefore Trcmelius reads it, absorpsit eos, et qum erant Karachi; the earth swallowed them up, and those things which appertained to Korah, as we find, Numb. xvi. 32. Others conceive that Korah is joined here with the other who were swallowed up, because he was a confederate in the same wickedness, and was punished by a miraculous death at the same time. But, to leave the further discussion hereof, sure we are that Korah was also destroyed. Jude here tells us that he perished. And it has been ob- ser\'ed, that most, if not all, those whom the Scripture mentions as opnosers of lawful authority, have been punished by violent death, God not vouchsafing them so much as a reprieve to a death-bed ; several in- stances have I set down. God makes them marks of vengeance who remove the ancient land-marks, set for order and propriety in a nation ; and, as Chry- sostom notes, they who durst open their mouths against Moses and Aaron, making their throats an open sepulchre to bury their dignities, were justly punished when the earth opened her mouth and swallowed up such rebels. Obs. I. The great misery and disgrace to be a ring- leader in sin. Korah is here only mentioned by Jude ; he was the great wheel of the rebellion. It is thought that he exasperated Dathan and Abiram, by the pretence of their primogenitiu-e before Moses. It is too much to follow in wickedness; but to lead, it is inexcusable, insufferable. The rebels that op- posed Moses and Aaron are called Korah's company, Numb, xxvii. 3, and the rebellion itself is called the " matter of Korah," Numb. xvi. 49. He who was higher than the rest in sin, is principally branded ia Scripture story with perpetual infamy. Obs. 2. Bad parents may have good children. Je- roboam, Anion, Ahaz, and here Korah, are pregnant proofs hereof. God is free in his gifts of grace. He disperses them where and to whom he pleases. They who have nothing in themselves or parents to com- mend them to God are received by liim, to show that 242 AN EXPOSITION UPON Ver. 11. the foundation of all God's love is in his own bosom, and that the privileges of nature commend us not to him. God also will hereby show the excellency of grace's original ; that it is not by generation, but re- generation ; not native, but donative ; not by the first, but second birth. The bad parents of a godly child proclaim that their child has a heavenly Father, and that good which the)' never bestowed upon it; as the wicked child of godly parents pro- claims that they who contributed a natural, could not aflford a spiritual being. Yea, further, hereby God will manifest the power of his grace, which in a sort gathers grapes of thorns, and figs of thistles, and can bring pure water through a filthy and polluted channel ; and that the power and poison of natural and sinful example cannot hinder the irresistible strength of his own Spirit. How wisely doth 'God hereby beat Satan, and batter his kingdom with his own weapons, and strike him through with arrows taken out of his own quiver ! How should the con- sideration hereof engage the godly children of God- less parents, (I.) To love, admire, and serve that God who has transplanted them out of Satan's nursery into his own orchard ; who made white paper of dunghill rags! If Judas said. Lord, why wilt thou manifest thyself to us, and not to the world ? well may a godly child say. Lord, why wilt thou manifest thyself to me, and not to my father and mother? (2.) To be humble in considering the rock out of which they were hewn, and the fountain from which they flowed, and the poorness and impurity of their beginning, even when they are in the midst of their highest proceedings in holiness. To pity likewise, and to labour to do good by a spiritual aropyi), or na- tural affection spiritualized, to the souls of tneir poor unregenerate parents, that they may study to requite them for being the causes of their natural being, by procuring their parents' spiritual birth ; and truly, T, . ,■ no way but this can that maxim be con- Deo et parenti ■' . , ., , nonreiidiiur futcd, The child can never recompense Kquivaiens. the parent. Obs. 3. Great is our proneness to follow corrupt example. Hundreds here run after one rebel. Obs. 4. Corrupt greatness is very influential on in- feriors. Let but an eminent Korah go before, and the rest will follow. Great men seldom sin alone ; witness Absalom, Jeroboam, Simon Magus. Obs. 5. Ambition knows no bounds. A high con- dition seems but low to a high spirit. Korah was a Levite, and his privilege and dignity thereby was not small : " Seemeth it a small thing to you," saith Moses, " that the God of Israel hath separated you from the congregation of Israel, to bring you near to himself?" yet his ambition made it seem contempt- ible, because he had not the priesthood also. Absa- lom, though a king's son, and his father's beloved son, and newly taken into favour, yet because he had not the kingdom, could not be content. Haman, though the greatest favourite of the greatest monarch in the world, yet because he had not the obeisance of poor Mordecai, accounted all his preferments worth nothing. The greatest honours only widen and enlarge the ambitious man's desires; they entice, but not content a man. The subjects whom kings have ad- vanced to highest dignities, have ever been forward- est to oppose and depose those who have exalted them, and all because they have thought that they could never be high enough ; witness the conspiracy of the nobles exalted to highest English instory'of \vii- honours in the reign of William the an.TsVr "Francis F'i'st, and that famous example of the Bacon's History great Stanley, in the reign of Henry the "my . Seventh, who, though the greatest peer in the realm, and laden with many favours and great offices, yet ■was a man of that exorbitant and unbounded ambition, that nothing would please him' but a preferment which used to go to the king's eldest son. No rewards can clear accounts with them that overvalue their merits. Though Pelion be laid upon Ossa, and one mountain of greatness upon another, yet will an ambitious mind look upon them all as too low. Kingdom added to kingdom, and, could it be so, world to world, would but be a drop to the stomach of the elephant, ambition. The best way to satisfy the thirst of one in a fever is, in- stead of giving him drink, to cure his distemper. Let us not think to satisfy our lusts by making pro- vision for them; it is Christian wisdom rather to study to kill than content inordinate desire ; and more to bring our hearts to our condition, than our condition to our hearts. Let us look upon that sta- tion of life wherein God has set us as the best for us. A garment which fits us is better for us, though it be plain, than one which is gaudy and three or four handfuls too big. God best knows how to order our estates. Should we be our own carvers, we should often cut our fingers. Let us also compare our re- ceipts with our deserts ; and though the former seem small when they stand by themselves, yet if we set them by the latter, they will appear of a large size, and a tall stature. Obs. 6. A mere man is firm and steady in no rela- tion. Natural relations, unless backed Katura bonitas by grace, are very slippery and unstable "'si pieeaie con- foundations of friendship. Korah, a uiabescit. Cart. wicked man, though a near kinsman to h^""- Moses, proves his greatest adversary. Abel's brother, Joseph's brethren, David's son, could not be kept from murder and treachery by the bond of nature. A sinner will as easily break the bonds of nature, as Samson did his cords, till his locks (his lusts) be cut off. It is not the alliance, but the renovation of na^ ture, that can establish friendship. No natural man accounts his own brother that lay in the same womb with him so near to him as the lust that lodges in hii heart. He provides friends most wisely for himself, who either finds or makes them friends to God. An enemy to God will not long be a friend to thee. Natural love oft ends in an unnatural hatred. A bad man will not conscientiously be a good husband, son, brother. Grace doth not slay, but sanctify ; not annihilate, but elevate nature ; turns water into wine, and spiritualizes carnal affection. How just with God is it, that he whom thou dost not desire to make God's friend shall prove thy foe ! that thy child which is most indulged by thee in sin, should after- ward prove the greatest grief to thy heart! God suffering, to thy sorrow, him to rebel against thee, whom thou hast suffered and seen without sorrow to rebel against God. Obs. 7. Innocence is no shelter from opposition. The goodness of no person or cause can exempt either from hatred. No man meeker than Moses, none bet- ter beloved than Aaron, none more beneficial to Israel than both ; no cause more righteous than holding a government, to which they were appointed by God himself; yet- neither the persons nor their cause could be free from the conspiracies and con- tests of sinners. Jesus Christ himself endured their contradictions and gainsayings, Heb. xii. 3. It is no sign of a good man to have few opposers, nor of a good cause to have many abettors. He who is not opposed by the stream goes with it. The world will liate where God loves. So far is holiness from ex- empting the godly from the ill-will of sinners, that it draws it forth. Let other qualifications of learn- ing, amiableness, birth, never so much abound, yet grace mars the taste of all these in a carnal palate. i Veb. 11. THE EPISTLE OF JUDE. 243 Antipathies can never be smothered or reconciled. The meekest Moses, will he be a Moses, shall be gainsaycd, notwithstanding his meekness. The i\i eked rise up against the faithful, not for doing any evil against, but for not doing evil with them. If in our keeping close to God we meet with unkindness from the wicked, let us not wonder ; if with love, let us be thankful ; but yet withal suspicious of ourselves that we do, or at least cautious that we do not, sinfully correspond with them. Obs. 8. Instruments of public good often meet with unkind requitals. Moses and Aaron, Israel's deliverers and defenders, were gainsayed by an un- thankful people. Israel owed to these faithful go- vernors, under God, their provision, peace, and pro- tection ; but for this the tribute which they paid was conspiracy and rebellion. Nothing is so easily forgotten as the benefits we enjoy by governors. The lightest injuries are easily remembered, and are like feathers that swim on the top of the water : weighty favours, like a piece of lead, sink to the bottom, and are forgotten. Gideon had been a famous deliverer of Israel ; but the benefits which that unthankful people enjoyed by him were so neglected, that they slew his sons, Judg. ix. 5. Though Jehoiada was the renowned restorer of Israel's government and peace, yet was his son destroyed by them, who, next to God, owed all that was dear to them to his faith- fulness and wisdom, 2 Chron. xxiv. 21, 22. It is a kingly honour, to meet with unthankful returns from those to whom we do much good. The mother's breast gives milk to the froward infant that strikes it. God would have all, especially public officers, in all the good they do, eye his glory and command, and not the applause of men. No opposition must discourage us in the faithful discharging of our places, nor chase us from the station wherein God has set us. Obs. 9. Excellency and superiority are the marks of envy. Though Closes and Aaron cannot be op- posed for their sin, yet they may be envied for their power. As equals are envied because they are such, and inferiors lest they should be our equals ; so prin- cipally superiors, because we are not equal to them. Joseph was envied because he was higher than his brethren in his father's favour, and dreamed that he should be higher than they in his worldlj' condition ; the Israelites likewise were envied because they in- creased more than Egyptians ; David by Saul, be- cause the women ascribed more thousands to him than to Saul ; Moses by Miriam and Aaron, because advanced by God above them ; and here Moses and Aaron by Korah and his accomplices, because of their superiority. The object of hatred is oft the sin of others ; but of envy, always the excellency of others, either real or seeming, of body, mind, estate, or fame, the cause being pride, or an inordinate self-love ; the envious ever deeming his own excellency to be di- minished and obscured by another's happiness. Thus the elder brother, Luke xv., deemed fi'merrnir^nnn"" himself wronged by the love which his «si. qui est Ira- father showed to the vounger : and bv chariiaiis: lira- Tcason ot envv agamst his brother, he nillt!'q'uf?an™m forgcts his father's bounty to himself; and he who had received all his father's inheritance, denies that ever his father had given him a kid. Of all sinners, the envious is most his own scourge and torment. He had rather suffer misery than see others in pros- perity ; as some have noted of the Philistines, who could hardly be brought by the smart of their own distresses to send the ark back to Israel. It is said, that God turned the heart of the Egyptians to hate Kon iiios traios 1"^ pcoplc, Psal. cv. 25 ; but, as Augus- fitieoUo, sed tine well notes, not by making the heart substaDliam ac- cepit. Chrvsol. Ser. 4. of the Esvptians evil, but the estate of if''^ '«V''.''"-r '^^ ^ ' iT'i , ,1 bus niali tacil- the Israelites prosperous. V\ hat a moth limc possum to the soul, saith Cyprian, is envy, to ioI'SasY/JiM- tum another's good into our own hurt, tur ad odium. , 1^,1 August, in Ice. to make another s glory our own pun- q^.^^ ,1^ ^ei. et ishment! Themeditationof this cursed L"'. distemper of the en\-ious may provoke us to con- tentment in a low condition. They are high towers upon which the lightnings of euTj fall. It is often- times a mercy to be in misery. How many righteous and well-desers-ing persons have been made faulty and guilty only for their being wealthy and honour- able ! How abundantly does the sweet safety of a retired life recompense for all that obscurity which seems to debase it ! How oft have I kno\\ii those who have lived in envied honour, to envy those who have lived in safe obscurity ! 064". 10. Heretical seducers are commonly turbulent and seditious. They here followed Korah in his opposing authority. They who deny the only Lord God, as these seducers did, will make nothing of despising dominion. They who oppose God's do- minion will never regard man's. Impious men will not be obedient subjects. The order of obedience prescribed by the apostle, is first to " fear God," and then to " honour the king," 1 Pet. ii. 17. " My son," saith Solomon, " fear thou the Lord and the king," Prov. xxiv. 21. The Romish offspring of antichrist, who throw oif and deprave the law of God, will not submit to civil authority. They openly „ .... 1.1^^1 1 ij Cunclus totius teach that the clergy are exempted orbis ckrus in.- ■ from the power of the magistrate. So ?",ns™«l'mp?uS' long as the arch-heretic the pope lives, t. 2. Decret.iiL Korah and these seducers will never die. In one pope are many Korahs, seducers, rebels, libertines. He usurps a dominion over all the princes in the world ; he makes himself the impcrator quod sun, and from him, as the fountain of habeMotumhabei light, he pretends that all civil go- tesiaie liosira est, vernors, as the moon, borrow their u,'„''cui''voiX''i." light: to himself he saith is given all Hadrian.mEpist. ^ . 1 -, . °, J ad Arcliiep. power m heaven and in earth; and iieu. Moguot. & as profanely he applies that passage, Colon. Psal. Ixxii. 8, " He shall have dominion from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth ;" and that of Prov. viii. 15, "By me kings reign." And when he speaks concerning the distribution of empires and kingdoms, he imitates his father in these words. They are delivered to me, and to whom- soever I will I give them. It would be endless, and in some respect needless, as ha\'ing touched upon this sad subject before, to relate the many bloody machinations and murderous enterprises of the pope's emissaries against the persons of Christian princes. Under the wing of this whore of Babylon, in the nest of the pope's chair, have been hatched those stabbings, poisonings, powder-plots, and, which is worse, the defence of all these by his janizaries, the Jesuits, in their writings in blood, which have filled the ears and hearts of true Christians with horror and amazement. Nor would it be unsuitable to the present subject, to mention the seditious turbulence of the heretical crew of Anabaptists of late years, who, to all their other erroneous tenets, add this, that before the day of judgment Christ should have a worldly kingdom erected, where the saints only are to have dominion, and magistracy is to be rooted out ; and with what an inundation of blood these idle, and at first neglected, dreams and opinions have filled Europe, the histories of the last age have related to us, and the Lord grant that we who have read and not been warned by them, may never ourselves be- come a history to the age which shall come after us. Obs. 11. It is a sin for those who are uncalled to 244 AN EXPOSITION UPON Ver. 11 thrust themselves into the office of the ministry. Korah's sin was his endeavour to invade the priest- hood : " Seek ye tlie priesthood also ? " saith Moses to him, Numb. xvi. 10. And because all the Lord's people were holy, as Korah alleges, ver. 3, therefore he pretends that others had as much right to dis- charge the office and function of Aaron as Aaron himself had ; and that since the people had a holi- ness by vocation to grace, whereby the Israelites where distinguished from other nations, there needed no holiness of special consecration to distinguish the priest from other Israelites. Now that this sin of Korah, which was an invasion of the priest's office, may still be committed in the times of the New Tes- tament, is clear, because the apostle reproves it in these seducers. And that it can be no other way committed in the times of the gospel, but by intru- sion of uncalled persons into the ministry of the gos- pel, is, say some, as plain, because there is no other office which these seducers could invade, answering to that of the legal priesthood, but this office of the evangelical ministry. From all which it will una- voidably follow, that they who shall enter into the office of the ministry only upon pretence of inward abilities, without receiving a commission and authority from God, and a particular separation to that office, are guilty of sin against God, and that no light and slight one, Korah's sin. The receiving then of a power by way of authority, external mission, and commission, from those whom God has appointed to confer it, is re- quisite for those who will enter upon the ministerial function, which no man may undertake but by power lawfully thus conferred. That private Chris- tians in a way of Christian charity may, yea, ought to confer with one another, by way of information, admonition, and consolation, 1 Thess. iv. 18; v. 14; Heb. iii. 13; 1 Pet. iii. 1, and so communicate their gifts for their mutual edification, is not denied or envied, but granted, yea, earnestly desired. It is yielded also, that in some cases of urgent necessity befalling the church, when it is not fully planted, formed, or when it is scattered and dispersed by per- secution, and so hindered from the ordinary and or- derly course of ministration which it enjoys in times of peace and settledness, private Christians may publicly instruct others ; yet this cannot be al- leged against the course wliich the Scripture has established for sending forth of ministers, Rom. x. 15; Heb. V. 4, 5; Acts xiii. 1, 2; xiv. 22, 23; Tit. i. 5 ; 2 Tim. ii. 2. The great eminence and common- ness of gifts in the church of Christ in the times of the apostles, which were bestowed upon many who were not ordained and set apart for the ministry, were no hinderances to conferring ministerial power on them, by setting them apart to the ministerial emplojinent, 2 Tim. i. 6; 1 Tim. iv. 14; v. 22. Timothy was a man of much holiness, and of ex- cellent parts, and yet these hindered not his after- separation to his holy function by the presbytery. The command of the apostle, that Timothy should " lay hands suddenly on no man," clearly argues, that they on whom he did lay hands, were before to be men gifted with internal qualifications, for the trial where- of Timothy was forbidden to be too sudden in or- daining, 1 Tim. V. 22. And most clear is that of 2 Tim. ii. 2, where, for a succession of teachers, Ti- mothv is commanded to commit the things which he had heard of Paul to faithful men, able to teach others ; whereby it is evident that they were to be able and faithful before Timothy committed those things to them. There is not only a meetness for, but an inauguration into, the office of the ministry required of those who are to enter it; and gifts are not sufficient to make ministers, without the ordinary call and mission settled in the clmrch by Christ, Every Israelite or Levite able to offer incense was not admitted to offer ; none but the sons of Aaron, who were particularly set apart thereto, had that honour ; nor can any under the times of the gospel, who have never so much inward furniture of gifts, be right ministers or officers from Christ, where there is, not a right commission and patent given in his name by due ordination. As it is treason for the ablest statesman or lawyer to undertake the office of an ambassador or judge before he is made such by those who only can confer that power, so it is an insuffer- able affront offered to Jesus Christ, for any to pretend the doing of that in his name which is done without his declared will and consent. Obs. 12. How. ready are men to be weary of enjoy- ing those things which they most impatiently desired when they wanted them ! What would not these rebels have given for a Moses and an Aaron, to de- liver them out of their Egyptian bondage ! how wel- come were the first tidings of God's appointing them to be the instruments of so great a mercy ! And yet now they have a while enjoyed them, and tasted the benefit of their government, how weary are they of both, and therein of their own happiness ! The people who with passionate and sinful earnestness cried out for a king, after the manner of other na- tions ; so soon as God had gratified their desires therein, a great part of them were weary of what they so ardently wished, despised tlieir king, " brought him no presents," and muttered tlieir unthankful discon- tentcdness in these words, " How shall this man save us?" 1 Sam. x. 27. And long before that, the same people who would have been glad of the coarsest ; pulse in a starving wilderness, murmured because they had no better commons than bread from heaven, angels' food ; herein in a sort resembling David, whose soul longed for the water of Bethlehem, and yet when his three worthies, with the endangering of their lives, had brought that water to him, he poured it ; out on tlie earth, and would not drink thereof, 2 Sam, , xxiii. 15 — 17. How righteous is God in denying us many a comfort, notwithstanding our earnest and im- petuous craving, he knowing that when he gives it us, we shall either unthankfuUy despise it, or rather profanely abuse it ! How willingly should we justify God in all his deferrings and denials of creature-en- joyments ! for though we think that the want of them will undo us, yet he knows that the having of the: would both hurt us and dishonour him. Obs. 13. God opposes the opposers of lawful author- ity. They are enemies more to themselves than to those whom they are enemies ; they perish in their gainsayings with this Korah. " An evil man seeketh only rebellion ; therefore a cruel messenger shall be sent against him." " My son," (saith Solomon,) " fear thou the Lord and the king : and meddle not with them that are given to change : for their calamity shall arise suddenly ; and who knoweth the ruin ol them both?" Prov. xxiv. 21, 22. Some interpret this passage of Solomon to be a command, that feai and obedience should be yielded to the king in a wa) of subordination and subjection to God ; as if Solo mon had said, Be sure thou fear God in the firs place, and the king only in the second ; so tha when the commands of God and the king seem tc , cross one another, let God rather be obeyed thaiil the king ; that is, fear and obey the king in th' Lord. And the nest words, "meddle not with them who are given to change," they understand of the changing of that order of obeying God in the first place as if he had said, meddle not with them that would chan e. or invert that order, leitudmnusiih- I I Nequaouam mores iltorum consectan veils, qui onliiiem istum invertiint, et regi priminn, deinde Deo tie * Ver. 11. THE EPISTLE OF JUDE. 245 loremeiisiiniant. here enjoined by God; and would per- -. .j'Jfs," 'etAug. suade thee to obey the king in the tirst It Verb. Doiii. place, and God after him : a very pious, but I question whether a proper inter- pretation. Others therefore better understand this rule of Solomon, of obedience to kings for God : q. d. Show thy fear of God by fearing the king ; thy fear jf God should put thee upon fearing the king, who is the minister of God, and in his stead. By those ivords, "which are given to change," I conceive we ire to understand a brief character of those who are seditious, who, out of a desire of alterations and I change in political government, shake off their due and former obedience to the magistrate. He adds, " Their calamity shall arise suddenly;" that is, their conspiracies and machinations shall speedily and un- expectedly be discovered, and God and the king will . both set themselves with their power against him. And lastly, by those words, " Who knoweth the ruin of -them both?" some imderstand "of them both" to mean of God and the king ; as if Solomon had said, Who knoweth what that ruin or perdition is, which both God and the king will bring upon the rebellious ? taking ruin here actively, of God and the king's ruining them. Others better, by "the ruin of them both," understand the ruin which shall befall both the party given to change, and him who shall meddle with him ; that is, shall be though but a partaker, or accessarj-, or drawn in to join with him. A scrip- ture, the explication whereof I have the more will- ingly touched upon, because it is so clear a comment ujjon the present instruction. It has been observed by some, as I have noted upon tlie eighth verse, page 1/6, that the calamity of no sinners ordinarily arises so suddenly, un- avoidably, and certainly, as that of the seditious. W> rarely, if at all, meet with any in Scripture who opposed authority but have been punished eminently in this life, to the observation of others ; and scarcely do we read of any seditious person who was not taken away by a violent death ; wit- ness the examples of Korah and his accomplices, Absalom, Sheba, Joab, Adonijah, Zimri, Baasha, Athaliah. And it is observable, that of these sedu- cers, Jude here saith that they perished, to note the Bpeediness, certainty, and irrecoverableness of their destruction. I need not mention the numerous ex- amples of God's severity against seditious persons recorded in our own histories. They who have read of Becket, Montford, Mortimer, the Percies, T\"ler, AVarbeck, Wyat, the gimpowder traitors. Squire, Lopez, Campian, &c., will easily acknowledge the severity of God against the tribe of traitors. Nor seems there to be so much wrath put forth by God against them without extraordinary cause. Opposing lawful authority- being both an open affronting and resisting the ordinance of God, and a pulling down and demolishing his verj" image and representation in the world ; an indignity insufferable, were it only offered to men, as also a crossing of that merciful provision of God, whereby he will have human so- ciety, and thereby his church, upheld and propagated in the world ; treasons and seditions being the pull- ing down of the pillars, and the plucking up the foundations, as it were, of the world's edifice. In a word, how just is it with God that they should re- strain others from sin unwillingly, by being made examples, who will take away those who should re- strain others from sin willingly by their place and ofBce ! and that they should be made marks of vengeance, who will attempt the removing of the an- cient land-marks set by God for order and propriety in nations ! How the consideration hereof should make us thankful to God our supreme Protector, and show us how deeply God is offended with a people when their alterations, conspiracies, and kingdom- quakes are frequent ; and engage magistrates in duty and allegiance to God, who receive so much protec- tion from God; and make us loathe and leave those lusts which are the greatest enemies to government ! Obs. 14. How merciful is God even in judgment! God spared Korah's posterity, when the father was destroyed. God in his severity will be loved, and in his indulgence feared. He mixed his smartest dis- pensations with sweetness. Mercy it was that Ko- rah's posterity should be preserved from death ; more, that God should make so holy an offspring come of so unholy a parent; most of all, that one who had been rebellious against God should have a seed so eminently ser\-iceable to God. In the destructions of the parents in the wilderness he spared the chil- dren. He cut off some luxuriant branches, but did not cut down the tree. God lays up manna with the rod : he ever shows that mercy pleases him, though sometimes he is compelled to use judgment. How should this goodness of God teach us both thankfiil- ness and imitation ! Thankfulness in his severest dispensations ; we may in the midst of them say, " He hath not dealt with us after our sins." Even in our greatest rebellions we may see him indulgently and undeservedly sparing us or ours. If he have suffered our forefathers to be covered with the dark- ness of superstition and ignorance, he has dealt more graciously with us their posterity, who live to praise him, like Korah's children, for that goodness which we no more deserved than our forefathers did. If the fire of his displeasure burn against us, who knows but our children may live to have better hearts, and to see better times, and to be the more humble and holy seed of rebellious parents ? Hence we learn imitation likewise : w'hen we are employed in works of greatest severity, we should not throw- off tender-heartedness. We should remember that gentleness becomes us in punishing the worst, who have ever something to draw out our pity ; and to be sure, less to draw out our severity to them, than we had to deserve God's toward us. Verse 12. These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast uith you, feeding themselves without fear: clouds they are uilhout icater, carried about of uinds ; trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots. The apostle having amplified the sin „ , -, f ^ , ° T ^ f Hanc ccnc!usio- and miserj' oi these seducers trom sun- nem duobus com- dry examples, now fiu-ther illustrates EureiTmaf "" the same by sundry apt and elegant unum est in ej- ^ . ,-,.•' T .1 J. n • eniplisrerumanta comparisons, in this and the lollowing gesiarum posL- verse. Three of these similitudes, !^"eV/mp|',s "le- wherebv he describes their estate, are aamissimis rerum set down m this verse, and two m tlie in loc. next. In this verse they are compared, I. To spots ; " These are spots," iS:c. II. To " clouds without water, carried," &c. III. To decayed trees; "Trees whose fruit wi- thereth." I. To spots ; in these words, " These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear." Four things are here to be explained. 1. What these seducers are here called, or (he name affixed to them ; " spots." 246 AN EXPOSITION UPON Ver. 12. corpore, vel ac liiciirrit sioncm. O e Pel 2. Where they conversed, or to what company these spots cleaved ; " in your feasts of charity." 3. What they did there : 1. They feast. 2. They feed themselves. 4. How they feasted and fed ; viz. " without fear." I. They are called " spots," aniKaSiQ. The word has a double signification, very congruous to the pre- sent scope and drift of the apostle. I. The word aTriXdSeg, here interpreted spots, sig- nifies rocks, such as in the sea are not discerned and shunned by mariners, may easily cause shipwreck. And in this sense fficumenius understands the word in this place ; as if these seducers in their meetings with the Christians were as pernicious to their souls, as are rocks in the sea to those ships which, by the unwari- ness of the mariner, unexpectedly dash against them. Others conceive that they are compared to rocks near the shore, which, being hollow, contract and gather the filth and mud which the sea casts up into their holes ; as if the apostle would note them to be a collii- vies, sink, or common receptacle of all filth and wick- edness. But, 2. I conceive the word is here more fitly rendered spots than rocks ; for the word spots, ctttIXoi, 2 Pet. ii. 13, is of the same derivation and significa- tion, and used upon the very same occasion witli this ; and there it is joined with the word fiCi- s'^mhca^TiVupe- foi, which imports blemishes, or any nuin^ 'o^yvfm. thing in the body or actions which may pera°e. 2Cor.vi. render either liable to disgrace and re- ik-x'.'usil'rpant proach. They are, saith Peter, (tttiXoi pro Q10 quod ; „(;„(,, ( lahes et maculip, Bez. coin- firat ^.hquiii m quiiwtiones, et macultp, Vulg.) spots and defilements, or blemishes. And the iireiiirn- -words (Tj-IXoc and an'tXai:, a spot, among profane writers, betoken defilement and ?i;iJ,';Sa',';.i,or'cr deformity, and are used either to sig- usurpaiurpiimo nify any speck, mole, or wrinkle on the pro macula m ^ -^ -^ ^ , . ' .1 . i veste, c vino vel lacc, or any stam on the garment by ™i','."qui"';S> the dropping of wine or oil upon it, decoiorai : secun- very often done in feasting; which no- fa°i^'.° Gwh.'in tion, saith Lorinus, is most agreeable Deriva'iur'a - *-0 the apostle's purpose of speaking CAiji., a irahfndo concerning there being spots in feasts : noifni'ur spur-'" and by way of resemblance it is used co^noniiS""' concerning the spots and stains of the etiam i,i Tor soul ; nauicly, siuswliich render him fffin'?.n'!°e't ?i'i'h!m who was msdc after God's image de- sisuiiicat. Borijo- fl]pfi anfj deformcd ; hence the apostle riaBi. ixirin. in speaKs ot tile church, waslied and °'^' cleansed by Christ, as not having spot, ciriXov, or wrinkle, but as being holy, and dfiw/iog, without blemish, Eph. v. 27. Nor is it rnagna?mpiiSs. without a singular emphasis that the ui enim iiominerli apostle cxprcsscs them, who were them- tum''vic''amus''" Selves so defiled, and ready to spot and tofilrraisM d'oc-'" defile the Christians, by a word in the tores, utpoie abstract; calling them not such as de- iafos'ei'inqmiia- file and bcspot, but cvcu vcry spots and tosvocatmacidas, clefilcments ; and tlius abstractly spcaks et inquinaTUenta. , r- - • c .-. i ■ i • . ^ Gerh. in 2 Pet. the bpiHt of God m Other scriptures, fj'on vhtosus ho- w'hcn it would increase and intend the mo es, Zoiie. sed signification. We have found this man vitium. Alarlial, ° ^ , * , • .- a pest, a very plague, Acts xxiv. 5. Once were ye darkness, but now are ye light, Eph. V. 8. And most deservedly are these impure se- ducers called spots, both in regard of their defonnity and defilement. 1. Of their deformity: (1.) They (like spots) cast a deformity, disgrace, or blemish upon their Christian profession. '\\ hat heathen, who never heard of Christ, but would have thought, by seeing these beastly epicures, that their Christ was .iF.stimari a cui- * Bacchus, and these love-feasts, as loribus potest iiie profaned by them, Bacchus's feasts? ,u.coi«ur. sain. jjjg ^^.Q^ship and Worshipped being judged of according to the worshippers. They have profaned, saith God to the Jews in captivity, mine holy name, (among the heathen,) when they said,, " These are the people of the Lord, and are gone] forth out of his land," Ezek. xxxvi. 20 ; xliii. 8 (2.) They were spots of deformity to the meetings' whereinto they came ; they were blemishes to the faces of the Christian assemblies. As one or twoi brass shillings in a sum of money make all the rest suspected, so by the unholiness of some the rest suf- fered. Wicked men look upon spots among and upon saints with a multiplying glass, and as with old men's spectacles, making a great letter in a small print : heathens seeing these among Christians, might say. Such are they all. Hence it was that Irenseus writes concerning the Car- '''™- '• 'j"''- pocratians, that they were men sent by Satan to defame the name of God and the church ; that men observing their wickedness, and thinking that we all were such, might turn away their ears from the preaching of the truth. To the same pur- pose likewise speaks Epiphanius, These men (saith he) were sent forth by Satan I"" ^t*" ''"''' to be a disgrace to the church, putting acuhoi Koi nfo- upon themselves the name of Chris- K^jo"TSt'To'D tians, that, for their sakes, the nations etovUK\r,cia!. . ,11 111 Lnttfevro iav- might abhor to get any good by the Tort ivUxm, church of God, reject truth preached, ?i'3°■^;^;°! and think that all who are in the church ^j' '"' *i|i"i.. cur- are like them, and for the wickedness ■ri't'ai'ia! ISn- of a few reproach all the rest; and ';"„V"Ept,';"iib. therefore wherever any of them come, i:-'"'",^' 'f 05 the Gentiles will have nothing to do -'P'--""" with us. (3.) They were spots of deformity to themselves ; they disgraced not only their professions, but their very persons, and blemished even human nature it- self; they turned themselves into beasts, and caused in themselves an interregnum of reason ; making reason, the prince, to be a lackey ; and sense, the servant, to ride, and be exalted : if ever any deserved to be called brute beasts, dogs turned to their vomit, or sows wallowing in mire, 2 Pet. ii. 28, they were these impure Borborites. 2. They were spots of defilement. (1.) Carnally, they defiled themselves, their own bodies, their flesh, (these "defile the flesh," ver. 8,) by dnmkenness, and especially by uncleanness. I tremble to English what Epiphanius „, ^ c iU • -.-• it Clem. Alexand. reports or these impurities among the in Luc. vi. .to. Gnostics; and Clemens Alexandrinus, o^JI,';.',";,''''"'' "" and Minutius Felix, among the Carpo- cratians at their meetings. That sins of unchastity are peculiarly defiling, has been shown before, p. 171. (2.) They defiled one another spiritually; they were pitch, and it was hard to touch them and not to be defiled ; they were leaven, plague-sores, gan- grenes, lepers, difliisive of sin, infectious to others: the devil conveyed his puddles through these pipes. The contagion of these infected the sound, but the soundness of the healthful recovered not the in- fected. That Christian had need be of a very hale constitution indeed, who, conversing with such pesti- lential persons, contracts not their sickness. Every sin (as we say of some diseases) is catching. Any root of bitterness springing up may defile many, Heb. xii. 15. Thus we see the first thing opened, viz. the name which the apostle affixes to tnem; he calls them " spots." 2. For the second, the places where these spots cleaved, or the meetings and companies which these seducers frequented, are expressed in these words, " your feasts of charity," h rats ayan-aij itjiuv : though I Ver. 12. THE EPISTLE OF JUDE. 247 the word dyarrri in the singular number signifies love, or charity, yet the word dyciTrat being in the plural, is seldom or never taken in that sense, but for feasts, or banquets of love ; whence fhanuiS ?"riii, Erasmus is by some reprehended for Gacneus rtpre- turning these words, iv dyuVoic, in cha- neni-lU quia nuD- . . o . ,' . .' ^, , quainveiraro rilatibus, lu vour clianties : and as de- Cftut'clra^i- sen-edly do Beza and Gerard correct jin inpiuraii. the Vulgate, wliicli reads this place in Si dic'untur i,,;- epulis suis, in their feasts, viz. of love, Jm'.s''iiJM'ndTca- as if the apostle intended that these relur quo.i lotius seducers Were spots in their own feasts ; neq!e enim ' whereas these love-feasts were the h.'',mTa°um'er^ brotherly meetings of the church, into propiiK. ac _ which these sensual epicures intruded, addi°non'po°mi, and unto which, like spots, thev cleaved. SSnt°eSsi'" And therefore our apostle, in this word toiius. Gei-h. in avvivuxoifitvoi, to which some copies ' *"' add iiih; tells the Christians that these impure companions did feast with them, and mani- fested their lewdness. The institution of these love- feasts was founded on the custom of the church, which immediately before the celebration of the Lord's supper used to have a feast, to Longeprobabiiius testifv, coutinuc, and increase bro- est, inurein (uisse .i , * i xi. i 1 ut prius haberelur therly love among themselves ; as also Sramune.'pos'tea to the poor, who hereby Were relieved ; fieret pariicipaiio whence they had their name ayaxai, Ss'rn'rcor'.*" charities, as if they were so intended vidVatur quoque f""" lo^^, that there could uot be so fit a Aug. Ep. ii«. name bv which to call them as by love ad Januar. j^^^jj. qj jj^^^^ ^^^^^^ speaks the apos- A'i2io"'''Cffina ^^^< ^h<^" ^^^ ^^'^ '^^' " '^"■''^'^^ °°^ nosira.denoiiiiue, taketh before other" to I^iov SiIttvov, S!;n°dT;'v^tur "his own supper," I Cor. xi. 21; as iTOirn. id quod ^igo 2 Pet. ii. 13, where he speaks con- dileclio peDes . , „ ' . r i j Gracos est ; quan- ccming the icasting ot these seducers bS ronsferiT"' ^"ith the Christians ; and frequent men- crum est, pieiatis tion is made of these feasts among the nomine tacere . ,tt it i /• n suinptum ; siqui- ancicnts. 1 ertuUian speaks most fully qSlTsq'ueTfri.erio of them in the 39th chapter of his istojuyainus.°&c. Apolog., wlicre he tells us, that the Hon pnusdiscum- ' °^ .l r ^ t i. j ^i^ • biiur quam oratio name of thosc fcasts manifested their SisEtur^^lhtur nature, they being called by a name quantum esuri- which signifies love. In them (saith bibitur'qiiant'um he) our Spiritual gains countervail for R^ Mtur'antu'r'.'ui ^U our Worldly costs ; we remember the qui memineriiit, poor: We cver begin with prayer. In etiam per nottein, ^ ^- j j ■ i • T i, •doraiiiium eating and drinking, we relieve hunger, iu'fabuil.'nt'ur' lit ^"^ show uo cxcBss. lu our feeding at qui stiani Doiii- Supper, wc remember that we are to pray nuin audire. • .1 ■ i t t j- Postaquamma- in the night. In our discoursc, We con- n"!'ut'quVsqu'e"de ^^^'^^ ^^^^ ^°'^ heaTS us. As soon as Scripturissanciis. Water for our hands and lights are genio' potest?" '" brought in, any one sings, either out of provotatur in (he Scriptures, or, as he is able, some medium Deo _ . A „ , . ' , , V • i ranere, bine pro- meditation 01 his own, and by this he brb"rit''"a!lj^° shows how temperate he was at supper diri'mit"'in!L"d"' ^™^- Prayer is the first and last dish ceditur non in of the feast ; with this it began, and mi'iii?nfq^.^*in • 'V''iih this it ends ; and when we depart, classes jisi ursa- our bchaviour is so religious and modest, erui.iio'nes lasci- that One would havc thought we had eatXn'fu^am rather been at a sermon than at a sup- modesiiiset pu.ii- per. And Tcrtullian writing to the citiK, ut qui non ^ , . . 1 i. 1 fi. lam coen^in martyrs in prison, relates how they were d^i'pllnam"'""" relieved per curiam ecclesice, et agapen fralrum, by the care of the church, and Simnun?'"' ^^^ charfty of the brethren at their Acapen eidiiec- love-feasts. Of these also speaks Cy- «1i8,Mi"!'Sm'i-' prian, in his third book to Quirinus, ter enercendam, -R-here hc saith that these feasts of charity and brotherly love are religious- ly and firmly to be exercised ; so that the ground of those ancient love-feasts was provision for the poor brethren, the presenting of mutual love among them- selves, and the expressing by both their thankfulness to God for bestowing his Son upon them ; in which respect they thought it most fit to celebrate them immediately before their receiving the Lord's sup- per; though in a short time, in the j„5,i„ jj^^. church of Corinth, these feasts of pro Christian, charity grew to be corrupted and abused ■*''° ' "' by divisions, the excluding of the poor Christians from them, as also by riot and luxurj-, 1 Cor. xi. 21. Some conceive that these feasts of charity were by the Christians, converted from heathenism, brought into the church to retain something like the customs of the heathens, who were wont at the time of their sacrificing to their gods to have public feasts of joy, which feasts Paul calls " the cup of devils, and the table of devils," 1 Cor. x. 21. Others think they were introduced in imitation of the Jews, who, by God's appointment, were wont to join feasting to their offering of their eucharistical sacrifices, and their peace-offering ; as Deut. xx\'ii. 7, " Thou shalt offer peace-offerings, and shalt eat there, and rejoice before the Lord thy God." So Exod. xviii. 12, Jethro having taken "burnt-offerings and sacrifices for God, Aaron came, and all the elders of Israel, to eat bread with him before God." See likewise Deut. xiv. 23; xii. 7; xvi. 11. And though God bids Moses ask Pharaoh that Israel might go and sacrifice in the wilderness, Exod. iii. 18; yet Moses desires Pharaoh that they might hold a feast unto God in the wilder- ness, Exod. V. 1. And Calvin thinks „ . ^- that this both Jewish and heathenish sacMfidol-um"" custom of joining sacrificing and feast- ^"^f^; q|]J„'|^^s"" ing together was imitated by the Chris- communes, cau- tians in these feasts, they being almost vHeCTnira'^"''' ever wont, saith he, so to correct and vdiTf'?uum*'fere reform the viciousness of superstitious correxisse. ut rites and customs, as yet to retain a re- aiiquLm rei'ine- semblance to them. Estius, with others, ['^'^^ ^^f^'" "" think that these love-feasts, being be- Ad exempium ei fore the sacrament, were used in imita- ?e'!fia't'ionem''i'ihu» tion of Christ, who instituted the holy j""*- iia'.'o . .. , t- 1 t^nristus ultimam sacrament immediately alter the or- habuu cum suis dinary supper. An opinion which seems qufm cmpor7s''ci most probable, both in regard of the sansuinis sui great likelihood that the Christians tuiret. "Estmsin would imitate their Master rather than vfil'.'Estium. heathens, as also because the Jewish tiiodat. Cor. a and heathenish feastings were after ■"''' their sacrificing ; whereas the love-feasts of the Chris- tians were before the sacrament, as the best inter- preters observe on I Cor. xii. 23. 3. The third thing to be explained is, what these seducers did in these meetings of the Christians ; set down in these two expressions : (1.) They feast with you. (2.) They feed themselves. (1.) They feast with you, trvrfvwxot'/ifvoi. The word tvuixoi'ixai, which signifies to feast or banquet, though Eustathius derives from 6\r], food or nourish- ment, yet Atheneeus rather thinks it to come of li and Exfij', because it is said to be well with them, or they fare well, or live merrily, who are feasted and entertained with banquets. Hence Clemens Alexandrinus said that ivioxia, '„^i?,°„''gr^°o''p"ro' the true feast or banquet, is onlv in '"fy."- .-.f"''- . , , 1 ' -, . '.^ cap. 1. p. 142. heaven. Some think the word signifies to feast or banquet publicly ; which may aptly agree to this place, the love-feas'ts being public meetings. And Peter states them to be riotous in the day-time, openly and in the light, not seeking to shelter their luxury in darkness and comers. According to others it notes a feasting or banqueting, riotously and 248 AN EXPOSITION UPON ViiR. 12. luxuriously. Thus it is used in Lucian, who tells us of one Gorgias, who being a hundred and eight years old, and being asked by what means he had lived lo so great an age, answered, that he had reached those years because he never could be induced avi^Tripi- txQv^rjvai ralQ aWwv fiw^^taic, to go about to any feasts or banquets, to which by his friends he was invited. And this signification of riotous banquets is most suitable to this place, where these voluptuous epicures are said to feed without fear, the bridle of excess : these served their belly, and made it their god. Peter saith that they " count it pleasure to riot," 2 Pet. ii. 13, being given up to and swallowed up in voluptuousness : " Lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God." Pleasure was the fruit which they ex- pected by sowing all their heresies. And when the apostle tells these Christians, not only of the riotous feasting of these epicures, but of this. their feasting with tnem, they being not only iitioxov^d'oi, but avvtvuixovfin'oif that they had crept into their companies, and sat among them, he dis- covers to them their danger of being seduced by their company to their errors and sensualities ; he wisely insinuates that these seducers did not come chari- tably into their feasts of charity, but to gain occasion to delude and insnare them by error ; and therefore Peter saith, that while they feasted with these Chris- tians, they sported themselves with their own de- ceivings. (2.) The apostle saith they were feeding them- selves, iavrovg TroifiaivoVTf^. The WOrd TTOiftah'Oi'Te^, here translated feeding, is properly such a feeding as belongs to the office of a shepherd, or one who feeds cattle. Some translate it ruling or governing : the word indeed may bear that signification, being not only applied to teachers, 1 Cor. ix. 7 ; 1 Pet. v. 2, &c. ; Acts XX. 28, but also to kings : " A Governor that" TToijuavei, " shall rule ray people," Matt. ii. 6 ; and Rev. xix. 15, jroifiai'si, " He shall rule them with a rod of iron." It is also used by the LXX., Psal. ii. 9, where we translate it rule. It comprehends besides feed- ing other parts of a shepherd's office, as leading, seeking, reducing, defending, healing his sheep ; though, according to the notation of the word, it im- ports as much as iv ry Troy fikvuv, to remain or con- tinue in the pasture, viz. where the sheep are which the shepherd is to attend. Of old, a king or ruler was called, as particularly Agamemnon by Homer, iroififiv \aov, the shepherd or ruler of the people, it being his office to regard them as a shepherd does his flock ; and hence it is that the Arabic turns this place, gubernanl neipsos sua rirtute, as if they would be under no government but their own ; Pagnin, Erasmus, and Vatablus, suopte ductu arhilrioque vi- ventes ; ordering and guidmg themselves according to their own will and pleasure. But, as our learned divines have noted concerning this word against the papists, who interpret it to rule, in order to establish the pope's rule, a word of double signification is to be understood according to the subject-matter spoken of. This being spoken of a spiritual pastor, cannot be meant of ruling as a king; and, in this place, of those who were employed about feeding their bodies, and feasting, and, as Peter has it, who counted it pleasure to riot and fare deliciously; I conceive it is better translated feeding ; and so Beza and the Vul- gate render it, pascenles. And some think the apos- tle made choice of this word, noiiinirovTic, which oft signifies a shepherd's feeding his flock, to aggravate the fault of these cormorants, and secretly to tax their hypocrisy, who, boasting and pretending to be the only eminent shepherds and feeders of the peo- ple, took no other care but to fill themselves ; and instead of feeding their sheep, did iroinaiviiv iavroie, feed themselves; but did indeed fleece and feed upon them, neither feeding their souls nor their bodies, but poisoning the former, and riotously wasting upon their own sensual appetites that which was appoint- ed at the charge of the church for feeding the latter. The apostle, as some conceive, alludes to that threat- ening uttered against the shepherds, "Woe be to the shepherds of Israel that do feed themselves ! should not the shepherds feed the flock?" Ezek. xxxiv. 2. For my part, I conceive the apostle here uses the word TToiixaivovrig, which oft signifies the feeding of sheep or other cattle in pastures, to note the brutish and beastly sensuality of these epicures, who fed more like cattle in a fat pasture, than Christians at a feast of ,holy sobriety ; and where they should, as Tertul- lian speaks, rather feast upon holy discourse than full dishes. So that when the apostle saith these seducers were tvuxovfiU'oi, and iToifiaivovTtQ iavrovs, he notes, [1.] They feasted and fed immeasurably, beyond the bounds of Christian moderation, more like beasts than either saints or men ; their hearts were oppress- ed with surfeiting, their souls were lodged like bright candles in the filthy, greasy lanterns of their bodies, and by eating made so dull and sluggish, that they were unfit for holy services ; like the Sodomites, they offended in the fulness of bread, they were drowned in delights, 2 Pet. ii. 13. [2.] The apostle notes by these expressions that they feasted and fed upon delicates ; they loved to fare very well, to feed high and deliciously ; plain dishes would not serve the turn ; like the Israelites, manna without quails would not content them. The sin likewise of Eli's sons, who, not content with what portion God had allowed them, viz. the shoulder, the breast, the tongue, nor to eat the flesh sodden, ac- cording to the law, caught at what came to hand ; and they would have it raw, that they might cook it to please their taste, 1 Sam. ii. 13, 14. [3.] The apostle notes they fed greedily and earnestly ; so intent and eager they were upon their feeding, that they never thought of giving thanks, either before or after. Their eyes were upon the table, like those of swine upon the acorns, so that they never looked up to the hand that shook down their plenty. Like the people, Exod. xxxii. 6, " They sat down to eat and drink ;" they rather did raven and devour, than eat or feed. They resolved all the powers of their mind upon their meat. This was Esau's sin, who w-as so greedy after meat that he had no regard of his birthright. They went to their food with the violence and eagerness of brutes which cannot be kept off. [4.] It may also be intended that they feasted and fed injuriously, both with and upon the Christians; not only forgetting the poor Christians, whom they suff'ered to fast w-hen they were feasting, but mis- spending and wasting the contribution belonging to the maintenance of the poor, and, as some conceive, of the ministry ; and if so, they feasted and fed sacrilegiously also. The surfeiting of these gluttons was accompanied with the starving of Lazarus. ^ [5.] They feasted and fed impurely and lustfully;) making the plenty which God bestowed upon them but fodder and fuel to nourish their lusts of unclean- ness. Like fed horses, they neighed after their neighbours' wives. Eli's sons were gluttons and adulterers ; Esau was sensual in feeding, and also a fornicator. i 4. Our apostle saith that this feeding of themselves' was d0o/3u)f, without fear. These words, without fear, may be referred either to the word avyivuxoiijiivot, feasting with you, or Troi/JoiVorrfc iavrovg, feeding themselves. CEcumenius seems doubtful which of I Ver. 12. THE EPISTLE OF JUDE. 249 tliese to embrace ; but, as Lorinus saith, ad rem nostram nihil interest, it matters not which way we take, both aiming at the same scope, which is to show the security and impudence of tliese gluttons in their sensual pleasures. And without fear they may be said to feed themselves, either in respect of God, or the church with whom they feasted, or of f^inore^s^vVgrna themselves; neither fearing God metii intr.pide sese nor timore ; neither fearing his wrath to vuiiibusmiscent, puuish them, nor reverentially fearing t.ui'i5''ac"'se'i^i"'n- to displeasc him by sin ; they being iinij.cnt,&c. Jus- likewise touched with no reverence of that holy society with which they sat, nor yet at all with any mistrust or jealousy of the slipperiness and sensuality of their own hearts ; and this their fearlessness they showed two ways. (1.) In their entrance into the meetings and as- semblies of the church. They never took any heed to their feet when tliey w^ent into those places where the saints assembled. With the same unholy, un- prepared, irreverent disposition of heart they under- took these religious banquets with which they were employed about earthly business ; they feared not to go to these feasts, and after (as Augustine thinks) to the eucharistic banquet, without their wedding-gar- ment of holiness. They trembled not with unwashen hands to touch those tremenda mi/steria, those mys- teries which might have struck terror into the hearts of any but such secure and impudent sinners. (2.) They showed their fearlessness in their car- riage when they were entered into the assembly. [1.] They were not afraid of lascivious gestures. Their eyes were then adulterous ; for so the apostle^ 2 Pet. ii. 13, 14, to these words, " while they feast with you," presently adds, " having eyes full of adulter)-," or the adulteress. They were not afraid of unclean looks and glances. [2.] In their meetings (probably) they were not afraid to utter unseemly expressions and erroneous conceits ; whereby, as Peter goes on, they de- filed and beguiled unstable souls. They showed them- selves spots and blemishes iv ayoVajc, in the love-feasts, by sporting themselves h ajraVaic, in their deceivings. They went into the assemblies to lish for proselytes. There was no way so likely for these to pirove them- selves spots, a-n-iXdhg, in these feasts, as by their words. The tongue, saith James, is aTiXovaa, bespot- ting and detiling, not only our own body, by engaging it to and involving it in sin, but others also, by com- municating and suggesting evil to others ; and a full stomach at a feast is commonly, among those who are more modest than these impure libertines, accompanied with an unbridled tongue. [3.] And especially in these feasts of charity they were not afraid of feed- ing excessively and riotously. Peter tells us they counted it pleasure to riot ; they ingulfed themselves in the waters of fulness and excess, and never feared drowning either their souls or bodies by piKuPsrc'i'"' their intemperance ; they would observe no stakes set up in those waters, nor set any limits to their lusts ; they took no heed lest their hearts might be oppressed by surfeiting, nor did they at all care how ill accommodated mansions their souls lived in by pampering their bodies, nor how unfit they made themselves for performing holy duties. The impairing their health, the digging their graves with their teeth, the being felons of themselves, never troubled them ; much less did they fear lest they might (instead of kings) be tyrants and torturers of the creatures ; they feared not the wrong- ing of the poor, whose goods they devoured ; in short, they feared not that God would punish them with want for this their wantonness, or with eternal pains for these their short and sensual plea.sures ; but like beasts, to which they are compared, 2 Pet. ii, 12 j Jude 19, when they were in the fat pastures of riot and sensuality, they never feared the shambles or slaughter-house, though they were made to be taken and destro)-ed, and perished in their own corruption. 06^.1. Sinners are deformed creatures. As a spot, so sin, is the deformity of a person ; yea, it makes him to be and become a very deformity : sin is a blemish cast upon God's image. The very angelical nature was by sin made deformed ; by it angels became de- vils. Though never so many other accomplishments of spirituality, wisdom, strength, and immortality were left behind, yet, upon their fall, they lost their beauty. No endowments without holiness can make any person truly excellent. The greatest potentates in the world (while living in sin) are but (like Naaman) noble lepers. Every wicked man is a naked person, not only because without a shelter, but an or- nament also. Sinners are both shelterless and shame- ful. The people after their idolatry were naked, " for Aaron had made them naked to their shame," Exod. xxxii. 25. Holiness is both a soul's and church's ornament. " Can a maid forget her orna- ments, or a bride her attire ? yet my people have for- gotten me," &c., Jer. ii. 32. Holiness (as the ark was to Israel) is the soul's glory, and when the Phi- listines have taken it away, the true glory is departed, it is but an Ichabod. The most golden Israelite, not- withstanding all his privileges, in God's esteem had but aniEthiopian skin ; a Jew, an Egyptian, an Edomite, an Ammonite, and a Moabite in God's account are all one, if without the circumcision of the heart, Jer. ix. 26. Wicked men are in their best dress but vile per- sons, the very blots and blemishes of their societies. Sin is that not only of w-hich the people of God are afterward ashamed, but that of which even sinners themselves are ashamed when most they love it ; and therefore even the worst of men, yea, devils, have loved the appearance of holiness ; the rottenest se- pulchres have loved painting; the filthiest harlot, a wiped mouth ; the profanest heart, a dress of religion. The clothes of sin are of more worth than its whole body. Even Satan delights to appear like an an^el of light, and is ashamed of his own colours. All tlie performances of wicked men are but deformities ; their prayers an abomination ; the calling of their assemblies is iniquity; when they spread forth their hands, God hides his eyes, Isa. i. 13 — 15. How in- competent a judge is a blind man of colours, or a sin- nerof beauty ! The black, they say, thinks the blackest face most beautiful, and wicked men laud wickedness as the greatest comeliness. Jesus Christ himself had no beauty or comeliness in the eyes of unbelieving sinners, Isa. liii. 2. Holiness is an inward, a hidden beauty, Psal. xlv. ; a carnal eye can neither see it or esteem it. If grace be, as with sinners it is, a scar, it is a scar of honour, not uncomeliness : riches and worldly dignities, like glow-worms, only shine in the dark night of the world ; but there is nothing will have a lustre at the day of judgment but holiness. The poorest saint is a prince, and the most glorious sinner a beggar, both in a disguise. Holiness, though veiled with the most contemptible outside, carries with it a silent majesty ; and sin even in highest dig- nity bewrays a secret vileness. That which is to be desired of a man is his goodness. " The righteous is more excellent than his neighbour," Prov. xii. 26. The poor saints are called the glory of Christ, 2 Cor. viii. 23, who presents them without spot or wTinkle, or any such thing. Sinners are spots, saints are stars and jewels ; as jewels, the stars of the earth ; and as stars, the jewels of heaven. Though saints have not a herald to emblazon their arms, yet the Scripture sufficiently sets forth their dignity : the rottenest stuiTs are oftenest watered, and, among men, 250 AN EXPOSITION UPON Ver. 12. sinners most glorious, but yet in Scripture they are but spots. Obs. 2. Sinners are tilthy and defiling. Tliey are spots for defilement as well as deformity : sin and uncleanness are put together, Deut. xxxii. 5. The filthiest of beasts are scarce filthy enough to set forth the filthy nature of sinners; swine, the dog, the ser- pent, the goat, the neighing horse. The filthiest things are used in Scripture to set forth sin, as dung, vomit, mire, leprosy, scum, pitch, plague-sores, issues, ulcers, dead carcasses, the blood and pollution of a new-born child, the noisome exhalations breathing from a sepulchre, Rom. iii. 13, spots. A sinner is call- ed, that which defileth. Rev. xxi. 27. Sinful gain is filthy lucre. Unholy speech is filthy and rotten communication; whoredom is called uncleanness; gluttony turns the temple of the Holy Ghost into a dunghiil ; and drunkenness common sewers of filthi- ness, the di-unkard is a v/alking quagmire. The covetous wretch that loads himself with thick clay is but a moving muckheap, a speaking dunghill ; his riches are but dung, good when they are spread abroad by charity, but stinking and useless when heaped. Pride is but a swelling botch. Sinners are the children of the filthy and unclean spirit ; they are of their father the devil, like Joab's posterity, there- fore all filthy and leprous ; their natural parents were naturally all unclean ; and who did ever bring a clean thing out of an unclean ? Job xiv. 4. " That which is born of the flesh is flesh," John iii. 6. Their greatest hatred and enmity is set upon purity and holiness ; clean and sweet objects are deatli to them, as they say that roses kill the horse-fly ; the gospel is to them a savour of death. And this filthiness and pollution of sin has two properties which may render it very hateful. 1. It is a spreading pollution ; (1.) Over all of a man, flesh and spirit, soul, body, un- derstanding, thoughts, conscience, memory, will, af- fections, eyes, hands, tongue. Tit. i. 15, 16. (2.) All done by a man : even the best things, the prayers of polluted sinners, are abominations ; their incense Btinks, their sacrifices are unclean, their mercies cruel, their profession of godliness a form, their plausiblest performances no better than embalmed carcasses, Isa. i. 13, 14. (3.) It spreads even unto others, and infects them, by encouragingf, teaching, seducing, constraining them to sin. It oft; is diffused from the wicked even to the godly themselves ; nothing more difficult than to be familiar with, and not to be infected by sinners : the error of the wicked sometimes cleaves to them, and the example of sin- ners entices them. The sons of God saw the daugh- ters of men, and were polluted. What an insensible deadness of spirit and decay of grace conversing with sinners brings upon saints ! (4.) Yea, this contagion of sin spreads even to the good creatures of God about us, even into them it puts (as the apostle speaks) vanity, groaning, bondage, consumption, mourning ; and at length it will bring combustion and dissolu- tion upon the whole frame of nature, 2 Pet. iii. 10. 2. It is a deep and indelible pollution, Jer. xvii. 1, of a scarlet and crimson dye, Isa. i. IS, compared also to an Ethiopian's blackness, a leopard's spots, Jer. xiii. 23, not to be washed away with nitre and much soap, Jer. ii. 22. Hell-fire shall not be able to eter- nity to take out the stains of the smallest sins from man's nature ; yea, the greatest measure of grace re- ceived in this life by the best of men does not wholly abolish this defilement : the best have their sores, and stand in need of curing and daily cleansing ; " Who can say, I have made my heart clean ? " All the legal washings, purifyings, and cleansings of the filthiness of the flesh, were but faint representations of our need of and purity by being washed in the blood of Christ. And oh that sinners would be as unquiet as they are unclean, till they wash in that fountain which is set open for sin and for uncleanness ! It is only the blood of God which can wash away the filthiness of sin ; no other laver can take away that spot. Not only look, but go into it, wash tliyself all over, Jer. iv. 14; Rev. vii. 14; 1 Cor. vi. 11. Cry out, O sinner, " Unclean, unclean." See thy spots in the glass of the law. Be weary of thy defilement as well as thy deformity. Being washed, keep thyself pure ; take heed of spotting places and persons. Though upon a conscience uncleansed, like an old spotted garment, a sinner cares not what filth he suffers to drop, yet, 0 saint, keep thy new clothes white, clean and pure ; sin, like a mired dog, when it fawns upon thee, fouls thee. A spot will easily be seen upon thee ; trifles in thee are accounted blasphemies. Be not troubled at the spots upon thy name, so as thou keepest a pure conscience ; not that wdcked men make them, so long as they do not find them. Wash thyself in thine own tears ; be troubled that thy justi- fication is so complete, and thy sanctification so im- perfect ; that thou art at once both without spot or wrinkle, and yet so full of both. In short, labour to be spotless in a spotting and spotted generation ; in foul streets to walk with clean garments. Let not the error of the wicked cleave to thee. If thou canst not cleanse them, which is most desirable, let not them defile thee. Obs. 3. The Lord's supper is a love-feast. " In your feasts of charity." The reason why these feasts of charity, whereof Jude here speaks, were annexed to the Lord's supper, 1 Cor. xi. 21, 22, and also why those ancient Christians in these feasts expressed so much love one to another, was because they were about to celebrate that sacrament, which expressed as great a token of God's love towards them, as de- served unfeigned and fervent affections in then toward one another. The sacrament of the Lord'l supper then promotes and testifies, confirms and con tributes, to the mutual love which ought to be amon£ Christians. The passover, but a shadow of the Lord'j supper, tended to increase the love of the receiverC Exod. xii. 1. It was to be one whole lamb. 2. Nol one bone of it was to be broken. 3. It was a joint ' action, wherein every one was to communicate ; and therefore to be performed with joint affection. 4. It was to be eaten in one house, to show that there was to be among those who ate a unity and harmony of hearts and affections. One house will not hold those who are at jars and dissensions, and divided in affec- tion. 5. The eating of the passover was to be done at one and the same time, month, day, hour, and that in the evening, when they were all in their cold blood, the injuries and offences of the day forgotten and forgiven, the sun being not to go down upon our wrath, when their affections were as calm and quiet as the evening. 6. The partakers of the passover were all to be regulated in receiving it by one law. There was but one law for the stranger and the home- born ; both submitted to the same rule, and consented to the same direction. 7. It was to be eaten without leaven, whereby, as the apostle expounds it, was noted the keeping the feast without the leaven of malicious- ness and wickedness, 1 Cor. v. 6 — 8. And when Hezekiah restored the passover, it is expressly said, that to all Judah was by the good hand of God given one heart, and that they met at one time and| in one place, and that they kept the feast of th| passover with great joy, 2 Chron. xxx. 12. But we look from the shadow to the substance, we shall see this love and unity of the faithful more clearljj manifested. 1. When our Saviour was about to ordain this sa- J Ver. 12. THE EPISTLE OF JUDE. 251 crament he gave all his disciples an example of Christian and loving condescension, even to the washing one another's feet, John xiii. 4 — 14. After this institution, he presses upon them the command- ment of love, as the chief commandment, and their principal duty, both by the precedent and precept of love, showing that his supper was a communion of love, John xiii. 34, 35. 2. Consider the appellations of this sacrament. It is called the communion, the table of the Lord, the Lord's supper ; a word not noting the time of, but fellowship in eating ; coena, dwb tcv icoD'oi;. Eating together was ever held a token of friendship. Jo- seph's love to his brethren was testified by feasting them. David's love to Mephibosheth, by causing him to eat bread at his table continually, 2 Sam. ix. 7. Da\-id calls his familiar friend " one that did eat of his bread," Psal. xli. 9. The eating at one rack hath bred peace between savage beasts. And that hatred which was between the Jews and Egyptians could no way be more fitly expressed than by their mutual abominating to eat bread one with another. Men by nature are directed to express their love and reconciliation by feasts and invitations ; and this communion which by eating and drinking the faith- ful have one with another, the apostle tells us comes from their partaking of one Christ. " The cup of blessing which we bless," saith he, " is it not the communion of the blood of Christ ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? For we being many are one bread, and one body : for we are all partakers of that one bread," I Cor. X. 16, 17; that is, we partaking of the same Christ, and having communion in his merits and benefits, have thereby communion also one with another in the Lord's supper. And we all partaking of that one bread, broken and divided into divers parts, are made " one body and one bread," though we are never so many. The faithful then partaking all of one Christ, and every one of them having com- munion in his body and blood, have also communion among themselves : nor can this but be a communion of much dearness and nearness, which arises from partaking of this one Christ, and all his benefits and merits ; for hereby, (1.) They are all children of the same Father. We are all the sons of God by faith in Christ, Gal. iii. 26 ; and " to as many as received him, he gave power to be the sons of God ;" and what nearer bond than to be the children of the same father ? In the Lord's supper the faithful sit like olive branches round about their Father's table. " Love as brethren," saith the apostle. " How good and how plea.sant it is," saith the psalmist, " for brethren to dwell to- gether in unity ! " (2.') By partaking of this one Christ the faithful are all members of the same body, and they grow up into him who is the Head, Eph. iv. 15, and' from him receive life and grace; being as members animated with the same Spirit, and incorporated into his mys- tical body, and therefore the apostle speaks of drink- into one Spirit in the Lord's supper. Now what can more aptly express the near union, dear affec- tion, and tender sympathy between Christian and Christian than this, being fellow members of one body; one member counting the woe and welfare of another as its own ? (3.) By partaking of one Christ in the sacrament, they profess themselves to be of the same faith and religion ; to expect life and happiness the same way, for Christ is the way; and this sameness of religion has bound those who have been of false religions very strongly together. Now that by feeding toge- ther in the Lord's supper there is professed a com- munion in the same religion, the apostle strongly proves, I Cor. x. 18, from the practice of Israel after the flesh, that is, the Jews who descended from Jacob or Israel. These carnal Israelites who lived in his time, and denied Christ, were, saith the apostle, by eating of the sacrifices " partakers of the altar ;" that is, professed themselves to be of the Jewish religion and worship, and to approve of the same. (4.) By partaking of one Christ at the Lord's sup- per, the faithful profess themselves to be the servants of one Lord and master. Fellow ser\'ants must not fall out and beat one another, Luke sii. 45. The servants of this one Lord should be of one mind. If Christ be not divided, his servants should shun division. (5.) Hereby they profess, that they are to be par- doned by the same blood, " shed for many for the remission of sins," Matt. xxvi. 23. And what in- ducement stronger to move us to forgive a few pence, who have been forgiven so many pounds ! What will quench hatred, if the blood of Christ will not ! (6.) Hereby they profess both that they all live in the same family here, where they feed at the same table, sen"e the same Waster, own the same Father ; and that they shall live together in the same habita- tion for ever, partaking of that meritorious blood which is the purchase of the same inheritance, and having all tliereby the same key to open paradise withal. They who receive Christ, as communicants profess to do, shall be received. One saint may truly say to another. You and I must be better acquainted. And what an engagement to love is this, for us to consider we shall for ever live and love together in heaven ! Oh how should Christians begin to do that here, which they shall never be weary of doing to all eternity ! If one house, then one heaven, calls for one heart. Thus the appellations given to the sacrament, the table of the Lord, the Lord's supper, the communion, &c., show it to be a love-feast. 3. The outward elements, bread and wine, used at the supper, evince the same. Separated and several grains and grapes make one and the same bread and wine. They who are severed and disjoined from one another, not only by sea, habitation, trades, but in heart also and affection, are, by the receiving of Christ in this sacrament, reunited into one spiritual body, as the elements, though originally several, are into one artificial mass. " We being many," saith the apostle, " are one bread." How necessarj^, then, is the Lord's supper in these times, when love so much decays ! If the Christians in their summer season, when love was burning hot, so often laid on this fuel, what need have we then to do so in this winter sea- son, when the love of most grows so cold ! Confident I am, that the withdrawing of this sacrament that feeds and foments love, has much tended to its de- cay among us. And further, this discovers the great policy of Satan, not only in hindering from the sa- crament, which was appointed to strengthen love, but in breaking love by this very sacrament. Who would ever have expected to have heard of a sacra- mentary war ? How many valiant champions lost their lives in this land, in their Smithficld fights, about the controversy of transubstantiation ! and how subtlely hath the' murderer of souls mixed his poison with the sacramental bread, and stolen away the cup in the papacy ! What fierce contests have there been between Cahnnists and Lutherans about consubstantiation ! Who remembers not the pre- latical fury, in imposing superstitious for sacramental gestures ? ' And oh that the flames of these unchris- tian quarrels about the sacrament did not blaze and spread even at this very day ! Oh the unbrotherly I breaches between brethren about the admission and S52 AN EXPOSITION UPON Ver. 12. qualification of communicants ! Consider, dear Chris- tians, whether Satan is not likely to prevail, when he turns that artillery whereby we should batter his forts upon ourselves, and makes his strongest weapons of war of olive branches, ensigns and emblems of peace ; and is not love in danger of death when its food is daily poisoned? Who warms his hands at these flames of contention, but only our adversary ? Satan, as they say of the lawyer, will be the only gainer, when you fall out, like unkind brethren, about your Fatlier's will and testament. The Lord humble us for all those unworthy receivings which have made us so unkind and quarrelsome about re- ceiving this feast of love, the Lord's supper; and make us for the future, in all our opinions about and participations of it, to be men in understanding, and children in malice. 06^. 4. Spotted and spotting sinners are imfit guests at holy feasts. The apostle, by saying these seducers were spots in the feasts of charity, notes the unsuitableness of such blemishes to assemblies that should be clean and Christian; these spots casting an uncomeliness upon those holy meetings, which made those spots appear and set off with the more ugliness and uncomeliness. The mixture of sc.in- dalous persons in church fellowship is here by the apostle blamed; and if their meeting at these feasts of charity be reprehended by the apostle, if at these feasts these spots appeared so black and deformed, how much more reprovable was their meeting at the Lord's supper, which is an ordinance of Christ where- in approaches to him are more near, and ought to be more holy, tlian in those feasts of charity. Spots and blemishes, as Mr. Perkins well spake of his times, ought to be washed off by ecclesiastical disci- pline from the face of holy assemblies at the Lord's supper, because they pollute it. True it is, that, I . There are two sorts of pollution of the Lord's supper ; the one, that which makes the sacrament no sacra- ment, but a common or unhallowed thing, to those who receive it, as if it were given by those who are no ministers, or to those who are no church, or with- out the blessing and breaking of the bread ; the other sort of pollution of the sacrament is, that which makes its administration to be sinful, and those who administer it to be guilty of doing that which is con- trary to the revealed will of God. This latter kind of pollution is by admitting spotted and scandalous sinners. 2. It is granted, that the mixture of the scandalous pollutes not the sacrament to those who have used all the lawful means against it, who, being officers, have discharged their duty by exercising church discipline, and being private Christians, ad- monished the oflenders, and petitioned those who have the authority to restrain them from the sacra- ment : in that case, though the scandalous partake of the sacrament, yet officers and worthy communicants partake not of their sin. But otherwise, the admis- sion of scandalous persons to the sacrament is a pol- lution of that ordinance. " Give not," saith Christ, " that which is holy to dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine," Matt. vii. 6. By that which is holy, I understand, though primarily, yet not solely, the word ; but consequently the sacraments, prayer, and Christian admonition. Christ does not speak of one holy thing only, nor does he say, the pearl ; but he saith, that which is holy, and pearls. And by dogs and swine are not only to be understood in- fidels, heathens, open apostates, and persecutors, which, like dogs, bite, bark, and contradict ; but also such who, like swine, profane, trample these pearls under their feet, and by an impure, swinish life show how much they despise holy things. And needs must the sacrament be profaned, when in its use not grace, but sin is increased, because hereby the main end of the sacrament, which is to be food to nourish grace, and poison to kill sin, is perverted; but no grace is nourished in any profane, impenitent sinner, he being spiritually dead, and so without the life of grace. And further, his hand is strengthened in sin ; for by his receiving the sacrament his conversion is much more difficult than that of a sinner who has been kept back from the sacrament altogether ; and by joining in the highest act of church communion an impenitent sinner entertains a good opinion of his spiritual happiness, and so trusts in lying vanities. And again, the giving of the sacrament to those who are known to live in gross "i^uniMnon erit sins without repentance, is a contradic- in sternum, ut tion to, and a confutation of, the word, ana,"lfci'i''g'ra- which denounces condemnation against ',""'■ phrisii at .1 .1 . , T 1 • 1 ^1 •, remissionem pec- ttiem that eat and dnnk unworthily; caiomm.annun- and in the faithful delivery thereof we d't-'mdenep'^'t, ei pronounce the wrath of God to such as '^''^="' exhibiiion« {. . ■,,•■,! 1 .,1 sacranientorum live impenitent m sm : the word saith, spon.ifai? Ursin. " Be not deceived, neither fornicators, dpi''Ecdetia''st noridolaters, nor adulterers," &c., "shall inherit the kingdom of God." And do we not, by giving the sacrament to these, give the lie to the word? do we not in the sacrament absolve those whom we condemn in the word, and open the king- dom of heaven in the sacrament to those against whom we shut it in the word ? for is not the sacrament a seal of the covenant, the righteousness of faith, and the promises of the gospel, as is evident by those sacramental phrases, "This is my body, This is my blood," which denote a spiritual obsignation and ex- hibition of the benefits of Christ's body and blood ? and doth not Christ say to those to whom he de- livered the sacrament, This is my body which is given for you, and this is my blood which is shed for you, and for many, for the remission of sins ? Matt. xxvi. 28; Luke sxii. 19, 20. Do not they, then, who consent to wicked and scandalous persons taking the sacrament, acknowledge the children of the devil to be the children of God, and the enemies of God to be in covenant with him, and so partake of the benefits of the covenant from him ? Further, is it not a profanation of the sacrament of baptism, to baptize a Jew or a pagan professing a resolution to turn Christian, who yet is an openly profane and wicked liver, and continues under the power of visi- ble and abominable sins, although he be able to make a sound and orthodox confession of faith? And shall a scandalous living in adulter)', swear- ing, lying, keep a man from entering into the visible church by the door of baptism, and shall they not as well hinder him from being welcomed at the table, in the house, as a child and friend ? Yet, again, is the sacrament profaned by admitting infants and idiots, who can make no good use of it ; and is it not as much, if not more polluted, by ad- mitting those to it who will make a very bad use of it ? Also may not one man by ignorance, drunken- ness, defence of sin, and lieresy, lie under a sinful contracted disability to examine himself, and so to be an unfit communicant, as another man may lie under a natural disability ? and is not a man more blamable for the former than the latter? Further, holy things under the Levitical law were polluted and profaned by wicked and profane persons : " They have defiled my sanctuary," See. ; " for when they had slain their children to their idols, they came the same day into my sanctuary to profane it," Ezek. xxiii. 38, 39. And in that question, " Who shall abide in thy taber- nacle?" Psal. XV. 1, the prophet shows by those ofTences for which men were excluded from the sanctuary, what it was which should keep men from Ver. 12. THE EPISTLE OF JUDE. 253 eternal life ; and why that moral unholiness, for of such he speaks, which made men unfit to go into the sanctuary, which had a sacramental signification of Christ, should not as well exclude them from the sacrament, 1 understand not. Were not the sacrifices of old polluted by profane and morally unholy per- sons offering them? " So," that is, unclean, "is this people before me ; so is every work of their hands, and that which they offer therein, unclean," Hag. ii. 14. Where it is plain that the moral unholiness of the persons defiled holy ordinances ; the people and their works being evil, the Lord for that cause accounted their sacrifices to be unclean. If morally profane per- sons defiled the sacrifices of old, they may surely be charged with defiling our sacraments now, Psal. 1. 16. Obs. 5. Such things as are given for the public benefit of the church, are not to be consumed in or converted to any other uses. These feasts of charity, which were appointed for the relief of the poor Christians and the ministry, were profanely wasted by these seducers. This sin is commonly called sacrilege, which by some is thought to be so called, q. sacrcp tegis, vel rei lasio, the hurting, spoiling, or violation of a holy law or thing. Others better consider it q. sacra legere, to gather holy things ; and they define it to be a taking away of things conse- crated and devoted to the Lord. This is mentioned in Scripture to be done either ignorantly or know- ingly ; if ignorantly, it required, according to the law, 1. Restitution of the principal, with an addition of the fifth part over and above, as a forfeiture for the offence, and a caveat against the like in future time. 2. Reconciliation or atonement ; the priest making an atonement with the " ram of the trespass-offering," Lev. V. 16, 17; xxii. 14, to note the greatness of the offence against God. If this sin were committed of knowledge and wittingly, that which was taken, and all that the taker had, was for the Lord as a sacri- fice for restitution, and he W'ith his whole family stoned and burnt for purgation. This judgment of God upon Achan for taking that to his own use which was devoted to God is largely related, Josh. vii. ; as also the punishment inflicted upon Ananias for changing that which was dedicated to a holy to his private use. And in this latter instance the word ivoait>ire feast without any difference of times. How un- reasonable was it for Joseph's brethren to eat bread *'hen their brother was in the pit ! or for the Israel- tes to eat "the lambs of the flock, and the calves )ut of the midst of the stall," to " drink wine in Mwls," Sec, and not to be " grieved for the affliction )f Josepli ! " to slay oxen, kill sheep, &c., when knimalia rumi- anlia. ruminant ost sumptinneni ibi, sed ^ulasus, ole. Perald. de rula. God called to weeping and mourning, &c. ! When the church drinks blood and tears, we should not drink wine in bowls ; we should rejoice vrith trembling, and feast as if we feasted not. It is God's goodness that he calls us to feast any day, our own licentious- ness if we will feast every day. He who fared sumptuously every day shall be in eternal want of so much as one drop. 5. When we feast uncharitably ; feasting the rich, never thinking upon the poor. " When thou makest a dinner or a supper, call not thy rich neighbours, but call the poor," &c., Luke xiv. 12. Lazarus must not starve at the gate. We must not be like oaks, who with their acorns only feed swine. 6. When we feast with too much expense of time in feasting ; when we dine all day, and sup all night ; when our supper shall tread upon the heels of our din- ner. " Woe to them that continue until night, till wine inflame them!" Isa. v. II. This expense of time is worse than our expense of meat and money. The former may be regained, not the latter. And yet how frequently do men complain that they have spent too much money, how rarely that they have spent too much time at feasting! Prodigalityof time is the worst. If the opening of the nature of this sin does not sufficiently discover its odiousness, let us a little further look upon it by other dissuasive considerations. (1.) Gluttony is an enemy to all holiness of life. It hinders a man from doing himself any spiritual good. It blunts the understanding with blockishness and stupidity. "Whoso- Menic iccia uii 1 • J 1 ■ i» /■ -.1 c 1« nonpossuntmulto ever is deceived by wme (saitli oolo- ciboetpomre- mon, Prov. xx. 1 ) " is not wise." Wis- pi^«;|;^- ^^|.';«;;„„ dom is not " found in the land of the viia insomnium living," Job xxviii. 13. The Vulgate SaufragTum!""'^ reads it, i?i terra suaviter viventium, in the land of those who live in delights and pleasures. " Whoredom, wine, and new wine," saith the prophet, "take away the heart," Hos. iv. II. The four chil- dren, Dan.'i. 16, 17, who lived upon a frugal diet, were most eminent for learning and wisdom. Wine in feasts, and the not considering of the i-ahuias le-is operations of God's hands, are put quasaccepTtabsii- together, Isa. v. 6. Jerom and Ambrose f/<."i ebrWal." observe, that as Moses received the tables Ambr. can.e. de of the law when he was much in fasting, Scitbai Dei ser- so he broke the tables when he saw that "u;",r"emuren^° the people had been eating and drink- los- Hier. i. ». ing ; as thinking that after feasting the people were unfit to hear the law. How can an im- pure glutton lift up in prayer pure hands ? Surfeit- ing oppresses the heart, and suffers it not to lift up itself toward heaven; it is the birdlime of the soul's wings. It is a weight which presses us down in our race ; yea, rather the ungirding of the loins of our minds, our affections, which, like long and loose gar- ments let down into the mire of sensual pleasures, hinder and stop us in our spiritual progress. Oh how unfit a mansion is a beastly epicure for the Holy Spirit to dwell in ! Being drunk with wine is op- posed to being filled with the Spirit, Eph. vi. 18. The voluptuous sensualist is only a sty for Satan to lodge in. The unclean spirit finds no rest in dry places, in those who are sober and temperate in worldly enjoyments ; but like the swine, not delight- ing in such dust, he loves to wallow , . , . o 1 1 • 1 • Loca anna sunt in a sensual and impure glutton, as m a iioinmes lempe- slough or quagmire. Gluttony is the quTtu^'jiSu's" sepulchre of the living, and a kind of "<>•' iiiv«iiire- spiritual drowning ot a man. (2.) This sin profanely denies God his service, and opposes him, not only notwithstanding, but even by, his bounty turns the temple of the Holy Ghost into a kitchen, and makes (as the apostle speaks) a god even of the base, filthy belly. How unseemly is ) 255 AN EXPOSITION UPON Ver. 12. it " for a servant," says Solomon, " to have rule over princes !" Prov. xix. 10. The reigning of a servant is reckoned to be the first of the four things which the earth cannot bear, Prov. xxx. 22. Gluttony makes the prince, the soul, to serve the belly, of all the soul's servants, viz. the parts of the body, the basest and filthiest. The apostle speaks of some who serve their own belly, Rom. xvi. 18; Phil. iii. 19. 0 ,, ... ., . miserable servitude ! Besides the base- JIuUis servit, qui ~ . , , •, • i corpori servit. ness ot Serving such a master, it is also *'''• very cruel ; it makes a man a servant to all those meats and drinks which serve his gratifica- tion ; it is a slavery to a master who is never pleased, who will have the best provisions brought him, and, having taken them, is presently calling for more ; his work is never done ; he puts his servants upon drudg- ing for him as long as they live ; several times every day making men labour in filling a trunk, sometimes three or four score years together ; requiring and ex- acting his supplies so imperiously and rigorously, that his ser\'ants oft take thought to the cutting of their hearts, and pains to the cracking of their sinews, for getting his provisions ; and yet when all is done, no service is so vain and unprofit- able as this belly service. What is it but daubing and propping a rotten cottage, which will, notwith- standing, in a short time crumble away and tumble down ; the delicate feeding of a condemned male- factor, who must die, and whose strength by all his provisions seizes him but to go to execution ? yea, what is it but preparing a banquet for the worms, for whom the leanest carcass is even fat enough ? (3.) This sin of gluttony uses and abuses that part most in its scmce, which of all the rest is so noble, and should be most employed for God, and filled with his praises, the mouth. (4.) It is a sin which most unsuspectedly surprises us, as lying in ambush behind our lawful enjoyments, and which is most like to insnare us in those ways wherein we most walk, and such a one whereby even Adam in iunocency was caught. (5.) This one is an inlet to all sin. He who is overcome with this is not able to overcome any sin. Having possession of the gate of man, his mouth, it lets easily into him the whole troop of vices. It is Satan's bridle, which he puts into the mouth of a sin- ner, and turns him any way at his pleasure. When the iron is hot, the smitli can fashion it how he will. A gluttonous person is earth so tilled, manured, and moistened by Satan, that it is fit to receive any seed which he shall cast into it ; cruelty, uncleanness, se- curity, profaneness, all grow in that soil, Luke xii. 45. (6.) Gluttony is the source and nurse of all dis- eases. It must needs be unhealthful to carry a fen within one. Temperance is the noblest physic. The inordinate life is not patient enough to stay for sickness. Our food becomes by gluttony, instead of a plaster, a wound. The glutton digs his grave with his teeth, and is a self-destroyer. They who most follow, most fly from pleasure : having taken their leave of an hour's pleasure, they oft meet with a year's pain. The temperate person only enjoys the sweet- ness of the creature. (7.) This sin is the ruin and hazard of men's estates. The very word uuwria, luxury, from a and o-w'^m, properly signifies not preserving, or keeping the good which we enjoy. How many have swallowed their estates down their throats ! " The drunkard and the glutton," saith Solomon, " shall come to poverty," Prov. xxiii. 21. The philosopher asked of the frugal citizen but a penny, but begged of the prodigal a talent ; because he thought of the one he might beg oft, of the other, who spent so fast, he was like to re- ceive but once. (8.) It is a sin most injurious to the poor. The glutton's superfluity causes and increases the scarcity of the poor. As the spleen grows, so the other parts decay ; and as the riotous abound, so the poor wants ; and none are so willing to let Lazarus starve at their gate, as they who fare sumptuously every day. (9.) It makes way for eternal emptiness and scarci- ty. He who has here been unprofitably a gulf to devour God's blessings, shall hereafter be thrown into a gulf of misery, wherein there is no drop of mercy. How poor is that plenty which makes way for eternal penury ! O woeful receipts, which are only in this life, and not followed with being receiv- ed ! Sinful pleasures are by some compared to those locusts, the crowns upon whose heads are said to be only as it were such, or such in appearance, and like gold. Rev. ix. 7 ; but it is said there were, not as it were, but " there were stings in their tails," ver. 10. The pleasures of sin are seeming and appearing, the pains true and real. Obs. 9. In feasting we are too prone to cast away i holy fear. These seducers fed themselves without j fear. In doing those things which are lawful, we I are too ready to be fearless both of God and ourselves. Job feared that his sons had sinned by this want of I God's fear in their feasting, Job i. 5. It is an easy | matter to sin, when the thing we are about is not | sinful. Our lawful comforts, as trading, sleeping,! man'ying, feasting, are oft occasions of what is un- lawful. The old world was very fearless of sinning when they eat, drank, bought, sold, Luke xvii. 27, 28 i so fearless, that nothing would awaken them but feeling. Most people are drowned in the shallows of lawful enjojTnents. The meat and drink which in themselves are wholesome have killed a thousand times more than poison ever did, because the former are not feared as is the latter. Men startle at evident and known sins, whereas in lawful and allowed de- lights they are oft overtaken without suspicion. .Be- sides, as feasting is a lawful, so it is a full condition. And when we have most fulness, we commonly have least fear. Men who most abound in enjoyments, are most bold in wickedness. " Jeshurun waxed fat, and kicked," Deut. xxxii. 15. " When thou shalt have eaten and be full ; then beware lest thou forget the Lord," Deut. vi. 11, 12. Agur's prayer was against riches, upon this ground, lest being full he should forget God, Prov. xxx. 9. In slippery paths we are most ready to fall ; and in a condition of greatest abundance we soonest are overturned. A full condition is commonly but fuel to lust j nor can our sensual hearts easily feed upon pleasing objects without surfeiting. The drunkards of Ephraim were on the head of the fat valleys, Isa. xxviii. 1. It is a rare thing to see religion flourish in a rich soil. Where the soil is richest, there the inhabitants com- monly are most riotous. And if it be thus, then worldly abundance is a weak argument to prove God's love ; and we should be content to want, yea, pray against, and shun those delights which will occasion us, being full, to deny God. And we should parti- cularly feast with holy fear, which will keep us from sin in our feasting, from falling in such a slippery path. This fear of God and ourselves we shall show, (1.) By propounding holy ends in our feasting. As, 1. The refreshing of our bodies; not living to eat, but eating to live, and to keep our frail cottages in meet reparations. 2. We should aim at glorifying God, at delighting in the Giver by and above his gifts ; being more firmly tied to him with every cord of love. A godly man has a heavenly end in doing every earthly employment ; and though he Veb. 12. THE EPISTLE OF JUDE. 257 does the same thing which he was wont to do, yet now he does it for a higher end, and would account a feast but a dry morsel, if thereby he might not see it come in love, and be enabled to return it again to love. (2.) By acknowledging God's attributes. In our feasts meditating, 1. On God's fulness and suffi- ciency, who with the opening of his hand fills every creature, and is the great Householder of the whole world. 2. On his goodness, in causing so many creatures to die for us who deserved death most of all, and are less than the least of all God's mercies. (3.) By observing r)i\nne rules. [1.] The rule of piety. 1. In praying for a blessing, and particularly for a heart to be thankful for the receiving, holy in the using, and fruitful in the improving every gift. 2. In using holy discourse : this box of ointment we then should bring and break, like that good woman, Luke vii. 36. Bread and salt are necessary at every feast ; our discourse must both feed and season othere. [2.] The rule of charity in remembering the poor, whose wants our compassions shoidd make us feel, though our conditions do not ; and, to show that our bowels are not shut up, our hands should be open. [3.] The rule of temperance : sometimes we should fast, never be gluttonous. If thou art, saith .Solomon, a man of appetite, put a knife to thy throat, Prov. xxiii. 2. Nature seems to dictate thus much, by giving to man a smaller mouth, and a narrower throat, than any other creature of liis size hath. We .should rise from the greatest feast fit to pray. This for the first resemblance whereby the apostle describes the state of these seducers. II. He compares them to " clouds w'ithout water, carried about of winds." Two particulars are here to be explained. 1. From what sort of creatures he draws the re- semblance, viz. from " clouds." 2. From what sort of clouds, viz. 1. From empty clouds. 2. From unstable clouds. 1 . From what sort of creatures the resemblance is drawn. Two things are considerable. (1.) What we are to understand by clouds. (2.) Why the apostle made choice of such a re- semblance, taken from these clouds. (1.) What we are to understand by clouds. The word is vs'pi\ai, clouds, derived, as some think, from the Hebrew word f)M which signifies to drop ; or, as others, from Ss: to fall, or descend. And a cloud (such as the word vi(pi\i] properly imports) is " a zanch de Op nioist vapour drawn up by the heat of Dei. I.' 3. c. 6.' the sun unto the middle region of the ''■ ■''"" air, where, being by the coldness of that place knit together and congealed, it continues un- til, being dissolved and melted by the warmth of the sun, it is turned into rain." So that the property and use of clouds is to carry water and rain for the use of the earth ; they water the garden of the earth like a garden-pot; they are the treasuries of rain, and, as one saith, rain condensed or congealed, and l..\id hoc loco, rain is a cloud dissolved. And there- lum pierisque fore, as the learned Junius on this place »liisobser\Hri , ^ , ^i j j • ' ^ necesse est. notcs, when our apostle adds awcooi to fm'a'cu?;,",™? yift\ai, saying that these clouds are phiiosophnru.n. witliout Water, he rather uses ralione j«ri ill iK.mhi.m- populari, a popular and vulgar kind oi xXa.'drsiincnonis Speech, than agrees with philosophical erso. a pi.iios.i- accuracy ; for those clouds which are pei'untur. quln without Water Aristotle and other phi- 5n/3p(.i sum et losophers call not viii'ikai:, nubes, but ^ouix^i ►e^tAn oiti\\as, nebulas, thm dispersed vapours, V«.°\:if):"9: which indeed obscure the face of the Jon. in Jude. heavens, but have within them no rain for the thirsty earth at all ; so distinguishing them from vi(pi\ai, rainy clouds, Psal. Ixxvii. 17; Isa. v. 6; I Kings xviii. 41 — K5. The naturalists who write concerning watery me- teors, inquire how it can be that a cloud should con- tain so vast a bulk and quantity of heavy waters, and not violently and at once fall to the earth ; heavy things naturally descending or tending downward. Several causes are assigned ; some say that they are kept up by the natural and inbred warmth included in them, and by the heat without of the sun and stars ; others say by their motion which they have from the winds'; others by reason of their spungy hoUowness, which receives and takes in the thin air : but philosophers in this are like little children that cannot speak plain, at least to my dulness : the safest way, according to the best divines, is to resolve this by the Scripture, which represents the holding up of the clouds as the work of God's power, and teaches us that God has given his command in the creation that the clouds fall not : " He established the clouds above," Prov. viii. 2S. " Let the fir- ^^^ ^„, ^^^,.^ mament," that is, as Zanchy largely regione, dmdit and strongly proves, the air, in respect SSnTeJehuntllr, of the middle region, " divide the wa- J'^^lf,^"!,',?/;,* ters from the waters," Gen. i. 6 ; namely, de op.' Dm. i. e. those which are drawn up, and made '^■^■p-'-''- clouds for rain, from those which run below. And in Job sxvi. 8, it is expressly said that God " bind- eth up the waters in his thick clouds, and the cloud is not rent under them :" he hath bound these waters in a garment, Prov. xxx. 4. The waters above the heavens are recorded among the things which God has established for ever, and for which he has made a decree that they shall not pass, Psal. cxlviii. 4, 6. It is his power that enables so weak a cobweb to hold, as it were, a strong man prisoner ; it is that alone which lays up even a sea of waters in the thin sieve of a cloud, which, till he pleases, shall not let go one drop, and then rain shall come, as through a sieve or strainer, not in floods, but in drops. Or rather, as Zanchy that divine naturalist speaks, he makes his clouds spunges ; fpo°„'g°a qtfidam till he press and squeeze them with the aquarum pien^. hand of his providence not a drop stiall sua: providentix, fall out of them : he presses these S°;',;;rit!'n"n spunges not too hard, but gently, that loum simui. ei ^ i" 1^1 -t 1 ' T.ii quantum potest. SO thev may moderately, and by little ,„] pauiatim, ut and little, distil and drop upon us, and Slm'Lqul"""" not overwhelm us, as they did the old Zaiich. de bp. ,11 1 .1 Del. 1. 3. c. C. world, when he wrung these spunges p. iu. hard upon them. He whose word is a dam to hinder the proud waves from flowing over the face of the earth, has a word likewise which, as a stopper, shuts up the bottles of his clouds, and keeps them from running out. In a word, he who hangeth the earth upon nothing, is in the next words deserv- edly said to bind up the waters in his thick clouds. (2.) Why the apostle made choice of a resemblance taken from'these clouds. He saith these seducers were vKpiXai, clouds, which according to the notation of the word, and common usage, signify such as have in them water for the refreshment of the earth : and I conceive that our apostle hereby intends either, I . To show their duty, which was, as the ministers of Christ, to be watering clouds, to afford to people the sweet and refreshing showers of wholesome doctrines; or rather, 2. Their great boastings, hypocritical shows and appearances, seeming and pretending to be clouds full of water, as the holy prophets and apostles were; whereas indeed they were, though appearing full, yet really and truly empty ; unprofitable and water- less, like 'the boaste'r of a false gift, of whom Solomon speaks, Prov. xxv. 14, that he is as clouds ^yithout rain, though by reason of liis great promises he 258 AN EXPOSITION UPON Ver. 12. seemed to be full of water and benefits: as if the apostle bad said, These seducers are clouds full of water of holiness and heavenly doctrine, if you will believe their own expressions and appearances ; but if you come to try or use them, you shall find no benefit, comfort, or refreshment from them. And I conceive tliat the apostle by calling them clouds, in- timates their proud and hypocritical pretending to resemble the worthy and ))rofitable instructors and teachers of the people of old, who are oft and ele- gantly in Scripture compared to clouds, and whose doctrine is resembled to dropping ; as Isa. v. fi, where God (according to some) threatening to take away the prophets and their ministry from the people, saith, " I will command the clouds that they rain no rain." And frequently in Scripture is prophesying or teaching called a dropping: "My doctrine" (saith mio turn (locens Moscs) " shall drop as the rain," Deut. •loitorve, turn xxxii. 2. " Son of man, drop toward," il>^Vjob"xxxvi. &c., " and prophesy against the land =2; Joelii.is. ^f Israel," Ezek. xxi. 2. And, "Pro- phesy not against Israel, drop not thy word against the house of Isaac," Amos vii. 16. "Son of man, drop toward the south, and prophesy," &c., Ezek. xx. 46. And, " Prophesy " (or drop) " not, say they to them that prophesy," Micah ii. 6. And in ordinary speech we say. The clouds drop, and when it begins to rain. It drops. " His clouds drop down the dew," Prov. iii. 20. And clouds are a most lively resem- blance of faithful ministers: (1.) In respect of the cause of both : the supreme, highest cause is God, Prov. viii. 2S ; Psal. cxlvii. 8; clouds are frequently in Scripture called his clouds, Job xxvi. 8; Psal. xviii. 12; Prov. iii. 20. Ministers are his ; they are from him, for him, kept up by him; he gives the word, and great shall be the company of those who puldish it, Psal. Ixviii. 11; he sends fortli labourers: the natural cause of clouds is the sun drawing up vapours; Christ, the Sun of righteousness, he calls, appoints, gives gifts to ministers. (2.) In respect of the condition of clouds ; they are carried from jdace to place, tossed to and fro with the winds : ministers are oft removed by God from one place, in anger for its nnfrnitfulncss, to another, and tossed by the winds of persecution hither and thither, the church nevertheless by their dispersion gaining moisture and spiritual benefit. (3.) In respect of their situ- ation : clouds are above us ; ministers are dignified by God, over us in the Lord, and they, as clouds, ouglit to be nearer heaven, and having their conversation there more than others, Phil. iii. 20. They are not clods, but clouds, yea, stars, yea, angels. (4.) Clouds they are in respect of sustentation, upheld by the powerful word of God's providence ; else, as clouds under their loads, they could never be upheld ; they are as dying, yet behold they live ; stars in the i-ight hand of Christ. (5.) In respect of fulness, useful- ness, and benefit. A cloud is both umhrifera and imbrifera, bringing shadow and moisture to the earth : a faithful minister cools and refreshes a scorched conscience by preaching the righteousness of Christ ; he is a messenger, an interpreter, " one among a thousand to show unto man his upriglitness," Job xxxiii. 23; his feet are beautiful, Rom. x. 15, as welcome to a scorched conscience as the rain to the parched earth : these spiritual clouds drop down the fruitful showers of heavenly doctrine. Good minis- ters are apt to teach, 2 Tim. ii. 24. (6.) Like clouds, they spend and consume themselves in dropping on others ; like salt and torches, they melt themselves to benefit others ; like silkworms, they weave out their own bowels to cover others' nakedness. 2. From what sort of clouds does our apostle draw a resemblance to suit with these seducers ? (1.) From empty clouds, "without water." (2.) From unstable clouds, '" carried about." &c. (I.) From empty clouds; they are vupkXm awSpot, " clouds without water." Here two things ought to be explained. [1.] What it was to be " without water." [2.] Wlien it was a sin to be so. [1.] For the first : as in Scripture the prophets and ministers are compared to clouds, so their heavenly doctrine to water or rain showered down from those clouds : " My doctrine," saith Moses, " shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distil as I he dew, as the small rain upon the tender herb," Deut. xxxii. 2. " As the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returnetli not thither, but watereth the eartli, and maketh it bring forth and bud," &:c. ; " so shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth," &c., Isa. Iv. 10, 11. "The earth drinketh in the rain that cometh oft upon it, and bringeth forth herbs," &c., Heb. vi. 7. And most fitly may the word be compared to rain, 1. For its original. God gives rain : " Are there any among the vanities of the Gentiles that can cause rain ? or can the heavens give show- ers ? art not thou he, O Lord?" Szc, Jer. xiv. 22, " 1 will give you the rain of your land, Deut. xi. 14. " 1 will give you rain in due season," Lev. xxvi. 4. God can only give us a word ; it is called " the word of the Lord." He appoints what ministers sliould preach, and he teaches them how to preach ; and he makes the word effectual. 2. Rain is of a searching, insinuating nature, soak- ing to the roots. The word searches the heart, pricks the heart, and purges it. Acts ii. 37; Heb. iv. 12. 3. Rain cools and refreshes the earth and plants. The promises of the word delight the soul, the chapt, gasping, thirsty soul, Isa. xliv. 3. 4. Rain softeneth tlie earth, though hard like iron. The word makes the heart tender, pliable, and obe- dient, Jer. xxxi. 33; Ezek. xxxvi. 26, and fit to be moulded according to God's mind. 5. Rain causeth the earth to be fruitful. The word makes us fruitful in every grace and good work ; it is an instrumental cause of spiritual growth, 1 Pet. ii. 2; Psal. i. 3; 1 Pet. iii. 16. So that these se- ducing teachers were clouds, (1.) Without the water of holiness, and sanctification of heart, life, and example ; they made show to J"peifa!l"i"'„,"' be the only sublime saints, and Chris- s; iticei quoH ac tians of the first magnitude, and that nera"Vo,Sh"i' '"' others, in comparison of them, were aiKqutan'oD but in the lowest form of godliness ; yet consruei.ier vi. these ungodly men had not in them a Pi'j''ei o1?'c. cs. drop of true sanctity ; they only had " a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof," 2 Tim. iii. 5 ; and these waterless wells, as Peter calls them, had nothing in them but the mud and filth of sin, not to cleanse, but pollute and defile. (2.) They were without the water of true know- ledge. They pretended to be the only knowing per- sons, that they only had two eyes, and all others but one. They assumed to themselves the title of Gnostici, for their great pretended insight into the doctrines of faith ; they looked upon others as the Pharisees upon the people, who (they said) knew not the law, and were accursed ; or as Caiaphas upon the other priests, he telling them that they knew nothing; and yet for all this thev were empty, and without the water of saving knowledge and instruc- tion. Their doctrines were but wind, chaff, and idle speculations, vain janglings, contentions about words, not profiting them who are exercised therein, im- proving no S(5ul heavenward, making it after all their empty discourses no further admitted into commu- nion with Christ, cleansed from sin, in love with Ver. 12. THE EPISTLE OF JUDE. 259 Iioliness, fitted for death; in a -word, their verbal trillings never made a proselyte to Jesus Christ, but imly to an opinion. They had perhaps the wisdom of words, but not the words of wisdom. They left t'ne Scripture, and only regarded dreams and fables. They were blind leaders of the blind, and erred from the right way ; desiring to be teachers of the law, they understood neither what they said, nor whereof llicy affirmed, 1 Tim. :. 7. And instead of being clouds that bedewed their hearers with the drops of h -avenly instruction, they were clouds only to darken their mind with error, and to hide from them the sunshine of truth. (3.) They were without the water (if consolation and refreshment for those who ex- pi'cted benefit and relief from them. " Whoso boast- ctli himself of a false gift, is like clouds and wind A\ithout rain," Prov. xsv. 14. All the glorious pro- mises of peace and liberty which they made to their misled followers were empty and deceitfid : " While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption," 2 Pet. ii. 19. They pretended that they had found out a nearer way to heaven than any before them had done, and that people might, without fetching such a compass of moitification and holiness, go straight on to peace and blessedness. But their poor deceived disciples found them herein to be but clouds without water, such who could not make good these promises, and that there was no peace in impurity. Peter calls them "wells without water," 2 Pet. ii. 17, elegantly describing their disap- pointing those who expected relief and refreshment for their souls from them, being like the waters or wells in a hot summer, that in Jer. xv. 18 are said to lie or fail; or a brook that is deceitful, Job vi. 15, disappointing the thirsty who go to them for refresh- ment. They who trusted to what these seducers promised by their doctrines, being like to those little ones, who, being sent to the pits, found no water, " returning with their vessels empty, ashamed and confounded, covering their heads," Jer. xiv. 3. [2.] For the second. Wherein it was a sin for these Beducers to be as " clouds without water." 1. It argued profane presumption ; namely, in undertaking a holy function for which they had no fitness ; they had no worth, either of piety or suffi- ciency ; they had lips, but not such as could presence knowledge; they polluted the holy things of God with their unmeetness to manage them : had they been persons of greatest abilities, the work of teach- ing and instructing souls would have deserved and taken them all up ; the shoulders of an angel would have been weak enough for the weight of such a service : " Who is sufficient for these things ?" 2 Cor. ii. 16. A mortal man would have scorned to be put off with such performances as they thought good enough for the great God. These cursed deceivers ofiered to God not a male, but a corrupt thing. The God who is the best and greatest requires the best and greatest of our abilities. But these offered that to God which cost them nothing. 2. It argued the sin of unprofitableness ; they could not give what they had not ; they had no worth, and they did no work. They had no water, nor did they pour down any. They were wicked and sloth- ful, and therefore wicked because slothful. Matt. 3CXV. 26. These false teachers knew not what labour meant. They were spent not with cutting, but rust- ing. They were loiterers in the time of har\-est ; and they were neither faithful nor labourers. If they perspired at all, it was not with working, but feeding. They were not as clouds that spend themselves in watering the earth. They were not impaired by ser- vice, but sensuality. If a private person must be a public good, then must not a public person be a pri- vate good ? They lived to themselves, and cumbered their places to no purpose in the world. When men went secure to hell, they quietly sutfered them to do so. Their cruelty was great because it was soul cruelty, they star\-ed souls. 3. In their sin was delusion and hypocrisy ; as they neither had worth nor did good, so in both they op- posed their profession. They praised themselves as the only able instructors ; but as the waterless clouds delude the expecting husbandman, so did these their fond followers. They pretended to be spiritual nui-ses, and though they expected full payment, they gave the children but empty, windy breasts. Their de- luded disciples spent their money for that which was not bread, and their labour for that which satisfied not. Had these seducers appeared to be what they were, empty, they had not been called clouds; or had they been what they appeared to be, they had not been called "clouds without water." Under a glorious title there lodged a base and unworthy temper. It is a great sin to be confutations of our profes- sions. Injustice is not so inexcusable in any as in a judge ; blindness is not so blamable in any as in a guide, a seer ; silence in none is so hateful as in a preacher; dryness no where so unexpected as in a well, a cloud. It was not the barren oak or elm, from which fruit was never expected, but the fig-tree, whose kind was fruitful, that Christ cursed for unfruitfulness. Nor did the damage of their hypocrisy only redound to themselves. As by reason of their emptiness they did good to none, so in regard of their seeming ful- ness they did hurt to many. How easily might their misguided followers spend their time in a vain gaping after these empty clouds of error and presumption for the water of life and happiness, and meanwhile neglect the rain of heaven, a soul-sa^nng ministry ! these erroneous guides, though hereby aggravating their own, yet not excusing their followers from damnation. 2. Our apostle, to set forth the instability as well as the emptiness of these seducers, draws a com- parison to suit these seducers from clouds, as carried about with the winds ; he saith, they are vnd dviiiuv TTipitptfiOfifvai. Two things I shall here touch by way of expli- cation. 1. What the apostle here intends by their being carried about. 2. What those winds were by which they were carried about. 1. What the apostle intends by their being carried about, nepudjpo^ifvai, driven this way and that way, not abiding or resting in any one place, like any light matter, feathers, stubble, dust, &c., which are at the courtesy of every blast and pufi' of wind. And hereby is intended the unstableness and unsettled- ness of these seducers in their Christian course ; ex- pressed likewise by the same word, Eph. iv. 14, " children tossed to and fro, and" irfpi^fpn/isvoi, " car- ried about with every wind of doctrine ;" and, /ii) wipiipiptaSi, " Be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines," Heb. xiii. 9. If one wind comes, the cloud is carried this way ; if another, that way j sometimes to one quarter of the heavens, at other times to a quite contrary : so was it with these un- settled souls, who, wanting the ballast and solidity of grace in their heart, were unstable, unconfirmed in their opinions, aifections, and practices. For the apostle may. hereby intend a threefold instability and unsettledness, or their being carried about in three respects. (1.) In respect, principally I conceive, of opinion 260 AN EXPOSITION UPON Ver. li and judgment ; they were not settled in the truths of religion, like those who " halted between two opinions," 1 Kings xviii. 21. They continued not " in the faith, grounded and settled," Col. i. 23 ; they were not placed upon a firm foundation, nor were they seated as a man in a seat, from wliicli he cannot easily be removed. It is frequently observed, that the erroneous are never firm cither to the truth or their own opinions. They forget what they liave been, understand not what they are, and know not what they shall be. Augustine tells us how frequent- ly Pelagius altered his opinions concerning grace ; and Hilary reports of Arius, that he had for every month a sundry faith, as if he had swallowed moons ; that he was never consistent to and with himself: before the council, he held for the Divinity of Christ ; among his companions, otherwise. Thus the apostle complains of the Galatians for their being " so soon removed unto another gospel," Gal. i. 6, and warns his Ephesians that they should not be carried about, Eph. iv. 14; and Peter, 2 Pet. ii. 14, mentions "un- stable souls." Oft from Brownism men wander to Anabaptism, from thence to Arminianism, thence to Socinianism and Arianism, and then they become Seekers, or rather indeed losers of themselves, just nothing ; as a thin, empty cloud, they are tossed so long up and down by winds, that at length they come to nothing. Their heads are like inns, and their opi- nions like travellers, which oft lodge not above one night in them ; like wax, they take any new impres- Bion. It is hard to say whether they are pluralists or neutralists in religion, and as hard to please them in any opinion as to make a coat that should constantly fit (he moon. They know they shall die, but in what faith ttiey know not. One error is ever a bridge to another. They are called unlearned and unstable, and therefore such as wrest the Scriptures, 2 Pet. iii. 16; whence it is plain that by unstable he means such as were not grounded in the faith and leai-ning of the truth. Hymeneus and Pliiletus, who once held the truth concerning the resurrection, afterward erred concerning the faith, saying that the resurrection was past already, 2 Tim. ii. 18. (2.) They might be carried about and unstable in respect of their afl'ections, the goodness whereof was only by fits and pangs ; sometimes they were fire-hot in religion, soon after stone-cold ; their heat, like that in the fit of an ague, is not from nature, but dis- temper, and therefore, though violent, yet not per- manent ; they resemble the mariners of whom tlie psalmist speaks, that at one time are mounted up to heaven, and presently fall down again into the depths, Psal. cvii. 26 : like David, who in his youth was full of spirits and vigour, but in his old age grew cokl and chilly, these who sometimes seemed fervent in spirit, ?fovrfc rijj Tri'ii/jiaTi, now are cold in their affections, and come to a state of indifltrence and neutrality, and frame to themselves such a moderation as will just serve the times. They were, they say, forward and foolish in the heat of their youth to oppose sin, but now they see their error, and admire tlieir present staidness, and the golden mean which tliey have at- tained. Thus it was with those unsettled Galatians, who at first could have pulled out their eyes for Paul, soon after counted him an eyesore, their enemy, for telling them the truth. Gal. iv. 16. The church of Ephesus had left her first love, Rev. ii. 4. Thus Alexander, who, as some think, for his zeal against Quim.rtyriopro- pi^na, the heathens' idol, or, as others, pinquus erat. per- for liis noted love towards Paul, was tum"apos1"am'' like to liave been torn in pieces as a factum videmus. martyr ; afterwards, as Calvin thinks, Cal. in Acts XIX., , -r> T, 1 11 1 ^ rr>- formidabiie ex- became Faul s deadly adversary, 2 1 im. iv. 14, and would have martyred him. einplum. John's hearers rejoiced in his light for a season. Affec- tions raised upon no true grounds will soon fall ; and as much greater will the fall be, as the higher the building was. They who have been sometimes more than Christians in their fervour for, afterwards have proved worse than heathens in fury against, the truth. (3.) They might be carried about and unstable in their practices ; very strict and precise in their car- riage at the first, very loose and profane afterwards. Seducers grew from better to worse, or, as the apostle speaks, " worse and worse," 2 Tim. iii. 13 ; golden professors haply in their youth, silver in their middle age, leaden in their old age. They set out well, but did not hold out at all ; appearing so conscien- tious at the first, that the very appearances of sin were shunned; so really wicked at last, that the greatest abominations are not scrupled ; and they are grown so strong, that their stomachs can digest those impieties, with the very sight of which heretofore they seemed to be sick. How frequently has the glorious, the morning beginnings of Christian pro- fession been overcast with the darkness and gloomy cloudiness of profaneness before the evening! Many who have been elevated to a high pitch of profession, have fallen like clouds into some dirty lane, or slough of uncleanness and looseness. They begin in the flesh, and end in the flesh. Gal. iii. 3; though they seemed to have escaped the pollutions of the world, and to be washed from their fihhiness, yet they return with the dog to their vomit, and with the sow to their wallowing in the mire, 2 Pet. ii. 22. 2. By what they were carried about and unsettled, viz. by the winds, iin-b dfifiuiv. the word avfjxoQ sig- nifies any blast which blows in the air, but Peter, 2 Pet. ii. 17, saith they are {nrb XaiXairoQ iXavvonivai, carried with a tempest ; the word \ai\ayp properly signifying a whirlwind, not one ui's'v'e'ii'ioru-Tf."^ wind, but a conflict of many winds. It i-o^in. impeiuo- is used by the evangelists in describing the tempest miraculously appeased and calmed by Christ, Luke viii. 23; Mark iv. 37. There were several sorts of winds and tempests wherewith these seducers were carried about. (1.) The wind of strange doctrines: this is noted by the apostle, Heb. xiii. 9, where he warns the Christians that they "be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines," StSaxaig TrotsiXaiQ icai K'tvaig fit] nipupipiaOi ; and Eph. iv. 14, "with every winii of doctrine," iravri di'l/iijj ryg SiSauKaXiaQ. Every doctrine which wa-s new was by them entertained as true. They had itching ears, delighted with novelty, not obedient ears, attentive to profitable truths ; whence it was that every new doctrine carried them a differ- ent way, and that meeting with several new doctrines they were hurried round as in a whirlwind, and knew not where to rest. The devil pleased them, like chil- dren, with change of toys. The true gospel was neg- lected for another, as Paul speaks. Gal. i. 6 ; they were of the same mind with him who taught them last ; they were mere movables in the church ; like the water, ever of the same figure with the vessel in- to which it is put ; like a company of ciphers, which sigiiify just the figure which is put before them. (2.) Seducers are carried about with the wind of fear ; to save their skins, they cared not what they held, taught, or did ; they were impatient of perse- cution. Thus speaks the apostle of these seducers, " They constrain you to be circumcised ; only lest they should suffer persecution for the cross of Christ," Gal. vi. 12. That which they entertain merely for fear, they present to others as a doctrine of faith. These are reeds that bow and hang according to the standing of the winds ; such a reed shaken with the winds was not John Baptist, but rather an oak, Ver. 12. THE EPISTLE OF JUDB. 261 •which will sooner be broken than bend by the winds ; by a holy antiperistasis, his zeal was doubled by op- position. These false teachers were like a man that goes to sea for pleasure, not for traffic; if a storm arise, he will come back, or put to the next shore. Like that ship, Acts xxvii. 15, they bear not up to the wind ; " they are not valiant for the truth," Jer. ix. 3; nor hold they " fast the faithful word," Tit. i. 9, but let it go if enemies contend to pull it away. (3.) They were carried about with the wind of pride and ambition. They gaped after the breath of ap- plause. Old truths are of no reputation among the giddy sort ; hence it was that these were carried to teach that whereby they might be cried up for some rare men, dropped out of the clouds, and seeing fur- ther than all the rest of their times. They could not tell how to get above others, unless they taught something different from others : truth was counted but a dull, stale business, and therefore they chose rather to be accounted such as excelled by being er- roneous, than such as were only equal to others by delivering the truth. The wind of pride is the life and soul of error, it is the element wherein it moves and breathes. Seducers were puffed up vainly by their fleshly minds, Col. ii. 18. A humble soul will not easily either teach or follow an error. It has ever been the property of seducers to follow the peo- ple's humour with errors, that so the people might follow them with applause. (4.) They were carried about with the wind of earthly-mindedness. They taught any false doctrine for filthy lucre's sake, I Pet. v. 2 ; they would rarely be carried with any wind but such as blew them some profit ; they steered their course by the com- pass of gain; their religion began at their purse- strings ; they served not the Lord Jesus Christ, but their own bellies, Rom. xvi. 18. This was that wind which carried Balaam about from country to countiy, from altar to altar; he and his followers loved to be of the king's religion. Thus Erasmus said, that one poor Luther made a great many rich abbots and bi- shops ; he meant, that by preaching against him they were wont to get their great livings and preferments : Demas forsook truth to embrace the present world. Obs. I. The want of the showers of a faithful mi- nistry is a singular curse and calamity. Conscien- tious ministers are clouds, and their doctrine rain. As no rain is so useful and profitable as the rain of the word, so neither is it so great a misery to be de- prived of any as of this. God often in Scripture pro- mises showers and teachers as great blessings : "The Liird shall open unto thee his good treasure, the heaven to give the rain," &c.. Dent, xxviii. 12. " Re- joice in the Lord your God, for," iS;c. " he will cause to come down for you the rain," &c., Joel ii. 23. And for instructors, see Jer. iii. 15, '" 1 will give you pas- tors according to mine heart, which shall feed you n iih knowledge and understanding." " Though the L'lrd give you the bread of adversity, and the water of affliction, yet shall not thy teachers be removed inio a corner any more," Isa. xxx. 20. God also tlircatens the keeping away of rain, and the taking auay of instructors, as dismal curses: " The heaven that is over thy head shall be brass ; thy rain shall be powder and dust," Dent, xxviii. 23, 24. " I will make your heaven as iron, and your earth as brass," Lev. xxvi. 19. " Upon them shall be no rain," Zech. xiv. 17. Never was a greater plague on Israel, than when in three years and a half it rained not on the earth in Ahab's time. And concerning the prophets, the Lord saith, " They shall not" (Heb. drop) " pro- phesy," Micah ii. 6 ; and God threatens his vineyard, that he will command his clouds, his prophets, "that they rain no rain upon it," Isa. v. 6. God threatened a great judgment in great displeasure against the people, when he told Ezekiel that he would make his tongue cleave to the roof of his mouth; and that he should be dumb, and no reprover to them, Ezek. iii. 26 ; and when he threatened that he would re- move away the candlestick of Ephesus out of its place, Rev. ii. 5. The want of spiritual is a much greater woe than the want of natural rain. The withholding of showers from heaven can but produce a famine of bread ; the want of a faithful ministry brings a famine of the word of the Lord, Amos viii. 11. And this famine of the word of the Lord is a soul famine. And, (1.) Opposes not natural, but spiritual life. The separation of the soul from the body is but the sha- dow of death ; tnie death stands in the separation between God and the soul. " Where there is no vision, the people perish," Prov. xxix. 18. " My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge," Hos. iv. (>. Salvation and life eternal stand in knowledge, John xvii. 3; I Tim. ii. 4. (2.) Bodily famine takes away our natural strength and vigour, whereby we perform our ordinary and worldly actions ; but a soul famine destroys that spiritual strength, whereby we are enabled to hea- venly employments, praying, repenting, believing, holy walking. (3.) Bodily famine makes the outward man look pale, deformed, lean, unpleasing ; soul famine brings a leanness into the soul, deformity and profaneness into the face of our conversation. Who observes not in congregations from whence the word is taken the miserable change of men and manners ? In Eli's time sin abounded, and the reason is set down 1 Sam. iii. 1, " The word of the Lord was precious in those days." (4.) Bodily famine, as other external judgments, may be a help to bring men to God, by causing re- pentance and bettering obedience, as in the prodi- gal ; but the famine of the word puts men farther from God, and by it men grow more obdurate in sin. (5.) Bodily famine may be recompensed and made up with spiritual food. " Though the Lord give the bread of adversity," Isa. xxx. 20, yet he counter- vails that loss, by giving them to see their teachers ; whereas spiritual famine cannot be recompensed by having bodily food, because when God takes away the food of the soul, he takes away himself, the tokens of his presence and grace ; and what can be given in exchange for God himself? (6.) Of bodily famine people are sensible, they cry and labovir for a supply; but the more soul famine rages, the more people disregard their misery, and slight their wretchedness ; by fasting, forgetting how to feed, and with their food losing often their sto- machs too. IIow much then are they mistaken, who account spiritual showers their greatest plague, and complain of these dews of grace as if they were a deluge of woe ; to whom the word of the Lord is the greatest burden ; who cry out, The land cannot bear it [ A church without a preacher, is as a ship sailing in a dark night on a rough sea without a pilot. Never was Christ more moved in compassion toward the people, than when he saw them scattered as sheep without a shepherd. They who would be rid of the word, would also be without pardon, peace, holiness, happiness ; it being the word of faith, the word which sanctifies, the gospel of peace, the w-ord of life, the power of God to salvation. Ministers are saviours, watchmen, labourers in the harvest, nurses, guides, builders, sowers, seers, light, salt, clouds, &c. What then are places destitute of saving instruction, but unsafe, spoiled, starved, waste, blind, wandering, unsavoury, barren ? and yet how commonly do many 262 AN EXPOSITION UPON Ver. 12. curse the preaching of the word, as the people who live under the torrid zone do the rising of the sun ! To conclude, what appai-ent enemies are they to the souls of people who hinder the preaching of the gospel ! who will not suffer it to run and be glorified ; who revile and abuse the faithful dispensers thereof! an act, no doubt, of greater unthank fulness, than to wrong and abuse a man who in a time of famine should open his garners for the relief of a whole country. Obs. 2. The greatest commendation of a minister is industry for, and usefulness to, the souls of others. Clouds are not appointed for themselves, but to water the earth ; and in doing so they consume themselves : like silkworms, ministers wear and weave out them- selves. It is a sin for any, much more for a minister, to be an unprofitable servant. He must not go to sea in his ministerial calling for pleasure, but em- ployment. He must say, with Pompey, who, having to sail over the seas with corn to relieve distressed Kome, and being told by the pilot that it would prove a dangerous voyage, answered, It is uxeTv iydy^r,^. ngt ncccssary we should live, but that '•'" °'"' "'"'''"''■ we should sail. The excellency of the sun is not so much in respect of its glory and splen- dour, as its influences and beneficialness ; and he who expects hereafter to shine like the sun, must here run like the sun. They who preach the Sun of righteousness, must be like the sun who cometh forth of his chamber like a bridegroom, and rejoiceth to run his race. The clods of the earth may be of a more dull and sad temper, rest and lie still ; but the clouds of heaven must be in a perpetual motion, ^linisters must, like the chenibims, which give at- tendance in the presence of God, have wings for expedition in the execution of his w'ill. They are called labourers and workmen ; they labour in the word and doctrine. Paul's glory was not that he w'as more advanced, but that he laboured more abundantly than they all. " As much as in me is," saith he, " I am ready to preach the gospel." He made preaching his business ; therein he was glad to spend, and to be spent, 2 Cor. xii. 15. Knowledge w ithout industry speaks no man excellent. None is accounted good for the good he hath, but the good he doth. A wooden key that opens the door, is a better one than a golden one that cannot do it. Greatest industry is always to be used about the sal- vation of souls. Daring importunity is in no case so commendable as in this. Paul was an excellent orator, and all his oratory was to persuade men to be saved. Never did malefactor so plead to obtain his own life, as did Paul beg of men to accept of life. He was an importunate wooer of souls, and he would take no denial. Ministers must rather be worn with using than rusting. The sweat of a minister, as it is reported of Alexander, casts a sweet smell : his talents are not for the napkin, but occupation ; not to be laid up, but to be laid out. They who are full clouds should be free in pouring out, returning as they have received. How unworthily do they deal with God, who are all for taking in, and nothing for laying out ! How little is the age and place wherein they live beholden to them ! How just is it with God, that they who will not give him the interest of their abilities by improving and using them, should lose the principal by ceasing to have and retain them ! " The manifestation of the Spirit is given to every one to profit withal," 1 Cor. xii. 7. Standing water soon putrifies. Musical instruments which are most used sound most melodiously. If Solomon ob- served it to be a great vanity, that some men had riches who had not power to use them, Eccl. vi. 2 ; how much greater is the vanity of having great in- tellectual abilities, and yet to have no power to make use of them for the good of others ! In short there- fore, ministers must remember that they are not ap- pointed for sight, but service and usefulness. We account not a pillar to be good because it is sightly, but strong. We should fear to sit under that struc- ture, the pillars whereof are, though curiously gilded and painted outwardly, yet crazy and rotten within. It is better to be under a disgraced, persecuted Paul, than under a silken Diotrephes, who is altogether for worldly glory and pre-eminence, nothing for duty and performance. Obs. 3. Ministers of the gospel must be full and watery clouds ; able and apt to teach ; gifted and fitted for their ministry. As ambassadors, they must be sure to have their instructions with them ; and to be " able ministers of the new testament," 2 Cor. iii. 6, " for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry," Eph. iv. 12. Able to impart spiritual gifts, "bringing forth out of his treasure things new and old," Matt. xiii. 52; being "workmen that need not be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth," 2 Tim. ii. 15. (I.) Able they must be to open the Scriptures. They must have the water of knowledge, and be able to unlock the cabinet of the word, fit to feed the people with understanding; to roll away the stone from the mouth of the well for the watering of the flocks of Christ. He who calls for a reasonable sacrifice, will not be content with an unreasonable sacrifices Ministers must teach every one in all wis- dom, Col. i. 28. (2.) They must have ability to "convince gain- saycrs by sound doctrine," Tit. i. 9. A minister's breast should be a spiritual armoury, furnished with spiritual weapons for overcoming opposers. Apollos mightily convinced the Jews ; so Paul disputed against the adversaries of the truth', Acts ix. 29 ; xvii. 17. (3.) The gift of working upon the aflTections, and quickening to duty. Ability not only to enlighten the understanding, but to warm the heart. " I think it meet," &c., saith Peter, " to stir you up," 2 Pet. i. 13. Paul, " knowing the terror of the Lord, persuaded men," 2 Cor. v. 11. The minister's lips, like Isaiah's, must be " touched with a live coal," Isa. vi. 6 ; and he must partake of that Spirit which came down in the likeness of fiery tongues, to fire the affections of his hearers, and to make their hearts burn within them with love to holy duties. It was said of Basil, that he breathed as much fire as eloquence. (4.) The gift of comforting the distressed con- science ; of speaking " a word in season to him that is weary," Isa. 1.4; of declaring to man his up- rightness ; of binding up the broken heart, and of pouring oil into its wounds ; of dropping the refresh- ing dews of the promises upon the parched con- science. In a word, of giving every one his portion, like a faithful and wise steward. (5.) Lastly, They must have the water of grace and sanctification. Of this their hearts and life should both be full. If a beast was not to come to the mount where the law was delivered, much less may he who is a beast deliver the law. The doctrine of a minister must credit his life, and his life adorn his doctrine. Dead doctrine, not quickened with a holy life, like dead Amasa, lying in the way, stops people, that they will not go on cheerfully in their spiritual warfare. Doth God require that the beast which is offered to him should be without blemishes, and can he take it well that the priest who offers it should be full of blemishes ? He then who will win souls must be able and wise. A minister must be thoroughly furnished, as Paul Ver. 12. THE EPISTLE OF JUDE. 2G3 speaks, 2 Tim. iii. 17. There is some wisdom re- quired to catch birds, fish, and vermin ; how much more to catch souls ! The best minister may blush to consider how unfit he is for his calling ; and when he has gotten the greatest abilities, he should beg pardon for his inability, and pray and study for a further increase of his gifts. They are none of Christ's ministers who are not in some measure gifted for their work. " He that sendeth a message by the hand of a fool, cutteth off the feet, and drinketh damage," Prov. xxvi. G ; he is sure to suffer for it, it being as if he should cut off a man's legs, and then bid him go on his errand. To conclude ; how unworthy and profane are they who bestow such of their children upon the ministry, as are the dullest and most unfit of all their num- ber ! who say, that when a child is good for nothing, he is good enough to make a preaclier ! whose chil- dren (as Doctor Stoughton speaks in allusion to his speech who called Basil, YlvpiTov cwpov, The gift of an ague, he being presened from the violence of an Arian emperor, because he recovered his son of a dangerous ague) may be called the gift of some lame- ness, infirmity, deformity ! " Offer it now to thy governor; will he be pleased with thee.!"' Mai. i. 8. Obs. 4. Ministers are sustained and upheld in their work by the mighty power of God. It is much to be wondered that the natural, but more that the spi- ritual, clouds are kept from falling. It is God who bindeth up the waters in the cloud, so that it is not rent under them. Job sxvi. 8 ; he that established and made a decree, which shall not pass, for the wa- ters above the heavens, Psal. cxlviii. 4, 6. It was God who presers-ed Elijah when Jezebel had vowed his death; God delivered Paul out of the mouth of the lion ; he kept Isaiah in his ministry during the reign of four, and Hosea during the reign of five kings ; he continued Noah a hundred and twenty years, against the opposition of the old world. Jere- miah, notwithstanding all his enemies, was upheld in his work till the captivity. God promises the church that their teachers should not be removed into comers, but that their eyes should behold them, Isa. xsx. 20. A minister of Christ may say, as Christ of his working miracles, I preach the word to-day and to-morrow, Luke siii. 32, and do the world what they can, they shall not hinder me, till that day be come that Christ hath appointed. The ministers are stars in Christ's hand. So long as there is any one soul which these lights are to guide to heaven, all the blasts of hell can never extinguish them. God sets them, and God keeps them up ; he erects, he upholds, he gave, and he continues their commission during his good pleasure ; they are ambassadors, 2 Cor. v. 20, whom he calls home when he pleases. Let not the servants of Christ fear man in the doing of the work of their Lord. He who hangs the earth upon nothing, and keeps the clouds from being rent under the burden of the waters, can uphold them under all their pres- sures. Their tmies are in God's hand ; they are neither m their own, nor in their enemies'. " They shall fight against thee," said God to Jeremiah, " but they shall not prevail against thee, for I am with thee," Jer. i. 19. Let faithful ministers fear none but their Master, and nothing but sin and unfaithfulness. Kot outward evils, because he sleeps not who preser\'es them ; but inward evils, because he sleeps not who obsers'es them. Let ministers undauntedly make their faces hard against the faces of the wicked. In their own cause let them be as flexible as a reed ; in God's, as hard as an adamant ; who can powerfully say to the strongest enemies of his ministers, " Do my pro- phets no harm ;" and who will turn the greatest harm which they receive for his sake into good, and make even a fiery chanot to carry his zealous Elijahs into heaven. Hence likewise people are taught how to have their faithful ministers continued; namely, by making God their friend, who at his pleasure re- moves and continues them. How careful were they of Tyre and Sidon to be at peace with Herod, " be- cause their country was nourished by the king's country," Acts xii. 20. It is doubtless greater wis- dom to make God our friend, by whose care and pro- vidence our country is nourished spiritually, and supplied with those who should break the bread of life unto us. If people would keep their ministers, let them keep and love no sin. Upon the repentance of the Jews, God promised them that his sanctuary should be in the midst of them for evermore, Ezek. sxxvii. 26. Let them bring forth likewise the fruits of the gospel. The husbandman lays his ground fal- low when he perceives it will not repay his charges. The kingdom of heaven, saith Christ, shall be taken from you, and given to a nation which will bring forth the fruits thereof. Matt. xxi. 43. Lastly, let them be importunate with God in prayer to uphold his ministers. Importunity held Christ with the disciples when he was going away, Luke xxiv. 29. Say, Lord, thou shalt not go till thou hast blessed me with more spiritual blessings and grace by the means of grace. 0 lay hold upon God, as Galeacius's children hung about his legs, when their father was going from them to live at Geneva. The prophet complains that none stirred up himself to take hold of God, Isa. Ixiv. 7. Say, " O thou the hope of Israel, why shouldst thou be as a stranger in the land, and as a wayfaring man that turneth aside to tarry for a night ? " Jer. xiv. 8. When Peter was cast into prison, prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God for him; and their prayer broke open the prison doors, and knocked off Peter's chains. AVhen Paul was a prisoner at Rome, he tells Philemon, " I trust that through your prayers I shall be given unto you," Philem. 22. Obs. 5. Slinisters must not in this world expect a settled, quiet condition. They are clouds, and they must expect to be tossed and hurried by the winds. The most faithful serv- ants of Christ have ever been opposed, when they were opposers of the sinners and sins of the times in which they lived. They are light, and therefore thieves and tender eyes cannot endure them. They are soldiers, and if they, like Ishmael, will draw their sword against every one, every one's sword shall be against them. They are the salt of the earth, and therefore smart and biting; fishers, and therefore they shall be tossed as upon the sea. " Which of the prophets," saith Stephen, " have not your fathers persecuted?" Acts vii. 52. " So persecuted they the prophets," Matt. v. 12. Saith Christ, " I send unto you prophets," &:c. " and some of them ye shall kill," &c. " and persecute," Matt, xxiii. 34 ; Luke xi. 49. So long as ministers will not suffer w'icked men to be quiet in their lusts, they will not suffer ministers to have quiet lives. Satan does not so much oppose any of the soldiers in Christ's army as he does the com- manders ; nor does that wolf any way so much endea- vour to devour the sheep as by removing the mastiffs. By the persecuting, likewise, and scattering his minis- ters, God wisely provides for the relief of his church: God waters the several parts thereof by dispersing these clouds into several quarters. " They who were scattered abroad," oi dtaaTrapivrtg, (saith Luke,) " went every where preaching the word," Acts viii. 4. Un- less the seed be scattered, there can be no crop ex- pected, and the scattering of the sowers makes way for the scattering of the seed. The scattering of I Simeon and Levi in Israel dispersed the knowledge 2G4 AN EXPOSITION UPON Ver. 13. of tlie law. By carrying the Jews into captivity the truth was made known among the heathen. In the primitive persecution, the more martyrs, the more Christians were made. By the irruption of the Goths and Vandals the persecutors themselves became Chris- tians. The persecution of the truth is its propaga- tion. The sutferings that happened to Paul fell out to the furtherance of the gospel, Phil. i. 12; a con- sideration which should sweeten the bitterness of a minister's persecution and unsettlement. God does not only thereby make them more pure, but his church more numerous; they ought to prefer service before safety, and account that condition to con- tribute most to their good, which they may make most become good. To conclude this, let ministers take places in"quan° heed, Icst thcy abate in their zeal and d\'spi'i'°c"'.'°Rllat faithfulness for God to gratify a sinful coeruiii ei terra, world. If I pleasc men, saith Paul, ariqui,i''ai'J'isio I am not the servant of Christ. It is disce.iat. Luih. niuch easier to bear the wrath of men for the conscientious discharge, than the wrath of God for the neglect of our duty. Obs. 6. People should sit under the ministry of the word as under the rain distilling from the clouds. Thcy should be as the dry and parched soil, not in regard of barrenness under, but tliirstincss after, heavenly doctrine and the dews of grace ; like those of whom Job speaks, who waited for him as for the rain, Job xxix. 23 ; gasping after the word as the chapt earth opens its mouth in its clefts for the showers, every cleft whereof is, as it were, a tongue to call to the clouds for rain. People should be athirst for God, yea, the living God, panting after Christ in his promises " as the hart after the water-brooks," Psal. xlii. 1, 2. "Open thy mouth wide," saith God, " and I will fill it." The reason why we come not to the word, drink not, relish not, digest not, is, because we thirst not after it. This thirst must be, (1.) An inward, hearty, sincere thirst : " My soul foUoweth hard after thee," Psal. Ixiii. 8 ; my heart saith, " Thy face will I seek." " The desire of our soul is to thy name," Isa. xxvi. 8. Our desires must not be, as they say of some spices, hot in the mouth, cold in the stomach ; not only the expression of the tongue, but accompanied also with the sincerity of the heart. Christians must not be like some hounds, which, fol- lowing the game, open very loud with the rest for company, when they have not the scent of that beast which tiiey pursue. AVe must thirst with the inward savour of that good which is in the word. (2.) It must be a vehement, ardent thirst, like that of David, " My soul breaketh for the longing it hath," (Sec, Psal. cxix. 20, with the whole heart, ver. 10. " My soul fainteth for thy salvation," Psal. cxix. 81. " My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for the courts of the Lord." All the sweetness is put into the benefits of the gospel which God could put into them, and all the desire must be set upon them which thy soul can set upon them : all the vehement propensities where- with things are carried to their centres in their courses can no more than shadow out spiritual de- sires. If a rock should fall from the clouds, it would break any intervening impediment ; the sun cannot be stopped in its course ; gunpoAvder bears all away that would hinder its force. (3.) It is a predominant thirst. No power of nature is so importunate and clamorous for satisfaction as tasting ; a thirsty man much more ardently desires water, than another does beautiful prospects, sweet odours, or melodious music. Wanting these tilings a man can live, not so with- out water : those a man would have, this he must, he will have. A spiritually thirsty soul desires nothing much, but him whom it cannot desire too much. A greater fire is made for roasting an ox than an egg ; and greater is the flame of desire after tlie great and vast benefits of the gospel, than after these inconsiderable things below ; in comparison of Christ thcy are dung, dross, loss ; a Christian will step over them, and kick them away, when God requires ; lay them down as sacrifices, or hate them as snares. Christ gives himself wholly to the soul, and so does a soul deal with him. The greatest worth that it sees in any thing beside Christ is this, that it may be left for Christ. (4.) It is an industrious thirst; not a lazy wishing, but a desire which take pains for the thing desired ; it sutlers not a man to sit still, but makes him, as the Scripture asserts, seek, knock, ask, cry, call, sell all, wrestle, strive ; it oflers violence to, and makes a holy riot upon heaven. It is like fire that will not be smothered. It saith, as Elijah to Oba- diah, " As the Lord liveth, I will show myself" It stands not for any cost, it turns every stone ; like the arrow drawn to the head, it flies apace. It is not like the desire of the slothful, which slays him, because his hands refuse to labour, Prov. xxi. 25. (5.) It is a resolved, waiting, permanent thirst: hence we fre- quently read of waiting for the Lord, and his salva- tion and consolation, Luke ii. 25. It stays the Lord's leisure, and will not away though the Lord seems to deny. No waters of discouragement shall quench it. It does not cast off hope because it cannot pre- sently find comfort: " It is good" (saith the soul) " that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord," Lam. iii. 2G : like one who goes to a house to speak with one much his su- perior, the spiritually thirsty soul will tarry the Lord's leisure for his coming to it. (6.) It is a thirst determined and limited to that one thing upon which it is set; nothing else will serve its turn, nor will it be bribed or put off with any thing instead thereof: " Whom," saith the psalmist, "have I in heaven but thee ? and there is none upon earth that I desire be- side thee," Psal. Ixxiii. 25. " One thing have I de- sired of the Lord, that will I seek after," Psal. xxvii. 4. What have I, said Abraham, so long as I go child- less ? Gen. XV. 2 ; and what have I, saith the soul, so long as I go Christless ? Land, riches, honours, children, &c., are good, but yet they are not Christ. A bag of gold will not serve him who is perishing with thirst instead of a cup of water. (7.) It is a returning, progressive thirst ; never fully satisfied on this side heaven ; it puts upon craving and seeking again and again. The earth desires not rain once only in a year, but a return of showers, the latter as well as the former rain ; nor does refreshment with drink to-day, make a man regardless thereof to- morrow. David's desire was to " dwell in the house of the Lord for ever," Psal. xxiii. 6 ; xxvii. 4. Tlie least degree of spiritual relief satisfies and stays a Christian's stomach to the world; but the greatest takes not away its further desires of Christ. (8.) It is a thankful thirst ; it blesses the Lord for every drop of grace, with the psalmist, " My soul shall be satis- fied as with marrow and fatness ; and my mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips," Psal. Ixiii. 5. Oh, saith the soul. Lord, who shall praise thee if I do not ? A soul satisfied with mercy is a spii-itual psalm sung out in the praises of God, Psal. ciii. I — 3. " Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ," Eph. i. 3. As soon as ever Paul had said, " Christ came into the world to save sinners," whereof he was chief; he adds his doxology, " Now to the King immortal," &c., 1 Tim. i. 17. What a delightful fragrance comes from, and what a face of freshness, greenness, cheerfulness is upon, the face of the parched grass and plants after a Ver. 12. THE EPISTLE UF JUDE, 2G5 shower of rain ! Oh what a spiritual freshness of joy is upon him, what sweetly breathings of praises issue from that soul which God has relieved with his spiritual showers of love and favour ! The soul's greatest trouble is now, that it brings not forth more fruits of new obedience after those showers, and it is now as boundless in duty as heretofore it was in desires. Obs. 7. Seducers are wont to make great appear- ances of worth in themselves and their doctrines. These seducere seemed to be wateiy clouds, who were filled with the rain of instruction and holiness ; but, for all this, the apostle tells us they were clouds with- out water. Heresy is compared to leaven, Mark viii. 15, and, among other reasons, for its puffing and raising the dough. This spiritual leaven puffs up men with an undue and excessive opinion of their own parts and graces. The Pharisees " trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others," Luke X viii. 9. "No doubt," think they, "we are the people, and wisdom shall die with us," Job xii. 2. They are "vainly puffed up by their fleshly mind," Col. ii. 18. The ministers of Satan desired to be accounted the ministers of righteousness. False apostles commended themselves ; measured themselves by themselves, and compared themselves among themselves, 2 Cor. x. 12. They measured and esteemed themselves according to their own mind and judgment, and not according fo their real worth or excellency. They also never considered the excellency of others, who were much beyond them in worth, but only such who were of the same pitch with themselves ; or, as some understand the place, they commend and receive praises from one another, and among themselves. And whereas the apostle saith that he would not boast of things without his measure, ver. 13, he intimates that these seducers boasted beyond all the bounds or measure of their gifts and calling, or (according to some) that they boasted of their labouring in the gospel beyond the measure and term of Paul's labour ; Theophylact and CEcmnenius conceiving that these seducers false- ly boasted that they had propagated the gospel to the ends of the earth, and that, according to the psalmist, " their line was gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world," Psal. xix. 4. Arius vainly gloried that God had i-evealed some- thing to him that was hidden from the apostles V 1 r. « themselves. Montanus boasted that he descripunneaibo- was the Faraclete or Comforter hmiselt. 'huJJFJ"1 ol Simon Magus, the father of these here- o'^p"""'.' "''< tical seducers, boasted that he was the Cet °m K^'ve" mighty power of God. Heretics boldly Epiph. iisr. 24. intrude into things which they have not seen ; they profess knowledge falsely so called. The disciples of Basilides valued themselves only to be men, and all others to be swine and dogs, saith Epiphanius ; and Nazianzen tells Eunomius that he was, he means in his own conceit, a beholder of things T»v iSeoTuv which to all others are invisible, a hearer (i«iT.it. ^cwapf,^- of things which it is not lawful to utter ; ueTri'tx^rue- that he was taken up to heaven as was Tiipi.oi. Kaii Elias ; that he had seen the face of God eeofaviat nf..i- as had Moses ; that he was rapt up m- na»9v"Si"aV,"t. to the third heavens as was Paul. Thus Haz. in urat. 33. {hc papists Style some of their school- men, angelical, seraphical, irrefragable, most subtle, illuminate : the consideration of all which should make us more wary of being led away with the big words and high expressions of these titular worthies. Let us consider what the power is which goes along with their words ; and instead of admiring the flour- ishing titles of evcrv' vain dogmatist, examine what is the consonance between the Scriptures and their opinions. Who honours a mere titular, nominal prince ? Let us not be taken with the glory of the doctor, but search into the bowels of the doctrine. Fools indeed, who take monej-, may be put off with brass coin because it glitters ; but a wary man tries it by the touchstone. 1r\ all your doctors and doc- trines by the word, and ever be more ready to suspect than admire either. Obs. 8. It is a great and inexcusable sin to make show of that goodness of which we are wholly void, and to which we are opposed. Sinful was the pretending of these seducers to be watering clouds, large and black, accompanied with emptiness and dryness. The sin of the church of Sardis was, resting in a bare name and show of holy life. A Christian must look after both name and thing. The prophet charges the Jews with swearing " by the name of the Lord, and making mention of the God of Israel, but not in truth and righteousness," with contenting themselves to be called "of the holy city," &c., Isa. xlviii. 1,2. Nor will this impiety seem small, if we consider either God, others, or ourselves. (1.) The sinfulness hereof appears in respect of God. It pollutes and profanes his name. What greater profanation tliereof imaginable, than to put it upon an unholy, hellish heart ? Is it not more insuf- ferable than to clothe a swine with the robes of a prince, and to put the crown and sceptre of a king upon the head and into the hand of a dunghill-raker ? Is any disgrace to an emperor greater ihan for a base- born slave to state himself his son, and heir to his crown ? This is that pollution of God's name with which God charged the people, Ezek. xxxvi. 20. (2.) In respect of others. It hardens the wicked, who when they see the mere profession separated from the reality of holiness, applaud themselves, and think their own estate very blessed, and that religion is a mere notion and nullity; deride also at it, as did the heathens at those hypocritical Israelites : " These are," said they, " the people of the Lord, and are gone forth of his land," Ezek. xxxvi. 20 : q. d. These are your saints, your Israelites, that came out of the holy land. And what more damps the goodness of young beginners, than the falseness and emptiness of those who have made great shows of forwardness in holi- ness ? thereby one hypocrite pulls them back more than a hundred sincere ones can urge them forward. At the best the}' set up their staff before they are gone half way, and are made like the people, who seeing the body of Amasa lie dead by the way-side, stood still. In short, what are these bare pretenders to holiness, but deluders of others, gins and pitfalls in religion, dunghills covered over with snow, reeds that run into the arms of those who lean upon them, and such who do not only by their faithlessness deceive those who trust them with their estates and worldly concernments, but also much more dangerously mis- guide and delude the souls of those who follow their empty doctrines and crooked lives ? (3.) The greatness of this sin appears principally by considering them who live in it. For, I. All their glorious appearances are purely unprofitable unto them. The report of a man's being wealthy adds nothing to his estate, or that of full feeding to one who is hunger-starved. God tells the hypocritical Jews that they trusted "in lying words," Jer. vii. 8, when they only trusted to their outside shows. " I will declare thy righteousness, and thy works," (said God to that false-hearted people,) " for they shall not profit thee," Isa. Ivii. 12. 2. Shows without reality of holiness are very hurtful. [1.] Appearing good- ness makes men furthest from being and becoming really good. Religion is a very serious, real business j yea, it is very reality, and called in Scripture truth itself. As the privileges, so the practices, of godliness 266 AN EXPOSITION UPON Vkr. 12. are in deed and in truth, and by nothing so much op- posed as shadows and falseness. [2.] They who please themselves with appearances will never labour for the reality of holiness, nor truth in the inward parts ; they are seldom reproved by others, nor is it so easy to fasten a reproof upon them as upon those who are void of all shows of religion ; and so they go on in a mi- serable quietness and uninterruptedness to their own destruction. [3.] They who barely appear holy are of all others the most impudent, not blushing to be accounted such as their own consciences tell them they are far from being. Naomi was ashamed of herself, when the men of Bethlehem said, " Is this Naomi? Call me not," said she, " Naomi, call me Marah ; for the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me," Ruth i. 20. But these say, Call us Chris- tians, though they are no better than heathens ; call us saints, though they are inwardly but rotten sepul- chres ; account us to be in the highest form of re- ligion, though they have not as yet stepped over the threshold of religion's school ; esteem us to be full, although we are altogether empty. True saints are ashamed of commendation, though they are full of worth ; hypocrites glory in being commended, though they have nothing in them commendable. When men have not the thing, it is most unreasonable that they should have the name. When God gave Abram the name of Abraham, he told him there was a reason why he should be called by that name ; " Thy name shall be Abraham, for a father of many nations have I made thee," Gen. xvii. 5. Abigail said concerning her husband, " As his name is, so is he ; Nabal is his name, and folly is with him," 1 Sam. xxv. 25 ; and if Christians be our name, true Christianity should be with us. Lastly, such clouds without water, ap- pearing professors, render themselves of all others most inexcusable. If religion were bad, why did they so much as profess it ? if good, why did they not more, even love it also ? If they took upon them- selves the title and trade of God's servants, why would they not do his work? If God be a Master, where is his fear ? if a Father, where is his honour ? If they would not be his servants, why would they be called so ? If they would be called his servants, why would they not be so ? How fearful should w-e then be of putting our souls off with shadows of goodness ! Labour for that truth in the inward parts, which all the expressions of the outward man are not able to reach ; and remember that hereafter all paint must fall off which is not laid in the oil of sincerity ; and hypocrites shall be discovered and unmasked both to their own consciences, and the judgments of all others. Obs. 9. The empty are also unstable. These " clouds without water" are, by the apostle, said to be " carried about of winds." The apostle, 2 Pet. iii. IG, joins the unlearned and unstable together; and Heb. xiii. 9 he mentions the establishment of the heart with grace. A heart empty of saving knowledge and true holiness is soon unsettled ; and needs must it be so, being not firmly united to and set into Christ by faith ; unbelief and distrust make a man carried up and down like a meteor. He who is not built upon the rock can never stand : if a reed be not tied to some stronger thing, it can never be kept from bending and shaking : where grace, the fruit, is not, there Christ, the root, is not ; and W'here there is no root, there is no stability. Further, where there is a total emptiness of holiness, there is an emptiness of peace and contentment ; " There is no peace to the wicked." And he who wants true con- tentment, will ever be looking out for it where it is not to be had. Without joy life is no life; and if it is not gotten one way, another will be tried. " Who will show us any good ? " is the language of natural men; they have still hopes to be better; and like men in a fever, they toss from one side of the bed to the other, in hope to find coolness and refreshment : but a soul that exercises itself in the ways of holi- ness tells every temptation. You would draw me away to my loss. Yet again, a heart void of grace is divided in the sei-vice of God, and therefore an un- settled heart ; it is not united to fear God's name ; it serves not the Lord without distraction ; all its love, ' fear, joy, runs not one way ; but having inclinations not wholly bestowed upon God, and several ways of the heart's outgoing from God being allowed, it is never safe and certain. When the scales arc even in weight, they tremble and waver ; sometimes one is up, sometimes another: they w'ho will serve two masters, God and the creature, and are double-minded, and will divide their hearts between them, will often be waver- ing, and show themselves sometimes for religion, some- times for the world ; grace fixes and weighs down the heart for God and to God, and chooses him only. Here is the true reason then, in general, why men are so tossed and carried away from the truth of the gospel, they are empty of the truth of grace ; they go from us, because they were never of us ; they are a land-flood, a cistern only receiving from without, and void of an inward living principle and fountain. Obs. 10. Christians should beware of unstedfast- ness, of being carried away with any winds from their holy stedfastness in the truth. " Continue in the things which ye have learned," 2 Tim. iii. 14. Be not as children tossed to and fro with every wind of doctrine. To this end, (1.) Let the word of Christ ballast your souls; store them with the knowledge of saving principles of religion. Empty table-books are fit to have any thing written in them, and a soul empty of the knowledge of wholesome truths is a fit receptacle for any error. Ye do err, saith Christ, because ye know not the Scriptures, Matt. xxii. 29. Stones will easily be removed, unless fixed upon a foundation. He who buys commodities without either weighing or measuring them, may easily be deceived ; the Scripture is the measure and balance of every opinion. How easily may he be cheated with errors instead of truth, who buys only in the dark! Ignorant Christians are like infants which gape, and take in whatever the nurse puts to their mouths. (2.) Labour to get your hearts fastened to the truth by love, as well as your heads filled with the truth by light. He who never loved truth, may easily be brought to leave truth, and to embrace error. He who embraced truth he knew not why, will for- sake it he knows not how ; the heart which has con- tinued deceitful under truth, may soon be deceived by error ; a literal, without an experimental know- ledge of the truth, may quickly be drawn to error : from that wherein we iind neither pleasure nor pro- fit we may easily be enticed. But when once we feel the truth both enlightening and delighting, un- loading its treasures of glory into our souls, quieting our consciences, quelling our lusts, changing us into the image of the Lord, quickening our graces, se- ducers will not be able to cheat us of this jewel, be- cause we know they can bring us nothing in exchange for which we should barter it away. (3.) Let there not be any one lust allowed within thee . , , to loosen thee from the truth. They Jk"toI 6o^\iu"J' who are not sound in the fear of God, f^^^'j;;;. x"i?°''''' may easily become unsound in the faith of God. A remiss heart will close with remiss prin- ciples. The mystery of faith must be held in a good conscience, which some, saith the apostle, having cast away, have made shipwreck of the faith, 1 Tim. i. 19 ; he compares conscience to a ship, and faith to a treasure therein embarked, which must needs mis- Ver. 12. THE EPISTLE OF JUDE. 2c; carry if the ship be cast away, any corrupt aflection entertained : the soul, like an unwalled and unfenced city, lies open to the rage and rapine of and ruin by any enemy. If seducers suit their bait to the un- mortified lust of a sinner, he is easily made their prey, Prov. xxv. 28. Particularly, [1.] Beware of pride ; the proud Christian, like a light, pufted blad- der, will easily be puffed any way of error : a bird of a very small carcass, and of many feathers, is easily carried away with the wind. Pride is the mother of heresy ; it is the proud man who consents not to " wholesome doctrine, but dotes about ques- tions," I Tim. vi. 3, 4. Humility is the best fence against error ; a humble man is so small in his own eyes, that the shot of seducers cannot hit him ; and lies so low, that all their bullets fly over him. God teaches the humble, but the proud person is Satan's scholar. [2.] Fence thy soul against worldly-mind- edncss ; a worldly heart will be bought and sold at every rate. The truth can never be safe in the closet of that heart which error can open with a golden picklock. The covetous both make merchandise of others, and will be made merchandise by others. The hook of error is easily swallowed dowTi by a worldly heart, if it be baited with filthy lucre. Take heed of being a servant of truth for gain, for if so, thou wilt soon be a slave unto error for more gain. [3.] Keep out of the wind of seducing doctors and their doctrines. " Mark them who cause divisions, and avoid them," Rom. xvi. 17. If it be dangerous to be tempted by, what is it then to be tempters of the devil ! Turn awaj' from such as creep into houses, and lead souls captives, 2 Tim. iii. 5, 6. Eat not of the banquets of him who hath been found to mix poison in his dishes ; let holy zeal, in this re- spect, hinder civility. If these seducers come to you, yet neither receive them into your houses, nor bid them God speed. Shun the meeting-places of error as the schools of impiety. Beware of false prophets, who put on a sheepskin profession over a wolfish purpose, " deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ," 2 Cor. xi. 13. The Poiycarpus Mar- dcvil ncvcr dcccivcs in his own like- cioni ahquando ncss. Fccd not like silly sheep upon dicenii. Cognosce rotten grass because it is sweet and c?i!iiosco"te'uri- I^scious. Polycarp would entertain no tiiogenitum acquaintance with Marcion, but termed a|KSie/itorum him the first-bom of Satan; and, as disijpuii hHhue- Irenaeus states, the apostles and their runt tmiorem, ut -.., /.i,,.,!/. i nequeverbo lenus disciplcs wcrc SO tull 01 lioly fear, that armaeoruli^qui they would uot commuuicatc with here- aduiteraverant tics in the worUl who had adulterated ventatein. Iren. , , -_ _, , 1. .1. c. .1. pag. the word. Let not Satan take us among ""'" '"■ his own, lest he make us of his own. Thus much for that second comparison, whereby the apostle describes the sin and misery of these seducers, viz. " clouds without water." III. He compares them to " trees whose fruit wi- thereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots." Two things principally are here considerable in this resemblance taken from bad and corrupt trees. Their badness in consideration, 1. Of their fruits. 2. Of the trees themselves. 1. In consideration of their fruits; so our apostle expresses, (1-) The decay and withering of their fruits ; " whose fruit withereth." (2.) Their cessation from and privation of their fruit ; their fruit was none ; " without fruit." 2. Their badness in consideration of themselves, the trees, which, ( 1 .) Were irrecoverably dead ; " twice dead." (2.) Deservedly therefore " plucked up by the roots." So that four particulars we shall here explain in this similitude borrowed from bad trees; the lost estate and the spiritual misery of these seducers being set down by a fourfold gradation, or by four steps, each one rising to a further degree of wretchedness than the other, and the lower making way for the higher. 1. When they seemed to have fruit, at the best it was decaying, withering. 2. This withering fruit proved no fruit ; " without fruit." 3. This ceasing from fruit, or this no fruit, was joined with a total want of life in the trees ever to produce any more fruit ; " twice dead." 4. This total want of life made an easy way for the loss of place and ground to continue in. 1. When they seemed to have fruit, at best it was decaying and withering. The apostle saith that they were " trees whose fruit withereth." The word whereby he expresses it is (pSivotrwpwa, which, ac- cording to the different apprehensions of interpret- ers, has several interpretations affixed to it. The Yulgate renders it autumnales, autumn trees, or trees of autumn, from tpQivoTTapov, which sometimes signi- fies autumn ; and such trees, say some, the apostle calls these seducers, because when trees at that time of the year begin to put forth and make show of bearing fruit, they bring not their fruit to perfect maturity, it being too late in the year, and men judge it to be' a sign that the trees themselves also are wi- thering, and shortly after will die. Others, rather explaining than opposing this interpretation, con- ceive that these words, iivCpa tpBivotrwptva, intend ar- bores uki'mi, Jinientis, ejctremi, se7iescenli)i aulumn!, trees of the latter end of autumn, or that part which is next to winter, because (pBivoTuipov properly signi- fies the ending, far-spent autumn, it being called so, Trapa to (pQiviadai Tf^v oTTiJpaj', o finiente autumno, from the going out or wasting away of autumn : and this, say they, may be the meaning of the apostle, that as at the end of autumn, toward the beginning of No- vember, the fruit and leaves of trees fall off, and the trees themselves seem to wither and die ; .so these seducers, what show soever they made formerly, were at last empty and destitute, not only of fruit, all true worth and goodness, but also even of till appearances thereof; but this seems rather to be intended in the last branch, " plucked up by the roots." Others think that by Uv^pa (pBit'oirupwa the apostle means arbores fnigiperdas, such as spoil and destroy fruit, from t'ov Kapirov, as if the apostle had intended that these seducers aimed by all they did and brought forth only to corrupt and spoil the church, even as fruit being rotten and putrified easily corrupts and infects that fruit which lies near it : but this seems not to be an apt beginning to that following grada- tion, of their being without fruit; it being worse to hurt others than not to be good ourselves. Others conceive that the word ipBivoTriupira respects not here that time of the year which we call autumn, but only the nature of the fruit which these trees brought forth; namely, such as are withered, and altogether unprofitable, as if these trees were called "™- indulgence showed him, broke prison, he will be sure to secure him fast enough : he that before had no shackle, shall be bound with two chains for failing ; before he was in libera custodia, had the liberty of the prison, now he is in arcto. ctistodiu, cast into the dun- geon ; before he had but one keeper, now he hath seven worse to captivate and enthral him. They who have escaped in profession the sei-vitude of Satan, and seem to cleave to a new, a better Master, should they again revolt from Christ, and be reapprehended by their old jailer, how irrecoverably will he make them his own, how watchful will he be to keep them in hold, and his hold in them, by hardening their hearts, searing their consciences, following them with temptations, and even hindering them from all the very appearances of holiness ! And that brings me to the last branch of explication. This for the explication of the third gradation of these seducers' misery ; they were " twice dead." 4. Their loss of life occasioned their loss of place ; "plucked up by the roots." It was bad for these trees to wither, to be without fruit, to be dead, twice dead, though having still the place and appearance of trees ; but to be without growth, fruit, life, and place also, makes the loss and woe complete. " Plucked up by the roots," atpiJajOlirn ; rooted up as plants they might be said to be in two respects. (1.) In respect of removal from tlieir former place wherein they stood. (2.) In respect of the discovery of the rottenness and unsoundness of the root by that removal ; the manifesting what was at the bottom of the tree, the turning of the inside outward. (1.) In respect of removal, the apostle must speak by way of prediction, for according to it they were plucked up by the roots; either, 1. Out of the soil of the church, by being removed at first out of the affections and prayers of the church, and after- wards by excommunication quite cast out of the church ; it being denied to such unsound trees any longer to stand in such a garden. Or, 2. Plucked up by the roots out of the soil of the world, and out of the land of the living; and this plucking up was by death, which plucks up not only the withered, dead, but even the most green, flourishing, deeply and strongly rooted tree in the world. But i understand the apostle to speak of a pluck- ing up, in point of discovery of all that unsoundness or secret rottenness which was at the root of these trees, and the manifestation of them by their abomin- able errors and profaneness, to be such as never had any vital influence from Christ. Trees may have w^ithered fruit, be without fruit, and twice dead, and yet he w-ho passes by them, and beholds them among the rest of trees, may possibly be ignorant, especially at that time of the year when other trees also are without leaves and fruits, that these trees are utterly Veb. 12. THE EPISTLE OF JUDE. 273 and irrecoverably dead ; but when he sees them plucked up by the roots, then their privation of life IS made evident and manifest to every one : haply most thought they were dead before, but now all know they are dead. Other trees which yet stand perhaps they may suspect to be dead, but tlicse which are plucked up by the roots they evidently and cer- tainly behold to be so. Nor is it any wonder that these dead trees should al«o lose their place, and plainly appear to be altogether dead, if we consider, 1. How unable dead roots were long to bear and hold up the trees. How could that free stand con- stantly which wanted a living root to supply and feed it ? A dead root bears not a steady tree. As without a vigorous and living root the tree cannot be kept from withering in its fruit, so neither from its ceasing to stand : out of Christ there can be no perseverance. He who sets us up, only keeps us up. He who laboured to make his picture stand alone, quickly saw the vanity of his endeavour, when he considered, as he said, that something, life he meant, was wanting within. As the hope, so the holiness of the hypocrite is like the spider's web. Union by profession will not serve the turn to make us per- severe ; no, to that there must be added union by real implantation. If the heart be not set right, the spirit will not be stedfast with God, Psal. lxx\-iii. 8. They who stand loose from Christ will never stand long ; a hypocrite and his very profession will part in a temptation : he who believes not will never be established. 2. How just it was of the owner to pluck up those trees. Most just was it with God to pluck up these trees by the roots, for, [I.] Punishing their hypocrisy. These seducers, (of whom Jude speaks,) who would never endure to be more than, are now suffered not to be so much as, hypocrites ; they never cared to be better than visible, and now they are not so good as visible professors ; they who would not have the life of trees, shall not now have the room and place of trees ; they who were inwardly corrupt, are now open- ly profane ; they regarded not the reality, and they retain not the appearances of sanctity ; they who formerly feared not to appear unholy in the sight of God, are afterward discovered justly to be unholy in the sight of man. Heretofore they disdained to be scholars of ti-uth, and they now are left to be mas- ters of error. In a word, they who once were deemed to be something when they were nothing, now neither are nor appear to be any thing ; and, as Christ said, from them who had not, even that which they seem- ed to have is taken away. [2.] Justly does God pluck up these trees by the root to punish them for their uufmitfulness : as a fruitless soil, so a fruitless tree, is " nigh unto cursing," Heb. vi. S. If Solomon (a type of Christ) have a vineyard, he must have a thousand pieces of silver, and the keepers thereof (but) two hundred ; the chief gain was to come to Solomon, Cant. viii. II, 12: he that plantcth a vine- yard should eat of the fruit of it ; and there is no plant in God's vineyard but God will either have glor)' from it by its bearing fruit, or glory on it by its burning in the fire. Obi. I. Even corrupt trees bear some fruit. These trees had fruit, though it were but withered fruit : most men go to hell in the way of religious appear- ances ; they who shall be excluded out of heaven, will pretend many good works, prophesying, mira- cles, Matt. vii. 22, 23. Outside services are cheap, and cost but little. Good words, we say, are good cheap ; they may procure much credit, though they ask but little cost. Besides, natm'al conscience will not be put off with a total laying aside of duty ; and if Satan can cheat poor souls with putting a pebble instead of a pearl into their hands, he thinks it as cunning as if he put nothing into their hands at all : nothing so dangerously hinders men from happiness, as putting off themselves with shadows and appear- ances of that which is really and truly good. He who is altogether naked, may be sooner brought to look after the getting a garment, than he who pleases himself with his own rags wherewith he is already clad. A man who is smoothly civil, and morally honest, is in greatest danger of being suffered to go to hell without disturbance ; he snorts not in his sinful sleep to the disturbing of others, and he is sel- dom jogged and disquieted, nay, perhaps he is highly commended. Christians, please not yourselves in the bare profession and appearances of Christianity ; that which is highly esteemed among men may be abominable before the Lord ; let not the quid, but the quale, not the work done, but the manner of doing it, be principally regarded ; examine your- selves also concerning the principle whence your actions flow, the righteousness whereby they are to be accepted, the rule by which they are regulated, the end to which the}- tend ; and, as the apostle speaks, let every one examine his own work, and consider whether his duty be such as will endure the Scripture touchstone. Obi. 2. Withering and decaying in holiness is a distemper very unsuitable, and should be very hate- ful to every Christian. It was the great sin and woe of these seducers, and should be looked upon as such by us, and that upon these following considerations. (1.) In respect of God. Decays in our Christian course oppose his nature, in whom is no shadow of change. " I am the Lord," saith he, " I change not," Mai. iii. 6. He is eternally, " I am." and ever the same ; his " years are throughout all generations," Psal. cii. 24 : and what has inconstancy to do with immutability ? how unlike to the Rock of ages are chaff and stubble ! no wonder that his soul takes no pleasure in those who draw back, Heb. x. 38, and that they only are his house, who hold fast the con- fidence and rejoicing of the hope finn to the end, Heb. iii. 6. If a frail, weak man will not take a house out of which he shall be turned within a few years, how unpleasing must it be to God to be so dealt with ! (2.) Spiritual decays and witherings are unsuitable to the works of God. " His work is perfect," Deut. xxxii. 4; he completed the work of creation, he did it not by halves. " The heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them," Gen. ii. I. God finished the building of his house before he left. His works of providence, whether general or special, are all perfect; he never ceases to provide for and sustain the creatures; the doing hereof one year is no hinderance to him from doing the like another and another: nay, the day, week, month, year, generation, end ; but God's providential care still goes on, he upholds every creature, nor is the shore of providence in danger of break- ing ; he feeds, heals, delivers, clothes us unwearied- ly ; goodness and mercy follow us all the days of our lives, Psal. xxiii. (i ; he regards us from our youth, and forsakes us not when we are grey-headed, Psal. Ixxi. 17, 18. Most perfect are his works of special providence. Redemption is a christus perseva- perfect work; Christ held out in his f""' t'l;' '^'.i''^'' ^ m • ,-11 -11 z' • 1 J ^1 1 tu pro illo perse- suiiermgs till all was finished : tnougn veres. Bern, de the Jews offered to believe in him if he T'-^P-se. would come down from the cross, yet would he not leave the work of man's redemption inconsummated. He finished the work which was given him to do ; he saves to the utmost, delivers out of the hands of all enemies ; nor does he leave these half destroyed, they aie thrown into the bottom of the sea ; he has 274 AN EXPOSITION UPON Ver. 12. not only touched, taken up, but quite taken away the sin of the world. Nor will he leave the work in the soul imperfect ; he is " the author and finisher of our faith." His whole work shall Ije done upon Mount Zion ; he will carry on his work of grace till it be perfected in glory, where the spirits of just men shall be made perfect, and the saints come unto a perfect man. (3.) Spiritual witherings and dccay- ings are opposite to the word of God. 1. The word commands spiritual progressiveness : " Be thou faith- ful unto death," Rev. ii. 10. "Let us not be weary in well-doing," Gal. vi. 9. " Look to yourselves, that we lose not those things which we have wrought," 2 John 8. " Let us go on unto perfection," Heb. vi. I. " Perfecting holiness in the fear of God," 2 Cor. vii. 1. " Take heed lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God," Heb. iii. 12. 2. The word threatens spiritual decays : " If we sin wilfully after we have i-eceived the knowledge of the truth, there remaiueth no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful looking for of vengeance and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God," Heb. x. 2(5, 27, 3L "I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love," Rev. ii. 4. " If any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him," Heb. x. 38. 3. The word encourages proceeding in holiness : " I will give thee a crown of life," Rev. ii. 10. " Yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry," Heb. x. 37. " Behold, I come quick- ly ; and my reward is with me," Rev. xxii. 12. " He that endureth to the end shall be saved." Nor need it seem strange that the proceeding of a godly man in holiness for a few years is rewarded with eternity ; for as the sin of the wicked is punished eternally, because they, being obstinate and inflexible, would sin eternally should they always live ; so the sincere desire and endeavour of the godly to proceed in holi- ness is crowned eternally, because, should they always live, they would always and progressively be holy. 4. Spiritual witherings and decays are opposite to the honour and worship of God. None can honour God who divides his service between him and other things. He accounts himself not served at all, un- less always served. Who will think that employment vast and large, which a man takes up and lays down at his pleasure ? What proportion bears slight and short obedience to the majesty of Him who is the best and the greatest ? How can that work be deemed by any beholder sweet and delightful, of which men are as soon weary as of some grievous burden ? Who will account that service profitable and advantageous, or its wages to eternity any other than a notion, rt'hen they who have entered into it think an hour long enough to continue in it ? or will any think that God gives strengtli to his servants to perform it, who give it over before they have well begun ? or that he delights in that holiness which his seeming friends take such frequent liberty to forsake at their plea- sure ? Prov. xvii. 17. (2.) The sinfulness of witherings and decays ap- Eears in respect of ourselves. 1. Whatever professions ave been made, it is certain there never was sin- , , , cerity. Lhistedfastness is a sure note oan"ol!Tlir of unsoundness ; he never was, who Kiiet'.'l.'elc!']!. ^^'S'' ceases to be, a friend; for a friend loveth at all times. He who leaves Christ never loved him. They set not their heart aright, and their spirit was not stedfast with God, Psal. Ixxviii. 8. 2, Spiritual withering renders all former profession unprofitable and in vain. He who continues not in, had as good never have entered into, the ways of God; nothing is held done as long as aught thereof remains to be done ; we shall be judged according to what we are, not what we have been ; Judas, not according to his apostleship wherein he lived, but according to his treachery and despair wherein he died, Matt, xxvii. 3 — 5 : our beginning in the Spirit, followed with ending in the flesh, ad- vantages not. Gal. iii. 3, 4; that is only well which ends well ; it is not the contention, but the conquest wliich crowns ; they win the prize, not who set out first, but continue last. 3. Spiritual withering makes our former profession and progress therein to injure us. It had not only been as well, but better, never to have known the way of righteousness. He who licks up his vomit never casts it up again. The house re-entered by Satan is more delightfully and strongly possessed by the impure spirit ; the water cooled after heating is now colder than ever; the seeming breach between sin and" the soul, being made up again, is like a disjointed bone well set, the union is stronger than ever; and it is more easy once to go on than often to begin. And as there was nothing Satan so much endeavoured as thy leaving God, so nothing will he so much hinder as thy returning again to God; yea, and it may be by this time God is justly provoked to leave that person to Satan, who would needs leave God for Satan. To conclude, none will be so inexcusable before God as they who leave the ways of holiness ; for if those ways were bad, why did they enter into them ? if good, why did they not continue in them ? (3.) The sinfulness of spiritual withering appears in respect of others. 1. They who remain strong and stable do not yet remain joyful, but are much dis- tressed by the decays of any; though they fall not with them, yet they are cast down for them; yea, they should sin if they should not be sad ; and how great a sin is it, to make it necessary for them to mourn, whom to rejoice is thy duty ! " Now we live," saith Paul, " if ye stand fast in the Lord," 1 Thess. iii. 8. Their apostacy then would have been his death. 2. The weak are much endangered to be carried away with others for company ; seldom doth any leave God singly : the worst, yea, the weak- est, shall have too many followers. Although these seducers were carried away by reason of their empti- ness, yet all that Jude could do, all the diligence he could use, was little enough to keep the Christians from being carried away with them. It is easier for a weak seducer to carry souls away, than for a strong Christian to keep them back. 3. The wicked are confirmed in the sin into which the decayed Chris- tian is fallen, and also much deride and reproach that way of truth and holiness which the unstedfast have forsaken ; they are confirmed in their sin, because their own way has now the addition of a proselyte, and the commendation of an enemy : now numbers are a great encouragement and a strong argument to a sinner in any wickedness, and the commendation of an enemy is equivalent to a universal good report ; sinners will deride likewise and blaspheme the way of truth, as if either Christians had formerly em- braced it for by-ends, or else as if it had not worth and excellency in it to deserve a stedfast perse- vering in it ; and the dispraising of holiness by its seeming friends will appear to its enemies to be equivalent to a universal ill report. Obs. 3. It is the duty of Christians to endeavour after spiritual fruit fulness. The apostle mentions unfruitfulness likewise as the sin and woe of these corrupt trees, seducers. This duty of bearing and bringing forth much frait is frequently noted in Scripture : " Bring forth fruit meet for repentance;" Matt. iii. 8 ; Luke iii. 8. " Now he that ministereth seed to the sower," &c., " increase the fruits of youi Ver. 12. THE EPISTLE. OF JUDE. 275 righteousness," 2 Cor. ix. 10. " Being filled with the fniits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ," &c., Phil. i. 11. "The wisdom from above is full of eood fruits," James iii. 1/. "Every branch in me uiat beareth fruit he purgeth, that it may bring forth more fmit," John xv. 2. " He that abideth in me, and I in him, bringeth forth much fruit," ver. 5. " I have chosen you, that ye should bring forth fruit," ver. 16. "Being fruitful in every good work," Col. i. 10. As touching the nature and condition of these fruits, (1.) They must be fruits of a right kind, Phil. i. 27; Eph. V. 3, 4; 1 Cor. xii. 31 ; good and spiritual fruits, of the same nature with the good seed that has been sown in us: when wheat is sown, tares must not come up ; nor cockle, when barley is cast into the ground. Our fruit must be such as becomes the gospel, not fruits of the flesh. Not fruits merely of gifts, parts, abilities of utterance, knowledge, nor only of civil righteousness, just dealing toward men, freedom from scandals; not fruits only of external profession of religion, in prayer, hearing, S:c. ; but such as are suitable and proj>er to a supernatural root and principle, fruits worthy of amendment of life. Matt. iii. ; love " out of a pure heart," 1 Tim. i. 5 ; spiritual fruits, fruits brought forth to a spiritual end ; they must give a sweet and delightful relish, though possibly they are not very bulky. Our ends must be raised up to aim at God, and to sanctify him in all our duties. Our obedience must proceed more out of thankfulness, and less out of constraint of con- science ; such fruits they must be as are reckoned. Gal. v. 22, 23, " Love, joy, peace, long-sufl!'ering, faith," iS:c. Thy fruit must be of a singularly excel- lent nature. A tree of righteousness, a branch of the true vine, must not bring forth grapes and thistles. If fornication, uncleanness, covetousness, &c. must not be once named among us, as becometh saints, then not be brought forth and owned. Muddy water is not a suitable stream to a crystal fountain. Brambles and briers are more fit for a wild common than a garden knot. Of the sinful actions committed by a saint, the wicked will say to God, as Jacob's sons did to their father of Joseph's coat, " See whether this be thy son's coat or no." (2.) They must be fi-uits in point of production, apparency, and bringing forth. Fruits are not in, but upon the tree. Our goodness must not only ap- pear, but yet it must appear : if it exist, it must and will be seen. Men must see our good works, that God may be glorified, Phil. i. 11. If they see them not, it must not be because we will not show them, but because they will not or cannot see them. The fountain which is full must also overflow. The hand must be filled as well as the heart with the fruits of righteousness. It is not having good in us, but doing good by us, for which we are called good. Our pro- fiting in holiness must appear to all men, 1 Tim. iv. 15. We must shine as lights in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation. Our fruits must feed many. (3.) They must be fruits suitable to the helps and furtherances bestowed upon us for producing them. If the soil be very fat, the watering very frequent, the cost and care very great, we expect the fruit should be very abundant. Indifferent hearts and lives are not good enough where God has bestowed excellent means. He is not a fruitful Christian who has but an ordinary growth under rich opportunities. Our returning must be proportionable to our receiv- ing. They who enjoy much from God, and yet are no better than those who enjoy less, are therefore worse because they are not better. 'Whereas for the time, saith the apostle, you should have been teachers of others, &c., Heb. v. 12. " Unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required," Luke xii. 48. (4.) It must be fruitfulness in bringing forth all the fruits of righteousness. Fruits of the first and second table; of religion toward God, and of right- eousness toward man. Fruits inward ; good thouglits, desires, purposes, longings after God, good affections, holy joy, love, fear, sorrow. Fruits outward; gootl works, holy words : " Whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report," Phil. iv. 8. Observe the apostle's repetition of what- soever ; we must not pick and choose, and do what- soever we please. Whatsoever the Lord commands we must do, Exod. ix. 8; xxiv. 3, 7 ; not examining what the service is which is commanded, but who the Master is who commands; growing up in Christ in all things ; not preferring one thing before another ; " being fruitful," as the apostle expresses it, " in every good work," Col. i. 10; having respect to all the commandments, Psal. cxix. 6 ; esteeming every precept " concerning all things to be right," ver. 128; not doing, with Herod, many things, but all things ; thoroughly furnished to all good works : our feet must endure to walk in a stony as well as in a sandy path. As a man who is to plant an orchard will get some trees of every good fruit, so we must get every good fruit which we hear of, and set our hearts with it. The pulse of a gracious person beats evenly ; and he is neither a maimed person to want any limb, nor a monster to have one limb so large that others want their due proportion. (5.) They must be fruits, as of every good kind, so of every kind abundantly, not brought forth in a penurious, scanty measure. Imperfection must be oui trouble as well as our pollution. The soil of a Christian's soul, like the land of Egypt in the seven plenteous years, must bring forth by handfuls. We must set no stints and limits to our Christian fruit- fulness. We must know no enough, Phil. iii. 13. The degrees of a Christian's grace must be like num- bers, the highest whereof being numbered, a higher than that may be named. We must look upon every grace like the faith of the Thessalonians, to have something lacking to it, 1 Thess. iii. 10. Perfection is our pattern, and proficiency is ever our duty. We are never gotten far enough till we are gotten home. He that thinks himself rich enough is nothing worth, and he that desires not to bear much fruit is no part of God's husbandry, John xv. 1, 2. (6.) They must be fruits brought forth when the trees grow old. The}^ must be borne constantly. Trees of righteousness bring forth most fruit in their old age ; in this unlike other trees, who grow barren in their old age. They must ever be green and flourishing, Psal. xcii. 14. The bitter fruit of apos- tacy cannot be brought forth by a good tree. It had been better never to have been planted that we might bear fruit, and that we never had begun to bear fruit, than afterward to be plucked up for ceasing to bear fruit. The good ground bringeth forth fruit with patience ; and glory and immortality is the portion only of those wlio are patient and continuing in well-doing. (7.) They must be fruits in point of maturity; not only buds and blossoms, but brought forth to per- fection. It is not enough for Christians only to have good motions and purposes, but their resolu- tions must also be brought to execution, and not perish like an abortive birth. Many make their pur- poses, as one saith, like our eves, and their perform- ances like our holy-days : servants work hard upon the one, that they may play upon the other ; so do 276 AN EXPOSITION UPON Ver. 12. they labour liard upon their purposes, but they are idle and play upon their performances. What a pity is it that many a fair blossom is nipped in the head ! (8.) Tliey must be fruits in regard of seasonable- ness. We must bring forth fruit in due season, Psal. i. 3. Fruits are only acceptable in their season : pleasant fruits are brought forth in their months, Ezek. xlvii. 12. Words spoken, and works done, in season, are as apples of gold in pictures of silver. We must have our senses exercised to know lit seasons for all we do. Good duties must be done in a good and suitable time, and that adds much to the good- ness of the action ; we must order in this respect our conversation aright. If our corn should not ear till harvest were past, nor our trees bud till after mid- summer, men would look but for poor store of fruit, and a slender crop. It is true, repentance, faith, and seeking reconciliation with God are continual acts, to be performed at all times, though even for these some times are more seasonable than others, as the time of health, strength, and youth ; but hearing, reading, singing, solemn prayer, &c. may be un- seasonably performed. Praying is not seasonably performed in the time of preaching, nor reading in the time of prayer. It is Satan's policy to mar duties, good for the matter, with an unseasonable manner of performing them. Seasonableness is the grace of our fruits. (9.) Lastly, They must be fruits in respect of the propriety of them. They must be our own, not per- formed by a deputy or an attorney. The godly is compared to a tree that " brings forth his fruit," Psal. i. 3. It must not be borrowed : if our own lamps be without oil, we cannot borrow of our neighbours ; the saints and angels have little enough for them- Belves. Papists in this respect build their confidence upon a sandy foundation. Another man's feeding or clothing himself cannot nourish or warm me ; nor can another man's believing or working save me. The just must be saved by his own faith. People must not think to go to heaven by the goodness of their ministers, nor children by the holiness of their parents. Thy rejoicing, as the apostle speaks, must be in thyself, not another. Gal. vi. 4. If thy friend, thy pastor, thy parent, thy master be holy for him- self and thee too, he shall go to heaven for himself and thee too. To conclude this point with some directions how to become fruitful trees : [1.] We must be removed from our natural root and stock, and set upon and ingrafted into a new one. We must be transplanted from the first to the Second Adam. The tree must be good before the fruit can be so. Matt. xii. 33. " Men gather not grapes of thorns, nor figs of thistles," Matt. vii. 16. Till we are in Christ our best works are but corrupt fruits. According to our union with Christ, such is our com- munion with him and fruitfulness, John xv. Some are united to him only by the external tie of visible ordinances and profession ; knit to him by that obli- gation made in baptism no otherwise than many grafts are that do not thrive or live in their stock, but only stand as bound about by a thread ; and their communion with Christ is only external, without any spiritual sap or inward influence derived from him to them; and therefore their fruit is that which may grow in the wilderness of heathenism, which natural honesty and conscience bring forth. Our union to Christ must be real, supernatural. " Without me," saith he, " ye can do nothing :" we must abide in him, fetch all from him, depend upon him, John xv. 4—6. The fruits of righteousness are by Jesus Christ to the praise of God. We are to honour the Hus- bandman by making him our Lord, and by doing all for him ; and the Root, by doing all in him .ind from him ; we must be nothing in ourselves, either in re- gard of self-aims or self-abilities. From him is our fruit found. First a good tree, and then a fruit- bearing tree. [2.] Shelter thy fruits from the blasting winds of pride. Walk humbly with thy God. The valleys men commonly build and plant in, and they are called the fruitful valleys. The lowly heart is the fruitful heart. God gives grace to the humble. Men look up to the hills, but they dwell in the valleys: " Though the Lord be high, yet hath he respect to the lowly," Psal. cxxx\-iii. 6. God and humility mutually delight in one another; God is always de- lighted in giving, humility in receiving ; it being the poorest, and yet the richest grace. Should God pour grace upon a proud heart, it would be as the pouring of liquor upon the convex side of a vessel. " He hath filled the hungry with good things; and the rich he hath sent empty away," Luke i. 53. [3.] Let no secret lust lie at the root of the tree. Grace is that flower at which sin and Satan always labour to be nibbling. The best plant may be spoiled with a wonn at the root. Any one lust retained with love will blast the whole crop of thy graces. Beware of every root of bitterness. The Spirit of God is a tender, delicate thing; nor will it endure so harsh a companion as any one lust. If grace kill not sin, sin will kill grace. They can never be made friends. Pity to any one sin is cruelty to all thy graces ; the sparing of the former is the spoiling of the latter. The growth of grace cannot consist with the love of poison. The least sin is terrible to the greatest saint. [4.] Plant thyself by the rivers of water, Psal. i. 3 ; partake of those waters which flow from under the threshold of the sanctuary, Ezek. xlvii. 12. The inundation of the Nile made Egypt fruitful. De- light in a powerful ministry. It is as possible at the same time to grow in fruitfulness, and to decay in love to ordinances, as to increase the fire by taking away the fuel. " Apostles, pastors, teachers," &c. are given by Christ for our growth up to the fulness of the measure of the statui-e of Christ, Eph. iv. 13. As a Christian abates in appetite he will decay in strength. [5.] Pray for the showers and dews of God's bless- ing. Thy planting and watering will not help with- out God give the increase. He who will have grace in plenty, will have prayer in fervency. Grace ever puts the soul upon begging for grace. The richest Christian has been oftenest begging for the alms of mercy, James i. 5. That wisdom which is fullest of good fruits must be begged from God, James-iii. 17. Obs. 4. The greatest flourishes and appearances of hypocrisy cannot reach the excellency of the least dram of sincerity. All a hypocrite can do amounts not to fruit. These seducers were " trees without fruit." If Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like a poor lily of the field, much less is a hypocrite in all his glory beautified like the poorest real saint. The resplendent and beautiful body of the sun can- not in i-espect of life match the little ant upon the molehill. All the improvements of nature, let it be never so tilled, racked, manured, adorned, cannot reach the excellency of one dram of grace. A curi- ous painter may go very far by his art in imitating of nature, but he can never reach by all his skill to the drawing or painting of life. It is easy to act a king upon the stage, it is not so easy to be a king on the throne. There is an emphasis in true sanctity which the most learned hypocrite cannot translate. The note of sincerity is too high for any but a saint to reach. Till the nature of the tree be changed, and of bad made good, the fruits are as none. How should this humble the proudest hypocrite ! Could Ver. 12. THE EPISTLE OF JUDE. 277 he bring to God all the gold and silver in Solomon's temple, it were, if brought by him, nothing, incom- j arably below one broken-hearted groan for sin, and fidueial breathing after Jesus Christ. All his truly good works may be summed up with a cipher ; and though they glitter here, glow-worm like, in the dark night of this world, yet in the bright disquisition of the day of judgment they shall all vanish and disappear. Oh how great will the shame and disappointment of hypocrites be, who at that day shall see that all their days they have been doing nothing ! To close this, what a comfort may this be to the poorest child of God, that God, in the midst of all his wants of these common blessings, has yet bestowed one upon him which is distinguishing! God bestows those blessings upon others which a saint, as such, needs not have, and that blessing upon him which the wicked, as such, cannot have. And how may a child of God improve this for comfort in the weakness, smallness, deficiencies, if they be his trouble, of his grace, considering it is fruit, true fruit ; and it is more, though it be but one little basketful, nay, but one small cluster of grapes, than all the hypocrites in the world can show ; and the least cluster as truly shows that is a vine which bears it, as the most plentiful increase that ever any vine brought forth ! Obi. 5. Incorrigibleness in sin is a dismal condi- tion. These seducers were trees twice dead; the apostle despaired of their future living and becoming fruitful, and this was an estate that argued them ex- tremely miserable. It is a woe to have a bad heart, but it is the depth of woe to have a heart that shall never be better. Sickness is an affliction, but sick- ness past recover)-, a desperate sickness, is a desper- ate evil. How did it fetch tears from the eyes of Christ, that the things belonging to Jerusalem's peace were not only formerly unknown, but that now they were utterlv hid from their eves ! " 0 Ephraim," (sai'th God,) " what shall I do unto thee ? O Judah, what shall I do unto thee ?" " If ye will not hear," saith Jeremiah to the incorrigible Jews, "my soul shall weep in secret places for your pride, and mine eye shall weep sore," &c., Jer. xiii. 17. " Rachel wept for her children, and would not be comforted," not because they were ill or sick, but were not. This incorrigibleness in sin, which frustrates and disap- points all the means of grace, provokes God to a total and angry removal of them ; and makes him say, I will take no more pains with this desperate sinner; " He that is filthy, let him be filthy still," Rev. xxii. II. It is that which, as the prophet speaks, wearies God. " Why should ye be stricken any more ? ye will revolt more and more," Isa. i. 5. " I will not punish your daughters when tliey commit whoredom," Hos. iv. 14. " Ephraim is joined to idols ; let him alone," ver. 17. When a tree is utterly dead, when it is pertinaciously barren, the hedge and wall shall be taken away and broken down ; if it will be fruit- less, it shall be fenceless; it shall neither be pruned nor digged, the clouds shall be forbidden to rain, Isa. V. (). When the Physician of souls sees men rend in pieces his prescripts, and pull otf his plasters, and throw away those wholesome potions which he ad- ministers to them, he gives them over, and sutlers them to perish in their sins. Punish them he will, chasten them he will not. Cut them off he will, cure them he will not, Jer. vi. 29. When, instead of being refined in the fire, the metal will after all the hottest fires, and the constant blowing of the bellows, conti- nue inseparable from its dross ; when the bellows are burnt in the fire, and " the founder melteth in vain ; reprobate silver shall men call them, because the Lord hath rejected them," Jer. vi. 29, 30. What is it but "iiell upon earth, for sinners to go to hell without con- trol, to be given up to their heart's lusts, to treasure up wrath against the day of wrath ; and, in a word, to be as bad as they will ? 0 woeful recompence of spiritual pertinacy! The earth which, under all the drinking in of rain, "beareth thorns and briers, is rejected, and is nigh unto cursing," Heb. vi. 8. This double death, and irrecoverableness in sin, is a kind of foretaste of the second death. As perseverance in holiness crowns, so pertinacy in sin condemns ; he who is obstinate in sin unto the end shall undoubt- edly receive the curse of eternal death. How sore a judgment is it, so to be past feeling, that nothing cooler than hell-fire, and lighter than the loins of an infinite God, can make us sensible, though too late ! O let us beware of the modest beginnings of sin, which certainly make way for immodest proceedings therein ; every commission of sin is a strong engagement to a following act of wickedness ; he who begins to go down to the chambers of death, knows not where he shall stop. In short, let no help to holiness leave thee as bad, for if so, it will leave thee worse, than it found thee, and present unreformedness will make way for incorrigibleness under the means. Obs. 6. It is our greatest wisdom, and ought to be our chiefest care, to be preserved from apostacy. Take heed of being twice dead, i. e. of adding a death by apostacy to the death by original corruption. To this end, let us, (1.) Be sure to have the truth of spiritual life in us; not only the external appearances of life, the leaves of religion, the form of godliness, and a name to live : he that would not die twice, must be sure he truly lives once ; hypocrisy will end in apostacy ; where the truth is not truly loved, it will be truly left. A tree that is unsound at the root, will soon cease from its faint puttings forth : the hollow heart will not hold out ; the outward form without the inward power of godliness continues not in times of temjjta- tion. Labour for a faith of real reception, and please not thyself with that of mere illumination ; the bellows of persecution which blow the sparks of sincerity into a flame, blow the blaze of hypocrisy into nothing. (2.) Forecast the worst that can befall thee, and the best that can be laid before thee, to take thee off from the love and ways of holiness ; reckon upon oppo- sition in ever)' way of God : he who meets not with the hatred of a man, may justly suspect his love to the truth ; and he who expects not that hatred, will hardly continue his love to truth. When thou en- terest upon religion, think not that thou goest to sea upon pleasure, but employment ; not for recreation, but traffic ; lest instead of holding out to thy intend- ed port, thou presently makest to the next shore, up- on the rising of the least storm. Though Christ re- quires thee not actually as yet to forsake all for him, yet he will have thee habitually prepared to do so, Luke xiv. 2S — 30, 33. Sever all worldly comforts from Christ in thy thoughts, and try how thou canst love him by and for himself, for his own beauty, without his clothes and external ornaments. (3.) Take heed of the smallest decay, or a begin- ning to remit of thy holiness. And to this end, 1. Tremble at those sins which are seemingly but small ; whatever has the nature of sin must be the ob- ject of hatred ; the least enemy of the soul must not be despised. Though some sins may seem small comparatively, yet there is no one but must be account- ed great cons'idered in itself; the least sin herein resembling the earth, which though it be but a point to the heavens, yet is a vast and immeasurable body of itself. There is nothing little which ofTends a great God, or hurts an immortal soul. Poison and death are lodged in the least sin ; and as unfaithful- 278 AN EXPOSITION UPON Vr.R. IZ ness to God is discovered in a smaller as well as a greater sin, as towards men in a trifling as well as a weighty thing ; so commonly it proceeds from show- ing itself in sins acconnted slight, to manifest itself in courses notoriously and heinously sinful : the decay of a tree fir-t appears in its boughs and twigs, but by little and little it goes on further, into the larger arms, and from them to the main body ; and decay of grace is first seen in smaller matters, slight omissions. 2. And therefore, secondly, oppose sin in its bud and beginnings, in its first motions, overtures, solicita- tions : the greatest deluge begins with a drop ; every sin defiling the conscience, makes a man the more careless of it. He who dares not wade to the ankles is in no danger of having the water reach as high as his neck. Sinners increase to more ungodliness ; when they once descend, they know not where to stop : the beginnings of sin are modest, the progress adventurous, the conclusion maybe impudent, in open apostac)'. A drop of water may quench that spark which, if neglected till it grow to a flame, may vio- lently destroy a whole town : the greatest crocodile at first laid in a little egg. Yea, thirdly, be afraid of the occasions of sin : the sparks in a flint let alone are quiet; but beat it with a steel, they come out and ■Kon avis iiiiiiier J^i'if^'fi & great fire : let not occasions of visraiis effugit siu beat upou thy heart. It is easier to ° "• "" • pass by the snare than to wind oneself out of it; if thou wouldst not like, long for, eat, and impart the forbidden fruit, gaze not on it. Gen. vi. 2; Psal. cxix. 37 ; Job xxxi. 1 : a Christian's charity it is not to be, and his prudence not to behold, a provo- cation to sin. God will preserve us in our ways, not in our wanderings. 4. Never look upon thyself as perfect, or thy progress in holiness as sufficient; he who thinks he has enough will soon come to have ,, . . nothing; that we have will be gone. More viatnriim , ^ ' . i , nequaqiiani iie- ' uulcss wc Strive to get morc : loolv not qu'a'nium'j'a™i"iter backward in thy Christian race to see eaiiinis, seii quail- how mauv thou liast Outstripped, but veraaatnus. ut looK torward ou tliosc wlio have gotten pi'lr't'cnlum'' qund gi'ound of thcc : cousidcr not so much tiiiii,ie a.iiiur „i. how far thou hast gone, and how many Gr. Mur. I. 1:2. come sliort ot thee; as how far thou '• '■ art to go, and how far thou comest short of commanded perfection : our greatest perfection in this life is to contend after perfection ; we must never cease growing till we are grown into heaven. Chris- tianity knows no enough : he who has the least grace has enough to be thankful ; he who has the most has not enough to be cither proud or idle. He will be stark naught who labours not to be as good as the best. In rowing up a river that runs with a strong stream, if we rest our oars, we fall down the stream ; while we neglect to gain, we spend on the stock ; he who hid his talent lost it. 5. Presume not upon thine own strength and power to stand ; thou bearest not the root, but it bears thee ; God's power only is our support, by it we are kept through faith to salvation : they who call not upon God go aside from God, Psal. Qui operatur ut ''''^- ^^ 4. He who first sets US Up must accf.iaiiius, Mem a]so shore and keep us up; he who has damus. Aiis. cie brought US to hunsclf must also hold Uon.Peis.cap.7. us, that We depart not from himself: we are poor weak reeds, but tied to the strong pillar of God's power we shall stand : he who relies upon himself has a reed for his upholder: we cannot put too much confidence in God, or too little in our- selves. Peter's over-venturousness tripped up his heels. Matt. xxvi. 33. Let us not be like sick men, who, when they have had a good day or two, think themselves presently well again, and so putting off their warmer clothes, put on thinner garments, and adventure into the fresn air, whereupon follow irre- coverable relapses. It is the fear of God in the heart which keeps us from departing from him : let us fear always if we would fall never. " Be not high-minded, but fear." " Lean not," saitli Solomon, " to thine ow-n understanding," Prov. iii. 5 : he who is his own teacher hath a fool to his master. Obs. 7. God at length discovers unsound, empty, and decaying Christians to be what they are. These fruitless, dead trees are at length " plucked up by the roots ;" their inside is turned outward. They who, going among the drove of professors, are but like sheep, shall be detected either here or hereafter to be but goats. Thus Cain, at the first a sacrificer, yet being a hypocrite, was given up to be a murderer, and was cast out of the sight of the Lord, out of his father's family, and from the ordinances. " Doeg, detained before the Lord" (I Sam. xxi. 7) about re- ligious offices, afterward discovers his unsoundness of heart by his cruelty ; and more afterwards did God lay him open, when at his destruction it was seen and said, that "This is the man that made not God his strength," &c., Psal. Iii. 7. The like may be said of Judas'.s, of whom Doeg was a type, discovery by his treachery ; and of Saul's also by that horrid act of murdering the priests, and going to the witch, God also taking away his Spirit from him : they who are not of us will at length be suffered to go out from us. God leads those who secretly turn aside to crooked ways, with the workers of iniquity; though they did not seem to be workers of iniquity, yet God discovers them to be such by leading them forth with them. There are none who so much dishonour Christ as they who profess to be rooted in him, and yet are unfruitful and dead Christians. Christ is a fruitfiil soil, full of strength ; and for any appearing to be in him to be barren and decay, is a great disparagement to him ; every one will be ready to blame him for all their defects : therefore, that they may dishonour him no more, they are plucked up from that soil to which they only seemed to belong, for they were there only by a visible profession, not by a real rooting, as a life- less stake is put into the ground ; and in the civil law, till a tree has taken root it does not belong to the soil on which it is planted ; and then it appears that they never were rooted in Christ. Please not (then) your- selves with a mere outward empty profession of god- liness, with your standing among the trees of Christ in his orchard, merely in being accounted trees of righteousness, or only with the having a name to live. These things will be so far from hindering, that they will further your eradication. A dead, barren oak a man will haply suffer to stand in his wood, but not a dead vine in his vinej'ard. It was not a wild tree of the wood, which none ever expected should bear fruit, that Christ cursed, but an empty fig-tree, whose na- ture promised fruit. Root yourselves as much down- ward in inward holiness as you spread upward in outward profession, otherwise God will at length make your hypocrisy known, and will not suffer you always to abuse his own patience, the good opinions of beholders, and the place of your own standing; and the longer he lets you stand to deceive others, the greater shall your shame be when you shall be discovered. This for the third resemblance, whereby the apostle describes the sin and wickedness of these seducers; " Trees without fruit, whose fruit withereth," &c. I Ver. 13. THE EPISTLE OF JUUE. 2/9 Verse 13. riaging leaves of the sea, foamiitg out their own shame ; tcandering stars, to ichom is reserved the blackness of darhtess for ever. The impiety and misery of these seducers are further described, IV. As " raging waves of the sea, foaming out tlieir own shame." Two things are here to be explained. 1. "What they are said to be, " Eaging waves of the sea." 2. What they are said to get by being so, " Shame ;" they foamed out their own shame ; like the raging waves, which, after their greatest unquietness, break themselves into foam. 1. What they are said to be, " Raging waves of the sea," KV/iaTa dypia &a\aaai]Q. The word aypia, here translated raging, signifies untamed, wild waves, roaring like the wild beasts of the wood. Hence the Vulgate renders tM''ma'rV"s>nH?; this place Jiuclus feri maris ; Erasmus, Fiuciusmans undcE efferiB maris ; and Beza, inidcE commot.. Arab. ^^^^^^ efferatcB ; interpretations that be- token fierceness, wildness, turbulence. The same expression is in Wisd. xiv. 1 ; a man intending to pass through dyciia ciiiara, fierce, trouble- "'""sep""™' some, boisterous waves. One poet calls Flucius truces, the waves of the seas fluctus truces, Ovid. cruel, terrible ; and another calls the Lairanies^inte. -n-aters of the sea latrantes undas, the barking waves ; as if they made a noise like a barking dog when they were stirred and raised : and we frequently speak of angry, roaring, working, boisterous, rough, troublesome seas, and read in Scriptures of violent waves. Acts xx\-ii. 41. " The sea and waves roaring," Luke xxi. 25. " The ship tossed with waves," Matt. xiv. 24. The roaring of waves, Jcr. li. 55; xxxi. 35; v. 22; Isa. li. 15. "The tumult of the people," and the noise of the seas and waves, are put together, Psal. Ixv. 7. And therefore our apostle, in calling these seducers " raging waves," does not so much intend their instability, variable- ness, and fluctuation in mind and doctrine, their mo- tion by every wind, and unstableness in the truth, though waters are unstable even to a proverb ; nor only the pride and swelling arrogancy of these seducers, though the w-aves are called " proud waves," they oft lifting up themselves so high as if they would kiss the clouds, and making as if by their fall they would overspread the earth ; but in calling them " raging waves," he rather intends, as I said, their trouble- someness and unquietness ; and that in three respects. (1.) Unquiet in respect of themselves. Their con- sciences were unquiet, tossed and troubled, without any inward tranquillity and calmness in the appre- hension of reconciliation with God. Thus, saith the prophet, " The wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt. There is no peace, saith my God, to the wick- ed," Isa. Ivii. 20, 21 ; slviii. 22. Thus Eliphaz speaks, " The wicked travaileth with pain all his days," Job XV. 20. And to the same purpose Zophar, " Surely he shall not feel quietness in his belly," Job xx. 20. Inward peace belongs only to the faithful. It is only reported of them, " Great peace have they which love thy law," Psal. cxix. 165. It is only promised to them, " He will speak peace to his people," Psal. 1 XXXV. 8. God "will reveal to them abundance of peace." It is only requested for them, even that peace which passeth understanding to keep their hearts, 1 Cor. i. 3 ; Col. i. 2 ; 2 Thess. i. 2 ; peace from God being never desired for men to live in a state of war against God. Only the faithful have taken the right course to obtain it, Rom. v. I, 9, 10. They alone are delivered from God's wrath, and have an interest in Christ who is our peace, Eph. ii. 14, and the Prince of peace ; and have that Spirit which works it in us, and of whom true peace is a fruit and effect. Gal. v. 22. The wicked have not known the way of peace, Isa. lix. 8. They may have it in the brow, not in the breast ; in cortice, not in corde ; in the looks, not in the conscience ; benumbed their consciences may be, pacified they cannot be. The guilt of sin is an unseen scourge, a hidden sore. He who has thorns run into the soles of his feet, wheresoever he goes, treads upon thorns : wicked men carry their furnace, their rack, their woe, their prison about them, where- soever they go ; nor can they any more lay these off than they can lay ofi" themselves. (2.) The apostle may compare these seducers to waves, as they are unquiet, troubled, and moved in regard of God, against and under whose will they were impatient, fretful, and unsubmissive. They did not quietly content themselves with their conditions. They were like ehaif which flies in the face of him who fans it ; there were within them waves of un- quietness and impatience, raised by the winds of their pride. They were murmurers and complainers, both against God and man. Of this unquietness the apos- tle speaks afterwards, ver. 16. (3.) They were as the troublesome and raging waves of the sea in respect of others ; and this I con- ceive Jude principally intends in this place. The sea neither rests itself, nor suffers any thing to rest w-hich is upon it ; it tosses the ships, and tumbles the passengers therein from one side to another, who "reel to and fro like a drunken man;" and in its rage and fury often swallows up and devours both ship and men! The lives of those who are upon the sea hang by a thread, they themselves being neither reckoned among the dead, nor among the living. And thus these seducers were so restless and turbu- lent, that they found no rest but in their motions. Like those of whom Solomon speaks, who " sleep not except they have done mischief ; and their sleep is taken away, unless they cause some to fall," Prov. iv. 16. And troublesome they were, [1.] To the bodily and outward welfare of others ; their names they tossed up and down by slanders and reproaches ; they uttered many hard speeches against the faithful : their tongue, set on fire of hell, did set on fire the whole course of nature. What bitter and uncharitable censures have such fomented in all times against those who did not join and hold with them ! They are wont to lower, browbeat, disdain- fully frown, and look sourly upon them, as Cain upon Abel, with a discontented and fallen countenance. And what bitter enemies in all ages heretics, especial- ly seducers, have been to the lives and safety of the godly and orthodox, has been before in part declared, and of old manifested by the Donatists and Arians, and more lately by the papists and Anabaptists, who all by their boisterous violence and cruelties showed themselves raging S^" Jf^'^Ji? w-aves of the sea. Thev were trouble- simiies esse di- 11 I'l- J *!..... cunlur qiiod nun- some enemies to all public order ; tliey q„am quieti sim. were fierce, heady, high-minded, traitors, --i-- ^^-;Vr inflaming' and enraging men's spirits moiiduiur.jureia against all government ana rule in ^^^ exiiiem, church and state, putting all places into ^',.';";;'^;,»^'»,'J;i. confusion and combustion by strifes, que psn.irbeni ac seditions, schisms ; thev were not afraid J^faii^'u,' hucIui to "speak evil of dignities:" "They fj;',; ™,;i',? „ set their mouth against the heavens, se.imosi emt , . [2-] These raging waves troubled and pprversi iiortores disquietcd the Spiritual weltare and ?ps'is inqufe'tT'' peace of those Christians into whose semper, tumuli el societies thev had crept, whom they Hinarisunl, et pa- i r i ii • 1 i • cem eccksjar, hr- tosscd to and fro by the violent urging pJr"m'p3;','arT' o{ thcir errors, and caused to fluctuate and waver in their judgments, over- turning their faith, swallowing them up, and drowning them in perdition, by their erro- neous and impious doctrines. Through the tossing and fury of these waves many souls suffered ship- wreck, and lost the spiritual and precious merchan- dise of faith and holiness. With these waves of false teachers, and their doctrines, were the Galatians dis- quieted, when the apostle saith, " There be some" o! rapdaaovTic, " that trouble you," Gal. i. 7, or who muddy and stir you like water ; and, " I would they were even cut of!" which trouble you," chap. v. 12. Thus we have opened the first branch of this re- semblance. vuig, Bez. Pe- 2. What these " raging waves of the siHimaiiies'. Kon- sca " ai'c said to get and bring upon "es. Desptj'T'iIare'" themselves by all their swelling and mamluSll'^B'i's- ""^S'"?' ^""^ '^^^^ "'"'^ nothing but .shame pi.mare. spumam and disgi'acc : " Foaming out their own ejicere. Qtiando- ^-i,„ ,, , , ,y , ,' « i / que coiifuiuii vi- siiame, tTra^pi^oi/ra mc lavnov aiax^i'ot;. denlur. Svnace, qui in mare spumatiniiis sure indicant imiominiam suam. Arahice. sicut tluctus maris coinnioti, cbnlhunt in contusionitius, scu de- lictis suis. Spumea scinilcro sub pectnre luul mural uuda. Virg. ^ , . The apostle saith not shame, but Cnnfusiones. , * , * , Vuig. Uedecora. shames, ahxvi'ac, to note how great that ^"' shame and disgrace was which they discovered. And he saith, tTraippilovTa, foaming out their shames ; that is, that by all thcir forcmentioned raging and troublesomeness they brought forth shame to themselves, as the raging waves of the sea bring forth foam. And most aptly and clejjantlv, in the Instartnmentiuni ^. /.i" ^ i f\. un.iarnm, quanto prosccutioii ot thc mctaphor ot raging e','t'e''sVit.fi'i'nnt'"" waves," our apostlc says, that by their tamo ampinis' raging and swelling they brought forth sp'mlascii-so'lvun- disgrace and shame to themselves, as iiir et pereunt. (]^g ragiugf wavcs of thc sca brine: forth lied. Ti 1 I'Ti foam. In tliese three respects did these raging waves, of whom the apostle speaks, bring forth shame to themselves, as the waves of the sea bring forth foam. (1.) Because that after all their troubling and dis- quieting the church by their erroneous, turbulent, and soul-destroying opinions and practices, both were found to have as much vanity, lightness, and emptiness as the foam of the sea: though in their swelling and proud elevation of themselves, and un- quiet urging of their doctrines, they seemed like the huge waves, which threaten to touch and wash the very clouds, to be raised far above others in know- ledge and spirituality, and especially in enjoying that liberty which they pretended went along with their practices and opinions, and so to have climbed, as it were, into the third heavens ; yet soon did all their glorious appearances, as a highly raised billow of the sea, falling either upon a rock or the shore, end in mere froth and foam, emptiness and vanit}'. And indeed what are all the doctrines and opinions, opposed or not warranted by Scripture, whereby any pretend to benefit themselves and others, but gay and gilded nothings at the best ? what have they in them but " a form of knowledge," Rom. ii. 20; "a showof wisdom," Col. ii. 23; " vain babbling; science falsely so called," I Tim. vi. 20 ; " strifes of words," ver. 4; "vain deceit," Col. ii. 8; froth and foam ; "swelling words of vanity?" They bring no real relief and solid comfort to the soul. They are not bread, but chaff; not milk, but wind, to one who has holy hunger. And their emptiness a humble and serious Christian commonly perceives as soon as theiri errors are first broached and vented ; and it will not be long ere the silly seducer and seduced shall know it also, either by being changed to a love of the truth, or by being punished for the love of error. Now what a shame was it for these seducers, after all their appearing importance with some rarely featured and beautiful truths, to swell with nothing but a tympany of pride and vanity ; to seem to travail with a mountain, and to bring forth a mouse ; to appear to be the only illuminated, accomplished doctors, ac- counting others but babes, pretending to be richly laden and fraught with the treasures of understand- ing, peace, liberty, ability, of all which they seemed to have the monopoly ; and when all comes to all, to discover nothing but beggary, vanit_y, and disap- pointment of expectation, mere froth and foam! (2.) These raging waves, the seducers, ,, brought forth shame to themselves, as biijiaie, i.er par- the raging waves of the sea bring forth {'^;trinsmu°atSJ) foam, in respect of that impiety, cor- etJiKuem vene- ,. ^^A • 1 1 " lem, cuius ileam ruption, filthiness, and uncleanness latmc dittam ve- which they discovered by thcir swelling S'i.'ni'iits^a'i^Se'iia. rage. What doth the sca after all its veruntAi/.poJ.Ti,!', boiling and turbulence cast up, but mire diX''^.^ pm', quoj and dirt, an unclean scum, a filthy froth ? ' "'"'is spuma 1-1 1 111 °t^'^ vnieliir, vel 1 he more thick and muddy tlie waters quod sit i^poo,-.- are, the more scum and foam do they dea.''".or!'in'lo'c! by their ebullitions and agitations send inmedinquon- ^ 1 TT 1 TT 1 ■ T dam tout rela pro- forlh. How aptly did this agree to these fundospuma sui. impure seducers ! Did not all their f^rhTunmen'T" swelling, proud, and unquiet conten- '<'/<■ Ovid. t. tions end in profaneness and libertin- ism, as well as emptiness and vanity ? Did they not turn the grace of our God into lasciviousness ? Did not they who were lifted up to heaven in shows of spirituality and piety, afterward fall as low as hell into all carnal and unclean practices, by luxury, gluttony, and uncleanness ? When they spake great swelling words of vanity, was it not to allure, through the lusts of the flesh, through much wanton- ness, those that were clean escaped from them who live in error? When they seemed to be looking up to the heavens by high speculations, and thereby would needs appropriate to themselves the name of Gnostics, or the knowing men, like that unwary star-gazer, they tumbled into the ditch of all filthiness and prodigious uncleanness. By their violent and turbulent venting of and contending for their opinions, whereby they tossed and shipwrecked poor souls, what did they bring forth, but looseness and profane- ness, the casting ofl', reviling, and slandering of ma- gistracy and all restraint, sedition, tumults, rapine, the liberty of being as bad as they would without control, the blaspheming of God ? and, in short, while they promised liberty to others, they themselves were the servants of corruption. And was not the folly of these men of corrupt minds, and reprobate concerning the faith, made manifest to all men ? 2 Tim. iii. 8, 9 ; and was there any shame in the world comparable to this, for men not only to appear altogether empty of what good they seemed to have and love, but wholly filled with all that evil which they seemed not to have, yea, to loathe ? for this, the greatest, folly to be made known to all men, and for all their deluded followers to see that they who pretended to be healers of others, should be the most sick of any ; and that they who were esteemed highest in holiness, should be found lowest in wickedness ? Nothing is there of wliicli a man should be so much ashamed as of sin- ning, and of no sinning so much as of sinning after an appearing height of and contention for holiness. (3.) These seducers brought forth shame to them- selves, as the raging waves of the sea bring forth Ver. 13. THE EPISTLE OF JUDE. 281 foam, in respect of the destruction and overthrow both of themselves and their errors. The waves of the sea cast forth their foam by being broken and dashed in pieces : they seemed indeed, when tliey were lifted up to heaven in their height and rage, to threaten the breaking or devouring of the rocks or shore whenever they should fall ; but when they fall, they only break themselves, the rock or shore still continuing unbroken and unhurt, and so they come to foam. And how evidently do seducers bring forth their shame, even as the dashed waves their foam, by their own and their errors' destructions ! EiTors have ever broken by beating upon the rock of truth, which hath in all ages stood firm against the rage of erroneous seducers. False doctrines, fiimomes'ntu's"' like the waves of the sea, may some- et saxa veriicran- times sccm to cover the truth, but never tcs ab lis rtpiilsi , . , , resiiiunt. aiieunt- Can they couqucr it, no more ttian the 2van'"sc,mi'."stc'et Stubble can overcome the flame, the imptius rastfli, cloud the suu, the Wave the rock. Truth ac furores lucrili- , .. i i • j -i i corum vcrbiran- has ever got by losing, and prevailed letpsns'hss'MiuSt by being seemingly overcome ; error et cvanescuui. has cvcr lost by gaining, and been over- lap, in luc. , J o a' T3 »v come by seeming to conquer, iiy the advantages of time and Scripture discovery magni- fied errors come to be abhorred ; and by heresies, as they who are approved are made manifest, so truth itself comes to be both approved and manifested. And as for heresiarchsand seducers, they have been broken in pieces by divisions, by disgrace and ig- nominy, by despair, though armed, ever to conquer naked truth ; by external judgments upon their bodies, or else by the everlasting overthrow of their souls, they bringing upon themselves swift destruc- tion : and what greater shame can possibly be brought forth, than that which comes by their own overthrow and destruction ; and that after, nay by, their own elevation ! Obs. 1. There is no peace to the wicked when they are at the highest. The highest waves are yet un- quiet : notwithstanding a sinner's outward swelling and greatness, he, like a limb of the body pained, though swelled, has a conscience inwardly vexatious. He is like a man who hath broken bones under a beautiful suit of apparel, disjointed fingers under a golden glove ; like a book of direful tragedies bound up with a gilded fair cover ; or, as somebody once said, like Newgate, having a comely outside struc- ture, but within nothing but chains, dungeons, and blackness. There is no peace to the proudest, rich- est, and most honourable sinner. Till the inward distemper of the heart be removed, and that trouble- heart, sin, be expelled, outward advancement can no more help liim, than scratching can cure a boil while the blood is corrupt and infected, and no inward meai.-s used to cleanse it. Besides, true peace comes from enjoying communion with God, and from the apprehension of the removal of true woes and wretch- edness : what true peace can appearing comforts bring to that man who remains under real wretch- edness ? Outward highness is but seeming and ficti- tious, spiritual miseries are truly and really such. He who cannot see that he is delivered from wrath to come, cannot be pacified with any enjoyments that are present : he is all his life long subject to bond- age, Heb. ii. 15; and but like a rich or noble prisoner, who, though he is plentifully fed, respectably at- tended, and civilly treated by his keeper, is yet in an hourly expectation of condemnation. A child of God is more quiet upon the rack, than a sinner is upon a bed of down. His motto may well be, Merliis Iran- quiilus in undis. Though he is in troubles, yet troubles arc not in him. So long as the wind gets not into the bowels of the cartli, the-re is no earthquake, though the wind bluster never so boisterously about and without the earth. If the terrors of God's wrath and the guilt of sin be kept out of the conscience, outward afflictions upon the body cannot cause any ti-ue trouble. 'We call it a fair day if there be a clear sunshine, and a fair sky over head, though it be dirty under foot; and if all be well upward, if God shine upon us with the light of his countenance, our con- dition is comfortable, though it be afflicted and un- comfortable in earthly respects. A saint has music in the house when there are storms without it, and when it rains upon the tiles. In a word, the godly have quiet rest in their motion ; but the wicked have unquiet motion in their rest. How little are wicked men to be envied in their triumphs ! How much better is it to have peace with God in trials, than to be his enemies in triumph! Obs. 2. The erroneous are oft as disquieting and troublesome where they live as the waves of the sea; like the " raging waves of the sea." I have before largely spoken of their raging in point of bloodiness and cruelty, but they which are not gone so far as open persecution, are yet commonly men very turbu- lent and unquiet. They trouble and disquiet people's consciences, tossing them with the winds of their doctrines, not suffering them to hold any truth cer- tainly, but with hesitation and doubting, casting in many scruples into their minds; with their doubtful disputations racking both the Scriptures and their hearers, by distracting their thoughts and appre- liensions with what may be said for and against the truth, never studying to ground and stablish them in the knowledge thereof; leaving their disciples hereby like a cloud tossed with contrary winds, and a ball bandied between two rackets. Their only work in- deed is to unsettle, and first to make people believe nothing, and to unbelieve, or at least to waver in their belief of what is ti-ue, that so they may be brought to believe that which is false : they who are drunken with error will have the spiritual staggers ; they are as pendulous and uncertain as a meteor ; they have no centre for their unsettled apprehen- sions. Schisms rend the coat, heresy disquiets and cuts the heart. Nor do seducers only disquiet and trouble others by unsettling them from the truth, but also by hurrying and driving people from one error to another. Sectaries rest not in one, but oft travel through all opinions. One error is a bridge to another. Errors are like circles in a pond, one begets another, a lesser makes way for a greater, a lower is but a step or stair to help to a higher ; like a whiripool, which first sucks in one part, and then the other, and never desists until it draws in the whole body. Seducers grow worse and worse, 2 Tim. iii. 13, and still increase to more ungodliness, 2 Tim. ii. 16. Heresy is a flood ever swelling, and a gan- grene ever spreading. The Galatians were soon re- moved to another gospel. Nor are the erroneous less troublesome to the outward temporal peace of per- sons ; witness the divisions and factions which they have made in families, between nearest relations, in congregations, cities, states. Heretics are commonly seditious and tumultuary. Novatus was, as Cyprian calls him, a firebrand to kindle sedi- p^^ ,, j„„|5 „,| tion ; an enemy to peace, turning the r,.iiH..iKU sediii- world upside down. What raging, out- 'h,!stis q.nens! rageous waves were the Donatists, Cir- '."".^i',!^','-;,"?!^- cumcellions! .Augustine in his Epis- iniimcus.' Cvpr. ties tells us frequently of their rapines, ^^u^ust f'p.si'. robberies. How near sundry states, in .w. a.i Bomr. i^p. these latter times, have been to subver- **• "' ■''"""• sion by the Anabaptists, they who write their histo- ries have related at large. Nor will this unquictncss of the erroneous seem strange, if we consider by 282 AN EXPOSITION UPON Vlr. 13. whose Tilowing these waves are raised. It is the breath of that iEolus of hell which stirs them up ; he will toss and trouble, though he cannot swallow up the ship of the church. All heretics are Satan's emissaries. He is the father of lies and liars, and a lying spirit in the mouth of every false prophet ; and needs must they rage and nm whom he stirs up. Nor is any thing so impatient of restraint as error. No heretics could ever patiently endure to be op- posed : whenever either the winds of civil or eccle- siastical power, of sword or word, have blown against the tide of heresies, presently they grow ragged and boisterous. These seducers spake evil of dignities. Covetousness and pride, which oftenest put men upon error, are (both) impetuous lusts, and impatient of resistance. The thirst after gold and glory has troubled all the world. Seducers run greedily after their own gain, and compass sea and land to make proselytes. The papists had never raged against Luther if he had not struck at the pope's crown, and the monks' gluttony. And lastly, the truth is, when the heretical rage, it is much out of cowardice ; for though they look highly and scornfully, yet they are so conscious of the craziness of their cause, that they cannot but be angry with every adversary. A sickly man cannot endure the sharp air, nor a sickly opinion the sharpness of opposition. They who are ortho- dox, and contend for truth, should hence be cautious: let them take heed of learning frowardness of the froward. God wants not our passions to promote his truth. Let the fury of the blind promote pity in those who have eyes; and let us break the rage of the waves only by being rocks of constancy, resolu- tion, and zealous opposition. In short, let all those magistrates who will be favourers of the erroneous, consider whom they nourish, and withal whether it be not the greatest imprudence to cherish their de- stroyers, and to destroy their presen'ers ; and whether they never heard of some who in opposition to church government, have helped up those that in op- position to civil government have pulled them dow-n. Obs. 3. It is the lot of the church to be amongst raging waves, to be troubled and disquieted in the world. The faithful on this side heaven are annoyed with the unquiet carnage of the wicked. The water- floods oft are ready to overflow them, Psal. Ixix. 15 ; they are in " the floods of great waters," Psal. xxxii. 6. " The floods of ungodly men," saith David, " made me afraid," Psal. xviii. 4. The people of God are oft accounted the troublers, but they are indeed the troubled of Israel. There is no resting-place for the feet of these doves in this deluge of sin and sorrow here below ; they are tossed up and down in their names, estates, bodies, souls, by their enemies, as by raging waves. There is no more likelihood that they should be at rest upon earth, than there is that a man should be quiet upon the sea : nor is it indeed fit that it should be otherwise. The winds of trouble and unquietness blow them profit, and working waves work them much benefit. Hereby they arc made to long for their haven, for that rest which remains for the people of God. If the world were a place of rest, they would be too ready here to set up their rest, and the thoughts of heaven would be troublesome, and they would be ready to say and hope that they should never be removed, and it is good to be here. The world is too sweet to them now it is so bitter ; they suck at its breasts heartily even when the Lord rubs them over with wormwood. Oh what would they do were the world altogether sweet ? If they love so much to smell to it when it is full of thorns, what would they do were it altogether roses ? The more Noah's flood increased, the higher was the ark rais- ed ; and the troubles of the world raise the thoughts and desires of the faithful the nearer to heaven. The fruitful overflowings of Nile would hinder them from looking up to heaven for rain and refreshment. Toss- j ings in the world make the people of God to be inj the world rather patiently than delightfully. Again,! by the tossings of the world they are put upon tha^ holy exercise of prayer. He that would learn to prayJ saith the proverb, must go to sea. Raging waves make the people of God call and cry for help. The disciples called to Christ when they were tossed ;1 even the heathen mariners in a storm called every man upon his god, Jonah i. 5. The word SivkWa, storm, is derived from two words, Sivio \mv, which sig- nify much sacrificing. How earnestly did David and Hezekiah pray when they were upon the waves ! Music, we say, sounds best upon the waters, and so do the prayers of the saints upon the waters of world- ly troubles. " When he slew them, then they sought him," Psal. Ixxviii. 34. " In their affliction," saith God, " they will seek me early." God oftentimes de- fers to deliver his people from trouble though they pray, that so the praying which he so much loves may still be continued ; as we use to deal with some musicians, whom we will not presently reward for their music because we desire more of it. Again, were it not for these raging waves, the saints' depend- ing upon and submissivcness to God could not be so manifested. Every one will trust him in a calm ; it is only true faith that can rest upon him in a restless con- dition, and see a haven through all the waves. Nordoes God teach his people patience but by being passive : " Tribulation," saith Paul, " worketh patience," Rom. V. 3. Trouble is escapatieniia; food, without which pa- tience would starve. Some say the saints never can learn their lesson of patience but in the school of trouble. And further, the raging of the waves makes the people of God to magnify their Pilot and Preserver for his power, wisdom, and love. His power, which keeps the church, like another Mesopotamia, in the midst of the sea, and preserves it from being overturned, though not from being tossed ; and which bounds those proud waves, so that they shall not overflow the church, even when the sea of the wicked world is so much in power and policy about it. His power likewise is seen, in that in the floods of great waters they shall not come near to the godly ; not to his soul, to de- stroy Its grace, and oft not to disturb its peace ; it here- by appearing, that even when " the floods lift up their voice," yet " the Lord on high is mightier than the noise of many waters," Psal. xciii. 3, 4. To conclude, how plainly do the wisdom and love of God discover themselves toward the faithful, when they are tossed by the waves ! his wisdom, in making the very rage of these waves to praise him ; and instead of breaking his church, only to cleanse it; and instead of drown- ing it, to carry it to its haven, where it shall never be tossed more, and so skilfully to make it sail with every wind ! His love, in that he will not refuse to bear his people company when they go through the waters, and to be their companion, yea, pilot in a storm, and then to give them a great calm within ; and in a word, to assure them that they shall never be cast away with the wicked, though they may be cast among them. Let us not censure the faithful in their most tossed estate. There is not a drop of wrath in a sea of a saint's sufferings. Could you see how free his mind is, and his end shall be, from storms and tossings, you would rather envy than censure him : the waves which Satan raises show that he has a treasure, which that enemy would fain have cast away; but yet should he so far prevail, it is a treasure which will swim to shore with him. To conclude, let the faithful (of all people) most prepare for storms and waves : as it is best for them to be Ver. 13. THE EPISTLE OF JUDE. 233 among raging waves, so it is too much for them, both to have a haven in their passage, and in the end of their passage too. As long as tlie people of God are sailing to that port the devil will toss them ; and this he will do, though, nay because, he cannot destroy them. Let them be sure that by faith they get Christ into the ship, or rather into their souls, that by obedience they undertake their voyage for him, that their cause be good, and that by repentance they cast out every Jonah, and then let them fear no waves. Obs. 4. The church has most trouble from those within her. She has sometimes, saith nunquamriS'i'i'is. Bernard, had peace from heathens, never, or but very rarely, from her own chil- dren. No adversaries were such raging waves as these, who were domestical. " Of yourselves," saith Paul, " shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them. Grievous wolves shall enter in among you, not sparing the flock," Acts xs. 29, 30. These seducers were not heathens w-ith- out, but professors who had crept into the church. Ko evils are so great as tliose which come to the church from within. The intestine divisions, ruptures, he- resies, schisms, have cost the church more lamenta- tions than ever did her persecution from without. The heathen emperors never were so vexatious to her as Ai-ians, Donatists, Anabaptists, papists. Outward enemies scratch the face, they within stab the heart, of the church. From the former she suffered, by the latter she both sinned and suffered ; by the former she was under persecution from men, by the latter under provocation against God; by the former she was but solicited to tell where her great strength lay, by the latter she cut off her locks, threw away her own weapons, and betrayed her strength ; by her Euffering from without the enemies laboured to beat her o£I' from continuing Christian, by her scandal ■within she beats them off from becoming Christians. ^Voader not then that Satan has always used this homebred engine of evil against the church ; namely, the ungodly carriage of those within her, and the stirring up troubles in her own house. He knows that there is no sword to this, and that they will never adventure their lives for God and one another in war, who will neither love God nor one another in peace. Oh how should Christians labour to disap- point and countermine this most destructive policy of Satan ! Christians, if we must die, let us die like men, by a unanimous holy contention against the common enemy; not like fools, by giving him our sword, and destroying one another by heresies, schisms, profaneness in our own body. 06*. 5. Sin is a person's greatest shame ; that which should most make him ashamed and con- founded in himself, and that which shall make him a spectacle of shame, disgrace, and infamy to others. " O my God," said Ezra, " I am ashamed, and blush to lift up my face to thee ; for our initjuities are in- creased," Sec, chap. ix. (i : there is the shame that sin should make in us. " Thou hast consulted shame to thy house by cutting off many people, and hast sinned against thy soul," Hab. ii. 10. " Let them be brought to shame," Psal. xl. 14. So Nahum iii. 5, "I will show," &c. " the kingdoms thy shame :" there is the shame that sin brings upon us. In the former re- spect sin should be shame ; in the latter it shall be shame. It is sin only which deprives a man of true glor}' and excellency, and is the degradation of his nature. Men account that their shame, which to do or suffer is much below their port and rank. Oh how much goes that man below himself, who was created God's favourite and son, having his love fixed and image stamped upon him, the viceroy of the creation, a consort with angels ; whose nature is taken into the union of the person of the Son of God, whose purchase was no less than the blood of God, whose soul is a little heaven for the great God to dwell in, whose body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, whose habitation shall be the empyrean heaven, a city, a kingdom purer, more glorious than a thousand suns, na}-, in comparison whereof a thou- sand suns are but sackcloth ; how much, I say, goes this excellent creature below himself, in being a thoroughfare, threshold, footstool, vassal to unclean spirits ! yea, in having his heaven-born soul a very sink or common receptacle for that which is infi- nitely baser than all the offscouring and filth upon earth, or than any thing which has a being ! How much lower is this descending, than for a king to embrace dunghills, or for Nebuchadnezzar to be a companion for beasts ! Well might the apostle say, that of this condition the Romans were now ashamed, Rom. vi. 21. Indeed there is nothing but sin which truly disgraces a man ; nothing but sin which dis- graces a man in God's eye, whose estimate is the true standard of honour ; nothing but sin makes us unfit for that habitation of glory ; nothing shameful, unless sinning, but befell the Lord of glory ; nothing but sin which will make us inglorious at the last day, when Christ shall appear with ten thousands of glorious saints and angels. Oh how much are they mistaken who account sin their glory, who are ashamed of their glory, holiness, and glory in their shame, their sin ! Are there not many who cannot blush in doing that at the hearing of which it is our duty to blush ? Eph. v. 12. " They were not ashamed, neither could they blush," Jcr. viii. 12; they have sinned away shame instead of being ashamed of sin, and will not now suffer nature to draw her veil of blushing before their abomina- tions. When the colours and ensigns of a battle are lost, we then give up the battle for lost. Some have aptly called blushing the colour of virtue displayed by nature in the countenance. When Satan has taken away our colours, and custom of sin has banished even sense of sin, and shame for sin, our case seems to be desperate. Other evils which sin brings are curable, the anguish of conscience, the wrath of God, the breach of charity ; but the shame of sin can, nay must, never be got out : the more holy we are now, the more should we be ashamed of our former sin. Oh that we could contemplate the shame of sin more in its departure, and less its beauty in its coming, and labour to look upon our old ways with new eyes, opened and enlightened by the Spirit of sanctification I and then it will be our greatest wonder that we should heretofore openly do that which we are now ashamed to think of. To conclude this, how blessed are they whose sins are covered, whose transgressions are forgiven, Psal. xxxii. 1, who have bought and put on that white raiment whereby the shame of their nakedness can- not appear! If ever the sins of the godly are mani- fested, as I conceive they shall be, at the day of judgment, they shall be so far from bringing sliame and confusion' to them, that they shall be glorious trophies of God's mercy, Christ's merit, the strength of faith, and the truth of repentance. Obs. (j. The shame of seducers is at length laid open and discovered. The great endeavour of these was to be magnified, or rather omnified; to have all others debased and nullified ; to have themselves accounted the only men for knowledge, piety, privi- leges, and their ways the only ways of peace and liberty ; but at length they lost and disgraced them- selves", foamed out and discovered their own shame. (1.) Sometimes their shame is laid open, and foamed forth by the discovery of tlie emptiness and mere 284 AN EXPOSITION UPON Veu. 13. foam of tlieir opinions, which are manifested fo have had nothing of truth or solidity in them. At length they fall upon the shore, or dash upon the rock of the Scripture ; and then instead of drowning the shore, or breaking the rock, they end in a little froth and emptiness, and in the breaking of themselves alone. Heresies are not pemianent ; the word of the Lord only endures for ever, it being a lasting fountain never to be dried up : but that which is against the Lord and his truth is but a land flood ; though for the present it may swell and grow, yet it shall fall and sink, and in time vanish quite away. Heresies which have for a time borne all before them, as that of Arianism, which Augustine in grief and admira- tion tells us had invaded all the world, come by the advantages of time and Scripture discovery to be contemned and neglected. Error, like the painted beauty of some harlot, seems amiable when it walks in the dim twilight, where the orthodox preaching of the word shines not ; but bring it to Scripture light, which it mainly shuns, and the more we look upon it, the more we shall suspect, and at length ab- hor it : tlie sun of Scripture scatters the fogs and mists of error : " Ye do err," saith Christ, " not know- ing the Scriptures." How glorious have those adul- terated beauties of the whore of Babylon, of image worship, transubstantiation, merit, &c., appeared in this nation of old, when the candle of Scripture was hid under a bushel ! but afterward, it being set upon a candlestick, and giving light to all the house, how clearly did they all appear to be fictitious ! and the hatred wherewith they are hated, I trust, by some is, as it was said of Amnon's to Tamar, greater than that love wherewith they were loved. (2.) Some- times the shame of seducers is laid open and foamed forth by their looseness and profaneness of life ; errors in doctrine producing commonly looseness in conversation. Thus the apostle speaks of some who should proceed no further, for their folly should be made manifest to all men, who should increase to more ungodliness, and grow worse and worse ; here- by our Lord bids us discover them, " By their fruits ye shall know them." The vine of truth never pro- duced the thistles and thorns of profaneness and looseness. A man of error is oft left to be a man of sin. Thus these seducers disgraced themselves by foaming out their uncleanness, cruelty, rebellion. Who will ever look upon these deformed issues to have truth, beautiful truth, for their mother? AVell may he be suspected, who every step stumbles into profaneness, to have either no eyes or bad ones : thus papists. Anabaptists, Seekers, have been discovered by their taking pleasure in unrighteousness never to have believed the truth. (3.) Lastly, the Lord oft discovers their shame by their own destruction and disgraceful end, and by the judgments which he brings upon them. Arius's bowels gushed out, Nes- torius's tongue was consumed with worms, and rotted out of his head, Cerinthus was killed by the fall of a house, Montanus hanged himself, Manes had his skin torn from his flesh ; examples of this kind miglit fill a volume. How many seducers lias God made pillars of salt by their deaths, who were unsavoury salt during their lifetime ! how many of these stakes has God set up in the church, as in a pond, to keep men from adventuring into gulfs and whirlpools of error! Sometimes the hand of justice has found them out; witness the deaths of many Jesuits, of Baal's priests, of Anabaptists, and of other blasphemous here- tics. And how oft have they been infamous for their strange deaths, who laboured to live cade scn'ptumnim, by the death and downfal of the Scripture ! Oh then how much are they mistaken, who expect to get honour by being patrons of erroneous opinions ! Rasil. lie Ir;i. d'^'lTTIH'. Il\ ■6 nil l"nainrem'.'"* l^"t "°t because there is no other world Ciier. pro Mar- to coiiquer, but because there is still " ' another, or rather because there are so many, and every one so much stronger than a world ; I mean, unmortificd passions. David in sparing Saul, and overcoming himself, was stronger than David when he overcame Goliath ; for killing Goliath he was but promised to be Saul's son-in-law, but by subduing his own passion Saul deservedly conjec- tures that David should be his successor ; " And now I know well," saith Saul, " that thou shalt surely be king," &c. Saul seeing in David a power to go- vern his own affections, foresaw that David was fit to rule a whole kingdom ; but how unfit was Saul to be king of Israel, who was not a king over, but a slave to his own passion ! A swine in an emperor's robe is most uncomely ; and so is he who is a ruler over men without him, and a vassal to beasts within him. Men account it the greatest disgrace to be looked upon and called fools ; but the Spirit of God makes wrath and passion the fool's coat or badge. Frequently do we read of a fool's wTath : " A fool's wrath is pre- sently known," Prov. xii. 16. So, Prov. xs\-ii. 3, a fool's wrath is mentioned for its heaviness. And, " He that is hasty of spirit exalteth folly." And "anger rcsteth in the bosom of fools," saith Solomon, Eccl. vii. 9; it is loved, cherished, delighted in, as a thing laid in a man's bosom, and it resteth there, it depart- eth not. A wise man useth anger as physic in its pro- per time, but a fool uses it as his constant diet. It is an inmate to a fool ; it is but a passenger through the heart of a wise man, it does not lodge in it all night, Eph. iv. 26. A man's discretion is to defer his anger, " and his glory to pass over a transgression," Prov. xis. II ; and James calls it the meekness of wisdom, chap.iii. 13. A governorofhis passion isbysome called mtgelus in came, yea, dens terrestris. No lamb was ever so meek as was he who was Wisdom itself "He that is slow to wrath is of great understanding," Prov. xiv. 29. Nor does the shame of these slaves to passion only appear in their name and estimate for folly, but in the shameful effects of this rage, where it mas- ters any. " A stone is heavy," saith Solomon, " and the sand is weighty ; but a fool's wrath is heavier than them both," Prov. xxvii. 3 ; a fool having no wis- dom to moderate his passion, or to keep it, as a wise man does, from falling with its full weight. " Let a bear robbed of her whelps meet a man, rather than a fool in his folly." This cruellest of beasts shows not so much rage as a man in his fury. How oft has rage whetted tongue, teeth, swords, prepared snares, poisons, fires, &c., for destruction ! How little does it distin- guish betwixt friends and foes, sweeping away pa- rents, children, brethren with its torrent! It regards neither venerable old age, nor the tenderness of age or sex, nor favours received, nor virtue and piety. It is a short madness, and an interregnum and eclipse of reason, forgetting even the ruin and destruction of the very party in whom it sways, making him neither to feel nor fear multilations, wounds, deaths. It makes a man to put off himself, changing him into a mon- ster ; and, as if he were to put on a mask, as Basil ex- n,T^ep ,: ,pa,r,^- prcsscs it, it represents him another ireToi. (;ri !JTai. There are two sorts of wandering stars. 1. Such as are commonly and properly called the seven planets, which are termed planets or wandering stars, not because they wander more than other stars, or are rovingly and uncertainly carried hither and thither, for they have a most constant and regular motion, which they duly fulfil in their set and defi- Cicero pian»tas "ite timcs ; but they are called wander- ciiitos eMsiimat. ing, Or plaucts, because they proceed per antiplimsim : . °'i • i i ■ i Tit ^ q. iiiinimeerran- in their oro by variout and ditlerent '"• motions, keep not the same distance nor situation among themselves, nor one place under the firmament ; nor are always of one distance from any of the fixed stars, but move sometimes more swiftly, sometimes more slowly; and are sometimes higher, sometimes lower; sometimes appearing with more light, sometimes with less, yea, sometimes not appearing at all, according to their particular motions. The otlier sort of wandering stars are but appear- ingly such, and improperly called such, and they are termed aVn'pfc fiarjori-jc, or, according to Aristotle, auripiQ haG'tovTit,, Such as dart, leap, and run hither and thither, and wander into several parts of the heavens, and oft fall down upon the earth ; they being only hot and dry exhalations gathered to- gether in a round heap, and yet not compacted thoroughly, elevated unto the highest part of the Ovid e Mela h 'o^^'^i' region, and there only kindled by De coeio lapsa ' autiperistasis ; and seeking to ascend c'ec';,i;i.''p„1s';i"°" higher, by the sudden cold of the middle leci.iisse viiieri, rcgiou are beaten back, and so appear las. vento iiiipen- as though stars should slide and leap pr!.npitolffi1o ft'om place to place. I conceive that vir.rTGpoT.. Christ speaks of these stars Matt. xxiv. nen.iua'sKiefa, 29, wlierc he saith, "The stars shall '"''"■ fall from heaven." Thus Aug. 1. 2. de Civ. Dei, cap. 24. vid. Lud. Yiv. Comment. And that our apostle speaks of these stars, as it is the opinion of Junius, Perkins, Diodate, and also of sundry among the papists, as Cajetan, Lapide, Lori- nus, it seems very probable, considering that though the seven planets have various and difl'erent motions in their orbs, yet their motions are so regular and constant, that they are certainly known even before they have fulfilled them, and also give clear direc- tion to man concerning times and seasons, and the parts of the heavens and earth ; and therefore it seems not probable that the apostle would call these seducers " wandering stars," or, as the Syriac, seduc- trices, or, as the Arabic, caliginosas, by comparing them to the seven planets. And besides, as the pun- ishments contained in the former metaphors of trees, clouds, waves, are the continuations of the three fore- said resemblances ; so the punishment which the apostle subjoins, " blackness of darkness," seems a continuation of the metaphor of " wandering stars," and is such as agrees not to the seven planets, but to these meteors or transitory impressions or exhala- tions, which, though for a time they flame and blaze brightly, yet quickly go out and end in smoke and black darkness. (2.) Why doth our apostle here call these seducers " stars," and " wandering stars." [1.] By giving them this title of stars, I conceive our apostle intends either, 1. To show their duty, which was, as Christians, especially as teachers of others, to shine like stars before others, both by their doctrine and life, and by both to be holily in- fluential upon them ; or, 2. Rather, the apostle by calling them stars, would insinuate what the\' de- sired to be esteemed and accounted among the peo- ple, namely, the eminent and glorious lights of the church, such as were fixed in heaven in respect of their meditations and aflections, such as directed others in the way to heaven, aflbrded spiritual heat and life and quickening to them ; whereas, indeed, they were but false lights, wandering stars, such as led, or rather misled, people into the ways of error and destruction. And both these reasons of the apostle's calling these seducers stars, are made more than probable by that frequently used and elegant comparison of Scripture, wherein the ministers of the church are set forth by stars, Dan. viii. 10. " They who turn many to righteousness shall shine as the stars," Dan. xii. 3. " The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches," Rev. i. 20; ii. 1, 28; xii. 4. And most fitly may the ministers of the church be compared to stars, 1. For their nature: a star is of the same nature with the heavens, celestial, not elementary. Job xxv. 5. Ministers should be pure, blameless, inoffensive, 1 Tim. iv. 12; 2 Cor. vi. (i ; they should teach faci- enda et faciendo, voce et vita, by lip and life, tongue and hand ; their profession is holy ; they are com- pared to angels, called holy angels ; the prophets were called holy prophets : in their heart they should experimentally find their work of holiness, and in their conversations express it. It is the nature of a star to be receptive of light, and that from the sun. Ministers should abound in the light of knowledge. They are called lights ; their lips should preserve knowledge, they should be apt to teach : and as the stars' beams are borrowed from the sun, the calling, gifts, abilities of the minister are from Christ ; he has set them in his church, he is with them, without him they can do nothing; he gives them work, strength, success, wages, 1 Cor. iii. 5 — 7 ; Eph. iv. II. 2. Stars in respect of their situation and position ; they are high placed above the earth ; and thus ministers should be stars advanced above others, both in respect of their calling, which of all others is the most excellent and honourable, and of their gifts of wisdom, &c., and also of that high regard_ and reverent esteem, double honour, which the Aiithful should bestow upon them. As they have the highest place in the church, so, walking worthy of their place, they should have the highest place in the hearts of believers; but especially they should be high and heavenl- in their aims, aflections, conversations. 288 AN EXPOSITION UPON I Ver. 13. They should carry themselves as the prophets and ministers of the Most High ; they should not under- take their high and glorious function for low and base ends, for honour, wealth, ease, but for the ad- vancing of Christ, the bringing of souls to heaven. Their affections must not be set upon these things ■which are below ; money and possessions should lie at their feet, not their heart; an earthly-minded minister resembles a clod, not a star. Their conversa- tion should be in heaven. A star would give no light if it were not in heaven. Instruction is made pro- fitable to the people by the heavenly carriage of the minister. Stars are of a round, spherical figure ; and an orb touches the earth not as a plane, but only in jnmcto. A little earth should seem enough to a minis- ter, 1 Tim. vi. 8. And as the greatest stars, in re- gard of their distance from the earth, appear but small ; so those ministers, who in gifts and graces are most eminent, are yet, in the opinions of men, small, vile, contemptible, the otTscouring of the world, and basely esteemed, 1 Cor. iv. 9, 13: this is their lot, but withal it should be their care to be little in their own esteem, though never so highly advanced above others, considering that as God's free love gave them their place and glory, so their own pride may quickly take away both from them. Matt. xx. 26, 27- 3. Stars in respect of the different degrees of their glory. " One star differs," saith the ajiostle, " from another star in glory. There is one glory of the sun, another of the moon," I Cor. xv. 41. In Christ Jesus is the fulness of light and knowledge, and to his ministers he variously and diflerentl)' dispenses his gifts : " There are difi'erences of administrations, di- versities of gifts, diversities of operations, though the same Spirit, Lord, God. To one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom, to another the word of knowledge," &c., " the self-same Spirit dividing to every man severally as he will," I Cor. xii. 4 — II. Ministers have gifts differing according to the grace that is given them. There are several notes in music, yet all make up one harmony; and there are sundry and different qualifications iu ministers, yet all tend- ing to the church's use and benefit. And therefore, 4. Stars in respect of their usefulness and benefit to the church. Stars are not made to be useful to themselves, but others. ^Ministers must not seek their own, but others' good. Stars give direction, light, influences, Szc. It is a great help to mariners when they can see a star in a dark night. When Paul and they that sailed with him could see " neither sun nor star" for their direction, they were without all hope of coming safe to land. Acts xxvii. 20. Many poor souls are cast away for want of ministers to direct to Christ : they should be like that star which showed the wise men where to find Christ ; and as they did, so people should rejoice with exceeding joy when they see such a star. Ministers, as stars, should give light to and be the light of the world, both in re- rpect of doctrine and conversation. A minister must not hide his gifts, and put his candle under a bushel ; nor should others extinguish these lights, either by withdrawing the oil of maintenance, or blowing them out with the wind of persecution. These stars must shine though dogs bark, though men shut their eyes, and in a night of persecution ; yea, then most brightly. Their light should shine that God may be glorified. They must " be examples in word, con- versation, charity," &c., I Tim. iv. 12; in all things showing themselves patterns of good works, " ensam- ples to the flock," that others may follow them, Tit. ii. 7; 1 Pet. v. 3 ; 1 Cor. iv. 16; xi. 1. In short, ministers, as stars, must be common goods, useful by their influences of warmth and moisture to refresh and to make fruitful the weary, the barren hearts of their hearers, to beget and increase grace in them ; and although they see not a desired success of their labours, yet they must not refrain their influences, nor be discouraged with the earth's unfruitfulness. God speaks of the Pleiades and Orion, which are a company of stars in the heavenly orb : " Canst thou bind the sweet influences of the Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion?" Job xxxviii. 31. When the Pleiades arise, it is spring ; they open the earth, they make herbs and flowers grow, the trees to sprout, and the plants to wax green. Orion produceth cold ; the winter comes when that shows itself. Good ministers, as the Pleiades, quicken the heart, warm and make it fruitful in holiness. Bad ministers, like the stars of Orion, cool and deaden people's hearts to all goodness. 5. Stars in respect of their swift and constant motion. They must be stars for motion as well as for promotion. It is true, their motion should only be _ . in their orb and sphere ; they should not so visit ■I others' diocesses as to neglect their own, nor be busy- « I bodies in other men's matters, nor entangle them- selves in the affairs of this life, nor follow other vocations, lest they teach those of other vocations to fall into theirs ; they must not leap out of their own element, nor forsake the employments of prayer, study, preaching, &c. In worldly affairs they should be as fish out of the water ; but yet in their own orb let them move. Loitering is unsuitable to a harvest- man : they must be workmen that need not be ashamed : it is better to be worn with using than rusting. Paul's glory was not that he lorded it, but that he laboured more than they all. They must never think their labour is ended till their life is ended ; they must look upon their motion and work as circular, it must ever return ; and the end of one service is to be the beginning of another. Their lives must be a succession of labours, praying, study- ing, preaching, conversing; yea, if God will, con- flicting must be added, like the waves of the sea, overtaking one another. The wages will countervail for all. 6. Stars in respect of their duration and con- tinuance. They are set in a firmament. All the powers of hell shall never utterly remove ministers. Till we all meet in the unity of the faith we shall have pastors and teachers. The ordinances of the stars are such as shall not depart from before God, Jer. xxxi. 36 ; they are established for ever. God has made a covenant with the day and night not to be broken, Jer. xxxiii. 25. Till the end of the world there shall be stars in the heaven, ministers in the church ; Christ will be with them, and therefore they must needs be to the end of the woi'ld : could they have been pulled down, that work had long ago been done. 'When Satan the dragon did his utmost, he left two parts of three behind ; and that third part which he swept down were not fixed in their orb, not faithful to their trust, but " wandering stars;" but they who are in the right hand of Christ shall never be plucked away : Christ will have his number al- ways ; and they who will go about to pull the stars out of his right hand, shall feel (he strength of his right hand : the destroying of the ministry out of the church is but a vain attempt. And yet, though these stars shall shine to the end of the world, they shall shine no longer. When the night of sin and ignorance is at an end, when the Sun of righteousness shall arise, and the Lord Jesus himself shall come, there will be no more use of these stars. When we come to drink out of the fountain, we shall no more need the bottle. " Prophecies shall fail, tongues shall cease, knowledge shall vanish away. When that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away," I Cor. xiii. 8, 10. Christ shall VtR. 13. THE EPISTLE OF JUDE. 289 both succeed and exceed them. All the stars in the finnament cannot make a day ; nor can all the teach- ers in the world convey that light vhich Christ will alTord in heaven. Oh how gloriously will our Sun shine, when all the once-glorious stars shall be swal- lowed up in his glorj" ! [2.] The apostle calls these seducers not simply stars, but " wandering stars." And why wandering stars ? understanding such as are sliding, gliding, shooting, falling stars ? 1. In regard of the matter of these stars. They were but earthly exhalations, when they seemed to shine in all their glorj'; they were not of that pure, celestial nature with those stars which they re- sembled ; they had earthly, or, as Austin speaks of the rich glutton, they had animas tn'ticeas, whcaten hearts ; they sought themselves ; their belly was their god ; they minded earthly things. Earth and slime was their food and fuel : and when the earthly ex- halation of profit, pleasure, and honour was spent, these stars went out. They were not like stars that shined to benefit the earth, but merely to be fed, and by being fed by the earth. They were slimy, sen- sual, unclean creatures, when they were most shining ; servants of corruption. They taught false doctrines for filthy lucre's sake, and steered their course by the compass of profit ; so that though the world, had they been true stars, should have been guided by them, they were guided by the world. 2. In respect of their outside shows and hypocrisy. Though they were but slimy matter, yet they had a bright and shining appearance; they transfonned themselves into angels of light. They had a glorious outside, and an inglorious inside; like those false teachers among the Galatians, they did only ivituao- ■nijam, make a fair show outwardly. A wandering star has nothing of a star but the show ; and these nothing of ministers but only the title : they were confutations of their professions, being without know- ledge, vain janglers; their science was falsely so call- ed ; though they might term themselves Gnostics, and pretend to be the only knowing men in the church, they left the Scripture, and only regarded fa- bles. They were stars without influences ; they nei- ther furthered the holiness nor the peace of their hearers ; their doctrines tended to carnal liberty and uncleanness ; and soon their mistaken admirers found that peace and true liberty could never be obtained in such ways. 3. In respect of their instability. A wandering star keeps no certain course; the most skilful astro- loger knows not which way it will move. They who leave the truth know not where they shall stop: the heart is only established with grace. A soul without holiness is a ship without ballast; it holds every thing, and truly holds to nothing. These seducers, like a skipping, dancing star, wavered, doubted, were .sceptics in religion, not settled in the truths thereof, halting between several opinions; not placed upon a firm foundation, nor partaking of the full assurance of understanding; neither firm to the truth, nor to their own opinions; forgetting what they have been, not understanding what they are, and not knowing what they shall be. irXakavrtirAa.i»- "1. In Tcspcct of seduclug and mis- leading others. A wandering star is an unsafe guide. The word ivXavtirai, here translated wandering, comes from a word which signifies to err or wan- der, as also to seduce, mislead, or make another to err ; and is a word borrowed from travellers who are wandering in a wrong way. The SjTiac read this place steUiv. 4; Maik xiii. 5. ("i ; John yii.12. Inerrorem iniliici el seitiici. Wall. xxiv. C*; I.iibexxi.3: 1 lor. XV. 3.1. Errare et in er- nin-m mittere, S I im. ill. 13. OXa^dr, seductor. ner, who sails by a wandering star, may jiaii. xxvii.es; as well dash upon a rock or quick- S i-';''- '•■'•" • J 1.. T-i, m^ ^ 2 John". HveiJ- sand as hit upon his haven. The tra- uara n\6i,n,, veller who follows a wandering star tlve'ermneT"" must at best wander, and is in danger i ' im. iv. i. of falling into a river or quagmire. The blind lead the blind, and both fall into the ditch. The deceived seducer is also deceiving. Many follow these false, these fool's fires, though into pernicious ways. Seducers have most disciples ; and though the leader shall be deepest in damnation, yet the follower will be as comfortless in falling with him, and as inexcusable iii following him. 5. Lastly, Wandering stars in respect of their extinc- tion, and being put out. These wandering stars con- tinue not. Seducers may flash, and blaze, and flourish for a while, but they are not permanent. The true star shall stand as long as the firmament ; it may be eclipsed, and there may be an interposition of clouds to hinder its appearing ; but never shall there be a destruction of its light. How frequently have we seen the erroneous with their errors, like blazing me- teors, go out in smoke, when the sweetly influential stars, the faithful ministers of the word, have still in- creased in their pure lustre ! Seducers, like transitory meteors and impressions, end in the smoke of shame and dishonour here, when their errors are discovered ; and hereafter, when for their errors they are punished : whereas he who is a real, fixed, influential star, continues to shine both in the brightness of the truth which he holds forth, and in the glory of that recompence which he shall enjoy. In respect of the former, the brightness of truth, even dead, he lives ; the truth which he preach- ed lives for ever. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but not one jot of his heavenly doctrine. " Do the prophets," saith God by Zechariah, " live for ever .' but my words and my statutes, which I com- manded my servants the prophets, did they not take hold of your fathers ?" Zech. i. 5, 6 : the truth lives, though the man dies. The ministers may be bound, but " the word of God," saith Paul, " is not bound," its influence cannot be restrained. Heresy has often died with the heretic, but truth survives the preacher. In respect of the latter, the true stars, faithful minis- ters, shall shine as the stars in the firmament, with the light of glory, who have conveyed to so many the light of grace ; whereas, should the wandering star not be extinguished, and end here in the darkness of ignominy and discovery of his black error, yet his end hereafter shall be the blackness of darkness in hell. This for opening the first particular, their title, " Wandering stars." 2. Their estate, " To whom is reserved the black- ness of darkness for ever." Three things here are briefly to be opened. (1.) The horrible and dismal punishment itself; " blackness of darkness." (2.) Its certainty and unavoidableness ; it is " re- sen'cd " for them. (3.) Its durableness and continuance ; it is " for e\ er. SKdmr ab ]crxti}, (1.) Their dismal misery is set out ;,',',X"5''g'radum by " blackness of darkness." s.siere cgimur. As darkness is properly taken for the negation, defect, and privation of light ; and according to the notation of the word, for such a want of light as hinders a man from walking; like that Egyptian darkness, by which people were constrained to sit still, and not to rise out of their place for three days : so the addition of this word iuipog, blackness, notes a further increase of this darkness, such as is spoken concerning that in Eg>-i)t, that may be felt; and thereby the same thing is imported with that of" uttei 290 AN EXPOSITION UPON Ver. 13. darkness," Matt. viii. 12; xxv. 30, i. e. ?um'f°Bez''"per- sucli as is outmost and farthest removed leciio te Mei)ra- from the region of light ; for this phrase "blackness of darkness" intends as much as most black, thick darkness ; it being a kind of Hebraical phrase, like unto that l\Iatt. xxvi. 64, " the right hand of power," that is, a most powerful right hand. So a body of death, Rom. vii. 24, is put for a mortal body ; and holiness of truth, Eph. iv. 24, for true holiness. This thick, black, gross darkness is not to be un- derstood properly for that negation or privation of light by reason of the absence of the sun, &c. ; but metaphorically, for great calamities and miseries. And in Scripture there is a threefold misery- set forth by darkness. [1.] External misery : " When I looked for good, then evil came unto me : and when I waited for light, there came darkness," Job xxx. 26. So Isa. v. 30, " If one look unto the land, behold darkness and sorrow." So Isa. viii. 22, " They shall look mito the earth ; and behold trouble and darkness." " Get thee into darkness, O daughter of the Chaldeans," c&c, Isa. xlvii. 5 ; Amos v. 20. [2.] Internal, comprehending, 1. Darkness and blindness of mind, the want of the saving know- ledge of God and his ways : " To give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death," &c., Luke i. 79. " The light shineth in darkness," &c., John i. 5. " Ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord," &c., Eph. v. 8 ; 1 Pet. ii. 9 ; 1 Thess. V. 4; John iii. Id. 2. Spiritual desertion, or the withdrawing of the light of (iod's countenance; and thus Heman complains that God had laid him in darkness, Psal. Ixxxviii. C. And, " Who is there among you that walketh in darkness, and hath no light?" Isa. 1. 10. [3.] Eternal daTkness ; the miserable condition of the damned in hell, by reason of their separation from God, called " utter darkness," Matt. xxii. 13 ; viii. 12, because farthest distanced from the light of God's jjleased countenance ; and this estate of misery is fitly compared to darkness, both in respect of the cause and the effect of darkness. 1 . The (though only deficient) cause of darkness is the withdrawing of the light; so the separation from the favourable presence of God is the greatest misery of the damned. Matt. vii. 23 ; xxv. 46 : the hell of hell, is to be without God's loving and gracious presence in hell. 2. The effect of darkness is hoiTor, and affrightment, and trouble. There is no joy but in God's presence, in that there is fulness of joy, Psal. xvi.; but without ^.lernis tenehris jf, only Weeping and wailing, blackness darannri. licet e A ^ ^1 ■ 1 1 1 qui, sMe (inns- ot (larkness, tlncii aarkness, puree lene- eeiosTutfs,''vtr"m ^'''^i "ot the least glimpse and crevice of fucemiion piwii- light and mixture of joy. And most met masis leiie- fitly is this punishment of blackness of d'ii?xerunr',°ci"in darkucss threatened against these se- meras eiroium duccrs, wlio transformed themselves rr^ci"iiaverunt. iuto augcls of light, and yet held not Ke'ct'e i'n't'e'iwbras ^"^^^^ t^C light o'f the truth, but loVcd lormeniorum darkucss uiorc than light, and led others Das, qui in eccie- mto the darkness ot sin and error; and nomin^'i'iicis'' '^°^^ j^"*'' "''^ '' ''^■^'' "'^.^' should Suffer lenebrasiniiiicc- by thick, true, perfect darkness, who bant^erroium. deluded the world with seeming and appearing light ! (2.) The certainty and unavoidableness of this punishment. Jude saith this " blackness of dark- ness" is " reserved" for them, Trtr/jpijrai. The word properly imports the solicitous keeping and reserv- ing a thing, lest it be lost or taken away by others ; a keeping with watch and ward, most accurately and vigilantly, as a prisoner is kept. Hence in Acts iv. Denntat (irmiim el i,it l)i\iiia; jiistilnB tIciTeluin lie sup(>inio Jetenio. Lorin. iu loc. 3; V. IS, ritpriaiQ is used to signify a prison. In this place, therefore, tliere is implied God's present for- bearance to punish these seducers with the black- ness of darkness, it being reser\-ed and kept for them, not actually as yet inflicted upon them; but princi- pally is intended the certainty and unavoidablenes= of this punishment, and the impossibility of the per- tinacious sinner's escaping it. Nor is it any wonder that this state should be tlius certainly reserved for them ; the firm and irre- versible decree, saith Lorinus, of God to punish them for ever, or that ordain- ing them of old to condemnation, men- tioned ver. 4, is here denoted; so that as in God's de- cree heaven " is an inheritance reserv- KXnpoiou/a ed " for the faithful, this misery is re- TfTiip.7ueV.i. served for the wicked. Needs must this punishment be I'eserved for incorrigible sinners, if we consider the truth, justice, power, omniscience of God. His truth, it being impossible for him to lie, and who is as true in his threatenings against the obstinate, as in his promises to the returning sin- ner. His justice, whereby he will not suffer sin always to go unpunished, and " will render to every one ac- cording to his deeds," Rom. ii. 6. His power, so great that none can deliver the wicked out of his hand; yea, so great, as that they can neither be able to keep out nor break out of prison. His omniscience, whereby none can escape or hide himself from his eye. In shoTt, this blackness of darkness must cer- tainly be reserved, if we consider the foolish dili- gence even of sinners themselves, daily hoarding up their own damnation, and " treasuring up wrath against the day of wrath," Rom. ii. 5; like some precious treasure, which they keep so carefully, as if they were afraid that any should bereave them of it. (3.) The duration and continuance of this their misery ; the apostle saith it was " for ever." Misery indeed, and yet equity. Eternity it is that shall make their fire hot, their chains heavy, their dark- ness black and thick. How long does a dark night seem in this world ! but how dark will a not merely long, but eternal, night seem in the next world ! How hideous is that woe whereby the wicked shall ever strive to part with that which they shall never lose, and crave that which they shall never procure ! If it be so great a misery for a starving prisoner to be kept without bread but for a day or two in a pri- son, and to see through his grate passengers laden with that plenty of provisions which he must not so much as touch, oh what a woe will it be for the damned ever to see the faithful feasting themselves in the fruition of God's presence, and to know that they shall eternally starve, and yet not die, in the want of the least drop, the smallest crumb of that fidl banquet of happiness, which the saints ever enjoy in God's presence ! Obs. 1. The world, without the word, lies in a con- dition of darkness. Ministers of the word are the stars, the light of the world ; take them away, and every place is full of darkness. The people to whom Christ preached sat before in darkness, in the region and shadow of death. Matt. iv. 16. The Ephesians some- times were darkness. Before the gospel is savingly delivered, we are under the power of darkness ; and darkness is that term from which we are called when we are brought out of our natural estate. And in three respects is the world without the gospel in darkness. (1.) In respect of ignorance. I. It knows not God. The Gentiles are said to be such as knew not God. The word only discovers him savingly, because it only makes known God in Christ. The wisest of the" heathens, till this light came, could not know him: "The world by wisdom knew not God;" they Ver. 13. THE EPISTLE OF JUDE. 291 worshipped the unknown God. 2. It knows not the will and ways of God; and this follows from the former, for he who knows not what another is, can- not know what he loves. Tlf> will of God is only laid domi in tlie word of God. There is no serrice pleases him but that which himst- If pTescribes. The knowledge of the heathen only serves to rvader tliem inexcusable for not doing what they ki.e.',. r.ot able sufficiently to understand all they had to do. (2.) The world is in darkness in respect of wick- edness and unrighteousness. A man in the dark sits still, and forbears to walk as he does who is in the light. Wicked men are unprofitable, slothful serv- ants, inactive in the ways of God, not those by whom God gains. They are like the branches of the vine, in building good for nothing, Ezek. sv. 4. He who is in the dark, wanders, stimibles, or falls at every step he takes. Every wicked action is a falling into a slough, and down a precipice, a deviating from the way of God's commandments; and therefore sin is in Scripture called a work of darkness. Yea, they who are in the dark are not ashamed of the filthiest gar- ments which they wear, or of the uncomeliest actions they perform ; and they who are without the light of the word, in a night of sin and ignorance, blush not in the doing of those things which he who is spirit- ually enlightened is ashamed to hear, behold, or think of. " What profit," saith the apostle, " had ye in those things whereof ye are now ashamed?" (3.) The world is in darkness in respect of fear, horror, and misery. T^Ien in the dark tremble at the stirring of every twig. " There were they," saith David, " in great fear," Psal. xiv. 5. And it is called their fear: "Fear not," saith the prophet, "their fear," Isa. \aii. 12. It is only the light of God's countenance which scatters the clouds of fear. Till fury be taken out of God, fear can never be removed out of men ; but through the fear of death they are all their lifetime subject to bondage, Heb. ii. 15 ; when any misery befalls them, they tremble, as did the elders of Bethlehem at Samuel's coming, not knowing whether it comes peaceably or no ; nor is it any wonder that the darkness of fear should here seize upon those who expect utter darkness hereafter in the everlasting separation from the light of God's countenance, wherein there is fulness of joy, and pleasures for evermore. We see then the true cause that the world has ever so much hated the word, which discovers its deeds of darkness. " I have given them thy word," saith Christ, " and the world hath hated them," John xvii. 14 ; and he wlio was the Word incarnate was also hated by the world, because he testified that the deeds thereof were evil. Hatred is the genius of the gospel, (saith Luther,! the shadow which ever attended upon the gospel's sunshine. Though saints are blameless and harmless, the sons of God without rebuke, Phil. ii. 15; yet if they will shine as lights in the midst of a crooked and peiTerse nation, they must look for opposition : but how irra- tional and groundless is this hatred of the world ! for though the word manifests its deeds of darkness, yet withal it discovers its destruction in eternal dark- ness; and were the light thereof beheld and loved, it would prevent it, and lead by the light of grace to that of glory. Ob.i. 2. Great is the difference between the light which shines here, and that which we shall behold hereafter. In the night of this world we have stars to give us light, we liave " a light which shines in a dark place," 2 Pet. i. 19 ; but when the Sun shall arise, all these stars shall be put out. Prophets, evangelists, pastors, teachers, are given but till we all meet " in the unity of the faith, and of the know- ledge of the Son of God," Eph. iv. 13, and then pro- phecies and tongues shall cease, knowledge shall vanish away ; " when that which is perfect is come, that which is in part shall be done away ;" when we shall behold the light of the Sun, we shall no more want star-light or candle-light ; the immediate vision of God shall abolish these : the people of God shall be above ordinances and ministry, when they shall be above sin and error. In heaveii all our difficulties and knots shall be untied ; though here we are doubtful of many truths, yet in heaven we shall truly have cause to say, Now, Lord, thou speak- est plainly, and not in parables. He who died in his childhood, in heaven knows more than the wisest Solomon ever did upon earth; and that little light or spark of joy which here the saints had, shall in heaven be blo^^^l into a flame ; their bud of joy shall there be a full-blown flower: here light is sown, Psal. xcvii. 11 ; but there shall be a hars-est, a fulness of joy. O blessed estate ! Obs. 3. People should labour to walk and work by the light of the ministry. " Yet a little while," saith Christ, " is the light with you. Walk while ye have the light," John xii. 35. " Let us walk soberly," saith the apostle, " as in the day," Rom. xiii. 13. The light of the gospel must put Christians upon a two- fold manner of walking and working ; speedily, and accurately. (1.) Speedily. Our light is not lasting, our candle may soon be put out ; the most brightly shining minister shall ere long be put under the bushel of the grave, if he be not before blown out by the blast of Satan's rage, and the world's persecution : " Your fathers, where are they ? and the prophets, do they live for ever?" Zech. i,5. The light of life is but very short, but the light of the seasons of grace are far shorter. A book which is not our own, but only lent us to read, and that but for a day or two, we make much haste to read over. In the grave there is no more preaching, no more hearing of sermons ; the li\ang, the living, they only praise God, and preach to men : short seasons require speedy services. Oh what a shame is it that we should have torn so many books, worn out so many ministers, and yet have learned no more lessons ! Which of us can promise to ourselves that our light shall shine half as long as we have formerly abused it, and wantonned in the shining of it ? Oh what would damned spirits give for one glimpse of ministerial light again ! would they not, think we, might they have such a favour, ply their work faster than ever they formerly did, or now we do ? We have scribbled out much paper to no purpose, we are almost come to the end thereof, and had we not then need husband our time, and write the closer ? (2.) Let us walk and work accurately in the shining of ministerial light ; decently, precisely. Though our light be but star-light in comparison of what it shall be in heaven, yet it is sun-light com- pared with that which shined in the time of the old law, and since the days of popery ; we are now neither darkened with Jewish shadows nor popish fogs ; we live under the clearest dispensation of the covenant of grace ; we therefore live worse than did they in those times, because we live not better. How many kings and prophets would have thought them- selves happy to have seen one of the days of the Son of man which we cnjo}' ! Our great salvation neg- lected, will be damnation great and heightened. What a shame is it for us, that many have done their Master's work better by dim moon-light, than we do by clear sun-light ! How shameful is it for us in the light of the gospel, to show ourselves in the filth and sordid rags of sin and profaneness ! Cast off the works of darkness in a land of light. •2[)2 AN EXPOSITION UPON Ver. 13. Obs. 4. It is a high degree of impiety for any, especially for those who pretend to be instrncters of Bouls, to mislead and seduce otliers from the right way. The sin of these seducers was to be false lights, and wandering and misguiding meteors, who pretended to be eminent and true teachers of souls, and to be both influential and directing stars. Se- verely do we tind Christ denouncing woes against tlie scribes and Pharisees ; and with much holy acrimony does lie reprove them for being blind and misguiding guides, calling them several times fools, and blind, Slatt. xxiii. 1(5, 17, 19- And ver. 26 he names the Pharisee, " Thou blind Pharisee." And, " Whosoever shall break one of the least of these commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven ;" that is, shall be contemned, and not counted worthy to be so much as a member of the church of God in the new testament. The apostle Paul sharply expresses himself against seducing teachers, calling them the ministers of Satan, 2 Cor. xi. 15, " false apostles, deceitful workers," ver. 13, " grievous wolves, dogs," Acts xx. 29 ; Phil. iii. 2, &c. How sad a complaint is that of the prophet ! " They which lead thee cause thee to err," Isa. iii. 12. And, " The leaders of this people cause them to err ; and they that are led of them arc destroyed," Isa. ix. 10. "And 1 have seen folly in the prophets of Sa- maria ; they have caused my people Israel to err," Jer. xxiii. 13. No sins are so eminently and inex- cusably sinful, as those committed against men's callings and professions. What wickedness greater than for a judge to be unjust, for a physician to be a murderer, for a seer to be blind, for a guide to mis- guide ? It is not so heinously sinful for any, as for a teacher of souls, to be a deceiver of souls. Who shall show a soul the way to heaven, if a minister, like Elijah, who pretending to lead the blind Syrians to Dothan, guided them to Samaria, where they were in the midst of their enemies, shall lead them the way to hell ? Who should save life, if they who should break the bread of life, give poison instead of bread ? or if they whose lips should feed many, only infect and poison many ? And further, what seduction is so destructive as soul seduction ? Is the misery of leading men's bodies into ditches and quagmires by a fool's fire, comparable to the woe of being led into the pit of perdition, and the ditch of hell and damna- tion, by an erroneous minister ? He that is misguided into hell can never be drawn out again : here it is true, vestigta nulla retrorsum, no coming back. The cheating a man of his money, though it be a loss, is a recoverable one ; but he that is deceived of his soul, cheated out of his God, wdiat has he more to lose, or what possibility has he ever to repair his damage ? There is no folly so great as to be enticed out of life eternal, nor any deceit so cruel as to cheat the soul : nothing can be light wherewith the soul is hurt. Oh how deeply then is God provoked, when he delivers up a people to the misguidings of seducers! It is better ten thousand times to have a tyrannical prince over our bodies, than to have a treacherous pastor over our souls ; and yet how do people groan and sigh under the former, and liow slightly do they re- gard the latter! Surely, if for the sins of a people their magistrates are oppressive, for their sins it is that their ministers are erroneous. How just is it with God, that they who will not be disciples to truth, should be proselytes to error! that wlien none will follow the seeing guide, many should follow the pernicious ways of the blind guide ! The true de- serving cause of people's seduction is, as the prophet speaks, " The people love to have it so." " The pro- phets prophesy falsely, and the people love to have it so," Jer. V. 31. They will not endure sound doc- trine ; they will not suffer a Micaiah to instruct them, and therefore God sends them a Zedekiah to seduce them. They who received not the love of the truth had strong delusions sent them from God, and upon them the deceivableness of unrighteousness took hold, 2 Thess. ii. 10, 11. " The prophet is a fool," saith Hosea, " the spiritual man is mad, for the mul- titude of thine iniquity, and the great hatred," chap, ix. 7. The instrncters of Israel were foolish, blind, and erroneous, because the iniquity of the people in rebelling against the light of truth had stirred up God thus to show his great hatred against them. God never sends darkness among a people till they shut their eyes against the light. If we will imprison truth, God may justly set seducers loose. O labour then to follow true, if you would not be misled by false, lights ; and to be directed by fixed, if you would not be seduced by wandering, stars. To conclude this needful point, then, with caution both to minis- ters and people : to the former, I offer my humble thoughts in this hearty request, that they would J consider, the best of them have sins enough of their | own to answer for, without contracting more by mis- leading others. As inexcusable it is for ministers to lead people in a wrong way, as for people to fol- low ministei-s in a right way. If then we would not mislead any in this night of darkness and sin, let us be sure to be fixed stars ourselves ; let us neither be planets nor meteors, let us be fixed to our Scripture principles, deliberately choosing what we should love, but then stedfastly loving what we have chosen. They who are to lift up their voice as a trumpet must not give an uncertain sound. A minister must be fixed in the Scripture orb, not having a particular motion of his own orb. If the stars and sea-marks change their places, and remove to and fro, the passengers who look for constant direction are in danger of being carried and cast upon quicksands and rocks. In all the reproaches a minister meets with for turning and moving, let his evident adhering to the word manifest that it is not the shore, but only the boatman, that moves : the times will at length come up to a minister if he be stedfast ; however, let him take this for an invincible ground of encourage- ment, he shall be blessed in directing those who will not be directed by him. Whosoever doth and teacheth men to observe the commandments, saith Christ, shall be blessed, though he cannot prevail with men to observe them, Matt. v. 19. Christ pro- pounds not the conversion of people as a property of a faithful minister, but the doing and teaching the will of God. To people, I present the needfulness of taking heed that they be not misled ; to beware of wandering stars, false prophets, seducers. It is possible to follow a misleading guide with a good intention, but not with good success. It may be equally hurtful to receive the word of God as the word of man, and to receive the word of man as the word of God. Hearers must take nothing upon trust; they must love men for their doctrines, but not em- brace doctrines for men ; they must try the spirits, examine all by the word, and suffer no opinion to travel, unless it can show the Scripture pass, and pronounce its Shibboleth. The Scripture, like a sword of Paradise, should keep errors from entering into our hearts. We should not be like children, to gape at and to swallow whatever any person puts to our mouths. In understanding we should be men ; and every opinion w hich cannot endure the beams of Scripture sun is to be thrown down as spurious. Build your faith upon no eminence of man ; ever be more forward to ex- amine than to admire what you hear ; " call none Master but Christ :" the error of the master is always the temptation, oft the destruction, of the scholar. Yer. 13. THE EPISTLE OF JUDE. 2D3 Obs. 5. Great is God's forbearance towards sinners. Blackness of darkness is i-eserved for tlicm, not pre- sently inflicted upon them. Frequently does the Scripture proclaim God's long-suffering, and his being slow to anger. The apostle mentions his " for- bearance and long-suffering," Rom. ii. 4. " He en- dured with much long-suffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destniction," Rom. is. 22. He gave the old world a hundred and twenty years' space of repent- ance. He endured the manners of the Israelites " forty years in the wilderness," Acts xiii. 18. Four hundred years he spared the Canaanites, Gen. xv. 16. And sundry ways may this greatness of God's long- Buffering be amplified. (1.) He forbears punishing sinners, though he see their sin, and is most sensible thereof: he sees all the circumstances of sin, the most secret and retired wickednesses in the heart, all are naked, ransacked, anatomized before him. Men for- bear to punish men because they know not the secret machinations of mischief which are against them ; but God, though he beholds all, yet he spares long. (2.) He does not only behold sin where it is, but loathes it wherever he beholds it ; though he sees it every where with an eye of observation, yet no where with an eye of approbation. Sin is opposite to his very nature. Man may love sin, and yet be still a man ; but if God should love sin, he should cease to be God ; he is under sin as a cart pressed with sheaves, Amos ii. 13. All the hatred that man bears to all the things in the world which are either hate- fiil or hurtful to him, is not comparable to God's detestation of the least sin. (3.) He is able to punish sin wherever he either looks upon it or loathes it. As the most secret sinner is within the reach of his eye, so the strongest sinner is within the reach of his arm ; he is as able to throw a sinner into hell as to tell him of hell ; he in all his forbearances loses not his power, but exercises his patience ; he can, but will not punish. (4.) He does not only forbear punish- ment, but seeks to prevent it. He waits that he may be gracious. He is not willing that any should perish. He strikes more gently for a while, that he may not strike eternally ; and he stays and warns so long, that he may not strike at all. (5.) He not only suffers sinners long, but all the while he puts forth mercy towards them, upholds their beings, feeds, heals, helps them. .Sinners all the while they live spend upon the stock of mercy : God is at much loss and great charges in continuing those mercies which they wanton away unprofitably. (6.) He forbears to punish, without expecting any benefit to himself by It. If his long-sufiering bring us to repentance, the good redounds to us ; it is then, as the apostle speaks, salvation. He loses nothing if we are lost ; he has no addition to his own happiness if we are happy. (7.) He is patient and long-suffering to sinners, who is much, nay, infinitely our superior, and more excel- lent than we are. Here a King, the King of kings, waits for beggars ; our Lord and Master stands with- out at the door and knocks : 0 infinite condescen- sion ! How widely does God's caniage towards man differ from man's towards man ! AVe, poor worms, have short thoughts : man will presently, upon every affront or neglect, be ready to call fire from heaven. It is well for poor sinning man he has to do with a long-suffering God ; his fellow creature could not, would not be so patient. God truly shows himself a God, as well by sparing as by punishing : " 1 am God, and not man ; and therefore," saith he, "the seed of Jacob are not destroyed." We further may gather that it Ls no sign that men are innocent because they are not punished. It follows not, because they are great, that therefore they arc good ; this follows only, God is good. Nor does God's forbearance prove a sinner pardoned, it only speaks him for a time, though the Lord knows for how short a time, reprieved. Jus- tice is not dead, but slcepeth. God is sometimes said to hold his peace, never to be dumb ; though lie be long-suffering, yet he is not ever-suffering. God's patience shows not that God will always spare us, but that we should now repent. It is not a pillow for the presumptuous, but a cordial for the penitent. God will require interest hereafter for all his forbearance. Judgment delayed will be increased, unless pre- vented. Justice comes surely, though slowh', to the impenitent : the blackness of darkness is reserved for them who are unprofitable under light. If patience make thee not blush, power shall make thee bleed. 0 thou, though forborne sinner, labour for faith in threatenings ; take heed of self-love, and shunning the thoughts of that severity, the feeling whereof thou canst not shun. Study the end of God's for- bearance, and the vanity of all earthly refuges and reliefs against punishment reserved for an incorrigi- ble sinner. Obs. 6. Things earthly should teach us things hea- venly. It is our duty to make a spiritual improve- ment of earthly objects. The apostle makes use of clouds, trees, stars, waves, to spiritual purposes. The world is a great school to teach us the knowledge of God. Though we have a superior doctrine, yet we must not neglect this. The prophets, apostles, and Christ, often used this kind of instruction by simili- tudes taken from the creatures ; every one of which is a ladder made of many steps to raise up to God ; a pair of spectacles, whereby we may read God the more clearly and plainly. Our meditation should be like a limbec, into which flowers being put, sweet water drops from it; and out of every earthly object put into our meditations, some heavenly considera- tions should be drawn and drop. All the creatures in general we should improve to the learning of God's nature, and our duty. (1.) Of his nature. The invisible things of God are discovered by the creatures, Rom. i. 20. His power, in making them of nothing, and upholding them, as he made them, with his word. His eternity, for he that made them must needs be before them. His wisdom is manifest in the beauty, variety, and dis- tinction, order and subordination of one to another, the exquisite cunning in the frame of the smallest creature. Indeed Augustine saith he ^^^.^^^ ^ ^^ more doubted whether he had a soul "'Hiiliein. Dub. Jivang. I'J. p. 91. more blasjihemous and aiitiscriptural, than ridiculous and unreasonable. And the Scripture, by telling us that Christ came of those ancient patriarchs, would teach us that the benefits of the Mes- siah were extended to those who lived far, yea, farthest before him, to the pa- triarchs before the flood, and even to Adam himself, who by his sin gave occasion for a Saviour to visit poor man with mercy ; and, as some note, by setting down the progenitors of Christ, who lived before the flood, and so long before Abraham, the Scripture would teach that the grace of Christ extended itself not only to the Jews and the seed of Abraham, but also to many of the sons of Adam who were not of the posterity of Abraham, but were to be made par- takers of the blessing by Christ, when Japhet should be brought to dwell in the tabernacles of Shem. (3.) AVhy Jude here terms Enoch " the seventh from Adam." Sundry rea.sons may be assigned. As, [1.] To distinguish this Enoch from another of that name, who was the tliird from Adam, and of the posterity, yea, the immediate son of cursed Cain, mentioned Gen. iv. 17. [2.] To show how holy and zealous Enoch was in sinful times. In a most dissolute and profane age, he prophesies of and foretells the destruction of sin- ners. Though he perhaps did them but little good by his prophecy, yet they did him as little hurt by their profaneness. This taper was not extinguished by the damps of a sinful generation ; this star shinod brightly in a black night: "Enoch the seventh," as afterward Noah the tenth, from Adam " walked with God" in a coiTUpt age, and did not only preserve his own holiness, but prophesy against others' unholiness. [3.] He calls "Enoch the seventh from Adam," to gain the more credit and esteem to that prophecy which he is about to mention, and the more to con- vince these seducers of the truth thereof; in regard both, 1. Of the great antiquity, and, 2. The eminent piety of him who uttered this prophecy. 1. By the antiquity of a prophet who was "the seventh from Adam," the apostle wisely insinuates not only that even from the beginning of the world holy men have prophesied of the end thereof, but that even then the miserable end of the wicked was foretold ; and that they who were most remote from these seducers, and who therefore were most impar- tial, and could not be biassed by afTection to any sides or parties, prophesied of their overthrow. 2. By the eminent and renowned piety of this Enoch, the seventh from Adam, who walked so closely with God, and so pleased God that he ac- counted him too good to live long upon earth, and would not stay for his company in heaven till he had finished the ordinary time of living, but took him to himself before he had lived to half the years either of his father or his son ; I say, by this admirable holiness of Enoch, Jude might stop the mouths of these seducers, and render them either imable to resist the evidence of this prophecy, or inexcusable in not submitting to it. This eminent holiness of Enoch, is in Scripture expressed in these words, " He walked with God ;" words few in number, but great in weight; and which, upon this apt occasion, I shall briefly explain. By this walking with God, more generally is in- tended his giving up himself to the worship and service of God, in leading a holy life, rather than a peculiar ministration in discharging the office of the priesthood ; this walking with God being the same with his walking in the way of God's command- ments, and his ordering the whole course and frame of his conversation according to the will and com- mandment of God : and this metaphor of walking with God, is taken from two friends unanimously and will- ingly going the same course and path together as com- panions. More particularly this his walking with God, ( 1 .) Intends a setting of God before his eyes, and a living always as in his sight, and as being present with him, and thereby his humble reverencing of and fearing to ofTend God, and a studying to please him, and to approve himself to him; ("Walk before me, and be thou perfect," Gen. xvii. I ;) God's pre- sence with us being as certain and undoubted as is his with whom we after a sensible manner and openly converse. (2.) This walking with God intends a friendly and familiar acquaintance and conversing with God ; for can two walk together unless they be agreed ? God did not pass by Enoch as a stranger, nor use him as a page, only to go after him ; but as a friend and companion he walked with God. These words, " he walked with God," the Sept. read ivijpiaTijai rif Qnf!, " he pleased God." Whence the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews speaking of Enoch says, ^ffiapri'pijT-m tvijpsariiicii'ai Tif Blip, " he had this testimony, that he pleased God," chap. xi. 5 : so Abraham is called " the friend of God," and Christ calls his disciples his " friends." And his humble familiarity and acquaint- ance with God consisted, 1. In his apprehension of a propriety and interest in God. Without this he would have stood far from God, as a foe, a fire, not walked with God as a friend. Another's God cannot comfort us : a soul's solace stands in this pronoun, my, my Lord, my God. AVhen Enoch foresaw that God was coming to execute judgment upon all the wicked, he then knew that God was his God and friend. 2. Enoch's familiar acquaintance with God, consisted in a friendly and mutual speaking and discoursing between God and him ; this was no silent walking, no dumb show. God spake to him by exciting his graces, and putting into him holy motions, and telling his soul that he was his salvation, by directing him in his doubts ; he spake to God by daily meditation, ready acceptance of his grace, by pouring forth all his cares by prayer into the bosom of his heavenly Father, by promising obedience, praying continually; see Psal. xxvii. 8; cxix. 164; taking his counsel in his doubts, Psal. cxix. 24. 3. This humble and holy acquaintance appeared in Enoch's exercising his fidu- ciary relying and reposing himself upon God, with- out anxiety and solicitousness, for providing for him in all his necessities : he cast all his care upon God, as a faithful Friend who cared for him; he wholly committed himself and all his affairs to his God ; he did not wound himself with heart-cutting cares; he was not like the lion that roars after his prey, but like the sheep that depends upon the care of the shepherd : " The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want." 4. Enoch's humble and sweet acquaintance with God, stood in his enjoying all his comforts in God, and God in them; he so much esteemed com- munion with God, that he accounted nothing sweet, but what he had with his love and smile ; he was not a .slave to sense, delighting himself only in the good things themselves which he enjoyed ; he accounted 298 AN EXPOSITION UPON Ver. 14. even' cnnditinn sweet or bitter, as far as God com- municated himself in it, or withdrew himself from it : so that he was neither unduly lifted up in his en- joyments, nor dejected in his losses; the God of his delight being ever and evenly the same : nothing was delightful to Enoch by itself, but only God, other things only as they came with God; as, though water is only sweet when something sweet is put into it, yet honey and sugar are sweet alone by themselves. (3.) This walking with God denotes spiritual mo- tion ; there cannot be walking without moving. Enoch neither stood by God, nor sat with God, but walked with God; the commandments of God vvere the way wherein he walked and moved, and every act of obedience was a several step taken in that way ; in all his motions he observed some duty en- joined, and eschewed some sin forbidden, so that he praised God with the language of his conversation. He could not have walked unless he had been as practical as he was speculative and professing : only works speak, words are silent before God and man. Nor did he only practise this walking with God when he was exercised in the duties of God's im- mediate worship, but also when employed in the works of his particular place and calling. In per- forming the former, he was, as it were, in heaven ; in the doing the latter, heaven was in him : the necessary employments of his calling took him not off from conversing with God, they did not make him at all renounce this. Paul, when he was making tents, did not cast off conversing with God ; neither docs piety make us idle in our places, nor does moderate diligence in our callings make us impious and profane; and indeed we cannot walk with God unless wc serve him both in our general and particu- lar callings. To conclude this discourse of Enoch's walking with God, with a touch of the manner how he per- formed it ; 1. He walked with God solely, he admit- ted no intniders into, or disturbers of his heavenly converse with his God ; the world followed him as a servant, walked not with him as a companion : this God cannot endure : he rather used the world than enjoyed it; or rather, used it as if he used it not. God cannot bear the company of mammon ; the love of God and the world cannot stand together. 2. He walked with God evenly, and in a direct course; he halted not, like the Israelites, 1 Kings xviii. 21, be- tween two ; he made straight paths for his feet ; he gave allowance to no wanderings nor false ways : they who will walk in by-paths, walk not with God, but alone ; and therefore Enoch walked in a straight path to heaven, and turned not aside to crooked ways, not treading in the way of any known sin. 3. lie walked cheerfully, not unwillingly, or constrainedly, or sadly, his walking being with him who is the God of all comfort ; and indeed God takes no pleasure in that man's company who accounts not walking with him a pleasure. Enoch was not by fear, or force, or restraint detained before the Lord, but he delighted himself in him, looking upon holy duties as his pri- vileges as well as his tasks : nor indeed can any walk cheerfully, but when with God ; his company makes the valley of the shadow of death to be a pleasant way, a bitter condition sweet, and a sweet condition sweeter. 4. He walked constantly, un- ■weariedly with God, from strength to strength, till he appeared before him in the heavenly Zion. Enoch's goodness was not by fits and starts, like that of some hypocrites ; he did not take a step or two, but walked with God. This his walking w ith God lasted as long as his continuing in the world ; he did not set out well only in the beginning, but held out well also till the end of his race. Obs. 1. The faithful must be holy in unholy times. Enoch in a corrupt age walked with God, and kept close to him when most left him. Saints must show that they are not of the world, when they are in it j they must not be conformed to the world, nor run with the world " to the same excess of riot," 1 Pet. iv. 4. As their righteousness must exceed the right- eousness of hypocrites, so must it condemn the un- righteousness of the profane ; the rest of their time they should not live to the lusts of men, but to the will of God ; they are forbidden to follow a multi- tude to do evil, to go " in the way of evil men," Prov. iv. 14, to have " fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness," Eph. v. 11. Elijah was zealous for God when he scarce could discern any to join with him. As Noah was saved by God when the earth was over- whelmed with an inundation of water, so did he walk with God when it was overspread with an inundation of wickedness. When David was looked upon as a monster, Isaiah and the faithful as wonders, yet they retained their integrity, Psal. Ixxi. 7; Isa. viii. 18 j Jer. XX. 7 : when the wicked have almost made void the law, even then, nay therefore, must the godly love God's commandments, and esteem all his " pre- cepts concerning all things to be right," Psal. cxix. 12() — 128. God is a Friend, a Father; and as this Friend loves us in the day of adversity, so should he be beloved in the day when his honour suifers. INIay not God say to those who temporize with his enemies for fear, or hope, Is this your kindness to your Friend ? Is there any time wherein God hath left or forsaken us, and should there be any wherein we are v.'eary of walking with God ? Is God our Father, and can we endure with a tame patience to see him dishonour- ed ? It is reported of a son, who though before dumb, yet seeing enemies about to kill his father, presently cried out. Kill not my father. The sons of God must glorify their Father, and shine as lights in a crooked and perverse nation, Phil. ii. 15. Nor can the truth, much less the strength of grace, or the power of godliness, ever be manifested, unless it ap- pears in times of opposition : there is no power seen, where there ai'e no difficulties contended with. Wherein doth the life of grace ditier from death in sin, if Christians are carried down the unholy stream of their times ? Grace will ever conflict with that sin, either in the soul or the world, which it is not able to conquer ; it will condemn it, though it cannot execute it. And what more unreasonable, lastly, than for us to mete to God with one measure, and to expect that he should mete to us with another ? How can we expect that he should love us in that day wherein he will leave the most, if we will not walk with him in this day when most forsake him ? Study then, O saints, to give the name of God repar- ations for all the disgrace which wicked men cast upon it. Discover the true nobleness of your Chri.s- tian spirit, and of minds spiritually generous, by gathering vigour and growing invincible, from the very oppositions of the wicked, and the impieties of your times. Obs. 2. It is a singular and blessed privilege to walk with God. It was the great happiness and en- noblement of Enoch, this seventh from Adam. The happiness of walking with God appears in these par- ticulars. (1.) It is a person's greatest honour. It is honourable to follow, much more to walk with a king ; how great is the dignity then of walking with the King of kings ! It is God's lowest condescension to walk with us, and our highest advancement to walk with him. The company of sin debases, and the walking with God dignifies a man. God with man, is the greatest with the least. Enoch was one of the greatest on earth, he was royally descended Per. 14. THE EPISTLE OF JUDE. 299 :lie seventh from Adam in the blessed line ; he had six such tutors aud teachers, viz. the six first patri- archs, to make him learned, as never man had ; but :liat which is testified of him as his honour, was this his ivalking with God. Oh unconceivable dignity, confer- red upon poor impure dust and ashes, to walk with him who is attended with ten thousand times ten thousand glorious saints and angels for his followers ! (2.) In rh's walking with God is greatest delight and solace: solitariness is uncomfortable, company sweet, but none so delightful as God's company : he who has not God to bear him company is alone, though he has all the comforts of the world to accompany him. Of all the creatures, there was not found a fit com- panion for Adam, nor can any creature fitly suit the soul with its society. Good company is the life of our lives, the sweetness of our abodes on earth; but God's company is the truly good company ; there is no me- lody in any concert to which this delight is not added. A man is said to be alone, though he have many beasts with him, if he be without the company of man ; and a Christian is alone notwithstanding all the world is with liim, if God be absent. ""Whom," saith the psalmist, " have I in heaven but thee ? and there is none upon earth that I desire besides thee," Psal. Ixxiii. 25. A sinner is the truly solitary, sad person. Oh how sweetly contentful is his life, w ho when all his outward comforts leave him, can say as did Christ when his disciples left him alone, " Yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me," John r.;jf™.k™„ xvi. 32. (3.) In walking with God there U'tiid tim't homo . /. i t i iu sinu Dei posi- IS true Safety ; what need that man fear '"*' who lies in the bosom, or walks by the side of such a Father, though he walks in the vale of the shadow- of death ? Who dares ofTer that man any injury that walks with a king? no evil is so in- solent as to arrest us, when the King of kings gra- ciously accompanies us. " Fear not, Abraham," saith God, "I am thy shield," Gen. xv. 1. If God be with us, who shall be against us ? if he will help, what shall hurt us ? his society is our true safety. So long as God was with Samson, the Philistines could not conquer him ; but when the " Lord was de- parted from him," Judg. x\4. 20, he soon becomes a prey to his enemies. God's presence is a saint's life- guard; till God leave him, dangers are but trifles; he ever keeps those who walk with him, either from the presence of every misery, or from the hurt and misery of the misery. Lastly, In this walking with God is the greatest gain and profit to be found : what good thing can he deny us, who denies us not himself? God is not only a shield, but an exceeding great reward. How can he want who is with and has Him that is all things ? God mine, and all mine. He will fulfil the desire of them that fear him : no good thing shall be wanting to them, Psal. xxiii. 1 ; nor will God deny them any blessing, which does not oppose their blessedness ; nor any good, which hinders not from enjoying the chiefest good ; and if he thinks it meet to keep away these externals, he will supply their absence with himself. " The Al- mighty will be thy defence, and thou shalt have plenty of silver," Job xxii. 25. Obs. 3. Even of the longest-lived patriarchs there was a succession, not a constant continuation. Adam the first, Seth the second, Enos the third. Sec, Enoch the seventh. One generation goeth, another Cometh, Eccl. i. 4. The coming of new generations shows the going and passing away of the old ; the latter crowds the former out of the world ; one goeth away to make room for another. The longest-lived of these ancient patriarchs had in the world but his time and turn, which at length ended. It has been observed by some, that none of them lived, no, not Jf ethuselah, a thousand years ; and some say the reason thereof was, because God would by their dying before the end of a thousand years make good his threatening, " In the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt die ; " it being said that a thousand years witli God are but as one day : but in this there seems to he more wit than weight. A more solid reason of their dying within the foresaid term, seems to be be- cause thereby God would show that the longest life of any of the sons of men, in respect of God himself, is but very short, and not able to reach to that space, which in respect of God's eternitv is not J r 1*1 ri- * -, Confer lonsissi- adav: tor winch cause Cicero compares mam nosuam thelongestlifeofmantothatofthatbeast £SSaie!"i'n ea brought forth by the river Hippanis, |jropeiii..,i'um which lives not above one day, and dying belViote.'VI-pJrie- when the sun sets, dies then decrepit. ^."'- ^'"^ '■ '• ^, -11, - 1 1 "sc. quaest. Compare, saitli lie, our longest age with eternity, and we shall be found, after a sort, in the same age with that beast. It is added to the relation of the long lives of every one of the ancient patriarchs, "and he died." The repetition whereof seems not to be without great reason, which was not only to show the brittleness and frailty of man's continuance, even as nothing in comparison of eternity ; but princi- pally to show the immovable certainty of that threatening of death against the disobedience of our first parents, notwithstanding the vain and deceitful promise of the devil ; as also manifest that the holi- est men, whose death was the wages of sin, were in this life without that perfect holiness, required to the seeing of Gsd ; and therefore that they were to be cleansed by death, that with their body of flesh they laying oft" the corruption of their nature, might arise pure and spotless to immortality. The consideration whereof should put the strongest, and those who are most likely to live, upon a constant and serious medita- tion of death ; and w am them not to expect immortality in this life, but daily to wait for their certain and ap- pointed change. That blessed saint, now with God, Mr. Richard Rogers,* {who was another Enoch in his age, a man whose walking with God appeared by that incomparable directory of a Christian life, his book called the Seven Treatises, woven out of Scrip- ture and his own experimental practice,) said in his lifetime that he should be sorry if every day were not to him as his last day. Every morning we arise let us say. Art thou my last day, or do I look for another? Let us live as if we were always dying, and yet as such as are ever to live. In short, the successions and conclusions of generations should put us upon holiness of life, for the preserving a sweet and precious remembrance of ourselves in that generation which follows, and especially that we may by our holy example transmit holiness to posterity ; that we, with Enoch, walking with God, the church of God and a seed of saints may be continued as much as in us lies in our line. And truly, as otherwise we shall die while we live in the world, so hereby we shall live when we are taken out of the world, and be like civet, which « hen it is taken out of the box leaves a sweet savour behind it. Obs. 4. All issue from Adam. As Enoch was, so all others were and are from Adam ; from him all descend by natural propagation. He was the root, all others but brandies ; he the fountain, all others but streams. All were hewn out of this rock : an ob- senation which puts us upon sundry useful consider- ations. It teaches us humility. As we were from Adam, so he was from the dust of the earth, and that dust from nothing. Our father was Adam, our grand- father dust, oiu- great-grand fiither nothing. They • Sometime of Wethersfield iii Esse;, my dear and deceased graudlathet 300 AN EXPOSITION UPON Ver. 14. who are proud that they can derive their pedigree so far as Adam, may be humble if they would go a little further. Remember whence thou art, and con- sider whither thou shalt go : nothing so unsuitable as pride for a clod of the earth. A man can never have too low thoughts of himself, but in the bowing down his nature to accompany with sin. He who would not endure pride in the angels of heaven, will not endure it in dust and ashes ; and such even great Abraham calls himself; a fitter style, than most illus- trious, high and mighty, invincible, Sec. When thou art mounting up in proud and self-admiring thoughts, remember thou art from Adam, earthen Adam. Agathocles, a potter's son, when he came to be king, humbled himself with setting earthen vessels on his cupboard. If dust be sprinkled upon the wings of bees, their noises, hummings, risings, will (they say) quickly cease : when thou beginnest to grow proud, sprinkle thy thoughts with this remembrance, I am but dust. Further, we may hence gather the won- derful power of God's blessing, that of one so many millions should come ; from one root such multitudes of branches. God can bless one into nitllions, and blast millions again into one, into nothing : God's powerful benediction multiplied Adam's numerous offspring. He whom God blesses shall be blessed ; he whom God curses shall be cursed. We see the ■way to thrive in any kind; the blessing of God maketh rich, and without it thy own industrious en- deavours will not help thee : he cursed the fig-tree, and it withered uj> at the roots. More particularly, we see from whom to beg the increase of posterity. It is from God that Jacob expected and desired, in his blessing, that Ephraim and Manasseh should grow into a multitude. Gen. xlviii. 16. See also Ruth iv. 11, 12. Hence also we may observe the goodness of God in continuing the blessing of increase to Adam, even after his fall ; that sinful Adam should be the father of such a posterity : God might have said. Here is enough of one man, and too much ; I will suffer no more to be of the kind. We destroy poisonous and hurtful creatures that they may not breed. But mark further, that merciful power of God to cause a holy cifspring, a sanctified seed, though not such as coming of, yet to come of a sinful, fallen parent; that God should make white paper of dunghill rags ; that any of Adam's unsanctified nature should par- take of the Divine nature ; in a word, that Enochs should be from Adam. Truly there was more mercy discovered in the changing one Enoch, than there would have been justice put forth in condemning a whole world. In a word, how should this our de- rivation from the first, put us upon labouring to get into the Second Adam ; he who is but a man, a son of Adam, is a miserable man, a child of wrath. How careful should we be to get off' from the old, dead, poisonous root and stock, and to be branches ingrafted into and growing upon the living, life-giving stock, the Lord Christ ! In Adam, saith the apostle, all die, and in Christ all are made alive. " As we have borne the image of the earthy," so should we be restless till we bear that of " the heavenly," 1 Cor. xv. 49. Obs. 5. It is our duty prudently to take our best advantages for truth's advancement. Thus Jude alleges here the prophecy of such a person as might in likelihood most draw respect and credit. 2. The honourable performance of Enoch, and that was his prophesying ; he " prophesied of these." Three things may be inquired into by way of ex- plication. 1. What our apostle intends in this place by prophesying. 2. How Jude came by, or whence he received, the prophecy of Enoch. 3. Why he alleges and instances this particular prophecy. 1 . AVhat the apostle intends by prophesying. The word prophesy ' is in Scripture taken five several ways. (1.) Sometimes it signifies no more g^e DioHate's than to be present at the public minis- Annoiationson try, and to partake of the doctrine '■ ^°'' "■ ^' thereof. Thus I understand it in that place, " Every woman that prayeth or prophesieth with her head uncovered dishonoureth her head," 1 Cor. xi. 5 ; for otherwise women were not allowed to speak in the church. (2.) Prophecy is taken for the written word, 2 Pet. i. 20. (3.) Elsewhere to prophesy signifies to expound, interpret, and apply the Scriptures to the edification of the church. " Despise not prophesyings," 1 Thess. v. 20; and, "He that prophesieth spcaketh unto men to edification, and exhortation, and comfort," 1 Cor. xiv. 3. (4.) Sometimes it signifies to know and to be able to declare things either past or present, which a man either by nature or industry is not able to know ; and so it signifies to divine : thus it is taken Matt. xxvi. 68; Mark xiv. 65, &c., where they who had blinded Christ bid him, bj' way of derision, prophesy who it was that smote him : to this purpose said the Pharisee, Luke vii. 39, " This man, if he were a prophet, would have known," &c. (5.) Strictly and properly to prophesy, is to fore- show or foretell things to come, or that afterward shall be fulfilled. Thus it is taken Acts xxi. 9, " Philip had four daughters, virgins, which did pro- phesy." Thus Ezek. xxi. 2, compared with ver. 7. So Ezek. xxix. 2; xxx. 2; xxxiv. 2; xxxviii. 2. And thus it must necessarily be taken in this place. " Enoch prophesied of these" by way of prediction, or he foretold their punishment. 2. Whence Jude received this prophecy or predic- tion of Enoch. To this some say that Jude took this prophecy out of an ancient book, written of old by this " Enoch the seventh from Adam." True it is, that in ancient times there were some writings dispersed abroad in the church, under the name of Enoch, and called by the name of Enoch's book; and of these Origen makes mention in his last homily on Numbers. And TertuUian, in his third chapter, de habiln niuliebri, affirms that the book of Enoch was preserved by Noah in the ark and brought forth after the ffood ; and he attributes the opinion of its want of authority to the malice of the Jews, who, saith he, because some eminent testimonies concerning Clirist may be produced out of it, endeavoured to suppress it. Augustine also mentions books bearing Enoch's name. That, then, there were such books called by the name of Enoch, it is not denied ; but that Enoch was indeed the author of them, and that Jude made use of them, none can either probably or soberly suppose. The books, saith Augustine, , 1 ■ 1, 1 ..I, c t? \ Nnn sunt scripla which under the name ot Enoch are in cnonequi s.r. produced are to be suspected for false, )!,''i'aiii';inreiiiiiio. ^ , . ^ ' Cur aulem hoc ana none ot Ins, because tlie Jews never nisi quia suspecia accounted them canonical, nor kept ?iiaquoe'sub them in the temple as such ; and they E""'^'" n'"iinii! 1 1 •.\ c \-i A .1 1 P'OfeiullUir, cnn- aoound witli tables. Among tlie rest, tmem ubuUs. that fond and erroneous conceit, so con- bu's'ju.MSur"''' trary both to Scripture and reason, that "°"i'^,^j."'^af, the angels in their assumed bodies i. I's.deCiv. Dei, went in unto the daughters of men, and '^' '^' so begat those giants mentioned Gen. vi. 4. Though this fabulous error, being entitled to so holy and ancient an author as Enoch, was embraced by Justin Martyr, Cyprian, Clemens Alexandrinus, and some Ver. 14. THE EPISTLE OF JUDE. 301 Libro! Enoch! Others. Besides, had there been any plane supiJi.si- gm-jj (rug book Or prophecy of Enoch lltios fsse ut inihi , . i i i ■ ' i i i^ Pfrsuadcani. f.icii m Writing, no doubt but It would riave ?)"7';>i,irBii;\'' heen very famous and highly set by jonicamtapiiCita- among the Jews, both for tlie antiquity phetarum i'ii.ns° and holiuess of the author, as also for theTaurirquTin"" *!« preciousness of the matter, of which Hon rredii.iie est. somc mention would have been made fuisset'iJoMln'"^ by the holy prophets, or by Philo and scripNfr'u'm'""'™ Josephus, wlio wcrc curious preservers Enochi meniinis- and VTitcfs of Jewish antiquities, who set iti liac liistiirja . t j ^ ^i ^ siiuncextitisseni. yet nevcr discovered to us triat rare ta'Gen'"il'ix'"' treasure. And that Moses was the first of all the holy writers, I think is the constant judgment of all learned divines, protestant and popish ; nor does Christ acknowledge any holy writer to be more ancient than Moses ; for, Luke xxiv. 27, it is said, that " beginning at Moses, he ex- pounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself." Now if Enoch had written a book, probable it is that Christ would have begun at him, he being so long before Closes, to have ex- plained the prophecies of his humility and glory j the latter whereof this prophecy of Enoch, here men- tioned by Jude, so clearly discovers. It is therefore the opinion of some learned men, that if there were in Jude's time any writing which went under Enoch's name, it was written by some Jews, who mixed some things good and true, which peradventure they re- ceived by tradition concerning the prophecies of Enoch, with other things false and fabulous ; which book of theirs might be more and more in the pro- gress of time corrupted, and was deseri-edly rejected as apocryphal. Possibly out of this book Jude might take this passage. The penmen of Holy Scripture have, not seldom, taken several passages which tend- ed to edification out of profane authors, and thereby sanctified them to the use of the church. Acts xvii. 28; 1 Cor. XV. 33; Tit. i. 12; and yet, as Rivet well notes, since Jude saith that Enoch prophesied, it was necessary that Jude should have a peculiar revelation from the Holy Ghost, to assure him that the prophecy, recited by an apocryphal author, did indeed come from Enoch ; for otherwise, should he only rely upon the authority of an apocryphal book, the prophecy related by Jude would no more be canonical than it was as set down by the apocrj-phal writer. Others, protestants and papists, assert, that after the death of the apostles, some impostors, taking Capta occasionc Occasion by Jude's alleging the pro- ex propheiia lie- phecv of Euoch, published and set forth nochi comnietno- ^, -, , .^ c -r^ ii raiaaju.ia, iibros a booK Under the name ot Enoch, that scnp'toTpShi'i". so by its bearing the name of one so r..ut. Perer in pious and ancient, it might find the Gen. Niereniberg f .^ , ' ^j, ^, s' de iirig. fac. better acceptance. Of this opinion is smp.pa.m.i.isi. thg learned Gomarus, who withal gives a parallel instance of the feigning of an epistle, under Paul's name, to be written to the Laodiceans, by occasion of that passage of Col. iv. 16 ; so that ac- cording to this opinion some took occasion to write this fictitious book of Enoch by reading Jude's Epistle ; not that Jude ever saw any book under Enoch's name extant, or took his prophecy out of it. Many learned men therefore very probably conceive that our apostle received this prophecy from common and undoubted tradition, transmitted from the pa- triarchs, and so handed from generation to genera- tion, till such time as it seemed good to the Holy Ghost, by the apostle Jude, to make it a part of Scrip- ture. And thus the apostle mentions the withstand- ing of Moses by Janncs and Jambres ; Jacob's wor- shipping upon the top of his staff; Moses's saying that the sight U])on the mount was so terrible, that " I exceedingly fear and quake." Thus it is said that Joseph's feet were hurt with fetters, and that he was laid in irons. All which passages, being no where mentioned in their proper stories, were received by tradition from generation to generation ; the Spirit of God nevertheless sanctifying them, and giving them the stamp of Divine authority, to be most cer- tain and infallible, by putting the penmen of holy writ to insert them into the Scripture. And by this which has been said, we answer, those who argue against this Epistle being canonical, from Jude's alleging, as they conceive, an apocryphal author, or his bringing in a tradition no where recorded in Scripture, the citing of these by our apostle, if he did cite them out of any author, being so far from making him apocrj-phal, that he makes them, so far as he uses them, canonical ; as also, we hereby answer the papists, who because the apostles have sometimes transferred some things from human writings and tradition into Holy Scripture, take the boldness to do the like, and to join traditions with the Holy Scripture ; not considering that they want that Spirit of discerning which the apostles had, who, by making use of traditions, gave them Divine authority. They were immediately influenced by the Holy Ghost in all their writings ; but we are not endowed with the same measure of the Spirit, and therefore neither are able nor ought to imitate them herein. 3. The third thing to be explained is, why the apostle alleged and instanced this particular prophecy of Enoch. The reasons why Jude made choice of this pro- phecy may be reduced to these two heads ; (1.) The first taken from the prophet. (2.) The second from the prophecy itself. And the consideration of the prophet Enoch in- duced Jude to use the prophecy, because the prophet was, 1. Eminent for his antiquity ; he was the seventh from Adam : this seems to put great respect upon the prophecy ; as if Jude had said. The sins of these seducers, which had judgment threatened against them almost from the very beginning of the world, so many thousands of yeare before they were committed, must needs be heinous and odious now when these sinners are acting them; and those sins which God has so anciently threatened, will at length be most severely punished. 2. This prophet was famous both for his piety and privileges ; he was not only eminent for his piety in walking with God, which was his own benefit, and for his public usefulness, in warning and instructing that corrupt age in which he lived, keeping up the name of God in the world, opposing the profaneness of his times ; but also for that glorious and unheard-of privilege of being taken to God, who thereby proclaimed him to be fit for no company but his o«n, and one for whom no place was good enough but heaven ; a child, though sent abroad into the world as the rest, yet whom his Father so tenderly loved, that he would not suffer him to stay half so long from home as his other children ; one wlio had done much work in a little time, and who having made a proficiency in that heavenly art of holiness above all his fellows, had that high degree of heavenly glory conferred upon him long before the ordinary time. (2.) In respect of the suitableness of the prophecy itself to Jude's present occasion. And, 1. It was most suitable in respect of its certainty ; it was a pro- phecy. Enoch prophesied, he spake from God, not uttering his own inventions, but God's inspirations, the foretelling of things to come being a Divine pre- rogative, and such which without revelation from God the creature cannot attain. And the Scripture assures us that it was God who " spake by the mouth of his holy prophets, which have been since the world 302 AN EXPOSITION UPON Ver. 14 began," Luke i. 70. How suitable was it to produce a prophecy sure to be fulfilled, coming from God by the mouth of a holy prophet, against these fearless, scornful sinners, who mocked at the last judgment ! 2. Of its severity ; what prophecy more tit for the secure scorners than a prophecy of judgment, the last, universal, unavoidable, unsupportable, eternal judgment ? They might possibly slight the particu- lar examples of God's judgments upon the angels, the Sodomites, the Israelites; but the arrow of the general judgment, prophesied of by Enoch against all the ungodly, would not perhaps be so easily shaken out of their sides. If any denunciation could affect them, surely it would be that which was pro- phetical ; and if any prophetical denunciation, that of the last judgment. If the last judgment has made heathens tremble when but discoursed of before them, how should it dismay those who profess to know God when threatened against them ! How bold in sin are they who will not fear the judgment! How can he who believes judgment to be dreadful, but dread to do that which shall be punished in that judgment ? Even the devils at the sight of their Judge trembled to think of their judgment, Matt. viii. 29. Obs. 1. The greatest honour to departed saints is to embrace their holy instructions. Enoch's person was not to be worshipped, but his prophecy to be be- lieved. Saints are to be honoured by terSaiimemr following their doctrines, by imitation prop?er°fdi"io- °^ their practices, not by religious nem. Aug.'de adoratioH. It is easy to commend their er. e .cap. . juen-[orics by our words, and to reverence their relics ; but the art of Christianity appears in praising them with the languageof our conversations, 1 Cor. xi. I. The bark of a tree maybe carried upon a man's shoulder without any pain or difficulty, but it requires strength and labour to carry away the body of the tree : the outside or shell of superstitious, popish adorations men easily perform ; the heart and life of religion, which is that of the heart and life, men cannot away with. The Pharisees, who painted the sepulchres of the deceased prophets, opposed their piety, as also those holy ones in their times who were influenced by the same spirit of holiness which showed itself in those prophets of old. The Jews who boasted that they had Abraham for their father, did not the works of their father Abraham, but of their father the devil. Many are like Samson, that took honey out of the dead lion, praise dead ancient saints to be sweet and holy men ; who, were they alive, would roar upon them for their lusts, would oppose and hate them: the right way (then) to re- verence the godly who are departed this life, is to be led by that Spirit whereby they were led while they lived. Obs. 2. Threateningsdenoimcedby Divine warrant should deter us from sin. If Enoch's prophecy, which was of Divine authority, foretell judgments, they must not be slighted. As Divine promises should uphold and comfort us in our lowest and weakest estate ; so should Divine threatenings make us tremble, and affright us from sin, in our greatest strength and highness. The Ninevites, by fearing evils foretold by Jonah against them, prevented the feeling of them. Josiah holily feared, and his " heart was tender," and he humbled himself when he heard what the Lord spake against Jerusalem, 2 Kings xxii. 19. When " Micah the Moras- hite prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Ju- dah, saying, Zion shall be ploughed like a field," &c., Hezekiah feared, "and besought the Lord," Jer. xxvi. 18, 19. A judgment denounced by God cannot be kept otT by power : there is no might or strength against the Lord. The hand of the Lord is not weakened, nor is his arm shortened, when he deals with his most potent adversaries. As God can create deliverances when he intends to show mercy, so can he create judgments when he purposes to punish. The truth of a threatening will break through the greatest improbabilities of its approaching. Though the Chaldeans were all as wounded men, if he threaten to punish by them, they shall be victorious against the unrepenting Jews, Jer. xxxvii. 10. There is no way of flying from God but by flying to him : the way to get out of the reach of judgments threatened, is to repent at the threatening of them : nothing but our repenting sincerely can make God repent mer- cifully. Oh how foolish a madness is it by politic endeavour's to imagine a prevention of judgments di- vinely threatened, or by persecuting the prophet to think to overthrow the prophecy ! " The prophets, do they live for ever?" yet "my words and my sta- tutes, which I commanded my servants the prophets, did they not take hold of your fathers ? " Zeeh. i. 5, 6. Paul sutfered trouble " even unto bonds ; but the word of God " (saith he) " is not bound," 2 I'im. ii. 9. Obs. 3. Sinners should look upon the threatenings denounced against others for sin as belonging to them without repentance. The wicked against whom Enoch immediately prophesied were such as lived ungodlily in his time ; and yet the apostle saith that he prophesied against these seducers : the reason is, because these lived in the same sins with those wicked ones of old. As the promises made to the godly who lived in former times belong to those who imitate them in succeeding ages, so the threatenings denounced against former sinners are denounced also against those who follow them in sin ; and that by the constant analogy and proportion of justice, imless these repent, they shall likewise perish, Luke xiii. 3. Strong is the inference of the apostle, " If God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee," Rom. xi. 21. Threatenings denounced against and inflicted upon those who lived in former times, manifest God's equal dislike of those who shall live in the same sins in succeeding ages ; showing thereby that he is prepared, if they will also sin, to do what he has done against those who lived before them. Though God's forbearance towards some shows that sometimes he can spare sinners, yet his punishing others shows that he never loves sin. In all ages God is the same, he abhors sin in all the ages of the world ; nor will he go out of his way to gratify men's lusts : changing is not God's property, but the sinner's duty. " If he turn not, he will whet his sword," Psal. vii. 12. Obs. 4. Doctrines of greatest antiquity are only to be embraced as they consent with the testimonies which come from the infallible Spirit of j,j^j p^ aichivis God, Psal. cxix. 100. Enoch, though est jmus cinis- the seventh from Adam, and so very '"^' ^°'' \ ancient, yet only is to be believed in what he said, as speaking by prophecy, and receiving what he deliver- ed from Divine revelation. Whatever doctrines proceed not from or agree not to this, are, not- mos iiiaboiic.is withstanding all pretences of antiquity, "„'i,a',i'?,':„rf"j;."en, to be reiected as spurious. The pa- comnitniictur pists who have no patronage from Scrip- ni. Nov. ct Vet. ture, have but a rotten support for their '' "[■ opinions which pretend to greatest antiquity. Cus- tom without truth is but the antiquity of error. The most proudly swelling ^'"' ^' allegations of the ancients are but like a swollen leg, which though it be large, is yet but weak, and unable to bear up the body : the authority of neiicionisauiori- rcligion must not be measured by time. '»^^^™ ',5.' '^I"- We reverence the ancient fathers, and Ai'iwb'cou/r!'' hold it our duty to rise up before the iJf,',',';,^;!^;,, a„ii. hoary head and to honour the person of quiuitis, scii an- Veu. 14. THE EPISTLE OF JUDE. 303 isveriiaiis the aged; but still with reservation of i'^niert "" ^'^^ TCspect We owe to their Father and .. .rair. Q. 7. ours, that " Ancient of days, the hair of ' whose head is like the pure wool," Dan. vii. 9. In opposition to him we must "call no man father," Matt, sxiii. 9. Nor yet is this said as if p:ipists were able to produce better proof out of the testimony of the ancients for their errors than we can do for the truth ; but to give the word of God its due, which is that rock upon which alone we build our faith. The truth is, papists have removed the ancient land-mark which the fathers set, that so they may invade another's possession ; their traditions are new boundaries; their doctrines of merits, image wnrship, equivocation, transubstantiation, denial of priests' marriage, power of the pope, are new and upstart, not only to the Scripture, but even to the writings of the ancients. So much for the preface. II. The prophecy Hself of the last judgment. And in that, first the note of incitement, to cause regard to the following description of the judgment, in the word " behold." The word behold is in Scripture used principally these two ways. 1. As a note of manifestation of the truth, reality, certainty of a thing to be obsen-ed or believed. Thus it is used Matt, xxviii. 20, " Behold, I ara with you to the end of the world." " Behold, 1 have given every herb bearing seed," Gen. i. 29. " Behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee," Gen. xxviii. lo. " Be- hold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison," Rev. ii. 10. "Behold, there come two woes more," Rev. ix. 12. " Behold, the hour is at hand; and the Son of man is betrayed," &c.. Matt. xxvi. 45. " Be- hold, happy is the man whom the Lord correcteth," Job v. 17. " Behold, the eye of the Lord is upon them that fear him," Psal. xxxiii. 18 ; Rev. iii. 8, 9, II, 20; Psal. xxxvii. 36; Zech. ix. 9; Matt, xxviii. 20 ; GaL v. 2. 2. As a note of admiration, or to stir up attention for the great and stupendous wonderfulness of some- thing that falls out. Thus it is taken 2 Kings vi. 17, " Behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire." " Behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain," Matt, xxvii. 51. And, " Behold, there was a great earthquake," Matt, xxviii. 2. " Behold, a virgin shall conceive," Isa. vii. 14. " Behold, I show you a mystery," &c., 1 Cor. xv. 5 1 ; Liike xiii. 16; Acts i. 10; vii. 5G; xii. 7; Gen. xxix. 6. The word behold in this place may, suitably to the sub- ject in hand, the coming of Christ to judgment, be considered as denoting both these. (1.) The certainty and truth thereof, it being a thing as sure as if it were before oiir eyes, and already accomplished, like that minatory prediction of the prophet concerning the house of Jeroboam, 1 Kings xiv. 14, "But what? even now;" a thing that ought to sink into the hearts of hearers, and that which they cannot too tirmly and fixedly believe. The in- fallible predictions of Scripture which must be ful- filled, the judgments of God already executed upon some sinners, the fears of natural conscience, God's justice, which will render to every one according to his works ; and lastly, the fitness that the body shall have its due retribution as well as the soul, all prove the certainfv of the last judgment. Acts i. 11; Matt. xxiv. 30 : 2'Thess. i. 7—12 ; "Acts xvii. 32 ; xxiv. 25 ; Gen. xviii. 25; 1 Thess. i. 10; 2 Cor. v. 10; Rev. XX. 12. (2.) The word behold may be considered as a note of admiration, denoting a most wonderful and strange thing, like that behold Hab. i. 5, " Behold, and wonder marvellouslv, for I will work a work in your days which ye will not believe, though it be told you." And this coming of Christ is wonderful and strange, 1. In respect of the wicked, to whom it is unexpected, they thereby being unprepared for it ; it comes as a snare upon them, in a day wherein they look not for it, in an hour wherein they are not aware, Luke xii. 46, " as a thief in the night When they shall say. Peace and safety; then sudden de- struction Cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child ; and they shall not escape," 1 Thess. v. 2, 3. 2. It is wonderful in respect of the astonishing glory of the coming of Christ to judgment, together with the judgment itself, of which I have largely spoken before. Obs. 1. Our thoughts only of those things which are trulj' great and glorious should be high and ad- miring. " Behold," saith Enoch, as noting the aston- ishing wonderfulness of the last judgment. This truly great thing should be looked upon as such. It is the folly of most men to look upon small things as great, and upon great things as small; human judgments afTright and amaze them, the last judgment they slight and neglect. These want that rectified judg- ment of the apostle, who calls the day of judgment the appearing of the great God; and so preached of the judgment to come, that he made Felix tremble ; whereas he tells us how little he estimated man's judgment. 1 Cor. iv. 3. Thus likewise our Saviour directs his disciples to contemn that which is small and contemptible. Fear not him that kills the body ; and to dread that which is truly great and formidable, Fear him who can destroy both body and soul in hell, Matt. x. 2S. 'When the disciples beheld with wonder, and showed to Christ the beautiful buildings of the temple, he, with a holy contempt of those out- side beauties, tells them there shall not be one stone of all those stately structures left upon another that shall not be thrown down; and when Satan showed and offered him all the kingdoms of the world with their glory, he showed his contempt of the prospect and promotion, with a " Get thee behind me, Satan ;" but when he observed the faith of the centurion, he wonders, and expresses his admiration to the people, Luke vii. 9. Obs. 2. Great is our natural backwardness to mind and believe the coming of Christ to judgment. Enoch prefixes a note of incitement to his prophecy. The wicked take occasion to be secure, and to cast off the thought of Christ's coming, from the procrastination and delaying thereof. Men scoff at the promise of the coming of Christ, because (say they) " since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation," 2 Pet. iii. 4. That servant who said that his Lord delayed his coming, Lidce xii. 45, instead of minding and pre- paring for it, beat his fellow servants, and also did eat, and drink, and was drunken. Hence it is that men say. Peace and safety, even when sudden destruc- tion is coming upon them, 1 Thess. v. 3. Men are naturally led by sense; what they see not, feel no', they believe not. As Noah's flood was a type of the last judgment, so the disposition of men when that deluge approached resembled that which shall be in sinners at the coming of Christ. As in the days be- fore the flood there was eating, drinking, marrying, Sec. " so shall also the coming of the Son of man be," Matt. xxiv. 38, 39. And so great, likewise, is na- turally every sinner's self-love, that they love to shun the thoughts of every thing which they love not; they are ready to say to themselves, as did Peter to Christ, " Be it far from thee ; this shall not be unto thee ;" they put far from them the last day, because they look upon it as the evil day, nay, the worst day; they love the world, and their hearts grow to it, and \ 304 AN EXPOSITION UPON Ver. 14. therefore it is death to them to think of an unsettle- meiit. Their Sodom they so mucli deliglit in, that, like Lot's wife, they cannot endure to think of a Bliower of tire ; herein resembling some, who are therefore unwilling to make their wills, because they cannot away with the thoughts of death. To rectify this distemper, as we should labour to find this great day a good day, and the great Lord our good Lord, and to be such that even out of this devouring lion we may take honey ; so, consider that, 06s. 3. The last judgment is to be looked upon as a matter of greatest certainty ; not as a fiction, but as a most real and undoubted thing. We should look upon it to be as certain as if it were already with us. It is the policy of Satan, to make us diffident of that of which we should be confident, and confident of that of which we should be diffident. He presents his own lies as certainties, and God's truths as lies, or at the best as conjectural uncertainties ; but our faith must take into its vast comprehension God's whole revealed will, part whereof is this of the last judgment. The last and dreadful judgment will never afiright us from sin, if we look upon it in the devil's dress of uncertainty ; for then we shall but sport with it, and make it our play-fellow instead of our monitor. Let us therefore labour to make it by prayer and meditation to sink into our hearts, and to believe it, though never so distant from or opposite to sense ; taking heed lest the deferring thereof, and the present impunity of sinners, destroy or damp our belief of Christ's coming to judgment; considering that if every offender should now be |ec°""?.° Tani. opculy punjshed, men would think that fesia piectereiur nothing would 1)6 reserved to the last ptei.a, nihil uld- . , ° , .i ^ •/• mojmiiriorescr- judgment; as ou the contrary, it no rufliis.'sf'nui'ru'ra offender should be plagued, men would peccaium nunc bclieve that there were no Providence. Sivim'tas'.'nuiia And let US bcwarc lesl we make that Sua' pufafeTur'.' conccalmcnt of the last judgment to A»s. lie Civ. ije an occasion of sin, which God in- ei, cap. 8. tends should be an incentive to re- pentance. This briefly for the note of incitement, " Behold." 2. The description of the judgment, and in that, first, the coming of the Judge to judgment ; " The Lord cometh with ten thousand of his saints." And here, L The title, 2. Approach, 3. Attend- ance of the Judge, are all worthy of consideration by way of explication. (1.) Ofthe title, "Lord," I have spoken very largely before, and of the greatness of this Lord, the Judge, as he is God and man. The reasons also why he shall even as man judge the world I have mentioned, and how he excludes not Father and Holy Ghost. It will not be needful here again to repeat the fitness of Christ for judicature, in respect of his veniet judica- advancement after his humiliation, the occutii"vI-ne?at' ncccssity that the judicial proceeding juiiKamhis in- should be visible, the great horror and ^ '■ ""■ amazement of his enemies, the comfort of the saints, the excellent qualifications of this Judge in regard of his righteousness, omniscience, strength, and fortitude, &c., Rev. vi. 16 ; 1 John ii. 28; Rev. V. 9; xix. II; 1 Cor. iv. 5; Acts i. II ; x. 42; xvii. 13. (2.) The approach ofthe Judge, " the Lord cometh," Ti\9i ; in which word Jude uses the time past for the time to come, after the manner of the prophets, who are wont to speak of those things which are to come as if they were already past; and this he does for two reasons : First, to note the certainty of Christ's coming to judgment, it being as sure as if it were already. Secondly, to show the nearness thereof, Clirist's coming is at hand : " The time is short " saith Paul, 1 Cor. vii. 29, its sails almost wound up. The Judge stands at the door. " He that shall come will come, and will not tarry." If he were coming in Enoch's time, if in the first, what is he then in the last times, as these are frequently called ! Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly. " Behold, I come quickly," Rev. iii. II. The bride's prayer and the Bride- groom's promise are both for speedy coming. " Be- hold, he cometh with clouds," Rev. i. 7; not, shall come ; he is as good as come already. Christ cometh to us either in Spirit or in person. [I.] In Spirit he cometh, I. In the ministry, to win and pei-suade us to come to him : thus he went and preached in Noah's time to the spirits now in prison, 1 Pet. iii. 19. 2. In some special manifesta- tion of his presence in mercy or judgment: the former, when he meets us with comfort, strength, and increase of grace, John xiv. 18, 23; the latter, in testification of displeasure. Rev. ii. 16 ; John xvi. 8 [2.] In person he comes two ways. 1. /n camem. 2. In came. 1. Into fiesh, in humility in his in- carnation, to be judged. 2. In flesh, in glory at the last day, to judge all flesh. Where consider whence, whither, and when he cometh. (1.) ^\^lence he cometh. From heaven. "The Lord himself shall descend from heaven," I Thess. iv. 16 ; he shall come in the clouds of heaven : to heaven he ascended, and from heaven will he de- scend. " This Jesus, which is taken from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven," Acts i. IL And it is ne- cessary that Christ should come from heaven to judge, because it is not meet that the wicked should come thither, to him, though to be judged; for into that holy place can no unclean thing enter. (2.) Whither cometh he ? Some think that the judgment-seat shall be upon the eai'th, that the sen- tence may be given where the faults have been com- mitted, and that in some place near Jerusalem, where the Judge was formerly unjustly condemned; and particularly some think it shall be in the valley of Jehoshaphat, though that place, Joel iii. 12, contains but an allegorical or typical prophecy. The apostle seems to intimate that the place of judgment shall be in the air, 1 Thess. iv. 17, where he mentions our being caught up to meet the Lord in the air, it being probable that the judgment shall be in that place where we shall meet the Judge, in the clouds of the air ; and the Scripture saith he shall come in the clouds of heaven. Then the devils shall be con- quered and sentenced in the very place wherein they have ruled all this while as princes. But over what place it seems to me a rashness to determine. (3.) When shall he come? In the end of the world; but the particular age, day, or year is not known to man or angel, Mark xiii. 32 : this secret the Spirit revealed not to nor taught the apostles, who yet were led by him into all necessary truths ; and Christ nuist come as a thief in the night, and as in the days of Noah, when men knew nothing. And we are com- manded to watch, and to be ever prepared, because we know not the hour. The childish curiosity of sundry in their computation of a set year, wherein the day of judgment shall be, rather deserves our caution than confutation. 3. The third thing to be opened in this coming ot the Judge is his attendants, " ten thousand of his saints." The words in the original are iv ftvpidaiv ayiatQ avrov, word for word, with his holy ten thou- sands, or myriads. Four things may here offer themselves to be ex- plained. I. Their numbers ; " ten thousand," Yer. 14. THE EPISTLE OF JUDE. 305 2. Their quality ; they are holy ones, " ten thou- sand of his saints." 3. Their relation ; they are his, his holy ten thousands. 4. Their action or employment ; they are to come with the Lord. (I.) Their numbers. The word fivpiag, in the Greek, properly signifies ten thousand. Thus, Acts xis. 19, where the apostle mentions fiimacas TriiTi, five my- riads, it is rendered " fifty thousand." And Rev. ix. 16, ?tio fivpmoi(; iivpidlMi; two myriads of myriads, we translate " twenty thousand times ten thousand ;" Vulg. et Erasm. ricie.i millies deiia viiilia. MvpidStg livptdcaii', Rev. V. 11. And Dan. vii. 10, fiipmi /ivoiahg, according to the Septuagint, we render " ten thousand times ten thousand :" so Deut. xxxiii. 2 ; Psal. iii. 6 ; Dan. si. 12; Luke sii. 1 ; Acts xsi. 20. And in those places where the word ten thousand is used (as here in Jude) without the addition of a word of another number, it imports an uncertain and very vast num- ber, or an innumerable multitude ; there being a cer- tain number put for an uncertain, Heb. xii. 22. (2.) Their quality or property, noted in this word holy, or " saints." These here called holy, or saints, say some, are the angels, who in Scripture are oft said to be such with whom Christ comes at the last day, and also called holy ; and not seldom is their coming with Christ and their holiness, as here, put together. Thus, Luke is. 26, Christ is said to come in the " glory of the holy angels ;" and, " The Son of man shall come, and all the holy angels with him," &c.. Matt. xxv. 31. Sometimes they are called mighty angels : " The Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels," 2 Thess. i. 7. And when God delivered the law upon Mount Sinai, it is said, " he came with ten thousands of his saints," Deut. xxxiii. 2; where by saints may be understood angels, who attended God in delivering the law ; in which respect it is said that Israel " received the law by the disposition of angels," Acts vii. 53 ; and the law is said to be " the word spoken by angels," Heb. ii. 2. But others more rightly conceive, that by these holy myriads or ten thousands in this place, we are likewise to understand holy men as well as the holy angels ; even the saints " shall appear with him in glory," Col. iii. 4. And more plainly, 1 Thess. iii. 13, "the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ" is foretold to be " with all his saints." And, " The righteous shall shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father," Matt. xiii. 43. And these saints or righteous ones who are to attend upon Christ, shall be not only those who before were with Christ in heaven, but even those who shall be taken up in the clouds to meet Christ, and thereby shall be made a part of his attendants, 1 Thess. iv. 1/. So that these myriads, this innumerable company, shall be made up of all the glorious angels and saints ; it shall be a general assembly ; all the serv- ants shall wait upon their Master the Lord Jesus. We shall, saith the apostle, all meet, Eph. iv. 13; there shall not one be wanting: and if Christ be- stows new liveries upon all his saints, they shall all, ivhen adorned with them, yield their attendance to tiim in them. But in what respect does the apostle call them " saints," or holy ? Persons are holy in two respects. 1. In respect of destination, separation, or being set apart to holy services and employments. Thus the first-born were holy, Exod. xiii. 2, 12. Thus the prophets and apostles are oft called holy ; Jeremiah was sanctified from the womb, Jer. i. 5. In this re- spect these holy angels and men may be called holy, as being set apart to the peculiar work and glorious employment of praising and glorifying of God for ever. 2. Persons may be holy in respect of tnie in- herent holiness abiding in them. Thus likewise these angels and saints here mentioned may be called holy. For the angels, they were from their very creation perfectly holy, and afterward by the grace of con- firmation made constant in holiness. As for holy men, though they were formerly made holy of not holy, privatively, that is, having lost their holiness, had holiness bestowed upon them by regeneration ; and though they were made holy of less holy, by having increase and additions of holiness bestowed upon them in this life ; yet at this great day tlicy are with the angels perfectly holy likewise, the spirits of just men made perfect : in this life they were perjiciente-s, perfecting; then shall they be perfect), having as much holiness as they can hold, as much as God or themselves will desire, being without any mixtures of unholiness in them, all tears being wiped from their eyes, and all sins from their souls, and they presented faultless before that presence of glory, " not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing," but being " holy and without blemish," Eph. v. 27. (3.) Their relation ; they are called his, his holy ten thousands ; and his they are in three respects. 1. In respect of creation ; he made them all, whether saints or angels ; as they are creatures, they are the works of his hands. 2. As they are saints, they are his also. Angels are liis by being confirmed in their sanctity ; holy men are his, because he was the de- serving cause of their holiness, the pattern or exem- plary cause of it ; and lastly, by his Spirit, the efficient cause of their holiness, he is made sanctification to us, 1 Cor. i. 30 ; he sanctifies and cleanseth his church " with the washing of water by the word," Eph. v. 26. 3. They are his in point of service and attend- ance ; for being sanctified, they wait upon him. and scr\'e him in all holy employments here in the king- dom of grace, and hereafter shall they attend upon and come with him as his servants in his kingdom of glory. (4.) Their employment ; these " ten thousand of his saints" shall come with the Lord Jesus. [1.] For his own glory; he will come in the glory of his holy angels ; and he will likewise " come to be glorified in his saints, and admired in all them that believe in that day," 2 Thess. i. 10. How glorious these holy myriads or ten thousands shall make Christ at the day of judgment, both in regard of their excellencies and numbers ! How will the beauty and multitudes of these subjects set forth tlie glory of the King of glory, who shall have myriads of servants, every one shining like myriads of suns, and every subject being indeed a king ! The first time he came as a servant to sinners, but the second time he shall come as the Lord of saints and angels. Then his forenumer was John Baptist, now he shall " descend with the voice of the arch- angel," 1 Thess. iv. 16 ; then he w-as attended with twelve poor contemptible men, but now with many millions of glorious angels : and the angels, more particularly, shall by their attendance make Christ's coming glorious in regard of their service and minis- try; for they shall perform the work of the great day, in gathering together the elect, severing the tares from the wheat, they are called reapers, running at every command of Christ. And this w-ork they shall do, 1. Powerfully; they are the angels of his power ; they are principalities and powers, and excel in power; and at that day Christ's power shall be added to their own. 2. They shall do the W'ork of Christ willingly; behold their readiness; the servants said. Shall we gather up the tares ? Matt. xiii. 2S. They who desire commission beforehand, will be ready enough when they have it. 3. They shall perform 306 AN EXPOSITION UPON VtR. 14. it justly, holily, faithfully ; they shall mingle no cor- rupt passions with their executions, nor corruptly respect any persons. " The seven angels are clothed in pure and white linen," Rev. xv. 6. 4. Diligently and perfectly, in a most strict and exact manner : thougli angels compared with God are imperfect, yet in comparison of God's law they have perfection, and no spot of sin cleaves to them ; nor else could they continue in their glorious state, if they should not be answerable to God's law in the purity of their nature, and perfection of their work. [2.] Christ will come with these ten thousands for the glory of his saints, and confusion of the wicked. Here saints have glorified him, but then he will glorify them ; they who have here lien among the pots, shall shine with rays of majesty. What glory comparable to tliat of appearing with Christ in glory, of being privileged with the dignity of judging and condemning wicked nren, yea angels ? I Cor. vi. 3; and that not only, 1. By having the practices of these saints compared with those of the lost. Nor, 2. Only by their consenting to and approving of the sentence which Clirist shall pass upon the wicked. But also, 3. In regard of that dignitas at.-.'iesfioria, that dignity whereby they shall be advanced to an honourable assessorship with the Lord Christ, in sitting, as it were, witli him upon the throne of judicature. As likewise, 4. They in that judgment appearing with Christ, manifest victors over all their enemies, by trampling upon all the pride, malice, and weakness of devils and wicked men, and openly and holily insulting over them as vile, vanquished, and con- temptible enemies. Obs. 1. Our greatest wisdom and truest interest is to make Jesus Christ our friend against the last day. " The Lord cometh." He now is the Lord, but then he will openly declare himself to be so. How happy will they be who then put their trust in him, who have chosen and taken him to be their Lord ! 2 Cor. v. 9. The service of Clirist will tlien appear to be the only safety and dignity. The wicked who here take no care to make him their Lord, will, at that day, call him their Lord, Matt. vii. 22, and be sure to find and feel him tlieir Lord. How unable will the enemies of Christ at the last day be to oppose him, the Lord that cometh from heaven ! In regard of his very situation he will be above them, and have the advantage of them. Against earthly power they might make their party good : the ministers of Christ they opjxiscd; but this mighty Lord, who shall come armed with an infinite power and dominion over all creatures, which shall be acknowledged by them all ; (the angels shall observe and attend it ; the heavens, earth, and elements shall be dissolved by it ; the dead bodies of men shall be raised up out of the graves and out of the sea by it;) I say, this mighty Lord will easily and unavoidably crush them. A care- ful servant, that expects his master's return, will la- bour to have the work set him finished. If the bride- groom be coming, let the bride deck herself, like Kcbekah, espying Isaac afar off. Gen. xxiv. 65. As Joshua exhorted Israel, chap. iii. 5, " Sanctify your- selves ; foj- to-morrow the Lord will do wonders among you ;" lie" means, in leading them to Canaan : so our Joshua commands usto be sanctified, because in thelast day the Lord will do wonders in leading us to the hea- venly Canaan. Let us separate from sin : a malefactor cannot stand before the judge,norshall the wicked stand in judgment. Our care should be that we may be found of him in peace ; and no peace can any one have with Clirist who is not at war with sin. And how much better and easier is it to hear the yoke of service here in doing his will, than that of severity hereafter in undergoing bis wrath ! Obs. 2. The saints have a strong ground for mo- deration in every condition. "The Lord cometh," and they shall come with him. The Lord's coming is the apostle's argument to urge moderation, Phil. iv. 5 ; Acts iii. 19; Eph. iv. 30; Luke xxi. 28. How pa- tient and full of forbearance should they be in sus- taining all their crosses and injuries ! Contentedly should they here be accounted tlie refuse and off- scouring of the world. Their Lord is coming, and they shall come with him in glory; though men here make them their footstool, yet Christ has allotted for every one of them a throne. In this world they are not accounted worthy of the society of men, but then they shall be in the company of angels, yea, Christ himself. Now Christ seems for a while to leave his family, every piece of household stuff appears to be misplaced, or all (as it were) to lie in a huddle or heap together, the most beautiful vessels to lie among the pots ; but then the vessels of honour shall be set up in tlieir places, and the vessels of dishonour thrown into theirs, Rom. viii. 23 ; 2 Tim. iv. 8 ; James v. 6 — 8 ; 1 Cor. iv. 5. It is not fit that our glory should appear so long as Christ's glory is hid. In the winter all the sap, and life, and fruit is hid in the root, and tlien the tree appears not what it is ; but the summer coming, all that was within appears : so in this our winter, though we are the sons of God, yet it appears not what we shall be, but when Christ shall appear, we shall be like him, 1 John iii. 2. Obs. 3. How cheerfully may saints think of the last judgment ! This Lord is their Brother, their Saviour and Head, he it is who is coming : no wonder if "the bride say. Come," Rev. xxii. 17 ; and that the saints are called such as love his appearance, 2 Tim. iv. 8. A loving wife longs for the return of her husband from a far country. At that judgment- day the Judge will condemn none but malefactors; they who here are justified, shall then be declared to be so. It is true, Christ the Judge is here called a Lord ; but yet he is so the saints' Lord, that he is also their Husband. How great is the difference betwixt a guilty malefactor's calling the judge my lord, and a loyal wife giving her husband that title ! Who is he that condemns, if the Judge accept, acquit us ? he it is that shall judge us who also died for our sins. The Father hath delivered all judgment to him, who himself was delivered for our sins, and " sent into the world, not to condemn the world, but that the world through him should be saved." How shall he who was sent into the world to save believers con- demn them ? How shall he who comes to condemn others for injuring them hurt them liimself? How shall he who the first time came to be put to death for them, sentence them to die when he comes the second time ? How should he throw them away, who was made their Head to gather them together ? As there- fore believers of the Old Testament longed to see the first coming of Christ, when he came in the form of a ser\'ant; so should believers of the New Testament desire the second coming of Christ in glory, when he shall come as a Lord: "The Lord cometh." The nearer the day of jubilee came, the more the joy of prisoners and debtors was increased ; the nearer the day of our redemption approacheth, the more should we lift up our heads, Obs. 4. Christ will be attended only by holy ones at the last day. Holy myriads. None shall meet with him in peace but they who first meet with him in purity. He will profess to the workers of iniquity at the last day that he knows them not. How un- suitable to the dignity of Christ will it be to be at- tended by those who have no better raiment than the filthy rags of sin ! If Achish, an earthly king, had no need of madmen, what need will the King o/ Vek. 15. THE EPISTLE OF JUDE. 307 glory have of unholy men ? If he commands us here to have no fellowship with the works of darkness, will he himself in that day of light and glory show any love to them ? How shall Christ at that day acquit those openly from the guilt of sin, who are not before parted from the filth of sin ? Men here in this world are oft ashamed of holiness, but at the last day it will be the best ornament, the best defence ; with- out it no man shall see God. How shall Christ pre- sent unclean ones without spot before the presence of liis glory ? They who will be ashamed of Christ here for his holiness, shall deservedly hereafter find Christ ashamed of them for their uncleanness. 066'. 5. How great is the patience and long-suffer- ing of the Lord Jesus Christ ; who is contented so long to be hid, and not to show himself in glory to the end of the world, suffering, meanwhile, his glory to be veiled, yea, trampled on by the wicked! The heavens are now as a curtain between our eyes and his glory ; he is out of sight, and, by most, out of mind ; his patience is despised, and the promise of his coming derided; yea, his very saints do not so much believe, love, admire him as they should, in re- gard of their sins, and his hiding his face. He for- bears to show forth his glory and power in judgment, not constrainedly, but voluntarily; not because he cannot punish, but because he would have sinners re- pent. And all this time of his forbearance he sees all the impieties committed against him, and indig- nities offered to him and his ; yea, his hatred of all the sins which he beholds, is infinitely more keen and intense than that of all the saints and angels in the world. How unworthily and disgracefully was this Lord of glory used, when he veiled and hid his glory here upon earth ! And yet, I say, with what patience and long-suffering does he forbear to mani- fest his majesty and greatness to the view of the world ! We poor worms think a short time long and tedious, ere our enemies fall, and we rise ; but Christ suffers very long. How patiently should we endure to have our glory obscured, and injuries unrevengcd, since our Lord, our Master, the Judge himself, is the greatest suflerer, and yet voluntarily unrevenged ! 06.?. 6. When angels and saints are in their great- est glory, obsequiousness and sersnceableness to Christ becomes them. All the saints and angels of heaven shall worship and advance Christ, when they appear in their highest dignity ; of him they will not be ashamed when they are in their best clothes, their robes of most shining glory ; when they lay off all their infirmities, they throw off no love to Christ: as saints are made glorious in their bodies, so are those bodies joined to spirits made perfect in holiness, and that holiness will show itself in duty and obedience. How unlike to ten thousands of saints are they who think they are too good to honour Christ, when they are in outward glory and dignity ! When they are in their rags, low and afflicted, they will then stoop to do something for Christ ; but when in their best ap- parel, set up, advanced to any pitch of worldly emi- nence, they then think they shall spoil their clothes and disgrace their dignity by attending upon Christ. Do saints and angels wait upon him in their glory, and shall worms upon the dunghill think it much to serve him ? Did he our Lord empty himself of glory to save, yea, serve us, and shall not we his servants serve him when filled with glory? Thus far of the first part of the description of the judgment, viz. the coming of the Judge. 2. The carriage of the Judge in judgment, ver. 15; and in that, 1. His carriage toward all. 2. Particu- larly toward the wicked. (1.) Toward all, in these words, " to execute judgment upon alL" For this first. Two things here require explication. [1.] What the apostle here intends by execution of judgment. How judgment is here to be taken, and wherein the execution of judgment at the last day doth consist, I have spoken at large before. [2.] How it is said that Jesus Christ shall execute judgment upon all, or concerning the universality of this judgment, I have likewise spoken before. Only as to this text, it is to be considered that the word Kara, here fitly translated upon, though sometimes it signifies adversits, against, cannot here be so rendered, because Jude speaks of the whole company of those who are to be judged, whom he distinguishes into good and bad in the next words, to convince all that are ungodly among them ; and some, namely, the godly, shall not have judgment executed against them, although there shall be a judgment concern- ing and upon them, in respect of a happy sentencing. This word, then, rard, I take to be equivalent to tnpi, in that sense in which it is used in 1 Cor. xv. 15, " We have testified" (rard roC Otov) of or concerning God, " that he raised up Christ," &:c. (2.) The carriage of the Judge toward the wicked. [1.] The manner of his judging them is considerable; which is to be by way of conviction, " to convince," &c. The word iS,t\iyx(iv, here translated to convince, imports more than here is expressed, and indeed more than can be expressed in any one English word : the simple word 'oCkyxtiv, the signification whereof by its composition is here increased and enlarged, is a word belonging to courts of judicature, and signifies two things, to prove, and to reprove. 1. To prove against one, or to accuse or convince one of a crime so clearly, evidently, and unanswer- ably, by arguments, reasons, or testimony, that no- thing can be objected, alleged, or pretended against the proof by him who is accused, but he is thereby compelled to acknowledge the tmth of the accusa- tion. And answerably to this signification the word i\kyx^'v is used John viii. 9, " They which heard it," tXcyx^f"""! " heing convicted by their own con- science, went out," &c. So ver. 46, " Which of you" tXtyx", " convinceth me of sin." " He is convinced," i\'.yx"ai, iScc. ; " the secrets of his heart are made manifest," &c., 1 Cor. xiv. 24, 25. 2. To reprove, or reprehend, or correct ; and that verbally and by word, as Luke iii. 19, " Herod the tetrarch" iXtyxoiitvoQ, " being reproved by him (John) for Herodias," &c. So Eph. v. 11, " Have no fellow- ship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather" iX'tyxiri, "reprove them." So Tit. ii. 15, (Aeyxf, "re- buke with all authority," Szc. And really or by deed, as Heb. xii. 5 ; Rev. iii. 19, where rebuking is expounded by chastening. The word i^fXiyxuv here used by Jude, may aptly import either of these significations, and by its composition makes either the more full and significant. For the first, at the last day Christ shall bring to the remembrance of sinners those things which they have done, so set their sins in order be- fore them, and so evidently con^ance, irradiate, and dilate their consciences, that then they shall bring in such full and impartial evidence against them as shall silence them, and stop their mouths ; they shall have nothing to object, but shall be compelled to ac- knowledge what they have done, and do thereby deserve. And this inward conviction of conscience they shall no more be able to shake off than to shake off themselves and their very being ; they shall see this lightning, though they' should labour to shut their eyes : the witness, the guilty, the judge, the tormenter, and scourge are all one. Sinners shall have a self-conviction, an internal conviction. They shall in that day take part with Christ against them- selves, who have here taken part with their lusts 303 AN EXPOSITION UPON Ver. 15. against Christ. This is that opening of the books, mentioned Rev. xx. 12. Wicked men's consciences shall in the last day be opened, though here they are sealed books. In this life they were bribed, and gave in partial and imperfect evidence ; but then they sliMl bring in the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. That writing which heretofore was almost imperceptible, shall, being held to the fire of Divine vengeance, be made legible. And then, 2. As Christ shall convince them evidentlj', so shall he reprove them severely, vex them in his sore displeasure ; the Lamb will then be turned Lion ; he whose bowels heretofore made a noise, shall now thunder in his indignation. This reproof shall be both verbal and real. (1.) Verbal, and by word of mouth. That part of the judgment which stands in disquisition or examin- ation, according to the most, shall be transacted, not by voice, but in silence, in every one's conscience, as the books which shall be opened at the last day are not material, but those of the consciences, Rom. ii. 15, 16; Rev. XX. 12. That part which stands in de- nouncing sentence, at least in respect of the general sentence, which shall be pronounced either for the elect or against the reprobate, shall be despatched (I conceive) by pronouncing a verbal sentence. Thus most of the schoolmen think, encouraged thereto by Augustine, who saith, Christ shall come ^Wden?V"pIre-° Openly hereafter with a voice, who, bii.quipriiis.cum coming the first time in obscurity, was aDiejiKiicemsiiu". Silent bcforc the judgc ; and they doubt de av!"bli."ckp. "0* ^ut that He who shall openly be y-. .. ' seen in a visible shape, shall openly be Qui omnibus se , , , ... ,^ ' . -.f < conspicifniium heard by an auuiL>le voice. JNow how "''L'l^Si! '''i'"m'' dreadful will that definitive sentence of oraiiibus auciien- loss and pain be, " Depart from me into in vocejuiiicis. everlasting fire! words brimful of aSl%'\ec"i' *' '^^■°c, and wherein is summed up the whole wretchedness of the lost. All the happiness of the creature has but one neck, and that cut in sunder by the one blow of a sentence of departure from God. (2.) Real. The sentence shall be executed. The sentence shall not be a thunderclap without a thun- derbolt, nor a report without a bullet ; but this word shall be operative, efficacious, a working word, a fiery stream, proceeding from the throne of the Judge, and sweeping the condemned into hell, 2 Thess. i. 9. Obs. 1. It is the greatest folly to shelter our sin with hopes of secrecy. As all things are open and naked before the eyes of our Judge now, so will he make them apparent before our own eyes hereafter. God is not mocked. " Can any man hide himself in secret places that I should not see him?" Jer. xxiii. 24. Though sinners now think that God is such a one as themselves, yet will God hereafter reprove them, and set their sins in order before them, Psal. 1. 21. Every sinner is fully and clearly manifest before God, yea, naked, unquartcred, and exposed before his eyes, as when a man anatomize a body, whereby he curiously finds out every little vein or muscle, though they are never so close and hidden. The ungodly shall be convinced of the most concealed wickednesses, and their mouth shall be shut as soon as ever God's book is opened. We may delude men, we cannot deceive God : they cannot convince unless men be witnesses against thee ; God will convince thee by making thine owa conscience witness for him against thee. Yea, of those sins which are un- known to thee, shalt thou be convinced by Him who knows all things. We should be, then, so far from sheltering those sins which we know, that we ought to be humbled for such as we know not. Thus of the first particular, in the carriage of the Judge toward the wicked, viz. the manner of his judging them, namely, by way of conviction. 2. The parties to be judged follow in the next place, who are here said for their quality to be " un- godly," and for their number, all the ungodly. Of this before at large. 3. The causes of and matters about which they shall be judged are next considerable, and they are twofold. The first, their ungodly deeds ; " their imgodly deeds which they have ungodly committed." Not to enlarge upon this first particular here con- siderable, viz. the general nature of their deeds, here said to be ungodly, as being sufficiently known by the former consideration of the parties who were called ungodly. By which it is manifest that ungodly deeds are primarily and properly such as are committed im- mediately against God himself, and so against the first table, in the profane opposing of God's worship and honour, in which respect ungodliness is distin- guished from unrighteousness, which properly breaks the commandments of the second table. And yet secondarily, and in a more large consideration, un- godliness here comprehends any sin committed either against God or man, and so against any command- ment of the law; for even that sin which is directly against man, has in it a defect and a withdrawing of some duty due to God. If it be inquired why the apostle only here saith ungodly, and not un- righteous deeds also, it is answered, for three reasons. [1.] Because ungodliness and unrighteousness are inseparable. Wherever ungodliness is, there will be no conscience made of unrighteousness : as the two tables were given, so are they broken and embraced both together ; and he who breaks one makes no con- science of breaking the other, the authority of the Giver being the same. [2.] Because ungodliness is the cause of unright- eousness. He who has a profane, godless heart, will not stick at any act of injustice. It is the fear of God which is to depart from evil. As holiness puts a man upon righteousness, so profaneness upon un- righteousness. Pharaoh knew not God, and there- fore he oppressed Israel. [3.] Because these seducers flattered themselves with pretences of eminent godliness and holiness, though they took a liberty to live in many vices and unclean extravagancies. The apostle several times in this Epistle brands them with the name of ungodly ones, and threatens judgment for their ungodliness. Secondly, The manner after which they were com- mitted, and that was ungodlily, " which they have ungodly committed." The words "ungodly committed" are contained in one word, riak(37iaav ; if it may be rendered by any one Latin word, it must be impiarunt ; nor can it be in any one English word properly expressed, but must be rendered either to do or perform or live ungodlily. i The same word is expressed but in one place besides I this in all the New Testament, and that place is 2 Pet. ii. 6, where it is rendered living ungodly. In the opening hereof, I shall only show what it is to commit an evil work ungodlily. 1. More generally, it notes the proceeding of these ungodly deeds from an ungodly, unsanctified princi- ple, an unholy, unrepentant heart, a mind devoted and addicted to ungodliness. This is not the fruit which grows upon a good tree, nor the spot of God's people, who, though sometimes they do that which is ungodly, withdraw that duty which is due to God, and commit that t\W which is against the will of God; yet, as the psalmist speaks, they do not wick- edly, as these did, depart from God, Psal. xviii. 21. The wicked are they who " do wickedly against the Ver. 15. THE EPISTLE OF JUDE. 309 covenant," Dan. xi. 32. And of the wicked, it is said that they " shall do wickedly," Dan. xii. 10. But, 2. That which this doinjj ungodlily more par- ticularly intends, is the performing of wickedness after a wicked and ungodly manner, and that prin- cipally these four several ways. (1.) By purposing and intending of sin. The wicked is not overtaken with a sudden fit of tempta- tion, but resolves on sin long before ; he makes pro- vision for his lust ; he is like a man who lays him- self to sleep, draws the curtains, puts out the candle, and he intends, and in a sort overtakes his sleep in sin ; " he setteth himself in a way that is not good," Psal. xxxvi. 4. (2.) Ungodly deeds are performed after an ungod- ly manner by devising and contriving ungodliness : the wicked devise mischief, Prov. vi. 14. " He that deviseth to do evil shall be called a mischievous per- son." The "heart that deviseth wicked imaginations" is one of the seven things which the Lord hates, Prov. vi. 16, 18. Against those " w-ho devise iniquity, and work evil upon their beds," is a woe denounced, Micah ii. I. The wicked are workers of iniquity. Matt. vii. 23; they are curious, cunning artificers in and contrivers of sin ; ungodliness is their art, trade, and mystery; they are wise to do evil, and men in malice, though children in understanding; they are skilful practitioners in sin. (3.) By delighting and taking pleasure in the com- mitting of sin. Wicked men are willingly obedient to it ; they yield themselves to execute its commands, and they universally resign the whole consent of the will to the obedience of it. Sin is as pleasant to sin- ners as bread and wine : " They eat the bread of wickedness, and drink the cup of violence," Prov. iv. 17. They " rejoice to do evil, and delight in the frowardncss of the wicked," Prov. ii. 14. Wickedness is sweet in their mouths, and they hide it under their tongues. Job xx. 12. As it is not doing good, but delighting in doing it, that makes it done well ; so neither is it simply doing evil, but doing it delight- fidly, that makes it done ungodlily : " It is as sport to a fool to do mischief," Prov. x. 23. (4.) By continuing and persisting in sin. Wicked men grow worse and worse, their ways increase to more ungodliness, they run on in them without re- pentance ; none say, " What have I done ? " It is weak- ly done to fall, but it is wickedly done to lie still ; it is bad to stand in the way of sinners, much worse to sit in the seat of the scornful. Obs. I. The godly sin not as do the wicked. The sinful actions of the godly proceed not from a heart altogether void of a sanctified principle ; there is in them the seed of God, the Divine nature, a renewed part, from which their wicked works never issue. In committing the most ungodly of their actions, they themselves are not altogether ungodly ; and they are overtaken unawares with sin ; they sin of infirmity and weakness ; with the purpose of their hearts they cleave unto the Lord, Acts xi. 23, though by sin they are diverted from their holy resolutions, and turned out of the way ; they ovci-take not sin, but are overtaken by it ; like a good marksman, they aim and level right at the mark, though Satan and their own unregenerate part sometimes jogging them, as it were, by the elbow, make them in their perform- ances swerve and deviate from the same. Nor do the godly go about sin with the witty wickedness and skilfulncss of the ungodly ; they are brought up to another trade, being cliildren in "malice, and men in understanding; they are under the captivity of sin, which though it may haply have a victory,'and exercise tyranny over them as a usurper, does not exercise a reign over them as a king ; they are taken sometimes in a temptation by that which the apostle calls t'o/ioi' al\fia\uiTlini'ra, Rom. vii. 23, a captivating law, which as by the point of the spear, or edge of the sword, forcibly overcomes them, but it does not bring their whole will to a complete consent and subjection to it ; they do what they hate, Rom. vii. 15. There is ever something in them which hates sin, which though it does J° ej'.^fHJJ/o^n not always succeed to prevent sin, yet '"ciie oi.nneiur it always supplies w'itli repentance after tonal'u't'eV.am"^' the commission of sin; and though some j"* s""' abnjm- 1 • J <• L J. 1 r » • Peiida, Don illi- Knici ot consent went before to conceive si-m. et qiue sunt sin, yet it shall not follow after to allow ;"n'in'er'^,';"''\"o° it being committed. Of these things ''' J"^'""- ^^p- , "^ . 11 • • ii' mens. ser. more before, concerning walking in the way of Cain. 06.?. 2. The wicked sin not of infirmity. They do not fall into but follow sin ; they are not pulled into sin against their will or unawares, but they wallow in it ; they are not surprised by sin, but they sell themselves to it ; not sinning frailly, but ungodli- ly ; they are not, after puqiose to walk in the ways of God's commandment, withdrawn unawares out of the way, hut they please themselves in wandering ; and, like the beggar, they are never out of their way, or truly displease themselves for being so, when they are most so. Let no wicked man then flatter himself by pretending such a sin is his infirmity: sins of weakness are not committed wickedly, nor is there wanting so much strength in any saint as to strive against them, and to arise up from them. Obs. 3. The manner of committing sin is that which shall condemn. As the manner of doing good is that which commends a good action, so the man- ner of committing evil is that which makes it most deformed in God's sight. There is no sin shall con- demn which is not committed wickedly ; that which is sincerely opposed and repented of shall never destroy : when the virgin cried out, she was not to die. Instead of destroying us for it, we shall be de- livered from it. Hence it is that sundry sins of the wicked (mentioned in Scripture) were more severely punished than those committed by the godl)', though, as to the nature of the sin itself, the latter seemed much more heinous. A child of God sins not, so neither shall he smart, as the sinner. This briefly for the first sort of causes or matters about which the wicked shall be judged, "their un- godly deeds which they have ungodly committed." 2. " Their hard speeches spoken against him." The words " hard speeches " are com- ^ 1 • ,1 • 1 \ . 1 1 ^onnulli codices prised in this one word aKXi/pa, tiarcl, post „,iX„p;,„ which must nevertheless be restrained 5!!'?"""'°''"''' to speeches, in respect of the word Scd verba per which follows, namely, spoken. This sSsmtete"."" word «\„p'<:' iiossunt sine ^1 •' . i_ 1. 1 • aqua, quia lin- tliey are grievous, harsh, unpleasmg, n.ore Kr,itia! dc- chiirlish, rough : thus it is said that Ll,';'",!"i'n''ioc. the Egyptians made the lives of the ^" Sept. 'v.oi Israelites bitter, according to the Sep- T^pai'uo.'ei^H''.''' tuagint, iv roTs ipyo,e role mX^polc, "w;ith "o*;;,'^,;;V/'- hard bondage," Exod. i. 14. "His," "' [2.] This sin discovers, as a fruit of the former, the going out of the heart after some other portion besides God, nay, more than God ; which because it cannot obtain in so large a measure as it desires, like a child that cries because it is pinched in a strait coat much too little for it, a man becomes unquiet and complaining. Now how great an impiety is it to lament and complain more for the want of trifles, than for the want of that great soul-satisfying good, namely, that God who has all in him that may do or make us good ! like a foolish mother, who, having many lovely children, will not look upon them, but only regards and delights herself with dolls, or pup- pets made of rags. How deservedly great is that complaint of God, " They have forsaken me the foun- tain of living waters, and have hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water!" How inexcusable a wickedness was it for the king of Israel, instead of seeking God, to go to Baal-zebub the god of Ekron for the recovery of his health ! What greater disloyalty, than for a soul, like Poti- phar's wife, to wrangle and rage because it cannot obtain its servant, the creature, to satisfy its unclean desires, and to despise the chaste and truly comfort- able embracements of its Lord, to whom it is mar- ried, and tied by dearest and strictest bonds ! [3.] This murmuring discontentedness discovers the great sin of unthankfulness for what portion we enjoy. A murmurer cannot be thankful ; nor can he who is thankful for what he has murmur for what he is without; but he wonders that God should give him any thing, not frets because God does not give him every thing: he saith, (with Jacob,) " I am less than the least of all thy mercies ;" and does not mut- ^ ter against God for not bestowing upon him greater. I This distemper of discontent, contrarily, causes men " to think so much of what they want, that they quite forget what they already have received. Thus the Israelites discontentedly murmured for what they \ Ver. 1G. THE EPISTLE OF JUDE. 313 had not, and unthankfully forgat what they had. Discontentedness makes heavy mercies to sink to the hottom, and to be forgotten, and light wants and troubles to swim on the top ; and it makes men so fretful in that a few are above them, that they are utterly unthankful for their being above so many. God loses a friend in the discontented person for but doing with his own as he pleases. [4.] In this is manifested the sin of a proud con- ceit of our ovra worth and deservings, a sinful self- justification when God's dispensations are severe and afflictive. He who complains of God's dealing, secretly applauds his own desenings ; he who mur- murs against God's hand, shows that he is not an- gry with his own heart; he always saith. See, what have I lost! how many comforts I want ! but he never saith, AVhat have I done ? how many corruptions has my heart, which make me unfit to enjoy a fuller por- tion in the world ! All the fault is laid upon God, nothing upon himself, as if his sin never threw one mite into the treasury of his sufferings ; he counts God a hard master, and himself a good servant; and if it be a great sin in the courts of men to acquit the wicked, and to condemn the innocent, how inex- cusable a wickedness is it to condemn God and acquit ourselves .' A discontented complainer saith not with David, " I and my father's house have sinned : these sheep, what have they done ? " nor with the humble soul, " The Lord is righteous ; and I will bear the in- dignation of the Lord, because I have sinned against him ;" but flies in the face of God, instead of falling down at his feet. In one word, this discontent is a shield for sin, and is a sword against God. [5.] This sin unduly and sacrilegiously usurps God's own seat and throne : what does he who complains of God's administrations, but in effect profess that he would be in the room of God, to order the world after his own mind ; and that he has more wisdom, care, justice, and therefore fitness, to dispose of men, and to allot them their portions, than God himself ? In- terpretatively, he says, like Absalom, There is none that takes care to order men's affairs : oh that I were king of the world ! then should things be better or- dered than now they are. And he saith to God, as that master of the feast to his self-advancing guest. Come down, sit lower, and give way to thy betters to sit above thee. Whereas, alas, should such silly Phaetons as we but govern the world, as they fable he did the chariot of the sun, for one day, we should set all things on fire ; nay, should we be left to cut out our own portions, and be our own carvers, how soon should we cut our own fingers ! And how can He whose will is the rule of rectitude do any thing unrighteously ? INIan does a thing because it is just, but therefore is a thing just because God does it : " Far be it from God," saith Elihu, " that he should do wickedness ; and from the Almighty, that he should commit iniquity," Job xxxiv. 10 : who can be more careful than He who is more tender over his, than a mother is over her sucking child ? who so wise as the only wdse God, whose eyes run to and fro through- out the whole earth ; nay, who indeed is all eye to behold all the concernments of the sons of men ? [6.] Lastly, This sin of discontentedness with our own private allotments takes men oft' from minding the more public and weighty concernments of God's church ; making them disregard and forget it in all her sufferings and hazards. What more than this sin causes men to mind their own, and not the things of Jesus Christ, and to lose the thoughts thereof in a crowd of discontented cares for themselves ? It is impossible for him that is overmuch in mourning for himself to be mindful of or mournful for Zion. Now what an unworthy distemper is this, for men to live as if God had made them only to mind their own private conditions in the world, to regard only the painting of their own cabins, though the ship be sinking ; and so as it may be well with themselves, to be careless how it fares with the whole church of Christ ! We should rejoice that God would set up a building of glory to himself, though upon our ruins ; and that Christ rises, though we fall ; that his king- dom comes, though ours goes ; that he may be seen and honoured, though we stand in a crowd and be hidden. 06-?. 1. God has divided, set out for every one his portion here in the world. These seducers, in com- plaining of their part and allotment, show that God appoints to every one his demensum or proportion that he thinks fittest for them. God is the great Householder of the world, and Master of that great family ; and as it was the custom of ancient times to divide and give to every one his portion of meat and drink, and his set allowance of either, whence we read, Psal. xi. 6, of the portion of the wicked's cup ; so God deals out to every one what estate he thinks meetest. To some he gives a Benjamin's portion in the world, five times so much as to others ; he is the sovereign disposer of us and of all our concerns, and he best knows what is best for us ; and to his people he ever gives them that allotment which best suits with their obtaining the true good, himself, and ever affords them, if not what they would, yet what they want. Oh how should this consideration work us to a humble contentedness with all our allotments, and make us bring our hearts to our condition, if we can- not bring our condition to our hearts ! In a word, when we see that the condition of others is higher than ours, let us consider that it is better to wear a fit garment than one much too big, though golden. Obs. 2. No estate of outward fulness can quiet the heart, and still its complaints. These seducers feast- ed sumptuously, fed themselves to the full, and fared high ; and yet, for all that, they murmured and com- plained. The rich man in the gospel, in the midst of all his abundance, cries out, " What shall I do ?" Luke xii. 17- Neither the life, nor the comfort of the life, consists in the abundance of the things which we enjoy. None complain so much as they who have the greatest plenty. Though Nabal had in his house the feast of a king, yet soon after his heart died in him, and he became like a stone, 1 Sam. XXV. 37. Nabal's heart was like the kidney of a beast, which though enclosed in fat, is itself lean. Solomon in his glory reads a lecture of the creature's vanity. Ahab and Haman were as dis- contented in heart, as great in estate. Vast is the disproportion between the soul and all worldly ob- jects, for they being but momentary and vanishing, dead and inefficacious, earthy and drossy, are un- suitable to the soul's excellency and exigences. It is not the work of worldly abundance to take away covetousness, but of grace in the heart : the lesson of contentment must be learned in a higher school than outward plenty. Obs. 3. They who deserve worst complain and murmur most, and are most ready to think that they are most hardly dealt with. None are so unthankful as the unworthy. Israelites murmur. Absalom is discontented. Haman cries out, " What doth all this avail me ? " &c. Whereas Jacob tells God that he was not worthy of the least of all the mercies and truth which God'had showed him. Gen. xxxii. 10. Job praised and submitted to God when he took from him as well as when he gave to him. None see their unwortbiness so little as they who are full- est of unwortbiness; and till a man see himself de- serving notliing, he will ever complain of God when 314 AN EXPOSITION UPON Ver. 16. he abridges him of any thing. Besides, the wicked mortify no lusts, and therefore they are angry when their lusts are not fulfilled ; but especially they look not upon God as their portion in Christ: and who can be content or praise God that has no spiritual blessings to bless him for ? How readily then, in- stead of being angry with God's dispensations, should we chide our own corruptions, and oft blush, that so many saints have been so patient under mountains, and that such sinners as we should so complain under feathers ! Obs. 4. It is our duty to take heed of this sinful distemper of murmuring against and complaining of God's dealing with us. To this end, in the most unpleasing dispensation of providence, (1.) Study more what thou deservest, than consider what thou sustainest. Whatever thy condition be, thou hast deserved that it should have been worse. The tire is not answerable to thy fuel. Wonder more at what good thou hast, than at what thou wantest ; and at the evil thou art without, than at that which thou undergoest. The godly say, " He hath not dealt with us after our sins, nor rewarded us after our iniquities." It is his mercy that we are not consumed. Our God hath punished us less than our iniquities. (2.) Mourn more for thy incorrigiblencss under, than the unpleasantness of any providence ; that thou hast been so long in the fire, and lost no more of Ihy dross ; that folly is still so bound up in thy heart, not- withstanding all thy rods of correction, and that thou art that foolish child which stays so long in the place of breaking forth of children, Hos. xiii. 13. (3.) Labour more to make thy shoulder strong than to get thy burden taken oft", and rather to be fit to endure cross providences than to have them ended. To tliis end, [1.] Look more upon providence as con- cluding than as at present, Prov. xxiii. 18; in the end thou shalt say tlie wilderness was the best way to Canaan, and that God dealt better by thee than thou couldst liave done by thyself. Wait the wind- ing up of providence, prejudge not God's proceed- ings ; he oft turns water into wine. God's fai-fhest way about will prove better than thy shorter cut. [2.] Clear up thy interest in Christ, and so possess thyself of true riches. If God be thy portion, thou wilt never complain it is small or smart. [3.] La- bour to kill lust, which is the sting of every trouble, making a sweet condition bitter, and a bitter con- dition more bitter. Rather mend thy house than com- plain of the rain getting into it. Get aflcctions weaned from the world. Count the greatest worldly gain small, and then thou wilt never think the great- est loss great. Love every thing, besides Christ, as about to leave and loathe it. [4.] Endeavour after submissiveness of heart. Say rather. Oh that I had patience under than riddance from my trouble ! Study for an annihilated will, or I'ather to have thy will losing itself in God's. [5.] Compare thy lot with theirs who have less than thou hast, and yet de- serve more than thou dost. If thy drink be small, others drink water ; if thine be water, others drink gall; if thine be gall, others drink blood; if thine be blood, others drink damnation. [6.] Consider more whence every providence is than what it is : it is bitter in the stream, but sweet in the fountain. Observe the hand of a sovereign Lord, a wise Go- vernor, a merciful Father, a righteous Judge. In precepts, consider not what is commanded, but who commands. In providence, not what is the con-ec- tion, but who is the Corrector: the former will make thee obedient in doing ; the latter, in suffering. (4.) Remember, if thou hast a murmuring tonnjue, God has a hearing ear. God hears thee when thou mutterest most secretly, most inwardly. He who hears the groans of his own Spirit, hears the grum- blings of thine. "The Lord," saith Moses, " hear- eth your murmurings," Exod. xvi. 7 — 9. If his ear be open, let thy mouth be stopped ; be afraid thy God should hear thee. Murmuring is a great pro- vocation. (5.) Meditate of the folly and vanity of this sin of discontented murmuring against God. 1. Consider I it cannot benefit and relieve us, Eccl. vii. 10. I may I say of sinful complaining as Christ of sinful care, Which of you by complaining can add one cubit to his stature ? Never did any find ease or obtain their desire by contending with God. An impatient murmurer is like a man sick of a burning fever, who tumbles and tosses from one side of the bed to the other for coolness, but till his distemper be removed he gets no ease. God must have liis will ; there is no escaping from him but by submitting to him. It is a vain thing for a man in a boat, by pulling with a cable at the rock, to think to draw the rock to him. 2. It is a distemper which disqui?ts him most in whom it is. The impatient murmurer is his own martyr, his afflictions are self-created. He would take it very ill to have another do half so much against him, as he does against his own soul. All his trouble is from his own pride, through which comes all contention with God and man. It is ful- ness of the stomach which makes a man sea-sick, and ^he proud heart which causes all the vexation in a troublesome estate. The arrow of murmuring shot up against God, falls down upon the head of him who shot it. The wild bull in the net, instead of break- ing it, does by struggling the more hamper himself. 3. This sin of discontentedness deprives a man of all that spiritual benefit which he may reap by the troublesomeness of his worldly allotments. Were nok men peevish and unsubmissive, they might take honey out of the carcass of every lion-like and tearing trouble. They might learn those lessons of heavenly- mindedness, meekness, faith, mortification, which would countervail for every cross. The silent and submissive acceptance of a severe dispensation turns every stone thrown at us into a precious stone, and produces the peaceable fruit of righteousness ; where- as murmuring discontentedness makes us spend that lime in beating ourselves, and wrangling with God, which we might profitably improve in labouring for a sanctified use of every dispensation. This for the first proof that these seducers were those ungodly ones who shall be judged at the last day, viz. because they were " murmurers, com- plainers." 2. " Walking after their own lusts." Two things are here to be opened. 1. Their guides who led them ; " their own lusts." 2. Their follow- ing these guides ; they walked after them. (1.) Their guides are set down, 1. By way of specification ; it is said they were " lusts." 2. By their relation, or their appropriation to these seducers; and so they are said to be " their own." , I. They are specified and denominated " lusts." I Two things here are considerable. \. AVhat is meant i by lusts. 2. Wherein their hurffulness stands. [1.] The word l mBi'ixia, lust, is indifferently used concerning lust, good or bad, denoting by its proper force only J an ardent, earnest desire. And therefore there are ^ lusts not only lawful and indifferent, being the mo- tions of the concupiscible power, desiring such ob- jects as fend to the pireservation of nature, as meat, drink, rest, &c., Luke xvi. 21 ; but also holy and spiritual ; in which respect the Spirit is said to lust against the flesh. Gal. v. 17, in regard of that new and holy inclination of the regenerate, whereby they endeavour to put oflf the old man, and to "ut on the k ER. 16. THE EPISTLE OF JUDE. 315 ^ew. That which in insensihle things is um^g, in ithe sensible and rational is tTriev^iia. But here, as .elsewhere very frequently, the word imBvuia intends isamal, sinful, and corrupt lust. And this is twofold. - [1.] Oi'iginal ; that inordinate disposedness, that -inbred and primitive pravity of nature, standing in an aversion from all good, and propension to all evil ; the root not only of all wicked desires in the will, but also of all tlie evil thoughts in the under- standing ; and it is called lust, because it principally discovers itself by sinful lustings, and by them mani- fests its vigour and strength. And of this speaks the apostle James, chap. i. 15, " "When lust hath conceived," &c. [■i.] Actual, is every sinful rising or inordinate motion against the law of God, every evil desire springing from the root of original concupiscence. And of these speaks the apostle, Eph. ii. 3, " We had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh," &c. ; and also Eph. iv. 22, " That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts." " Let not sin reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof," Rom. vi. 12. Our natural corruption is the root which sends forth these lusts as its branches, and upon them grow those bitter fruits mentioned Gal. v. 19, 20, " Adul- tery, fornication, micleanncss, lasciviousncss, idola- try, witchcraft, heresies," &c. Now these lusts are of two sorts. 1. The vicious inclinations of our minds, or of the upper or rational soul. We must not re- strain lusts to the sensitive or lower part of the soul only, which they call the unreasonable, exempting the mind and reason from these blemishes ; these lusts of the flesh into which the radical pollution of nature has diffused itself belonging to the under- standing and reason also, as well as to the other in- ferior faculties ; the very wisdom of the flesh being, as the apostle speaks, enmity against God, and such as cannot be subject to his law and will, Rom. viii. 7 ; for from hence is all impiety, idolatry, supersti- tion, heresy, rejection of the truth ; and indeed all those sins which directly are committed against the first table ; and the apostle expressly mentions the wills of the mind, Eph. ii. 3, whereby he understands that superior part called ^lai'ojjru-i), intellective and discursive ; and the apostle, speaking of those who drew others to the superstitious worship of angels, discovers that flesh is found in their very mind or un- derstanding, in these words, " vainly pufltd up by his fleshly mind," {fwb tov vqoq TrJQ aapKog avTcv, Col. ii. 18. 2. The lower and more brutish appetites in the sensi- tive part of the soul, the motions to uncleanness, drunkenness, gluttony, the lusts called " of the flesh," 1 John. ii. 1(5, the vehement motions of the soul after sensual delights and carnal pleasures, which oft de- generate into beastly excess. These are called the dtXriiiara ffnpicoc, the wills of the flesh, Eph. ii. 3; joined also with pleasures, "serving divers lusts and pleasures," Tit. iii. 3; and called "worldly lusts," Tit. ii. 12; Rom. xiii. 14; 1 Pet. i. 14; ii. H. The original contagion of man's nature having poisoned and corrupted all the cogitations of the mind and conceptions of the heart, from them dif- fuses itself through the affections and inferior appe- tites, stirs up innumerable inordinate passions, to the breach of the second table of the law. And from the corruption of this inferior part the whole de- pravation of nature is, I conceive, called flesh ; it drawing the unregenerate from things above and heavenly, to such as are below and earthly; from spiritual to corporal objects ; from the Creator to the creature ; and after a sort transforms a man into a beast. And these carnal desires, sensual lusts, are the guides which our apostle saith these seducers followed, as is evident from what he had expressed against them in the fourth verse, " turning the grace of God into lasciviousncss ;" and ver. 8, " filthy dreamers defile the flesh ;" and ver. 10, " what they know naturally, as brute beasts, in those things they corrupt themselves ;" and ver. 12, " feeding them- selves without fear," &c. And from these ungodly lusts, as he after calls them, the apostle may well prove them ungodly men. [2.] The sinfulness of these sensual lusts appears in respect, 1. Of their objects, when such things are desired and craved as are forbidden, whether persons or things. 2. Of their measure, when things lawful are desired unlawfully because excessively ; the de- sires after food, apparel, sleep, recreations, or any other sensual delights, being boundless, and con- cupiscence unlimited ; when in eating men so glut- tonize that their souls in their bodies are like a candle in a greasy lantern ; when we grasp the world till we make our sinews crack. Oh how unsuitable is it for men to grow cold in prayer and hearing, and to sweat in the world ; to account a little grace enough, and enough wealth a little ! 3. Of their end, when things are desired not for the glory of God, but for our own pleasure, greatness, and benefit ; not for the advancing of God, but ourselves ; when we seek great things for ourselves, not for fitting us to duty, but for our carnal interest : all the good things we crave should be scaffolds to erect a building of honour to God, not to erect a structure of glory to ourselves. It is the part of an epicure, not of a Christian, to make his enjoyments centre in himself, and to sing with that sensualist in the midst of abundance, " Soul thou hast much goods," &c., " take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry." 4. Of their effects ; and so they are sinful in being, 1. Entangling and encum- bering ; like long garments, which being let down about the heels, hinder from walking, and trip up in the race ; and therefore the apostle commands us to gird up the loins of our minds. Hence by some they are not unfitly called the bird- viscussi>iiituali- lime of our spiritual wings ; and by ""' iwunifui". others compai-ed to a string tied to a bird's leg, with which, flying unto the trees, she is hampered in the boughs. Inordinate lusts stop the Christian's pro- gress heavenw-ard ; they hinder him in prayer, medi- tation, hearing, practising ; they " choke the word," Mark iv. 19; and from the lusting of the flesh against tlie Spirit, the apostle saith, " Ye cannot do the things that ye would," Gal. v. 17 : women are led into error with divers lusts, 2 Tim. iii. 6. (2.) These lusts are deceitful; so they are called expressly by the apostle, i-tOvfiiai riji; n'/r«V?)f, cupidt- tates deceptio7iii\ Eph. iv. 22, and that in several re- spects. 1. They are not what they seem to be. All the pleasures which are found in them are but false and appearing, not true, and real, and proper. But secondly, and especially, they are tenned lusts of de- ception or error, because they do not what they pro- mise ; they are deluding and disappointing of that expectation which they raise up in any one. They promise honour, pleasure, riches, &c., but they per- form nothing less, and make a man more miserable after all his endeavouring to satisfy them, than he was before ; by their embraces they strangle. They who sow to theflesh, of the flesh reap corrujitiou : lusts end in death, and therefore in disappointment. Like a chimnev-piece, they are fair without, black within. They promise a Rachel, they give a Leah. They give not what, but contrary to what, they promise. What was Achan's wedge of gold, but an instrument to rive his bodv and soul asunder ? and what did his Babylonish garment clothe him with, but confusion? 316 AN EXPOSITION UPON Ver. 16. Hence they who will be rich are said to fall into many foolish lusts ; that is, such as make them fools who fall into them, 1 Tim. vi. 9. Solomon speaks of a lustful fool, who went " as an ox to the slaughter, or as a fool to the correction of the stocks." (3.) These lusts are defiling ; they are unclean lusts, corrupt and corrupting. The old man is said to be " corrupt according to deceitful lusts," Eph. iv. 22. Christ tells us that the lusts which are within defile a man. Matt. xv. 18. They corrupt and defile the very body, as I have shown before, much more the soul, making it an unclean cage of unclean birds ; t.hey defile all we are, yea, all we do, prayers, hear- ings, sacraments. We lift up impure hands if in wrath. (4.) Disquieting lusts ; they are called noisome or hurtful, /3,\a/3(pnf iniBviiiaQ, damosas cupklitales, I Tim. vi. 9. Every man set upon lust troubles his own flesh. How many more are made martyrs to their lusts than to God himself! Oh the diseases, losses, torments, disgraces that uncleanness, drunkenness, ambition, wrath, covetousness, &c., have brought upon their vassals, who indeed are no other than very hackneys, whipped and driven through thick and thin in obedience to their lusts ! But most of all do they fight against the soul, 1 Pet. ii. II ; by reason of their contrariety they tear and pull it several ways. They disquiet the conscience. The very worst and foulest days of a saint are better than the days of a sinner's sunshine. How many racks and silent scourges do sinners carry in their bosoms for satisfy- ing their lusts ! In a word, they drown the soul in perdition, and produce an eternity of pain for a mo- ment of pleasure. To all this I might add the un- quietness of men's lusts to others who live near them : " From whence," saith James, " come wars and fight- ings among you ? come they not hence, even of your lusts ?" chap. iv. 1. This for the first particular, the denomination of these guides which these seducers followed; they were " lusts." 2. The relation of these lusts to these seducers is mentioned ; the apostle calls them "their own;" and so they were in several regards, 2 Tim. iv. 3 ; James iv. 1, 3; 2 Pet. iii. 3; Jude 18. (I.) In respect of propagation and derivation. Lust is the legacy left by our progenitors. It is a natural, inbred, hereditar)'- propensity to sin, from which all those unholy motions and inordinate inclinations proceed, after which these seducers walked. Men are carried to the service of lust by the tide of na- ture as well as by the wind of temptation. Lusts are more truly ours than any thing left us by our parents. (2.) In respect of seat and habitation. Lusts are our own because they are in us, in our hearts ; they lie liegers for Satan in the soul, and there they are his proxies, spokesmen, and advocates. And there- fore Christ saith, " Out of the heart proceed murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts," &c., Matt. xv. 19. Men lodge not strangers, but their own : " My chil- dren are with me in bed," Luke xi. 7. Lusts are our own, then, because we harbour them, lodge them, bed them, give them house-room, heart-room. (3.) Their own in point of provision. Men pro- vide for their own children and charge ; and much more do they for their own lusts. The apostle speaks of making " provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof," Rom. xiii. 14. The high fare, the impure dalliances, unclean objects of these seducers, were all provisions for their lusts. The work of the covetous, glutton, proud, &c., is to project for and provide fuel for lusts, like the poor Israelites, who painfully ga- thered stubble to please their task-masters. (4.) Their own in point of protection and defence: as men provide for, so likewise protect their own. These seducers would not endure the wind to blow upon their lusts ; hence it was that they spake evil of dignities appointed to curb their lusts. Hence they were raging waves, and gave the faithful hard words. Sometimes sinners protect their lusts with denial, with excuses, allegations of Scripture, appear- ances of sanctity; and if none of these will do, with fire and sword, open rage and opposition ; yea, with tears and lamentations, as those women who wept for Tammuz, as if some gainful good were taken from them ; as Micah cried for his gods ; and as the har- lot's bowels yearned over her own child. (5.) Lastly, Their own in point of peculiarity of delight and dearness. Some lusts are peculiarly a man's own: such as to which he is given by constitu- tion ; so some men are addicted to gluttony, drunk- enness, some to uncleanness, some to covetousness, others to ambition, &c. By interest; calling, the time, age, or place wherein he lives. David kept himself, as he saith, from his own iniquity, Psal. xviii. 23; that is, as I conceive by the subject of that psalm, from murdering Saul, a sin to which his in- terest tempted him. The reason why some men fol- low not some lusts, is because some are not so pecu- liarly their own ; but stop them in the prosecution of their own, and then they show themselves. Thus of the first branch of explication, the guides. 2. The following of these guides ; " walking after," &c. ITopfuo^d'oi, " walking ;" a usual metaphor in Scrip- ture to set forth the course of a man's life, whether good or bad. Zacharias and Elisabeth " were right- eous," 7rop£OT/(froi, " walking in all the command- ments," &.C., Luke i. 6. False teachers the apostle calls TropivoftivovQ, those who " walk after the tlesh,'' 2 Pet. ii. 10. So 2 Pet. iii. 3; 1 Pet. iv. 3. And most fitly is this their following their lusts called a walking, in respect, 1. Of their motion, labour, and unquietness in the prosecution of them. A man who walks, sits not still, but is laborious and restless. None are such true drudges as they who serve their lusts, as Paul speaks, Tit. iii. 3. 2. It is called walking in respect of skilfulness. They who walk in a path are versed in it, and skilled in it, know every step of it : wicked men are wise to do evil, they are curious and witty workers of iniquity. Matt. vii. 23. 3. Walk- ing, because of progressiveness. He who walks stands not at a stay, but goes on from step to step : the wicked grow worse and worse, they daily add something to their stature in sin ; they add sin to sin ; they never think they have done enough for lust ; they are daily throwing some more mites into the treasuries of God's wrath and their own wicked- ness. 4. Walking, because they are going and tend- ing to some term or place. The wages of sin, and the end of every lust, is death ; though hell be not the end of the worker, yet is it of the work : every lust is hell in the bud, and it has fire and brimstone in the substance of it ; damnation is its centre. 5. Walking, in point of a voluntary obsequiousness. Wicked men obey their lusts, willingly walk after the commands and dictates thereof Saints are drag- ged, sinners walk after lust ; they are not driven ; they seek after their own heart, and their own eyes, after which they go a whoring. Numb. xv. 39. They are taken captives of the devil at his will, 2 Tim. ii. 26, ltoiy(ir)^'tvoi ; taken alive by his baits without any resistance. Whatever lust, the devil's spokesman, dictates, they obey. Obs. 1. All the visible abominations and notorious extravagancies in the world come from within. Lust is the womb of all the drunkenness, gluttony, adul- Ver. 16. THE EPISTLE OF JUDE. 317 tery, murders : these tilings come from within, the heart ; from the lusts that war in our members come wars and fightings. These seducers fell into all pro- faneness and licentiousness by following their lusts. A lustful heart makes a lewd life ; that is the Trojan horse, from whence issue all hurtful practices. We see then tlie folly of only external mortification : what is the whipping of the flesh, lying in the ashes, voluntary poverty, outward abstinences, without in- ward mortification, but the plucking off the leaves without tlie withering of the root ? The lusts must be destroyed inwardly, before ever practices can be with success amended outwardly. Christ so cursed the fig-tree that it withered at tlie root ; that was the way for fruit never to grow on it more. Obs. 2. In reformation it is not enough to forsake the evils we have no desires after, but we must leave our lusts, yea, our own lusts, those evils to which we are most inclined. Some men will say they are no sectaries, why, heresy is not their lust ; others say they are not drunkards, when drunkenness is not their lust ; the prodigal pleases himself that he is no covetous griper, &c. : but this is a token of sincerity, to forsake our own evil ways ; and like those who, fighting with an enemy, mar every good piece of ground, to strike at those sins, which by custom, con- stitution, interest we are most addicted to. Obs. 3. The course of a wicked man in sin is very earnest and impetuous. It is with a sinful lusting and an eager desire. Of this at large before, in Balaam's nmning greedily. Obs. 4. It is the duty of faithful instructers, with holy Jude here, to tell men of their own lusts, to strike at those sins to which they see them most in- clined. Thus did the prophets, who lifted up their voice like a trumpet, and told Judah of their trans- gressions.' Thus did Christ, who reproved not only idolatry, but pharisaism and hypocrisy, the sins of his lime. Otherwise ministers do but like unfaithful soldiers, who in war disch-arge not against tlie enemy, but shoot up into the air: though striking at men's lusts makes ministers hateful, yet it speaks them faithful. Obs. 5. Miserable is the condition of the poor mis- led followers of seducing teachers. The seducer follows his lust, and the follower is led by the se- ducer ; here it is true, the blind leads the blind. In all solicitations to follow others, we should consider whether they are led by Christ or by lust. Be fol- lowers of others only as they are led by Christ. You set your watches not by the clock, but by the sun ; do so with your hearts. Obs. 6. Great may be the comfort to God's people in case of inward, if hateful temptations. When motions come into the godly, and they do not lust after, but dislike them, nor entertain them with spiritual dalliance, they may be assured that those evils shall not be charged upon them. Before a temptation can be a sin, it must have somewhat of lusting in it. Christ was tempted as we are, and yet he sinned not, because he rejected his temptations. How great a comfort may it be, when Christ is thy love, and lust thy load ! Obs. 7. Though wicked men have their own several peculiar lusts, yet they all agree together against Christ. Pilate and Herod consent in this third. Envy moved the high priests against Christ, covetousness stirred up Judas, popularity Pilate, but all these lusts concentred in opposing Christ. Pharisees and Sad- ducees unite their forces against him, though they were mortal enemies between themselves. A fever and a lethargy are contrary to one another, yet both are against health ; and therefore let not people please themselves in opposing some kind of sins, let them ask themselves whether there be not that within them that is enmity to Christ. And ^\•hat a strong argument may this be to tlie godly, who have their lesser differences, to unite for Christ against sin ! Obs. 8. Every man's woe and wickedness arise from himself, his own lusts. The root of all is in ourselves. Every man forges his own confusion, and coins his own calamity. None is hurt purely from another. A man, as Augustine saitli, is an Eve to himself. We must not altogether blame suggestions and temptations without. 'The devil tempted David to number the people, and to look at Bathsheba while bathing; but after both he confesses that he had sinned. It may in this case be said, Notenti non fit iyijun'a ; None can hurt him that will not hurt him- self. " Every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust." Poison would never hurt unless taken in. The strongest enemy cannot hurt us, nor the falsest delude us, if we will be true to ourselves. Were there not a complying principle, outward ob- jects of sin would draw out nothing but detestations j as in Christ, in whom, because Satan found nothing, he could do nothing against him. And it is the duty of the godly to make use of ungodly examples, not for imitation, but greater abhorrence. Saints, like fire in cold weather, should be hotter and holier for living in times of greatest coldness and profaneness. The best men have oft lived in worst places ; as Lot, Elijah, Obadiah, &c., and shined as lights in the midst of a crooked nation ; and redeemed the time, although, nay because, the days were evil. It is not outward power and opportunity to sin, but inward poison that makes us sin ; and therefore in all our humiliations we should more angrily smite upon our own thighs, than upon any outward occasional fur- therances to sin. Obs. 9. The servitude and slavery of a man that follows his lust is very miserable. " Serving divers lusts," Tit. iii. 3. Oh how true a drudge is he that is a lackey to his lusts, and who has lusts for his leaders and commanders! (I.) A servant is hindered from doing any thing but what his master pleases. A servant to his lusts is in the bond of iniquity ; hin- dered not only from doing, but even from willing to do any thing but what pleases his lusts ; he is alienated from the life of God, cannot hear, pray, meditate liolily : sometimes he is m arcta cusloc/ia, in close custody, not so much as able to go about the very outward works of holiness ; at least he is m libera CHSlodia ; he cannot do them any further than his lusts allow, never spiritually ; he is Satan's captive. The Romans cut off the thumbs of their slaves, that so they might be able to handle the oar, but not the sword ; so the devil hinders his slaves from holy ser- vices, but leaves them in a posture of activity for sin. Satan gives some of his slaves longer line than he gives to others, but he ever keeps them in his power. (2.) A servant is servilely employed: the Gibeonites were "hewers of wood, and drawers of water." A sinner is put upon basest and hardest works; like the Israelites in Egypt, who had their shoulders un- der burdens, and were put upon base and dirty drudgeries. Issachar couched under his burden like an ass. A wicked man takes pains to go to hell ; his employments are most painful and vile : the working days of a saint are better than the holidays of a sin- ner. Christ's yoke is easy, and his burden light. (3.) A servant is beaten, breast-beaten, back-beaten. Oh the wounds of conscience that sinners get in the ser- vice of their lusts ! there is no peace to them ; they carry furnaces in their breasts, silent scourges ; not to speak of the wounds upon their bodies, health, names, estates. (4.) A servant is rewarded ; but what are the sinner's wages ? Summed up they are in MS AN EXPOSITION UPON Vee. Id that one word, (how comprehensive !) dealli. The very work of a saint is abundant wages ; the very wages of a sinner his greatest woe. After sinnere liave drudged for lusts all the days of their lives, Satan lodges them in flaming sheets at night. He who has now been their tempter will then be their tormenter. And yet how unlike is a servant to lusts to a servant unto men ! [1.] The work of a man's servant is at length at an end; a sinner's work is never done : peccator 7umi]ua»i feriatur, sinners have no holidays ; t-liey drudge with- out intermission : on the sabbath they sin, in prayer, hearing, sacraments, in eating, drinking, recreations ; on earth, in hell. [2.] A man's servant is weary of his servitude, groans like the Israelites under his bondage, and desires delivery. A slave to lust loves to be so still ; he is a bored slave that will not be free, but accounts every one his enemy that would deliver him ; he thinks his servitude his liberty, his prison his palace. [3.] Among men, one master has many servants, but spiritually one sen'ant has many masters; "serv- ing," saith the apostle, " divers lusts and pleasures," „.,,., . Tit. iii. 3; yea, these masters are con- nosqiiiunuiiinon trary, some haling this way, otiiers '"'"" another. Covetousness hales one way, prodigality and pride another; ambition drags one way, uncleanness another. A sinner by these lusts is drawn as by wild horses. [4.] Among men, tlie master is better and more honourable than the servant ; but a servant to lusts serves masters that are infinitely below and baser than himself; a man never goes below himself but when he serves tlieni. Every lust is Satan's olTspring : how unworthy is that servitude when a heaven-born soul has such a master ! Only sin disennobles in- tellectual nature, making men sinners, and angels devils. Concerning the means of opposing and over- coming lusts I have treated before. 3. Tlicir boasting. The third proof which our apostle brings to show that these seducers were un- godly men, and to be judged at tlie last day, is set down in the words, wherein he taxes them of their proud, arrogant boasting, " their mouth speaketh great swelling words." These words, " great swelling ,. , . , words," are in the Greek expressed in liez.tumi.ia. fi- this one Word, uirtpoyta, which signines fa/iuo«f"Ai!f.'' not only big, bulky, bundling out, or praiumida. supra swelling, but all these to a very great immensa. measure, or, as some, beyond measure ; e I'sisq'i'irpedaiir tlic Composition increasing thesignifica- veiba. iiorat. tiou, and importing that tliese seducers spake words of a vastly rising, swelling, mountainous bigness. Thus Plutarch useth the word uirlpoyicof , when he saith that \iS,iQ viri^oynoQ, turgid or o"«"t'iit*;T£l.-''' swelling speech, is very unfit to be used n'Vl'' lu about civil affairs. And a very apt and De tduc. lib. . ■ .1 ■ 1 1 i. ■ 1 true accusation is this brought against these false teachers by Jude ; it having been the con- Descripsii sermo ^taut course of heretics to speak very high aposioiirus luvi- and swelling words, of arrogant boasting. tern burcis lu- J crom applies this expression 01 swelling menhbuseiiuflata words to Joviuiau, whom, saith he, the vei ba frutinaii- . ',.',, ',, lem. iiier. 1. 1. apostlc describes speaking with swollen onir. Jovm. cheeks, and puffed-up expressions. Two things may here be opened. 1. What the apostle meant by " great swelling words." 2. Where- in stands the sinfulness of using them. 1. For the first. In two respects might their words be called swelling: 1. In respect of the things that they spake. 2. Of their manner of speaking them. 1. In respect of the things they spake; and tliat, (I.) Of God; and so they might speak great swelling W'Ords against hiin either when they blasphemed I u es T i-i . 1 ... ii ■ 1 qua: audeaut du- Irenaeus nkewise, describing the pride cere, contendere, of the Gnostics, saith, they call them- cn'raiiolles repfo- selves perfect, as if none were able to nmiere, lorsan et equalize them for the greatness of their PiKsirip. c.'j'i.' as if Petel-, or Paul, or any p„V"m! sc.'K? knowledge ; of the apostles, were inferior to them for 1 11 ,1 . 1 f ,1 I\lHtreni babent knowledge; the greatness whereol they iuiqiiiutissu» make as if they had drunk up and de- ^".''.pfi's'e";,^™'" voured ; boasting of such a height as if aitinraiacinaoi. they were above all virtue. Pride, saith ■y"lf"l,^'^o^a- Jerom, is the mother of their iniquity, ^<" 'pfom'u'jit. Ver. 1R THE EPISTLE OF JUDE. (fi'oio-ntvoi Kai -while they boast of their knowledge in i.Taedag"c°'6. the liighest mysteries. They think higlier of themselves, saith Clemens Alexandrinus, tlian ever did the apostle. Arius, that pestilent heretic, as Athanasius reports, proudly boasted that he had received his doctrine from the elect of God, men that knew God, and had received the anointing of the Spirit. But concerning the high boastings of heretics I have spoken before. 2. They might be said to speak swelling words, in respect of the manner of speaking those things which they uttered; and that both in respect, 1. Of their voice; and, 2. Style. (1.) In respect of their voice ; it might be with that height and loudness which savoiu'cd of a proud bois- , ,. , . terousness. Peter, 2 Epist. ii. 18, nien- cm r.soiiare, vo- tioumg their Speaking " great swellnig sinum siiri'iuctu ^vords," uscs the word ./.efyyo/jfvoi, which miiitere. Ill cia- propcrly signifies their lifting up their voices, and making a great noise, a bel- more votisque coijteuliiitie vie „ , , con*.t'u"'i'e'"'"' lowmg Or roariug like beasts; as if J...riii. lu e'pet. these seducers placed their victory in the loud contention of their voices. ii. vs. Thus the idolatrous Ephesians lifted up their voices to the height, when they cried out with so much rage, " Great is Diana of the Ephesians," Acts xis. 28, 34. (2.) In respect of their style or phrase w'herein they uttered what they spake. It has been the course of seducers to speak bubbles of words, sublime strains, strong lines, big and new expressions, that they, being not understood, may be admired : what they want in the weight of matter, they make up in the persuasiveness of wooing words. Their novel doc- trines were clothed with new and formerly unheard- of expressions. They laid aside the form of whole- some words, 2 Tim. i. 13, consented not to it; but being proud, they doted about strifes of words, 1 Tim. vi. 3, 4 : their speeches in this respect are aptly by the apostle twice called "vain babblings," «rf)'o.^aii'iaf, mere empty cracks of words, windy ex- pressions, without any substance ; or, as Chrysostom, taivoipwviac, new-coined expressions. Thus Paul, Rom. xvi. 18, tells us of some that ha riJQ xpijff-oXo- yiar Kai ivXoyia^, " by good words and fair speeches," by a winning, meretricious wording of what they delivered, " deceived the hearts of the simple ;" and Peter, 2 Epist. ii. 3, TrXaoroIc Xoyoig, " with feigned words they make merchandise of you." They resembled merchants, who commend their wares to sale by using false words fitted to that purpose. Seducers' doctrines, like some empty boxes in the apothecaries' shops, or some sorry book that the stationer has a mind to put off, shall have goodly titles affixed to them. And commonly, especially at the first broach- ing of an error, seducers are wont to shadow and cloud what they utter in obscure and douljtful ex- pressions, and to swathe their heresy while it is yet in its infancy in the clothing of obscurity. 2. The sinfulness of using these great swelling words is considerable, (I.) In the hypocrisy of it. Seducers put beauti- ful colours upon that which within is blackness and rottenness, gay titles upon empty books and boxes ; diey speak lies in hypocrisy. Oh how contrary is this both to a God of truth, and the truth of God ! they deal wilh their persons and opinions as some popes have done, who, in naming themselves, have such names of holiness imposed upon them, as are most contrary to their ungodly natures and dis- positions. (2.) In the seducing others, who by hearing the high promises, and viewing the holy appearances of godliness affixed to opinions and persons, are led away to their own destruction after them both. » Words are too oft esteemed according to the estimate of the speaker. Tertullian obser\-es that sundry were edified into error cuuSr.'n''iN*c.'^:i'.' by the example and high reputation of those that had fallen into error : thovigh we should judge of persons by their faith, yet commonly we do judge of faith by persons. Having the gifts and persons of men in admiration has drawn many to follow their pernicious ways. Men of renown, like Korah's accomplices, perish not alone ; and yet is there any who hath not sins enough of his own to answer for, unless he become likewise a misleader of others, and so contract their sins upon himself like- wise ? (3.) In the destructiveness of this arrogant boast- ing to him who uses it. How impossible is it tliat ever he should blush at those errors and impieties whereof he boasts ! They who will speak highly of their own follies are furthest from amendment, and, by consequence, furthest from mercy. The boasting Pharisee was further from mercy than the blushing publican, Luke sviii. 12, 14. Recovery cannot be obtained but in a way of confession. A proud boast- er obstructs to himself the way of his own happi- ness ; others may, he must, miscarry. And how hard is it for one who has spoken highly of his own per- son or opinion, ever to veil his proud and sinful gal- lantry by a humble and holy retractation ! 0*6'. 1. None are so ready to commend themselves as they who are least commendable. They who are lowest in worth are commonly highest in boasting: they who are emptiest of grace swell most with pride. Wicked men advance, saints debase themselves. Goliath, Rabshakeh, Benhadad, Jezebel, Nebuchad- nezzar, Sennacheril), &c. were all egregious boasters. And among other titles which the apostle gives those wicked men, he calls them " boasters," 2 Tim. iii. 2. But mark the language of saints : Abraham calls himself dust and ashes. Jacob speaks himself not worthy of the least of all God's mercies. David saith, and that as a type of Christ, that he was " a worm, and no man." Agur, that he was " more brutish than any man, and had not the understand- ing of man." \Vhen Paul had said that he " labour- ed more than they all," he corrects himself by adding, " not I, but the grace of God with me," I Cor. xv 10. Though Luke writes that Matthew made Cln-ist a great feast, yet Matthew himself saith Christ did eat with him, Luke v. 29; Matt. ix. 10, 11. As hu- mility makes way for more grace, so grace ever makes way for more humility. They w'ho have most grace ever most see their own want of grace : that which a man boasts of when he is in his natural estate, he blushes at when God opens his eyes; he is now, saith the apostle, ashamed of it, Rom. vi. 21. Paul, a Pharisee, accounted himself blameless and perfect ; Paul, a Christian, reckoned himself the chief of sin- ners, and the least of saints. Of some we say, when they are single, they want nothing but a wife ; but when they are married, they want every thing else. They who are without grace say they want little or nothing ; they who have grace see they want every thing. They are poor people who cry in London streets what they have ; the richest merchant holds his peace, and proclaims not his wealth to the world. Besides, a wicked man makes himself his end, and improves all his endowments to self-advancement ; and therefore the more wicked, the more he sets up himself by boasting of what he has. ISIpses was a beautiful child, and his parents hid him ; they who have most beauty most hide it : a child of God, like Moses, when God appeared in the bush, hides his face and pulls off his shoes ; covers what is comely, and confesses what is deformed and uncomely. Pride, 320 AN EXPOSITION UPON Ver. Iff then, is both a sign and a cause of want of grace : a saint ever sees he has enough to be thankful, and thinks he never lias enough to be proud. Obs. 2. Self-advancement is a sin and folly to be shunned. Let another praise thee, and not thyself; a stranger, and not thine own lips. They who strove in the Olympic games, when victors, never put the crown \ipon their own heads, but that honour was done them by another. It is our duty to do things worthy of praise, our sin and folly to praise ourselves •v , ■, . - -J for doing them. Our works should •yo.r. ™V£ii.os praise US, not our words. It is said ot i't"""!""'- Greg. Nazianzen, that he was high in his performances, but low in his opinion. It is our duty to carry ourselves so, as our very enemies may be forced to speak well of us ; and some have noted that the word nsj stranger. Let a stranger praise, &c., Prov. xxvii. 2, sometimes signifies an enemy in Scripture ; but we ourselves are of all men the un- fittest for that employment : praise is comely in thy enemy's mouth, not comely in thy friend's, uncomely in thine own. The performances which, another re- porting them, appear glorious, being related by thy- self, lose all their lustre ; because they who praise their own good deeds are thought not therefore to report them because they did them, but therefore to have done them that afterward they might report them. A man in commending does Sa^iriinSm^'l!l. "»*. J'^'^f undoes what he is doing. " Thou bearest record of thyself," said the Pharisees ; " thy record is not true." When Paul mentioned his own necessary praise, he saith he "speaks foolishly," 2 Cor. xi. 16, 17, 21, and that he was "become a fool in gloiying," 2 Cor. xii. 11, though he were compelled thereto. A man should not therefore do any good that he may have a good report, but therefore, and only therefore, desire a good report that he may be in the greater capacity of doing good. If a man commend himself, he should do it modestly and constrainedly, for the advantage of the gospel. Paul speaks his commendation as be- longing to a third person, " I knew a man," &c., 2 Cor. xii. 2; and ver. 11, " Ye have compelled me," &c. But ordinarily we should neither praise nor dispraise ourselves ; even the latter of these being the giving of others an occasion to praise us, and oft a putting of praise, as one saith aptly, ''°er"va"mis?'^ to usury, that we may receive it with the greater advantage. To conclude, if it be a sin to praise ourselves when we have done good, how great an impiety is it to glory in evil ! the former discovers the corruption of a man, the latter of a devil. Lastly, though it be a sin for a man to commend himself, yet it is our duty to praise the good we see in and done by others, that God may be honoured, who was the Author of all good, and men encouraged; the doer to proceed, the beholder to imitate him. Obs. 3. Great swelling words should not seduce us from the truth. We should not regard the words, but the weight of every teacher; nor who speaks, but what is spoken : " The kingdom of God is not in word, but in power," 1 Cor. iv. 20. We must not dislike truth because the bearer's words are low and contemptible, nor embrace error because the words of him who brings it are lofty and swelling. A Christian should be a man in understanding, not like a little child, ready to swallow whatever the nurse puts to the mouth. We should ever be more forward to examine by Scripture, with the noble Bereans, the truth of what is taught us, than to be bewitched, like the foolish Galatians, with the words of any teacher; suspect the cause that needs them, and the men that use them : as a rotten house, so a rotten cause, needs most props. Truth, like a beautiful face, needs no painting. Though he were one that speaks big, nay, with the tongue of an angel, nay, were an angel yet if he preached another gospel, we should hol( him accursed. Christians should labour for know ledge to discern between great words and good words; or rather between good words and good matter. This for the tliird proof that these seducers wen those ungodly men who should be judged at the las day, viz. because they spake " great swelling words.' 4. Their admiration of men's persons ; " havinj men's persons in admiration because of advantage.' In which words our apostle, 1. Describes what they did ; they had " men's persons in admiration.' 2. Discovers why they did it ; for " advantage." 1. What they did; " having men's persons in ad miration." That we may understand the sin wherewith thesf seducers are here charged in admiring persons, w« must first open these two expressions. 1. Persons, and admiring, or having them in ad- miration. 2. Show what admiring of persons is here by the apostle condemned, and why. 1. The word persons in the original is Trpoatinra : now though Trpoaunroi' signifies the face, and properly answers to a Hebrew word of the same signification, yet in Scripture it is taken several ways. Not to speak of the divers acceptations of the word in Scripture when attributed to God, as being too remote fi-om our present purpose ; when it is used concerning the creature, (1.) It is given to things without life; as Matt. xvi. 3 ; Luke xii. .56, " Ye can discern the face of the sky;" that is, the outward show or ap- pearance. Luke xxi. 35 ; Acts xvii. 20, we read of the " face of the earth ;" in which places it is taken for the superficies or outside. (2.) Most frequently to man; and so, I. Properly, it signifies his face and countenance. Thus Matt. vi. 16, "They disfigure their faces;" and ver. 17, "Wash thy face." Sa Matt. xxvi. 67, " Then did they spit in his face." 2. His person ; as 2 Cor. i. 11, " The gift bestowed upon us by the means of many persons," lie TroXXiIii' wfiouu- TTMv. 3. His bodily presence, 1 Tliess. ii. 17, "We being taken from you" TrpomJir^u, "in presence." 4. A man as accomplished with his gifts, excellencies, or endowments, real or appearing; which are out- wardly beheld, or looked upon to belong to him; foi which he is oft unduly respected, either in regard ot his own body, mind, or outward condition ; and thus it is taken Matt. xxii. 16 ; Mark xii. 14, where the Herodians tell Christ that he regarded not Trpoaunrov, " the person of men ;" and Acts x. 34, " God is no respecter of persons." So Rom. ii. 11. And thus I take it in this place, where Jude accuses these servile seducers for their excessive sinful flattering of men in eminence, advanced in respect of their outward state of wealth, honour, &c., for their own private gain and advantage. The other expression is admiring, or, as we render it, having in admiration, Gavudtoi'Tic. . . . .. It Signifies two things. (1.) To won- un.ie (j.i.'.uoTa, der at a thing in respect of its strange- '■"■"' """"""• ness, unusualness, at which men look very earnestly and intently. Thus it is taken Matt. viii. 27, where it is said that Christ rebuking the winds and the sea, the men marvelled, Waviiuaav. So Matt. xxi. 20, when the fig-tree withered, it is said the disciplesi marvelled; when Christ had with such admirable wisdom answered the insnaring question of the He- rodians, it is said they marvelled, Matt. xxii. 22; xxvii. 14; Luke i. 21, 63; iv. 22; xi. 38. (2.) It signifies highly to honour, fear, or reverence the person or thing which we look upon as strange ; Ver. 16. THE EPISTLE OP JUDE. 321 and thus some take it Matt. viii. 10, when Christ heard of the centurion's faith, it is said, idaviiaac, " he man-elled ;" that is, say some, ^j'll' acimiia^lo"' ^^ respected and honoured his faitli. Thus it is taken in this place of Jude. Tliese seducers honoured highly, advanced, and praised the endowments and qualitications of great men for advantage ; and probable it is, that the apostle expresses their honouring of men's persons by admiring them, because the Septuagint so trans- lates those places where honour and respect to per- sons is mentioned. When Naaman the Syrian is said to be honourable, the Septuagint render the phrase TiOavitaaixtvog Trponuijnu, admired in his per- son. So Deut. X. 17, "The Lord regardeth not per- sons." 2 Chron. xix. 7. 2. What admiring of persons is to be condemned as unlawful. Certainly all kind of admiring persons is not unlawful before God, nor disallowed by the apostle. Honour to the persons of others may law- fully be given, even for those gifts and endowments wherewith God has furnished them, whether outward or inward : for the outward glory and majesty which God gave Nebuchadnezzar, " all people trembled and feared before him," Dan. v. 19. And God commands honour to parents natural and political ; and the elders who rule well are to be counted worthy of double honour. And some are deservedly preferred before others for their age, calling, gifts, graces, re- lation to us. But several ways admiring of persons is unlawful. I shall reduce them all to these two heads ; as this admiration of man more particularly concerns, 1. God. 2. Man. (1.) The admired. (2.) The admirer. (3.) Others. 1. As it may concern God. And thus we admire men sinfully, (1.) When we so admire man as that we honour him without eyeing God's command. The lowest service must be done in obedience to the highest Master : our earthly parent must be honoured and admired because our heavenly Father enjoins it. An earthly master must not be honoured and served with an eye only to his command, but out of conscience of duty to God's command. Herein must we resemble that noble Roman, who, disdaining to bow before a foreign prince, when he came into his presence, let fall his ring, which he stooping to take up, and there- upon the prince insulting, the Roman utters these words, A'o» libi, sed annulo ; I bow not to thee, but to take up my ring. Or as that Frederic Barbarossa, who kneeling down before the pope to receive his crown, said, Aon tibi, sed Petro ; Not to thee, but to Peter. The apostle makes the application when he enjoins servants to " be obedient unto masters as unto Christ ; not as men-pleasers, but as the ser\-ants of Christ," Eph. vi. 5, 6; and "not as men-pleasers, but," &c., " fearing God," Col. iii. 22. (2.) When we so admire men as to honour and serve them in those things which they command against God. Our earthly lord must be obeyed, but our heavenly Lord must be preferred. When these two come in competition, we are disobedient unless we be disobedient. Against my heavenly Father's will 1 neither owe burial to my dead, nor obedience to my living father. Whether it be right to obey God or man, saith the apostle, "judge yc," Acts iv. 19. " Ephraim is oppressed and broken in judgment, because he willingly walked after the commandment," Hos. V. 11. (3.) When we so admire men for any excellency as not to give the glory thereof to God. The sweetness of the stream must not make us forget the fountain. Men must be honoured as instruments, not adored as deities. It was cursed, and it proved costly flattery which was given to Herod, when the people shouted, " It is the voice of a god, and not of a man : because he gave not God the glory," he was smitten, "and eaten of worms," Acts xii. 22, 23. That must not be offered to any which the best never durst take, namely, the praise of having or doing any thing of themselves. How fearful have holy men been in their highest performances, lest any of God's glory should cleave to their fingers ! AVhen Peter had wrought that great miracle of healing the cripple, and the people greatly wondered, fearing the sinful admiring of his person, he takes all honour from himself, and casts it upon Christ : " Ye men of Israel," saith he, " why look ye so earnestly on us, as though by our own power or holiness we had made this man to walk ? The God of Abraham," &c., " hath glori- fied his Son Jesus," &c., Acts iii. " Barnabas and Paul rent their clothes " when the people were about to sacrifice to them. Acts xiv. 14. " I laboured," saith Paul, " more abundantly than they all ; yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me," 1 Cor. xv. 10. " Our sufficiency is of God," 2 Cor. iii. 5. " Who is Paul, or who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed ? I have planted, Apollos watered ; but God gave the increase. So then neither is he that plant- eth any thing," &c., 1 Cor. iii. 5 — 7". the Corinthians' faith was not to " stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God," 1 Cor. ii. 5. People are com- monly in extremes, either they deify men, or nullify them ; either they make them dwarfs or giants : but for people so to admire any men as to ascribe their conversion or edification to them ; as if men were not only God's instruments and Christ's servants, but Gods and Christs themselves ; and as if their grace were from the abilities of the teacher, and not from the power of Christ ; is a very plainly sinful admiring of men's persons, even to an unchairing of Christ, and a lifting up of man into his seat; to a depriving the Shepherd and Bishop of our souls, and a subsri- tuting another in his room. In a word, it is all one, as to thank the axe for building the house, and to attribute nothing to the carpenter. Nor indeed is it any other than idolatry. (4.) When we so admire and honour men as to put that trust and confidence in them which we owe only to God. " Thou," saith Job, " art my confidence," Job xxxi. 24. " He is the confidence of all the ends of the earth," Psal. Ixv. 5. " Put your trust in the Lord," Psal. iv. 5. " Trust in him at all times," Psal. Ixii. 8 ; so Psal. sxxvii. 5. But men, though never so full of love, skill, strength, must not have our trust. " Put not confidence in a guide," ^licah vii. 5. " It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confi- dence in princes," Psal. cxviii. 9. " Every man at his best state is altogether vanity," Psal. xxxix. 5. " Cease from man, whose breath is in his nostrils ; for wherein is he to be accounted of ? " Isa. ii. 22. Man is to be used as a wand in our hand, not leaned upon as our staff or support ; in subordination to, not in- stead of God ; only as one that can help us, if God will help him; as one that of himself cannot move, or undertake, much less accomplish any good for us. Oh how' oft has God snapped in sunder all these rot- ten crutches in England ! and how many lectures of vanity has he read upon men in greatest admiration ! (5.) When we so admire men as to fear their power more than God's. Men are sinfully admired, both when they, being for us, appear to us so great as that God need' not help us ; and when they, being against us, appear so great as that God cannot help us. Man is idolized both by looking upon him as one that can work without God, and much more by looking upon him as able to work against God. How sinfully did the Israelites admire the persons of the giants in 322 AN EXPOSITION UPON Ver. 16. Canaan, in respect of their strength and stature ! How sinfully did D;ivid admire Saul, when against God's promise he said he should perish by his hand .' Thus the Israelites sinfully admired the Egyptians, uhen upon the sight of them, notwithstanding the word and works of God, they tell Moses in their march that he took them "aw'ay to die in the wilder- ness," Exod. xiv. 11. "Who art thou, that thou shouldst be afraid of a man that shall die?" &c., " and forgettest the Lord thy Maker ?" Isa. li. 12, 13. The fearing of man is the forgetting of God. (6.) When we admire men's goodness, or what of God we see in men, their persons, loving the mes- sage for the messenger, the liquor for the vessel, holy instruction for the sake of him who gives it; and so hearing the word of God as the word of man ; this is to prefer a man of God before God in a man, or rather man before God; and, contrary to what Ter- tullian speaks, not to judge of persons by faith, but of faith by persons. 2. Admiration of persons is sinful as it concerns man. (1.) As it concerns the admired; and so ad- miration of persons is sinful, [1.] When we admire such persons as are not able to bear their own admiration. A proud man having done any thing commendably, is not fit to be com- mended. Some weak brains will be turned with a Bmall quantity of wine ; others more strong will en- dure more. Herod was intoxicated with applause, when the people cried him up for a god ; but Paul and Barnabas rend their clothes, and are ready to sacrifice themselves, when the people meditate a sa- crificing to them. A weak stomach cannot concoct fat morsels ; he is a man of strong grace who can hear his own commendations without hurt. Nothing more discovers a man than praising him. " As the fining pot for silver, and the furnace for gold; so is a man to his praise," Prov. xxvii. 21. [2.] When we so admire persons as thcreliy to make a prey of them, or to overthrow either their bodies or souls. Thus the Herodians admired and honoured Christ, telling him that he was true, and taught the way of God in truth, and regarded " not the person of man," Matt. xxii. 16; but all this was but to entangle and destroy him, by bringing him on to answer a captious question. Thus afterward Christ was betrayed with a kiss; and not seldom have we known that men have lain in ambush be- hind the thickets oT commendation and admiration, and so unsuspeetedly fallen upon the unwary and credulous hearer. Jael gives her nail soon after her milk ; and poison is oftenest drunk in gold. Thus after the death of Jehoiada, the princes of Judah came and made obeisance to king Joash, whereby they prevailed with him to leave the house of the Lord, and to serve groves and idols, 2 Chron. xxiv. 17, 18; and thus, as ecclesiastical history tells us, Simon Magus cried up Nero above the clouds, and accounted and called him a god, to make him the greater enemy to the Christians. Thus Tertullus admired the person of Felix, that thereby he might stir him up against Paul, Acts xxiv. 2, 3. [3.] When we so admire persons as to cover, hide, and excuse their sin because of their greatness ; a sin the greater, because greatness ought to be so far from being a cloak for, that it is an aggravation of sin, and makes it the more heinous. A wicked per- son in Scripture phrase is but a vile person, and by so much the more vile, by how much the more he corrupts and abuses any eminent gifts and endow- ments which God has bestowed upon him. The word speaks as basely of rich wicked ones, as they think contemptibly of God's people. That wdcked king was very low in the eyes of the holy prophet, who said, " Were it not that I regard the person of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, I would not look toward thee, nor see thee," 2 Kings iii. 14. Unsanctified greatness is most likely to be pernicious, and there- fore should be most reprehended. (2.) Admiration of persons is sinful as it concerns the admirer ; and so, [1.] When we so admire persons as thereby only to advance and advantage ourselves; and that, 1. Either in profit and gain ; or, 2. In honour or reputation. 1. lu profit: and thus these seducers here admired great ones, and honoured their greatness for their own advantage, servilely cringing and crouching to them for filthy lucre ; they gave them great titles, and flattered them in sin, and assented to them in every thing, that they might fill their purses ; and, as Peter speaks, through covetousness, did they with feigned words make merchandise of people, hereby showing that they neither served Christ, nor indeed those whom they flattered, but their own bellies ; at once laying off both the Christians and the man. 2. In honour and reputation : and for this end some- times the persons of gi-eat men are admired, as Mr. Fox tells us that the bloody tiger, Stephen Gardiner, was wont to admire the p,erson of Henry VIII., speiking of him to others with greatest honour, and calling him his gracious lord and master, only to be looked upon as his favourite, though he knew that the king never loved him. But for honour hypo- crites commonly admire the persons of good men ; admire their persons, I say, though they imitate not their practices. Thus Saul desired the presence of Samuel, to be honoured before the people. Thus the scribes and Pharisees admired the dead prophets, only to be accounted, as they were, holy. [2.] When we so admire persons as withal to imi- tate their sins and imperfections. Thus these se- ducers were so admired, as that many followed their damnable errors, putting no difference between their faces and the warts, their speaking and stammering. The falls and folly of the admired are commonly the snares of the admirers; and the error of the master oft the temptation of the scholar. It is very hard to admire the person of another, and not to imitate his imperfections. (3.) Admiration of persons is sinful as it concerns and hurts others ; and so, [1.] When for some commendable actions or en- dowments we so admire a person, who is in most things very discommendable, and a known wicked person, that thereby we give occasion to the hearer, who is, though wicked, yet not so wicked as he, to judge his own condition very good, and to bless and flatter himself in his sin, as thinking that he deserves commendation as well as or better than the other. This I have ever thought to be one stratagem where- by the hands of the wicked have been strengthened in sin ; and a stumbling-block which some either weakly or wickedly have laid before others. Thus I have oft heard, even with grief, when in funeral ser- mons a profane drunkard, a swearer, an adulterer, or one perhaps at the most but civilly honest, for some few good deeds has been cried up and even sainted by the preacher, that the most wicked persons have been ready to saint themselves, and to say. If such a one were commendable, and praised by our minister for a good man, I thank God it is much better with me, I never was guilty of half his extravagancies, and 1 see 1 may be a good man, yea, and commend- ed when I am dead, notwithstanding my failings, though I be not so pure as some are. Oh how un- suitable is it, that by funeral sermons men should be made more unfit for death ! to paint those in the pulpit who are punished in hell ! and that a minister Ver. 16. THE EPISTLE OF JUDE. 323 should be strewing that dead body with flowers, whose soul is bathing in flames ! For my part, though I should not deny due commendation, even at a fu- neral, to some eminently exemplary saint, or pub- licly useful instrument ; yet mostl)-, I think, his speech concerning the deceased may suffice, who said. If he were good, he did not desire; if bad, he did not deserve, praise. [2.] When we so admire the persons of some in- =tructers, as to neglect and despise others who hapl)- deserve better than they : the sin of the Corinthians, when the apostle tells them of their glorying in men, 1 Cor. iii. 21 ; some teachers being so gloried in pe- culiarly, as if they were only worth hearing, and none else to be regarded. Some accounted Paul the only teacher, some delighted only in Apollos, some magnified Peter as the alone worthy man ; thus they thought of men above what was meet, and they W'ere puffed up for one against another. They gloried in some, disdaining all others as not to be named with them, though teachers of the same truth, because they had a high conceit of their learning, wit, elo- quence, holiness, or the like qualifications. A great sin doubtless, and, I fear, the common sin of this city. How unthankful for the bounty of Christ do men make themselves hereby, who gave all the min- isters of the gospel to be theirs for their good ! " All things," saith the apostle, " are yours, whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas," 1 Cor. iii. 21, 22. It is un- thankfulness to a bountiful prince, when he bestows many lordships on his favourite, if he should regard one of them only, and despise all the rest. Yea, how injuriously is the Spirit of Christ hereby reproached ! for the despising those who are of small gifts is a reproaching of the Spirit of God, as if he were de- fective in his gifts ; whereas their variety sets forth the fulness and freeness of God's Spirit, who divideth " to every man severally as he will," and " worketh all these," 1 Cor. xii. 11. Besides, this sin is oft the main cause of schisms in the church. It makes peo- ple divide themselves under different teachers whom they admire, and it causes teachers to take away those who aifect them, from other teachers whom they atfect not so much. Now this sin of schism, in itself very great, is made much greater by being oc- casioned by those very gifts of men which God be- stowed upon them to this end, that there might " be no schism in the body, but that the members should have the same care one for another," 1 Cor. xii. 25. Nor is there any sin which more exposes the Chris- tian religion to so much contempt and obloquy than this kind of admiring of persons ; for hereby several companies of Christians are made like the several schools of philosophers, some of which followed Plato, some Aristotle, some Epicurus ; and the doctrines of faith are but accounted as the proper opinions of several teachers; and all zeal for them is conceived to arise not from a certain knowledge of heavenly truth, but from peculiar humour and strength of fancy. And how great a stumbling-block must this needs be to those who are without, how will it hinder them from embracing the truth, and lay it open to derision ! Yet further, the sinfulness of this sort of man-admiration appears, because hereby both the despised person is so grieved and discouraged, that he is enfeebled and disabled in his work ; and also he who is admired is not only puffed up with pride, and thereby induced to adulterate the word, invent and broach errors, that still he may be advanced above all others by going in a diflferent way from them ; but also put upon the pleasing of men by sinful flatteries, instead of profiting them by faithful reprehensions. To con- clude this consideration, nothing begets so great an aptness in men to receive errors as this sinful admira- tion ; nor has any seed of heresies and superstitions proved so fi-uitful as this. Affection commonly makes men take down falsehood, and error is easily received from them whom we much admire ; and God often leaves admired teachers to err for trial of the people, and the punishing of their vanity in making God's ti-uth to stand at the devotion of the teacher for its acceptance, and trampling upon the holy and, per- haps, learned labours of those who are more seeing and faithful than the admired. [3.] When we so admire men's persons as to give all respect to men in outward greatness, though per- haps wicked, despising the poor saints because poor : this James reproves, " My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ in respect of persons," James ii. I : when wickedness in robes is magni- fied, and holiness in rags contemned. Oh how un- worthy is it that the gold ring and costly apparel should be preferred before the robe of Christ's right- eousness and the je^'el of grace ! that godliness and good examples should be rejected for their want of a gold ring ! that he who shall have a throne in heaven must here be a footstool upon earth ! [4.] When elections and offices are passed and be- stowed partially, for friendship, favour, money, kin- dred ; a sin by much aggravated when men have taken oaths to a corporation to the contrary ; and it is oft a great temptation to the party who enters by money to sell justice dear. [5.] When we so admire the person of one as to do injustice in judgment, whether civil or ecclesiasti- cal; which is when our affection so blinds our judg- ment by some outward respect or appearance, that we will not determine righteously, the cause being overbalanced with such foreign considerations as have no affinity with it. Thus men are in judicature sometimes swayed with foolish pity, sometimes with cowardly fear : both these the Lord forbids. " Thou shalt not respect the person of the poor, nor honour the person of the mighty," Lev. xix. 15. This sin would make God a patron of iniquity, the sentence being pronounced from God, Deut. i. 1/. Obs. 1. The condition of men in greatest outward eminence and dignity is oft very miserable. None have so many flatterers, and therefore none so few friends, as they : flatterers, as worms, breed in the best fruit. When a poor illiterate man is admonished for sin, a rich, a learned man is admired in, nay, haply for sin. As the bodies, so the soids of kings and great men, have oftenest poison given them. Hushai humoured Absalom, Ziba flattered David, the people admired Herod ; Jezebel soothed Ahab out of sad- ness into sin ; Ahab had four hundred false prophets who flattered him into wickedness, and but one faith- ful Micaiah to tell him the tnuh. The common sound in the ears of princes is, Quod libet, licet, Your will is a law ; as if they could not be carried fast enough into sin by the tide of their own nature, un- less driven also by the wind of the flatterer's breath. The running water has no certain colour of its own, but is coloured like the soil which is under it ; so flatterers fit themselves to every humour. Aristip- pus, for flattering Dionysius, was called the court- spaniel, cam's aulicus. Flatterers are crows that hover about the carcass of greatness, friends in pros- perity only, summer friends ; like lookers upon a dial, they only regard men when the sun of prosperity shines upon them. None are so little to be envied by others, or so much to be careful of themselves, as they who are in dignity ; they should much more delight in words that are bitter and wholesome, than in such as are sweet and destructive. It was a holy and wise reso- lution of David, " He that walketh in a perfect way. 334 AN EXPOSITION UPON Ver. 16. he shall serve me; he that worketh deceit shall not dwell with me," Psal. ci. G, 7. And Psal. cxli. 5, " Let the righteous smite me ; it shall be a kindness," &c. " Faithful are the words of a friend ; but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful," Prov. xxvii. 6. " A flattering mouth worketh ruin," Prov. xxvi. 28 ; xsviii. 23. Obs. 2. How just is God in staining the pride of worldly glory ! The persons of great ones are oft admired and adored as gods, and therefore God makes them often lower than men. God oft even smites godly men when they are over-admired. That late re- nowned Gustavus of Sweden feared as truly as humbly, when he said he thought that God would take him off, because men too much admired him. When we unduly set men up, God deservedly pulls them down. How many golden calves, how much isinfully-adored greatness, has God ground to powder of late years in England ! We are angry that it is done, but why are we so well pleased with that sin which did it ? Obs. 3. How sinful is it to admire our own persons ! If it may be ungodly to admire others in their out- ward excellencies, how much more then ourselves, who are conscious of so many inward defilements and deformities ! Obs. 4. It is a sin to receive, much more to seek for, admiration from others. If it be a sin to offer it, it must be a sin to receive it. The receiver of vain- glory is as a thief in God's account, though others bring it to him : " Ye receive honour one of another." If men admire us sinfully against our wills, it is not our sin ; if we close with the temptation, we become partners in their wickedness. We cannot be too worthy of having praise, nor too wary in hearing it. All our commendations should fall upon us as sparks upon wet tinder ; humility should damp all our praises. It is as unsafe for a proud person to have praises fly about him, as for a disarmed man to stand among flying bullets. A gracious heart can only digest both his sufferings and elevations, so as neither to be im- patient under the former, nor to be proud under the latter; they alone set every crown of commendation upon the head of Jesus Christ. How vain and sinful is it to hunt after our own bane, and God's dishonour, popular applause ! Obs. 5. The proudest spirits are oft the basest. These arrogant seducers, who spake great swelling words, unworthily cringed and basely crouched in the admiring of persons for their own advantage. None now are so proud in their highness, nor so base in their lowness, as they: see an evident example in Benhadad, who though at first he proudly demanded of Ahab his silver and gold, wives and children, and the plunder of all his houses, and boasted that the dust of Samaria should not suffice for handfuls for his army ; yet being overcome, he sends his servants to Ahab with sackcloth on their loins, and ropes about their necks, w'ith a petition for the life of his servant Benhadad, 1 Kings xx. 5, 6, 10, 31, 32. The late bishops who tyrannized over their poor OwLittot'ciieiaie brethren. Were yet the most servile flat- Arciibishop of tcrcrs, evcu to the servants of the king, urj. for their own advantage. Oh how differ- ent is this temper from that true and heavenly noble- ness of saints ; who, with Elihu, cannot " accept any man's person," and " know not to give flattering titles!" Job xxxii. 21, 22; who in their own cause, though high, they bow as low as the reed ; yet in the cause of God, when they are lowest, they are as stout and strong as the oak, yea, as hard as the ada- mant ! There is a silent glory, and a secret gener- osity, that discovers itself in the poorest saint. A rich, honourable sinner is a beggar in robes ; a poor, dis- graced, imprisoned saint is a king in rags. Paul at the bar discovers more true nobleness and magnani- mity than Felix upon the bench. The former re- proved sin, and speaksof judgment with courage ; the latter hears him with a servile trembling : the scribes and Pharisees taught with servile flattery, Christ with authority, and not as they. Obs. 6. It is our duty to preserve ourselves from this note of ungodliness, and practice of ungodly ones, admiring of persons. To this end, (1.) Get an untainted, renewed judgment: acarnal eye sees nothing glorious but carnal, outside objects. Moses had a rectified judgment, a sanctified estimate j he prized the reproach of Christ above the treasures of Egypt, Heb. xi. 26. A skilful eye discerns the excellency of a picture curiously drawn, though it be not adorned with gold; yea, though it be set in a rotten frame ; and contemns the gaudery of that work- manship which is only rich, and has nothing of art. A rich sinner is but a vile person in a saint's eye, an honourable leper. The four monarchies in Scripture emblems are but four beasts, violent, base, sensual. Ahab is not worth looking upon by a holy Elijah ; as beholders are, so will things be accounted ; the world loves its own ; a child is taken with a doll more than with the conveyance of a great estate. (2.) Study the nature of a person's true glory ; this, grace I mean, is spiritual, hidden, not sensible and outward. The best of a man, and that which is truly admirable, is within : " The King's daughter is all glorious within," Psal. xlv. 13. Grace is veiled; the man of the heart is a hidden man, I Pet. iii. 4. That which is most to be desired of a man is that which cannot be seen, his goodness. We admire the lesser because we see not the greater beauties : the worst of a man is that which the eye sees. He who admires only the wealth and outward grandeur of a person, neglecting his grace, is as ridiculous as he who re- verences a prince's robes, and despises his person. (3.) Study the vanity of all common endowments and accomplishments wherewith the most gaudy sinner is adorned ; consider they are but beauties in fancy and appearance, outside glitterings, at the best but well-acted vanities. There is not one of them but God puts upon his enemies ; with them he oft g^lds potsherds ; they are paint which is put upon the worst faces, and waterings upon the rottenest stufls, such as alter not the nature of him who has them, who is still but a swine under all his robes, an ass though crowned, or though carrying the rites of Isis. All the honour, parts, domination, riches in the world, amount not to the excellency of the least dram of true grace ; they are not objects noble enough for a Christian's admiration. I remember when I was a child, that I heard a godly gentlewoman relate, that that lioly man of God, old Mr. C'ulverwell, heartily chid her for saying that she w'ondered how such a formerly poor man, of whom they were speaking, came to be so exceeding rich : Oh ! saith he, are these toys fit for such a one as thou art to wonder at ? Besides, there is no robe of worldly excellency but must be laid off. The greatest potentate must stand naked of them at the day of judgment; nay, before; their honour descends not with them to the grave ; when they crowd into that narrow hole, all their gaudy ornaments will be swept off. The dust of an emperor is no sweeter than that of a beggar. (4.) Study God's dispensations ; in them we shall see that he is no respecter of persons ; he has com- monly set the greatest respect upon those things and persons which are of least account in the world. He hath chosen the base things of the world, poor fisher- men for disciples, nay; great sinners. The things of God were hidden from the wise and prudent, and re- Ter. 17. THE EPISTLE OF JUDE. 325 vealed to babes. God chose not the eagle or lion, but dove and lamb, for sacrifice; "tlie poor of this world rich in faith," James ii. 5. " He accepteth not the persons of princes, nor regardeth the rich more than the poor," Job xxxiv. 19. (5.) Study thine own profession, which is that thou art a saint, not a sensualist ; that thou art a servant of Christ, not of men ; that thou expectest to admire God for ever in glory, not worms upon a dunghill ; that thou art called out of the world, and crucified to it, and that they who are spiritual and heavenly are thy brethren, thy companions, thy fellow mem- bers. Oh how heinous an evil is it for Christians to despise Christians, the heroes of heaven, and to admire the wicked, Satan's slaves ! Oh what a dis- honour is it to Christ, and a confutation of thy Chris- tianity, when thou who art acquainted with higher glories, admirest grovelling worms ! In short, re- member thy Master never admired any thing but grace, regarding that in a poor woman, when he de- spised all the glory of the world. (6.) Banish self-interest and carnal designs out of all the respects thou givest to others : the aiming at honour or riches will pervert thy estimate, and make thee admire those that can most advantage thee. This will make a great saint basely to fall down be- fore unsanctified greatness. Luther could not admire the pope, because he admired neither money nor pre- ferment. Covetous designs will make thee, with these seducers, to honour those where there is most gain, not most grace. Mortification is the best remedy against sinful admiration. 2. The motive of their admiring of others, or why they did it, viz. for advantage, besides what I have spoken in this last branch, I refer the reader to p. 230, &c., 235, concerning the " running," &c. " for reward." Verse 17, 18, 19. Bui, beloved, remember ye the irords irh ich were spolien before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ ; how that theij told you there should be mockers in the last time, who should ivalk after their oivn ungodly lusts. These be they who separate themselves, sensual, having 7iot the Spirit. The body and substance of this Divine Epistle, con- tinued from the preface in the first two verses, to the conclusion in the last two verses, contains an ex- hortation to the Christians " earnestly to contend for the faith ;" in the managing whereof, 1. The apostle sets down the reasons of his send- ing them this exhortation. 2. The exhortation itself ; both contained in ver. 3. 3. Several arguments to move the Christians to embrace that exhortation, from the 3rd to the l/th verse. 4. And fourthly, sundry directions to guide and teach the Christians how to observe that exhortation, from the 17th to the 24th verse. Of the three former we have largely, by God's assistance, spoken ; now w-e come to speak of the fourth and last, the directions : and these directions are of two sorts. First, Such as concern, 1. Christians themselves; and, 2. Others. I. The former, in relation to " themselves," are principally five. 1. The improving and recollecting of " the words of the apostles," who foretold the carriage of these seducers, contained in these three, the 17th, 18th, and 19th verses. 2. Edification on their holy faith, ver. 20. 3. Supplication in the Holy Ghost, ver. 20. 4. Conservation of themselves in the love of God, ver. 21. 5. Expectation of the coming of Christ, ver. 21. II. Such directions as concern their carriage to- ward others are laid dowTi ver. 22, 23. The first is the improving of the testimony of (he apostles. In which testimony I note five particulars. 1 . To whom it is commended ; to his " beloved." 2. How it was to be improved ; by remembering it. 3. From whom it proceeded ; " the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ." 4. Wherein it consisted ; in a prediction that there should be mockers, walking after their imgodly lusts. 5. To whom it is applied, viz. to these seducers ; " These be they who separate themselves," ver. 19. 1. Concerning the first, the persons to whom this testimony is commended, such as he calls " beloved," I have at large spoken before, p. 52, 53. 2. As also concerning the second, viz. their recall- ing it to remembrance, p. 107, 108. We proceed, 3. To the third, from whom this testimony pro- ceeded, viz. " the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ." In explication hereof I might enlarge on the na- ture of the apostolical function, and in showing what Jude means by this term "apostles," and wherein stands the difference between them and ordinary ministers of Christ ; as namely, in respect of immedi- ate calling, their authentic authority in writing and speaking, their work and office to plant churches, to work miracle?, to give the Holy Ghost by imposition of hands, and to use the apostolical rod against ob- stinate offenders. But to pass by these, as not con- cerning our purpose, and as being spoken to by others ; Two things in relation to this testimony here al- leged by Jude may be touched by way of explication. 1. What apostles these were of whom Jude speaks, and where this testimony is to be found. 2. Why Jude makes use of that testimony which came from them, and tells us that it did come from them. 1. Who these apostles were that gave this predic- tion which Jude here alleges, and where they gave it. Although possibly sundry of the apostles might by word of mouth testify fs"";°„7,t vJl bis what Jude here mentions, yet I doubt sinpiis, lum de not but he principally relates to their Int Pe't'.'lii. e.""^' writings. And in them they frequently foretell and forewarn of these seducers. Matthew tells us from Christ's mouth, that " many false pro- phets shall rise, and deceive many," chap. sxiv. II. John tells the Christians that there are many anti- christs, whereby they knew that it w'as the last time, I Epist. ii. 18. Possibly Jude might intend these proofs among others ; but I conceive, with CEcume- nius, that he principally aims at that wliich Paul and Peter before him had foretold concerning these sedu- cers. Paul warned of these seducers in sundry of his Epistles. Peter particularly in his Second. Paul especially foretells of them, 1 Tim. iv. 1, " The Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits," &c. And 2 Tim. iii. 1—4, "This know, that in the last days perilous times shall come ;" (and the description of those who shall make the times so perilous exactly agrees to these seducers, as I have shown throughout this Epistle of Jude;) " for men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers," &c., "incontinent, fierce, de- spisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, high- minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God." 326 AN EXPOSITION UPON Ver. 17.1 And 2 Tim. iv. 3, " The time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine ; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers." Plainly likewise Paul foretells the coming of seducers : " I know this, that after my departure shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock : also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them," Acts XX. 29, 30. But especially Jude seems to intend the remembering of that prediction concerning se- ducers which Peter gives us, " There shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts," 2 Epist. iii. 3. And our apostle, in exhorting the Christians to remember the words of the apostles, wherein they foretold the coming of these mockers, seems to some to imitate Peter, who in the foremen- tioned place, ver. 2, exhorted the Christians to re- member the command of the apostles, (namely, to avoid the doctrines of seducers,) " knowing that there shall come in the last days mockers," &c. 2. "Why Jude makes use of their testimony, and tells us that it came from them. It was not with- out weighty reason that Jude makes use of the apostles' testimony, and mentions the coming thereof from the apostles, and that in respect of those apostles, Jude himself, and these Christians. (1.) In respect of those apostles: by mentioning their foretelling of these mockers, Jude shows the great care which those faithful servants of Christ had of the church's welfare, their desires being that the church should get good by them, and live holily and peaceably when they had done living; and that they might by their writings live even when they were dead, to be serviceable to the church of Christ, (2.) In respect of Jude himself: he mentions the words of the apostles, to show his humility in ac- knowledging the grace and gifts of God bestowed upon others, and the sweet accord and agreement between them and him in the doctrines which he delivered to them in this Epistle conceming these seducers, that hereby he might gain the more credit to himself and present service, there being a joint concurrence between him and the other apostles : as to this end he had before told the Christians that James was his brother in respect of parentage, so here he tells them that he and the other apostles were brethren in respect of judgment and opinion. All the apostles were stars enlightened by the same sun ; they drew the waters of life out of the same fountain, plucked the fruits of wholesome doctrines off from the same tree ; and by producing the testi- mony of so many others who witnessed the same thing with him, he more clearly evidenced that he had spoken nothing but the truth against these se- ducers, whom he had so sharply reproved. (3.) In respect of the Christians to whom he wrote : he mentions the apostles, [I.] To show how zealous they ought to be against these seducers and their doctrines, because the apostles, who were so holy and unerring, had given the Christians warn- ing of them, and with such vehemency spoken against them, as if they were desirous to leave hatred of error as their legacy to their spiritual children. [2.] To preserve these Christians against discourage- ments, by seeing such ungodly, soul-subverting se- ducers rage and prevail in the church; it being no other than what was foretold by those who could not be deceived, John xvi. 4 ; and therefore they were not to look upon it as if some strange thing had hap- pened to them. [3.] To direct the Christians to the right means to discover, and so to avoid, all those se- ducers and seductions wherewith the church of God A'as then infested. The words of the apostles being observed, these characters of seducers which theyl had delivered might be so plainly seen to agree tol these who had crept into the church, that the one! being known, the other could not be hid ; and they ] being seen, surely ought to be shunned. Obs. 1. Great should be the care of the ministers! of Christ to warn the church of approaching evils,] especially of seducers. The apostles of Christ fore- told the coming of these seducers among the Chris- tians : Paul " warned every one night and day with I tears," Acts xx. 31. They are watchmen, and it isJ their duty to give warning of every enemy. They should be unfaithful to your souls, if they should be friends to your adversaries. Their loving and faith- ful freeness herein creates them many enemies; but they can much more easily endure the wrath of man here for discharging, than the wrath of God here- after for neglecting their duty. It is better that the lusts of seducers should curse them awhile, than the souls of their people to all eternity. Ministers must defend as well as feed their flock, and keep away poison as well as give them meat ; drive away the wolf as well as provide pasture. Cursed be that pa- tience which can see the wolf, and yet say nothing. If the heresies of seducers be damnable, the silence of ministers must needs be so too. Obs. 2. It is our duty to acknowledge and commend the gifts and graces of God bestowed upon others with respect. Jude honourably mentions these apos- tles, both for the dignity of their function, and also for the faithfulness of their discharge thereof, by forewarning the Christians. The prudent commend- ing of the gifts and graces of another is the praising of the Giver, and the encouragement of the receiver. The good we see in any one is not to be damped, but cherished ; nor should the eminence of our own make us despise another's endowments. Peter, though he had oft heard Christ himself preach, and had long been conversant with Christ upon earth; though at pentecost the Spirit was poured upon him ; yet he thought it no derogation from his worth to make an honourable mention of Paul, to read his Epistles, and to allege the authority of his w-ritings, 2 Pet. iii. 15. Peter does not say, Why is not my word as credible as Paul's ? but without any self-respect he appeals to Paul, honours Paul, and fetches in Paiil for the warrant of his writings. Oh how unworthy is it either to deny or diminish the worth of others ! How unsuitable is it to the spirit of Christianity, when mere shame compels a man to speak something in commendation of another, to come with a but in the conclusion of our commendation ; But in such or such a thing he is faulty and defective ! This kind of commendation is like an unskilful farrier's shoe- ing a horse, who never shoes but he pricks him. Obs. 3. The consent between the penmen of Scrip- ture is sweet and harmonious ; they were all breathed upon by the same Spirit, and breathed forth the same truth and holiness. Jude and the rest of the apostles agree unanimously against these seducers. Moses and all the prophets accord with the apostles in their testimony of Christ, Luke xxiv. 27. Peter and Paul agree harmoniously, 2 Pet. iii. 15. All holy writers teach one and the same faith. They were several men, but not of several minds. The consideration whereof affords us a notable argument to prove the Divine authority of Scripture, all the penmen whereof, though of several conditions, living in several ages, places, and countries, yet teach the same truth, and confirm one another's doctrine. 2, It teaches in the exposition of Scripture to endeavour to make them all agree. Wlien other writers oppose the Scripture, we should kill the Egyptian, and save the Israelite ; but when the holy writers seem, for Ver. 18. THE EPISTLE OF JUDE. 327 they never more than seem, to jar one with another, we should study to make them agree, because they are brethren. But, 3. and especially. The considera- tion hereof should put all Christians upon agreeing in believing and embracing the truth : if the writers agreed, the readers should do so too ; but chiefly the preachers of the word should take heed of ditference among themselves in interjireting the Scripture. Con- utanusdeMra n '^°'''^ among teachcrs is as necessarj' as taninpcre in.iiiitt is tlic help of the left hand needful to n'i°,'q"am n°«s- the right. When the children fall out sariacstercipsiie jn interpreting their fathei-'s testament, cf.r.iiH. Gcrii.mj, the lawyerouly gaius ; and when mmis- - P='- '"• i3- ters are at variance among themselves, heretics only rejoice, and get advantage to extol and promote error. In a word, as the apostle holily ex- horts, we should " walk by the same rule, and mind the same thing," Phil, iii. 16; and "speak the same thing ;" labouring that there may be no division among us, but that we "be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment," I Cor. i. 10. All contention among ministers should be, who shall be foremost in giving of honour, and gain- ing of souls. Obs: 4. Scripture is the best preservative against seduction. The apostle directs the Christians to make use of the words of the apostles to that end. The Scripture is the best armoury to afford weapons against seducers. It is only the sword of the Spirit, the word of God, that slays error. Jesus Christ made use of it when he conflicted wnth that arch-seducer the devil, Matt. iv. The reason why people are children tossed about with ever},' wind of seduction, is, because they are children in Scripture knowledge. They are children which commonly are stolen in the streets, not grown men. " Ye err," saith Christ to the Sadducees, " not knowing the Scripture." The Scripture is the light which shines in a dark place ; an antidote against all heretical poison ; a touch- stone to try counterfeit opinions ; that sun, the lustre whereof, if any doctrines cannot endure, they are to be thrown down as spurious. And this discovers the true reason of Satan's rage against the word in all ages : never did any thief love the light, nor any se- ducer delight in the word. Heretics fly the Scripture as the owl the sun : when that arises, they fly to their holes ; when that sets, they fly abroad and lift up their voice. It is Satan's constant design that there may not be a sword found in Israel. Our care should be to arraign every error at the bar of Scripture, and to try whether it can speak the Scripjture shibboleth, whether it has given them letters of commendation or no, or a pass to travel up and down the church or no. If to Scripture they appeal, to Scripture let them go ; and let us, with those noble Bereans, with pure, humble, praying, unprejudiced hearts, " search the Scriptures whether those things are so." Obs. 5. They who are forewarned should be fore- armed. It is a shame for them who have oft heard and known the doctrines of the apostles to be sur- prised by seducers. Jude expects that these Chris- tians who knew what the apostles had delivered, should strenuously oppose all seduction. To stumble in the light is inexcusable. To see a young be- ginner seduced is not so strange, but for an old dis- ciple, a grey-headed gospeller, to be misled into error, how shameful is it! and yet how many such childish old ones as these are doth England, London, afford ! who justly, because they are ever learning, and never coming to the knowledge of the truth, but remain unprofitable hearers of truth, are left by God to be easily followers of error. 4. The fourth particular which I considered in Jude's producing of the testimony of the apostles, was, wherein this testimony consisted, or the testimony itself, laid down in the 18th verse in these words, that " there should be mockers in the last time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts." In which words these seducers are described, 1. From the time wherein they appeared. 2. From their qualities or conditions wherewith they appeared ; according to which the apostle saith they were, I. Mockers. 2. Such as walked after their lusts. 1 . The time when they appeared ; their appear- ance was in "the last time." Two things here briefly require explication. 1. What " the last time" is. 2. Why these seducers showed themselves " in the last time." 1. What "the last time" is. By the phrase firxarof xpnvoc, "the last time," the Scripture ^ means sometimes a continuation or ^°°^°J^ uTono length of time, sometimes an end of ^mist est ut rime. AVhen by the last time it means timum diciiur. a continuation of time, it intends a ge'e^ndnTicef' space, which, in respect of that compass of time of which it is the last part, may fitly be called the last time. Thus the life of man being made up of several ages, the last space thereof, old age, may be called its last time. Thus within the compass of a year, there being four seasons, the last season, winter, may be called the last time of a year. Or sometimes by the last time is meant , ,„ . •^ . ,1 1 1. L Itimum fem- tenninus temporis, the very end or ex- pus. c, uiiimum piring of time ; as the moment wherein ''^"'P"'''^- a man dies is his last time, or the last day of Decem- ber is the end or last time of the year. Now thus " the last time" is the end of the world, and it is ever expressed in the singular number, and usually called " the last day," as four times John vi., and once in John xi. And thus in 1 Pet. i. 5 the last time is used, where the apostle mentions that " salva- tion ready to be revealed m the last time." " The last time " in this place must needs be taken in the former sense, viz. for a space which is the last age of the world, or the last part of its time ; and thus those places are ever to be taken where we read of the last times, or days, in the plural number ; as 1 Pet. i. 20, it is said that Christ was manifested in the " last times," which times have continued many hundreds of years. So Heb. i. 2, " God hath in these last days spoken by his Son." So 2 Tim. iii. I, " In the last days perilous times shall come." And Acts ii. 17, " In the last days, I will pour out of my Spirit." So 2 Pet. iii. 3. And thus it is taken in this place. Nor does the Holy Ghost intend these last times by a word of the singular number in any place, as I re- member, save only in this place of Jude. Now by these last times in general, are meant all those times from the revelation of Christ to the end of the world, in which space the kingdom of Christ was founded and advanced in the world ; which times, because, saith the learned Mead, they are under x■„^ ji^,,, j„ i,,, the last monarchy, viz. the Roman, are learned iiisrourse called the last times. Hence it is said, of the LasT "'''^ 1 Pet. i. 20, " Christ was manifested in ''^'""'^■ these last times ;" and Gal. iv. 4, " When the fulness of time was come, God sent forth his Son," &c. Others think that these times after the coming of Christ to the end of the world are called the last times on account of those which went before, wherein the state of the church was oft changed, and the covenant frequently renewed ; but now by the death of Christ the covenant of grace being so established, that it is never again to be renewed or changed; but the condition of the church is to be in a fixed state to the end of the world, and no other to succeed it; these are called the last times. 323 AN EXPOSITION UPON Ver. 18. 2. Why these profane seducers arose in these last times. (I.) The last times are times of presumption and security, and therefore of dissoluteness and impiety. In former times judgments were threatened, the dis- solution and destruction of all things foretold ; but because the execution hereof is not beheld, therefore they who live in these times are encouraged to sin. Because sentence against their evil works is not speedily executed, therefore are their hearts set to do evil. This security Christ foretells should be in the last of the last days, namely, at his coming to judgment : " As in the days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage," &zc.; "so shall also the coming of the Son of man be," &:c. And this continuance of all things as they were from the beginning occasioned these seducers to scoil'at the promise of his coming, 2 Pet. iii. 4. The nearer they came to feeling, the further they were from fearing of punishment. (2.) They who live in the last days are more skil- ful practitioners in sin, wittily wicked, understand more how to contrive sin and work iniquity, by the improved experiences of their own and former times. Thus, as it is in every other art, so likewise in that of sinning, by length of time, custom, and experience, it is improved to a greater degree of fineness and exact- ness. The sinners of the last times are men, they of former times were but children, in wickedness. That old serpent, the older he grows, the more of the serpent he has, and so it is with the seed of the serpent. (3.) In the last times the kingdom of Jesus Christ is to be more enlarged and advanced, and therefore the malice of Satan is the more increased. As Christ rises in glory, so will Satan and sinners more swell with rage and envy. It is said, that those people who live in places where the sun is hottest and most scorching, every morning curse the rising sun ; and thus in times where the gospel reaches men with its holy heat and light, they curse and malign it. Hatred is the genius of the gospel ; and as wicked men the more raged at Christ the older he grew ; so the more his gospel spreads, the more Satan despites it. (4.) Lastly, In the last times the devil's time grows short, and therefore his wrath grows great. Satan labours to supply the shortness of his time with the sharpness of his assaults. Besiegers make their last onset upon town or castle the most resolute and ter- rible of all others. Satan now sets upon souls by seduction the more furiously, because when these times are at an end he shall never be suffered to do so any more ; like a malicious tenant, who, perceiving that his term is almost expired, does what he can to ruin the house ; or like a bloody tyrant, who, suspecting the loss of his usurped sovereignty, makes havoc among his subjects. Obs. 1. The wicked are worst in the best times. In the last days, wherein the light of the gospel, the knowledge of Christ, and the means of grace are most abundant, the wicked are most wicked. In the land of uprightness they live unholily. As the means of grace can make no man good of themselves ; so, by reason of our oppositeness to holiness, they occasion us to be far worse. A Judas in the fellowship of Christ — a Doeg detained before the Lord — an unre- formed person under the means of reformation, is most pertinaciously such. The means of grace with- out the grace of the means, only draws forth our rage against them. Let not men therefore please them- selves because either the times or places wherein they live are holy, unless these find themselves bet- tered by them. The higher we are lifted up, the sorer will be our fall : we cannot sin at so cheap a rate in these last times as formerly. Sins in the last times find out the lowest places in hell. Let this likewise be an apology for the gospel. Lay not the sins of gospel times to the gospel's charge, since men are not wicked because the gospel is so much preach- ed, but because it is no more than preached, not lived and practised also. Obs. 2. The dispensation of the covenant of grace is now unalterable. In former times it has appeared under several dresses and forms ; but now in the last times we must look for no renovation or change thereof. The present administration of the covenant goes next to the end of the world, and shall be closed up of the last day. 06.?. 3. God is' abundant in the discovery and dis- pensing his grace even in times wherein men pro- fanely abuse it : the gospel is in the last times most liberally afforded, though most ungratefully neg- lected and abused. 06s. 4. Of all times, the last require most care in our carriage. They who live in them enjoy the helps and advantages of the former. Jesus Christ is most clearly discovered. We should do our work better Jl by sun-light, than others have by twilight, else it ^| will be our inexcusable shame. We should imitate God : as his last works, his works in the last times, are his best ; so should ours be, the best of our lives should be in the bottom of time : nay, herein our very adversary should teach us ; if his rage against God increases because his time of doing hurt is short, should not our zeal increase because the time of our doing good is short ? Besides, in the last times we have greatest temptations, most examples of sin : when the times are worst, we should be best; and if we cannot make the times good, they should not make us bad. In dirty ways we should tuck up our garments, we should keep ourselves from this un- toward generation, and "shine as lights in a crooked and perverse nation," and give God's glory repara- tions for all it suflTers from the wicked. 06s. 5. The people of God should bear and for- bear. (L) Bear their crosses : these are the last times, the end of time is approaching, and with time all their troubles shall end. " Be patient," saith James, " for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh," and " the Judge standeth at the door." And Heb. x. 37, " Yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry." And 1 Pet. i. 6, " Now for a season ye are in heaviness." The elect, which cry day and night to him, shall be avenged speedily, Luke xviii. 7, 8. And, " Our light affliction is but for a moment," 2 Cor. iv. 17. We count a moment a thousand years, but in Scripture computation a thou- sand years are but a moment. Nothing should be great to him to whom is known the greatness of eter- nity. He who keeps a city for his prince, though it be straitly besieged, will hold out, if relief be ap- proaching. Our relief, redemption from all troubles, draws nigh : oh how great a shame and vexation will it afterward be to deliver up ourselves by impatience to apostacy, since our relief is within the sight of the besieged, we being in the last times ! I Cor. vii. 29 — 31 . (2.) Forbear, use comforts moderately : " Let your moderation be known : the Lord is at hand," Phil. iv. 5. A tenant being in the last year of his house, builds not, plants not. He is a madman who sets up a stately fabric upon that ground which is troubled with earthquakes, and sure shortly to sink. " Lay up treasures in heaven ;" labour for " everlasting habitations," " a city that hath foundations." Be- cause " the time is short," they that marry should be as if they married not, &c., " they that buy, as if they possessed not," &c. ; " for the fashion of this world Ver. 18. THE EPISTLE OF JUDE. 329 passeth away." " Love not the world," I John ii. 15 ; it " passeth away," ver. 17. Use perishing com- forts with perishing affections ; love them as always about to leave them. Thus of the first part, in the testimony itself, viz. the time when these seducers were to appear ; " the last time." 2. Their qualities, which are here said to be two. First, mocking. Secondly, walking after their lusts. The first is set forth in this word " mockers." Two things I shall here briefly show by way of explication. 1. What we are to understand by " mockers." 2. How great the sin is, to be " mockers." 1. What we are to understand bv l!il'^:l"'ik" "mockers." The word e^Tracerni properly propri,-. msiar signifies such who deride and mock at tr'aciare,'?''rti'ii- Others, as if they were but foolish and Ge7h.^'narm!"de silly children; or such who scorn or Passiooe, pag. scoff at any thing, as if it were but million. foolish and childish. And to this sig- nification of the word agree those expressions where- by mocking is shown ; as sometimes by, (1 .) Scornful and contemptuous speeches : thus Joseph's brethren called him the " dreamer;" Elijah was called " bald- head ;" Christ " the King of the Jews," Mrar^'ifo' ai ^'^- C^.) Deriding and scornful gestures, simtJip nasuni as fleering with the nose, making of NMo'suspenciit mouths, nodding of the head, Psal. xxii. ttrm"^°i "'''•''' 7, making a wide mouth, putting out of the tongue, Isa. Ivii. 4, and shooting out the lip, Prov. xvi. 30 ; Psal. xxii. 7 ; putting out of the finger, Isa. Iviii. 9 ; clapping of the hands, Lnm. ii. 15. (3.) Scornful and abusive dealings : thus Christ was crowned with thorns, clad in pur- jilc, a reed was put into his hand, he was spit upon, &c. But that we may understand what the apostle here means by mockers, we must consider this malicious and contemptuous derision or mocking in his objects, against which it is committed. It is expressed either against man, or God himself. (I.) Against man; and that for several causes. As, [1.] For his country. So some interpret that pas- sage, Ezek. xxxvi. 6, where God tells the Israelites that they " have borne the shame of the heathen ;" and that they should not " bear the reproach of the people any more," ver. 15. It seems that the hea- then objected to the Jews the frequent sterilities and famines of their land, or the destructions and captivities which for their sins they had endured. Julian the apostate called Christ, by way of con- tempt, the Galilean ; and, to some, it seems a con- temptuous proverb, " Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth ?" John i. 46. [2.] For his poverty and meanness. Christ in and for his sufferings was mocked, Matt. xx. 19 ; xxvii. 29, 31. Thus Tobiah mocked the poor Jews when building, saying, " If a fox go up, he shall even break down their stone wall," Neh. iv. 3. And thus Solomon tells us, that he " who mocketh the poor reproacheth his Maker," Prov. xvii. 5. The con- tempts of this nature reflect upon God himself, who, when " the rich and poor meet together, is the maker of them both," Prov. xxii. 2. [3.] For his deformity, or any infirmity of body. And so they mocked Elisha, when they said, " Go up, thou bald-head," 2 Kings ii. 23. Thus men are mocked for their low stature, their black and un- beautiful complexion, their weakness, &c. [4.] For his religion or godliness. The godly suf- fered " crael mockings," Heb. xi. 36. Thus Michal mocked David for dancing before the ark, 2 Sam. vi. 20. Thus Festus tells Paul that too much learning had made him mad. Acts xxvi. 24. This sort of mocking was that which the Babylonians expressed against the Jews in their captivity : Let us hear your Hebrew songs, Psal. cxxxvii. 3. Such, some conceive, was Ishmael's mocking of Isaac, Gen. xxi. 9. And this was that derision expressed against those who had received the gifts of the Holy Ghost, profane scoffers saying that they were drunk with new wine, Acts ii. 13. David was " the song of the drunkards," Psal. Ixix. 12. " I and the children whom the Lord hath given me are for signs and wonders," Isa. viii. 18. [5.] For his ofiice and employment. And thus they asked Jehu wherefore that mad fellow, meaning the prophet, came to him, 2 Kings ix. 11. (2.) Mocking (with highest impiety) is expressed against God himself; and that sometimes as in re- spect of his works of judgment, so oftenest of his word ; as either commanding, reprehending, or threat- ening. Thus when Christ had preached against covetousness, the Pharisees, who were covetous, de- rided him. Thus when the Lord called the secure scomers " to weeping and mourning, to baldness and girding with sackcloth; there was joy and gladness, slaying of oxen and killing of sheep, eating flesh and drinking wine," &c., Isa. xxii. 12, 13. When Hezekiah's posts went with letters to stir up Israel to celebrate the passover at Jerusalem, they were mock- ed, 2 Chron. xxx. 10. Sad is the complaint of Jere- miah, chap. XX. 7, 8, " I am in derision daily, every one mocketh me," &c., " the word of the Lord is made a reproach unto me, and a derision, daily." And in 2 Chron. xxxvi. 16, " They mocked the messengers of the Lord, and despised his words," &c. When Paul discoursed " of the resurrection, some mocked," Acts xvii. 32 ; and of this mocking at God's word our apostle accuses these seducers, I conceive, in this place. I doubt not but they mocked at dominions and dignities, at the holiness and godly strictness of these Christians, as at a needless and vain severity; but here Jude seems to run parallel with Peter, who tells us that the mockers of the last times showed themselves such, by deriding at the promise of Christ's coming, asking, " Where is the promise of his coming ? for since the fathers fell asleep all things continue as they were," &c., 2 Pet. iii. 4. These sensual atheists then turning the grace of God into wanton- ness, and giving over themselves to following their lusts, securely derided and scoffed at any directions to holiness, or denunciations of judgments, which opposed them in their ungodly courses, as vain and contemptible fables. 2. The great sinfulness of mocking. (1.) It is a sin of unspeakable profaneness, very heinous in respect of the glorious excellency of that God whom we mock. It is a great offence to mock man, a weak worm, a king, our parents ; but to mock the great God is a surpassing wickedness. AVhat does the profane mocker, but, according to the mean- ing of his name, carry himself toward God as if all his power, justice, threatenings, commands, ordi- nances were childish toys ? (2.) In respect of that gross unbelief which is in it. Men are therefore mockers because they are un- believers ; threatenings, commands, promises, are therefore derided because they are distrusted. " Where is the promise," said these mockers, " of his coming?" 2 Pet. iii. 4 ; all which the God of truth saith is ac- counted but a notion, a fable. (3.) It argues the greatest contempt of God's long- suffering and forbearance. That goodness of God which should lead to repentance, is to scorners a pil- low of security ; and what greater disingenuousness, tlian to make God a sufferer because he makes not us 330 AN EXPOSITION UPON \En. 18. to suffer, and to strike him because he strikes not us, to fight against him witli liis own weapons ! (4.) It makes all the means of grace ineffectual. Scomers will not be bettered : Rebuke a scomer, and he will hate thee, Prov. ix. 7, 8. The strength of this sin makes all the helps of holiness to be but weak ; they all slide off as water from an oiled post. A scorner is (as it were) a brazen wall, which beats back all the arrows of reprehension. Mocking argues obduratencss in sin; it extinguishes light natural, and opposes light spiritual. The admonishing of a scorner is the holding of a looking-glass before a blind man, who indeed by his breath may blemish the glass, but cannot behold himself. (5.) It notes progressiveness in sin, and arriving even at the top of impiety: the beginnings of sin arc modest. It is bad to sin, as at the first sinners do, though with blushing and concealment ; but after- ward by continuing in sin, not only to grow insensi- ble of it, to proclaim it, to maintain it, but to scorn all reproofs and threatenings against it ; this shows a sinner is higher by the head and shoulders in sin than other men, and one who is gone so far in un- godliness that he seldom turns. The LXX. express the Hebrew word which signifies a scorner by the ■word diciXaaroc, Prov. xx. 1, which signifies incor- rigible, that which cannot be tamed, because there is no hope of a scorner. Commonly mockers are either idolatrous or profane. The little children who mocked Elisha, and called him bald-head, came out of that idolatrous city where .leroboara had set up his calf; and idolatrous Jeroboam and his courtiers were great scomers, Hos. vii. 5 ; probably they scoffed at those who would not yield to that idolatrous worship that Jeroboam had set up. Oft also profaneness and sensuality causes mocking. When the king was sick with wine, " he stretched out his hand with scomers," Hos. vii. 5. When wicked men are most pampered, they scoff most at piety. Religion makes them sport at their feasts ; " mockers in feasts," Psal. XXXV. 16. (6.) Scomers are the greatest instruments of Sa- tan ; the main promoters of his cause, and advancers of his kingdom. The Hebrew word scorners, ac- cording to the LXX. is expressed by the word Xoi^iuv, Psal. i. I, which signifieth plagues, in the chair of plagues, because scorners are plagues to the place where they live, and infect many. Scorners are they who sit in the chair, and are the doctors of imjiiety, and the antesigjiani and ringleaders of all mischief. They are the spokesmen and proctors of Satan. Nor do any bring such instruments of cruelty to wound religion and religious ones as do scoffers. Mocking is called a persecution, Gal. iv. 29; and mockings are called " cruel mockings," Heb. xi. 36. By no de- vices does Satan so much dishearten men from re- ligion, and affiict for religion, as by this. By no means has he more instmcted those who would be bad, and discouraged others from being good. Obs. 1. Great is the patience and forbearance of God. None but a God would spare those impudent and bitter scoffers, which he is so able to punish. Men are under nothing so impatient as under scoffs and derisions. How full of vexation are they, when either they have not wit enough to return scoff for scoff, or strength enough to return stripes and blows for scoffs ! But God is as full of patience to endure scoffers, as of power to confound them. Surely, God as truly shows himself a God by sparing as by pun- ishing these his enemies. Obs. 2. How just will the confusion of scorners be ! Nothing is more suitable and deserved than for the impudent in sin to be dashed out of countenance, to be beaten with their own weapon. The Lord " scorn- Fox, Martyroiog, eth the scorners," Prov. iii. 34. He will mock at the calamities of those when they come, who mocked at God before they came, Prov. i. 26. None was a more bitter scoffer at the godly than that cruel Doc- tor Story, who, when the meek and lamb-like martyr, blessed Mr. Denly, was singing a psalm at the stake, wounded his face by throwing a faggot at it, adding this bitter and profane scotT, That he had spoiled a good old song : but never was mocker so handsomely mocked, for ui Queen Elizabeth's times, he being beyond sea, au- thorized to go on ship-board to search out the hereti- cal books, (as they called them,) which he hoped to find in the ship of an English merchant, and going down into lower parts thereof to ransack it for that purjiose, the hatches were presently clapped down upon him, the sails hoisted up, he brought into England, and deservedly for treason executed at Tyburn. Obs. 3. It is our duty patiently to carry ourselves under mockings. It has been the lot of the saints in all ages to meet with them : " Thou makest us a by-word among the heathen," Psal. xliv. 14. " We ! are become a reproach and derision to them that are round about us," Psal. Ixxix. 4. And, " I became a reproach," saith David, " to them : when they looked upon me, they shaked their heads," Psal. cix. 25. Tertullian tells us that the Christians in his time were mocked for ignorance. The heathens painted the God of the Christians with an ass's head, and a book in his hand, to signify that though they pre- tended learning, yet they were silly and unlearned , Eeople. Such who kept the sabbath were said to j ave a disease upon them, on account of which they were fain to rest once in the week. Athanasius was called Sathanasius, for being an adversary to the Arians. Cyprian was abused by the name of Co- prian, one that gathers up dung. But why speak I of the mockings which befell Christians ; they were the portion of Christ himself. Our Head was crowned with these thorns ; they spit in his face, gave him a reed for a sceptre, bowed before him ; though he was despised, yet he endured the shame, Heb. xii. 2. If mocking were the diet drink of Christ, should not we patiently taste now and then a drop thereof? yea, none can bear so much contempt as God doth daily. Besides, by impatience under scoffs we hurt ourselves more than scoffers can. If we would not vex and disturb our own souls by impatience, our enemies could not hurt us by reproaches ; and, indeed, this self-disquieting is the only way to gratify our ene- mies, whose alone aim by mocking is to trouble and disturb us. And by fretfulncss and rage we are liable to discover as much evil as our enemies can discover by all their scoffs ; and though we are un- justly reproached, yet we may discover so much folly and passion as to be a just cause of reproach. We live among reproachers and scoffers, and without pa- tience we shall never have comfortable lives, but the comfort and quiet of our lives will ever lie at the mercy of others. The greatest evil of reproach is from him that receives it. As it is with meat, so it is with mockings. It is not the goodness and sweet- ness of meat in itself that makes it good and sweet to me, but it is to me as my stomach and body are affected ; and scoffs and reproaches are not evils as they come from him that casts them upon us, but the greatest part of the evil of reproaches comes from the affection of the receiver. Further, remember there is more honour in bearing scoffs patiently, than there is disgrace in having them cast upon us wrong- fully. Every fool can cast a reproach, but only the wise man can bear it well. Chrysostom tells us that the reproacher is below a man, but the patient under Ver. 13. THE EPISTLE OF JUDE. 331 reproach is equal to an angel. Consider, likewise, that God takes the care of our names as well as of our souls. When David's enemies spake mischievous things against him, he tells us, Psal. xxxviii. 12, 13, that he heard not; but, ver. 15, he saith that God hears. The less we hear, the more God will hear. They who mock here, shall be mocked hereafter; and they who are here mocked, shall then be honour- ed. And how countervailing a mercy is it to be de- livered from eternal reproach ! Meditate also how much contempt and mocking many justly suffer for their sins. Many care not how much shame they endure in the serrice of a base lust. Who are so basely looked upon as the drunkards, covetous ? and yet they go on, and bless themselves, notwithstanding their reproach. What cause have we then to go on in the ways of God, though all the vrorld mock us ! Consider also what honour God has put upon thee for the present. He has, if thou art godly, brought thee to the honourable estate of sonship, and put his glory upon thy soul, and honoured thee by that near relation thou hast to Christ. How base was Ha- inan's spirit, who being so honoured by the king, was so vexed because Mordecai would not bow to him ! And truly it is a sinful baseness in saints, that ■when God has raised them to such glory as to be members of and co-heirs with his Son, and provided for them the glory of heaven ; yet for all this, when they have but a mock from men, to be so discouraged and cast down, as if all the honour that God had put upon them were nothing. Think likewise how much religion has been scoffed at for your sake ; and is it so great a matter for you to be mocked for religion ? Chrysostom saith, that when for us our Lord is blas- phemed, it is worse than if we perished. Consider also the goodness of God in keeping in those many secret wickednesses of thy heart from appearing, which, had they been suffered by God to break forth, would have been matter enough of scorn and reproach, whereas now the enemies are fain to watch and pry for some occasion, and yet can hardly find any. Re- member also that there is more danger in being hon- oured than contemned by men. Luther said his greatest fear was the praise of men, and that reproach was his joy, and that he would not have the glory and fame of Erasmus. Lastly, The bearing of scoffs patiently is a great help to our progress in godliness. As they who have overcome the evil of shame in a way of sin grow hardened in sin ; so they who re- gard no reproach cast upon them for holiness will steadily proceed therein. And that we may bear the most cruel mockings patiently, (I.) Labour to get good by them. If thou seest another so vigilant to find thee out to reproach thee, how vigilant shouldst thou be over thyself to find out what is in thee to humble thee! Herein, as David speaks, be "wiser than thine enemies," Psal. £xix. 98; and the less credit thou hast in the world, labour for the more in heaven. (2.) Persuade thy soul of the reality of the honour that is in the ways of God : consider thy honour here is real, true, and hereafter it shall be \'isible to all. (3.) Pity your reproachers; be trou- bled for their sin instead of thine own disgrace. (4.) Spread thy condition before the Lord w-hen thou art mocked, Psal. cix. 4 : prayer was David's best medicine against mocks, Psal. Ivii. 2, 3. (5.) La- bour for holy magnanimity and greatness of spirit. Great men think themselves above reproaches ; ex- ercise thy soul with the great things of eternity. It is a weak-spirited man who cannot endure contempt. St. John's spirit was so holily high, that he calls all the malicious words of Diotrephes but trifling, <(,\vapMv, 3 John 10. (fi.) Return not tcofffor scoff; for hereby, as you will harden scoffers in their sin, who will think they do not worse than you, and show that you think there is a greater evil in suffering than sinning ; so you are put to base shifts, as if you thought that you had no other remedy for an ill name but an ill tongue ; and you deprive yourselves of relief from God: and ever remember that he who is willingly overcome in the fight of scoffing is ever the better man. (7.) Keep con- science quiet; let not thy heart reproach thee, Job xxvii. 6. Winds move not the earth unless they get w-ithin it : be careful of what you do, and then you need not care what men say. Obs. 4. It is our duty to shun the sin of scoffing, especially at the people, word, and w'ays of God. To this end, (1.) See the beauty and excellency of them. Men deride that which they account base and contempt- ible. Let not worldly bravery dazzle your eyes. Study the glory of holiness, the comeliness and rationality of every way of God. Learning and religion meet with no other mockers but the ignorant. (2.) Consider Satan's end in stirring up mockers against the ways and people of God : the devil knows there is no such likely way to darken religion, and to damp the hearts of people from embracing it, as by these ; and therefore it is observable, that Julian, one of the subtlest enemies that ever the cause of God had, would not oppose religion by open persecution, but sought all means to cast contempt upon it by jeers and scoffs, and hereby he drew off multitudes from it. (3.) Labour for faith in threatenings : faith fears a threatened evil as much as sense mourns under an inflicted evil : faith takes into its vast comprehension the threatenings of judgments as well as the promises of mercies ; and causes holy fear in respect of the for- mer, as it quells unholy fear in respect of the latter. (4.) Study the end of God's forbearance. It is not that thou shouldst mock at God, but repent of sin. Scoffers turn the motive to repentance into an en- couragement of rebellion. God is not long-suffering, that the wicked should be securely sinning. How unavoidable is his destruction who is ruined by the means of recovery ! 2 Chron. xxv. 16; xsxvi. 16. (5.) Study the vanity of all earthly refuges. Judg- ment will throw them all down ; the overflowing scourge will break down these weak banks, nor will any fancied defences appear any other than paper towers when wrath approaches. " Can thy heart en- dure, or thy hands be strong," saith God, " in the day when I shall deal with thee ?" Ezek. xxii. 24. It is not so easy to resist judgments when they come, as it is to scoff at them before they come. Scoffers, when vengeance meets them, will be found to be but like cowardly soldiers, who though they vaunt, and boast, and swagger before the enemy comes, will run away as soon as they see him come. Obs. 5. It is our duty to take heed that mockers at our holiness hinder us not in the ways of holiness. Though the clouds darken the light of the sun, yet the sun ceases not its course. Was there ever such a fool as to be scoffed out of his inheritance ? and yet it is a greater folly to be scoffed out of holiness : this will make us a reproach before God, angels, and saints, yea, and before our very enemies, who will, when they have got their will of us, the more vilify and contemn us ; whereas, if we persist in holiness, they inwardly admire us. They who sought by scoff"- ing to hinder Nehemiah's work, would have mocked him much more, had they caused him to give over He that will not suffer scoffers for God's name, shall deservedly suffer it for his own sin. The second property of these seducers was then walking " after their own ungodly lusts," of which J have spoken largely before, ver. 16. 332 AN EXPOSITION UPON Veh. 19. The fifth and last particular in this first direction, viz. the remembering the words of the apostles, is the application of their testimony to these seducers, ver. 19, in these words, " These are they who separate themselves, sensual, having not the Spirit." In which words the apostle shows that these who sepa- rate themselves from the church were scorners, and that these who were sensual and void of the Spirit followed their ungodly lusts. Or in the words Jude expresses, 1. The sin of these seducers in separating themselves. 2. The cause thereof, which was, (I.) Their being sensual ; and, (2.) Their not having the Spirit. For the first, their separation. Two things are here to be opened. 1. What the apostle intends by separating them- selves. 2. Wherein the sinfulness thereof consists. 1. What the apostle intends by separ- pa™"s".'fhkiVr"- ating themselves. The words are ajro- minanits, exter- ^,opilovTtc iavTovc. The word avohopi- KovTtQ, several ways rendered by several interpreters, may signify the unbounding of a thing, and the removing it from those bounds and limits w'herein it was set and placed ; for the words 6pi?w and diDpaCui signify to terminate or circumscribe a thing within limits and bounds, and ?i™ Vi'l f/K"''" *lie preposition avrb added to it may qiieniiy taken in import the taking away or exempting a cripiure. thing from those bounds and limits wherein it was contained ; and this interpretation of making themselves boundless, as being a generation of liberlines that would be kept within no bounds or compass of restraint by Scripture, magistrates, church discipline, &c., agrees both with the word a-n-odiopiZovTie, and also the whole series of the Epistle and context, in which the apostle immediately be- fore saith they walked after their own lusts, and immediately after saith they were sensual, given over to sensual pleasures. These seducers were sons of Belial, without a yoke, like yokeless heifers. Scope and liberty were their study. They would needs make the way to heaven, as he who went over a nar- row bridge with spectacles before his eyes desired to make the bridge, seem broader than it was. This interpretation I dare not reject, I desire to present it to the learned ; but though upon my maturest thoughts I much incline to it, yet seeing the stream of inter- preters going another way, I shall not refuse the second, according to which the word cnroSiopiZovTig imports the parting and separating of one thing from another by bounds and limits put between them, and the putting of bounds and limits for distinction and separation betw^een several things, a resemblance taken from fields or countries which are distinguish- ed and parted from each other by certain boundaries and landmarks set up to that end ; and thus it is commonly taken by interpreters in this place, where- in these seducers may be said to separate themselves, divide or bound themselves from others, either first, doctrinally ; or secondly, practically. (1.) Doctrinally, by false and heretical doctrines, whereby they divided themselves from the true and faithful, who were guided by the trulh of the Scrip- ture, and walked according to the rule of the word ; hence these seducers were deceiving and deceived, and brought in damnable heresies, and many follow- ed their pernicious ways, 2 Pet. ii. 2 ; and they spake perverse things to draw away disciples after them. And thus they separated themselves from the church, [1.] By holding that the grace of God gave men liberty to live as they pleased, and by maintaining unchristian libertinism, because Christ had purchased Christian liberty for us ; whereas the word teaches the contrary, namely because the grace of God hath appeared, therefore that we should deny ungodliness and worldly lust, Tit. ii. 11, 12. [2.] By teaching that among the people of God there ought to be no civil magistrate, no superiority, nor any to restrain and hinder people from going on in what ways they pleased ; whereas the word com- mands every soul to be subject. [3.] By denying the day of judgment, at which they scoffed as at a vain scarecrow, because it was deferred ; whereas the faithful were to account the long-suffering of the Lord salvation, 2 Pet. iii. 15, to labour to be made meet for the approach of Christ, and to look for the mercy of the Lord to eternal life. (2.) Practically, they might separate themselves as by bounds and limits. [1.] By profaneness, and living in a different way from the saints, namely, in all looseness and unclean- ness ; for as the faithful separate and difference themselves from the wicked by their holy and heaven- ly conversation, so the wicked divide themselves from the faithful by profaneness, and falling from the pro- fession of godliness into all manner of looseness and irregularity ; and thus the ungodly make such bounds between themselves and saints as saints dare not break over, ungodliness being too high a wall for a godly man to scale, or rather too deep a moat for him to swim over and wade through. [2.] By schismaticalness, and making of separation from and divisions in the church. Because they proudly despised the doctrines or persons of the Christians as contemptible and unworthy, or be- cause they would not endure the holy severity of the church's discipline, they, 1:1^^1^'^™'™!!!!' saith Calvin, departed from it. They j''„''JS^'%V«"t might make rents and divisions in the quiunt. Calv. church by schismatical withdrawing '" "'^' themselves from fellowship and communion with it. Their heresies were perverse and damnable opinions, their schism was a perverse separation from church communion ; the former was in doctrinals, the latter in practicals. The former was opposite to faith, this latter to charity. By faith all the mem- „ , . .. , .. bers are united to the Head, by chanty non diversa fides, one to another; and as the breaking of f|'js™°'S'^"Ss! the former is heresy, so their breaking Aug. conir. of the latter was schism. And this '"""' ""''^' ' schism stands in dissolving the spiritual band of love and union among Christians, and appears in with- drawing from the performance of those duties which are both the signs of and helps to Christian unify; as prayer, hearing, receiving of sacraments, &c. For because the dissolving of Christian union chiefly appears in the undue separation from church com- munion, therefore this rending is rightly called schism. It is usually said to be twofold, negative and positive. The first, the negative, is scSwte! when there is only simplex secesiio, when there is only a bare secession, a peaceable and quiet withdrawing from communion with a church without making head against that church from which they depart. 2. The other, the positive, is when per- sons so withdrawing consociate and draw themselves into a distinct and opposite body, setting up a church against a church, or, as divines express it, from Augustine, an altar against an altar; and this it is which in a peculiar manner, and by way of eminency, is called by the name of schism, and becomes sinful either in respect of the groundlessness, or the man ner thereof. 1. The groundlessness, when there is no casting of persons out of the church by an unjust censure of excommunication, no departure by unsuf- ferable persecution, no heresy nor idolatry in the church maintained, no necessity, if communion be held with a church, of cohimunicating in its sins and Ver. 19. THE EPISTLE OF JUDE. 333 corruptions. 2. The manner of separation makes it unlawful, when it is made without due endeavour and waiting for reformation of the church from which the departure is ; and such a rash departure is against charity, which suffers both much and long, 1 Cor. xiii. 4, all tolerable things. It is not presently distasted; when the most just occasion is given, it first uses all possible means of remedy. The surgeon reserves dismembering as the last remedy. It looks upon a sudden breaking off from communion with a church, which is a dismembering, not as surgery, but butchery; not as medicinal, but cruel. 2. The sinfulness of this separation. Not to speak of the sinfulness of separation by heresies and pro- faneness, having shown it at large before, but briefly Sunt qui recca- t° manifest the sinfulness of schismati- tiim schismaiis cal Separation. I shall not spend time adarqutnt peccato ^ * -, •,, i ,t i Pieresis; sunt qui to comparc it witii licrcsy, though some !ito'eoe"errnt^ havc Said that schism is the greater sin Migr Inc. Com. of the two. Augustine tells the Dona- Cont. Don'at. lib', tists, that schism was a greater sin than a. cap. 6. t;i^jj(. Qj- jjjg Traditores, who in time of persecution, through fear, delivered up their Bibles to the persecutors to be burnt ; a sin at which the Dona- tists took so much offence, that it was the ground of their separation. But to pass by these things : by these three considerations especially the sinfulness of schism shows itself. In respect of Christ, the parties separating, and those from whom they separate. 1. In respect of Christ. (I.) It is a horrible indigni- ty offered to his body, dividing Christ, as the apostle speaks, 1 Cor. i. 13, and makes him appear as the head of two bodies : how monstrous and dishonour- able is the very conceit hereof! (2.) It is rebellion against his command, his great command of love. The grace of love is by some call- ed the queen of graces ; and it is greater than faith in respect of its object, not God only, but man ; its duration, which is eternal ; its manner of working, not in a way of receiving Christ, as faith, but of giving out the soul to him ; and the command of love is the greatest command in respect of its comprehensive- ness, taking in all the commandments, the end of them all being love, and it being the fultilling of them all, Eph. iv. 3 ; Phil. ii. 2 ; John xiii. 34. (3.) It is opposite to one great end of Christ's greatest undertaking, his death, which was that his saints should be one, John xvii. 21 — 23. (4.) It tends to frustrate his prayer for unity among saints, John xvii., and endeavours that Christ may not be heard by his Father. (5.) It opposes his example : " By this shall all men," saith he, " know that ye are my disciples, if ye love one another." Love is the livery and cognizance which Christ gives to every Christian. If there be no fellowship among Christians, there is no follow- ing of Christ. " Let this mind be in you which was in Christ Jesus," Phil. ii. 5. (6.) It is injurious to his service and worship. How can men pray, if in wrath and division ? How- can Christians fight with heaven, and prevail, when they are in so many divided troops ? What worthi- ness can be in those communicants who celebrate a feast of love with hearts full of rancour and malice ? 2. In respect of the parties separating. For, (I.) It causes a decay of all grace. By divisions among ourselves we endeavour to divide ourselves from Him, in and from whom is all our fulness. All Nullum schisma wickcducss follows contention. Upon nun sibi aiiquHui fhe stock of schism commonly heresy confingitlia;resim, . f. , mi . , . • . r utrecie ab eciie- IS grafted. Ifiere is no schism, saith Mur'"nieTom'."" Jerom, but ordinarily it invents and ■?'!''<• produces some heresy, that the separa- tion may seem the more justifiable. The Novatians and Donatists from schism fell to heresies : our own times sadly comment upon this truth, equally arising to both. The farther lines are distanced one from another, the greater is their distance from the centre ; and the more divided Christians are among them- selves, the more they divide themselves from Christ. Branches divided from the tree receive no sap from the root. The soul gives life to members which are joined together, not plucked asunder. (2.) Schism is the greatest disgrace to the schis- matics. A schismatic is a name much disowned, be- cause very dishonourable. All posterity loads the name of sinful separatists with disgrace and abhor- rence. He spake truly, who said, The sin and misery of schism cannot be blotted out with the blood of martyrdom. He cannot honourably give his life for Christ who makes divisions in his church, for which Christ gave his life. 3. In respect of the church from which this se- paration is made; for, (I.) It is injurious to the honour of the church, whose greatest glory is union, Cant. vi. 9. How can a body be rent and torn with- out impairing its beauty ? Besides, how disgraceful an imputation is cast upon any church, when we profess it unworthy for any to abide in it, that Christ will not, and therefore that we cannot, have com- munion with it ! (2.) It is injurious to the peace and quietness of the church. Schismatics more oppose the peace of the church than do heathens. If the natural body be divided and torn, pain and smart must needs fol- low. The tearing and rending of the mystical body goes to the heart of all sensible members. They often cause the feverish distempers of hatred, wrath, seditions, envyings, murders. Schism in the church puts the members out of joint, and disjointed bones are painful. " All my bones," saith David, "are out of joint." Church divisions cause sad thoughts of heart : true members are sensible of these scliisms, though artificial ones feel nothing. None rejoice but ourenemies. Oh impietyl to make Satan music, and to make mourning for the saints ! (3.) It is opposite to the edification of the church. Division of tongues hindered the building of Babel, and doubtless division in hearts, tongues, hands, heads, must needs hinder the building of Jerusalem: while parties are contending, churches and common- wealths suffer. In troublous times the walls and tem- ple of Jerusalem went but slowly on. Though Jesus Christ, the Head, be the only fountain of spiritual life, yet the usual way of Christ's strengthening and perfecting it is the fellowship of the body, that by what every joint supplies the whole may be increas- ed : when church members are put out of joint, they are made unserviceable, and unfit to perform their several offices. They who were wont to join in prayer, sacraments, fasting, and were ready to all mutual offices of love, are now fallen off from all. (4.) It is opposite to the future estate of the church in glory. In heaven the faithful shall be of one mind. AVe shall all meet, saith the apostle, " in the unity of the faith," Eph. iv. 13, when we are come to our manly age. Wrangling is the work of childhood and folly, and a great piece of the folly of our child- hood. Luther and Calvin are of one mind in heaven, though their disciples wrangle here on earth. Obs. I. Naturally men love to be boundless; they will not be kept witliin any spiritual compass, nor endure to be held in any bounds. This, according to one signification of the word aTrohopi^oi'Ttg, the apostle Jude aims at in this place. Wicked men are sons of Belial ; they cannot endure the yoke of Christ, though it be sweet and easy. They break his bondi 334 AN EXPOSITION UPON Ver. 19. asunder, and cast away his cords from them, Psah ii. 3. Men love to have liberty to damn their own souls. They backslide like " a backsliding heifer," Hos. iv. 16. Though men account it no unwelcome straitening to them to have a fence between them and their bodily enemies, yet they cannot endure those limits and bounds of God's law or corrections which stop them from sin ; their fear of hurt makes them love preservation, their love of pleasure makes them desirous of sinful liberty. How good a sign of a gracious heart is it, rather to desire to be in Christ's enclosure than in Satan's champaign ! to account Christ's service our liberty, and Satan's liberty our bondage! How just also is God in suffering sinners to take their course and swing in the ways of sin and destruction ! They who will not be kept within God's compass, are deservedly left to Satan's disposal. The.y who are backsliding heifers, who will not endure the yoke, are justly threatened to be suffered to be as a lamb in a large place, without a keeper or preserver. They shall have their fill of liberty ; but their liberty is like that of the deer, which, though it were gotten out of the park-pale, yet it was at the cruel courtesy of the hounds. On the contrary, God is very gracious in stopping up his church's way, though with a " thorny hedge," Hos. ii. 6. O happy thorns, that stop us in our ways to hell ! Such thorns are better than roses. The setting up of the thorny hedge is a promise, a branch of the covenant. 04*. 2. Our separation from Rome cannot be charged with schism. This will evidently appear, if we consider cither the ground or the manner of our separation. (1.) For the ground and cause thereof. Our separ- ation from Rome was not for some slight and toler- able errors, but damnable heresies and gross idolatries. The heresies fundamental, and idolatries such as those who hold communion with her cannot but par- fake of. In respect of both which the church of Rome was first apostatized before ever we separated; nor was there any separation from it as it had any thing of Christ, or as it was Christian, but as it was Roman and popish. The apostacy of the Roman church, which was the ground of our separation, ap- peared sundry ways. [1.] In that she thrust the Lord Jesus, the great and only Teacher of the church, out of the chair, and in it placed the pope as the in- fallible doctor of the church, to whom she ties her belief, and subjects her faith, though he always may, and oft does, rise up against Christ himself. [2.] The Scriptures, the alone rule of faith, the Romanists slight and impiously despise, and make them an in- sufficient rule of faith, by joining their over-fond and false traditions to if, by preferring a vicious and bar- barous interpretation before the sacred originals, by making the Holy Scriptures to have neither life, nor soul, nor voice, till the interpretation of the church, or rather of the pope, be added. [3.] They have de- praved the great and main article of faith concern- ing the justification of a sinner, the nature of which, though the Scripture makes to stand in the remission of sins, and the application of Christ's righteousness by faith, yet they ascribe it partly to Christ's, and partly to our own merits and righteousness, in which respect that of the apostle suits with them, " Christ is become of no effect to you who are justified by the law." [4.] Though the worshipping of the immortal and invisible God under any visible image or repre- sentation, or the likeness of a mortal creature, is fre- quently and expressly forbidden in Scripture ; yet they EcclesiiE Roma- ^'^' ^°^'^^ ^"'^ ''^^'^'"' ''^'; Worshipping of nac usiis aiiiiiitiit the Father under the image of an old i'.mSncs'.'eaq'iie ™an, the Son under the image of a piusuutu'r non lamb, and the Holy Ghost of a dove. And Cajetan confesses that they draw solyn ut osieu- these images of the Trinity, not only adoren'tur!' "in .i. to show, but to adore and worship them, '^i- 9- -5- '^i'"- 3- To these I might add their maiming, or rather mar- ring, the sacrament of the Lord's supper, their deny- ing the cup to the laity, their ascribing of remission and expiation of sin to the sacrifice of the mass, their seven sacraments, their praying to saiuts, and ascribing to the Virgin Mary the be- „ , „ , • ° J 1 1 r ■ Psalt. Rom. stowing grace and glory, pardon of sm, &c. ; their dispensations with the most hideous and hellish abominations, as murders, incest, sodomy, &c., for money. (2.) For the second, the manner of our separation. It was not uncharitable, rash, heady, and unadvised, nor before all means were used for the cure and re- formation of the Romanists, by the discovery of th.eir errors, that possibly could be devised; notwithstand- ing all which, though some have been enforced to an acknowledgment of them, they still obstinately per- sist in them. Our famous godly and learned re- formers would have healed Babylon, but she is not healed ; many skilful physicians have had her in hand, but like the woman in the gospel, she grew so much the worse. By prayer, preaching, writing, yea, by sealing their doctrine with their blood, have sun- dry eminent instruments of Christ endeavoured to reclaim the popish from their errors ; but instead of being reclaimed, they anathematized them with the most dreadful curses ; excommunicated, yea, mur- dered and destroyed multitudes of those who endea- voured their reducement, not permitting any to trade, buy, or sell, to have either religious or civil communion with them, except they received the beast's mark in their hands and foreheads. All which considered, we might safely forsake her, nay, could not safely do otherwise. Since, instead of our healing Babylon, we could not be preserved from her destroying us, we deservedly departed from her, and every one went into his own country ; and unless •we had so done, we could not have obeyed the clear precept of the word, Jer. Ii. 9. " Come out of her, my people," &c. Rev. xviii. 4. Timothy is commanded to withdraw himself from perverse and unsound teachers, 1 Tim. vi. 3, 5. Though Paul went into the synagogue, disputing and persuading the things concerning the kingdom of God ; yet " when divers were hardened and believed not, but spake evil of that way, he departed from them, and separated the disciples," Acts xix. 9. And expressly is communion with idolaters forbidden, 1 Cor. X. 14. And 2 Cor. vi. 14—17, " What fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness ? what com- munion hath light with dai-kness ? what concord hath Christ with Belial? what agreement hath the temple of God with idols ? Come out from among them, and be ye separate." And Hos. iv. 15, " Tliough thou, Israel, play the harlot, yet let not Judah oflfend ; and come ye not unto Gilgal, neither go ye up to Beth- aven." Though in name that place w'as Beth-el, the house of God; yet because Jeroboam's calf was set up there, it was indeed Beth-aven, the house of of vanity. If Rome be a Beth-aven for idolatry and corrupting of God's worship, our departure from it may be safely acknowledged and justified. In vain therefore do the Romanists, Stapleton, Sanders, and others, brand our separa- viSh^M^nar! '^° tion from them with the odious imputa- Eccies prajfat.ad tion of Donatism and schism ; it being ris^irionstrit.' ' evident out of Augustine, that the Do- {"j""^- ''''• '■'*•'=• natists never objected any thing against, nor could blame any thing in, the church from which they separated, either for faith or worship ; whereas we have unanswerably proved the pseudo-catholic Roman church to be notoriously guilty both of heresy Veb. 19. THE EPISTLE OF JUDE. 335 Bnd idolatry ; and o jr adversaries themselves grant, in ■whatever church either of those depravations are found, communion with it is to be broken off. I shall con- clude this discourse with that passage n»'ium''ahuM''bo- O"' "f Musculus conccming schism, num. Malum quo There is a double schism, the one bad, ^X.^jru'i'Iir" the other good ; the bad is that whereby Sam *'"^' "*' ^ S°°^ union, the good that whereby a bad union, is broken asunder. If ours be a schism, it is of the latter sort. Obs. 3. The voluntary and unnecessary dividing and separation from a true church is schismatical. When we put bounds and partitions between it and ourselves, we sin, say some, as did these seducers here taxed by Jude. If the church be not heretical or idolatrous, or do not by excommunication, perse- cution, &c. thrust us out of its communion ; if it be Buch a one as Christ the Head has communion with ; we the members ought not by separation to rend and divide the body. To separate from congregations where the word of truth and gospel of salvation are held forth in an ordinary way, as the proclamations of princes are held forth upon pillars to which they are affixed ; where the light of the truth is set up as upon a candlestick to guide passengers to heaven, 1 Tim. iii. 15; to separate from them to whom belong the covenants, and where the sacraments, the seals of the covenant, are for substance rightly dispensed ; where Christ walketh in the midst of his golden candle- sticks. Rev. i. 13. and discovers his presence in his ordinances, whereby they are made effectual to the conversion and edification of souls in an ordinary way; where the members are saints by a professed subjection to Christ and his gospel, and probably have promised this explicitly and openly; where- there are many who in the judgment of charity may be conceived to have the work of grace really wrought in their hearts, by walking in some measure answer- able to their profession ; I say, to separate from these, as those with whom church communion is not to be held and maintained, is unwarrantable and schismati- cal. Pretences for separation, I am not ignorant, are alleged ; frequently and most plausibly that of mixed communion, and of admitting into church fel- lowship the vile with the precious, and those who are chaff, and therefore ought not to lodge with the wheat. I answer, (I.) Not to insist upon what some have urged, viz. that this has been the stone at which most schismatics have stumbled, and the pretence W'hich they have of old alleged, as ha\nng ever had a spiriluin excommumcatorium, a spirit rather putting them upon dividing from those who they say are un- holy, than putting them upon anj' godly endeavours of making themselves holy, as is evident in the ex- amples of the Audeeans, Novatians, Donatists, Ana- baptists, Brownists, &c. (2.) Let them consider whether the want of the exact purging and reform- ing of these abuses proceed not rather from some un- happy obstructions and political restrictions, whether or no caused by those who make this objection, God knows, in the exercise of discipline, than from the allowance or neglect of the church itself. Nay, (.3.) Let them consider whether when they separate for sinful mixtures, the church be not at that very time purging out those sinful mixtures ; and is that a time to make a separation from a church by departing from it, when the servants of Christ are making a separation in that church by reforming it ? But, (4.) Let it be seriously weighed, that some sinful mixtures are not a sufficient cause of separation from a church. Has not God his church even where cor- ruption of manners has crept into it, if purity of doc- trine be maintained ? and is separation from that church lawful, from which God does not separate? Did the apostle, because of the sinful mixtures in the church of Corinth, direct the faithful to separate ? Must not he who will forbear communion with a church till it be altogether freed from mixtures, tarry till the day of judgment ? till when we have no promise that Christ will gather out of his church whatsoever doth offend. (5.) Let them consider whether God has made private Christians stewards in his house, to determine whether those with whom they communicate are fit members of the church or not ; or rather, whether it is not their duty, when they discover tares in the church, instead of separating from it, to labour that the)' may be found good corn, that so when God shall come to gather his corn into his garner, they may not be thrown out ? Church officers are ministerially trusted with the ordering of the church, and for the opening and shutting of the doors of the church's communion by the keys of doc- trine and discipline ; and herein, if they shall either be hindered or negligent, private Christians shall not be entangled in the guilt of their sin, if they be humliled, and use all lawful means for remedy, though they do communicate. (6.) Let them search whether there is any scripture warrant to break off communion with the church in the ordinances, when there is no defect in the ordinances themselves, only upon this ground, because some are admitted to them who, because of their personal miscarriages, ought to be debaiTed. The Jews of old, though they separated when the worship itself was corrupted, 2 Chron. xi. 14, 16, yet not because wicked men were suffered to be in outward communion with them, Jer. vii. 9, 10. Nor do the precepts or patterns of the Christian churches for casting out offenders give any liberty to separation, in case of failing to cast them out : and though permitting scandalous per- sons is blamed, yet not communicating with them. The command not to eat with a brother who is a for- nicator or covetous, &c., 1 Cor. v. 11 ; Rev. ii. 14, 15, 20, 24, concerns not religious, but civil communion, by a voluntary, familiar, intimate conversation, either in being invited or in inviting, as is clear by these two argimients. 1. That eating which is here forbid- den with a brother is allowed to be with a heathen ; but it is the civil eating which is only allowed to be with a heathen ; therefore it is the civil eating which is forbidden to be with a brother. 2. The eating here forbidden is for the punishment of the guilty, not for a punishment to the innocent; but if religious eating at the sacrament were forbidden, the greatest punishment would fall upon the innocent, the godly. Now though such civil eating was to be forborne, yet it follows not at all, much less much more, that religious eating is forbidden, 1. Because civil eating is arbitrary and unnecessary ; not so religious, which is enjoined, and a commanded duty. 2. There is danger of being infected by the wicked in civil, familiar, and arbitrary eatings ; not so in joining with them in a holy and commanded service and or- dinance. 3. Civil eating is done out of love either to the party inviting or invited, but religious is done out of love to Jesus Christ, were it not for wliom we would neither eat at sacrament with wicked men, nor at all. To conclude this : Separation from churches from which Christ does not separate is schismatical. Now it is clear in the Scripture that Christ owns churches where faith is found for the substance, and their wor- ship gospel worship, though there are many defects and sinful mixtures among them. And what 1 have said concerning the schism of separation because of the sinful mixtures of those who are wicked in prac- tice, is as true concerning separation from them who are erroneous in judgment, if the errors of those 336 AN EXPOSITION UPON Ver. 19. from whom the separation is made are not funda- mental, and hinder communion with Christ the Head. And much more clear, if clearer can be, is the schis- maticalncss of those who separate from and renounce all communion with those churches which are not of their own manner of constitution, and modelled ac- cording to the platform of their own particular church order. To refrain fellowship and communion w'ith such churches who profess Christ their Lord, whose faith is soimd, whose worship is gospel worship, whose lives are holy, because they come not into that particular way of church order which we have pitch- ed upon, is a schismatical rending of the church of Christ to pieces. Of this the church of Rome are most guilty, who most plainly a:ro^iopi;!i)/ iavroig, and circumscribe and bound the church of Christ within the limits and boundaries of the Roman jurisdiction, even so that they cast off all churches in the world, yea, and cut them off from all hope of salvation, who subject not themselves to their way. Herein like- wise those separatists among ourselves are heinously faulty, who censure and condemn all other churches, though their faith, worship, and conversation be never so Scriptural, merely because they are not gathered into church order according to their own patterns. In Scripture, churches are commended and dignified according as their fundamental faith was sound, and their lives holy ; not according to the re- gularity of their first manner of gathering. And not- withstanding the most exact regularity of their first gathering, when churches have once apostatized from faith and manners, Christ has withdrawn communion from them, and most severely censured them. And this making of the first gathering of people into church fellowship to be the rule to direct us with whom we may hold communion, will make us refuse some chiu'ches upon whom are seen the Scripture characters of true churches, and join with others only upon a human testimony, because men only tell us they were orderly gathered. Obs. 4. It should be our care to shun separation. To this end, (1.) Labour to be progressive in the work of mor- tification : the less carnal we are, the less contention and dividing will beamongus. "Are ye not carnal ?" saith the apostle ; and he proves it from their di- visions. Separation is usually, but very absurdly, accounted a sign of a high-grown Christian. We wrangle because we are children, and are men in malice because children in holiness : wars among ourselves proceed from the " lusts that war in our members," James iv. I. (2.) Admire no man's person. The excessive re- garding of some, makes us despise others in respect of them. When one man seems a giant, another will seem a dwarf in comparison of him. This caused the Corinthian schism. Take heed of man worship as well as image worship ; let not idolatry be changed, but abolished. Of this largely before, upon " Having men's persons in admiration." (3.) Labour for experimental benefit by the ordi- nances. Men separate to those churches which they account better, because they never found those where they were before to them good. Call not ministers good, as the young man in the gospel did Christ, complimentally only ; for if so, you will soon call them bad. Find the setting up of Christ in your hearts by the ministry, and then you will not dare to account it antichristian. If, with Jacob, we could Bay of our Beth-els, God is here ; we would set up pillars, nay, be such, for our constancy in abiding in them. (4.) Neither give nor receive scandals ; give them not to occasion others to separate, nor receive them to occasion thine own separation; watch exactly, con- strue doubtful matters charitably. Look not upon blemishes with multiplying glasses, or old men's spectacles. Hide them, though not imitate them. Sport not yourselves with others' nakedness. Turn separation yVom into lamentation for the scandalous. (5.) Be not much taken with novelties. New lights have set this church on fire ; for the most part, they are taken out of the dark lanterns of old heretics. They are false and fools' fires to lead men into the precipice of separation. Love truth in an old dress ; let not antiquity be a prejudice against, nor novelty an inducement to the entertainment of truth. (6.) Give not way to lesser diiferences. A little division will soon rise up to greater : small wedges make way for bigger. Our hearts are like tinder, a little spark will inflame them. Be jealous of your hearts when contentions begin, stifle them in the cradle. Paul and Barnabas separated about a small matter, the taking of an associate, Acts xv. 36 — 40. (7.) Beware of pride, the mother of contention and separation. Love not the pre-eminence ; rather be fit for than desirous of rule; despise not the mean- est ; say not, I have no need of thee. All schisms and heresies are mostly grafted upon the stock of pride. The first rent that was ever made in God's family was by the pride of angels, ver. 14, and that pride was nothing else but the desire of independence. (8.) Avoid self-seeking: he who seeks his own things and profit will not mind the good and peace of the church. O take heed lest thy secular interest draw thee to a new communion, and thou colour over thy departure with religion and conscience. Thus we have spoken of the first, viz. what these seducers did; "separate themselves." 2. The cause of their separation, or what they were, in these words ; " sensual, having not the Spirit." Wherein, 1. Their estate is propounded ; they were "sensual." 2. Explained ; "having not the Spirit." But, 1. In what respect were they "sensual," and " having not the Spirit." 2. Why does the apostle here represent them to be such. 1 . In what respect were they " sensual." The word ^piixiKoi, here translated sensual, cornea from 4"'X'l} aiiima, the soul ; so that if/wx'^ff signifies primarily one who has a soul. And in Scripture the word is used three ways. (I.) Sometimes it is joined with the word body, in opposition to a glorified body ; and then the body is called a natural body, that is, such a body as is informed, governed, moved by the soul ; or is subject to animal affections and operations, as generation, nutrition, augmentation, &c. ; or such a body as is sustained and upheld by the actions of the soul, as it receives from it life and vegetation; that is, by the action of the vegetative power, the chief whereof is nutrition, which cannot be without nour- ishment ; so that this natural body wants the constant help of nourishment for its preservation, in which re- spect it is distinguished from a glorified body. (2.) This word ;|;ux'«»c is in Scripture opposed to re- generate, and so imports one who has in him nothing excellent but a rational soul, who is governed only by the natural light of reason, who has in him only natural abilities and perfections. And when it is thus taken, our learned translators translate if/uxncoe by the word natural, S'.''Esi?uin'Pa-" 1 Cor. ii. 14, intending one who is reum. in i Cor. guided by natural reason, he being there Be'z^ ' '^" ' opposed to iri'di^ariKof, the spiritual man, who is endued with and guided by a Divine and super- natural illumination. (3.) It is taken for one who. Ver. 19. THE EPISTLE OF JUDE. 337 being guided by no better light than that of his own natural reason, or rather who, being altogether addicted to the service of that part which is called ■ - ^i'\'i, the soul, 1 Thess. v. 23, whereby aii.maijiajem. IS meant the sensitive and inienor part e" parte iu'penori °^ '^^ ^°"^' *^^ sensual appetite, com- •hsiii.euiiur. La- mon to man with the beasts, as distinct pidemJude. f^.^^ 7riifi>a, the Spirit, Or intellectual and rational part, follows the dictates of that his sensual appetite, and the inclinations of his sensitive soul, and his only bent and intent is upon satisfaction by worldly delights ; his study and care is for the sensitive and vegetative part, and for those things which belong to the animal and present life : and hence it is that some learned men, and amongst others Lorinus, conceive that tJjvx'koI, sensual, comes from 4"'X'i' 35 ■'r"'X^ '^ (™ Scripture) used to denote life, and the functions of life common to us with beasts. Thus Christ saith, " Take no thought for your life," rij 'pvx't, " what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink," &c. " Is not the life," r; 4'vx'i, " more than meat," Szc. ? Matt. vi. 25. And in this notion of sensualit}' Tertullian, after he began to favour Montanism, took the word i^uYiicoi, when he fastened that odious name of phi/sici upon the orthodox, be- cause they refused to condemn second marriages. And in this place likewise, with submission to more ma- ture judgments, I conceive that if-trxitoi is intended to ,, , .. denote their brutish and unruly sen- ^ ox Arabica ex- ,. _,, i » t • • ^ ponitur per sibi suality. 1 hus tile Arabic interpreter, VhvToi'KiTJo°« and (Ecumenius, with sundry others, S?uni'"*'S'""'t like'^'ise understand it. Thus likewise jusim.'etEsiius OUT learned translators thought, who in- '° '°'^- terpreted the word sensual, as conceiv- ing that Jude intended that they altogether served their sensitive and vegetative soul, and (as beasts) followed their senses, and lived in the lusts of the flesh, not according to the Spirit, prosecuting those carnal objects with all industry which tend to pre- serve their present life, and choosing rather to leave the church, than to abridge themselves of any bodily pleasures. And the apostle by this word seems to me to make their brutish sensuality and propensities to be the cause of their separation ; as if he said, They will not live under the strict discipline where they must be curbed and restrained from following their lusts ; no, these sensualists will be alone by them- selves in companies, where they may have their till of all sensual pleasures, and where they may gratify their genius to the utmost. And this exposition of rtux'Koi most aptly agrees also to that first interpreta- tion of aTTotiopilovTig, viz. such who will be boundless, and kept within no limits or compass, but like a company of beasts shut up in a field, who seeing better pasture in that on the other side of the hedge, and desirous also of more scope, break the fence, and leap over the bars, that they may both nin and raven. The more I think of anoCiopiZ,ovTiQ, the more I incline to think the apostle intends thereby to represent them boundless, extravagant libertines. The apostle represents them " having not the Spirit." The word spirit, not to speak of the many accept- ations of the word, when attributed to the creatures, to angels, the soul, &c., when attributed to God, is taken either, (1.) oi'tnwouij, essentially, and so God is called a Spirit, a spiritual essence, John iv. 24; and the Divine nature of Christ is set forth by the word Spirit, 1 Tim. iii. 16; 1 Pet. iii. 18; Heb. is. 14. Or, (2.) 'VTrotrrariViuf, personally, in which respect it notes the Third Person in the blessed Trinity : and thus it is taken, either, 1. Properly, for the Third Per- son, Matt, xxviii. 19; John i. 32; xiv. 2G ; Eph. i. 13; 1 Thess. i. 6, &e. ; or, 2. Improperly and me- tonymically, for the effects and gifts of the Holy Spirit, ordinary or extraordinary ; in which respect some are said to be anointed with the Spirit, to have the Spirit on and in them, to be filled with the Spirit, Luke ii. 25; iv. IS; Acts ii. 17. 18; Tit. iii. 6; Acts viii. 15, 16; x. 44; Luke i. 41 ; Acts iv. 8, 31 ; vi. 3, 5 ; vii. 55 ; xiii. 9, 52 ; 1 Cor. i. 4 ; 2 Cor. vi. 6; Gal. iii. 2; v. 17; and in this respect these seducers are said not to have the Spirit, viz. the saving, working, gifts, graces of the Spirit, to teach, act, and rule them, to sanctify and purify them, &c., which they wanting, it was no wonder that they were sensual and given over to the sinful prosecu- tion of all carnal delights and pleasures : not having the Spirit, they could not walk in the Spirit, Gal. v. 16, 17 ; not having the Spirit to lust in them against the flesh, they must needs be carried away with the lusts of the fiesh, as acting them without contradic- tion, Rom. viii. 1, 9. 2. Why does the apostle so represent them. The apostle seems to add this their sensuality and want of the Spirit to their separating themselves, not only to show that sensuality was the cause of their separ- ation, and the want of the Spirit the cause of both ; but as if he intended directly to thwart and cross them in their pretences of having a high and extra- ordinary measure of spiritualness above others, by their dividing themselves from others, who, as these seducers might pretend, were in so low a fonn of Christianity, and had so little spiritualness, that they were not worthy to keep them company ; whereas Jude tells these Christians that these seducers were so far from being more spiritual than others, that they were mere sensualists, and had nothing in them of the Spirit at all. For by their boundless separa- tion and sensuality, they showed that, (1.) They had not the Spirit of wisdom, discerning, and illumina- tion, to discover to them the beauty of that holiness and truth which were in the ways of the saints which they hated and forsook, and to guide and lead them to that happiness which they should look after for themselves. The Spirit is a Spirit of truth, John xiv. 17; sv. 26, of knowledge, of judgment, Isa. xi. 2 ; xxvi. 8. The Spirit guides into all truth, and is a voice which saith, " This is the way ;" whereas these seducers were led by a fool's fire into the bogs and precipices of delusion and damnation by a h-ing spirit, a spirit of error, 1 John iv. 6. (2.) They had not the Spirit of renovation to change their natures, of sanctification and holiness to mortify their lusts. The Spirit of God is a holy Spirit, Rom. i. 4; a Spirit of grace, Zech. xii. 10. " Through the Spirit we mortify the deeds of the flesh," Rom. viii. 13; whereas these impure monsters wal- lowed in all manner of sensuality and uncleanness, and showed that they were acted by an unclean, impure spirit ; that they walked not after the Spirit, but the flesh. (3.) They had not the Spirit of meekness, love, peace : these are the fruits of the Spirit, Gal. v. 22, 23. The Spirit makes us enjoy peace in ourselves, and study peace with others ; whereas these incendiaries made rents and schisms in the church of Christ ; by their divisions they showed themselves carnal. (4.) They had not the Spirit of liberty and activity in the ways of God, 2 Cor. iii. 17; they were without any quickening of the Spirit ; they were not able to do any good work, nor enlivened in any way of holi- ness ; "but slaves and prisoners, even in arcta custodia, to Satan and their own lusts ; the sen'ants of corrup- tion, though they boasted of liberty. Obs. 1. Commonly sensuality lies at the bottom of sinful separation aiid making of sects. " Separate themselves, sensual " &c. It is oft seen that they who 338 AN EXPOSITION UPON Ver. 19. divide themselves from the faithful, either in opinion or practice, aim at looseness and libertinism. Such were the Nicolaitans and the disciples of Jezebel, Kev. ii. 6, 20, who seduced the people of God to com- mit fornication. Heretics are seldom without their harlots; Simon Magus had his Helena, Montanns his Maximilla, Donatus his Lucilia, Priscillian his Galla, Pope Sergius his Marozia, Gregoiy the Seventh his Matildis, Alexander the Sixth his Lucretia, Leo the Tenth his Magdalena, Paul the Third his Constantia. Eome, which condemns all the churches in the world, sets an easy rate upon all the impure prac- tices of luxury, natural and unnatural. The Ana- baptists allow plurality of wives ;. arid some of them have said that none of their sect can commit adul- tery with another's wife, according to the etymology of adulterium, for all their sect, say they, are so knit the one to the other, that they are all one body. John of Leyden had thirteen wives, and gave a liberty to every one to marry as many as they pleased. Obs. 2. It is possible for those who are sensual and without the Spirit to boast of spiritualness. Obs. 3. Sanctity and sensuality cannot agree to- gether. If a man be sensual, he has not the Spirit; if he have the Spirit, he will not be sensual. Sowing to the Spirit, and to the flesh, are opposed, Gal. vi. 8. The opposition also is remarkable, " Be not drunk with wine," Sec, " but be filled with the Spirit," Eph. V. 18: when sense is gratified, the Spirit is opposed. Mark the like opposition also Rom. viii. 13, " If ye live after the flesh, ye shall die : but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live." " But put ye on the Lord Jesus, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof," Rom. xiii. 14. And, " The flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh," Gal. v. 17: these have contrary originals ; the one is from earth, the other from heaven. The motions of sensual lusts and the Spirit are contrarj', one downward, another upward ; a man cannot look those contrary ways at once. Lust, like the woman's disease in the gospel, bows us down to tlie earth ; the Spirit moves to the things above. Like two balances, if one go up, the other goes down ; they put upon contrary practices. Gal. V. 17. " Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh," ver. 16. They both en- deavour (o take up, and each to engross and monopo- lize, the whole man, soul and body ; they will neither endure to have theu' dominion over man parted. They can admit of no accommodation ; whatever means or helps advance the one, suppress and expel the other. The fuel of lust (worldly excess) extinguishes the Spirit ; the presei-vatives of the Spirit, prayer, word, fasting, meditation, are the poisons of lusts. Oh the madness then of those who think to serve these con- trary masters ! Matt. vi. 24. If one be loved, the other must be forsaken. The allowance of any in- ordinate lust is inconsistent with the Spirit. How great should our care be to take the Spirit's part against the flesh ! ( I .) By a thorough, hearty, inward work of mortification, and the plucking up of lust by the roots, not only by snibbing the blade. (2.) By a holy and watchful moderation in worldly enjoy- ments, behind which Satan, like the Philistines, ever lies in ambush when the lust, like Delilah, is tempting. (3.) By diverting thy joys and pleasure upon hea- venly objects ; and, (4.) By labouring for a sanctified improvement of all the stoppages in the way of lust, and God's breaking down thy bridges in thy march. Obs. 4. They who want the Spirit are easily brought over to sensuality. They had not the Spirit, and no wonder if sensual. Natural light is not enough to overcome natural lusts. He who is but a mere man may soon become a prey to sensuality. Vrp soli, woe to him who has not this Spirit to renew him, nay, constantly to reside in him, and to actuate him ! Even saints themselves, when the Spirit withdraws and leaves them to themselves, how sensual have they proved ! David, Lot, Samson are proofs. Let thy I great care be then to keep the Spirit from departing. * Ic was David's prayer, "Take not thy Holy Spirit from me," Psal. li. 11. Take heed of giving way to sins of pleasure, or to sins of deliberation, or to re- peated sins, or to sins against conscience, or to the sin of pride and presumption of thine own strength. Delight not in sinful company. Beware of worldly- mindedness. Follow the dictates of the Spirit, and listen to its first motions. Fruitfully improve the ordinances wherein the Spirit delights to breathe. Verse 20. But ye, beloved, buildivg tip yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost. The second direction to teach the Christians how to observe the former exhortation to contend for the truth, and to oppose seducers, is building up them- selves on their most holy faith ; yet so as this and the next direction are set down as dispositions and means to keep themselves in the love of God, mentioned in the next verse. In this the apostle shows, and we ought to explain, three things. 1. Tlie builders, or the parties directed; "Beloved." Of these I have before treated. 2. Their foundation ; their "most holy faith." 3. Their building thereon, in these words ; " build- ing up yourselves on," &c. 2. The foundation ; their " most holy faith." In this I might inquire, (I.) What is meant by " faith." (2.) How it is called " your faith." (3.) How it is called " most holy." (l.) What is meant by " faith." By faith I under- stand the doctrine of faith ; for enlargement upon which, and reasons why the word is called faith, I refer the reader to what I have spoken, p. 62, 63. (2.) This faith is called " your faith ;" and the doc- trine of faith was theirs, [L] Because of ministra- tion. It was delivered to the saints, and by God given to them, and to others for their sakes. [2.] Because they received it, were moulded into it. It was so delivered to them, that they (as the apostle speaks) were delivered into it ; as it was ministered to them so it was accepted by them. It was not scorned, rejected; but received, embraced, yea, contended for by them. It was effectually theirs as well as ministerially. [3.] Theirs it was in regard of the fruit and benefit of it. It w-as theirs for the salvation of their souls, I Pet. i. 9. It was to them a savour of life, not a sentence of condemnation. (3.) It is called "most holy faith." ri.l To put a difference between those „., , . . , uniioly and fabulous dreams of these seducers, the most impure inventions of the Gnostics, Jewish fables, &c. [2.] Considered in itself; and that, First, In its supreme author and efficient cause, the Holy Ghost. It was dtoirvevuTog, by Divine in- spiration, 2 Tim. iii. 16. Secondly, In the instruments of conveying it, who were " holy men of God," who " spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost," 2 Pet. i. 21. Ver. 20. THE EPISTLE OF JUDE. 339 Ou.rniini Paoii Thirdly, In the matter of it, which is n/JIfi'dliuor.non altogether holy: " Every word of God i-i le camiiiiior. is pure." The threateninffs holy, de- lIi«roiii. * , . ^ . ., ^ ill nounced against sm ; the precepts holy, and such as put us only upon holiness ; the comforts and promises holy, parts of a holy covenant, and such as only comfort in the practice of holiness, and en- courage to holiness, and are made to holy ones. Fourthly, In the etfeets of it. It works and ex- citeth holiness in nature, heart, life. It is that which being believingly looked into, makes the beholders holy like itself; as the rods of Jacob which, laid before the sheep, made them bring forth young ones of the same colour with those rods. 3. Their building on this foundation is contained in these words, " building up yourselves." Two things are in this branch comprehended : How we are to understand this building up, and this building up of themselves. (1.) How we are to understand this building up. 'EttoikoSo/iovvtic imports three things. 1. A fitting and a joining the building to the foundation. 2. A skilful disposing of the materials and parts of the building. 3. A progressiveness and proceeding therein, even to perfection : and all these are aptly applicable to that spiritual purpose of our apostle in this place ; for by this expression he intends to put them upon labouring for confirmation and stability in their Christian course, by sitting fast to the word, the foundation of faith ; and as a building which is firmly fixed and inunovably set upon its foundation, sted- fastly to abide in and rest upon the truth of the word, that all the winds, and waves, and oppositions of se- ducers may not be able to unsettle and remove them. And this it is which the apostle, Col. ii. 7, intends by the very same expression, sTroiKo&fioiifiEvoi, " built up ;" in which he exhorts the Christians to stability in Christ and his truth, by being joined to him as the building is to the foundation. And hence it is that Christ commended the wisdom of that man who " built his house upon a rock," Matt.' vii. 24, and blamed the folly of him who " built his house upon the sand," ver. 26. He that heareth my words, saith he, " and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, that built his house upon a rock." The firm and unfeigned belief of the doctrine of faith is as the resting and depending upon the rock or foundation. It is true, faith sets us upon Christ as a foundation personal or mediatory, upon whom alone we depend for life and salvation ; but faith sets us upon the word as the foundation Scriptural or manifestative, or that for the truth of which, and of its discoveries, we believe in and depend upon Christ. And hence it is, that as Christ is in Scripture called a foundation, Eph. ii. 20, " the chief corner-stone," a stone for a foundation, and besides whom no other foundation can be laid, 1 Cor. iii. 1 1 ; so is the word adorned with the same title, Eph. ii. 20, where by " the foundation of the apostles and prophets," we are to understand their doctrines ; and the way to build upon Christ, is by building upon his word as our foundation ; for Christ is not a foundation of happiness every way that man frames in his own heart, but only as God offers him in the word of the gospel ; and Christ makes it all one to build and believe on his word as on himself. " He that rejectcth me, and receiveth not my words," John xii. 4S. And, " If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you," John xv. 7. As we rest upon a man by trusting to his word, so we build upon Christ by building on his word ; and the word being rooted in our hearts, unites us to Christ. [2.] The apostle, by tliis phrase of " building up," puts the Christians upon a right ordering of the ma- terials and parts of the building ; for in the building the materials are not only to be laid, but skilfully to be laid upon the foundation ; and this comprehends two things. 1. The pro^-iding of good materials. 2. The placing of them fitly. For the first. In buildings, sundry profitable and useful materials are provided, as brass, iron, stone, timber, lime, lead, glass, &c. ; and in this spiritual building there must be parcels of all graces, faith, hope, love, knowledge, &c. Faith must be those brazen gates to let in Christ into the soul, and to shut out Satan ; watchfulness and courage must be as the stone wall to oppiose the approaches of our enemies ; patience, the dormers bearing the weight of the house, and every burden that may be laid upon it ; love, the cement to bind and knit all together ; knowledge, as the windows to lighten the house ; hope, as the glass or casements to look out and wait for things believed. 2. These must be fitly placed ; and that, 1. So as that all the parcels may be set upon the foundation ; all must lean upon Jesus Christ as manifested in Scripture, Phil. iv. 13. Grace of itself is but a crea- ture, and defectible ; he can only continue life and vigour to it : without Christ the greatest and highest graces will but be pondera ad i-uinam, and could neither be set up nor kept up : grace will prove but deceitful, unless it stands upon the strength of Christ the foundation. 2. All the parts must be disposed and contrived for the best advantage of, and so as they may be most useful to, the dweller. Every gi'ace must be for God, as it is from him. Who builds a house, and does not expect to be accommodated and benefited by it ? 3. There must be a due proportion between part and part, and such a laying out of the one, that there may not be too great an abridgement or hindering of the beauty and largeness of the other. Christians must have all the parts of holiness and parcels of grace. There must not be so much allotted for one room that nothing is left for another : a Christian must not be all for knowledge, and no- thing for love ; all for zeal, and nothing for humility; all for humility, nothing for courage. A Christian must neither be maimed nor monstrous. 4. All the parts must be built according to the line and rule of the word. The tabernacle was according to the pattern in the mount, Esod. xxv. 40. A Christian must walk and build by rule, entertain every grace, and perfomi every duty wliich is enjoined, and be- cause it is enjoined; he must not live according to example, but rule. [3.] By this expression of "building up," the apostle puts these Christians upon progressiveness and per- fection in the work of Christianity ; he not only en- joins every Christian to be busy in building, but by this word 'nroiKolo^iovvTiQ, he denotes a building up till the work be finished, an increasing in building, even to its consummation. This also is intimated by the note of opposition, ft, but, in the connexion, to those who fall off; whereby he would teach the Chris- tians not to give over the work till they be builded up a perfected building for Christ. Hence it is that Peter, though not in the same words, yet to the same effect, directs the Christians to " grow in grace," 2 Pet. iii. 18 ; and to add grace to grace, " Add to your faith virtue ; and to virtue knowledge," &c., 2 Pet. i. 5 ; and Eph. iv. 15, to a growing up into Christ in all things. It is true, building is a slow and leisurely work, a work of time ; but yet it must be a progres- sive and proceeding work ; it is done by little and little, but vet many littles will bring forth much, and make a beautiful' building at length. "What more dishonourable than for a man to begin, and not to be able to finish ? Luke xiv. 30. The disgrace hereof Christ mentions in the gospel. No change so un- 340 AN EXPOSITION UPON Ver. 20. worthy and dishonouralile as to begin in the Spirit, and end in the flesh. And not to go forward in Christianity is to go backward; and they who bnild not np, pull down. There is no standing still in this work : the want of a roof impairs the walls ; the leav- ing of the building imperfect and unfinished, by not adding what is wanting, tends to the ruin of that which is already set up : " We lose those things which we have wrought," 2 John 8. And this pains and pro- gressiveness in this work is about a building which is not temporal, and in time to fall down, but spiritual and eternal. 2. How are we to understand the building up them- selves. It may be demanded, 1. What is meant by themselves, iavrovg. 2. How they may be said to be able to build up themselves. 1. For the first. The word themselves, added to building up, may import a building up of one another, iavTorig pro d\\i)\ovg, and intend a mutual duty to be put forth and exercised between Christian and Chris- tian ; and thus the apostle uses the word iavrovs, Col. iii. 16, where he exhorts them to admonish iavToug, one another ; and Eph. iv. 32, to forgive one another : and this mutual and fraternal helping of one another forward in our Christian progress is elsewhere fre- quently commanded in Scripture; "exhorting one another," Heb. xi. 25, and " edify one another," 1 Thess. v. 11. Christians by their counsels, com- forts, exhortations, examples, should advance one another's spiritual welfare ; but though this be a truth, and here not excluded, yet this hinders not but that primarily the apostle intends that every one should promote his own particular holiness, and jn-o- gress in the faith of the gospel. 2. For the second. It may be doubted how we ^, ,., can build up ourselves. Is edification Non llbertate , i t a i. n ji i eraiiam. sed man s work ? Are we not God s work- E^ahai.beriatem. niausliip ? Ansic. I grant spiritual houses cannot build themselves more than any other. Our houses are not naturally houses of God, but made so to our hands. Unless the Lord build the house all labour is vain. And the apostle points at the Builder, when in the next words he bids these Christians pray in the Holy Ghost. But he here writes to the regenerate, who have the Spirit, by whom and whose grace they have spiritual liberty afforded to them ; and being drawn, they run ; and being acted upon, they are active. Inward and ha- bitual grace was the sole work of the Spirit infusing : that which is practical is the work of the regenerate person flowing from infused grace. 2. Though we are God's workmanship and build- ing, yet he builds by means ; and by such precepts as these he exhorts us to submit ourselves to the means, to yield ourselves to be hewn, squared, and laid in the building. For observations drawn, 1. From the title, "Be- loved ;" as also, 2. From the apostle's expressing the doctrine of faith by the term faith ; see p. 52, 53, 63. From the pleasant and significant metaphor of building, I observe, that, Obs. 1. The faithful are the house of God. By this resemblance the church is not seldom set forth. " Moses was faithful in all his house," Heb. iii. 2. " How to behave thyself in the house of God," 1 Tim. iii. 15. " In a great house there are vessels," &c., 2 Tim. ii. 20. " Whose house we are, if we hold fast," &c., Heb. iii. 6. "The time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God," &c., 1 Pet. iv. 17. "Ye are God's building," I Cor. iii. 9. " Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house," 1 Pet. ii. 5. And this resemblance of a house aptly belongs to the faithful, either in respect of Christ, themselves, or God. (1.) Christ IS the foundation of this house; he was a " corner-stone," Isa. xxviii. 16, on which both the Jews and Gentiles meet ; he is called a stone for a foundation, Eph. ii. 20. Christ is a foundation, [I.] In point of sustentation ; upon him the faithful build their hope and expectations ; upon him all their grace and holiness is built ; he is " a living stone," 1 Pet. ii. 4, that sends life and influence into all the stones of the building set upon him ; upon him all their comforts are built ; all their rejoicing is in him. Take away Christ, and all their joy falls to the ground ; upon him are built all their duties, both in respect of power to perform them, and in respect of acceptance from God when they are performed. [2.] Christ is a foundation in respect of union. Between the build- ing and this foundation, this is the ground of sustent- ation : this union, set out sometimes by a matrimo- nial union, sometimes by a union between head and members, sometimes by that between root and branches, &c., is, on the part of Christ, by his Spirit laying hold on us, and infusing spiritual life into us, and affording to us all supplies of grace, Rom. viii. 9 ; 1 Cor. xii. 8. On our part, by faith, putting and setting us into him, as also receiving and drawing grace from him, Phil. i. 19. [3.] Christ is a founda- tion in point of hiddenncss : the building is seen, the foundation is hidden ; he is a hid treasure. 1. His person is not yet seen. "When he shall ap- pear," 1 John iii. 2. " Whom having not seen," &c., 1 Pet. i. 8. 2. His benefits and graces are hidden. Our life is a hidden life, hidden not only to the wicked, but even oft to the godly themselves, who behold not their own happiness either of grace or glory. This life is the obscurity of their adoption ; his face is frequently hidden from them, and the tokens of his presence removed. And for the excellency of this foundation, [I.] He is the sole foundation. No other foundation can be laid, 1 Cor. iii. 11. No other appointed by God, Acts iv. 12. No other ever embraced by saints. No other ever revealed by the word. No other needed beside. No other willing or able to bear the weight of the building. No other was fit to have the honour of our affiance and dependence. [2.] He is a strong foundation ; so strong that he bears up every stone, every saint of all sizes that ever was or shall be laid upon him, and all their weights J and pressures ; he bears them up always, so that they I shall never fall. They who are built upon this Rock are safe. Matt. vii. 25 ; " as Mount Zion, which cannot be moved." The word shall fall, but not a saint, be- cause Christ falls not. The gates of hell, the floods of temptation, shall never totally prevail : a child of God shall never sin away all his holiness ; he may sin, not perish, not sin to death. Grace may be abated, not abolished ; shaken in, not out of the soul. Of all given to Christ he hath lost none ; his sheep never perish, John x. 29. (2.) The church is a house in respect of believers, who are the stones of which this house is built up ; and these stones are naturally, 1. Rugged and un- polished, till they are hewn, smoothed, and made fit for the building, Hos. vi. 5. The word of God takes away their natural asperity, and makes them fit for the building, and submissive to God's disposal, and fit for his purpose. 2. These stones are of several sizes, some greater, some lesser. Christians are of divers degrees, some more eminent, some more ob- scure; some of stronger, others of weaker graces. 3, The stones which are different in their size are yet cemented and united one to another. As there is a union of faith betwixt the building and the founda- tion, so there is a union of love between the parts of J the building. And hence the whole body is said tol Ver. 20. THE EPISTLE OF JUDE. 341 De " fitly joined together and compacted," Eph. iv. 16. The gi-eatest stone in the building cannot say to the least, it hath no need thereof. The Foundation disdains not the least pebble, no more should the strongest stone in the building. (3.) The church is a house in respect of God. [1.] He dwells in this house. He has two houses : that above, of glory ; this below, of grace ; and he who dwells every where by his essence, dwells in his church by the presence of his grace. God takes more delight in his church than in all the world. He rests in this house. [2.] He furnishes his house with all necessaries, yea, ornaments, his ordinances, graces, &c. [3.") He protects his house : he that destroyeth the temple of God, him will God destroy. His enemies shall answer for dilapidations, for every breach they have made. [4.] He repairs his house ; and when his enemies have broken it, he restores it, and makes up its breaches ; it shall never utterly be destroyed. [5.] He purges and cleanses his house ; disorders and abuses are too ready to creep into it ; it oft wants reformation. Judgment begins at the house of God. " You have 1 known of all the families of the earth, therefore I will punish you," Amos iii. 2. Man re- gards not much what lies in his field, but he is curious that nothing offensive be laid in his house. Judgments begin at the sanctuary. Sins in the church are most heinous. Christians are so much worse than others, by how much they should be bet- ter. The meditation of this resemblance should therefore put us upon trial and strengthening of our union to Christ our foundation, upon dependency on and trusting to him. It serves also to strengthen the love, nearness, and deamess of believers, living stones ; to make us dedicate ourselves to the Lord, as his house and temple ; to ofier up the daily sacrifice of prayer and praise to him ; to tell Satan and lust, ■whenever they sue for a room in our house, that every room is taken up for God, that his enemy must not be let in. We are the temple of God ; O let us not make ourselves a temple of idols by covetousness, or a tap- house by drunkenness, or a sty by any swinish lusts. To conclude this, labour for the costly furniture of holiness for thy house ; use the perfume of prayer, the washing of godly sorrow ; give the Lord costly enter- tainment. Repair all thy breaches by repentance. Run not too long to ruin. Patiently bear the Lord's visitation, and the means he uses to mend and cleanse thee. And lastly, depend upon him for care and protection in all dangers. Obs. 2. The word of God is the foundation of a Christian. " Build yourselves on your faith." It is a foundation to bear a saint out in all his duties, comforts, belief of truths. (1.) All our duties, ser- vices must be built upon the word. That which will not stand with the word must be no part of the building : the word must be the foundation of prac- tice ; he that walks by this rule, peace shall be upon him, Gal. vi. 16. It is not the showing of any war- rant of man that will bear thee harmless at the day of judgment. (2.) The word is the foundation of a Christian's comfort ; no promises but Scripture pro- mises but may deceive. No other promises can bear the weight of an afflicted soul : " Unless thy law had been my delight, I should have perished in my afflic- tion," Psal. cxix. 92. " Thy statutes were my songs in the house of my pilgrimage," Psal. cxix. 54. (3.) But especially the word is the foundation of a Chris- tian's belief of truths asserted ; we can only securely assent to the assertions of the word. That which I read not I believe not. A WTitten word is the onlj' food of faith; the formal object of faith is the truth manifested in Scripture; every truth has an esse credibitis, because it was de- ^j'urnbuu'afn' livered in the written word, and spoken by God. Faith is carried to its object under the no- tion of infallibility, which can never be without Divine revelation ; all human testimony being fallible, though not false ; and hence it is that the revelation of God in his word is only propounded by God as a foundation of faith, Deut. xvii. 18. These things " are written, that ye might believe," John XX. 31. " We have a more sure word of prophecy ; whereunto ye do well to take heed," 2 Pet. i. 19. So 1 John v. 13, "These things have I written to you that believe on the name of the Son of God." " To the law and to the testimony," Isa. viii. 20. " Search the Scriptures ; for in them ye think ye have eternal life," John v. 39. And this word of God has only been embraced by the faithful in all ages as the foundation of their faith. Whenever they would prove any thing to be believed, they have gone to the written word for a foundation of belief. Thus the noble Bereans, who " searched the Scrip- tures daily, whether those things were so," Acts xvii. 11. Thus Paul grounded what he wrote upon Scrip- ture, Acts xiii. 33; 1 Cor. ii. 9; xv. 54; Rom. xiv. 1 1 ; and professed that he " believed all things writ- ten in the law and the prophets," Acts xxiv. 14; and that he said " no other things than those which the prophets and Moses did say should come," Acts xxvi. 22. So that the doctrine of faith revealed in the Scripture must be the foundation to bear us up and out in all duties to be performed, comforts to be entertained, and truths to be embraced. And hence, as we may see the misery of those who have no foundation at all, holding their religion only for form, fashion, example, or fear of superiors, which sandy bottoms will never keep them up from sin, nor bear them out in sulFerings, especially death and judgment ; so we should labour to improve the doc- trine of faith as our foundation in all the foremen- tioned respects : [1.] By having a deep sense and feeling of our misery ; so that not finding in ourselves whereon to found ourselves, we may be driven to look after the foundation discovered in the Scripture, which is only Jesus Christ. [2.] By faith, whereby we give a supernatural as- sent to the word, and spiritually discern its truth ; whereby, likewise, we apply the word to ourselves, and are knit to it as a foundation, as mingling it with faith. Although the doctrine of faith is a foundation in itself, yet it is not so to us, unless we believe it, and apply it to ourselves by the gift of faith. [3.] By labouring that the word may take so deep a root in the heart, that it may descend into the af- fections, and there be embraced until it has wrought an experience of its own delightful sweetness. [4.] By several needful considerations. 1. By considering that it never failed any that ever depend- ed upon it, having in all practices, distresses, debates upheld them. The public faith of heaven was never broken ; the promises, commands, and assertions of the word have borne saints out in all difficulties. 2. By considering that every other foundation will fail ; whether fancied by ourselves, or suggested by others, it is but a lying vanity. 3. By studying the nature of him whose word it is, who is the Hock of ages, in whom is no shadow of change, for whom it is im- possible to lie to us, or deny himself. Sundry observations which might have been made concerning stedfastness and proceeding in Christi- anity, and the usefulness of a constant progress there- in to keep us from seduction, proving that the best way for Christians not to be losers of what they have 342 AN EXPOSITION UPON Ver. 20. is to be labourers for what they want, I shall not mention, as having largely insisted thereupon before, p. 50, 51, 2(iG, 267, 273, &c., 277, 278. Thus of the second direction whereby the apostle teaches the Christians to embrace the foregoing ex- hortation of contending for the faith, viz. edification on the faith. The third follows, viz. " praying in the Holy Ghost," whereby he instructs them withal how to build prosperously, viz. by taking in God's help ; and how to keep themselves in the love of God, ■which is the direction next ensuing. Two things are here to be opened. 1. What he commands, prayer. 2. The manner of performing it, " in the Holy Ghost." I. What he commands, prayer ; "praying." I shall not here handle the duty of prayer in a com- mon-place way, by insisting either upon the sundry sorts of prayer, petition for good things, A?n holy covetousness should be in every saint to propa- gate holiness and leaven others with grace in the world ! O pray, Lord, let hell never be the fuller for me or mine, but heaven for both ! In respect of I the privilege of saving souls, it is by some said that i saints on earth excel the very glorified in heaven. Obs. 2. Necessity should be the mother of severity. Others, i. e. they who will be by no other means re- claimed, upon whom compassion will not work, must be saved by fear. First gentle means must be used, severe afterwards. Severity, though good, is but ac- I cidentally good, not in itself, but only because of man's stubbornness : medicines were only brought in and kept up by sickness. The bee gives its honey naturally, its sting only when provoked. We should run to compassion, hut be driven to rigour. If the birds will be driven away, it is needless to shoot them : our will must bring forth peace ; necessity, war. Paul was much more willing to come to the Corinthians with the spirit of meekness, than with the rod of severity. Even when we are most deeply J engaged in rigour, let all see that in afflicting others! we more afflict ourselves. 06*. 3. Severity is to be regulated not by outwardl respects, but by the merit of the offence. Others,! tliat is, they who are more obdurate, not who are! further from us in relation, or poorer, &c., should bej affrighted. Though the nature of the offence should! make us put a difference in our rigours, yet other! considerations foreign to the cause should not. Somel are fiery hot in terrifying the poorer sort, whereas I the rich are like the mount that might not be touched jj an ungodly base respecting of persons ! Obs. 4. Even a man may be a saviour of souls. See| the proofs in the explication. Paul speaks of labour- ing by all means to gain some ; and we read of| those who catch men, and win souls ; and Christ men- tions the gaining of thy brother. How great anl honour doth God cast upon weak worms ! If the! Supreme Cause be pleased to attribute salvation tol men because of ministry, should not men attribute! salvation to God in regard of efficacy ? How careful! should we be to honour that God who so dignifies! dust and ashes ! Lay that crown at his feet which I he sets on thy head. How industrious should this/ likewise make us in doing good to others ! The Lord reckons it as our own. Though he guided thy hand every letter, yet he saith thou hast written thai fair copy, whereas indeed only the blots and blurs 1 were thine. Though thou didst but lay on the plaster, yet he attributes the cure to thee, who couldst I Ver. 23. THE EPISTLE OF JUDE. 353 never put virtue into the salve. To conclude this, how fearful should any be of despising the ministry of man ! Though salvation sometimes be attributed to ourselves, that we may not be negligent, and pro- perly to God, that we may not idolize man ; yet it is often ascribed to others, that we may not contemn their help. Obs. 5. Severity should be exercised to this end, to save. The scope of using the sharpest rebukes by spiritual physicians should be cure. Merciful in- tentions must be lodged under severest performances. The end of excommunication must be the saving of the spirit. The most cutting reproofs must be given to others " that they may be sound in the faith," Tit. i. 13. Even the most dreadful censures of the church are not mortal, but medicinable. In the body of the church, members are wounded and cut, that them- selves and the whole body may be saved. And here- in ecclesiastical censures excel civil punishments ; the latter being to preserve the public peace, and for warning to others ; the former being principally to save the offender's soul. How sharply did Peter re- prove Simon Magus, when he said, " Thy money perish with thee," and " thou art in the gall of bitter- ness!" andyet he adds, "Repent and pray," &c. We must not reprove men to disgrace their persons, but to shame their sins ; and neither insulting over men's falls, nor despairing of their risings. And therefore let not people fume and rage against the constrained rigour of the faithful, especially ministers ; for it is not butchery, but surgery. As reprehension faithful- ly ministered shows the strength of zeal ; so meekly received, the sincerity of grace. A godly heart would not one threatening less to be in the Bible. It is a bloodless martyrdom humbly to embrace the strokes of a reprover. To conclude, how ridiculously pro- fane are the papists, whose loudest thunderings out of excommunication are against the holiest persons ! But Christ's Spirit is not in their counsels, nor will he refuse graciously to meet thee unjustly ejected, as he did the blind man sinfully cast out by the Jews. 06*. 6. Severity to sin is mercy to the soul. This affrighting made way for saving. Holy severity is a wholesome thing. The nipping frosts of winter, though not so pleasant as summer sunshine, yet are as needful for the earth, they killing the worms and vermin. Jacob is said to bless his sons, and yet he sharply censured three. Gen. xlix. 28. The smitings of the righteous are desirable to a saint. They are precious ointment. They slay sin, and save the soul. How wild a madness is it then to be angry with them, who by telling thee truth love thy peace ! None but fools oppose faithful reprovers ; and who are such, that if the truth be told them, ■will not be pleased, and if they be pleased, the truth is not told them. Such a disposition as this is an evident token that God has a purpose to destroy them, 2 Chron. xxv. 16. How much is this cruelty to their own souls to be pitied by every reprover ! They oppose reproofs and their own happiness both at once. Let them read their dismal doom, " He, that being often re- proved hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be de- stroyed, and that without remedy," Prov. xsix. 1. Let those whom God has appointed to be reprovers, take heed lest like drones they lose their stings. If sinners be not saved, it should be their trouble ; if they be neither reproved nor saved, it is their sin also. O let not the sinner's frenzy drive any minis- ter into a palsy. 06*. 7. Wicked men are oft fearless in sm, though on hell's brink. These sinners were to be made to fear, but otherwise they were fearless, they were without fear or shame, bold, presumptuous sin- j ners. The sweetness of sin so bewitches, that the bitterness of sin does not afiright. Sinners looX upon wrath through the wrong end of the prospec- tive glass, so that it seems remote. They put on Satan's spectacles, which greatens mercy, and lessens wTath, to the eyes of sinners ; they are faithless, therefore fearless. Obs. 8. Bold presumption makes way for fear. These libertines, who fed themselves without fear, and feared no judgment, but mocked at the promise of Christ's coming, if ever they came to salvation, went by the way of fear. Oh that you would think of this in your bold adventurings upon sin ! your audacious undertakings must all be undone, and picked out stitch by stitch. That which was thy glory, thy rejoicing, thy valour, will afterward be thy shame, thy sorrow, thy fear. And truly it is happy if the Lord make it so before it be too late. Holy fear is no sign of unmanly cowardice. This for the first part, the duty ; " others save with fear." The second follows, the manner of performing it ; and fii-st for the vehemency and holy earnestness thereof, " pulling them out of the fire." This has two branches. I. A sinner's woe. 2. A saint's work. The first is, to be in the fire. The second is, to pull them out of the fire. 1. Let me explain a sinner's woe, being in the fire. 2. A saint's work, pulling out of the fire. 1. A sinner's woe. Not to enlarge upon the several metaphorical acceptations of the word fire in Scripture, it is sometimes used to set forth, (I.) Sin. All sin: "Wickedness burnetii as the fire," Isa. ix. 18. More particularly the burning lust of uncleanness : " They burned in lust one toward another," Rom. i. 27. And, " It is better to marry than to burn," 1 Cor. vii. 9. Thus with this fire Sodom burnt, before it burnt with fire from heaven ; and this agrees to these impure wretches compared to Sodomites, ver. 6, for sin and punishment ; and this fire of lust has gluttony for its fuel. (2.) ^Misery and trouble. And these are compared to fire, 1. As probatory and refining. Thus Isa. xxxi. 9, " Fire in Zion, and furnace in Jerusalem." So 1 Pet. iv. 12, " Fiery trial which is to try you." Or, 2. As it is painful and tormenting, in which re- spect hell-torments may be compared to fire. Or, 3. As it is violent and irresistible. 4. As it is diffusive and spreading. 5. As it smutches and takes away beauty. 6. As it is dangerously destructive and con- suming : hence the wrath of God is compared unto fire, " Fire is kindled in my anger, which shall bum upon you." So Ezek. xxii. 31 ; and Heb. xii. 29, " Our God is a consuming fire." Hence the people returned from Babylon is said to be " a brand plucked out of the fire," Zech. iii. 2, to which place Jude probably alludes ; and this I take to be the meaning of the Holy Ghost in this place, where he speaks of these seducers as being in the fire, to set forth their dangerously miserable estate, and destructive courses. These siiineis. without recovery by Christians, were certainly to be destroyed and consumed here and hereafter. They corrupted themselves, ver. 10; and they who sow to the flesh reap corruption. Gal. vi. 8. And the consumption and destructiveness of this fire is worse than that of natural fire, [1.] Because a sinner lying under wrath is consumed spiritually. His precious soul is destroyed ; and this is worse than if his house, his money, his child, his body were con- sumed in fire. The fire which destroys the soul consumes not the dross, but the gold. [2.] In this fire a sinner is destroyed insensibly ; he feels no pain, fears no hurt. Slen shun material fire, but they run into this fire. Fools make a sport of sio 2 A 354 AN EXPOSITION UPON Veh. 23. and wratn ; sm is their element, they ave displeased vith any who would pluck them out of it. Like the horse, they will not stir, though they be in never so much danger by the approaching flames. [3.] He is destroyed pitilessly ; tliere are few that rescue and pluck him out of the fire. Every one will quench the fire which burns the house, few labour to quench tlie fire which burns the soul. There are few faithful reprovers. Who warns his neighbour of God's wrath ? most are afraid to black or burn their fingers. Most men pour oil rather tlian water to these flames. [4.] He is destroyed everlastingly. Natural fire consumes so as it ends and eats up that which it burns; this fire is ever destroying, never de- stroys. Without the blood of Christ it is unquench- able : a sinner shall ever burn in it, but never be burnt up in it. That which makes other fire so dreadful, namely, to make an end of things, would make this fire merciful. 2. A saint's work; the plucking out of this fire, (ipwdlovTiQ. The word properly signifies the soldiers' violent rushing or seizing upon a town or castle for plunder or prey. " The kingdom of heaven suflfereth violence, and the violent" apirdlovai, "take it by force." And more particularly, This plucking sinners out of their misery as out of fire, imports, (I.) Speediness. When a thing is in the fire it endures no delays. Sin, like poison, admits of no dalliance. The abiding in spiritual fare but a little longer may make the recovery impossible ; no de- liberation so dangerous. It is needless here to call a council. While we ai-e lingering and doubting, tlie fire is devouring. Satan, like a subtle enemy, never desires to treat but for his own advantage. (2.) It imports solicitousness and care, a holy fear of the future event, the ruin of that which is to be plucked out of the fire. Paul was afraid of the Galatians, Gal. iv. 19. Holy love is solicitous, does its best, but fears the worst. Titus had an earnest care for the good of the Corinthians, 2 Cor. viii. IG; and their burning calamity caused in Paul burning care. " Who is offended," saith he, " and I bum not?" (3.) Pity and commiseration. The more violence and speed is used in plucking a good thing out of the fire, the more tender pity is expressed. If pity should be showed to thy neighbour's beast, or to his house, much more to his own body, but most of all to his soul. It is reported of Jineas, that his pity made him take his father upon his shoulder, and carry him out of the flames of Troy. It is storied. Gen. xix. IG, that while Lot, his wife, and daughters lingered in Sodom, upon which fire was falling, the Lord being merciful to him, the angels brought him forth, and set him without the city. Tliis mercy in this spiritual plucking out is here imported. (4.) Esteem and appreciation. Men pluck that with eagerness out of the fire which they value and set by. A piece of potsherd they neglect, but a costly garment, some rare book, or much more a dear child, oh how earnestly are they snatched out of the flames ! The estimate which ought to be had of souls is much greater. Heaven-bom, beautifully-en- dowed, eternal souls are so precious that Christ shed his blood for them, and Satan only delights in shed- ding theirs. (5.) Hazard and endangering of him who plucks the party out of the fire. They who will take a thing out of the fire commonly burn their own fingers. The most zealous adventurers for souls have seldom escaped the scorching rage and ftny of the wicked. Truth begets hatred both in others, and oft in him wliom we labour to save. Satan will not let go his hold willingly. All the militia of hell is raised against the faithful saving of souls. All the holy prophets, apostles, ministers, more or less, must feel the scorching of the fire, if they will be plucking out of souls. The saviours of souls must be sufferers for souls, and herein resemble the great Saviour, who for souls was tlie greatest sufferer. (G.) Diligence and earnest industry. This is prin- cipally here intended according to the signification of the word apwdlovrtc- They who pluck a precious thing out of the fire, do it with putting forth all their vigour and pains. They who will save souls, must apply heart and head to this employment. Faithful ministers are ever laborious. They are peculiarly called labourers. They labour in the word and doc- trine. " As much as in me is, I am ready to preach the gospel," Rom. i. 15. This work he made his business, and he gave himself to it. In comparison of this his diligence for other things was but negli- gence. For three years together he warned every one with tears. Acts xx. 31. He was willing to "spend and be spent," 2 Cor. xii. 15. He was fervent in spirit in this serving of the Lord. In plucking a precious thing out of the fire, the finger is not held up, but ^^olently is the thing laid hold upon and drawn fortii with our hand. Obs. 1. The hell of a sinner is begun in this life; he is even here in the fire ; hell-fire is but his greater sensibleness of that fire of wrath wherein he even now is. As heaven, so hell, is now in this world in. semine. In hell the damnation of the wicked is but displayed ; here it is, though wrapped up as the flag about the staff. Sinners in this life are treasuring up of wrath. Put sin into its best dress, it is but gilded damnation. The fire of God's wrath is kindled on this side hell, and it burns inward, only in hell it blazes out. The incorrigible are condemned already. They are even here the children of perdition, and there is nothing between them and the fire of hell but a thin wall of flesh. And therefore, Obs. 2. How madly merry is every sinner ! Fond creature, to bribe and soothe thy burning soul with toys and rattles ! How unseasonable and unsuitable is thy mirth, when thou art burning thy soul ; and yet, as the idolaters of old, when they sacrificed their children to idols, makest music and singing ! This doth every secure sinner. Oh how much better is it here to mourn and shed the tears of godly sorrow^ especially to get the blood of Jesus Christ to quench the flames before they blaze out in hell, where they will be unquenchable. 06.?. 3. The devil has his martyrs ; nay, the mos(J are burnt for irreligion. Wicked men p^_.^,_^, p^_.._^^,^ here burn themselves, not as saints, to Uur a.i iuhjus escape, but, in regard of the end of the f^'^^'"'" ' work, to embrace eternal burnings. It should be a shame to consider how mad sinners are upon and patient in the flames of wrath and sin, and how im- patient saints are in those flames out of which all the heat and hurt is taken. 06*'. 4. Even they who are in the fire may be pulled out. There is a peradventure mentioned of God's giving repentance even to opposers, 2 Tim. ii. 25. " Such," saith the apostle," were some of you," 1 Cor. vi. I l,TaDra, such trash, such rubbish. Manasseh, Mag- dalene, and Paul, the greatest of sinners, and those Christians hateful and hating one another, serving, divers lusts, and children of wrath, found mercy, Eph. ii. 3; Tit. iii. 3. God sometimes turns people in their race of sin when they are gotten almost to their goal, hell-gates, and receives prodigals whoi smell of the hogs' trough, and recovers brands which are singed, yea, almost consumed. The frccness o£ his grace, the riches of mercy, the depth of his wis- dom, the greatness of his power, are all hereby mag-i Ver. 23. THE EPISTLE OF JUDE. 355 nified : we must not despair of the most seemingly- desperate. We may censure the actions, not deter- mine the ends, though of great sinners. To conclude, the greater the misery and the more scorching the fire is out of which any of us have been plucked, the stronger is the engagement upon us to save others, and to serve our Saviour. Obs. 5. The faithful are very useful and heneficial to the world. It is a misery when any thing dear to us falls into the fire; but this is by much the greater when there is no man near to pluck it out of the fire. They who save our goods from the flames are com- mended for helpful people ; but they who save souls from the wrath of God and the fire of hell, are much more necessary. The people of God are falsely ac- counted the troublers and incendiaries of the world, whereas their work is to recover out of the fire, not to cause and increase the fire. There are none so miserable as they who may be suffered to lie in sin as long as they please, without controllers or reco- verers, who may be as bad as they please, without check or reprehension. 06s. 6. The greatest diligence in the recovery of souls is very excusable. The most earnest plucking of our treasure or child out of the fire wants not an apology. The best things require most labour about them. Trifles, fancies, riches, honours, deserve not Cum pericuio ""'' diligence. No persuasions should isois lempoiaiis ^be SO Vehement, no pains so great, as p'e'ccaior'ex'igne tliose We take for souls. We may easily erno. ^^ jqq importunate and painful when we labour for our bodies, but it is impossible to be so when we labour to benefit ours or others' souls. It is a holy impudence to be bold in urging any to pity their better part. It is a sinful bashfulness to be so courteous to forget Christianity. We can never warn men too much of their spiritual danger. It is very good manners in Christianity to stay and knock again, though we have knocked more than thrice at the door of a sinner's conscience. Either here or hereafter his conscience will commend us. though now his lusts are angry with us. How willing therefore should eople be to take holy importunity for their souls' good in good part ! If importunity overcame an unrighteous judge to do good to another, how much more should it prevail with us for our good ! Let not ministers complain that they spread out their hands to a gainsaying people. 2. In this manner of recovering these offenders the apostle enjoins, in the second place, that it should be done with vigilancy and wariness ; in these words, "hating even the garment spotted by the flesh." And this he adds to the former, to warn the Christians that in their conversing with these offenders, when they laboured to recover them, they should take heed of getting any hurt from them, having to deal with them as physicians, not as companions. ■Two things are here briefly to be explained. 1. The thing to be hated, "the garment spot- ted," &c. 2. How and why it was to be hated. 1. " The garment spotted with the flesh." Many im- pertinent and over-curious expositions by popish writers are given us of this place : some understand this "garment spotted by the flesh" properly, as if Jude intended that the filthy uncleanness and ob- scenities of these impure sinners did not only defile their manners and actions, but even their very clothes and garments, by reason of their nearness to their de- filed flesh ; and even these, say they, Jude bids these Christians to shun or not touch, to show their hatred of carnal uncleanness. But Justinian seems rightly to conceive that this is an exposition of more light- ness than to savour of apostolic gravity. Others by this garment understand that natural unholiness which Paul calls the old man with his deeds, and commands the Christians to put oiT as an old filthy garment. Col. iii. 9. But this is not agreeable to the scope of the apos- tle, which is not to direct the Christians what to put off and hate in themselves, but to shun and hate that which might be conveyed from others to themselves. The best exposition is that given by learned Calvin, and some others, who say, that by this " garment spot- ted by the flesh, the apostle intends that which seems to have any affinity or nearness to the vices of these sinners wliich were among them. And this is very much confirmed, 1. By the word cat, here translated even, which, as Calvin notes, ad amplijicationem valet, has the force of amplification, and imports as if the apostle had said in a full speech, hating not only the flesh itself, but even the garment spotted or infected by the flesh ; and also, 2. By that apt allusion which in these metaphorical expressions, Jude makes to that commanded rite of the ceremonial law, whereby the Israelites were ceremonially unclean, not only by touching the flesh of one who had a running issue, or the matter itself that issued forth, but even by touching the seat, bed, saddle, garments of such a per- son. Lev. XV. 4 — 6, &c. ; so that this direction of" hatin g the garment spotted by the flesh," imports as much as if Jude had said, Know, O Christian, though I have exhorted you to have compassion of the persons of these sinners, and to labour with them that they might be plucked out of their miserable state, yet I would have you warily to take heed to yourselves, lest while you are about curing them they infect you, and lest that while you lend them your hand to draw them out of the pit, they, being stronger than you, pull you in to them. Nay, so far must you be from allowing and liking their gross and ungodly practices, that you must abstain from whatever has any neighbourhood or nearness to their sins. For not only would I have you kept from touching the infecting and defiling flesh, the sin itself; but I ex- hort you to hate even the very clothes, or that which sits any thing near to it, or borders upon it, or ha-s affinity to it. And this direction principally com- prehends two particulars. ( I .) That they should hate all incentives, occasions, inducements, or inlets to sin, and that both in respect of themselves and others. I. In respect of themselves. It is safest keeping far from the brink of the river. He who has fallen, and yet will walk in slippery places, shows that yet he has not been bruised enough. Thus Eve's looking on the apple, when it drew on her appetite, her parely with the serpent, should have been avoided. 2. In respect of others. Paul was very careful to avoid occasions of making others sin, though things which he avoided were neither sinful in themselves, nor to him. Paul's eat- ing of flesh was lawful in itself, and lawful to him, and yet rather than he would offend his weak brother, he would never do it while the world stands, 1 Cor. viii. 13 ; Rom. xiv. 21. Paul was sometimes here travail- ing in birth T\-ith his little children, Gal. iv. 19 ; and was like a careful mother, who forbears many meats for fear of doing her child hurt. Thus Paul refused to circumcise Titus, fearing the confirmation of the Jews in their error. Gal. ii. 3. (2.) That they should avoid that which carries a show of evil, and is liable to misconstruction. Thus Paul refused using his liberty in faking a lawful maintenance for his labours, lest a sinister interpret- ation of covetousness and mercenary affection should have been put upon it by his adversaries. Though here it must be noted, that in all necessary duties we must yield absolute obedience to God, though to tha 35G AN EXPOSITION UPON Ver. 23. world it appear never so evil. Christ preached him- self the bread of life, though the Jews were offended, John vi. Daniel will pray three times a day, though it cost him his life. John will preach against Hero- dias, though all the court be offended. For though evil must not be done that good may come of it, yet good must be done, though evil may come of it. Thus in doctrine we must abstain from such speeches which, though they may have a right interpretation, yet carry a show of evil. To say we are saved by works may have a true interpretation, but it is better to ab- stain from it, because it has an appearance of popish merit. To call evangelical ministers priests may be truly expounded, but it were better to avoid the ex- pression, because of the show of popish sacrifice and priesthood. The words of heretics are to be avoided. And if we will keep the faith of the Scriptures, we must keep the words of the Scriptures. Those things which are male co/orata, though not m se mala, which have an ill colour, though not an ill nature, must be shunned. Caesar said of his wife, that she ought to be without suspicion of fault, as well as without fault. Valen- tinian having a drop of the water sprinkled upon his garment which was cast about by the priests in their heathenish services, cut out that piece of cloth upon which that drop fell from the rest of the garment. The ancient Christians would not set up lights and bays at their doors, though for this they were perse- cuted as enemies to the emperor, be- ''■"^'idol'''' "*' cause the temple and the doors of idol- aters were wont to be thus garnished. These primitive Christians would not endure that any Christian should look toward Jerusalem pray- ing, because they would avoid show of Judaism. Augustine thought it in his time unlawful to fast on the sabbath day, because the Manichees did so. God appointed his own ceremonies, that a wall of partition might be put between the Israelites and heathens ; in which respect his people are forbid to eat swine's flesh, the ordinary food of tne Gentiles, to make their heads bald, to shave their beards, to cut their flesh. And Aquinas thinks, that because the hea- ■*''"'5 q"' ""• thcns set their temples eastward, there- fore God's was set westward, ad arce7i- dam idololalriam, saith he. Not only apparent sins, but sins in appearance, are to be avoided by Christians. Even accompanying with sinners is suspicious, as well as acting their impieties is heinous, Eph. v. 7. Tell me, said a good man once, where thou hast been, and I will tell thee what thou hast done. A man sins as well by not reproving a swearer as by swearing. He that does not preserve the law does not observe it. This, say some, was one reason why David refused to take the thrashing-floor, oxen, &c., as a gift, but would buy them, because he would avoid the show of covetousness. For the second, why this " garment spotted," &c. was to be hated, i. e. inwardly loathed, outwardly shunned. In respect of God, of themselves, and of others. 1. God. (1.) It is his command; he would have his to adorn the gospel, to shine as lights, to abstain from all appearance of evil, and be holy in repute as well as in reality. (2.) His honour is hereby ad- vanced. The further we keep from defiling ourselves, the more we keep from dishonouring him. It is the glory of the gospel, when men cannot lay any thing like an evil to our charge, and when they cannot speak reproachfully and truly at the same time. (3.) His example is hereby imitated. He hates all that is evil and liKe evil. The conformity of our affections with the Lord is very acceptable. How highly is the church of Ephesus commended for hating the doc- trine " of the Nicolaitanes, which," saith the Lord, " I also hate." There is in God no shadow of change, and therefore nothing like sin ; he is of purer eyes than to behold sin, or to look upon iniquity. 2. Themselves. (1.) It is a true note of sincerity to shun evil in its very likeness. He who hates a person loves not his very picture. This is a main difference between a sound Christian and a hypocrite. A wicked man will abstain from evil in extremes, but commonly he cares not for petty and appearing evils. Hence, tell him of such and such a sin, his reply usually is. Give me some plain, manifest scrip- tures against it ; scriptures which oppose his sin by consequence and proportion will not serve the turn. It must only be a plain, bare-faced evil that he will forsake. A hypocrite loves the appearance of good more than goodness itself; the godly hates the very appearance of evil as well as the evil itself. (2.) It is his wisdom to avoid the appearance of evil. He who will never give way to so much as an appearing, shall not be overthrown with a real evil. He who will not touch will not taste, much less swallow down a sin. And he who cares not to avoid the ap- pearance of evil, by little and little comes to esteem the evil and the appearance both alike : the begin- nings of sin are modest, and yet make way to im- modest proceedings. (3.) He takes the wisest course to preserve his good name. He who abstains from appearing evils, provides for his conscience and re- putation at once, and stops the mouths of accusers abroad, as well as of the accuser in his own bosom. 3. Others, the v;eak and the wicked. (1.) They who shun the very resemblance of sin, make those who are any thing inclinable to follow them more exact and precise in their walking. Commonly, if a leader will adventure upon an appearing, a follower will be imboldened thereby to commit a real evil ; for though when we behold men strict in holiness, we are too ready to hope that we may be allowed to come a little short of them, yet when we see any take liberty to do that which inclines to evil, we are prone to imagine that we may go a little beyond them. They who write copies must write a fair hand ; trifles in a leader are blasphemies. As reports lose nothing in the telling, so sin loses nothing in the imitating. Commonly the scholar outgoes the master. (2.) They who allow themselves in appearing evils harden wicked men, who ever make the faults of such seem bigger and more than they are, and for fifty write down a hundred ; and ever make use of the appear- ing evils of saints as shields and apologies to bear them out in their greatest enormities. Obs. 1. Sin and sinners are spotting and defiling, they stain what they touch. The allusion here is to a running issue defiling the thing it touches. Obs. 2. The people of God in this world are subject to defilements. Jude, in exhorting the Christians to carry themselves compassionately towards sinners, directs them likewise to carry themselves warily, lest they get hurt from them. It is as hard to be in the world, and not to be polluted by it, as to be among infectious persons, and not to be infected. The best of saints have a principle in them which will make them catch infection. The great industry of worldly persons is to pollute the godly. The power of re- ligion is principally seen in keeping a man un- spotted of the world, James i. 27. The people of God had need gird up their loins, and carry them- selves watchfully in every place and condition : spots are easily seen in white garments, and defilements on those who have more than ordinary purity. The men of the world are spotting, defiling creatures. They are such vessels of dishonour which a man can- not touch without pollution. A vessel of honour Yeb. 23. THE EPISTLE OF JUDE. 397 must "purge himself from these," 2 Tim. ii. 21. And how great cause have saints to long for that place, where they shall be freed from places of and temptations to sin ! In infectious times we use to covet the country, and to desire an open and fresh air. It is for scullions to be among the pots, and for worldly men to love to live in the world. Obs. 3. Reprehension of sin must be accompanied with sincere natred to sin. It was not enough for these Christians to make offenders afraid, unless they also hated that thing from which they terrified them. That man will be but an ineffectual reprover, and seldom works upon the heart, who speaks only from the lip. The best oratory is that which proceeds fromexperience : " Knowing," saith Paul, " the terror of the Lord, we persuade men." He who does but act the reprover, seldom benefits the reproved. But should such a notional teacher of others do them good, what benefit comes to himself? surely he would be like an unskilful servant, who opens the gate for his master, but lets it fall to again, so that he himself is hindered from following. Obs. 4. Appearances of good are to be loved and respected. If any thing like to sin is to be loathed, then the very shows and pictures of holiness are to be regarded. Christ looked upon the young man in the gospel, and loved him. The outward humiliation of Ahab went not without its reward. His appear- ing repentance had an appearing recompence. And God, saith Calvin, would show how much he loved the truth of grace by rewarding the shadow thereof. We love the picture for the person's sake. Much more we should love and cherish the least spark or drachm of true grace; the very smoking flax, and bruised reed. It is murder to kill a little infant of a span long as well as a full-gro\\Ti man. Obs. 5. A Christian's honour is exactness in his conduct. He must walk accurately, not only abstain- ing from gross, but even from the finest-spun sins, the very show and appearance thereof. Every earthly artist is so much regarded as he can show exactness in his profession. In false religions exactness is high- ly set by ; how great a sin and shame then is it that exactness in the most honourable art should only be reproached ! The enemies of preciseness most op- pose Christianity ; nay, they who are ashamed of holy strictness, are ashamed of the greatest glory. Obs. 6. Great is the safety of the ways of God. They presers'e from coming near the confines of sin and destruction. The farther from sin, the more dis- tant from danger. He who keeps himself far from sin, needs not fear though troubles come never so near. " The beloved of the Lord shall dwell in safety by him," Deut. xxxiii. 12 ; though they are not taken out of the world, yet they are kept from the evil, and so as that the evil one toucheth them not, John xvii. 15. Obs. 7. Religion provides for our fame as well as for our conscience. It keeps us from any appearance of a spot or suspicion of a sin. Sin martyrs the name, but holiness puts us upon those things only which are of good report ; our names are only scratched by the briers of sin. In keeping our purity we cannot part with our reputation, unless it be among those whose praise is our reproach, and whose reproach is our praise. Verse 24, 25. Xoio wito him that is able to keep i/ou from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory icith exceeding joy, to the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen. We have finished, by God's assistance, the two first parts of this Divine Epistle, viz. The title, contained in the two first verses ; and, The body and substance of the Epistle, contained from the 3rd verse to the 23rd. The third part, the conclusion, laid down in ver. 24, 25, remains to be handled ; though I shall rather briefly touch than handle these two verses ; both because my scope when I began this Epistle was to insist upon the body and substance thereof; and be- cause I have already at large spoken of the main part of the 24th verse, viz. Christ preserving us from falling; and also because the substance of the 2oth verse is handled by those who comment upon the Lord's prayer, and both largely and learnedly by Doctor Gouge in his Exposition of that prayer. These two verses shut up this whole Epistle with a sacred and solemn doxology, and the celebration of God's name by praise and thanksgiving. And three parts are herein principally considerable. I. The person to whom praise is given, the Lord Christ, set forth three ways. 1. By his power to keep these Christians from falling, and to present them faultless before, &c. 2. By his wisdom ; " the only wise God." 3. By his goodness ; " our Saviour." II. What the praise is that is given him, viz. the praise of" glory, majesty, dominion, power," all am- plified by their duration, " now and ever." III. The manner how this praise is given him, in- tended in this word, " Amen." I. The person to whom praise is given is so de- scribed by our apostle, as that the faith of these Christians may be the more confirmed in praying for and expecting those things to which Jude in this Epistle had exhorted them. 1. He is set forth by his power, (1.) To preserve them from falling. Of this power of Christ to pre- serve from falling into sin and misery I have at large spoken, p. 17, 18, on these words, "preserved in Je- sus Christ." (2.) He is set forth by his power to present thera " faultless before the presence of his glory with ex- ceeding joy." In which words are contained a de- scription of the glorious state of the church in heaven. This state is generally propounded, and particularly exemplified. 1. In the general proposition the saints are said to be presented " before the presence of his glory." 2. The particular exemplification thereof is, (1.) Privative, by removing of all deformity, noted in the word " faultless." (2.) Positive, by partaking of fulness of joy, noted in this expression, " with exceeding joy." 1. The saints are to be presented. The word pre- sent, (TTriaai, imports, I. To place or set, as Matt. iv. 5 ; xviii. 2 ; to dispose of a thing to a station. And, 2. To place it in a way of firmness and stability, to establish it, Rom. iii. 31 ; Matt. sii. 26. The same thing is intended both here and Eph. v. 2", where the apostle speaks of Christ's presenting to himself a glorious church ; in which place the word Tapaarfiari, present, is taken from the custom of solemnizing a marriage. First the spouse was wooed, and then set before or pre- sented to her husband, that he might take her for his 358 AN EXPOSITION UPON Ver. 24. wife to be with him. Thus Eve was presented by- God to Adam, that he might take her for liis wife, Gen. ii. 22, and Esther was presented to Ahasuenjs ; to which custom Paul elegantly alludes 2 Cor. xi. 2, " I have espoused you to one husband, that I may" 7rnpn(Tri(iTai, " present you as a chaste virgin to Christ." And this presentation is said to be before the pre- sence of his glory, i.-nT-Ei'iJTnoj' rijg SKiig atiTov. By this glory is meant the beaming forth, discovery, manifestation of the excellency of Christ before the saints ; that of which Christ speaks, John xvii. 24, " Father, I will that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory." By which glory I understand not only that glory of soul and body which he has in common with the saints, subjectively abiding and inherent in him ; but also that which is bestowed upon the human nature by the personal union, and its exaltation to the right hand of God, above all saints and angels. Before the presence of this his glory shall the saints be placed. Kanvwrnov, before it, coram, in conspeclu, in the full view of it, in a clear and open vision, right against it. The sunshine of Christ's glory shall be full upon them, and they look full upon it ; yea, so as to be made partakers of it in their measure : this sun looking upon them will make them shine also. Matt. xiii. 43. The spouse of Christ shall shine with his beams, and be advanced to his dignity, so far as she is capable of it; she shall eat and drink with him at his table in his kingdom, Luke xxii. 30; and it is said she shall be presented " a glorious church," Eph. V. 27. Thus we see this glorious estate is generally pro- pounded. But, 2. It is particularly exemplified; and that, (I.) Negatively ; and so it is said he will present the saints without spot, dfimiiovc, irreprehensible, un- blamable, such as in whom the greatest carper, or strictest and most curious beholder, shall not be able to behold any thing amiss, no defect of what should be, or excess of what should not be. The church shall not have "spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing," no stain or scar, no freckle or deformity ; nothing of stain or contagion received from others, no WTin- kle, no defect of spiritual moisture, nothing which may make her seem uncomely in Christ's eye : not only great and heinous sins, which are great botches and boils, but every least speck and wrinkle, shall be taken away. Now sin is subdued, but then it shall be rooted out. Here saints are freed from the power of it, but then from the presence of it also. He who will wipe away all tears from the eyes of his church, will undoubtedly take away all matter of mourning from her soul. Heaven would not be heaven to a saint, could any spot continue in heaven. But when sin is gone, sorrow must needs fly away : if the foun- tain be dried up, the streams must needs follow. Sin brought in tears, and tears shall go away with sin. Because saints shall be presented faultless, therefore with exceeding joy. For, (2.) This glory is exemplified positively, " with exceeding joy," ayaWidait : the word imports an ex- ceeding joy, with an outward leaping, dancing, or some such cheerful motion of body, an exultation wliich is expressed in the gesture. Unspeakable is the joy in the hoping for this glory, 1 Pet. i. 8 ; how great will the joy be of having it ! A bunch of grapes greatly delights, what then will all the crop of Canaan ! It is called not only fulness of joy, but joy itself. Matt. xxv. 21, 23 : and needs must it be so ; for what is joy but the quieting and resting of the Boul in its object, the filling it to the brim with what it desired ? Joy is the stilling of all our longings, a cessation of all our cravings. Joy to desire is what rest is in respect of motion. When motion ends, then comes rest. When desire is filled, then comes joy. Now what crevice or corner of the soul is there which shall not be satisfied in heaven by the immediate and perfect fruition of that chief good, God himself, who is the heaven of heaven, and who shall fill the soul, as those waterpots of Galilee were filled, up to the very brims ? There shall be no empty spaces left in the soul untaken up. He who has fulness enough to fill himself, a vast ocean, must needs have enough to fill the soul, comparatively a small vessel. He who is self-sufficient, all-sufficient, must needs be soul- sufficient. Thus the person is described in respect of his power. 2. He is set forth by his wisdom, in these words, " The only wise God." (I.) He is called " God;" of which largely before, p. 101, 102. (2.) He is called " wise." He oft in Scripture has the name wisdom itself, Prov. viii. 22 — 24, &c. Chrisi is called the wisdom of God. This his wisdom, i here attributed to God, is twofold. 1. His wisdom o: science, or theoretical wisdom, whereby he is omnt sclent, and with one immutable, eternal act of un- derstanding perfectly sees and perceives, observe and knows, all things. 2. His wisdom of working, whereby he does all things, both in respect of crea- tion and providence, with infinite wisdom, Job xii. 13. According to the former he is said to be " a God of knowledge," 1 Sam. ii. 3. There is no " creature that is not manifest in his sight : all things are naked and opened unto his eyes," Heb. iv. 13. " Known unto God are all his works," Acts xv. 18. He seetl under the whole heaven. According to the lattei he is said to make all his works in wisdom, Psal. ciir '24. By wisdom he " made the heavens," Psal. cxxxvi 5. " By wisdom hath he founded the earth, and established the world," Prov. iii. 19; Jer. x. 12; Isa. xl. 28; Psal. xcii. 6. (3.) He is said to be " only wise." Not to exclude the wisdom of the Father and Holy Ghost, but the wisdom of all the creatures ; as God the Father ii called the only true God, not to exclude the Son am Holy Ghost: and though the creatures have wisdom yet is not theirs comparable to Christ's, nor deserve the name of wisdom. I. For his wisdom of science which is universal, perfect, complete. [1.] He knowi himself and all things, John xxi. 17; 1 John iii. 20 " Known to God are his works," Acts xv. IS. " Hii understanding is infinite," Psal. cxlvii. 5. Whereas the greatest part of what man knows is the least part of what he doth not know. [2.] He knows " things to come," Isa. xli. 23. Men and devils cannot foretell future contingents, but either by God's discovery, or conjecturally. His prescience has so many witnesses as he has made prophets. P''^^"'"'""" "'=' [3.] He knows all things possible, though they never shall actually be ; his knowledge is as large as his power, and his power is such as that he can do more than he ever will do. An artificer may frame that house in his head which he never will set up with his hand. " God calleth those things which be not as though they were," Rom. iv. 17. [4.] He knows all things clearly, par- ticularly, distinctly. All things are anatomized, ripped up before him, Heb. iv. 13. His knowledge is not, as ours, general or confused. We are said to know a man, though we know not a hundred things in a man. p.] He knows the least things; every circumstance of every action. His knowledge extends itself to every hair of the head. Matt. x. 30, every spaiTow that lights on the ground. [6.] He knows things with one simple view ; not as man. by sense, opinion. tot haliet testes qiiot tacit pro- plietas. Tert. Ver. 25. THE EPISTLE OF JUDE. 35.' relation, reasoning, and discoursing, r^nd drawing conclusions from propositions, and gathering know- ledge of that which is less known hy that which is more known. He is not for knowledge beholden, as we are, to the images and representations of things, which first are printed on our fancy, and thence of- fered to our understanding. He goes not out of him- self to the objects for knowledge. He knew them before they were. [7.] He knows the most secret tilings, even the very thoughts of the heart; he knows them when they are, he knows them before they are ; as ^vhat we do think, so what we will think ; he puts thoughts into us, he publishes, punishes, reproves thoughts, Jer. xi. 20 ; xvii. 10 ; 1 Kings -smi. 39 ; Psal. cxxxix. 2 ; xciv. 1 1 ; Ezek. xiv. 3 ; 1 Cor. iv. 5 ; Matt. ix. 4. [8.] He knows permanently, nothing Blips out. He forgets nothing ; his knowledge can neither be diminished nor increased. And, 2. For the wisdom of his working. [1.] He only is originally wise ; the wisdom of the wisest is from him. Bezaleel's wisdom was bestowed by him; he teaches men wisdom. All wisdom, either specula- tive or practical, is from Christ ; every candle received light from his. The very husbandman's discretion is from God, Isa. xxriii. 26. [2.] He only is exactly, perfectly, thoroughly wise; all his works, for number, measure, and weight, are done to the height of wis- dom, not one of the creatures could have been made in greater wisdom. The fairest copy that was ever •written by the sons of men had some blots and scratches in it. The wisest men sometimes slip, and sleep like the wise virgins. [3.] He only is irresistibly wise, there is no wisdom against him, Prov. xxi. 30 ; none can go beyond him. He destroys the wisdom of the \vise, and bringeth " to nothing the under- standing of the prudent," 1 Cor. i. 19. 3. The person praised is set forth from liis good- ness and compassion in saving. Concerning the meaning of the word " Saviour," as also from what Christ saves, and how excellent a salvation his is, see p. 56, 57. n. The main part of this doxology is the praise itself which is here given to Christ, viz. the praise of " glory, majesty, dominion, power," all set forth by the duration, " now and ever." 1. "Glory." By it I understand that infinite and incomprehensible excellency by which Christ excels all, and for which he is to be honoured above all. The glory of a thing is that excellency thereof which causes it to be in high esteem, and procures fame and renown unto it. The glory of his essence is the Godhead itself. When Moses desired God to show him his glory, God answered, " Thou canst not see my face ; for there shall no man see me, and live," Exod. xxxiii. 20; so that God's glory is his face, and his face is himself. This glory is the fountain of all glory and excellence in the creature. All the creatures shine in any excellency with beams bor- rowed from God's glory, as the stars shine with the light they receive from the sun. And its brightness obscures all other glorj'. The glorious angels have wings to cover their faces ; otherwise the brightness of God's glory would dazzle them. The glory of God is without measure, infinite, above comprehen- sion, a light to which none can approach, 1 'Tim. vi. 16. When God darted a faint ray of tliis glory upon Moses's face, they were afraid to come nigh him. How much more may any creature be afraid to come to God by reason of the incomprehensible shining of his glorious face ! When the sun shines, the stars are not seen. When God's glory shines, no other is seen. Magnificenlia.est 2. " ilajcsty," flfyaXuOUri), majCStV Or «e"'MiTa"rum™"' Hiagnificencc. By this we are to under- cum animi ampia stand that admirable highness and great- ness, amplitude, splendour, dignity of qnadam et spi«>. Christ, as God, which appears princi- TXKo°-mt7d pally in his works, thereby making J"",'*'™,'"- '-'"^• himself wonderful, Psal. cxi. 3. The works of the Lord are great, and called wonderful. The royal majesty of Solomon, Ahasuerus, Nebu- chadnezzar, in their apparel, buildings, feastings, and attendance, were but sordid and contemptible in comparison of God's majesty shown forth in the truth, wisdom, justice, goodness, power of his works. In respect of these the psalmist saith, he is " clothed with honour and majesty." 3. "Dominion," icpaVos, properly signifying strength, Luke i. 51 ; sometimes power, and by consequent do- minion. I here understand by Kpa-og, the strength and ability of Christ, whereby he can do whatsoever he will. This strength and might extends itself to every thing that by power may be done. " Is any thing too hard for the Lord ?" Gen. xviii. 14. " With God nothing shall be impossible," Luke i. 37. " With God all things are possible," Mark x. 27. He is God Almighty, ■Kav-onpaTap. All things are within the compass of his power but such as import impo- tency and imperfection, as matters of iniquity, con- tradiction, passion, infirmity. All the power of the creature is derived from and subordinate to this, Psal. cxv. 3; cxlvii. 5; Eph. iii. 20, 21. 4. " Power," j Jot-am. The word sig- ^^ .f^^^,_ „„„ nines authority and power. It properly est jus propria, imports a liberty to do as one list. By qus'^uod" ?um'" it in this place Jude, I conceive, intends sQuum am im- , t J 11- guum, tacile et- that supreme sovereignty and authority fccium dat. Grot which Christ has over all things, in "> J-hn^..-. lo. governing and commanding them. He is an abso- lute Lord. 2. All these are amplified from their duration, " now and ever," Kal vvv Kal tig Trdvrag tovc aiwrac. " Now," that is, in this life, and in all the ages of the world. The original word, alwv, properly signifies that which is for ever; and because an age is the usual and longest distinction of time, this same word is put for age. And when there is no end of that which is spoken of, the plural number ages, or all ages, is used to set out the everlastingness of it. And this eternity properly taken is proper to God. For though other things are said sometimes to be for ever, and may have sempitemity or everlastingness, which looks forward to that whicli is to come ; yet they have not eternity, which looks backward and forward, and cannot, as here the properties of God, be said to be without beginning and end. Besides, the very con- tinuance of every creature is alterable and dependent, Acts xvii. 2S; Rom. xi. 36. All the glory, majesty, power, dominion of the creature is as the flower of the field, fading ; indeed every thing in this world, like flowers, the sweeter they are, the shorter lived they are, and the sooner withering ; the more beauti- ful, as they say of glass, the more brittle. III. Lastlv, In this Divine doxology . ., ,■, c^ 1 . °-' Amen srmacu- is considerable atter what manner, or lum oraimois with what affection, this praise is given : in"ju'a,'(''''^i. ^''"' this is set down in the word " Amen ;" which imports a confirmation of all that was said before, as is clear from 1 Kings i. 36. The Greek translators turn it yhono, be it done. And the root from whence the word cometh signifies as much ; but it was held fit by the primitive church, for the greater dignitv of the vvord, saith Angus- tim est inierpre- tine, not to translate it. Some have l*s'e!"ne°«'ti.m. noted that it cannot be translated with- T.\°f ."l^'^l"^ , , - . . , ^ 1 nudatiim. Au2. out losing much of its weight ; tor when irac. in Joim 41. it is added to a speech, it is, I. A note i,';'!,*'„°esye'c«T of assent ; and therefore it was not used se.i ad ,imii« only by the Jews at prayer, but at the pusmonts aikco- 3(JU AN EXPOSITION UPON THE EPISTLE OF JUDE. Ver. 25. quod credanl id omne quod rab- biui loquuntur. Buxtorf.de Syna po^. Judaic, c. 1. p. 6t. ri.as, dicere de- seiTOons and expositions delivered by Koc'sfsSen.f" the rabbins, to testify that the people assented and agreed to all that they taught. Hence Amen may not unfitly be called, as it were, a kind of audible subscription. Thus the apostle directs the Christians to speak in a known tongue, that the unlearned, understanding what he hears, may give his assent to it by saying Amen, I Cor. xiv. 16. 2. It imports earnest desire. Heuce Jeremiah said Amen to the false prophecy of Hananiah, concerning the return of the captives to their land, to show how earnestly he desired that it might be so, Jer. xsviii. 6. 3. Stedfast faith, or a trusting that the thing to which we say Amen shall so be as was spoken, eitlier when petitioned by us, or promised by God. And hence it is that Christ having made a promise of his Becond coming, the church saith Amen, Rev. xxii. 20. Having thus briefly explained this concluding doxology, I might draw from its several parts very many large and fruitful observations. But because I have noted many of them in the forenamed places, where I have met with the same subjects contained in these verses, as also because I only intended to touch upon this doxology, I shall conclude with these general notes. Obs. 1. Praising God is a work very suitable to saints. Obs. 2. After all exhortations for obtaining any good, God must be acknowledged the Author of that good. Obs. 3. It is our duty to praise God for future bless- ings, for what we have in hope as well as for what ve have in hand. Obs. 4. Spiritual blessings principally deserve our praises. Obs. 5. In our addresses to God we should have such apprehensions and use such expressions con- cerning him as may most strengthen our faith. Obs. 6. Our speeches concerning Christ must be with highest honour and reverence. 06.?. 7- Praise should conclude that work which prayer began. Obs. 8. The concluding thanksgivings which are afExrd to writings are only to be given to God, Rom. xvi. 27; 2 Tim. iv. 18; Heb. xlii. 21. I have ever with the deepest ab- ^^Tl)\'fro°^°' horrence of soul looked upon the end- p"*- Es''"s in ings of many popish books, especially of those made by Jesuits, who share their concluding praises between God and saints. Thus Tannerus concludes his first tome of School Divinity, Pineda his Comment on Ecclesiastes, with returns of praise to God and the Virgin. Sanctius ends his on the Kings and Chronicles with ^.rs'p'^i'ronl e?" ascribing the glory to God, the Virgin i-neiares ad™- nr T° . • ° J Ti ■ V ■ cav], pag. 1059. Mary, Ignatius, and francis Xavier; all which, saith he blasphemously, I have called upon as my patrons and defenders in performing this work. Thus Baronius ends the first tome of his .„■ - n ■ Annals with ascribing the praise there- iri'-f M«rix 1™°' of to God the Father, Son, and Holy ?^;,^';i'ia"rw.°" Ghost, and, to use his own words, to the Baron, ad fio. most holy Virgin Mary, the mother of °"'' ' ""^ • ■ God, and our reconciler. But Cornelius Tua ope etinter- a Lapide exceeds all in blasphemy and quod'Kfc e'Veriuj ■' ' ' .. ., ... • . scripsi. interius Spirilus Sanctus ?erat. Cornel. I idolatry, who divides all the praises between St. Paul and the Virgin Mary ,., -- at the end of his Comment on Paul's litlili" "'''• Epistles. He tells Paul, that by his strength and intercession he had per- omai^'iSeo^M. formed that work, and he desires him U°J''„''"% jf '"., to grant that the Holy Ghost may make juvn. msiruxii, ' his writings beneficial to others ; yet he d^.'s'llmpo"!.!."''' tells the Virgin Mary that he owes mens et manns , . .p , ^,, , . 1 .L -L J niea nerent cala- himseli and all his works to her, and mus scribe vfio. that she has made his dull mind and Si'f^bTd"'""""' hand as the pen of a ready writer. For myself, all good that I can do, or in this or any other service have done, I humbly desire may be re- turned only to the honour and praise of my most dear and blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, whose grace was the principle of all that is rightly done in this performance, whose Spirit was my guide in doing it, whose word was my rule, whose glory was my end, whose merit can alone procure acceptance for me and all my services, and the everlasting enjoyment of whose presence is my soul's desire and longing. Amen. TUB EiTD. GENERAL INDEX. PAOB Abilities, proportioned to services required , 128 Accuse, the meauing of tlie word . . • 204 Adam, greater happiness by the Second than the first . . . . .21 all Issue from .... 209 Admiration should only be of things truly great . 303 of men's persons, what, and why con- demned . . . .321 from others sinfully received . • 324 of men, helps against * * . 324 Affections, corrupt, darken the judgment • . 213 Affliction, the lot of God's Israel . , .113 Ages, a proneness to sin in all , . , 169 Agreement in sinning among the wicked , 159, 183 Alliance in faith the nearest . , ,4 Ambition knows no bounds . • , . 242 Amen, what it comprehends . . , 359 Angels, the word, their nature and office . 125, 126 their attendance shows God's glory . 127 much above man .... 128 their first estate, what . . . 129 their own habitation, what . . , 130 the cause of their fall discussed . . 133 their first sin . . . 134, 135 their defection final and total . .135 how reserved to judgment . , , 144 about what they contend . . , 196 the bad overpowered by the good . . 199 Antiquity, how far to be followed , , , 302 Apostacy, the imitation of the devil , , • 136 preservations against it . . . 277 Apostates, they are the worst who have seemed the best . . . . . .137 Apostles, which of them intended by Jude . . 325 why Jude makes use of the testimony of the .... . 326 Appearances of evil to be loathed and shunned • 356 of good ought to be loved • . 357 Appetite, sensual, deceitful .... 217 Archangel, whether only one . , , 191 wherein his superiority . . , 191 Authority, God opposes the opposers of lawful . 244 B Balaam, his country, parentage, and office . 228, 229 his error, what .... 229 Beginnings in holiness, engagements on us to go on 57 Behold, the word, how used in Scripture . 303 Best gifts of God most freely given to saints 49, 59 Blessings, spiritual, satisfactory . , 59 Boasting, of seducers, and their own rain-glorious appearance .... 26S the work of the wicked ... 318 must not seduce us from the truth . 320 helps against .... 320 Body abused by sin and uncleanness . . 171 Bondage of Israelites in Egypt, how cruel . . 110 Bounds, men naturally love not to be held within any ...... 353 Building up ourselves in the faith, what is implied by . . . . . 339 how this is done by ourselves . . 340 Burial, decent, to be afforded to the deceased . 200 220 221 221 222 26 23 3 129 119 195 290 137 138 85 13 Cain, who he was, his birth, name . his ways . . . • his course, why called a way . , went in the way of Called ones should carry themselves suitably to their calling .... Caller, God is the .... Calling required for undertaking Divine employ ments ..... Care to be taken of those who are below us Cause, the worst has commonly the most abettors Censure not to be passed upon every one accused Certainty of the misery of the wicked • Chains, what Jude understands by . . of devils, how and why everlasting • Chance, there is none in regard of God , Change of a sanctified person very great Chastisements on church differ from punishing of sinner ...... IS") Christ, how the cause of our preservation . , 19 liable to all dangers out of . • .20 have recourse in all dangers to . ,21 no peace without . . . ,34 how Lord and only Lord . . 98 — 100 power of . . . . . 100 true God . • . . . .101 infinite wisdom, justice, love, &c. shown in the incarnation of .... 102 the only Saviour . ' . . . 102 his members dignified and blessed . . 103 denied, how many ways . . . 103 the denial of, how sinful . . 104 denying, how to keep from . . . 105 his high advancement . . . 127 Christianity does not destroy, but strengthens, the powers that be , . • . • . 177 3G2 GENERAL INDEX. Church, we should not be offended at the wicked in the . . . , .77 Satan attempts in sundry ways to injure the 77 most hurt by subtlety . . .78 wonder not that seducers are in the . 85 shall not to utterly destroyed . . 115 most opposed by Satan when God begins to keep it , . . .115 what given to it not to be alienated from it 253 trouble its portion . , , , 282 her greatest trouble within herself , , 283 unnecessary separation from it sinful . 335 preservatives against unnecessary separa- tion from the . • . • 336 Clouds, their nature, use . , . . 257 why seducers are called . , . 257 wherein they resemble ministers . . 2i31 without water, wherein they resemble se- ducers , . , . , 265 Commands of God easy in the end, though hard at first . . . . . .117 Commendation of themselves by the least commend- able . . . . . .319 Company of the wicked, the lot of the good . 253 Compassion toward others* souls after sinning , 351 Condemnation, taken several ways . , .79 to which the seducers were appoint- ed, what . . . .79 woe of seducers, why called . . 80 of wicked begun in this life . . 80 of wicked, how to be shunned . 81 Conflicts, directions for spiritual , . 70 — 73 Consent between the inspired penmen harmonious . 326 Contention for best things the greatest . . 72 Contentions, our cause should be good in all . 200 Contentment our duty . . . .29 in our wants, by having God for us , 92 Conviction at the last day, what . . . 307 Core, pedigree, employment, posterity of . 237, 238 his gainsaying, and its sin . , . 239 destruction of . ' , . . 241 Corruption, attendant on natural knowledge . 214 Courtesy, Christianity no enemy to • .53 Covetousness, an incentive to all sin . , 235 Cowardice, none in not daring to sin • . 207 Curse on the creatures for man's sin ■ , 156 D Darkness, why used to depict the misery of the wicked ..... 141 different kinds of it . . . 289 the world lies in . . . . 290 Dead servants of Christ most honoured by the wicked . . . . * . 203 how seducers are said to be twice . . 270 Death, the sorts of — spiritual . . , 270 Decays in grace repugnant to a Christian's welfare . 49 Defilement, the best in this world subject to , 356 Defiling by sins of unchastity . , . 171 Deformity of sinners .... 249 Deliverance of Israel out of Egypt, how great 109 — -113 of church not hindered by difficulties . 116 not given until welcome . .110 Deliverances abused make way for jucJgments . 119 Denial of Christ ..... 104 Despair, how to be armed against temptations to . 85 to be shunned even by the worst . , 161 Destruction, total, never befalls Israel . . 115 Devil, cannot hurt us unless he get us within his chain ..... 139 rages because his time is short . . 146 the name considered .... 191 in what respects an accuser . . , 192 a hurtful spirit .... 194 a harsh master .... 195 dispute between Michael and the . , 197 Devils, not reformed by torments . . .139 can do nothing without God's permission . 139 PA OB Difference, how to make between sinners a . 350 Dignity, to be in duty the greatest . . , 193 Diligence, about greatest matters should be shown the greatest . . . .54 greatest in service of Christ . . 100 Doctrine of faith, how unalterable . . .68 precious . . .69 Doctrines suitable to the condition of the people to be preached . , . .60 derogatory to Christ's honour to be shun- ned ... 101 Dominion, meaning of the word . . 172 what kind attributed to magistrates 173, 174 how despised .... 175 sinful to despise .... 176 how attributed to God . . . 176 Dreamers, why seducers are called , . . 185 Duration of the misery of the wicked , . 290 Eagerness of sinners in sin .... 233 suspicious when excessive . , 236 Earthly greatness vain at the last day . , 151 heavenly things to be learnt from things . 293 Egyptians* cruelty to Israel . . , 110 — 112 Enemies of the faithful, many , . 18, 57 of Christ cannot escape . . , 100 of church, cruel to it . . . 114 fulfil God's will in their very attempts to frustrate it ... . 116 of God easily overcome by God . , 209 of God cause their own shame , . 284 Enoch, how the seventh from Adam . . 297 why Jude so calls him . . . 297 his prophecy, whence received . . .300 why referred to by Jude . 301 Euvv", stirred up in the wicked by God's goodness , 113 the evil and folly of . , , , 225 its mark is excellency .... 243 Exactness in carriage the honour of a Christian . 357 Example, we easily follow even the worst . . 160 what Jude means by the word CEiy/ia . 167 how the Sodomites were an . . 167 Examples of great ones in sin often followed . IGO of caution, why the Lord gives them . 1G8 how to derive benefit from them . , .170 Exhortation, how to be used by ministers . . 61 a help to be embraced . . .62 Expectations, the most hopeful, disappointed by sin 120 in earthly blessings often disappoint us 223 Faith, diversely taken • . • .62 why the word of God is called , . 63 how contended for by Christians . , 70 why called "holy" . . . .338 how built up in . . . . 339 Faithfulness of God in fulfilling his promises . 116 Fame preserved by religion .... 357 Fear, the grounds of .... 206 of God, the bridle of sin . , .207 saving others with . * . . 251 Feasting, not always unlawful ... 254 we are too prone to cast away holy fear in 256 Feasts of charity ..... 246 Feeding, how by the seducers . , . 248 how without fear .... 249 Fewness of saints no derogation from the word . 66 Filthiness of sin and sinners . . . 250 Fire, wherewith the Sodomites were consumed, what, and how . , . . .163 the wrath of God more dreadful than . . 353 six things denoted by the plucking out of the 354 Flattery, great men made miserable by . . 323 Foaming out their own shame by seducei-s . . 284 GENERAL INDEX. 363 Forbearance of punishment no sign of total im- munity . . . .85 of God towards sinners great , 293 Fornication of Sodom as understood by Jude . 157 Freeness of God greatest in giving the best blessings 59 of the gospel ... 89, 90 ought to be in our services • . 90 Fruit, how persons are said to be without . . 2G9 Fruitfulness, in grace honours God , . .47 pleases God . . .47 makes us beneficial to others . 48 our duty and dignity . . .48 promotes our comfort here and here- after . . . . .48 the means to . . . . 276 Fruits, what sorts the wicked may bear . . 268 how those of the wicked are withering , 269 some borne by the worst trees . . 273 Fury, men's shame discovered by their rage and . 284 Gainsaying of Core, what meant by it • • 239 its sinfulness . . . 240 Garments spotted by the flesh . . . 355 Gentleness to be used in exhortation . . 62 Gifts aud graces of others to be commended . 326 not bestowed on us for our own benefit alone 351 Glory, our graces being derived from God should be devoted to his . . . .15 of God to be maintained . . .19 saints most offended at opposition to God's 209 God just in staining the world's . . 324 Gluttony the sinfulness of . . . 255, 256 God, wiiat is meant by a propriety in . .90 why called by Jude our God . . 90, 91 advantages of a propriety in . . .92 not sufficient to have a common propriety in . 92 how to obtain this propriety in . , 92 they should manifest it who have a propriety his goodness occasions wantonness gracious to abusers of grace Christ proved to be . greatly to be feared gracious in greatest severity the same in all ages his greatness and dominion Goodness of cause exempts it not from opposition Gospel, we ought to praise God much for the covet to be interested in the benefits of the contempt of it a heinous sin Grace, in us an ornament to our kindred converting, excels restraining repair to God when in want . to be maintained what is meant by the multiplication of though ours be multiplied, we must not de spise the helps to . a saint allows not himself in any deficiency of multiplied from God . in this life incomplete . for every child God has enough of where begun, more shall be bestowed given by God suitably to all the exigences of the saints .... what it signifies understood in several ways . why the doctrine of the gospel is called neglected, leaves no escape how turned into lasciviousness the sinfulness of turning it into lascivious ness .... its doctrine to be taught warily not to be abused • , 92 95 96 99, 10;) 129 169 169 193 72 25 90 166 7 12 16 16 46 49 50 50 50 51 51 51 89 89 89 90 93 95 97 H PAOB Hard speeches, what sorts of . . . 309 often uttored against the best de- serving .... 310 Hatred of others for increasing in grace, impious . 49 of sin must accompany reprehension of sin 357 Heart, not bettered by best of outward administra- tions . . . . .95 if unholy, sucks poison out of the best things 96 sinful actions spring from inward corruption of the , . . . 285, 316 unrenewed, when stirred, discovers its filth . 286 not quieted with outward fulness . . 313 Heaven, the dangers of this life should commend to us , . . . .57 but one way to . . . .59 its joys despised by sinners because joined with holiness .... 132 the habitation of the glorified . . 132 Hinderance of others from increasing In grace sin- ful 48 Holiness cannot be hid . . . .13 of a sancti^ed person not purely nega- tive . . . . .13 great love of God to . • .15 the excellency of . . . 15, 131 much opposed by its enemies . . 18 and truth only can plead antiquity , 131 opposition universal between sin and , 199 Holy ones only to attend Ciirist at the last day . 306 House of God, why saints are called the . , 340 Human helps to be used for the advancement of truth ...... 7 Humility, our graces administer matter of . .15 the ordaining of the wicked to condemna- tion should incite the best to . .85 the more eminent we are, the greater should be our .... 193 Hypocrisy sinful in its shows . . . 265 Hypocrites unstedfast . . . ,20 at last discovered • • • 278 Ignorance, the sorts of ... . 211 the cause of opposing the ways of God , 212 Ignorant, sinful for them to speak evil of what they know not .... 211 persons most ready to speak . .211 must forbear to speak evil . 213 Illumination should be accompanied with purity of affection . . . . . .206 Importunity to be used for the good of souls . 62 Imprecations to be avoided .... 219 Incarnation, man's nature dignified by Christ's . 102 Incorrigibleness in sin a dismal state . . 277 Innocence is no shelter from opposition . . 242 Insensibility of sinner great . . , . 183 Instructors of others sin greatly in seducing . 293 must strike at the sins to which we are most inclined .... 317 Instruments, the meetest used by Satan . . 74 of public good often ill requited . 243 Irrational, every sinner is . . . . 132 Israelites, great deliverance and destruction of the . . ■ . 109, &c. God's mercy and severity great to the . 120 James, how the brother of the Lord . • 6 held in high esteem by the church . . 6 holiness in life and death of . . 6 Jude, signification of the name . • • 1 author of this epistle . • • • 1 parentage of . • • > I 364 GENERAL INDEX. Jude, distingnished from Judas Iscariot by sundry names . , , . . 1, 2 how and why he styles himself the setTant of Christ ..... 3 why called the brother of James . . G, 7 Judge at the last day, Christ, and why . 147 — 149 Judgment, God merciful in . . . . 120 of the last day, what . . . 143 if rash, sinful .... 145 happiness of those who shall be able to stand in the .... 146 Judgment-day, in it the greatest enemies of God weak .... 146 why called a day, and how . . 146 in what sense great . . 147 to be regarded as most certain . 150 to be longed for . . . 152 labour to make this great day prove a good day to us . . . 152 happiness of saints in respect of the 152 may be cheerfully thought of by the sainta .... 152 our backwardness to think of the . 303 Judgments, not kept off by worldly strength . 156 spiritual, the sorest . . 186 Knowing naturally, what it means . . . 214 like brute beasts, why . . 214 Knowledge, of the Christians mentioned by Jude . 108 very commendable in Christians . 108 of Scripture, needful for all . . 109 a strong engagement to practice ■ 109 of truth unchangeable . . . 109 a great sin to speak evil against . 213 spiritual, opposed, causes the loss of the reasonable .... 216 Known evils to be spoken against ... 213 Lasciviousness, as meant by Jude . . .93 Last times, in which the seducers appeared . . 327 require most care and watchfulness . 328 therefore the people of God should bear and forbear .... 328 Law, difference between the gospel and the . 90 Laziness to be avoided in our heavenly course . 237 Leaders in sin, their impiety . . 234,241 Liberty, most cruel are the pleaders for . . 228 in sin, a token of God's anger . , 237 in forsaking God's service no . . 140 Life, new, of a sanctified person, wherein it consists 10 Light, that here and hereafter greatly different . 291 of the word, labour to walk by the . . 291 Longest lived, there was a succession even of the . 299 Looking for future happiness, wherein it consists . 347 quickens to present duty 348 Lord, in what respects Christ is called . . 98 how Christ is only . . . .99 supper of the, a love-feast . , , 250 comes, how ..... 304 Lords, worldly, must govern warily and conscien- tiously ...... 100 Love, of God, ever expressive . . .10 several kinds of . . . .35 to God, its properties . . 36 — 38, &c, to man, its properties . , 42, 43 to God, from God . . . .43 the best thing we can render to God is . 44 ill-placed, if set on the creature . . 44 to be set on God . . . .44 if set on God, will be also given to man . 45 God shows his goodness by enjoining mutual 46 of God, not to be measured by outward events 225 toward God, how preserved . , . 345 of God, proneness to decay in . . 345 Love of God an excellent preservative against error Lust, men made to err through love of loves not to be bridled . . is never satisfied . . • . rAsii 345 171 178 233 M Magistracy strengthened by Christianity . . 177 Magistrates, how they defend the faith . 70, 71 suffered to be burdensome to a people, a sign of God's wrath God is seen in causing men's sub- jection to . their power to be improved for God . most opposed by the ungodly . why called dignities . . . spoken ill of in several ways . . the sin of speaking evil of should beware of blemishing their dignity .... God is highly provoked when he pours contempt upon . , . to preserve their authority by becoming means is lawful for . not to be flattered . . . Majesty, how attributed to God . , . Man, by sin made a hurtful creature . , God's care great of the safety of . . full of disorder by sin .... merely such, steady in no relation . Manner of committing sin is that which shall con- demn ...... Martyrs, the devil has his . . . . Men, why seducers are called . . rest not content in being merely . . beware of those who are merely natural to them God more gracious than to angels . Mercy, the several kinds of . . . , of God distinguished according to the several requirements of his people . 27,28 properties of God's . . . 28,29 impiety and folly of those who abuse God's 29 imitate God in sliowing . , .30 in judgment God remembers , , 120 different significations of the word . of Christ, why it is so called Mercies, we should labour for the best and choicest before God wounds persons by judgments, he labours to win them by an unholy heart not benefited by even mi- raculous ..... Michael, signification of the name . . his person, office, and place . 19C Ministers, should be of untainted reputation the beauty of agreement among . the dignity and duty of . ought to promote and pray for the peace of others .... the holiness of the people is the crown of the .... . i" their duty to love their people their labour should proceed from love the people should study to be fit for the love of their .... their love must be ardent love to their persons causes love to their doctrines .... why they should labour to be beloved the utmost they can do is to use diligence diligence the commendation of . if diligent, not to be neglected their desire should be to benefit as many as possible .... great is the dignity of their ofEce must contend for the faith in a twofold manner ..... not to be discouraged by the forgetfulnesa of the people .... 108 must not contrive but recall doctrinei ■ lOS 176 176 176 177 178 179 179 180 181 182 182 359 74 166 216 242 309 354 74 74 74 141 27 346 346 30 119 119 190 191 7 7 25 35 48 52 53 53 53 53 53 54 54, 262 55 55 65 71 GENERAL INDEX. 365 PAQB Ministers, ought to commend their people's profi- ciency , . . . . 109 must be full clouds . . . 262 are upheld by God's power . . 263 must not in this world look for a quiet condition .... 263 why compared to stars . . . 287 Ministry, not to be entered on by the uncalled . 243 Mockers, what we are to understand by . . 329 their confusion just • . . 330 Mocking, the great sinfulness of . • . 329 be patient under . . • . 330 Moderation not always commendable . . 73 Mortification, nature of true . . 8, &c. outside, or mere superstitious . 13 Moses, reason of the contention about the body of . 197 Murmuring, what is meant by . . , , 311 great folly and sinfulness of . . 312 most frequent among the least deserring 313 remedies against . . . 314 N Names, commend us not to God . . .2 the best made odious by the wicked . 2 baptismal, should admonish of duty . 2 we should do nothing to which "we are not willing to put our . . .3 Nature, all sinful practices arise from the deprava- tion of . . . . . 131 of man, very depraved . . . 160 Necessity, diversely taken in Scripture . . 59 Needful, benefitting of souls an employment the most . . . . . .60 New doctrines to be avoided , . .68 lights, meaning of the phrase . > .68 Now and ever, meaning of the phrase . . 359 Number of sinners, when greatest, are unable to Trithstand God . . . . .119 Obedience to men, to be such only as Christ allows . 100 Occasions of evil to be shunned . . . 355 Offenders, can be made by God their own afflicters . 140 open examples should be made of open . 168 Omniscience of God ..... 145 Once, the word, how used . . , , GG how faith delivered . . . .66 Order, comeliness of . . . . . 194 Ordinances of Christ to be highly esteemed . 103 Ordination to condemnation . . .79 this of old . . 81 of God opposed by corrupt nature . 161 Own, how lusts are said to be their . . 316 Pains-taking of sinners in sin . . . 161 Parents, ought to be thankful for their children . 223 though bad, may have good children . 241 Parts, excellent, often given to the worst . . 234 Patience of God toward sinners . . . 165 helped by having a God to befriend us . 210 Patriarchs, their succession mentioned for sundry reasons ...... 296 Peace, several kinds of . . . .31 of conscience, its excellency . . .33 to be found in the ways of holiness only . 34 means to preserve . . . .35 belongs not to the wicked . , , 281 People should be fit objects for the love of their pastor . . . . .53 must not neglect their own souls, nor their minister . . . . .55 Perfections, the highest created, defeelible , . 136 Performances of Cains please not God . 224 Permission of God, the devil can do nothing without the ■ . . . . . .139 Perseverance, opposers of it confuted . . 19 Persuading of others to serve Christ best done by becoming his servants ourselves . , .5 Plenty, the greatest earthly, given to the greatest sinners ..... 155 of places occasions impiety of inhabitants . 155 Plucked up by the roots .... 273 Portion of every one set out by God . • , 313 Power, of God to preserve the word • • 68 in turning the will . • . 236 how attributed to God . . . 359 of Satan limited . . . .208 Prayer, a help to love God . . • .46 nature of . . . . . 343 made to God only .... 342 in the Holy Ghost . . . .342 cannot be performed without the Spirit . 343 Presence of God, the greatest wisdom to obtain it in glory . . , 143 a comfort against all distresses . 143 Present you before the presence of his glory . 357 Preservation of the godly, threefold . . ,16 in holiness perpetual . . .18 Presumption ends in despair . . . 228 Pretexts, specious, cast on foul courses . , 96 Prevention of sin in others from our own sufferings for sin ...... 169 Pride, how unbeseeming . . . .29 first sin of the angels . . . 134 very incident to a high estate . . 136 Profession, if mere, will end in ungodliness . 88 contradicted by practice amounts to a de- nial of Christ . . . .105 Progressiveness in sin usual . . . 161 Propagation of sin to ours .... 223 Prophecy of Enoch, whence Jude received the . 300 Prophesying, meaning of the word . . . 300 Proportion, there is often between sin and punish- ment a ..... . 116 Proudest spirits the basest .... 324 Providence of God for man's peace . . 176 Quickening, the best Christians want . . 63 R Railing, import of the word .... 204 accusation, the sin of . . . 205 the means to avoid .... 206 Rain, resemblance between the word and . . 258 Reason, sensual objects not to be contended with by the mere light of ... . 216 Rebuking of Satan, what it imports . . 207 why Michael desires to be en- gaged in . . . 208 causes him to desist from mis- chief . . . .208 Remembrance, what ..... 107 why needful . . . 107 Repeated truths not to be slighted . . . 107 Reprobation, a double act in , • .82 absolute . . ■ .82 immutable . . . ,83 exceptions against the doctrine pre- vented . . . 83, 84 of others not to be judged of . .85 we ought to be most thankful if ex- empted from . . .85 Restraint differs from reformation . . . 139 Revenge unsuitable to a saint . . • 209 Reward, error of Balaams and seducers for . 229 Righteousness of God in punishing sinners . . 165 Rome, fitly called spiritual Sodom . . . 160 our separation from it justified . . 334 366 GENERAL INDEX. FAOB Safety, sinners without ... 20, 57 in the ways of God . • • * 357 Saints, in this life we must be . . .12 esteemed of God . . • .13 causelessly complained of as troublers . 14 safe . . . . . 18, 57, 129 in two respects , . . ,65 to whom the faith was delivered . . 65 keepers of the word . . , ,66 the world indebted to the . . ,66 the cause of Satan's rage against :'ie . 66 wherein consists the strength of . ,70 their straits often great . . .114 difference between the sleep of the wicked in sin and that of . , . . 187 Salvation, different acceptations of the word . 56 the state of the faithful called . . 57 of the faithful begun here . . f>l Scripture appointed for . . ,57 in what sense called common , 58, 59 because common, to be the more laboured for . , . . .59 Sanctification, different meanings of the word , 8 the parts of , , . 8—10 changes not our substance, but only our disorder , , .12 admits of no agreement with sin . 13 puts no limits to grace . .13 how God is the author of . .14 in what respect attributed to Cod the Father , . ,14 Satan, our great adversary . , . ,69 fights where he cannot prevail , , 72 labours most to spoil the best things , 72 uses the meetest instruments , 74, 233 contends witii the strongest , . , 200 molests the most advanced . . . 200 aims in all contentions to draw us to sin . 201 can adduce fair reasons for the foulest prac- tices ..... 202 delights in opposing God's honour . . 202 attempts to make the holiest the greatest occasions of sin ..... 203 6a\ed, none should be willing to be so alone , 59 Schism, the nature of , . . , 333 the sinfulness of . . . 333 Secrecy, no shelter for sin . . . 3JS Seducers, danger from ... 3O a necessary part of the ministry to opoose 60 slighted by the apostle . , .74 infamous , . , • 75 numerous . , , , ,75 vigilancy required against . , 75 the subtlety of , , . 76, 77 Christian often mistaken in . .78 modest in the beginning of sin . . 78 their shame at length laid open . . 283 compared to wandering stars . . 287 Self-advancement, a sin and folly to be shunned , 320 Self-soothing, and flattery dangerous , . 187 helps against .... 188 Sensual, wherein seducers were , . . 336 Sensuality, the cause of sinful separation . , 337 opposes sanctity . . . 338 Separating themselves, what the apostle means by this . . . . . .333 Separation from God, misery of , . 141, &c. Servant of Christ, in three respects . . .3 Servants of Christ, there should be unity among the 100 of God, the worst are often compelled both to entertain and express a high opinion of the . . . , . 203 Severity, not be regulated by outward respects , 352 necessity should be the mother of , . 353 to sin is mercy to the soul , . ■ 353 to be exercised with a view of saving , 353 Bhame, when sinful , ... 49 Sin, how fearful we should be of . . • heinousness of . . . • • loves not to be seen in its own colours the greatest evil in the world . of angels ..... nothing so truly vile and base as a course and trade in, makes us resemble Satan the pleasures not comparable to the pains of . boldness in it, madness . . . sleeping in, threefold . . . • helps against sleeping in • • , a person's greatest shame . . , Sincerity, inconsistent with unstedfastness , , best test of , , , , Sinners, most irrational , . • , gross is the delusion of , how foolish are .... compared to sleepers it is a high commendation to shun sin, when necessitated to converse with eagerness in sin .... know not where they shall stop deformity of ... . Sinning of the godly and wicked different . Slanderers are Satan's first-born Slanders, to be expected by saints . , how to prevent . . , , Sleep of saints difi'ers from that of the wicked in sin in sin, helps against , . . . Sleepers compared to sinners . , Sleeping ....,, Snares attend the best enjoyments , Sodom and Gomorrha , , , , the cities about why rather named by Jude than the other cities why mentiOTied rather than the inhabitants Spots, what, and why the seducers are so called Straits of saints are often great . . , Teachers of others, first to be taught themselves Ten thousands, signification of the word the saints are called in three respects his holy . . , , Thanksgivings attached to writings should be ascribed only to God , . , , Thirst after the word, of what kind Threatenings, Divine, should terrify from sin against some should warn others Times, we should be best in tfie worst heinous are the sins of these latter , we must act holily in the worst the wicked worst in the best , • Titles, flattering, not to be given Toleration, impurity not prevented by Tongue, sinful extravagancy of an unmortified fears not to lash dignities . if wicked, is rugged, harsh, and grating 21 30 78 92 134 136 139 140 151 184 188 283 19 236 133 142 145 184 206 233 237 249 ■228 196 195 196 187 188 184 184 95 153 154 154 154 246 114 59 305 305 300 264 302 302 73 169 298 328 100 161 180 180 310 U Unbelief, why Israel was most punished for soon discovered by difficulties allowed, keeps up other sins our great proneness to not excused by tlie greatest dangers remedies against , Unbelievers, meaning of the v/ord in Scripture greatest enemies to themn^ ves Uncleanness, the different kinds of , the odiousness of helps against , • followed peculiarly witn vengeance body abused by Ungodliness, wherein it consists . . 121 122 122 123 12'i 124 120 123 158 159 162 164 171 87 GENERAL INDEX. 367 Ungodly, meaning of the term though reputed godlj-, men may be tremble to be . deeds, how ungodlily committed . their sinning different from that of the saints .... sin not from infirmity Unholiness unsuitable to those to whom the faith is delivered ..... Unity to be pursued by saints Unpeaceableness not caused by godliness saints differ from the wicked in Unstable, the, are empty . . . Unstableness, threefold . . . causes of . . • Unstedfastness, preservatires against • Variety of places ordered by God's wisdom for ha- bitation .... Vengeance, different meanings of the word Vocation, several sorts of effectual, sixfold . not for own worthiness consists not of mere moral persuasion not to be defeated by the liberty of the will . . . . . W Walking with God, wherein it consists privilege of after lust, wherein it consists War of a Christian, laborious, dangerous Warned, should be forearmed . . Warding often betters not sinners . given by God before he strikes of seducers, must be given by ministers Waves, raging, why seducers are called Way, there is to heaven but one of Cain .... Weakness in ourselves for spiritual conflicts PAGB 86 8S 89 309 309 309 66 59 35 286 266 259 260 266 154 163 21 22 23 24 24 297 298 316 73 327 155 219 326 279 59 222 73 Wisdom, of the wicked often comes too late to have Christ our friend the greatest needful in a repairer of God, what, and how excellent Withering in holiness unsuitable to a Cnristian Woe, meaning of the word . the end of wickedness of every one from himself Woes, spiritual, the worst to be denounced against the wicked by mi nisters .... Word, the, most worthy of our assent their condition miserable who want they are stable who rest upon how said to he delivered the necessity of its being delivered God the author of be thankful for . the sin of obtruding on others a faith not contained in . the sin of parting with . to be delivered to, not kept from, others the sin of those who pretend they can live without perfect .... God's blessing to be expected on of God pure of God, a Christian's foundation Words, retponsible to Christ for our spoken against saints, accounted by Christ as spoken against himself swelling .... sin of great and swelling Worldly increase, not worth contending for enjoyments, not to value ourselves by Wrath of God, very dreadful changes the use of the creatures Writing, excellency in four respects of sin of those who abuse to be used for others' salvation Written word, our readiness to swerve from the goodness of God in bestowing the impiety of those who slight the its necessity as a rule . PAGE 117 306 351 358 273 218 218 317 218 219 63 63 63 63 64 64 64 64 63 66 68 68 68 168 341 3U 311 318 319 48 92 166 166 55 56 58 56 56 56 60 AH EXPOSITION THE EPISTLE OF SAINT PAUL I PHILIPPIANS, / . BY THE REV. JEAN DAILLE, MUflSTEE OF THE FRENXH KEFORMED CHURCH AT CHARENTOS, A. D. 1639. TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH BY THE REV. JAMES SHERMAN^ MINISTEB OF SUEiaiY CHAPEL. EDINBURGH: JAMES NICHOL. LONDON : JAJIES NISBET & CO. M.DCCC.LXV. MEMOIR REV. JEAN DAILLE. JEAN Daille, a celebrated French protestant minister, was born at Chattellerault, in the year 1594. His father, who was the receiver of the consignations at Poitiers, designed him for business, and to become his successor in his office. But observing his son's strong inclination to books, he judiciously yielded to it, and sent him, when he had attained his eleventh year, to St. Maixent, in Poitou, to acquire the rudiments of learning. He con- tinued his studies successively at Poitiers, Chattellerault, and Saumur. At the last place he finished his course of philosophy under the celebrated Mark Duncan ; and began his theological studies at Saumur, in the year 1612. In the same year he was received into the family of the illustrious M. du Plessis-Mornay, in the honourable capacity of tutor to his two grandsons. This was one of the most felicitous providences in M. Daill^'s life ; for though he was, doubtless, well qualified for his trust, and faithfully discharged it, yet it is said that he received as much instruction from the venerable grandfather as he communicated to the grandsons. Mornay was extremely pleased with him, and frequently read with him, and imparted to him those rich stores of learning and knowledge with which his own mind was furnished; so that some have attributed the great celebrity which Daille afterwards at- tained to the assistance he received from his noble patron; and it may be justly supposed that the counsels and instructions of that excellent man were not wasted on him. x\fter enjoying the advantages of this situation for seven years, he set out on his travels with his pupils, and went to Geneva, and thence through Piedmont and Lombardy to Venice, and other parts of Italy. While at Mantua one of his pupils was taken ill, and he removed him, with all speed, to Padua, v/here greater jiberty was allowed to protestants than in othei parts of Italy ; but there the young man died, and it was not without great address thai Daille, aided by the memorable Father Paul, avoided the observation of the inquisitors, in removing his corpse to France, that it might be interred in the burial-place of his ancestors. While at Venice M. Daill^ entered into a most intimate friendship with the erudite and candid historian of the Council of Trent, and afterwards spoke of the results of this intimacy as the principal benefits which he received from his travels ; and, on the other hand, such was the affection that Paul conceived for him, that he used his utmost endeavour with a French physician, of the protestant religion, and one of his intimate friends, to prevail with him to stay at Venice.* * This circumstance, among many others, has been thought no inconsiderable proof that Father Paul concealed, under the habit of a monk, a temper devoted to protestantism and its professors. His detestation of the corruptions of the Romish Church appears in all his writings, but particularly in the following remarkable passage in one of his letters : " There is nothing more essential than to ruin the reputation of the Jesuits. By the ruin of the Jesuits, Rome wiU be ruined ; and if Rome be ruined, religion will reform of itself." vi MEMOIR OF THE REV. JEAN DAILLE. M. Daill^, and his surviving pupil, proceeded from Italy to Switzerland, Germany, Flan- ders, Holland, and England, and returned to their native country in the year 1621. In 1623 he entered the ministry at the castle of La Forest, in Lower Poitou, belonging to M. du Plessis-Mornay. But in a short time after that nobleman was taken ill, and died in the arms of the new pastor. He now engaged in preparing for the press memoirs of his patron, which had been compiled by one of his domestics, of the name of De Lignes, and were afterwards published in two volumes. In 1625 he was elected minister of the church at Saumur, and in the following year was called by the consistory of Paris to take the charge of the church at Charenton. Here he continued to fulfil his ministry for the remainder of his life, widely diffusing the knowledge of the truth as it is in J/;sus. He died at Paris in the year 1670. He frequently assisted in the protestant national synods that were holden in France, where his influence Wii5 very great ; and presided at the last synod prior to the revocation of the edict of Nantz, which assembled in London in the year 1659. However repugnant were the doctrines maintained by our author to those of the Romish Church, he was highly esteemed by many of that communion for his learning, abilities, integrity, moderation, and obliging and affable manners. Balzac once exclaimed to him, " Oh that such a man as you are were on our side !" That he was highly valued by the protestants of France will be readily supposed. They were accustomed to say that " since the days of Calvin they had possessed no better writer than M. Daille." He was a very voluminous author. This will not be thought wonderful, when it is con- sidered that he lived long, was remarkably exempted from sickness, and was very laborious. He was eminently endued with the qualifications of an author, and had this singular ad- vantage, that his understanding was not impaired w ith age ; for it is observable that there is no less strength and ardour in his two volumes, entitled " De Objecto Cultus Religiosi," the first of which was published when he was seventy years old, than in any of his earlier vorks. In the year 1631 he published his most celebrated work, entitled " Of the Use of the Fathers,"* which Bayle characterized as " a very strong chain of arguments, that form a moral demonstration against those who would have differences in religion to be decided by the authority of the fathers." f This able performance was censured, not only in Roman Catholic countries, but by some English Episcopalians, who thought that it tended to obscure the merits of the ancient church. But by the more liberal part of the English communion it was received with very great applause, as is evident from testimonies in its favour from Lord Falkland, (who used to say that " to obtain the acquaintance of M. Daill^ was worth going to Paris,") Lord George Digby, and Dr. Taylor, prefixed to an English translation of it, by the learned Thomas Smith, B. D. Fellow of Christ's College, Cambridge ; and also from Lord Clarendon's excellent apology for it, in his answer to Serenus Cressay. In 1663 Daille published another work of general interest, entitled "An Apology for the Reformed Churches," + in which he vindicates, with much learning and argument, their separation from the Church of Rome from the imputation of schism, which was often alleged against them. This work, as well as the former, was translated into English, and also into Latin. As soon as his " Apology" appeared, it was much censured by the clergy of France, and some of them were employed to write against it. Daille wrote two or three little pieces in defence of it, which were afterwards printed with it in the Latin edition. Besides the two • " De r Usage des Pferes." t Dr. Fleetwood, Bishop of Ely, said of this book, that it " pretty sufficiently proved the fathers were of no use at all." I " L' Apologie des nos Eglises." MEMOIR OF THE REV. JEAN DAILLE. vii works above mentioned, he published about twenty volumes of sermons, several critical and controversial pieces, and others of a temporarj' nature. His Expositions of the Philippians and Colossians will afford the lovers of sound practical theology much edification. They are marked by clear interpretation of Scrip- ture— great candour towards other expositors — boldness for the faith — and vigorous at- tacks on the errors of the papacy, which he exposes with singular skill, and refutes with masculine energy. His sanctified eloquence appears in every page, but especially in his perorations, which for close appeals to the conscience, ardent love to a precious Saviour, earnest exhortations to holy walking with God, and active service for Christ, exceed any which have fallen into the editor's hands, and, in his opinion, justify the sentence written on the title page by a devoted servant of Christ, from whose library the copy of this Exposition of the Epistle to the Colossians was obtained, " This is the most eloquent book in my library." The Exposition of the Epistle to the Philippians is now for the first time translated into English. The editor begs to express his obligations to the Misses Clifton for the great assistance rendered him in this department of labour, and to F. Rivaz, Esq., to whose critical knowledge both of the French and English languages it is indebted for much of its point and power. A faithful, but verbal, translation of the Exposition of the Epistle to the Colossians appeared in English in the year 1672, the copies of which have now become very scarce. That translation has undergone revision in the present edition, and it is hoped will be found considerably improved. ^A'hile the labour of revising and preparing these valuable treasures of theological lore is not small, the editor acknowledges, with thankfulness to God, that he has derived great en- couragement to proceed in his work from the testimonies of approbation which he has received from ministers of Christ, and pious and intelligent laymen, in various sections of the church. He trusts that these precious pieces of Daille, sent forth in a more inviting dress, and at a cheaper rate, will yet further contribute to their consolation and instruction, and the name of the Lord Jesus be abundantly glorified. J. SHERMAN. Surrey Parsonage, Jan. 11, 184L TO THE HIGH AND MIGHTY LADY MADAM ANNE DE MORNAY, duchess and mareschale de la force. Madam, It is not without cause that an ancient doctor of the church, not less celebrated for the sanctity of his manners than for the graces of his eloquence, formerly complained that the apostle St. Paul was not known by Christians as he ought to be.* For the writings of this holy man are so replete with heavenly wisdom, that they would suffice to produce in us per- fect piety, if we read them with suitable assiduity and attention. He explains the mysteries of faith ; he treats of the duties of life ; he expatiates on the consolations of the Spirit ; he represents the whole nature of the Christian conflict in so admirable a manner, that there is no soul so ignorant that he cannot instruct ; so vile, that he cannot subdue ; so profane, that he cannot sanctify ; so afflicted, that he cannot console ; nor so cowardly, that he cannot awaken and fill with courage. I well know that the worldly-minded complain of the difficulty of his doctrine, and the refined, of the harshness of his language. But both these excuses are but the false pretexts of the idleness and malice of mankind. The depth of those mines where nature has hidden gold and silver does not prevent our digging into them with infinite la- bour, nor the distance of the Eastern coast our going thither through a thousand dangers in search of pearls. Here, where the question is of heavenly treasures, incomparably more precious than all those of earth, the same persons are discouraged, on account of a little diffi- culty in opening the casket wherein this treasure is enclosed. Besides, it is certain that the obscurity of which they accuse this great man arises almost entirely from the real aversion they feel towards the holiness of his doctrine, which the corruption of their passions prevents them from relishing. " If his gospel be hid, it is hidden from those who perish, whose un- derstanding the god of this world hath blinded," 2 Cor. iv. 3, 4. And as to the bluntness of which they accuse his language, I acknowledge that the ornaments of worldly eloquence are not to be found in it. He has despised all that artifice, as unworthy of the greatness of his office, and of the dignity of his design, contenting himself with a popular form of speech, very different from the air of the schools and the rhetoric of the age. But it is a lament- able refinement which would lead us to disdain the most delicious food, under the pretext that it is offered to us in earthen dishes ; or precious stones, because they are presented to us in a wooden casket. The simplicity of the apostle's language in no degree lessens the price of the holy truth which is there offered to us, and the gold of his divine thoughts is not the less precious nor the loss salutary because it is contained in an earthen vessel. Be- sides which, I am sure that those to whom this apostle is familiar will not allow that his writings are so coarse as the profane pretend. If they have not the graces of earth, they • Chrysostom, on the Epistle to the Komans. X DEDICATION. have those of heaven; and although the labour of human art no where appears, an original simplicity and vigorous beauty shines throughout, arising from the majesty of the things themselves, and from the elevation of the thoughts of this divine writer. You know it. Madam, having from the beginning been instructed in this holy reading, and having happily drawn from it, throughout the whole course of your life, the fruits of that edification and con- solation which are therein presented to us by the Holy Spirit. This has led me to believe that you will not find this book disagreeable, since St. Paul is its author. For I have there- in endeavoured. Madam, to explain the two first chapters of the Epistle which he formerly wrote to the Philippians, and which Divine Providence has presetved entire in the treasury of the church for the good of Christians. I acknowledge that so rich a work deserved the labour of a better hand, and that if there has been rashness in undertaking it, there is still more in publishing it. But whatever feeling I may have of my own insufficiency, the ap- probation and the desire of the faithful, who have already heard these meditations from my mouth in the church where I officiate, have given me courage to bring them to light. I as- sume then the boldness of addressing them to you. Madam, and of placing your illustrious name at the head of them, and I shall esteem myself happy, if, after having made the trial, you shall judge them capable of affording some edification to good and pious minds. How- ever that may be, I promise myself. Madam, both from your singular piety, and from the kindness with which you have graciously honoured me, that if the present work be unworthy of you, its little value will not prevent your receiving it with a favourable eye, and accepting the respectful affection with which I offer it to you. This favour will oblige me more and more to implore the Creator that he would bless you and preserve you to his glory, and to our consolation, with my lord your husband, in perfect prosperity, and to remain inviolably, Madam, Your very humble and very obedient servant, DAILL^ Paris, mil Nov. 1643. EXPOSITION OF THE EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL TO THE PHILIPPIANS. SERMON L CHAPTER I. Verse 1—6. Pmd and Timotkeus, the seri'ants of Jesus Christ, to all the saints in Christ Jesus uhich are at Philippi, with the bishops and deacons ; Grace be unto you, and peace , from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank my God upon every remem- brance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making request u'ith joy, for your fellouship in the gospel from the first dai/ until now ; being confident of this very thing, that he uhich hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. Among the advantages which God has given to man above animals, there is scarcely one more wonderful, or which more clearly shows the excellence of our nature, than the invention and use of letters. Thus we read that the people of that new world which was discovered in the time of our fathers found nothing more astonishing than this art ; not being able to comprehend how a small sheet of paper, marked with a few lines and figures, was capable of revealing to a man the secrets of another, absent many leagues from him ; and previously to having learned the meaning, they imagined that there must be some spirit or divine virtue enclosed in the character of the letters, to produce so admirable an efTect. What would they have said, had they known that this invention, not only communicates to us the conversations and the thoughts of the absent, but even of the very dead ; and, in spite of the distance of times and places, renders those present to us, whom not only many climes, but also many ages, have removed from us by an almost infinite space ? that it makes them speak some thousands of years after their death, and even in countries where they had never been during their life ? By the blessing of letters they still live, although in the tomb, and con- verse with many more persons since death has de- stroyed their tongues than they did durmg the whole period in which thev had the entire use of them. As the holy apostles of the Lord Jesus have carefully made the most of every kind of endowment for spreading the gospel of their Master throughout the world, they have not failed to avail themselves of this also, mul- tiplying by the pen both their preaching and their presence, and sending in their letters, as it were, types of themselves into those places where some causes had prevented their going in person. It is from hence that we possess the fourteen divine Epis- tles of the apostle St. Paul, written on sundry occa- sions to the churches, and to the faithful, with whom his absence did not permit him to converse by the living voice. Thus you see that, while he was a prisoner in Rome, he wrote to some of those beloved churches which he had established in Asia and in Greece, watering with his pen that which he had planted with his tongue. Although absent, and in the chains of Nero, still by means of his letters he did not cease to preach, and to exercise his apostle- ship, in those places where he could not be present. By them he lives and preaches still in the midst of us : they have extended the presence and the inter- course of this holy man throughout all climates and in every age. Among the churches on whom he con- ferred this favour, that of the Philippians was not the least considerable. Having chosen the Epistle which he wrote to it to be henceforth, if it please the Lord, the subject of these discourses, I feel my- self obliged, in the first place, to make you acquainted with the circumstances that occasioned it. Philippi was a city of Macedonia, on the frontiers of Thrace, built by Philip, the father of Alexander the Great. This name rendered it celebrated from the beginning. But since that time it has become much more famous, on account of the two bloody battles which the Romans fought on its plains, in one of which Julius C'scsar, the first emperor of the Romans, conqueied Pompey, and in the other, Augustus, the son and suc- cessor of Julius, defeated Brutus and Cassius. St. Luke tells us, in the IGth chapter of Acts, that St. Paul having passed from Asia into Macedonia, by order of a heavenly vision, Philippi was the first town where he sowed the seed of^ the gospel, with AN EXPOSITION OF Sp.rm. I, such success that he there gained Lydia with her family, and many others, whom lie afterwards con- firmed in the faith by his miracles and by his sufler- ings. For he there publicly closed the mouth of devils ; and having been brought before the magis- trates and scourged with Silas for the name of Jesus, he enlightened with celestial brightness the darkness of the prison itself in which they were placed. And although the magistrates drove him from the town, still his word, his blood, and his works were so effi- cacious, that he left there a good company of Chris- tians. Whilst this happy church thus grew at Philippi, St. Paul pursued his conquests by founding others elsewhere, at Thessalonica, at Berea, at Athens, at Corinth, and at Ephesus, planting the cross of his Master in all the provinces of Greece. But the devil, envying his success, excited against him the rage of the Jews, who, not being able to put him to death in Jerusalem, accused him before the Roman governors of the country : and after a long captivity in the city of Cesarea, he was finally sent to Rome to be judged by the emperor i there he remained for some years a prisoner. The church of the Philippians, remember- ing what they owed to their master, visited him in his bonds, despatched Epaphroditus (who appears to have been their pastor) express to Rome, to incjuire after him, and to dispense to him some fruits of their charity, rightly judging that, in so sad a situation, he would require assistance both for the necessities and comforts of life. Epaphroditus acquitted himself of his commission, and informed the apostle of the state of the Philippians, and of the assaults directed against their faith by the false teachers among the Jews, who tried to corrupt the gospel, and to mix Moses with Jesus Christ. He assured him of the constancy of his converts, and of their perseverance in his doc- trine, and was detained some time with the apostle by a serious illness with which the Lord visited him. When he recovered, St. Paul sent him back to Philippi, and charged him with this Epistle, where, after having commended their piety and their zeal, to strengthen them in this good way, and to fortify them against the temptations of the enemy, he ad- dressed various exhortations and necessary remon- strances to them. In the first place, he declares his cordial affection towards them ; he speaks to them of himself, and of his bonds ; he conjures them not to lose courage from the extreme dangers in which they saw him ; shows them that his imprisonment only promoted the glory of the gospel ; and incited them by his example to prepare themselves for similar combats. And because ambition is the mother of discord, which opens the door to faise doctrine, and to scandals, he powerfully exhorts them to humility in the 2nd chapter, proposing to them the admirable example of Jesus Christ ; and, to console them, he promises very soon to send Timothy to them, hoping shortly himself to follow, and excusing the delay of Epaphroditus, on account of his illness. In the 3rd chapter he attacks the false teachers among the Jews, opposing to the pretended utility of their cir- cumcision the fulness of Jesus Christ, and to their pride and ostentation the advantages of his own birth according to the flesh, of his former conversa- tion in the profession of the law, and the holiness of his present life ; warning them that the only object at which we all ought to strive is, that we may have part in the death and in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Finally, in the last chapter, after having briefly, but ardently, exhorted them to a persevering and earnest pursuit after sanctification, he thanks them for their charity, and finishes, as usual, by prayers for their welfare, and by the remembrances of the believers who were at Rome. This, dear brethren, is the occasion and subject of this Epistle, May God, who inspired his apostle to write it, give us grace, to me to explain it, and to yon to hear it, honestly, and in a Christian-like spirit, to the glory of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, and to our com- mon joy and edification. Amen. Upon the present occasion, in order that I may give you a distinct understanding of the verses which you iiave heard, I shall, with the blessing of God, consider three points in them : First, The inscription, or address, of the Epistle, contained in the two first verses. Secondly, The thanksgivings and prayers of St. Paul to God for the Philippians, in the three fol- lowing verses. And finally. The assurance that he felt of their future perseverance ; this he sets forth in the last verse of our text. I. The inscription of the Epistle, the first of these three points, is contained in these words ; " Paul and Timotheus, the servants of Jesus Christ, to all the saints in Christ Jesus which are at Philippi, with the bishops and deacons :" to which I shall join the fol- lowing salutation, usual in the Epistles of this apostle ; " Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ." Paul, the author of this Epistle, is so well known to you, that it is not necessary that I should stop to describe him; besides which, we shall hereafter have occasion on the 3rd chapter to speak of the principal circumstances of his condition, both before and after his conversion. He does not here mention his quality of apostle, which shines in the titles of the greater number of his other Epistles, and in my opinion for two reasons : first, because his dignity was well known to the Philippians to whom he wrote ; secondly, because he associates himself with Timothy in this place, and wrote not only in his own name, but in that of this disciple also, to whom the quality of apostle did not belong. He therefore assumes a title which was common to them both, viz. that of " servants of Jesus Christ." It is true, that in a certain sense this title belongs to all Christians, inasmuch as it signifies generally the subjects of the Lord, who owe him, and yield to him, an absolute subjection. For as he has not only created us, but has moreover redeemed us with his blood, it is clear that we are his subjects by a double right. But I am of opinion that St. Paul here uses the word " servants" in another sense, meaning the ministers and officers of Jesus Christ, whom he has established in a certain charge over his flocks, to govern and to feed them, in the same way as Moses, Aaron, Samuel, and many others, are usually called servants of God, in the ancient Scriptures, by reason of the offices which they exercised in Israel. In this sense, the word "servant of Christ" is rather a name of dignity than of subjection, and is em- ployed to recommend and extol the quality of those to whom it is given, rather than for the purpose of abasing them, and reducing them to an equality with others, and only belongs to those who exercise some authority in the church : such were Paul and Timo- thy ; the first, the apostle of the Lord, which is the highest dignity in the church ; the latter, evangelist and prophet, which was the second after the apostle- ship. He addresses his Epistle generally to the whole body of the church at Philippi, and then par- ticularly to those who guided it, who have since been called "the clergy," to distinguish them from the people. He calls the former " all the saints which are at Philippi ;" that is to say, all the faithful. For you know that, in the style of the apostles, the name of saint is given generally to all true Christians, in the first place, because God has separated them from other men by his calling, thus drawing them into Chap. I. THE EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS. communion with his Son ; and secondly, because he has purified them by the power of his Spirit from the fiUh of their sins, giving them love and other Christian virtues, in which true holiness consists: thus you see how entirely contrary to sense, and to the doctrine of the apostles, is the opinion of those who reckon among the true members of the church the w-icked and the worldly-minded, who are dis- guised under a false profession of Christianity. But as St. Paul addresses this Epistle to all the faithful at Philippi, expressly distinguishing them from the bishops and deacons, it thus appears clear that his intention is, that all true Christians, whatever may be their condition in the church, should read his divine letters in opposition to the presumption of those who deny them to the people. Believers, enjoy boldly the right which St. Paul has given you in his writings. Search and study them carefully. You are not less the people of the Lord than were the Philippians. But learn also in this place how very high is the rank of Christians which is here given you. It belongs alone to the saints. If your con- science convicts you of having no part in so excellent a name, on account of the sinfulness of your life, with which holiness is incompatible, be sure that neither are you Christians ; and having day and night at heart this true saying of the apostle, " If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his," Rom. viii. 9, cleanse yourselves from all the spots of vice, and yield yourselves unto holiness, allowing yourselves to be guided in all your ways by the Spirit of Jesus Christ, who is its only author. As to those who ruled over the church of the Philippians, the apostle calls them " bishops and deacons;" comprising under the word "bishops" all the pastors and teachers who laboured in the word, whether in teaching, exhortation, catechising, or consolation ; and under the name of " deacons " those who had the charge of the tables, and of the poor, and administered the consecrated alms, accord- ing to the distinction of officers in the church which the apostles had established in the beginning, as we read in the Acts. It is true that at present, and for many ages past, the word " bishop" is taken in a dif- ferent sense throughout Christendom, for him who presides over one church, and over all its clergi,', ex- ercising therein a special authority. But here St. Paul evidently takes the word "bishop" otherwise. For he puts many bishops in one church, whereas, according to the usual meaning of the word, it can have but one. And truly it is clear from this and fi-om many other passages, that in the time of the apostles the words bishop and presbyter, that is to say, elder, signified one and the same office, that which we now call the holy ministry ; and it does not appear, from any part of the New Testament, that in the first century there was any other dignity in the usual ministry of the church above that. St. J erom long ago made this judicious remark in many parts of his works, concluding that the presbyter and bishop are by right equal, according to the first apostolic institu- tion ; and that the difference which there is at pre- sent has been since established to preserv'e order and unity, being consequently but of arbitraiy and human, and not of Divine appointment. I acknow- ledge that in the assembly of the ministers of each church it is needful, to avoid confusion, that there should be one to preside. But this prerogative does not prevent his colleagues or brethren from being equal to him in reality, as it respects the authority of government. And, in the first place, let us learn here in general how dangerous it is to depart, however little, from the discipline and languaire of the apostles. For this word " bishop" having been taken differently from what they intended, and having been indi- vidually given to the presidents of each college of ministers, has made them imagine that they were greater than their brethren ; and this first error has produced an infinity of others : the metropolitans having by degrees encroached upon the dignity of the bishops, as the bishops had done on that of ministers or presbyters ; and the patriarchs having afterwards elevated themselves above the metropoli- tans ; until at last, by many artifices, and much adroit- ness, the Roman prelate has drawn to himself all that authority which the others had usurped in the church, and even more. May so sad and fatal an event render us wise to keep ourselves constantly and faithfully to the institutions of God, without at- tending to the discourses of those who so earnestly strive to make us acknowledge a pope in the church of Jesus Christ. Let us also learn, by this example of the church of the Philippians, what and how marvellous was tlie efficacy of the apostolic preaching. For when St. Paul wrote this Epistle to the Philippians, it was only about nine or ten years since he had first preached the gospel there. In this little time faith and piety had made such progress, notwithstanding the opposition and contradiction of the pagans and Jews, that there was already a church sufficient to occupy many bishops and deacons. After this address, the apostle salutes them with his usual benediction, " Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ." He has good reason, in the first place, to desire that they may have " grace," that is to say, the mercy and favour of God, as it is the onlj' source from whence all kinds of blessings flow to us ; and then " peace," the precious fruit of grace, signifying by this word, according to the style of the Hebrews, great prosperity and happy success in all things ; in a word, felicity, and the abundance of every good thing. And it is from God the Father that he desires both the one and the other : as he is the first author of them, without whose favour happiness itself would become miserj- ; so, on the contrary, his love converts misfortunes themselves into blessings. Thus his grace is the foundation of our happiness ; for if he be propitious to us, it is not possible for us to be un- happy ; and his peace is the very substance of our happiness. He calls himself " our Father," to show that what he desires for us are truly the favours and grace of God, in which our adoption consists, and which alone render us the children of the Lord. And it is for this reason he adds, "and from the Lord Jesus Christ;" not only that the Lord Jesus is God blessed for ever with the Father, having all things in common with him by his eternal genera- tion, but also because he has been constituted Medi- ator between the Father and us, in such a way, that we receive no grace from him but through the medium of his Son. For by his death he has opened that supreme source of blessing which was sealed and closed up by his justice, and of which the cross of Christ has removed the seals. He has received from thence all the fulness of the Father's blessings, to the end, that from thence, as from a common reservoir, they should be derived, and distributed to each believer in a suitable measure. 1 1. After this ritle and blessing, the apostle thus commences his Epistle : " I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, always in every prayer ot mine for vou all making request with joy, for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now." Masters of the art of elocution teach us that the business of the exordium (tb-t is to say, the be- AN EXPOSITION OF Serm. I, ginning of our discourse) is to gain the good-will of those to whom we speak. In fact, as hatred, dislike, and indifference close the entrance into men's hearts, it is necessary, when we desire to persuade them, that first of all we should prepare their minds, and fill them with a favourable prepossession in our favour, so that our arguments may be received into their understandings. To this end the apostle la- bours in tliis and the following verses to the \'2th. To revive and rekindle the good-will of his Phi- lippian converts towards him, and by tliis means to render them more attentive and teachable, he tells them of his ardent affection for them; he praises them, and declares the high opinion he entertains of them and of their piety, so much so tliat, beyond the past and the present, to which he bears the most honourable testimony, he even assiu'es liimself of their constancy for the future, which is the most ex- cellent degree of virtue, and, as it were, its last and supreme perfection. He then testifies to tliem at once both the satisfaction that he received from their piety, and the love that he felt for them, by the continual thanksgivings and prayers which he offered to God in their behalf, in that they had so quickly and firmly embraced the gospel of his Son. This is the summary of the second part of our text. As to the thanksgivings that he offered for them, he speaks of them in these words, " I thank my God upon every remembrance of you for your fellowship in the gos- pel from the first day until now." For we ought to join these verses to one another, leaving out the one which is between the two. Instead of, as we have translated the words, " every time that I make men- tion of you," it is word for word in the original, " in every remembrance or mention of you ;" which some interpret, " with an entire and perfect remembrance of you ;" as if he would say, having you continually in my memory. And in this way the apostle protests to them the remembrance that he has of them, having them deeply graven on his memory, and having them always before his eyes and in his mind ; as we are accustomed to feel towards persons whom we tenderly love, nothing having power to efface their image or their name from our recollections. Though this interpretation may be just and warrantable, yet 1 do not think it should be adopted to the prejudice of the other, which our Bibles have followed, which is in truth the commonest and the easiest. " I give thanks to God upon every remembrance of you." As if he would say, that he never thought of them, but immediately he presented thanksgivings to the Lord. In which he shows us at once the happiness of the Philippians, his piety towards God, and his love for them. Their happiness ; for what and how excel- lent must have been the condition of these believers, who supplied the apostle with a continual source of satisfaction ! who were never recollected by him without obliging him to thank God, placing before his eyes nothing but victory and triumph, causes of rejoicing and thanksgiving ! But in that even he manifests his piety, for one of his chief feelings is to praise God, and to thank him for all the gifts that he bestows upon men. A mean and malignant spirit is vexed when God communicates his favours to others, and, instead of offering him thanks, makes him com- plaints and reproaches. But a truly pious heart never any where sees the favours of its Lord without rejoicing, and blessing him for them. He is very happy that the favours which he has received should become common ; and the Scripture particularly men- tions the goodness and generosity of Moses, in that he wished that all the Lord's people should pro- {ihesy. Believers, let us have this same affection, et us drive from our hearts all envy and malice. Let us rejoice in the favours which God bestows on men. Let us never think of them without thanliing him for them. Besides his glory, the love that we owe to each other would oblige us to do so ; and that which the apostle bore to the Philippians appears clearly in this duty, which he yielded to God for them. For if he had not ardently loved them, he would not have been so careful thus to thank the Lord for their prosperity every time that he thought of them. He calls him " his God," as well for the remark- able providence that he continually displayed for him in his Son Jesus Christ, as for the service that the apostle yielded him in his spirit, and for the lively feeling that he had of both. For though he be the God of all the faithful in common, every one of them in particular who would express the senti- ments of his love, and the emotions of his zeal, may rightfully call him his God. As we read that St. Thomas, in the rapturous joy which he felt when he positively recognised the Lord Jesus through his rich grace, expressed his own emotion in suddenly crying out, " My Lord, and my God." But let us look at the subject of these continual thanksgivings which Paul gave to God for the Phi- lippians : " I thank my God (says he) upon every re- membrance of you, because of your fellowship in the gospel, which ye have shown from the first day until now." Some unite these last words, " from the first day until now," with the preceding ones, " I thank my God;" meaning that, from the first day that the apostle had preached the gospel to the Philippians, he had always to that moment thanked the Lord for their faith and obedience ; and what he is about to say to us leaves us in no doubt that he had done so. But these last words being so distant from the former, and uniting so well with those that are nearest to them, it does not appear to me needful to separate them ; for by making them relate to the fellowship which the Philippians had had in the gospel, the sense is easy and flowing, that from the first day that they received the word of God with faith, they had constantly retained it hitherto, without ever having disgraced their first obedience through any of the temptations to which they had been subjected. He praises them then for two things : first, that they had received the gospel ; and, secondly, that they had persevered in its holy fellowship until then. " Fel- lowship in the gospel," is to receive it and to take part in it; it is to embrace with a firm faith the doctrine of the Lord Jesus, to unite in the society of his faith- ful people, and to enter by this means into the en- joyment of his favour. If you consider the previous and original state of the Philippians, plunged in the darkness of paganism, and living in the fellowship of demons, and in the society of idolaters, you will ac- knowledge that it was a wonderful miracle for them to be drawn from such a depth of filth, that they might enter into the fellowship of the gospel, re- ceiving with alacrity a doctrine which was new to them, and which besides so violently opposed their natural inclinations, and the sentiments and customs in which they had been educated ; that they had not only yielded a favourable hearing to this Divine mysteiy, but that they were resolved to become its members, renouncing their former belief and devo- tions, to submit themselves to the laws of the gospel, and to conform to so difficult and strict a discipline. But it was a still greater miracle that they should continue in it, and in nothing relax from their original warmth, persevering constantly in the faith ; neither allowing themselves to be seduced by false apostles, nor to be moved by the sensual pleasures of their previous condition, nor to be shaken by the Chap. I. THE EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS. promises of their fellow citizens, who doubtless would not forget on such an occasion to use every effort to lead them back again into error ; nor, finall}', to be conquered by the sufferings of St. Paul, whom they Bnw excessively persecuted, and as it were reduced to a continual death, for the name of that Jesus which he had taught them. All this touched them not. They courageously retained the gospel which he had given them, and continued in its fellowship till then ; a faith the more excellent, as it was so rare. For of those pagans to whom St. Paul preached the word of life, how few were there who had listened to it who did not make a mockery of its mysteries, like those profane Athenians of whom St. Luke speaks in the Acts ! or who did not suspect him of extravagance, like that Festus, who said that his much learning had made him mad ! or that the inflexible severity of his Divine philosophy did not discourage, like that Felix, who sent him back much alarmed, saying that he would hear him another time ! or that the ti-uth and wisdom of this heavenly doctrine did not pro- voke, as the Jews, who were mad vdih spite, and gnashed their teeth at the preaching of Stephen ! And of those who approved the gospel, how few were there who had the courage to enrol themselves under its banner, and openly to give their names to Jesus Christ ! And finally, of those who had received the word of life, how many were there whom the love of this present world, or the fear of persecution, had driven back into the world ! It is therefore mth good reason, my brethren, that the apostle here celebrates the faith and perseverance of the Philippians. But remark, I pray you, that he gives thanks for it to his God ; from which we have two things to learn. The first is, that the true subject of our rejoicings and thanksgivings is the fellowship of the gospel. We read that an ancient pagan philosopher was so delighted with having found the truth of a certain proposition in geometrj-, that out of gratitude for this discover)- he sacrificed a hundred bulls to his gods. And yet, notwithstanding, what was this truth which afforded him so much satisfaction, in comparison of that which the great and supreme God has re- vealed to us in the gospel of his Son, which is not only Divine and heavenly, sublime, and elevated above our understanding, not only beautiful and wonderful to behold, but is also so entirely salutary, that with the highest possible knowledge' it brings us life, and immortality, and eternal glorj- ! It is for this blessing, beloved brethren, that we must offer our thanksgivings and the " calves of our lips" to the Lord ; and bless him, not for what he has given us of the earth, of gold or of silver, of honour or of credit in the world, of light and intelligence in the mind, of strength or beauty in the body, all vain and perishable things, whatever they may say who, by a deplorable error, have made them the idols of their souls; but that we have part in the gospel, and in the fellowship of Jesus Christ. That is the true happiness of man, and his only jewel ; a pearl of in- estimable price, which alone is worth a thousand times more than all the others put together. It is for having found it that we ought to prepare, not profane hecatombs, but our spiritual sacrifices, thanking Hea- ven for it, making earth a sharer in it, and, like the woman in the gospel parable, calling in our neigh- bours, feasting them with it, and rejoicing in it with them. The other point that the apostle here teaclies us is, that God is the author of our faith and piety ; that it is he, as he afterwards says, who works in us with efficacy both to will and to do, according to his good pleasure. Othersvise, why did he give him thanks for the fellowship of the Philippians in the gospel ? If they owed this advantage to their own free-w ill, it was to himself that he must give the glory. God is too just to ^-ish that his altar should be adorned \rith the spoils of another, and that he should receive gratitude for blessings which he has not given. That his apostle gives him thanks for the faith of the Philippians clearly shows that their faith was a gift of his grace, and a fruit of his Spirit, produced by nis seed, quickened and ripened by his rain and light. But besides this thanksgiving which the apostle presented on behalf of the Philippians for their fel- lowship in the gospel, which they had preserved till then, he lent them also the assistance of his prayers : " I pray always (says he) for you all, in all my prayers." See, I entreat you, my brethren, how ad- mirable was the love of this apostle ! Where is the father that has such an affection for his children ? He prays for them, he prays for them all, without forgetting a single one. Whatever difference there might be between them, or however many, this holy man embraces them all in common. He does not pray once or twice alone, but always. Job offered sacrifices for his dear children once a week only ; this apostle so loved his own, that at all hours he sacrificed his prayers as victims. His love went still further, it obliged him to have nothing of his own, but to make them partakers in all that belonged to him, " he prayed for them in all his prayers." He offered none in which there was not a part for them. Oh admirable and incomparable love ! This apostle was bound at Rome in a painful chain for a cause that was hated, and for which he was to be judged at the tribunal of Nero, the most cruel monster that ever lived i he was in the claws of this lion, and expected even,- instant to be devoured. Nevertheless, his Phi- lippian converts were so close to his heart, that even in this extremity he divides his prayers with them ; he makes none for himself in which he does not re- member them. The iron, the fire, death, the end of this life, the nearness of another, the horrors of earth, and the delights of heaven ; the fears, the hopes, the passions, the emotions, and the thoughts, which arose within him in this situation ; did not make him forget his Philippian friends. He has them at all times before his eyes ; and however melancholy might be the situation in which he was placed, the remem- brance of these believers rejoiced him; he prayed for them with joy. This image was so agreeable to him, that it never entered into his mind but it brought with it contentment and peace. From this, believers, you see the love which pastors owe their flocks, and with what care they are bound to seek their salva- tion, not only by the preaching of the word, and the assiduous exercise of the otlier functions of their office, but also by the help of their prayers. They should never offer any in which their sheep have not a part, and no business, accident, or danger can ex- cuse them from this remembrance. They ought rather, so to speak, to forget themselves, than the souls which the Lord has confided to their charge. But, dear brethren, if we owe you our prayers, you also owe us yours ; the holy tie whicli unites us rendering the necessity of this duty equal on both sides. From whence it appears how earnest we should be in prayer; for if we have no other subject than this mutual help that we owe to one another, it is enough to oblige us not to pass an hour without prayer. III. But I return to the apostle, who after having declared his love and his cares for the Philippians, founded on the fervent piety wliich they had hitherto shown, adds, that as he was perfectly satisfied with their conduct for the time past, so was he assured that he should be so in future, which is the highest testimony he could render to their faith, and aftei AN EXPOSITION OF Serm. I. which one cannot be astonished at his loving them so ardently ; for besides the marks which they bore of Christ and of his gospel, he saw reflected in them, by an assured hope, the glory of the world to come, end the inseparable union of life, which he should one day have with them in the heavenly kingdom, "Being confident of this very thing, (says he,) that he which hath begun a good work in you will per- form it until the day of Jesus Christ." You know of what good work he speaks. It is the work or de- sign of salvation, which begins here below by faith, repentance, and sanctification ; that is to say, the love of God and of our neighbour, and all the duties de- pendent thereon. He calls it the " good work," as if he would have said, the good design, or good un- dertaking, supremely, because all the other designs of human life are nothing compared to the value of this. Either they are crimes, as the plans of avarice, of ambition, and of voluptuousness ; or they are vanities, or at any rate things that are useless after this life, as those of study, philosophy, and such like. But as for piety, it is truly the " good work," the chief work of man, the happy and salutary design, useful in tliis world, glorious in the next, approved of God, and profitable to men. This work, as well as others which are of some importance, is not finished at once. It has many different degrees. And as you see that man is not formed in his infancy, but passes through several stages, which bring him gradually to perfec- tion ; one polishes his memory, another sharpens his mind; this strengthens his judgment, and that embellishes his manners : so is it with the work of piety. For this new man, who must be brought to perfection, can only be so by various degrees. He has his infancy before he attains his riper years. As in the schools of painters, they first draw the figures with the pencil, and then add the colouring, giving them at different sittings and with much labour the last gloss of perfection, which in the studies of those which they adorn steals the senses of the beholders; 30 in the school of God, the faithful are begun, and the work sketched, and then they are polished and finished. Here this work is neli begun, but it can only be finished in heaven. For both our knowledge and our love are always mixed with some defect whilst we are on earth, as St. Paul teaches us in many places, and particularly in 1 Cor. xiii. 9, 12, " For now" (says he) " we see through a glass darkly; we know in part, and we prophesy in part." We are the pencil sketch of the work of God, to which he daily adds some touch ; but the last finishing stroke we shall not receive till the great day of the Lord. This is what the apostle here very clearly shows us, in saying that " the good work begun in his Philip- pians shall be finished in the day of Jesus Christ." Thus he usually describes that happy day which shall finish time and commence eternity, because the Lord Jesus will then appear from the heavens in sovereign glory, to judge all men, giving to each, without respect of persons, a condition suitable to the course of his past life. For it is the style of the pro- phets to call " the day of the Lord" that time in which he will execute his great judgments, making to appear in a more illustrious manner than usual the justice and the power of his sovereign Majesty, to the confusion of the wicked, and the consolation of the faithful. Since then the Lord Jesus, constituted Judge and Prince of the world by the Father, will magnifi^cently exercise this office at the last day, all that he has dis- played of judgment in this age being nothing in comparison of what he will do then, it is with good reason that the apostle calls it " his daij." But here irise two difficulties, which it is necessary to explain : the first, against what the apostle says, that the good work of salvation begun in us here below shall only be completed in this day of the Lord Jesus. For you will say to me, AVill it not be finished sooner ? will not the happiness of those who have died in the Lord be perfected before then ? Some, to avoid this objection, take here "the day of the Lord" to be the time at which he calls each of his servants out of this valley of tears, drawing them from it by death, that their souls may enjoy the repose which he has pro- mised them. But this exposition does not accord with the style of the holy apostles, who always every where understand the last day of this age, when the universal judgment of all flesh will take place, as " the day of the Lord ;" and it does not appear to me that there is any passage in the New Testament where these words can be otherwise taken, except in Rev. i. 10, where it appears that St. John, by " the day of the Lord," means the first day of the week, which we now call Sunday ; and in the same sense in Acts ii. 20, where St. Peter, in the prophecy which he quotes from Joel, means by " the great and notable day of the Lord " his first advent, followed by the dreadful judgments which he executed against the Jews, and not the second, in which all the people of the uni- verse will be judged. Except these two senses, which cannot be the meaning of this text, I do not remember that " the day of the Lord" signifies any other thing than the last day, in the books of the New Testa- ment. See 1 Cor. i. 18; v. 5; 2 Cor. i. 14; Phil. i. 10; ii. 26; 1 Thess. v. 2; 2 Thess. ii. 2; Luke xvii. 24. Besides, no necessity obliges us to have recourse to this forced interpretation ; the proposed difficulty may be explained, without at all changing the or- dinary signification of these words. Wliat shall we say then ? Shall we take part in the error of those ancient teachers, even now followed by a great number of Christians in the East, who say that the souls of the faithful, on leaving their bodies, are re- tained in I know not what imaginary places, without enjoying the sight of the Lord and his glory, where they cannot be received, as they hold, until the last day, and only after being reinvested with their bodies. God forbid. For we know that the con- dition of our souls shall be like that of our Chief, whose spirit, at its departure from the body, was received into paradise, and carried there with it the soul of the converted thief. " We know," what the apostle teaches us elsewhere, 2 Cor. v. 1, " that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dis- solved, we have a building of God," that is to say " a house not made with hands, eternal in the hea- vens ;" and, as he teaches us afterwards, that if we are absent from this body, it is to be with Christ.' But we will say, that although the souls of the faith- ful, on leaving this earth, are received into heaven, and there enjoy all the happiness of W'hich they are capable in that state, and especially of the sight and communion of God, and of his Son Jesus, neverthe- less, they have not yet attained the last point of their perfection ; they are not yet in the enjoyment of all they have desired and hoped ; and where desire and hope are, there must still remain something to finish. Their body, their dear half, lies in the dust, and bears the disgrace of sin, being subject to death, which is its wages ; their brethren, who form a considerable part of their mystical body, are still engaged with the enemy, and the confusion of this age yet covers and shades here below the glory of their Christ. The day of the Lord alone will fully satisfy their desires and their hopes. For it will restore to them both their own bodies clothed with immortal glory, and the rest of their brethren complete in union, and will Chap. I. THE EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS. draw aside every veil, and will dissipate every vapour, which now hides or obscures the light of the Divine majesty of their Master, and will bring to sight all the treasures of eternity. From whence it appears that the progress of grace, and the operation of God in this good work, will extend even to this last day, which is precisely what the apostle means ; and this is the reason that he and his brethren refer us to this great day, putting it before our eyes, as the highest object of our hopes, and the absolute and entire ac- complishment of that perfection which we desire. The other difficulty which presents itself in this text is, how St. Paul could be certain of the per- severance of the Philippians until the last day, seeing that in so changeable a nature, and in the midst of BO many snares and precipices, it seems as if no one could be certain even of the morrow. To which the reply is easy, that neither is it on the excellence of his nature, nor on the merit of iiis virtue, that the apostle founds his own assurance, but upon the good- ness and power of God, who does not save his own by halves, and well knows how to perfect his strength in their weakness. Seeing then the commencement of his work, the marks, the engraving, and the seal of his Spirit in these believers, the apostle very reason- ably argues that he will finish his work. In conclusion, we have three things to remark : the first is. That he here attributes all the work of salva- tion to God, saying expressly that it is he who has begun, and who will finish it in the day of his Son ; so that we cannot without impiety give to another than to him the glory of any part of salvation, nor of any of the things belonging to it, from the first moment to the last. It is in vain that one would draw any distinction between the commencement and the progress ; God is the sole author both of the one and of the other : and as it is by his grace alone that we have begun, so is it also by it that we continue. The hand which has given us the first features of the royal image is the same that gives us also the rest and the last; and to divide this between God and man, leaving him the glory of the first, and attribut- ing what follows to ourselves, is as absurd as if we were to say, that truly it is the artist who first began or sketched a figure, but that finally it added the rest, and finished itself. If you acknowledge that we de- serve nothing in commencing, because the beginning is a work of the grace of God, I do not see by what right you pretend that we merit any thing for what follows, seeing that the apostle declares to us, that the entire perfection, from the first moment to the last, is as truly the work of God as the commence- ment ; " he has begim (says he) the good work in you, and he will finish it in the day of Christ." Secondly, it must be remarked. That St. Paul pre- supposes here that God finishes his work in the day of Christ in all those in whom he has commenced it. Otherwise his reasoning would be absurd, and the assurance of perseverance which he draws from it rash and unfounded ; for if God forsakes some of those in whom he has begun this good work, witliout finishing them and leading them to the day of his Son, that is to say, into the harbour of immortality, who does not perceive that the argument of the apostle would be useless, who, because he saw the beginnings ofthe workof God in these Philippians, concludes from it that he would finish it in them, as it e^^dently appears, and as he himself tells us expressly in the : following verse? Thus the discourse of the' apostle is good and pertinent, and unhappy is lie who ima- gines that there is any thing incoherent or unrea- sonable in the writings of this holy servant of God. Assuredly we must then say, that it is not possible that any of the truly faithful should perish, nor that any of those in whom God has commenced his work should not persevere, until the day of the Lord Jesus, according to the promise that he himself makes us in John X. 28, 29, that " no man should pluck his sheep out of his hand ;" and to that with which the apostle elsewhere consoles the Corinthians, and in them all of us, I Cor. X. 13, " God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able ; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it." Finally, the third remark that I have to make on this place is, Tliat in the application of this maxim to the Philippians St. Paul presupposes, by a charitable judgment, founded on fair and legitimate appearances, not contradicted by any apparent reason, that what he saw in them was verily the work of God, that is to say, a true faith, and a true piety, and not a fiction, or a false semblance, or a vain colouring, like that with which the hypocrite paints himself outwardly. He jire- supposes, I say, that in tliem, and only speaks of those who were thus circumstanced. If there were others, it is neither of them, nor for them, that his words are intended. Tlius, my brethren, have we explained the three points which we proposed to ourselves at the com- mencement of this discourse. Assuredly we may say with truth, and without flattery, that we have reason to olTer the same thanksgivings to God for your church, that St. Paul here gives for that of the Phi- lippians. She also has received the faith with readi- ness and joy ; she also has had her Lydias, who not only have heard the heavenly word with a heart opened by the hand of God, who not only have lodged the saints and received Jesus Christ beneath their roof, but who have even sealed the truth with their blood. She has also held the fellowsliip of the gospel, from the first day until now, persevering con- tinually in this holy profession, in spite of tempta- tions of every kind, with so much the more glory, that there is hardly a place in the universe where they could be greater than in the one in which you live. Your fathers here have borne the iron and the fire, and you in the same place have resisted the charms and the seductions of the world, which are not less dangerous trials. False teachers have not corrupted you ; their colourings and their illusions have not dazzled you; and wherever have arisen, whether from within or from without, those who would wish to persuade you to be other than evan- gelical, you have generously despised their sensual counsels. You have hitherto preserved the gospel pure and entire, and have not been induced to mix with it any human tradition. After so many dif- ferent assaults, and such trying seasons, you are still standing by the grace of the Lord. And I dare add, with the apostle, that he who has begun this good work in you, will perfect it till the day of Jesus Christ. It is not in vain that he has rescued you from so many troubles, saved you from so many shipwrecks, gathered you together again after so many dispersions, and preserved you miraculously amidst so much confusion. Beloved brethren, as his benefits are conspicuous on you, there being very few flocks in the world on which his protection and his favours have shone more magnificently than on you, may your acknowledgment also be as remarkable among Christians. Let your gratitude appear, not less than his grace. It is not enough, believers, to thank him in words, and to say Jmen to the praises and benedictions which we here solemnly render him in our holy assemblies. The thanks that he expects from you, and which you truly owe him, arc, that for the grace which he has given you, you should earn- estly desire his glory ; that you should walk in th« 8 AN EXPOSITION OF Serm. II. light with which he illumines you ; that you should follow the guide which he has given you ; that you should entertain an ardent love towards your bre- thren, his servants, as he has had an infinite love for you ; that your manners should be conformable to liis doctrine ; and that your life should not be less evangelical than your faith. If there are blemishes among you, efface them by a deep repentance. If you perceive in yourselves passions burning which are unworthy of this Christ that you adore, and of this gospel that you embrace, extinguish them quick- ly. Amend, and sanctify yourselves. Purify your hearts from all evil affections, and study all sorts of Christian virtues. By so doing, beloved brethren, you will advance the glory of the Lord, you will establish the consolation of your consciences before him, you will procure the salvation of your neigh- bours, and you will increase our joy, and the assur- ance that we take, that He who has begun this good work in you will perfect it in the day of Jesus Christ. May he himself accomplish the hope that we have of it, and hear the prayers that we continually pre- sent to him to this effect. And to him, with the Son, and the Holy Spirit, the only true God, blessed for evermore, be all honour, praise, and glory, world without end. Amen. Preached at Charento7i, 20th Nov. 1639. SERMON II. Verse 7—11. Even as it is meet for me to think this of you all, he- cause I hai-e you in 7tiy heart ; inasmuch as both in my bonds, and in the defence and conjirmation of the gospel, ye all are partakers of my grace. For God is my record, how greatly I long after you all in the bowels of Jesus Christ. And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knouiedge and in all judginent ; that ye may approve things that are excellent ; that ye may be sincere and tctlhout offence till the day of Christ ; being Jilted with the fruits of righteousness, uhicti are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God. It is an objection commonly made to our doctrine of the immutable security of the salvation of believers, that, in admitting the certainty of their perseverance, we render prayer useless, and as unreasonable as if some one were to pray God that the sun might go from east to west, or that rivers might flow towards the sea ; requests evidently superfluous, because these things happen necessarily, it not being possible that they should take another course. But the apostle, dear brethren, shows us clearly the unsoundness of this profane reasoning in many other places of his Epistles, as well as particularly in the verses which we have just read, where you perceive that this holy man presents most ardent prayers to the Lord for these same Philippians, of whose perseverance he had a full persuasion. After having said to them in the foregoing verses, " Being assured of this very thing, that he whicli hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ," he does not cease, notwithstanding, to ask of God that their " love may abound yet more and more," and that they " may be sincere and without ofl'ence till the day of Christ ;" an evident sign that he did not be- lieve, as our adversaries do, that the use of prayers would be superfluous, where perseverance was cer- tain. It is also evident that our perseverance in faitli and in piety does not resemble that of the stars and the elements in the movements and conditions of their being ; for they depend on the blind instinct of a secret and inflexible nature, which is entirely incapable of acting otherwise than it does. Whereas the perseverance of believers is a stedfastness and perpetual continuance of faith, and piety, and other like perfections, which our souls neither receive nor preserve, but by the gift and the light of the grace of God. From whence it follows, that so far from ex- cluding prayers, on the contrary, it requires, and necessarily presupposes them. In fact, you see that those who have the fullest assurance are also the most ardent in prayer. Who was ever more certain of victory than the Lord Jesus, the well-beloved of the Father, the Prince of our salvation ? and w'ho was more assiduous than himself in this holy exer- cise of prayer? This Paul, who, certain of his sal- vation, defies all the powers of earth, of heaven, and of hell to rob him of his crown, yet for all that does not cease to pray continually to the Lord, from whose grace he waited for it with so much con- fidence. 0 let not, beloved brethren, this sweet assurance of your happiness, which the Spirit and the word of your good Slaster have given you, render you careless of acquitting yourselves of so useful and necessary a duty. And to the end that your prayers may be acceptable to the Lord, form them after the model of these which the apostle addressed to him for the Philippians. He had before told them, in general terms, that he prayed to God unceasingly for them ; now he declares what were his prayers, and specifies in particular what he asked of God for them. But first he sets forth in the 7th verse the reason on which he founded the assurance which he felt of their perseverance in the faith ; " It is meet for me to think this of you all," (that is to say, that God will perfect in you the good work which he has be- gun,) " because I have you in my lieart ; inasmuch as both in my bonds, and in the defence and confinna- tion of the gospel, ye all are partakers of my grace." He then protests fo them in the following verse the affection that he bore them ; " For God is my record, how greatly I long after you all in the bowels of I Jesus Christ." And then in the three following verses of our text he tells them of the prayers which he presented to God for them; "And this I pra)', that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment ; that ye may approve things that are excellent; that ye may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ; being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God." Thus,- by God's grace, we shall have three points to trace in explaining this text : First, The reason of the assurance which he felt of the perseverance of the Philippians ; secondly. The protestation which he makes of his affection towards them ; and, finally. What he asks of God for them. I. With regard to the first point; the part which the believers at Philippi had taken in the bonds of the apostle, persuaded him that they were truly the children of God, and that they would persevere steadily in the way of salvation to the end ; and it is necessary to remark, that he entertained so excellent and honourable an opinion of their piety, not only from love or affection, which often by an innocent illusion enhances the perfections of those we love, and makes them appear to us greater than they really are ; but he declares that even equity and justice obliged him to have so high an opinion of them : " It is meet that I should think thus of you." From Chap. I. THE EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS. 0 whence it follows, that it is our duty to look on all those as children of God in whom the true marks of piety, that is to say, the works of Christian sancti- fication, arc conspicuous. I acknowledge that it is a silly and ridiculous charity to take for believers, simply because they profess to be so, those in whose lives we see nothing but lewdness and vice, without any trace of true virtue. But, on the other hand, it is a most uncharitable and unjustifiable error to doubt the regeneration of those who live in a Christian-like manner, and to attribute the correctness of their actions to hypocrisy rather than to piety. The be- liever, to be prudent, need not be unkind and suspicious. He ought to receive with joy and to reverence those who wear the livery of his Christ, and have the seal of his Spirit, wherever he meets with them ; and to embrace as his own all those who bear his image in this world, as persons who will have part in the other, and with whom he will one day possess a blessed immortality. But among these proofs of the Lord, which oblige us to recognise men as his members, that which the apostle had seen in the Philippians is one of the most certain, and the least capable of deception, namely, the fellowship that they had with him in his bonds ; which he ex- presses, as usual, with a striking emphasis and vigour, saying " that he had them in his heart, participators with him of his grace in his bonds, and in the de- fence and confirmation of the gospel." It is true that we ought carefully to remark all the good actions of believers, and to place the proofs that they have given us, whether of their piety or of their love, not in our memory alone, but also in our heart, in the most lively and dearest place of our soul, and there carefully preser\-e them, as so many most excellent jewels, to their praise, and our edification. But, never- theless, in my opinion this is not all the apostle here means. His words go further, and signify not only that he has seen, or that he remembers, that the Philippians have partaken of his sufferings, but that he rejoices in his heart at their fellowship in his affliction ; and that he considers them, not as wit- nesses or spectators, but as companions in his bonds, as laden with the same chain with which he was bound in the prison of Rome. These believers were at Philippi, in Macedonia, and had neither been ac- cused, nor arrested, nor banished with the apostle ; so that to speak properly and precisely, and to look only at the effects and the things themselves, it is certain that they were not his companions in his bonds. But to consider the circumstance otherwise, in its source, in its causes, and in the disposition of the minds of the Philippians, it is not less evident that they were partakers of the prison of the apostle, I since they defended the same cause, placed them- selves on his side, and were ready to enter into the same captivity ; since they favoured him openly, assisting him, and uniting themselves more than ever with him, supporting his chain to render it lighter to him, and bearing a part of it as much by the compassion and feeling they evinced, as by the charitable offices which they rendered him while in this situation. It is exactly what the apostle means, when he says " that he has them in his heart, par- takers of his grace with him in his bonds." 'What does it signify (says he) that I only see Epaphro- ditus with me in my prison ? I have you all in my heart. If my body is removed from your sight, and from your communion, my heart rejoices notwith- standing, and feels, with great consolation, the share that you take in my sufferings. I possess you all in this place, and see you here as bound with my chain, and consecrated by my affliction.' It was not pos- sible, m" brethren more magnificently to extol the love of the Philippians. For he gives it in some de- gree the name, glory, and crown of martyrdom, the last and the highest work of Christian piety. And, in truth, the zeal and affection of these believers were worthy of very great praise. For it is much not to hide oneself when a Christian is called to account for the sake of the gospel ; it is much when those who are in the same place where he is de- tained have the courage to remain there, without withdrawing themselves from the danger by flight ; it is still more when they dare see and strengthen him, paying him the attentions of love on such an occasion. But it is much more than all this, to seek after him at a distance, to traverse the sea to console him, and not only not to fly away from the place of his prison, but to run thitlier, and to go many hun- dreds of leagues to declare themselves on his side. This the Philippians had done, when, having been made acquainted with the detention of St. Paul at Rome, they despatched Epaphroditus to visit and to minister to him on their behalf. O admirable and truly heroic generosity ! How rare in the present day are the examples of such a zeal ! It is con- sidered wonderful not to have abjured religion ; and not to have abandoned the gospel is the summit of our virtue. But remember, believers, that the pre- cepts of Jesus Christ, and not the examples of men, ought to mould our actions. And if we cannot present ourselves as examples, let us follow these truly happy Philippians, who were so highly esteemed by the holy apostle ; let us also follow those primitive Chris- tians who ran from all parts to the tortures and to the prisons of their martyrs, and assisted them with so much activity and liberality, that the pagans themselves were delighted at it, as we learn from church history. Never let us be ashamed of so good a cause, and let us ever consider it a glory to comfort and support all who suffer in so honourable a strife. Let us be as interested, and feel as much for them, as if we were in their place. The example of the Philippians, and the command of the apostle in the Epistle to the Hebrews, require this of us : " Re- member them that are in bonds, as bound with ihem ; and them which suffer adversity, as being yourselves also in the body," Heb. xiii. 3. This sort of love is the truest and most genuine mark of piety that we can show to God and men. It is from it that St. Paul infers the perseverance of these believers to whom he writes. But conceive what a value it must bear in the sight of God and of his sers'ants, since the apostle gives it the titles and praises of martyrdom. If you assist and comfort those who suffer for the gospel of Jesus Christ, you are in their hearts, com- panions of their bonds, partakers of their troubles, and of their glorv'. The Lord will look upon you as his witnesses and his confessors, and will hold the works of your love as acceptable, as if you were to shed your own blood for his name. It is a martyrdom without blood, and a confession without suffering, to render such services to the martyrs and confessors of the Lord, whenever the occasion may present itself. And in order that you may not be ashamed of their affliction, consider what the apostle says of it, and by what names he calls it. " You have been (says he) partakers of my grace in my bonds, and in the defence and confirmation of the gospel." First he calls it "his grace," and then "the defence, or excuse, and confirmation of the gospel." Oh how distant is this language from the thoughts and opinions of the flesh ! The world looked upon this prison of the apostle as a disgrace, as one of the greatest disfavours of Heaven, and as one of the hardest blows of its indignation. St. Paul, on the contrary, calls it " grace " and looks upon it as a 2c 10 AN EXPOSITION OF Seum. it. singular favour from God. In truth, wlintevcr the world may say, it is a great honour for man to sutler for the truth of God, to enttr into the lists for him, and to support the majesty of his name at the peril of his life. On what nohler and more glorious ac- count could he employ his blood ? And if the chil- dren of this world look upon it as an honour to tight for their princes, and bless the wounds and the bruises which they receive in their service, and show them, and boast of them, as the dearest part of their glory, in what rank should we place the afflictions and the disgraces which we endure for the name of Jesus Christ our only Saviour, and our sovereign Lord? Is it not honouring us to choose us for such an occasion ? Is it not to testify that he esteems our valour and our fidelity, to mark us out for his cham- pions in so great a cause ? But besides the honour, let us not doubt that he will overwhelm those with his Divine rewards, who have lawfully acquitted them- selves in so illustrious a duty; and that for the little breath or blood that they may have either hazarded or lost for the love of him, he will crown them with immortal life and glory, according to that true sen- tence with which in the gospel he consoles his faith- ful ones in their sufferings : " Blessed are they who are persecuted for righteousness' sake : for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Re- joice, and be exceeding glad : for great is your reward in heaven," Matt. v. 10—12. The apostle, by calling his bonds " the defence and confirmation of the gospel," shows us clearly what an honourable thing it is to sutFer for the name of God. For the Lord has never made us a present, either more excellent, or more admirable in itself, or more useful, or more efficacious, whether for his glory, or for the salvation of men, than the gospel of his Son Jesus Christ. Now it is to confirm us in the truth of this Divine doctrine that God permits the faithful to be persecuted by the men of this world. All the wounds that they receive, every drop of blood that they shed, in this warfare, are so many authentic seals which they publicly affix to the gospel of their Master. It is not that this heavenly truth needs the voice or the sutTerings of believers to exhibit its Divinity, as if it had not light enough in itself ; but that which is not necessary for it is very useful for the infirmity of men, that the blood, and the faith, and the suffer- ings of the witnesses of God, should arouse them from their natural dulness, and force them to con- sider with attention what this mar\'ellous rule is for wliich they do not hesitate to endure all that our nature most fears. In truth, the first and the last ages of Christianity have seen, by experience, that nothing so powerfully establishes the gospel as the sutTerings of the martyrs ; from whence comes the ancient and true saying, which calls their blood " the seed of the church." Thus let us follow after St. Paul, assuring ourselves that what he then suf- fered at Rome served greatly for the advancement of the truth. His chain justified his preaching, there being no reason why he should have been willing to endure so long an imprisonment, in which he saw himself daily in danger of losing his life, if he had not been Divinely assured of the truth of this holy doctrine. Christian, if you should ever be called to such a trial, be certain that the Lord is willing to take you for the advocate of his cause, and has com- mitted to you the defence of his gospel. God forbid that you should draw back, or that you should refuse BO honourable an employment ; rather embrace it with a firm resolution, taking good care neither to betray by your silence nor your prevarication so holy and glorious a cause. Give courageously to God the testimony and defence which he demands from you. II. But the apostle, after having declared to the Philippians the foundation of the great opinion which he had of their firmness and perseverance in their religion, to gain still more their good-will and atten- tion, protests to them, in the second place, the affection that he bore towards them : " God is my witness, how greatly I long after you all in the bowels of Jesus Christ." You see with what care he assures them of his good-will ; not only employing for this purpose the authority of his word, but interposing also the witness of God, who knows the secrets of our hearts, without our being able to hide any thing from him. In truth, it is of great consequence to those whom God has called to teach, that the people to whom they minister should be persuaded of their love towards them ; it being evident that the words and actions of those by whom we think ourselves loved make quite a different impression on our minds, than the language or example of others to whom w'e believe ourselves indifferent. The name of God, which he here uses as a witness of his affection, shows us, contrary to the vexatious and unreasonable superstition of some, both ancient and modern, that an oath is not absolutely forbidden to Christians, and that it may be lawfully employed, for the as- surance of men, for their edification, in a serious, grave, and important cause : such were the occasions in which St. Paul uses it, botli in this place and in many others. For to call God as a witness to the truth of what we affirm, as St. Paul here does, is neither more nor less than a true and lawful oath. And who, when he thoroughly considers it, does not see that to refer this testimony to tlie Lord is not to abase or offend his name, but to honour it, in at- tributing to him the glory of an infinite wisdom and power, as well to acknowledge the truth of what we have declared, as to punish our crime in case we should lie. Thus the apostle here calls God as a witness of the affection which he had for the Philip- pians, as one who saw to the very bottom of the feelings and all the movements of his mind. He says that he longs for them, to signify that he loves them, according to the style of the Hebrew language, which thus changes the words, as naturally we love that which we long for. But he does not say only that he longs for them, or that he loves them ; he makes use of a word which signifies to long with vehemence, with an ardent passion, and, as we have translated it, " to love or to long greatly." I acknowledge that this great apostle, according to his incomparable love, embraced all the churches of his Master with a tender affection, and in general every individual in whom he saw the faith of the gospel shine ; notwithstanding which, we must not doubt but that he had feelings of very peculiar affection for these Philippians, who, besides the excellent testi- mony which they had given of a rare and extraor- dinary piety, bore abundantly the marks of his own hand, being in some respects his work and produc- tion, as it was he who had begotten them in Jesus Christ, and planted the gospel in the midst of them, as St. Luke relates at length in the Acts. For it is an emotion natural to all men tenderly to love that which they have produced, as they see appear, as it were, a part of themselves, that is to say, cither their blood or their mind. Hence, as one of the first of the wise men of the world has remarked,* the great so much love their creatures, mothers their children, and poets their compositions. As then this church of the Philippians was a fruit of the apostles' minis- * Aristotle iu Iiis Morals. Chap. I. THE EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS. II try, which he had brought forth with many efforts and hard labour, and where he still saw afresh the traces of that word which he had preached, and of that blood which he had shed, to form Jesus Christ in this people, it is no wonder that he should feel this ardent love for them. But in order that they should not imagine there was any thing worldly in his af- fection, he adds, that he loves them with a cordial affection " in the bowels of Jesus Christ." Elsewhere he had been accustomed to say simply that he loved the faithful in Jesus Christ, to show the source from whence his love flowed, and the end to which it tended; but here he has employed the word "bowels," (for it is word for word with the original,) " I long after you greatly in the bowels of Jesus Christ," to intimate that the love which he bore them was a profound affection, imprinted on the depths of his heart, and like those tender emotions of nature which are felt in the bowels of every good mother towards lier dear children. This is the meaning usually at- tached to the word "bowels" by the Hebrews when they use it in this sense. But the bowels with which the apostle loved the Philippians were those of Jesus Christ, and not of the world or the flesh. This love only proceeded from the Lord Jesus and his cross j it only sought his glory, and was regulated by his will. It was neither their satisfaction, nor his con- venience, neither the interest of their flesh, nor of his own, that had either lighted or supported this holy passion in his breast, but the gospel of the Lord alone. Christ only was its cause and its object. And this in truth, dear brethren, should be the rule of all the affections that the faithful feel, whether for their brethren, their neighbours, or generally for all other things, which they ought to love only so much as the interest of the Lord Jesus, the sovereign law of their life, commands or permits. But among all the affections of Christians, there is not one that the name of Jesus Christ ought more absolutely to govern than that of pastors, such as St. Paul was, towards flocks similar to the chiu'ch of the Philip- pians. Pastors ought only to love or long for their people for Jesus Christ's sake, not for their own pro- fit, or honour, or pleasure. O God! forbid that such shameful designs should soil so holy an affection. And as the laws of this friendship are reciprocal, you ought also, my brethren, to proportion in the same manner the affection that you have for the servants of God who labour amongst you. May nothing please you in them but the Lord Jesus. Love them with a sincere affection, whose whole foundation is in him ; because they are his ministers ; because they preach him, and form him in your hearts, and plant him in the minds of your children ; and not to please your ears, or for any other worldly con- sideration. III. After the holy protestation of so ardent and so pure a love, the apostle declares to the Philippians, in the three following verses, the prayei-s which he offered to God for them ; and this is the last and the longest part of our text : " And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment; that you may try things that differ ; that ye may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ ; being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God." Dear brethren, you see four principal articles in this prayer of the apostle, which we must briefly examine. For he asks, first. That their " love may abound yet more and more." Secondly, That they may have " knowledge and judgment to try things that differ." Thirdly, That they may be pure, " and without offence, till the day of Christ." And lastly, That they may be " filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God." The first good that he desires for them is love ; and with good reason, for that is the highest perfection of the Christian ; his most necessary ornament in this world, and the chief part of his glory in the next ; the end of the gospel, and the soul of Christianity ; without which all other virtues are of no use, and cast but a vain brilliance and a useless sound, " like sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal," as the apostle elsewhere teaches, 1 Cor. xiii. But he does not only desire that the Philippians may have love, he de- sires that it may abound yet more and more in them. For this virtue, as well as the other parts of Chris- tianity, has various degrees ; it has its beginnings, its progress, and its perfection. Its perfection may also be understood in two wa}'s ; either that which is absolute, and which we shall not have till we reach heaven ; or that w-hich may be so considered relatively, with respect to the present state, that is to say, the highest degree to which this virtue can attain in this life. The Philippians had love already, and even in a considerable degree, as it appears by the care they took of St. Paul, and the tender feeling with which they entered into his sufferings, the infallible effects of an excellent love. But the apostle, jealous and desirous of the accomplishment of their glory, supplicates the Lord that he would so bless them, that this Divine virtue should not fade from the state in which he saw it in them, as happened to the Ephesian church, which is accused in the Apocalypse (chap. ii. 4) of having left her first love ; but that it should go on increasing in breadth and length, and spreading further and wider, both in and out of the church, the sweet perfume of its fruits. The secotid good which he asks of God for them is " knowledge and judgment." On which you ought to know that it is word for word in the original, " that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and judgment," which may be interpreted in two ways. For first, the word " in" maybe taken for " by ;" a manner of speaking drawn from the He- brew language, and familiar to the apostle, and to the other WTiters of the New Testament, as may be met with in a thousand places in their books; and used thus, he wishes " that the love of the believers may abound by knowledge." Excellent sense, and a very evident truth ! for who does not know that love springs from knowledge, and that we have no more love for those things of whose beauty and merit we are ignorant, than if they had none at all ? and that piety cspecialh' we do not love but according as we are acquainted with it ? From whence it follows that our love will not be perfect in all points, but in heaven alone, where we shall see face to face, and not as in a glass darkly, or through a veil, as now. Secondly, the word " in" may be taken as " with," for it has sometimes this signification in the sacred books ; and it is thus translated in our Bibles, where we read, " that your love may abound yet more and more with knowledge and in all judgment ;" and in this sense the apostle simply wishes for the Philip- pians that their knowledge may be increased, and abound yet more and more, as well as their love. It signifies little which of these two interpretations you follow, as they are both good, as you see, and con- formable to tiie Scripture ; while the first seems a little more flowing, and more suitable to the style of the apostle, as w-ell as to the nature of the things of which he is speaking. However this be, both the one and the other mean and presuppose that be- lievers have knowledge and judgment. At the same time it is to be remarked, that the first of these terms,* * ETTiyvuio-ts. 12 AN EXPOSITION OP Seem. IL signifies, not in general some knowledge, whatever it may be, but a great and clear knowledge, when we know a thing distinctly and assuredly, not weakly and doubtfully. The other term, which we have trans- lated "judgment," properly signifies sense or feeling. But as the names of the bodily senses and their ac- tions, sight, hearing, taste, and the like, are often em- ployed to express the faculties and spiritual actions of the soul, on account of the relation which subsists between these two kinds of subjects ; so to " feel," in general, is often taken for " understanding," and sense and feeling for judgment. It is very true, that in this place it appears the apostle wished to express something more, and by "knowledge" meant the apprehension of spiritual things, when we know and comprehend what is said to us in the Divine word : thus by " feeling," he means the judgment that we make of them, when after having understood them, we discover what is their nature and their value. Besides, when he wishes us " all judgment," that must relate to the firmness and solidity of our know- ledge, and not to its extent; that is to say, he intends that we should have, not a judgment in all things, as if none of the sciences were to be wanting in a Chris- tian, but a very entire and decided knowledge of ■what God has designed to reveal to us in his Scrip- tures. But the more clearly to show us what this know- ledge is of which he speaks, he adds the act and the subject to which it properly relates, and in which its use precisely consists, and its end ; " that you may have knowledge and all judgment, that you may try things that differ." * It is the chief work of Chris- tian wisdom to be able to separate the true from the false, the useful from the hurtful, and, in a word, the good from the evil, notwithstanding the false and specious colours under which objects often present themselves to our senses ; to reject constantly the evil, however imposing and charming may be the face which it presents to us, and always courageously to retain the good, however sad and frightful may be the mask under which it is disguised. The Jews boasted of having this skill by the light of the law of Moses, which shone upon them. " Thou knowest " (said St. Paul to them) " the will of God, and canst try things that differ, being instructed by the law," Rom. ii. 18. But though their rule might contain the first rudiments of the knowledge necessary for that discernment, it is certain it did not give so clear, so easy, and so complete a rule, as is given us in the gospel of Jesus Christ. And here we have two re- marks to make before we proceed further. The first is, That every Christian, whatever may be his station in the church, should have an assured and clear knowledge of the truths necessary to his salvation. For St. Paul would not desire for us " knowledge and judgment," if these were not qualities needful for us as true believers. Add to which, that since it is by knowledge that love abounds in us, every one confessing that love is necessary for us, must also grant that knowledge is equally so. \Vc also find the apostle desiring that we should be capable of dis- cerning things that differ, which could not be done without the light of knowledge. From this it ap- pears how false is the idea of a Christian as given in the Romish communion, where they desire that he should have a faith which may rather be defined by ignorance than by knowledge; where they forbid him, if he be of the laity, to read the Scripture; where they only arm him with a faith which they call " implicit," which, without knowing the myste- ries of the apostolic doctrine, without examining the * French translation ground of things, and without having any capacity to discern what is contrary to Divine truth, defers to the judgment of others, blindly following men, and yielding into captivity his whole reason to their pre- tended authority. Certainly if such were the charac- ter of a true Christian, St. Paul ought to have desired ignorance for him as a necessary means of being happy, whereas, on the contrary, he prays God, here for the Pbilippians, and elsewhere for the Ephesians, (Eph. i. 17, 18,) and almost every where for other believers to whom he writes, that their knowledge and their judgment may abound, that the heavenly word may dwell in them abundantly, that the eyes of their understanding may be enlightened, that they may know what is the hope of their calling, and what are the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints. The other remark that we have to make is, That the wisdom of the Christian relates to action ; for this faculty of discerning things that differ, that is to say, of choosing the good and rejecting the evil, which .St. Paul here assigns as the end of our know- ledge, evidently belongs to the understanding, which is called practical ; that is to say, the understanding which judges and fixes what to do, and which side to take in those things which relate to our actions. From whence it follows, that all doctrine which is useless to the edification of the soul, and to sanctifi- cation, has nothing in common with Christianity. For God does not feed us with empty science, which serves but to divert our mind, but with solid truth, calculated to console our consciences, and to improve our conduct. From which you see what judgment we must form of that theology of Rome which they call scholastic, which is nothing but a bundle of thorns, and vain subtleties, and frivolous speculations, which no more touch the heart, nor instruct the soul for eternal life, than the demonstrations of Euclid on Geometry, or those of Ptolemy on Astrology. But I return to the apostle, who after having given credit to the Philippians for an abundant love, and a knowledge capable of trying things that differ, so as to choose that which is excellent, desires for them, in the third place, " that they may be pure and without offence till the day of Christ." This is a necessary consequence of his former prayers ; for it is knowledge that produces and preserves this purity in us, not permitting the admixture of any thing foreign or contrary to the truth of God. For it is that which, as a heavenly beacon, conducts and directs us in our paths, and by the aid of its light prevents us from stumbling. The purity which he requires in us doubtless signifies sincerity, sim- plicity, and openness in our conduct, the opposite of all fraud and obliquity ; but it relates also, I imagine, to faith and doctrine, signifying the integrity and* clearness of a faith which alone embraces the word of God, without being mixed or adulterated with any traditions or human inventions. For you will see hereafter that these believers to whom he wrote this Epistle were inclining that way ; those false teachers among the Jew's, w'ho so sadly troubled the Christian church at its commencement, and particularly cor- rupted the Galatians, having also beguiled the Phi- lippians, so as to disorder their faith by mixing with it the law and Jewish traditions. The apostle having this in his mind, entreats the Lord particularly that he would fortify them with knowledge, and a judg- ment capable of trying things that differ, that they might preserve to the end, pure and entire, uncor- nipted by the mixture of any strange doctrine, that holy faith which they had received from him. And to the same object must also relate what he adds, " that they may be without offence ;" that is to say, that they may happily finish their course, without Chap. I. THE EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS. 13 turning from the right way, and without stumbling. .^OT he who, having received the gospel, afterwards lends an ear to error, is like a man who, having be- gun a journey or a race, stops, or turns aside, having met something on his road which prevents his going further. St. Paul makes use of this very comparison, to explain the fault of the Galatians: " You did run well; who hath hindered you, that you should not obey the truth ?" But though the apostle may have had this particularly in mind, yet )'.' o rt lii ly coi i- prchends under this word "otTence" every stumbling- block which delays, or in any measure troubles, the course of the Christian in the paths of God, of what- soever nature it be, whether in doctrine or conduct. The Greek word of which he makes use may be un- derstood, either of the offence which is given to others, or that wh'Vh may be received from them. From whence it urijcs that some interpreters take it in the first sense, as if St. Paul would say that the Philippians might lead respectable lives, full of good examples, and in which none, either those within or those without, should meet with any stumbling-block, but all tending to edification. And it is clear that he thus employs this same word in his First Epistle to the Corinthians, chap. s. 3'J, where he commands them to be such " that they give no offence, either to the Jews, or to the Greeks, or to the church of God." Others understand it of an offence that they suffer (if we may so speak) when they backslide, or when they stumble, permitting themselves to be conquered or overcome by some temptation. " Be without of- fence i" that is to say, walk or run in these gospel lists evenly and constantly, without stopping or turn- ing through the opposition or offences that you will meet with on your road. It signifies little which of these two senses you follow, since after all they mean the same thing, and the second is comprehended in the first, no one ever pennitting himself to be over- come by some temptation of the enemy without thereby giving occasion of scandal to his neighbours. His phrase, " till the day of Christ," shows us that it is not enough to begin well, if we do not persevere to the end. How many are there who have made ship- wreck at the entrance of the port ! How many who fall at the end of their career, having, for want of two or three steps only, lost the prize of all the race ! Nevertheless, we must not subtilize on the apostle saying " that we may be without oflcnee till the day of Christ," as if he gave us to understand that there was always some stumbling to fear for believers, even after they have left this life, till the day of judgment. St. Paul speaks simply and honestly, and does not mean any thing but that we should persevere to the end without falling, having incessantly before our eyes the great day of the Lord, so that, at whatever hour it may come, it may find us neither lying down, nor cast down by the enemj', but standing, watching, and pressing forwai-d towards the end and prize of our high calling ; much in the same manner as our Lord promised his apostles " to be with them always, even to the end of the world," ]\Iatt. xxviii. 20 ; not to signify that they were always to live upon the earth ; but simply, that whilst they were upon it, he would always be with them, so constantly, that even should their lives endure as long as the world, never should his presence be wanting, not even to the last moment of their lives. There remains the fourth and last article of the prayer of the apostie for the Philippians, " that they may be filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God." It is not enough, believing soul, to give no oflence, you must edify ; it is not enough to abstain from evil, you must do good. As the perfection of a good tree is to bring forth good fruits, ana not simply that it should not bear bad ; for according to that, those which bear no fruit at all might pass for good trees. Thus the praise of a Christian is to lead a life which is not only exempt from vicious passions, and the corrup- tions of sin, but which moreover abounds in all kinds of virtues and good examples, which is covered and enriched by high and holy acts, worthy of the great name of the Lord Jesus, by which we are called. Tni;ij A'lr fht postle is not contented with beseech- ing God thai he would preserve the Philippians from offence and shame, he also prays that he would fill them with the fruits of righteousness. For these fruits (as you know) are nothing else than those good and holy works which are commanded by the gospel, the beautiful and exquisite productions of that new and heavenly righteousness wh.ich the Lord Jesus has given us ; whether by ligf.tej'.iiness you under- stand that sweet and immortal gift of his grace, which remits our sins, and reconciles us with the Father, that is to say, our justification, whose true and legiti- mate fruit is the love of God, of holiness, and of all the works which proceed from it ; whether you take righteousness according to the style of the Scriptures, for benignity and beneficence, some of the most lively and fruitful sources of good works ; or finally, whether you understand by "righteousness" the practices of holiness, and of the new life which true faith creates in us, and which is commonly called inherent righteousness, although in truth the word used in this sense is rarely found in the Holy Scrip- tures. The apostle adds, that " these fruits of right- eousness are by Jesus Christ," because he is their source and principle ; the strength and virtue by which we produce them coming to us entirely from him. For, in the first place, he has snatched us from the soil of the world, or more properly of hell, where, like the plants of Sodom and Gomorrah, we bore but empt}' and useless fruits, and (which is still worse) those which are poisonous and deadly. He has transplanted us from thence into the paradise of God, into his church ; where, by the efficacy of his blood, his word, and his Spirit, he hath shed in us thoughts hopes, and aflections totally different from those we had formerly, namely, contempt and hatred for the world and sin, admiration and love for heaven and holiness. All the fruits of righteousness which the apostle requires in us spring from that strength, and, as we may say, from that new mind, which we only have by the blessing and communion of Jesus Christ, drawing it from his root, as his new substance, since we have been grafted into him, and changed into his nature, becoming his branches and his boughs. But as St. Paul shows us its cause, he also dis- covers to us its effect and its end, in the following words : " These fruits (says he) are by Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God." It is very true that the believer ought to bring forth his works to this end, and to propose to himself the glory of God and his praise, as the object of his actions. And it is also true, that, for want of this, the action, however good and praiseworthy it may be in itself, becomes evil and defective, as not being directed to its true and legiti- mate end. But notwfthstanding this, it is not what the apostle means in this place. It signifies distinctly the end and success of good works, and not the design of those who perform them ; and means that if we are filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are in Jesus Christ, God will be praised and glorified there- by; that the thing shall turn to his glory and to his praise, according to what the Lord said to his dis- ciples, " Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven." For however corrupted the 14 AN EXPOSITION OF Seem. II. nature of man may be, nevertheless he cannot but love and admire the image of virtue and holiness, wherever it appears to shine clearly and with any lustre. Let him do what he will, it dazzles and charms him. M'hen, then, Christians show a life en- tirely covered with these Divine rays, full of modesty, humility, temperance, love, kindness, and gentleness, without fraud, avarice, or ambition, we are con- strained to give God the glory which belongs to him, and to acknowledge him for what he truly is, and praise him as all-good, all-wise, and all-power- ful. It was thus that the first Christians converted the world to their Lord, however contrary to its intention. And although sufferings have a great effect in leading men to this point, as we have already said, nevertheless, to produce this effect, they must be accompanied, and as it were crowned, with the fruits of righteousness and holiness, without which they have little or no power to change the heart to piety. Such, beloved brethren, is the prayer wnich the apostle presented to God for his Philippians; in which he teaches us that the work of our sanctifica- tion and of our perseverance in piety depend upon his grace, and not upon the strength of our own free- will. For if the Lord did not pjut all these heavenly virtues into the hearts of the faithful, St. Paul would not have asked them from him for them. Let us then address ourselves to him, and, following the ex- ample of his servant, entreat incessantly, by ardent prayers, that he would condescend to form us to his fear, and to work in us by the hand of his Spii-it all those things which he commands of us in his gospel. But if we wish that he should hear us, let us pray as we ought, watching and working, giving our- selves to the study and practice of his word. Let us there seek first knowledge and understanding of his saving truth, and carefully form and instruct our youth therein ; let us give ourselves no rest till we are capable of discerning things that differ, and of guarding ourselves from the illusions of the world, and from the artifices with which Satan paints vice and error. But let not this knowledge remain idle in our minds ; let it display the strength of its light in our wills and affections ; let it bring them captive under the yoke of Jesus Christ. Let it root out the love of vice and of this perishable world. Let it plant all sorts of Christian virtues ; and, above all, let it make us abound more and more in sincere love, both towards men in general, and particularly towards our brethren ; a love which pardons those among us who have offended, which helps those who suffer; with our alms, those who are in necessity, and with our visits and consolations, those who are sick ; with our instructions, those who have need of them, and all with the good example of a holy and innocent life. Let us not be weary in so glorious and profitable a work. Let us continue it courage- ously, preserving entire the deposit of the Lord Jesus until his great day, without the seductions of error being capable of altering the simplicity and purity of our faith ; without the debaucheries and allurements of vice being able to turn us from it, or to be stum- bling-blocks in our road. Instead of the vices and scandals of which the world is full, let us only charge and ornament our life with the fruits of righteous- ness, which are by Jesus Christ, each of us resem- bling that mystical tree of the psalmist, (Psal. i. 3 ; icii. 15,) which is always green, and always crowned with fruits, even in its old age. Let us remember the curse which dried up the fi-g-trce on which Jesus found no fruit, and the judgment which he pro- nounces against every tree w-hich bears none : " It shall be cut down, (said he,) and cast into the fire," Matt. vii. 1 9. May the fear of so horrible an end, and still more the love of our good Saviour, render us care- fnl and fruitful in works of piety and holiness. It is the true method of promoting our own salvation, of softening tliose who are without, of edifying those who are within, of consoling the church, of converting the world, and (what ought to be dearer to us than the good of our neighbours, or even our own happi- ness) of procuring praise and glory to the great name of our God, who has created us by his power, and redeemed us by his infinite mercy. May he himself, as he is the sole author of all good, bless and powerfully sanctify us, and give us by his goodness what his holy apostle formerly asked for the Philip- pians, an abounding love, an efficacious knowledge, a right and incorruptible judgment, a constant purity, a perseverance without offence, and a life full of the fruits of the righteousness of his Son, which are by Jesus Christ, to his glory and our salvation. Amen. Preached at Charenton, Sunday, "ilnd Jan. 1640. SERMON III. Verse 12—18. But I would you should understand, brethren, that the things ichich haryened lotto me have fallen out rather unto the furtherance of tlie gospel; so that my bonds in Christ are manifest in all the palace, and in all other places ; a7id many of the brethren in the Lord, waxing confident by my bonds, are much more bold to speak the word uittiout fear. Some indeed preach Christ even of envy and strife ; and sotne also of good will : the one preach Christ of contention, not sin- cerely, supposing to add ajffUction to my bonds : but the other of love, knowing that I am set for the de- fence of the gospel. What then ? notwithstanding, every way, whether in pretence, or in truth, Christ is preached ; and I tlierein do rejoice, yea, and will rejoice. Dear brethren, among the many things which offend men in the gospel of Jesus Christ, there is not one which more violently annoys them than the cross imposed upon those who embrace its profession. Many, even of those who have heard and received the word with joy, have basely abandoned it as soon as oppression or persecution has arisen. And the generality of these wretched people do not even wait till the evil is come upon themselves. They with- . draw from the fellowship of the Lord as soon as they see it threatened with any storm. They listen to its ministers while they teach them in peace. But if the preaching draw persecution upon them, (as it often happens,) from that time they give up hearing them, and all connexion with them, fearful lest in- tercourse with them should involve them in their disgrace. Though such sufferings are not able to overthrow true believers, nevertheless, at first they may be offended and staggered by them ; Satan cunningly managing these opportunities to disgust them with the faith as an odious doctrine, and perse- cuted by all who are highest in the world. St. Paul, fearing that his chain might produce some one of these bad effects in the minds of the Philippians, his dear disciples, anticipates this objection, and re- presents to them in the text we have read the glorious - consequences which God had drawn from his prison ; ( showing them that it ought rather to strengthen Chap. I. THE EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS. 15 than to trouble them, being such by the grace of the Lord, that he and they had more cause to rejoice than to be afflicted for it, and to glory in it rather than be ashamed of it. Besides which, setting aside this consideration, the love which he bore them, and the mutual aflection which they testified towards him, also obliged him to acquaint them with such happy nev\-s, so suitable for their consolation. For in the heaviness which the affliction of their good master caused them, what more delightful and agree- able could they hear than the great success of his bonds, than his joy and his triumph in this hard fight, and the strength and courage that his example had given their brethren ? It is therefore with good reason, that immediately after the preface to this Epistle, the declaration of his affection, and of the opinion which he entertained of their virtue, he be- gins with such good news; " Brethren, I would that ye should understand that the things which hap- pened unto me have fallen out rather unto the fur- therance of the gospel." And to show them more particularly how his imprisonment had served to the propagation of Christianity, he adds, " that his bonds in Christ are manifest in all the palace, and in all other places, and that many of the brethren in the Lord, waxing confident by his bonds, are much more bold to speak the word without fear." But as those who had taken occasion from his bonds to preach the Christian doctrine had not all the same inten- tions nor the same design in this holy work, to the end that the good and the bad preachers should not remain mixed together, he has made a distinction between them in the following verses, giving to each the praise or the blame which they deserved in these words : " Some indeed preach Christ even of envy and strife, and some also of good will : the one preach Christ of contention, not sincerely, sup- posing to add affliction to my bonds ; but the other of love, knowing that I am set for the defence of the gospel." After which he declares in the end, that whatever difference there might be between the aflFections and the courage of the one and the other, notwithstanding the effect and the purpose even to ■which they applied themselves, it gave him much satisfaction : " What then ? notwithstanding, every way, whether in pretence, or in truth, Christ is preached ; and I therein do rejoice, yea, and will re- joice." These are, as j-ou see, all the parts of the apostle's discourse which you have heard, and, that we may clear up and explain them, we will treat (if God permit) in this sermon these three points dis- tinctly, one after the other : First, That the event of the imprisonment of St. Paul was very useful to the fiu'therance of the gospel, it being understood that this was a circumstance which led many persons to preach the word of God in all the city of Rome. Secondly, We will remark the dilTerence which he points out between these workers ; the one preaching from love and with a good will, the others from envy and contention. And, finally, in the third place. The effect which their preaching produced with re- spect to St. Paul, that he received from it consola- tion and joy. I. To begin with the first point; the apostle tells the Philippians in general, that the things which had happened to him had led to a great furtherance of the gospel. Now there is no person but must see that, by " the things which had happened to him," he meant the prison to which he had been conducted at Rome, in consequence of the persecution which the Jews had raised against him in Jerusalem. St. Luke has given us the whole history of it at length in the book of the Acts, chap, xxi., xxvii., xxviii. This holy man was recognised in the temple by some Asiatic Jews, who had seen him in their own coun- try, preaching Jesus Christ with admirable efficacy and zeal : the people, excited by their accusations, rose seditiously, and having desperately seized him, would have torn him in pieces, had not the captain of the citadel, informed of this tumult, rescued him from their hands, causing him to be bound and kept in the fortress till he made himself acquainted with hiscrime. After which, finding that the rage of the Jews was so violent against Paul that he could scarcely remain in safety in the city of Jerusalem, he sent him to Cesarea, where he was consigned to the hands of Felix, a Ro- man officer, and governor of the covmtry, who, what- ever knowledge he might have of his innocence, de- tained him two years in prison, until he resigned his situation to Festus, who had been sent from Rome to succeed him in the office of governor of Judea. He, being desirous to gratify the Jews, was disposed to send Paul back again to Jerusalem. But the apostle, well knowing the fury and the plots of his nation, appealed to the emperor ; and, in consequence of this appeal, was carried to Rome, where he arrived, after liaving encountered many dangers by sea ; and being more humanely treated than the other prisoners, was permitted to dwell in his own house, under the guard of a soldier, with liberty to receive there the atten- tions of his friends, and the visits of all those who wished either to see or converse with him. Such was the situation of St. Paul, at the time of his writing this Epistle. It was this long persecution, coupled with his present captivity, that he means by " the things that had happened to him," assuring us that the whole had rather served to advance the gospel than otherwise. I shall not enlarge on what he did in Judea, where his imprisonment afforded him the opportunity of conversing on his doctrine, first with Felix, and afterwards with Festus, governors of the country, and with king Agrippa, and Bernice his wife, the highest personages in the country, whose con- sciences this illustrious prisoner pungently touched ; and if he did not altogether convert, he at any rate very much softened their hearts, and drew from them a testimony to his innocence. I shall not say any thing either of the adventures of his voyage, in which he doubtless made a prudent use of every opportuni- ty of being of service, to the glory of his Master, and particularly his miracles in the island of Malta, where his bonds did not prevent his making notable conquests, having gained there the principal man of the country, and almost all the people of the island. I come to that to which he particularly calls our at- tention, namely, to the success of his imprisonment in Rome itself. And truly St. Luke, his faithful companion in all this voyage, expressly declares to us, that, during the two years he remained in his own lodging, he preached the kingdom of Goi, and taught the things concerning our Lord Jesus Christ, with all boldness of speech, without any hinderance. As he never uselessly displayed the light of his doctrine and miracles, we cannot doubt but that this preach- ing was productive of much fruit, converting some, confounding others, and stirring up all who were skilful and inquisitive in this great city, by the clear- ness which all found in his discourses, spreading even' where the glory of the gospel. Thus you see the chain of Paul in no degree impeded or retarded this holy doctrine, against the hopes of his enemies, and the expectation of believers, and contrary to the usual and natural appearance of things themselves. What ! do I say that his imprisonment did not retard the gospel ? It hastened and furthered its course, as he here declares, and instead of restraining or we;ik- ening his preaching, it gave it greater extension and efficacy than it ever had before. In the first place, 16 AN EXPOSITION OP Serm. III. this chain having led him to Rome, placed him hy tills mtans on the greatest and most convenient tncatre of the world, where he had the whole uni- verse assembled in one place, and from whence he could, in a single day, speak to all the human race, instruct the idolatei-s, edify the Greeks, teach the bar- barians, convince the Jews, convert the humble, astonish the great, and in short set forth the wonders of his Christ to all people, to all languages, and to all sorts and conditions of men at once. For Rome was then the first city, and the mistress of the habit- able globe ; the seat of the greatest empire that ever existed ; the abode of its sovereign, of the laws, and of its highest tribunals ; the resort of all na- tions ; and, in a word, a fine and admirable abridge- ment of the universe. It was the heart of the world, from whence its manners, opinions, doctrines, and customs circulated into all the provinces, as from a rich and public source. And this was the reason ■why St. Paul had so ardently desired to go there, as he declares in the beginning of his Epistle to the Romans, and even had already planned a journey thither, as we read in the last chapter of the same Epistle ; well knowing that there was no place in the world where the gospel could be more usefully preached ; and that Ephesus, Corinth, and many other celebrated cities which he had already honoured by his preaching, were of little account in compari- son of Rome. Now that which the plans of his mind and the circumstances of his life had not yet enabled him to do, this chain, with which he had been bound in Jerusalem, fully procured him; so that if he had formerly furthered the gospel of his Master, by publishing it in the provinces of Syria, Asia, and Greece, it is evident that he now furthered it still more. But besides the extension which this imprisonment gave to his preaching, it added to it a new degree of efficacy. For who does not see that the discourse of a man who preaches in bonds is much more noticed, and capable of making an impression on our hearts, than if at ease and liberty he broached the same doc- trines? His very misery disposes us to listen to him, and commends to us the sentiments for which he has had the courage to sufTer. We must not then be astonished at what the apostle adds, that this very disgrace had been of so much use in furthering the gospel, " that his bonds in Christ are spoken of in all the palace, and in all other places." He calls the prison in which he was at Rome " his bonds in Christ," because he had only been placed in it for the name of our Lord Jesus, for the profession he made of that name, and the zeal he had for his glory, and finally, for the faithful service he yielded him in this sacred ministry of the apostleship, with which he had been honoured.- By the " pretoire," he cer- tainly means the palace of the emperor of Rome. And indeed this word is sometimes used by the Latin authors for the p>lace where the pretor held his audience. But the name of pretor was originally given by the Romans to all their first chief magis- Rtrates, who had and exercised the principal part of the public authority ; hence it arose that in uar, and in tiie camp, they named the abode of the general of the army pretorium, and in the cili/, the palace of the emperor, after the Caesars had possessed them- selves of the sovereignty of the Roman state. By the " other places," here distinguished from the pre- torium, the apostle means the rest of the city of Rome, its houses, whether public or private, signifying that his bonds were celebrated both in the palace of the emperor, and in the rest of the town ; that they were spoken of every where; there was no part of this great city where the name and the prison of Paul were not known. And in truth, there had arrived at Rome a large company, more than two hundred per- sons, who having been witnesses during this voyage of the innocence and holiness of his life, and of his miracles ; who had been saved from shipwreck ac- cording to his prediction, and by his means, and had seen him cure all sorts of diseases in the island of Malta; there is every reason to believe they would not fail to publish what they knew of him to all their acquaintance, more especially the captain who had had charge of him, to those of the household of the emperor; so that in consequence every one would be desirous of seeing this wonderful prisoner, who, on his part, doubtless did not fail to take advantage of so fine an opportunity of preaching to them the gos- pel. To this must still further be added, that the Jews by whose accusation he had been made prisoner, not appearing at Rome to prosecute the suit which they had brought against him, it was evident that the zeal of his belief was alone the cause of his im- prisonment. This would but increase his reputation, every one being astonished that there could exist a man so much in love with any doctrine as to be will- ing to suffer for it ; a circumstance quite extraordi- nary among the pagans, where the philosophers only recommended the opinions of their sect by their ar- guments, and by their conversation, and not by the suITerings of their persons. But the manner, and even the nature, of the apostle's doctrine, must assuredly have also acquired the wonder of the Romans, when after all they had discovered that he only preached to them the faith, love, and service of Jesus Christ; so many words, so many miracles, so much suffering, so much goodness and holiness, as they saw shining in this person, were only employed in favour of a man, who had formerly been crucified in Judea, even by the very confession of those who wished to have him worshipped by the world. These, and such-like con- siderations, rendered the bonds of St. Paul celebrated in the palace of the emperor, and in all the city of Rome. And although this w'ord, to take it literally, only signifies that the apostle acquired a great re- putation, and that his name, out of this little lodging in which he was a prisoner, Mas spread throughout the town, and publicly spoken of; all this great people, almost infinite in number, having heard of it ; it nevertheless gives us to understand that a great many were converted by his preaching, some among the people, and some in the court, where St. Paul afterwards tells us that there were believers, Phil. iv. 22. For if there had not been persons in these " places who had favoured the cause and the doctrine of the apostle, the glory of his bonds could not have entered there so deeply, or been preserved there so But besides this admirable efTect of his imprison- ment, he tells us also of another not less strange in the following verse, that is to say, the courage which it gave to many Christians to preach the gospel, and boldly to announce that same doctrine for which they saw him suffer with so much constancy and glory. "Many of the brethren in the Lord," (says he,) "wax- ing confident by my bonds, are much more bold to speak the word without fear." He calls believers " brethren," according to the usual style of this first apostolic church, on account of the close communion there was between them, having all sprung from the same Father, and been brought up as one family in the hope of the same inheritance. But he adds, " in the Lord," to show that this relationship was according to the Spirit, and not according to the flesh; founded in grace, and not in nature ; and derived from the blood of Jesus Christ, and not from that of Adam. By " the word" he means (as often elsewhere) the Chap. I. THE EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS. 17 gospel of the Lord, the word of life ; which is simply called " the word" because of its excellence, above not only all human doctrines, but even the law and regu- lations of Moses. He says then that many believers had the courage to preach the gospel boldly at Rome, " waxing confident by my bonds." But how could thy bonds, O holy apostle ! give such confidence to the Christians ? How, instead of opening the mouths of the mute, did they not rather close those of the eloquent ? How was it that they did not rather in- timidate the preachers than encourage them ? This chain, with which thou wert bound for having only spoken for Christ, how, and bj' what means, could it give courage to others to speak for him ? To make it produce such an effect, is it not as if we would gather grapes from thorns, or, according to the enigma of Samson, draw meat from the eater, and sweetness from the strong? Judg. xiv. 14. I acknowledge, dear brethren, that the bonds of the apostle produced not this effect of themselves. To look at them alone, and to consider simply the power and fury of the enemies of the gospel, which appeared in them, they were capable only of disgusting men with so sad a doctrine, and of cooling the warmth and the zeal of those who approved it, by the example and fear of disgrace which it drew upon its followers. But the providence of God changed the nature of these bonds, and made them shine with the marks of his power and of his love towards his own, displaying in them a strength of mind and a light of grace that only served to advance the glory of his name, and the virtue and consolation of his minister ; for as to him, he did not cease to evangelize as usual with a bless- ing so manifest, that his preaching had never been more successful. Believers observing this fine ex- ample, together with the goodness and providence of the Lord, and the happiness of his servants, were powerfully encouraged to do their duty. The glory of the apostle awakened them, the visible help of the Lord animated them, his hand assured them, and the proof that they had before their eyes of his truth and fidelity took away those doubts and fears to which we are all so prone. They looked upon the victory of Paul as a pledge of their own, and, full of new fire, went courageously where God called them, that is to say, to preach his word freely. But, believers, it is not enough that the bonds of the apostle should have edified these first Christians of Rome, inspiring them with courage to speak boldly for the gospel. It is not enough that they should console the Philippians, to whom he here mentions them, for the purpose of softening the sorrow which they felt for his suffer- ings, by the consideration of the glory and usefulness which would arise from them, both to his Master and to himself. M'e, as well as the ancient believers, should draw instruction and consolation for our souls from these meditations, the subject of which is pre- served to us in these writings of the holy apostle. Let us honestly observe in them the wonders of the providence of God, displayed in the government of the church, and in the conduct of those things that belong to it ; how, on the one hand, he knows how to confound the malice of his enemies ; and, on the other, to preserve his children from dangers, accomplishing his work by the iniquity of the one, and by the in- firmity of the others ; so making things bend by secret and incomprehensible springs, that they all attain his object, however weak they may appear, or even contrary to it. Thus you see in this text that the rage of the Jews and the injustice of their governors, contrary to the intention of persons, and against the nature of the things themselves, served for the advancement of the gospel of his Son. The first only sought to gratify their hatred, and the second to satisfy their avarice, or their respect for the author- ity of their master; and they were, both the one and the other, but the ministers of the counsel of God, who conducted his apostle to the place where it was destined that he should set forth the wonders of his preaching with more efficacy than ever. The soldiers who led him thither were, truly speaking, his escort, and his bonds and his prison the most useful instru- ments of his glory. This theatre was prepared for his punixhrnent , and it became the scene of his triumph. This persecution, which was intended to cover him with shame, overwhelmed him with honour ; it was to blacken and wither his name, and it rendered it illustrious in the first city and in the most superb court in the universe. Oh the vanity of the thoughts of the wicked ! Oh the admirable wisdom of the providence of God! He causes the Jew to open the apostle's mouth, when he thinks that he is closing it, and makes him spread his voice throughout the world, in desiring to banish him from Judea. He had formerly conducted Joseph to the highest pitch of glory in the same way, through the fury of his un- natural brethren. Persecution, slavery, and imprison- ment had also been as it were the ladders to his prosperity. Since then he has always in the same way used them in the conduct of his people, over- throwing the designs of his enemies, and turning the artifices of their malice, and the excess of their fury, directly contrary to their intentions ; multiplying his church by the deaths and massacres which seemed likely to destroy it ; lighting his gospel by those very means which appeared likely to extinguish it ; and drawing the brightest glory of his servants from their deepest disgraces. This has happened in the time of our fathers, and in the old times before them, when the exiles and proscriptions to which truth was shame- fully condemned spread instead of stopping it. We have the same remark to make on what the apostle adds, that his bonds had given courage to the other believers. Satan had loaded him with this chain that it might alarm others, and, behold ! quite the contrary, it gives them boldness. This iron en- courages them instead of frightening them, and serves but to destroy the reign it was intended to establish. Be, then, no longer astonished, believers, if the Lord treat his children in this manner. Do not accuse his providence of indifference or disorder, on pretence that he exposes his Josephs and his Pauls to the persecution of their brethren, and sutlers them either to be bound, or put in prison, or smitten by some other outrage. All these indignities which offend you are the most excellent part of his glory, and of theirs. It is by those means he perfects them. These are the instrimients of his work, without which they would neither so easily nor so quickly accomplish it. And if the Lord permit that we our- selves should fall into trials similar to those of these great men, let us console ourselves by their ex- ample ; and let us remember that this all-wise, all- good, and sovereign Majesty which has ordered their battles, presides still over ours, that he consecrates his own by affliction, and perfects his strength in their weakness, this method of acting being incom- parably more glorious for him and for us than if he led us by easy and plain paths where we met with no difficulty. Let us bless those prisons and those chains which advance the gospel. It is so great a good that we cannot purchase it at too high a price ; a good which comprehends altogether the glory of our God, the salvation of our neighbour, and our own happiness. St. Paul is one of those who has the most suffered for its furtherance. But still we may say with truth, that there are men to whom the vani- ties of the world have cost as much as this sovereign 18 AN EXPOSITION OF SfiRM. Ill felicity cost him : who have run, and who still run daily as many dangers, and endure as many evils, to be for ever miserable, as did this great apostle, to render himself and others eternally happy. Hardly do I dare bring forward among the benefits which ought to incite us to these duties that glory of which the world thinks so much, and with which God crowns no men here below more pre-eminently than his martyrs and confessors, rendering their names and their struggles illustrious even in the palaces of the Neros, and forcing the courts of the most cruel and unjust princes to speak of them, and to acknow- ledge their innocence and their magnanimity. For this palace where the apostle here tells us that his bonds were celebrated was the palace of Nero, the most infamous of all tyrants, the sliame and torment of his age, the horror and execration of all succeed- ing times. But however abominable this monster might be, and however abandoned his court, the sink of every vice known among pagans, nevertheless, by the blessing of the Lord, the light of his apostle pierced into this abode of iniquity, making itself seen and felt; showing that there is no place in the world so opposed to piety where God does not make the sweet odour of our name to enter if we serve him zealously. It is this, my brethren, that the example of the apostle teaches us. But, 1 beseech you, let us also imitate that of these believing Romans, who were encouraged by his bonds. Let us not be of the number of those cowards to whom the trials, either of their pastors or of their neighbours, have caused their hearts lamentably to fail. Their sutferings ought, on the contrary, to ani- mate us, and their dangers to open our mouths. It is a feature of false courage to abandon innocence or truth when it is persecuted. It is of all times that in which a noble mind would least withdraw itself from its association. It would then be the time most openly to declare for it, and the most firmly to defend its cause. And this thought, dear brethren, is necessary for us in these wretched times, when the sad and calamitous state in which truth is found, which is in bonds in many places in Europe, and is no where but half at liberty, forces us to consecrate our mouths to it, and those of our people, courageously to support its cause, boldly preaching its word with- out fear. II. But to imderstand fully the holiness and the ex- cellence of this duty, let us proceed now to the second part of our text, in which the apostle distinguishes the good workmen from the bad. " Some indeed preach Christ even of envy and strife ; and some also of good will : the one preach Christ of contention, not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to my bonds ; but the other of love, knowing that I am set for the defence of the gospel." He divides into two different classes those persons who, from his bonds, liad taken the opportunity to preach the gospel of the Lord ; the one with pure and sincere aflection, the other with a wicked mind and an evil design. Of the former he says, in the first place, " that they preach Christ with good will ;" that is, with an honest heart, who princijially sought in this labour the end to which it naturally tends, that is to say, the glory of the Lord, the edification and salvation of their hearers, and the satisfaction of their own conscience. He adds, in the second place, that they did it also from love ; " knowing that I am set for the defence of the gospel j" by which he bears witness to their praise- worthy and excellent alTection, not only towards those whom they instructed by their words, but also towards himself, seeking by the exercise of this part of their ministry to comfort and not to vex him, tg soothe and not to afflict him, conforming their preaching to his satisfaction, and not to their own advantage, as did the others. For acknowledging him as an apostle and principal minister of the gospel sent by God for the establishment of his word in the world, they ascribed their preaching to his order, pre- tendingby that not to lowerordiminish his authority, but merely to second it, and to supply in any way the want of his voice in those places in which his bonds prevented its being heard, so that neither the church nor those without should have any thing to find fault with. Upon which we have first to consider the ex- cellence of the office of the holy ministry in the object which the apostle assigns to it, viz. the defence of the gospel. For what other title can we bear in the house of God more glorious than that of being the defenders of his word, and the advocates of his cause ? This honour, my brethren, obliges us to de- fend it well, to represent with liberty and vigour to men all the rights of the Lord, to preserv-e them with all our might, without losing one, either by our silence or our negligence. Inasmuch as our voice and our tongue have been consecrated to this service, it would be weakness and extreme ingratitude that they sliould ever fail in so holy and so honourable a duty. But we must remark, in the second place, that it is the ordinance of God, and not flesh and blood, which calls and appoints men to this holy ministry : " I am set," or ordained, says the apostle ; and elsewhere he observes, " that God had separated him from his mother's womb," Gal. i. 15; and that it is he " which afterwards called him by liis grace," on account of which he is called " the vessel of his election," that is to say, an instrument chosen of God to exercise the apostleship. The Lord had long before said of Jeremiah, chap. i. 5, " that he had known him before he was formed in the belly, and before he came out of the womb he had sanctified him, and ordained him a prophet." From whicli it appears that the calling and appointment to this office is a work of the providence of God ; that he has predestinated before time those whom he called in time ; a consideration which ought to arm, with invincible constancy and courage, those who feel the work of the Lord in them. But besides the office of the holy ministry, St. Paul has respect also in this place to the peculiar quality which it then gave him of being the confessor of God, suffering for the name of his Son ; it being evident that tlie work and the constancy of those who are persecuted for this pro- fession are an apology for the gospel, as the apostle had before taught, when he called his imprisonment the " defence and confirmation of the gospel." Let us then presume that it is neither chance, nor hatred, nor the fury of Satan and of men, but the order and the counsel of God, which leads believers into these trials. May every one of those who shall find him- self in such a situation be able to say tndy with the apostle, "I am set for the defence of the gospel." Finally, we have yet to learn from the example of these good servants of God, who, seeing St. Paul in prison, began to preach the word, that it is one of the pirincipal duties of love to extend the hand to tiiose of our brethren who labour for the Lord's sake. It is not enough to bless them in our hearts, or to help them with our tears or prayers, we must join ourselves to them, lend them, courageously, our hands and our tongues, and wdiere their voice cannot pene- trate, boldly cause our own to be heard. For if we betray the cause of Christ on such occasions, what can we expect, but that this great Advocate will also abandon ours before the tribunal of his Father, where we have no other intercessor or mediator than himself. Furthermore, in this assistance which we owe our Chap. I. THE EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS. 19 brethren, v,e must bo conduct ourselves that our dili- gence shall only turn to their consolation, bringing to it minds free from every evil leaven, and which have nothing in common with the disposition of those wicked doers, censured in this place by St. Paul, who preach and proclaim Jesus Christ of envy and contention, and not sincerely, thinking to add aftiiction to the bonds of this holy man. The crime of these unhappy beings is so strange, so unjust, and so contrary to all appearance of common sense, that it is difficult to imagine how men endowed with rea- son could have been capable of committing it. They proclaim Jesus Christ with their mouth, ancl have envy and contention in their heart. They preach Christ, and hate his apostle. Even this is a very strange anomaly ; but there is yet more. It is envy that makes them preach, and that at a time and in places where the gospel was persecuted, and where there was a particular spite against those who preached the word. O monstrous and incredible production ! How is it possible that so good an effect should have sprung from a cause so vile ? If you look at their labour, what can be conceived greater and more praiseworthy than preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ at Rome, under the government of Nero, at the very time that St. Paul was suffering for this cause ? If you look at their motive, what blacker and more malicious than the envy with which their heart was infected, and this envy against St. Paul, the great apostle of the Lord, then suffering for his name ? How is it that this poison had the power to make the persons despise the danger into which they brought themselves by preaching ? But their design is still stranger than all the rest. For in preaching Jesus Christ they did it to afflict St. Paul, thinking, (says he,) by this means, to add affliction to my bonds. What an extravagant and ridiculous thought was this ! The preaching of the gospel was the whole joy, triumph, and glory of this holy man, and yet these wretches think tliat they shall vex him by preaching Jesus Christ. Dear brethren, the whole of this cir- cumstance is so perplexed and entangled, that it is ^ery difficult to unravel it clearly. Some have fancied that the doctrine of these persons was impure, and mixed with the venom of some heresy ; such, for ex- ample, as was the preaching of those who confounded the law of Moses w"ith the gospel of Jesus Christ, against which the apostle argues so cuttingly in the Epistles to the Galatians and Colossians ; and sup- posing this to be the case, they say, that their inten- tion was to cause grief to St. Paul, by sowing their tares in the field of the Lord, whilst his imprison- ment prevented his opposing them, as he would have done, had he been at liberty. But it does not ap- pear that this could have been the case, for undoubt- edly St. Paul would not have taken pleasure in seeing the gospel corrupted, nor could he rejoice that a deadly tare had been sow"n among the people of Jesus Christ. Kow he says expressly, that he did rejoice that these people preached Jesus Christ, although they did it for a pretence, and not through a real zeal. From whence it follows, that however corrupt these evil workers might be, their doctrine, nevertheless, was pure. We must then take it for granted that their preaching was right and true. It was only their conscience tliat was evil. The word was good ; but the heart, the motive, and the design were bad. And it is precisely to this, and to nothing more, that we must refer what the apostle says, " that they did not preach Jesus Christ sincerely." He means the impurity of the heart, and not that of the doctrine ; as if he had said, that while they were preaching the truth of the gospel, they did not prac- tise it with a mind upright and simple, free iiom de- ceit, and without hypocrisy. St. Paul once discovers enough of their malice, when he accuses them, in the fii'st place, of envy and contention, two of the blackest plagues that can afflict the human heart. And it is not here alone that we learn that the apostle has met with these scourges even among those who professed the name of J-esus Christ, minds which, jealous of the great advantages that God had given this holy man, groaned at it inwardly, and en- deavoured by every means in their power to deprive him of the esteem in which he was held by Chris- tians. The two Epistles to the Corinthians, and some others, sufficiently show us that sometimes he was forced to fight for his own glory, and to repre- sent, at length, the fruits of his ministry, and the favours which tlie Lord had shown him, to preserve the authority of his office against the attacks of the envious. It is a great consolation for those who labour in the house of God, if sometimes there hap- pen to them some one of these secret, but lively and acute, persecutions ; if, beside the blows from without, they have still to suffer secretly the stings and bitings of envy within. For since St. Paul with such eminent and splendid virtue did not escape giving offence, and having those who envied him, no other minister of the Lord should think it strange that this plague should also persecute him. But see, I pray you, how far the rage of their passion carried these people. They think, says the apostle, " to add affliction to my bonds." O bar- barous and inhuman beings ! O cruelty, only fit for hell ! They see him persecuted by Jews and pagans after the storms and shipwrecks of the sea, breathing with difficulty on the earth, bound with a chain — the prisoner of Nero, expecting each moment the hour of his torment. And yet all this is not capable of softening the fury of their passion. They still envy him, they still wish him evil. And to such sad and painful bonds, which might have been sufficient to content the bitterest hatred, they endeavour to add affliction. It was this foul and mad design which led them to preach Jesus Christ. And it is in this lies the knot of the difficulty; how and in what way the preaching of the gospel, as they did, could injure the apostle, or add affliction to his bonds, and from what it was that they could conceive such an idea. Dear brethren, if we clearly knew all the circumstances of this fact as did the believers who were then living at Rome, perhaps it would be easy for us to solve this difflculty. Now that we are ignorant of them, we are obliged to have recoin-se to conjectures ; and two present themselves which neither want authors nor reasons. First, It may be, that the enemies of the apostle hoped that their preaching would irritate Nero and his offlcers against Christianity, and that, offended at this new increase which this doctrine had received at Rome, they would quickly discharge their anger upon liiin, whom they kept a prisoner, and who was considered as ihe principal support of this growing religion, that is to say, St. Paul, either by putting him to death suddenly, or by condemning him to some more grievous trouble than his present prison. Secondly, It may be that envy had inspired them with another thought, that by labouring in preaching the gospel they should obtain a part of the apostle's glory, and that by making good use of the time of his imprisonment, to establish themselves in the minds of the disciples, they should, by de- grees, take away the credit and authority which he possessed; and judging of him by themselves, they imagined that it would be an immense increase to his affliction to see them thus enriched and decorated w ith his spoils. Such, or such like, were the thoughts of these wretched men. Judge by this what is the 20 AN EXPOSITION OF Serm. III. nature of vice, and, in the first place, how very hor- rible is its impudence in daring thus to profane tlie most sacred things, and to abuse them so vilely for its own ungodly purpose. What is there more sacred than the gospel of Jesus Christ ? The wicked man not only has the boldness to take it into his mouth, which of itself is great sacrilege, but he dares further to employ it in the designs of his basest passions, to satisfy his envy and his cruelty, like these vile beings, who made an ill use of Jesus Christ against the best of his servants, and employed his name and his word to ruin his glory. Thus Satan sometimes clothes himself as an angel of light to further the works of darkness. From which you see that it is not enough that our actions be good and praiseworthy, if our in- tention.s are not pure and upright. It is to profane the good to do it with a bad end in view ; it is to dishonour it and prostitute it to evil ; and so far from those who act thus having a right to hope for the reward that the Divine word promises to good actions, they can, on the contrary, only expect the most rigorous punishment with which hypocrisy, Bacrilege, and profanation are threatened in the Scrip- tures ; it being evident that there is no more abomin- able injustice than that of him who covers the filthiness of vice and impiety with the marks and characteristics of virtue and holiness. See again after that, how the thoughts of vice are not only impudent, but even foolish and vain. These deceivers, judging of St. Paul by themselves, believed that their preach- ing would vex him, they thought by so doing to " add affliction to his bonds." Poor creatures ! how little you knew of this high-minded man, to imagine that so small a thing could trouble him ! III. Thus you see the thing turned out exactly con- trary to their expectations : they thought to vex him, and they comforted him ; they thought to wearj' him, and they afforded him contentment : he rejoices in their hatred, and profits by their envy. This is what he declares in the last verse of our text, "What then? (says he,) every way, whether in pretence, or in truth, Christ is preached, and I therein do rejoice, yea, and will rejoice." What business have I, says he, to labour to detect the secret intentions of men, and to sift into the motive of their actions, to vex my- self with the malice of their plans ? God their Judge sees through all. Whatever their heart may be, whether true or false, nevertheless, my Christ is preached, and his doctrine set forth. If the instru- ments are bad, the effect they produce is good. I shall not fail to find my account in it, whilst these wretches will not have theirs. Christ preached is always to me a matter of joy, whatever may be the heart of the preacher. He calls it " preaching Christ in truth," when he who proclaims the doctrine of the Lord proceeds in it with a pure and sincere heart, seeking with a good will, and from the bottom of his soul, tlie glory of Him whom he announces, whilst he testifies of it in his words. To preach it occasionally, or by pretence, signifies quite the con- trary, it is seeking something besides Jesus Christ in preaching his word, to make an ill use of his name to cover some dishonest design ; which is pre- cisely what these evil workers did whom the apostle has just been reproving. He does not simply say that he rejoices in the success of the preaching, both of the one and the other. He adds further, that he will rejoice in it for the future, to show that they are much mistaken if they think to vex him by it; as, on the contrary, the more they laboured in preaching, the more satisfaction they would afford him thereby. Thus you see, dear brethren, that God by the secret springs of his mysterious providence so powerfully governs the most corrupt instruments, that he still does his work by them when he employs them. He converted men to the faith by the word of such as had none themselves. He edified a true church by the preaching of one who was a hypocrite. Tluis formerly he blessed his own Israel by the mouth of a false prophet. Whilst we detest the abominable profaneness of men who so dreadfully abuse the gos- pel, let us not cease to rejoice in the good effects which God produces by their hands. Let us hold the thorns of such plants in horror, and gather with thanksgiving the roses which the goodness of God causes to spring from them ; and, after the example of the apostle, let us rejoice to see our Christ pi'eached, whatever may he the mind or the hand which pre- sents us his mysteries. But in conclusion, remark here, my brethren, the truth of what the apostle else- where teaches us, that all things work together for good to those who love God, who are called accord- ing to his purpose. The eflbrts of envy and con- tention against St. Paul turn to his satisfaction. His Lord changes poison into medicine for him, and makes him reap consolation and joy from what had been sown for his vexation and ruin. Nothing in jures this holy man. He finds satisfaction eveiy where. He handles the most painful evils, as he did formerly the viper at Malta, without receiving any injury. Every thing profits him, and there is nr wind so contrary which does not waft him to his haven. Dearly beloved brethren, let us have his faith ; let us evince for Jesus Christ and his glory such a zeal as Paul's. Let us despise, as he did, the world, the flesh, and their vanities. Let us detach our hearts from so many worldly ties, which bind them to the earth, the lusts of riches, voluptuousness, and honours. May our hearts be pressed with no other chain than that of St. Paul ; may this bond alone attach us, as it did him, indissolubly to Jesus Christ, who lives in us, and there mortifies whatever is fleshly. Let us be holy as Paul, and we shall be happy like him ; as it was to him, so will all turn to our good, prosperity and adversity, the favour and the hatred of men, life and death itself. Whatever may happen to ourselves or others, we shall always be content; and after the consolations of this world, we shall enter into the endless glory of the other, to live and reign there for ever with Paul and the other saints in Jesus Christ, their Saviour and ours : to whom, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one true and only God, eternally blessed, be honour antl glory for ever and ever. Amen. Preached at Charenton, Swidatj, 2Gth Feb. 1640. SERMON IV. Verse 19—21. For I know that this shall turn to vii/ salvation throng your prayer, and the supply of the Spirit of Jesu Christ, according to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as alicays, so notv also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by death. For Christ is gain to me living and dying. Dear brethren, examples are of great and efficacious use in forming the manners of men to piety and virtue ; for besides that they show us the nature of our duties much more clearly than precepts, presenting them to us in persons and in sensible effects, while Chap. I. THE EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS. 21 precepts onlr exliibit them to us in idea, they have also this advantage, that whilst precepts only declare to us that they are duties which we ought to perform, example? prove to us also that they can be done ; and moreover they spur us on, and induce us to endeavour to do them from that desire of imitating others, which, like a secret but sharp and stinging goad, they leave in our hearts. This is the reason that our God has not felt it enough to give us in the Scrip- tures his Divine commands, which most perfectly contain all the rules for a holy and happy life ; he has added to them the examples of his most excel- lent servants to direct us, and to serve as so many lights and patterns in that great and noble design ; so that being stimulated to obey him on earth, we may hereafter attain to the glory of his heavenly kingdom. Thus he has taken care to trace in the ancient books, as in so many pictures, all the history, actions, and sufferings of the most illustrious person- ages whom he formerly raised up under the Old Testament, such as an Abraham, an Isaac, a Jacob, a Moses, a Job, a Joshua, a Samuel, and a David, and many others like them ; so that the first people having these tine models before their eyes, might form their lives according to their features, forms, and colours : he has acted on the same plan in the writings of the • New Testament, where, with the heavenly laws of his Christ, he has also set before us the examples of those great heroes who were the ornaments of the early days of his church, and who dissipated the dark- ness of error and vice by the light of their doctrine and of their holiness ; such were formerly the apostles and their beloved disciples. But there is not one of them whose life is more particularly and exactly described than that of St. Paul. It must also be acknowledged, that it contains the pattern of all our duties, whether towards God or towards men, expressed in their noblest forms, and represented in their highest and most brilliant colours ; there is no vice which is not conquered, and no temptation that is not rejected. You see in it the ardour of zeal, the gentleness of humility, the courage and constancy of faith, the joy of hope, the triumphs of the love of Jesus Christ, the kindnesses and tendernesses of charity ; a magnanimity without pride, a prudence without cunning, a simplicity without folly ; a harm- less wisdom, an indefatigable labour, and a bold modesty ; a contentment without disdain ; a soul which perfectly hated vice, and equally loved men, which, entirely attached to its Christ, breathes but for his glory and his interests, and which, although linked to a poor and vile body, already lives in the heavens with the cherubim and seraphim. These great virtues of the apostle are continually presented to you in this place, my brethren, that you may imi- tate them. But upon the present occasion we have only to consider his firm and unshaken resolution in afflictions, as he himself represents it to us in the text that you have heard. The Jews hated him with furious passion ; the pagans threatened him ; he was at Rome in the prison of Nero, as in the claws of a lion. Besides the enemies without, many false Christians, animated with malice and envy, persecuted him within ; and their rage was so blind that they even employed against him the preaching of his gospel, to add affliction to his bonds. He complains of this, if you remember, in the preceding verses ; but in the midst of so many evils, he nevertheless does not cease to say that he rejoiced in them, and would still continue to rejoice. Now he assigns the cause of this his marvellous disposition. Tell us then, O holy apostle, whence arises the calmness of thy mind, in the midst of such a violent tempest ? Is thine heart of iron or of steel ? Does thy nature hide under this himian form which it outwardly wears some rock, insensible to those accidents which trouble other men? No, says he; it is something very different from insensibility which gives me this constancy. My flesh is not harder than yours ; my soul is of the same temper as that of other men, and subject to the same passions. It is to the knowledge and power of the Lord Jesus alone that I owe my tranquillity. It is he who maintains my joy, and will preserve it, even to the end, pure and entire ; " for I know that this shall turn to my salvation through your prayer, and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, according to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by death." And that you may not take his assurance for vain presumption, he declares to us, in the follow- ing verse, the wonderful power of this sovereign Lord, on W'hich it was founded, " For Christ is gain to me living or dying." Thus we have two things on which to treat, in this discourse, by the grace of God : the assurance of the holy apostle, which he repre- sents to us in the two first verses of the test ; and the excellence of the power of the Lord Jesus on which it rested, so abundant in grace, that it is gain to those who serve him, either to live or die, as he protests to us in the last verse. I. As to the first point, he sets forth to us, in the I9th verse, his assurance in respect to the particular trial under which he then laboured, and in the fol- lowing verse the stedfast hope and confidence which he felt of not being ashamed in any thing, of which his assurance against the present danger was a part, or an effect. He commences then by the particular trial, and from thence takes occasion to testify the confidence that he felt generally against all sorts of temptations : " I know that this shall turn to my salvation ;" — this, that is to say, the persecution that was carried on against him by those without, and those within, of whom he had spoken in the verse immediately preceding; they do (says he) all they can to ruin me, but I am certain that they never will attain the object of their cruel and sanguinary design ; and that, instead of ruining me, all their violent and malicious etforts will serve for my safety. I shall even find my salvation in that which they have contrived for my destruction. Do not imagine that the salvation of which he here speaks is simply his bodily deliverance from the imprisonment in which he was then detained. It is true that he did come out of it, and was preserved for some time longer on the earth, to finish his race. And it is further true, that from this period, when he wrote this Epistle, he had a certain assurance that the thing would happen thus, as he himself declares to us afterwards ; so that if it meant nothing else, what he says here of his salvation might be referred to his temporal deliverance from the prison of Nero. But that w'hich he adds in the following verse, " that Christ shall be magnified in him, whether by life, or by death," evidently shows that he here speaks of the salvation of the soul ; and, leaving for the present his bodily deliverance in doubt, he means, that whatever may happen, he is nevertheless assured that all the work which the cruelty and malignity of his enemies may give him will succeed, contrary to their expecta- tion, to the benefit and promotion of the salvation begun in him by the Lord Jesus Christ. And that you may not think this confidence wdiich he feels in the happy success of his present trial was the fruit of carnal presumption, arising from some opinion of his ovra strength, after having said, that all tliat the adversaries of the church devised against him will 22 AN EXPOSITION OF Serm. IV. turn to his salvation, he adds, " by your prayer, and through the supply of the Spirit of Christ Jesus." It is not of myself, neither from the strength of my mind, nor from the light of my understanding, that I expect such great success, but indeed from the Spirit of my Master, who perfects his strength in our ■weakness ; I am sure that he will supply me with all I need for this combat, and that the prayers which you present to him on my behalf will obtain this grace from his goodness. For it is thus that the words of the apostle must be explained, in taking " the supply of the Spirit of Christ" for the true, proper, and only cause of his perseverance in the paths of salvation ; and the prayer of the Philip- pians only for a help and a means, which will serve to procure for him the grace of God, which was ne- cessar)' for his victory. " By your prayer, and the supply of the Spirit of Christ ;" that is to say, by the help and assistance of the Spirit of Jesus Christ that your prayers will obtain for me, God hearing, ac- cording to his goodness and truth, the prayers that so many believers olTer to him for my salvation. See the humility of this holy man ! He professes to owe his salvation to his disciples, and imputes the suc- cess of his great combats to their prayers. And do not imagine that this is only a civility, or an artful flattery, which he here shrewdly employs to please and oblige the Philippians. He speaks as he thinks, knowing that the prayers of the righteous, aye, of the least of them, made in faith, are of great efficacy. And he speaks of them in this manner, that they may be induced to pray so much the more ardently to the Lord for him, seeing how much effect he promised himself from the help of their prayers. In the fol- lowing verse, he shows us the root from whence sprang the assurance he felt in his heart of the happy success of his own conflict. " According to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed." The word* which we have translated " earnest expectation'' signifies properly an expecta- tion joined \nth a great and ardent desire, which keeps all our mind, thoughts, and affections riveted upon the thing expected, as when we continually turn the head and the eyes towards that side from whence we are looking for some beloved friend for whom we wait with impatience. In Rom. viii. 19, where St. Paul says, " For the eai'uest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God," he uses the word very elegantly, to ex- press the deep and secret, though ardent and vehe- ment, desire felt by all the universe to see and to possess the glory in which the Son of God will re- establish it at his final coming, and the affection, so to speak, with which it sighs after this same felicity, wearied with the misery and the vanity to which it has been subjected by the sinfulness of man. Here he employs the word in the same sense, to show us that his expectation was not weak and languid, similar to that with which we expect things that are indifferent to us, but ardent, and passionate, and joined with a vehement desire to possess that salva- tion for which he hopes : such was the expectation of those violent men of whom mention is made in the gospel, who, burning with impatience to see the kingdom of God, sprang forward, as it were, beyond themselves, and going to meet it took it by force, through their desires and the transports of their faith before its arrival. Matt. xi. 12. Such was the ex- pectation of our Paul, so ardent, that by it he already in some measure enjoyed the salvation for which he hoped, and looked upon it as a thing not absent and future, but present and already in his hand, so much was he both delighted with it and assured of it. * ' XiroKapa^oKia, To this expectation he adds the hope which he cherishes, " that in nothing he shall be ashamed." We are ashamed when we cannot attain the end we desire, and when we are deprived of those good things which we had promised ourselves. The end of the apostle was the glory of Jesus Christ, and his salvation, and his life in him. His hope then was that nothing either good or bad might prevent him from attaining this his object, or take from him that felicity which he promised himself; in the same sense in which he elsewhere says that " hope maketh not ashamed," Rom. v. 5. He therefore adds, in order that he may explain himself still more clearly, that far from being ashamed in any thing, " Christ, as well now as always, shall with all boldness be mag- nified in his body, whether by life or by death." Should men and devils (says he) unite all their strength and fury together, I fear not their devices ; and am certain that in whatever way this combat may terminate, it will redound to the glory of my Lord, and that this circumstance will tend to heighten the greatness of his name as well as all others have done already. He draws his soul out of this engage- ment, as a thing that the shafts of the world cannot reach, according to what the Lord has said, that men cannot kill our souls, however capable they may be of injuring our bodies. And as to his body, he does not deny that it is a thing that may happen, that the iniquity and the rage of his adversaries may deprive him of the life that he possessed, God often permitting that his warriors should lose their blood and their lives in such circumstances. But certain he is, that whether it be preserved, or whether it be lost, eitlier the one or the other shall not be done to the prejudice of his Master's interests, who would not fail to derive from either event the glory which is his due. This poor body, (says he,) this earthly tabernacle, this feeble flesh, which is in the power of our enemies, bound with their chains, and exposed to the shafts of their cruelty, will notwithstanding itself bring glory to my Lord ; and howeverman may dispose of it, God shall tliereby be magnified. For, my brethren, although the grandeur of Jesus Christ is infinite, and absolutely incapable of increase in it- self, yet, nevertheless, the Scripture says that it is magnified when his glory increases among men, and that his servants do or suffer things which make the light of his glorious majesty to appear, and testify how marvellous is his power, his wisdom, or his goodness. The apostle then means, that whatever the enemy may do, he will always remain consecrated to the service of Jesus Christ, without any thing ever being able to make him swerve from the fidelity which he had vowed to him. For in this case, it is evident that both his life and his death will equally promote the glory of the Lord. Presupposing that he should remain alive, and be set at liberty, as he was, is it not clear that in this case Christ would be magnified by him ? as in truth he was, the glory of his power being manifested in the preservation and deliverance of his servant, saved by his providence from so imminent a danger, and, as it were, torn from the very claws of a lion, or from the prison of a whale, as Jonah had formerly been. And would not Christ still be magnified in his body, in another manner, by the service which his redeemed servant would con- tinue more and more to render to the Lord in the work of the gospel, by the miracles of his hands, and by the preaching of his tongue, and by the purity, correctness, and holiness of his other mem- bers ? Presupposing, on the contrary, that Paul should die in this combat, (which did not happen this time, but which occurred some years after, when the issue of his second imprisonment was his being Chap. I. THE EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS. 23 lichcadcd by the order of Nero,) who cannot see that even in this case Christ would be mag^iified in his body ? that hajipy body preaching in a more lively •way than ever the grandeur of that Jesus for whom it suffered so resolutely, and thus triumphantly seal- ing with his blood all that his tongue had ever said, and all that his hand had ever written, on his Divinity, to the unparalleled edification of the faith- ful, to the conversion of the pagans and of the Jews, to the conviction of unbelievers, and to the utter astonishment of all. But it must not he forgotten that he says, that Christ will be magnified in his body " in all bold- ness." For this word shows us by what means he would magnify the Lord, namely, (whether in re- covering his liberty, or in losing his life,) with a full and entire boldness, without hesitation, without stum- bling, with a firm and heroic resolution never to purchase his life, never to escape death, at the price of any baseness against the name of liis Master ; but to employ either his life or his death willingly for the furtherance of his kingdom, to make mention always of him, at all times and in all places, with Christian freedom, without caring either for the threats or for the promises of the world. Such in truth was the boldness of this holy apostle, as well in life as in death, having never shown a desire for the one, nor a fear of the other, when they were in question as regarded the service of Jesus Christ. Such also has been the boldness of a great many other martyrs, and particularly of the blessed saint Cyprian, who, seeing that the proconsul requested him to think of himself, and to sacrifice to the gods rather than die, answered him courageously, that there was no need of deliberation on so right a thing, freely offering to die rather than to offend his Master. This boldness, my brethren, is what most delights men ; it is this which forces them in the most effica- cious manner to give to the Lord Jesus tlie glory of a sovereign power, and to his confessors the praise of a noble courage and of an extraordinary strength of mind. Finally, we must also consider what the apostle says, that Christ will now be magnified in him " as always," in which you see that the past fortifies him for the future ; the experience that he had already had of the aid of his God, on all other occasions, giving him a solid hope that the same as- sistance would be afforded him this time, according to the doctrine which he has left us elsewhere, " that experience worketh hope," Rom. v. 4. Behold, believers, the constancy and resolution of St. Paul in the midst of his bonds ! But it is not enough to look at and to admire this fine example ; we must profit by it, and draw from it the rich in- Btrnction which it contains for our consolation and edification. Let us here first learn the lesson that St. Paul often gives us, that all things work together for good to believers. The enemies of Paul had conducted him to Rome under the eyes and into the prison of Nero, the greatest enemy of piety and virtue that the world ever saw-. They exasperated and irritated his judges against him daily, and did every thing in their power to ruin him. Yet so far were (heir efforts from succeeding as they thought, that all this, on the contrary, turned to his salvation. How many of -such like instances could we now [ bring before you! Ruin clianged into deliverance, afliiction into consolation, by the miraculous power of the hand of the Most High. Fear not, then. Christian, whatever may be the rage of men or of the elements against you, your Master has the motion of every creature in his power, and you are of the number of 1 those blessed ones to whom he has sworn that no I weapon forged against them shall prosper, that he will make them walk ttirough the waters and through the flames without being injured by them ; that all the furnaces of Babylon shall not have power to scorch one of the hairs of their heads, and that in- stead of burning and death, they should find refresh- ment, consolation, and life. Then afterwards, you see further, in this example of the apostle, that the salvation of believers is certain, and their perse- verance assured : " I shall (he says) in nothing be ashamed, and Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death." This sovereign Shep- herd, to whom the eternal Father has given his elect, keeps them faithfully as the apple of his eye. He holds them in his hand, and declares aloud that no force shall ever draw them thence. I acknowledge he does not promise them that they .shall pass their lives in enjoyment, or even free from danger and inconvenience ; or that the hatred of men, or the in- firmities of nature, shall never cause them to die. On the contrary, he freely declares to them that they shall be as mucli or more subject than others to such acci- dents, and that the profession of piety will burden them with his cross. But then he promises them that the gates of hell shall never prevail against them ; that their faith shall never fail ; that he will preserve his peace and the joy of the Holy Spirit in their hearts in the midst of the most horrible trials ; and that, in spite of the waves and the winds conspiring against them, he will conduct them into the haven of his blessed kingdom, being always with them, without ever leaving them, till he has brought them into the heavenly Canaan. Moreover, St. Paul here shows us what is the cause of the constancy and perseverance of believers ; not their pretended free-will, or the strength either of their understanding, or of their own inclination, (unhappy they who build on so moving a sand, or who expect their firmness from a thing so weak and so changeable,) but from the Holy Ghost, who stays our fickleness, who produces in us the power, efficaciously, to will and to do according to his good pileasure; the DiWne Comforter, alone ca- pable of inspiring and of preserving in our minds the light of truth, of forming and of maintaining in our wills the love of liberty, of breathing into our hearts the strength and resolution necessary to support us to the end in so dangerous a combat, in which we have the world and hell opposed to us, and legions of infinitely cunning, violent, and cruel enemies always surrounding and seeking opportunities to ruin us. Believers, who labour in so hazardous a warfare, have recourse to Jesus Christ, and renouncing all other strength, call day and night upon his name; ask of him with faith, with tears, and with sighs his heavenly unction, which may frame your hands for the battles of the Eternal, so that you may be able to stand in the evil day, and may remain victorious, to receive the crown of glory and of immortality which he keeps for us in the heavens. We liave now to learn, in the fourth place, that it is he who is the depositary of the Spirit. The apostle calls him " the Spirit of Jesus Christ," not only be- cause he proceeds from the Son as from the Father, having with him his essence from all eternity by an ineffable and incomprehensible communication, but also because the Lord Jesus has received, at his rising from the tomb, all the treasures of his grace, all his knowledge and virtue, to be for ever the dis- jienser of them, giving to each one his share in a suitable measure. Tne apostle explains this to us by the word "supjdy," which he uses in this place, which signifies that the Lord Jesus supplies us out of that fulness of the Spirit which he possesses, and whose source is in himself, as much grace as we need to direct and conduct us, by degrees, to perfec- 24 AN EXPOSITION OF Serm. IV. tion. From whence it appears, as the apostle has said to us elsewhere, Rom. viii. 9, "If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his." And perhaps this also is one of the reasons for which he is named " his Spirit," because he is never without him, and that he never communicates to us either his salvation or his life but by the light of his Comforter, in such a way that it is not possible to be of the number of his members without having some portion of this Spirit. Further, we learn from hence how powerful and admirable are the prayers of the church, and how necessary is their mutual interchange and assistance. For if St. Paul, that great apostle, so advanced in the ways of God, did not despise the prayers of the Phi- lippians ; what do I say, that he did not despise them ? if he prized them even so as to put them among the means of his salvation, and expected from their power a part of his perseverance ; what ought we to do, dearly beloved brethren, who are so infi- nitely below him ? Let us then earnestly pray for one another ; let not your greatness, whatever it may be, make you despise an aid that Paul so highly esteemed. The greater you are, the more need you have of the prayers of the less. These prayers have often arrested the scourges of God. They have de- livered the faithful from prisons, as they formerly did St. Peter. They have rendered the conspiracies of Satan against the soldiers of the Lord useless. They have drawn the Spirit of Jesus Christ upon the earth, and established by his power that which was about to fall. But, dear brethren, if we ought to desire this help from the faithful who are here be- low, that is not saying that we ought to invoke those who are on high with Jesus Christ, as those of Rome conclude from this passage, and othere like it. As for believers who are on earth, we see them, and con- verse with them, and know that they hear us ; and besides this, we have in the Scripture both the order and example of requiring the help of their prayers : on the contrary, the dead have no communication with us, and the Holy Spirit teaches us that they no longer "know any thing," (that is to say, of what is done upon the earth,) they do not even know whether or not their sons are noble, their eyes see not the evils which happen to the places where they lived, and there is not found in the whole Scripture any command or example to address our prayers to them. In truth, it is impossible to pray to them, absent from us as they arc, without attributing to them some species of divinity ; in imagining that they see all that is done in the world, and have even a know- ledge of our hearts ; a quality which Scripture at- tributes to God alone, exclusive of all others. Thus it is clear that the requests which are made to them by the Romanists are quite of another nature from those by which we ask from living believers the help of their prayers. For they prostrate themselves before them on their knees ; they dedicate temples, chapels, and oratories to them ; they consecrate images to them, to which they make vows, and pray that they will defend them from the enemy, that they will cure the improprieties of their manners, and that they will receive their souls at the hour of death : all of which things are never practised by believers towards any man living on the earth. But I return to the apostle, who shows us clearly by his language that he was certainly assured of his salvation, contrary to the error of those who place him among the number of their doubters : " I know (says he) that this trial shall turn to my salvation, and I have an earnest expectation, and a hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, and that Jesus Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by death." How did he know, how did he hope, how did he firmly expect these things, if he were not assured of their accomplishment ? And, once more, how had this knowledge produced in him that joy which he said he had in the preceding text, if it had not been clear, and certain, and unmixed with any doubt ? He speaks elsewhere of it in the same man- ner : " I have fought the good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith, henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me at that day." " For I know whom I have believed, and am per- suaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day." From whence it appears how misplaced are the objections made against the assurance of salvation which we teach, that this belief chills the affections, and the practice of good works — seeing that none was ever more ardent than St. Paul, who was so entirely persuaded of his perseverance. Let us also then, dear brethren, cherish tliis firm hope in our hearts, the source of our joy, and the treasure of our consolations. I ac- knowledge that St. Paul was greater than we are. But he derived this assurance from the goodness of Jesus Christ and the grace of his Spirit, which is common to us with him, and with all believers, and not from his greatness and his personal advantages; and as he here says that he firmly expects the hajipy efi'ects of his salvation, so he elsewhere very nobly declares, speaking of all true believers, " that he is assured that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord," Rom. viii. 38, 39. He had already observed, in the same chap- ter, that the Spirit of the Lord, which forms and conducts our perseverance, bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God, his heirs, and co-heirs with Jesus Christ. Now if we are armed with this confidence, who in the world can be hap- pier than we shall be ? Neither the sorrows of life, nor the horrors of death, will occasion us any fear. We shall look upon the good things of the world without envy, and upon its ills without alarm, being assured that neither the privation of the one, nor the suffering of the other, can prevent our being eternally happy. But, O faithful soul, learn from this representation of the apostle thalT the ruling passion of your heart and your only aim ought to be to magnify the Lord Jesus. May every thing else be indifi'erent to you, provided that you succeed in this glorious design. Consider your sufferings well employed, and your disgraces happy, if they lead to that. Possess nothing, either in yourself, or out of yourself, which is not consecrated to this. Say not, as some hypocrites and worldly people do, I am contented in my heart and in my mind to glorify Jesus Christ, although the outward appearance of my life may be contrary to his will. This language is undoubtedly false, it being quite impossible to magnify the Lord in the mind whilst he is dis- honoured in the body. These two parts of our being arc too closely united for us to be able to serve two masters at one time. But though this pretended separation were possible, (which it is not,) still it would be unjust and pernicious. Unjust, because it would deprive our body of its highest and most precious glory, it being evident that this poor flesh cannot be more honoured than in being employed to magnify its Creator and Redeemer, nor more debased and dishonoured than in offending him. But this division would also be pernicious ; for it would bring upon us death and the curse, since the Saviour only Chap. I. THE EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS. 25 acknowledges for his own those who believe on him in their hearts, and confess him with their mouths, and who glorifj- him (as the apostle elsewhere says, 1 Cor. vi.) with the body and the spii-it, which both belong to hira. Henceforth then, dear brethren, let us carefully imitate the apostle. May the Lord Jesus be magnified in your bodies both in life and death. During life, clothe them with the ornaments of the Lord, with chastity, purity, honesty, modesty, and humility. May your tongue ever speak his praises, may your eyes ever contemplate his wonders, and your ears ever listen to his teaching ; may your feet ever run in his paths, your hands labour in his works; may your persons only be found in those places and in those companies where that great name that is named upon us is not ill spoken of. And when the hour of death shall come, may Christ also then be magnified in your body by a holy and Christian patience, by a gentle and humble submis- sion to his providence, by a constant confession of his truth and of your hope, till your very last sigh, whether he calls you to sutfer for his gospel's sake, or takes you out of life by some other means. For do not imagine, I beseech you, that it is only in the prisons, the fetters, or the fires of the martyrs, that the Lord is magnified. The beds, and the last hours of other believers, serve also to his glory, when they show to those around them a faith, a humility, a hope, and a consolation worthy of the profession which they make. Finally, this example of the apostle teaches us further, that assurance and bold- ness are the true means of glorifying the Lord. Besides which, those effeminate and cowardly beings, who waver in a shameful irresolution, debate on all the changes of the earth and air, and know not to what master to yield themselves. These are the lukewarm, whom the Lord threatens to eject from his mouth. Rev. iii. 6; xxi. 8; the fearful, whose part shall be in the lake that burneth with fire and brim- stone. These are those unhappy beings who dis- honour Christ in the highest degree, and who most cruelly abuse his name. Christian, if you truly desire to magnify him, invest yourself with the heart and the strength of mind of the apostle. Confess him boldly, and publish his glory in all liberty, always ready to lose every thing, and to suffer every thing, rather than betray him. II. But, that we may have more affection and courage to imitate this excellent example of the apostle, let us now, in the second place, consider the reason which he gives us for the assurance he felt of never being ashamed, either in life or in death : " For Christ is gain to me living or dying." The words of the apostle, as they are couched in the original, signify simply, word for word, " that Christ to him is life, and that to die is gain," and all ancient interpreters, and the greater part of the modern, have thus taken them, in a sense suitable enough, to say that Jesus Christ is his true life, and that it is only in him and for him that he lives, according to what he says in his Epistle to the Galatians, chap. ii. 20, " I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me ; and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me." And as to death, so far from fearing it, or esteeming it bad and hurtful, he considers it, on the contrary, a gain, an advantageous thing, as, instead of a vile and perishable life, it will give him the true life, which is glorious and immortal. But this text being also capable of another interpretation, namely, that Christ is gain to the apostle " to live and to die," our Bibles have preferred this exposition to the other, be- cause the sense which it gives is excellent in itself, and has a more just and entire agreement with tlie preceding test. He said that Christ will be magni- fied in his body, whether by life or death ; he now alleges the reason, because Christ is gain to me in both, that is to say, in life and in death. Christ is a fruit, a profit, and an advantage, which I draw both from my life and death, in such a way, that being always a gainer, it matters little to me which God sends me, whether life or death. Finding in both the wages and the acquisition to which I look, that is to say, Jesus Christ my Saviour's glory, and the power of his grace, neither the one nor the other can frustrate the fruit of my designs and my desires. From which evidently follows the conclusion which he proposes to draw, that is to say, that he shall never be ashamed in any thing. For as his present trial cannot terminate otherwise than either by life or by death, and as he found his advantage in both these events, you see clearly that it was not possible that this trial should issue in his shame, nor otherwise than to his consolation and salvation. As to the rest, this language is figurative, and derived from the similitude of operations in trade and commerce, where the profit which results, whether from the toil or industry which has been employed in such occu- pations, or from the money which has been hazarded, is properly called gain ; from whence the apostle takes this word to express fruit, profit, and advantage, and says in like manner " to gain," signifying to acquire and obtain a useful and fruitful thing ; as afterwards, in the third chapter, when speaking of the worldly advantages which he had formerly had in Judaism, he says, that " that which was gain to him," that is to say, which was advantageous to him, he had counted loss for the love of Christ, and had given it up voluntarily, and esteems it no more than dung, " that I may win Christ." This figure is so niucn the more elegant, as our Saviour had already em- ployed commerce for an image of the conversion of man to the gospel, and of the excellent advantages which accrued to him from it ; " The kingdom of hea- ven is like unto a merchantman seeking goodly pearls, who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it," ^Iatt. xiii. 45, 46. St. Paul is just this merchant, and the Lord Jesus is the pearl. He has sold all to get it, and in it alone he finds a thousand times more happiness, contentment, and profit, than every thing else could have given him. This jewel is his great gain. It is his honour, his pleasure, and his riches; and what other men seek in many different subjects, he has met with entirely in this pearl alone. It is for it that he loves life, that he may tell its worth to other men, and publish its glory to the world ; it is that which prevents his fearing death, being assured that if death should take from him the light of the sun, and the use of his senses, and the other portions of that life which we lead here below, it never could deprive him of the possession of that Divine pearl, infinitely more sweet and more precious than cither the light of the day, or the enjoyment of the rarest and most beautiful things in this world. It is a hap- piness which supported him in life, and which did not forsake him in death. But besides the fruit which he derived from it himself, for his own good and contentment, he made this admirable jewel pro- fitable for others, communicating to them both the knowledge of it and its possession. For there is this difference between the evangelical pearl, and those of the world, that to gain in the traffic of these you cannot in parting with them yield them to those to whom you sell them, without depriving yourself of them. " But the Lord Jesus will not cease to dwell with vou, whilst you communicate hira to your neigh- ' ' ■'2D 2G AN EXPOSITION OP Sehm. IV, bours. It is an indivisible and inalienable pearl, which, like the sun, gives itself wholly to all be- lievers, and remains entire in each of them. This multiplication of the knowledge and enjoyment of the Lord, when it is shared with others, and his glory is expanded and increased by these means, is also one of the principal gains made in this negocia- tion of the gospel. Hence the apostle elsewhere uses the phrase, " to gain men," signifying to convert them, and lead them to the faith of Jesus Christ. If it be a gain as it respects Jesus Christ, who by this means acquires new servants, and with respect to the believer, who enters into the possession of the king- dom of God ; so also is it a gain as it regards him who converts them to the Lord, since by so doing he ac- quires a brother ; besides which, he will not fail to re- ceive from his Master for it the praise and the re- ward which he promises to those who faithfully employ his talents. St. Paul derived all these ad- vantages from his Christ, both in life and death. He found them for himself, as Christ was his righteous- ness, his sanctification, and his consolation in life ; his happiness, his joy, and his end in death. He found them for others, as life and death gave him the means, the one of preaching, the other of sealing the gospel, to the glory of his Master, and to the edification and conversion of men. This is what he means when he says that Christ is gain to him living and dying. O holy and blessed soul, who bearest in thine own heart Christ, the inexhaustible source of blessedness ! Why are we not like thee ? Why have we not in our hearts these Divine fruits of life and of joy; this heavenly manna, which supports and preserves us always happy and contented amidst the accidents and troubles of earth ? Beloved brethren, it is our own fault if we are not as happy as the apostle, if Christ is not gain to us as well as to him, both living and dying. This Christ, the sole author of his happiness, the cause and matter of all his gain, presents himself to us every day. This Divine pearl is not hidden on the coasts of Oriental seas, nor shut up in shells from whence it cannot be extracted but with difficulty, to see and possess its beauties. It shows itself to usj if seeks us, and spreads before our eyes all the wonders and perfections of its nature. If we have it not, like the apostle, the fault is ours, and not his. Poor worldlings, so greedy of gain, that ye seek it in the most thorny afl'airs, among the most dangerous elements and countries, who give your lives to the sea and to the winds, and to the faith of men, worse and more treacherous still than either the sea or the winds, who do and suffer all things, even the most dishonest, for I know not what uncertain profits ; how is it that ye despise a gain so great and so certain ? In the first place, ye are not sure whether these labours which ye give yourselves and others will succeed. Of those who sail on this sea under such hopes more than half are lost, and we see every day new shipwrecks. Instead of which, if you seek Jesus Christ, you are assured of finding liim ; it is a trade which never fails of success. He Bays, " Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest," Matt. xi. 28. He receives all men ; he rejects none ; and there is no wind, no storm, no peril, either on the land or on the sea, which can prevent your coming to him. He is present every where and at all times. He comes himself, and presents himself before us, and solicits us to seek him; he says, "Behold, I stand at the door, and knock ; if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him," Rev. iii. 20. Now it is a very uncertain thing that you should meet in the world the treasures or the goods that you seek there, but it is a very certain thing that you will never derive from aught you may find there any true gain, or any profit worthy of being so called. Far from gaining, when you have calculated all, and compared your returns with your expenditure, you will repent of your folly, in having lost so much time and trouble to acquire so little, and acknowledge that these commodities, which have cost you so much, are very far from being worth the price at W'hich they are valued. Instead of which, in Jesus Christ you will assuredly find an in- estimable gain, which you will no sooner have tasted than you will be delighted with, and confess that he alone is worth more than the whole universe together. For suppose that you had all the gold of Peru, and all the pearls of the East, with the chiefest honours of the state, and the highest glory that any of the great captains and lords of our age have obtained ; after all, would you be cither the better or the more happy? Would your mind be more content, or your body more healthy ? Would this imaginary blessed- ness remove the trouble of your conscience ? Would it soften the vexations, the fears, the avarice, the envy, and the other passions of your soul ? Would it heal your diseases ? Would it cure you of the gout, or a fever, or of intense pain ? Do you not see, on the contrary, that there are no persons in the world who have more care and less repose than these pretended happy people? that distrust, remorse, re- grets for the past, fears for the future, envy, uneasi- ness, and a thousand such-like passions, the scourges of humanity, usually nestle in their hearts, and pre- serve themselves there night and day, without giving them any respite. Their bodies also are much more subject to diseases than those of others ; their toil and their continual luxury bringing upon them many others than those to which our common nature is liable. Great and tragical misfortunes oftener fall on their houses, as the thunder-bolt on the summits of the more elevated mountains, or upon the tower or pinnacles of some lofty temple. But the Lord Jesus, if you receive him truly and faithfully into your heart, will bring you all sorts of gains and ad- vantages. He will drive away the alai-ms of con- science, and the fear of the wrath of God, which are amongst our greatest miseries. Washing you in his blood, and investing you with his righteousness, he will give you boldness to approach the throne of grace. He will cause the face of his Father to shine upon you in joy and in salvation ; and whereas other men never look upon him, but they behold him in- flamed with a terrible and devouring fire, which in an instant scorches up whatever joy there may be in their miserable souls, you will there see continu- ally a mild and genial light, which will shed more contentment in your heart than the children of this world possess in the time of their greatest prosperity. This Jesus will deliver you from the delusions of error, and will show you the true and simple nature of things, and will fill your understanding with a pure and salutary wisdom. He will free you from the slavery of sin, the cause of our misery, and will place a gentle peace in your hearts, by chasing from them, by the power of liis word and of his Spirit, that infinite brood of vain lusts, which, like a swarm, of tyrants, tear you continually, and hold your poor soul in a state of lamentable uneasiness. And with respect to those diseases and accidents which aftlict human nature, if he should permit them to happen to you, he will never fail with the trial to give you strength to support it, perfecting his power in yoiu' weakness, and softening in such a way your afflic- tions by the unspeakable consolations of his Spirit, that the endurance of them will not prevent your re- joicing in him; witness this Paul, who, with his Chap. I. THE EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS. 27 chain, and in the midst of all the persecutions which befell him, did not fail, by the assistance of his Lord, to have a thousand times more content-ment in the secret of his heart, than the Neros, the Senecas, the princes and the philosophers of the world, with all the vain- glor}- of their prosperity. But if even the things of the world did bring some true and solid advantage to men, still it is evident that this would be but for a very short period, that is to say, for a few miserable years, however much might be extended the short and perishable life that we lead on the earth. Death troubles and ends all their enjoyment, whatever it might be, with so much the more grief and bitterness in proportion to the ease and contentment that they have found here below. There is neither grandeur, honour, nor glory which can protect them from this sad blow. If these things are gain to them in life, still it is very certain that they are not so in death. On the contrary, there are none to whom this passage appears more fright- ful, nor who have so much difficulty in meeting it, as those who have the most possessed them. But this same Christ who is gain to us in life is also gain to us in death. He takes from us its terror, and, filling our hearts with a holy hope, he consoles us till our last sigh. We then quit all our other possessions. We strip ourselves even of this body with its senses, which made a part of our being. But for all that we do not lose Jesus Christ. This good and merciful Saviour, who has governed and consoled us during life, accompanies us in death. He walks with us in that dark and frightful valley, and, in dissipating its obscurity by his light, conducts us with his crook ; and, on going out of this miserable world, elevates us into heaven, where he receives our souls into his rest, delivering them from all the evils that we suffer or fear here below, and putting them into the enjoy- ment of all the blessings we desire or hope for. Thus, behold, dear brethren, how Jesus Christ is gain to us living and dying, and how, out of him, strictly speaking, there is nothing that is not loss to us both in life and in death. For there is no middle path; we must gain all and have all tcith him, or we must lose all out of him. Let us then give up all other blessings, and, acknowledging the vanity of riches, honours, and pleasures, the great idols of this world, let us embrace the Lord Jesus. Let us lodge him in our heart : may this be our part and our in- heritance. Let us, individually, prepare to receive him on Sunday next, with the fruits of his death and resurrection which he presents to us on his holy table. Let us wash our souls from all filth and im- purity; and let us clothe them with an ardent faith, a lively repentance, and a true charity ; that he may willingly enter into us, that he may delight himself there, and remain there for ever for our gain, both in life and in death, in this world and in that which is to come. To him, with the Father, and the Holy Spirit, one true God, blessed for evei-more, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen. Preached at Charenton, Palm Sunday, \st April, 1640 SERMON V. Verse 22—26. But if I live in the flesh, this is the fruit of my labour: yet what I shall choose I tvot not. For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and be with Christ ; which is far better : nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more needful for you. And having this confldence, I know that 1 shall abide and continue with you all for your furtherance and joy of faith ; that your rejoicing may be more abundajit in Jesus Christ for me by my coming to you again. The fear of death is one of those passions which is most troublesome to the minds of men ; so that the apostle says, in the Epistle to the Hebrews, it is by it that they are subjected to the sen'ice of Satan. This wretched apprehension makes them do and suffer an infinity of things contrary both to the excellence of their nature, and to the dictates of their conscience; and keeps their minds in a continual state of dis- quietude. But if death appears to them hideous, their life is not so agreeable but that they oftentimes hate it as much as death itself; witness the number of persons who, in their fury, have violently deprived themselves of it, finding it so insupportable, that they have been unable to wait with patience until nature should come and deliver them from their miseries. These passions which are so different, the one against death, the other against life, proceed both from the same source, from that ignorance into which sin has plunged us, shrouding us as in a thick night, in the darkness of which every thing that we meet causes alarm, because we know not what it is. But Jesus Christ, the Sun of righteousness, has discovered to our senses, in the holy light of the gospel which he has spread abroad in the world, the true nature of these things, that life is not so unhappy that we ought to fly from it, nor death so terrible that we should fear it. They have each their use ; and the believer who knows what Jesus Christ has taught us, so feels and apprehends what there is in them of evil, that he also desires and possesses what they have of good, and gathers from among these sad and piercing thorns with which they are, as it were, bristled, those flowers and fruits which the cross of his Lord forces them to bear in spite of themselves. Possessed of the faith and hopes of his Divine Mas- ter, he is neither ashamed to live, nor fears to die ; as St. Ambrose, one of the most famous teachers of the church, said in the last moments of his life. The apostle presents us to-day, my brethren, in the text which you have just heard, a fine example of this holy and happy condition of the Christian soul, whicli neither hates life nor death, which finds its advantage in both, and knows how to enjoy each. For having said before (as you may remember) that Christ was gain to him living and dying, he now declares to us the thought and feeling of his mind in regard to these two things ; protesting, that if he were to choose, it would be difficult for him to decide which he should take, finding himself, in a manner, suspended and balanced between two difl'erent de- sires, that of his own good, and the welfare of the church ; for if death was an advantage to him by elevating him to heaven, his life was useful to the church by the great edification that men received from his ministry. "But if I live in the flesh, (says he,) this is the fruit of my labour; yet what 1 shall choose I wot not. For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and be with Christ ; which is far better: nevertheless to abide in the flesh is 28 AN EXPOSITION OF Serm. V. more needful for you." But what he could not himself restore by his own judgment, he adds, that God had decided in the favour and to the advantage of the Philippians and of other believers, having or- dained that lie should still remain on earth to com- plete the work of his apostleship. " And having this confidence, I know that I shall abide and con- tinue with you all for your furtherance and joy of faith ; that your rejoicing may be more abundant in Jesus Christ for me by my coming to you again." This is the subject to which we wish to call your at- tention, my brethren, in this discourse; and, that we may proceed in an orderly manner, we will consider two points, if it please the Lord. The first shall be, The irresolution of the apostle, which of the two would be most expedient for him, whether death or life, with the two reasons on which it was founded. The second. The assurance which he gives of his de- liverance still to live upon the earth, and to exercise there his ministry to the joy and glory of believers. I. He says then, in the opening verse, that he does not know whether it would be profitable for him to live in the ilesh, nor which of the two he sliould choose. Now these two modes of speech, " to live according to the flesh," and, "to live in the Ilesh," though they vary but little in words, differ greatly in their meaning. For in the writings of the apostle, " to live according to the flesh," signifies to follow after its filthy and unholy lusts, to pursue and have them for the principles and motives of life, a course which belongs only to worldly men, who, not being regenerated by the Sjiirit of Jesus Christ, lead a carnal and animal life, plunging into every vice, and not refusing their sensual souls any of those en- joyments which they desire. But " to live in the flesh" simply speaks of living in this mortal and corruptible body, such as it is now, which applies also to believers while they are sojourning on earth, and before they can be admitted to that heavenly life which they expect from the grace of God, on leaving this valley of tears. For you know that the Scripture gives the name of " flesh " not only to a vicious nature corrupted by sin, but also to an infirm nature, which for its preservation requires the ali- ments of the earth, and which is subject to the acci- dents of this world and to death, however freed it may be from the tyranny of sin by the sanctification of the Spirit from on high. Hence the human nature of the Lord himself, although perfectly holy, is, nevertheless, called flesh, whilst it was in the state of infirmity, as when St. John says, that " the Word was made flesh," chap. i. 14; and St. Paul, that "God was manifest in the flesh," I Tim. iii. Ki: the time of his sojourn on earth is called in the Epistle to the Hebrews " the days of his flesh." As then the nature of believers remains under these in- firmities whilst they live here below, not being im- elothed till their departure from the earth, you see that it is with good reason that the apostle speaks of " their life in the flesh," and which St. Peter calls, for another reason, "the time of their sojourning here," I Pet. i. 17. St. Paul again employs these words elsewhere in the same sense, when he says, " And the life that I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God," Gal. ii. 20. And St. Peter calls also in the same manner, and for the same reason, that period which we have still to live upon the earth, " the time which remains to us in the flesh," 1 Pet. iv. 2. And from thence comes that beautiful and elegant opposition that the apostle makes in 2 Cor. X. 3, " For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh." But (you will say to me) how could St. Paul know, as he says, that there would be an advantage for him to live in the flesh, whereas he declared before, that Jesus Christ would be mag- nified in his body, whether by life or by death, and that Christ was gain to him, living or dying; and seeing still further, what he adds below, that his stay on the earth would serve for the furtherance, and faith, and joy, and glory of believers ? What fund can be imagined more profitable than a life which produced in abundance such excellent fruits ? Dear brethren, the difficulty is not great. To speak only of the life which this great apostle led on the earth, and to consider it abstractedly, it is certain that it was extremely profitable, both to others and to himself; those services in which it was passed being such, that they could not be exercised with a good conscience, without bringing great advantages to him who rendered them to others; peace and joy of mind during this life, and a crown of righteousness in the other. But it is not in this manner that St. Paul considers here his temporal life. He has com- pared it with another state, that is to say, with one into which he would enter by death, and asks, not simply if life or death would be profitable to him, (for he had just declared that both in the one and the other there was gain to him,) but rather which of the two would be most expedient, whether to live or to die ; to shed his blood in the chains of Nero, or to escape from those chains ; to bow under this persecution, or to be delivered from it ? And that it was thus appears from what he said in the preceding verse, " Christ is gain to me to live or to die," where he makes express mention of these two things, which he compares together, namely, life and death, in such a manner, that saying, in continuation, " now whether it be profitable for me to live in the flesh I wot not," it is evident that his thought is, " now whether it be better for me to live in the flesh than to die I know not." But what he adds leaves us no reason to doubt it, " What I shall choose I W"ot not," it being clear that there can be no choice where there is but one thing. He does not then speak of life alone, but of life compared with death, saying that he did not know which of the two to choose. Upon which arises a new difficulty. For choice or election can only take place in those things which depend on one's own will, and of which we can, if it seem good to us, take the one, and leave the other. As to those things whose necessary causes are out of ourselves, in nature and in the power of God, as we do not de- liberate about them, still less can we make the elec- tion ; seeing that neither the powers of our under- standing, nor the motions of our w'ill, can either hasten or retard their efl'ect. For example, no one deliberates which will be best, that the autumn be dry or wet, that he may resolve in the end to take the one of these two things rather than the other, it being evident that they both depend on Heaven, and not on us, so that it would be a piece of pure extrava- gance to reason or to exercise the mind thereupon. Now the life and death of the apostle were things of this nature, which depended not on his will, but on the providence of God, and on those inferior causes which he had established as well in the nature as in the intercourse of men. How then does he say that he does not know which of the two he should choose, whether to live in the flesh, or to leave it .' In truth, a frail and carnal man thinks that on such occasions he has much on which to deliberate, whether he ought to die rather than deny the gospel, so tliat his life or death depending on his giving it up or con- fessing it, which are voluntary actions, one might say of such a man, that he is employed in choosing between life and death. But it was not thus with the apostle; he is resolved rather to die a thousand times than to deny his Master, and means, that if he Jhap. I. THE EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS. 29 lives, it will be m retaining the faith and confes- sion of the gospel ; and that taken for granted, it is clear that his life and death did not at all de- pend on his own will. I acknowledge further, that according to the opinion of some among the wise pagans, who permitted men to kill themselves that they might get rid of the miseries of this world, a man might deliberate on his life or death, because that being granted we should have both in our own hands and in our own power. But God forbid that it should ever have entered into the mind of St. Paul, or of any other true Christian, to believe or to authorize so unnatural a frenzy, guilty in so many ways of rebellion and disobedience against God, of in- justice towards our neighbour, of murder and cruelty against ourselves, and finally, of great impatience and cowardice, in not being able to support what the sovereign Lord of the universe has commanded us to suficr. What, then, does the apostle mean by saying that he does not know which of the two he ought to choose, whether life or death ? Dear bre- thren, I reply, he was in doubt to determine and to resolve, not the efltct, but the desire of these two things. He left the guidance of their effect to God, to whom it belonged, resolved to take from his hand all that was wearisome to him, if even it should be the thing the most contrary to his ow-n wishes. He only looked at which of these two events (which were both in the hand of God alone) would be most expedient and advantageous to him, that he might in future arrest and fix his desires upon it. For though those effects which have their causes beyond us are not in our power, it is not forbidden us to con- sider their nature, and to fear or desire them, accord- ing as they are good or evil. If these are things nearly or even entirely equal, in that case we know not on which side to incline our desires, reasons presenting themselves in favour of both, which draw them to itself. Our mind remains balanced between the two, as a piece of iron between two magnets of equal strength. For it is very certain (as even phi- losophy has acknowledged) that we only love and desire any thing for the good that we see in it. That idea alone touches and attracts our will, so that when we do not perceive in one object more good than in another, our feelings necessarily remain undecided and irresolute, dividing themselves between both, without yielding entirely to either. This is what happened to the holy apostle when considering the two contrary issues that his imprisonment might have, that is to say, either life or death ; he found in these two objects, in themselves so different, such equal advantages, that he knew not which of the two he ought the more or the less to desire, his mind remaining so undecided thereupon, that if God had left either event in his own choice, he would have had much trouble to decide which he ought to take. And this is exactly all that the apostle means by these words, " I wot not what I shall choose." He then afterwards proposes to us in the two following verses the reasons for such admirable indecision : " For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and be with Christ; which is far better: nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more needful for you." Here are the two loadstones which held this holy soul in suspense, the one attracting it towards "leaven, the other detaining it on earth. His own good made him desire to be with Christ, that of the church obliged him to be contented to remain still among men. If he loved his own happiness, he no less cherished the happiness and edification of the church. These two desires divided his compassion. The one could only be accomplished in heaven, the other on earlh. The apostle could only attain to the enjoyment of the first by death, whilst the other could alone be gratified by remaining on earlh. What shall I do, (says he,) and which shall I choose, in so difficult a dilemma? I have great reason to wish for death, but I have no less reason not to re- fuse to live. If I consider myself, the happiness which awaits me on high with my Lord makes me desire to leave the earth. But w hen I think of you, your interest, which is not less dear to me than my own, makes me wish to remain still with you. My heart is not at liberty, and on whichever side it turns its desires, it there finds a just and legitimate resist- ance. You hinder it from taking its flight entirely to the skies J and Christ, who is in the heavens, pre- vents its remaining exclusively on the earth. Thus divided between you and myself, I do not decidedly wish either for death or life, your necessities pre- venting the one, and my own happiness not permit- ting me the other; but I regard them both with an indiflcrent mind, which finds satisfaction in both the accomplishment of my own happiness in death, and the edification and joy of your faith in life : this is, in a word, the thought of the apostle. Let us consider the two parts in particulars : First, that he says he is in a strait between two difficulties, shows us how false and vain is that weak and languid turn which some give to its meaning, when they say that it always left to the will the imaginary liberty that they attribute to him of yielding himself to either of these proposed things. I acknowledge that we desire and choose things voluntarily, but I also maintain that we do that also necessarily. Know- ledge arrests and leads captive the will, as the apostle speaks here and elsewhere, W'hen he says, " The love of Christ constrains us," 2 Cor. v. 14. It is by gentle and human ties, I confess, but nevertheless they are ties. Then afterwards St. Paul makes us here understand very clearly that death does not de- stroy our souls, (as say the ungodly,) but only de- taches them from the body, so that they still live after being so separated. That he wished to be unclothed evidently shows it ; for he could not have wished a total and entire destruction of his being. The word itself which he employs to signify death necessarily proves it. This word has been explained in two ways. Some have taken it to mean " to be dis- solved." Others, whose explanation our Bibles have followed, say it is " to be unclothed." But in either sense it evidently is conclusive of the immortality of the soul. For "to be dissolved" signifies to dis- join and separate two things which subsisted to- gether ; so that if you follow this meaning, the apostle teaches us by the word that death only detaches our souls from our bodies, disuniting, without abolishing, the parts of which they consisted. But if you take the word here employed to mean " to dislodge," (as in truth this meaning is more suitable to it than the other,) then it is still more evident that, according to the doctrine of the apostle, the believer does not perish when he dies ; he only changes his dwelling, he only leaves this earthly tabernacle, in which he has lodged on earth, to go and dwell elsewhere. In the third place, besides the existence of the believing soul after death, the apostle here teaches us its state and condition, and in these two or three words over- throws all that the ancients and the moderns have imagined on this subject contrary to truth. First he refutes the dream of those who hold that souls on leaving the body are plunged into a slate of insensi- bility, their reason and other faculties remaining motionless, as if buried in a profound sleep, till the day of the resurrection, when they will awake, and not before, as these persons take for granted. St. Paul, on the contrary, declares that being dislodged AN EXPOSITION OF Serm. V. here, we are with Christ. How with Christ, the source of light, life, and motion itself, if we remain in so sad a picture of death ? And further, if it be 60, how, and by what right, could the apostle say that it was much better for him to be with Christ than to live on the earth ? Who does not see that his con- versation here below, which was so full of sense, wisdom, and action, was not worth a thousand times more than the imaginary sleep in which these people would drown our souls, which, to say the truth, is nothing but a death. But the apostle no less over- throws the error of those who, leaving life and mo- tion to believing souls, keep them from heaven, shut up in I know not what sort of a place, either under the earth or in the air, waiting for the day of resur- rection. Although this fantasy has had on its side the great authors of antiquity, in which they have been followed by the greater number of those first and most celebrated teachers who are called " the fathers," nevertheless it cannot stand with this text of the apostle, which testifies clearly that the believer, on leaving the body, goes to be with the Lord, and that, on the contrary, we are with the Lord when we are parted from these bodies. Since then the Lord is in heaven, who does not see that we shall be there also, and that that blessed sanctuaiy of immortality is the true home, in which our spirits are received on their departure from the body ? From which you see, to remark in passing, that the Scripture of God is the only source from whence we ought to draw our faith, this example showing us that all other authors, however praiseworthy they may he, are li- able to fall into error, and may draw us in after them, if we follow them. But these words of the apostle are no less opposed to the state in which the Roman- ists place the souls of the faithful on leaving this life. For after being dislodged from the body, the apostle shows us that they are with the Lord, and consequently not in their fabulous purgatory, as they themselves confess that the Lord is not in this imagin- ary place, but in heaven, according to the teaching of Scripture. It proves nothing to allege that St. Paul was of the number of those who, not having any re- mains of sin to be purged, went straight to heaven. For, in the first place, supposing that it was really so, still he was not at all certain of it, according to the Romish doctrine, which will not allow that any man living here below can be assured of being now in the grace of God, much less of persevering in it to the end. And they themselves say sometimes that St. Paul was not certain of not going to hell, much less that he was not sure that he should not pass into purgatory. If that were the case, he must have feared, according to their supposition, that he should go into this subterranean prison. Notwithstanding which, he here speaks of being assured of going to heaven with Jesus Christ when he should leave the earth. Certainly then he neither believed nor feared their purgatory, and consequently held quite another doctrine than theirs on the state of the soul on its departing this life. Add to which, the apostle often speaks of himself as one of those wlio was not yet perfected ; so that, not ceasing to hope with assurance that he should be with the Lord as soon as he should have parted with his body, he shows us by the same means, that such also shall be the condition of all believing souls who have embraced the gospel with a lively and sincere faith, as well as of those whose faith is feeble and imperfect. After all, the Scrip- ture makes no difference among the disciples of the Lord, as it respects their salvation at the end of this life. As they have had the same causes for it in this world, it gives it the same effects in the other, and no where tells us that they will be purged from their sins, some in one way, and some in another, but all by the blood of Jesus Christ alone. It makes all who die in the Lord (of which it speaks) pass from earth to heaven, and from the flesh imme- diately to glory ; and says of us all in general, that if our earthly habitation of this building be destroy- ed, we have a building of God, that is to say, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. If some among believers had been otherwise treated, Scripture would not have failed to have told us so ; but as it does not, let us reject, beloved brethren, all these vain opinions, arising from superstition and the curiosity of men, fomented by their avarice, and supported entirely by obstinacy. Let us hold fast the doctrine of St. Paul, Let us be contented with what he has taught us, that if we are truly Chris- tians, our souls, on being dislodged from their earthly tabernacle, will be received into heaven ; that they will be with Christ their Lord in the light of his blessed kingdom, enjoying all the felicity of which their nature is capable in such a state, waiting with sweet and ineffable content the great day which will restore them those bodies, their precious half, to live and reign eternally. It is of that state that we can truly say with the apostle, that it would be much better for us than the one in which we languish here. As to insensibility, or to the darkness of I know not what sort of subterranean caverns, it is certain that it speaks of nothing of the kind, and still less of the flames of the pretended purgatory, as vivid as those of hell, if we are to believe the Romish fables, and I do not think that there is one among the holders of these doctrines who would not greatly prefer to live on earth than to burn in such a fire as they imagine that to be. But as to the con- dition of our souls with the Lord, where is he who cannot see that it must be infinitely more happy than all that we can imagine of happiness on earth ? Here, we are in a storm ; there, we shall be in a calm. Here, we are in a perpetual contest j there, we shall be in a triumph. Here, we groan, surrounded by the world and the powers of darkness ; there, we shall live with saints and angels. Here, we are subject to a thousand infirmities, and countless sufl'erings ; there, we shall be delivered from all evil. Here, we see but darkly, and as it were through a thick veil ; thei'e, we shall see face to face. Here, we are biu'dened with the flesh in many ways ; there, we shall be spiritual and heavenly. And, to compre- hend all in one word with the apostle, here, we are ab- sent from the Lord, the treasure and-the glory of our heart, the life and the joy of our souls; there, we shall be with him. For it is not possible, my bre- thren, to be with this sovereign author of all blessed- ness, without being at the same time perfectly happy; from which you see how absurd is the imagination of those who suppose the real presence of the Lord in the bread of the Eucharist, desiring that now, that is to say, in this earthly pilgrimage, in the midst of infirmity and of death, we should be notwithstanding with the Lord, aye, and that too in a more intimate manner than we shall be with him in the heavens, as they pretend that we have him really and sub- stantially in our stomachs, which will not take place in the other world. Who does not see that they con- found earth with heaven, and mix the condition in which we are in this body, with that on which we shall enter on being removed from hence ; to which St. Paul gives this particular advantage, that then we shall be with the Lord, instead of which, if you be- lieve those other teachers, we are already with him. If we are with the Lord, we should neither do nor suffer evil ; we should neither be subject to sin nor death. The presence of this great Sun of righteous- Chap. I. THE EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIAXS. 31 ness would dissipate all the darkness both of our ig- norance and of our sorrows, and would transform us into so many images of his perfection and glory. I acknowledge that formerly, when he was in his state of weakness, he did not communicate these blessings to all who were with him. But the glory in which he now is does not admit of any being with him who are not blessed. And St. Paul shows this to us here very expressly, when he says simply, " to be with the Lord," meaning to express all the happiness which was enjoyed by every spirit in heaven whom God had collected there by his grace. It is the sweetness and the glory of that condition, my brethren, which makes us desire with the apostle to depart. He did not wish for death for its own sake. In itself death is a very hideous thing, there is nothing in it desirable, nothing but what is ago- nizing and alarming; thus considered, it is what was verj- truly said by the prince of philosophers, the most fearful stroke in the world. For it is the most terrible of all the marks of God's anger ; the ruin of his most accomplished work, the destruction of our nature, the confusion of our senses, and the separa- tion of the most beautiful and closest union that can possibly exist. But whatever it may be in itself, to the soul of the Christian it is by the blessing of God the gate of heaven, and the entrance into eternity. The pains of death are but the paths which lead into the light of true life. If it pluck his soul from this dungeon, where she only breathes with diiBculty, it is to place her in full liberty ; if it defaces this tabernacle of clay in which she is imprisoned, it is to lodge her in a heavenly palace ; and if it spoil her of a form, it is to reclothe her in another incomparably more excellent. St. Paul, who knew it, and who had seen and tasted its effects in paradise, where he had been in ecstasy, considering these wonderful con- sequences of death, desired it for this reason, and re- garded it not only without fear, but even with joy, as the end of his labours, as the haven of his painful voyage, as the day of his coronation, and the com- mencement of his happiness and gloiy. And indeed I am not astonished that he did so. For all that death may have in itself that is painful and bitter, is nothing in comparison of that infinite and eternal felicity into which it conducts happy souls ; so that the ardent desire which the apostle had to arrive at this blissful state, possessing all his senses, and hold- ing them, as it were, in a state of rapturous enjoy- ment, caused him to disregard what there might be painful in the passage itself, and not only did he not fear it, but he even wished for it ; according to what we experience every day in the natural consequences of the emotions of our hearts, that when we love and are ardently attached to one object, we also infallibly embrace and desire those means which we know to be indispensable for its attainment. But however ardent might be this just and legitimate desire which the apostle had for his own happiness, and for the separation necessan," for him to acquire it. it was usefulness to the church which arrested him and held him in suspense, as he expresses to us in these words, " Nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more needful for you." The spiritual welfare of those be- lievers to whom he wrote touched him no less than his own. O admirable love, which, for the profit of others, is willing to be deprived of its own happiness, and to remain in a state of suffering ! It was this same heart which elsewhere wished to be separated frrrm Christ for the sake of his brethren, Rom. ix. .3 : he prefers their salvation to his own, and has more earnestness for their edification than for his own glory. It is true that here he only speaks of the delay, and not of the loss of his salvation. For he was deeply assured that sooner or later he should arrive at the haven of a blessed immortality. But he preferred reaching this some years later, than leaving the instruction of his converts imperfect. He was like a good and wise mother, who, ardently desirous of following her absent husband, is prevented by her anxiety for her children, preferring to deprive her- self of her own happiness rather than fail in seeking their good. Such was this holy apostle. The love of those believers, the children whom he had begot- ten by the gospel, and the zeal which he felt for their furtherance in it, kept him on earth, and made him support with patience the absence of his beloved Lord, and the sorrows which it caused him. From which you see how pastors ought to love their flocks, as this example incites them to seek and to procure their edification with as much or more ardour than their own happiness. II. After having thus declared and explained by pertinent reasons his doubt which of the two would be most expedient for him, whether to die or to live, the apostle adds, in the second part of this text, that he was sure God would decide this his difficulty to the advan- tage and consolation of the Philippians : "And I know that I shall abide and continue with you all for your furtherance and joy of faith ; that your rejoicing may be more abundant in Jesus Christ for me by my coming to you again." Upon which we have two things to consider : the one. If the event corresponded with this certain hope which St. Paul testified that he felt, that is to say, if he was delivered from the imprisonment in which he had been kept at Rome, and again saw the Philippians and the other churches of Greece. And in the second place. What were the fruits that he promised liimself from this deliverance. On the first point, it is a thing on which all the an- cient historians and teachers of Christianity are agreed, that St. Paul was delivered from his first bonds, of which we have the account written in the book of the Acts ; and that, after having been de- tained for more than two years a prisoner at Rome, he was at last set at liberty, and still lived till the first persecution of the Christians, which took place in the tenth year of the emperor Nero, and the sixty- fourth from the birth of the Lord ; a time at which they all hold that St. Paul was again a prisoner for the' second time at Rome, and there suflTered martyr- dom with a great many other believers. According to this he continued to live for six years after his deliverance from his first imprisonment, and conse- quently had leisure to visit the Philippians, and the other churches which he had founded in Greece. Ancient historians hold, that on leaving Rome, he went to preach the gospel in the countries of the west; and it appears by the Epistle to the Romans that he had had such a design ; for he says (Rom. XV. 14) that he desired to go to Rome, and from thence into Spain. But whether he did or did not preach in the provinces of the west, it ought to be considered certain that he again visited the churches of Philippi and Colosse, and others which he had established in Greece and Asia. For in the first place, he speaks of it with great assurance, saying, not only that he knew, but that he was certain of abiding and continuing with them ; and likewise in the following chapter, where, promising to send Timothy to them, he adds, " And 1 trust in the Lord that I also shall soon come," chap. ii. 24; and in a parallel passage in the Epistle to Philemon, a Colos- sian, written about the same year as this, he says, " Prepare me a lodging, for I trust that through your pravers I shall be given ^o you." But that which is unanswerable is, that it appears by the Second Epistle to Timothy, written certainly at Rome a little 32 AN EXPOSITION OF Serm. V. before liis marlyrdom, that he made a second voyage into Italy, and that before doing so he had visited the churches of Greece and Asia; for he tells Timo- thy that Erastns had remained at Corinth, and that he had left Trophimus sick at Miletus, and says that he had left a cloak, with some books and parchments, with one named Carpus in Troas, 2 Tim. iv. 13, 20; things which can in no way coincide with the first voyage that Paul made to Rome, when he was car- ried there a prisoner; it being clear, from the history that St. Luke has so accurately described to us in the Acts, that he did not then either go to Miletus, or to Corinth, or Troas, and did not even approach them, but sailed direct from Palestine to the west, taking his course below Candia, and from thence (having been carried by a tempest) to the island of Malta, from whence he afterwards went to Rome; and there is no appearance that these things relate to the voyage that he had formerly made from Macedonia into Pales- tine, mentioned and described by St. Luke in the Acts, from the long period that had since passed; for St. Paul having been detained for two years in C'esarea, before setting out for Italy, he must have arrived at Rome about three years after having made this voyage. How could he suitably remark, after so long a period, that he had left Trophimus sick at Miletus ? and still more, why did he tell Timothy of it, who having been his companion in this voyage, would have known it without requiring to be told of it ? Certainly, to unravel this difficulty, we must necessarily presuppose that St. Paul, having been de- livered from his first imprisonment, visited some years after the churches of Greece and Asia, accord- ing to the design and hope which he here declares he possessed ; and that having seen, consoled, and edified them, on leaving them he passed through Troas, where he left the books and parchments in the hands of Carpus, and from thence to Miletus, and to Corinth, where Trophimus and Erastus re- mained, and returned for the second time to Rome, where he was again put into prison, and there suf- fered martyrdom, a little time after having written the Second Epistle to Timothy. There is one thing which appears to contradict this presumption, name- ly, what we read in the 20th chapter of the Acts, that St. Paul, going to Jerusalem before his first Roman imprisonment, said to the elders of the Ephe- sian church, " that he knew that they should see his face no more," Acts xx. 25. But the answer is easy ; he spoke then according to his own apprehension, arising from the warning that had been given him by the Spirit, that in every city, and in Jerusalem also, bonds and sorrows awaited him. Not knowing then what would be the result of these trials, he imagined that, from the greatness of his troubles, he should die under them, although the Lord had other- wise decreed, having delivered him from his first bonds, and afforded him the opportunity of seeing once more his dear flocks, and even afterwards of foreseeing this very happiness, and to conceive a cer- tain hope of it, before the thing hapipened, as appears by this text. We may then conclude that the apostle, according to the assurance he here gives to the Philippians, was delivered from the danger of death in which he then was, and continued still on earth, and even returned to them. From which you see, dear brethren, that the courage and inclination of believers for death is sometimes followed by their deliverance. God again gives them that life which they had committed to him, as he formerly restored Isaac to Abraham, being contented with their volun- tary offering. This apostle was ready to die for him, he was prepared to do so, and even his desire tended that way. The Lord accepted his inclination, and receiving it as a holy oblation, gave him notwith- standing life and liberty ; teaching us to have always our loins girded, and our lamps burning, particularly in times of sickness, and in those circumstances in which our lives are in danger. For the best and most proper means to escape them is to be prepared for them, and resigned early to the will of God. As to the objects and effects of this deliverance of the apostle, he represents them as of two kinds : in the first place. The furtherance of the Philippians, and the joy of their faith, that is to say, their edifica- tion and consolation. For though the preaching of the apostle was full of fruit and of spiritual utility, it cannot be doubted but that it would be still more efficacious to the Philippians after the glorious trial of so long an imprisonment, and that their faith would be strengthened, and their piety fortified, by the example of his patience, by the sight of his per- son, and by hearing his words. Their joy would also be very great at seeing again among them, safe and sound, so good and so dear a master, after all the dangers he had gone through, and the apprehen- sions they had felt on his account. But he calls this joy that they experienced at again seeing him " the joy of their faith," as it sprang entirely from feelings of piety and faith in Jesus Christ. There was nothing carnal or worldly in it. It was only founded on con- siderations of faith, of heaven, and of salvation, and not on those of the earth. He also adds another effect of his deliverance, " That your rejoicing may be more abundant in Jesus Christ for me by my coming to you again." What is this rejoicing of be- lievers in Jesus Christ? It is in my opinion the holy assurance they feel of the power and wisdom of the Lord, and of his love for his own, and of his care in making all things work together for their good, and for their salvation. For that is the only subject of their rejoicing, and the whole cause of their joy and confidence. " Some trust in chariots, and some in horses; but we" (say they) "will remember the name of the Lord our God," Psal. xx. 7. In every thing else they acknowledge their weakness and vileness. But they rejoice in the name of the Lord Jesus. They triumph in it. They think of it and speak of it in a lofty manner. Now that the de- liverance and return of the apostle would make this rejoicing abound in the hearts and mouths of the Philippians, and of all the other believers who were then alive, is very evident. For they saw clearly in his person what and how excellent was the goodness and power of that Saviour, who had preserved his servant from the jaws of the lions, and had miracu- lously delivered him from the prison of Nei-o, having faithfully defended him from the efforts of the world and of hell, w'hich both conspired for his ruin. They also saw in it the care which the Lord had for their edification, who for their good and for their further- ance in piety, and not for any other consideration, preserved his apostle on earth, contrary to the ap- pearances of things, against the interests of his hap- piness, and against his own wishes. And this, dear brethren, is the fruit that we should draw from the deliverances that God gives to his servants, whether in relieving them from those sicknesses to which our nature is subject, or in snatching them from the hands of their enemies, or in keeping them in the midst of the many dangers by which they are sur- rounded. May these proofs which we daily receive of his goodness and sovereign power increase more and more our confidence in him, and cause the re- joicing that we have in our hearts to abound, and to receive new strength and vigour, so that not only we may be consoled in the sorrows and various difficul- ties of this miserable life, but triumph even in the ! Chap. I. THE EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS " midst of the greatest storms, having nothing low, cowardly, or mean, either in our minds or in our 33 mouths. May all our thoughts and our words he courageous and lofty, and worthy of the grandeur of that Christ whose disciples, whose sheep, and whose members we are. Such, my brethren, is the exposition of this text of the apostle. Let us profit by it, meditating upon and carefully practising the lessons contained in it, on which we have briefly touched each in its own place. Let us, above all, receive into our hearts ■what he teaches us of the nature of death, and of the use of life, that we may neither fear the one nor abuse the other, and reduce to their true and le- gitimate form the inclinations and feelings we should entertain for both. This is the most important point of heavenly doctrine ; and if a pagan formerly said that the life of a wise and virtuous man should be a perpetual meditation on death, how much more ought a Christian to say so, the disciple of a crucified Master, who only leads them to life through death ! But besides the quality and instructions of the Lord, the necessity of the thing itself recommends its medi- tation to us. For as to those other evils against which we prepare ourselves, such as poverty, exile, sorrows, or such like, perhaps they may never happen to us. But death is inevitable, and there is neither birth nor condition that can secure either us or those belonging to us against it. Let us then all equally think of it, and prepare ourselves for it early, so that whenever it comes it may not take us unawares. Let us see it as it really is, and without being alarmed by the vile and hideous form in which painters and men of the world have represented it ; but let us be- lieve what the apostle says of it, that if we are truly Christians, it is much better for us than life. It is much that it frees us from those continual miseries in which we languish here below. This consider- ation alone makes it desirable to many persons, and has led entire nations to celebrate the funerals of their dead with songs and rejoicings, not like us with tears and lamentations, with which they ac- company the birth of their children, thinking that those are to be pitied who are entering into a life so full of sorrows, and that those only are happy who are leaving it. But, () Christian believer! besides the sufferings from which death will deliver you, it will put you in possession of a great and assured hap- piness ; it will elevate you into the heavens, and give you life with Jesus Christ. Let those fear death •whose minds superstition has filled with error, who see nothing after this life but fire and torments, either the flames of hell or of purgatory. You, dis- ciple of Jesus, who have learned of his apostle that there is now no condemnation for those that are in him, and who behold him in the heavens extending his hand to draw you thither where he is, how can you dread so happy a transition ? Are you afraid of being with Christ ? Do you fear to enter into the company of his saints ? into the fellowship of his angels ? into the marvellous light of his eternal kingdom, where your faith will be changed into Bight, and your hope into rejoicing ? How does the creed you profess accord with this fear? There have been, and there still are, an immense number of per- sons in the world, who cheerfully expose themselves to death for the hope of acquiring a vain glory to their name. But ours, brethren, gives a true and solid glory, not to our name, which is nothing, but to ourselves, placing us in the heavens by the side of the Lord. Let us then be fully resolved that it is much better for us to be dislodged than to re- main in this eartlily tabernacle, and instead of dread- ing with the world this last hour, let us desire it with the apostle, and welcome it when it shall present itself to us, as the period of our freedom ; saying, like Simeon with a heart full of joy, "Lord, now lettest thou thy sen'ant depart in peace." Being thus inclined, we shall be the happiest men in the world. Nothing will disturb our lives, or tempt our piety ; for of what can we be afraid if we do not fear death? nay, if, far from fearing it, we desire it? May this same thought console us when we mourn the death of those who have been dear to us ; for as they are with the Lord, it is more proper to rejoice at their happiness than to complain at their removal from us. It is those who remain on the earth for whom we should weep, those whom the world and the flesh estrange from God, who are every day in sorrow or in danger. But, Christians, I beseech you, do not thus disgrace those holy beings whom you have seen depart from this earth in the faith and hope of the Lord, with the garments of his household, and the marks of his election and love, in the midst of the applause and the rejoicing of angels ; do not do them this dishonour, to mourn their triumph, and mar the consummation of their happiness by your tears. May faith quickly dry those which nature forces from you. May (heir happiness soften ijour grief, and oblige you to keep your hearts continually elevated toward heaven, where they are gone before, waiting with patience and true Christian resolution till you are yourselves gathered in peace, to live and reign eternally with your Master and theirs, Jesus the Prince of life, and the Lord of glory ; to whom, with the Father, and the Holy Spirit, one true God, blessed for ever, be all honour and praise, world without end. Amen. Preached at Charenton, Sunday, 7th May, 1640. SERMON VI. Verse 27, 28. Only ht your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ : that whether I come a7id see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit, uith one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel ; and in nothing terrified by your adversaries : ivhich is to them ayi evident token of perdition, but to you of salvation, and that of God, In all enterprises of importance, it is a grand point to have them well and happily commenced ; and he who said, that this is to have done half the work, was not far from the truth, because, as their beginnings are usually more difficult than their terminations, they occupy men more, and contribute thereby to the execution of all the rest. But however important this commencement of an aflair may be, it is of no value, but turns rather to shame and loss, if it be not followed up, and carried on to its completion, with a constant perseverance in the enterprise undertaken. He who begins and does not finish, besides the time and trouble which he so uselessly fritters away, naturally exposes himself to the blame and ridicule of the world, and remains justly deprived of the fruits of his own labour. But if this occurs in all the enterprises of human life which are of any con- sequence. It is more especially so in the profession of religion, incomparably the greatest and most import- ant of all. It is not only useless to have commenced it if you do not persevere in it, but it is very hurtful ; S4 AN EXPOSITION OF Serm. VI. the warmth and the exertion of the beginning re- doubling the unhappiness of those who, in a cowardly manner, decline from so noble and divine a task. This is why the holy apostle, after having before praised the commencement of the Philippians in the gospel of the Lord, now exhorts them, in the text that you have just heard, to persevere constantly, without ever allowing themselves to be carried out of that path of life, in which they were running so reso- lutely, by any opposing force or violence. In the words immediately preceding, he promised them, if you remember, that however adverse appearances might seem, he should be released from prison, and once more revisit them, to the joy and edification of their faith. He entreats them, while waiting for this con- solation, that they would continue always to progress from good to better in the study and exercise of re- ligion : " Only let your conversation be as it be- comcth the gospel of Christ : that whether I come and see you, or else be absent, 1 may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel ; and in nothing terrified by your adversaries : which is to them an evident token of perdition, but to you of sal- vation, and that of God." That we may meditate on this text with more regularity and profit, by the ."ssistance of the Lord, we will consider four things in it consecutively. The first shall be the general exhortation that the apostle gave to the Philippians, " To let their conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ." The three others will be the three particular duties which he proceeds to point out, and which are as three principal parts of this evangelical conversation which he here recommends : the first, "To stand fast in one spirit;" the second, "To strive together with one mind;" and the third, " Not to be terrified by their adversaries." May God give us grace so to acquit ourselves in this medi- tation, that all our lives henceforth may be a con- stant practice of them, keeping ourselves all united together under the governance of the Spirit of the Lord Jesus, continuing in his fear and love, and courageously repelling with the shield of faith every arrow of our visible and invisible enemies, to the glory of our great God, and to our own salvation. I. The general exhortation of the apostle, which we proposed to treat in the first place, is conceived in these terms, " Only let your conversation be as it be- cometh the gospel of Christ." The first word, " only," relates to what he had said before, when, having spoken of the issue of his imprisonment, of life, of death, and of the fruit of both, he declared that he was firmly assured of remaining on earth, and of again seeing the church of the Philippians, and of edifying and consoling them by his presence. Add- ing then now, " only converse according to the gospel." As if he had said. As God will conduct all these things to his glory and your good, leave to him the care of all that remains, and give yourselves en- tirely to the study of religion, living in exact accord- ance with that form which is prescribed to you in his word. From which you perceive, dear brethren, that the whole business of a believing soul is to live here holily and religiously, in a word, evangelically. It is the one thing needful. As to every thing else, God has either already provided, or will provide in time to come, without our anxiously caring for it. For he has fully executed on his side all that was necessary for the establishment of our happiness. He has given us his Son, and has secured to us, by his cross, the remission of our sins, peace in our consciences, and an entrance into and the enjoyment of a hea- venly life. He has sent his apostles, and abundantly blessed their ministry. He has called us to himself^ and has made his will known to us in the gospel of his Son. And for the time to come, he has promised by his faithfulness to keep us tenderly, and to make all things work together for our good, however con- trary or adverse they may appear, so that neither the accidents of life, nor the horrors of death, shall ever be able to deprive us of these treasures. He has taken all this upon himself, and does not wish that any of these thoughts should occupy our minds. What then is the work that he requires of us ? It consists entirely in this, that enjoying his benefits with perfect contentment for time past, and an as- sured hope for the future, we should dispose our lives according to his commandments, and that we should employ our whole care, time, and attention, to see that our conversation be worthy of his name and of his gospel. This is the only employment he has given us, the only work that he asks of us. He releases us from all other care, and is contented that we should solely attend to this. And indeed how happy should we be if we were to stay our minds on this study alone, leaving those things which so use- lessly occupy other men ! This work always brings its fruit with it, the repose and joy of the conscience. It is agreeable to God, useful to our neighbours, and salutary to ourselves. It neither leaves regret, shame, disgust, nor repentance in the heart. Every thing else, however specious it may appear, whether in life, or even in the religion of men, is either vain or profitable for "little," as St. Paul says, speaking of " bodily exercise." "But godliness is profitable for all things, having the promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come," 1 Tim. iv. S. Hence the reason why he recommends this exclusively to his Philippians : " Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ." It is word for word in the original, aCtwe rov tvayyiXiov, " con- verse worthily, or in a manner worthy of the gospel." I remark this to show you how vain are the preten- sions of the advocates of merit, when they desire to support their proud opinion on what is said in the Scripture, "That the faithful are counted worthy of the kingdom of God," 2 Thess. i. 5; as if these words signified that l!iei/ deserved the heavenly kingdom, and that the value of their works was such that God could not refuse them this reward, without doing them wrong, and committing an injustice. This text clearly shows that that is not the apostle's meaning. For when St. Paul here says " a convers- ation worthy of the gospel," you see plainly that he does not intend a conversation which deserves the gospel, (this would be a palpable misconstruction,) any more than St. John, when he commanded those who received his baptism " to bring forth fruits meet for repentance," meant works which deserved repentance ; it w'ould be a manifest absurdity to in- terpret it thus. Who does not see that in both these jilaces the worthiness spoken of signifies nothing but a certain relationship of suitableness, and not of merit, consisting in this, that the conversation of which St. Paul speaks be such as the gospel requires, bearing its impress and its marks; and that the fruits of which St. John speaks should be such as re- pentance demands and produces, works such as are becoming and suitable to be done by those w'ho are truly repentant. It is in the same sense that St. Paul speaks in the Epistle to the Ephesians, where he beseeches his converts " to walk worthy of the vocation wherewith they were called ;" that is to say, not in such a manner as would imply they were called for their own merit, but (as every one must acknowledge) in a manner that should be suitable to their vocation, and as it became persons to live who are thus called. In the same sense must the apostle Chap. I. THE EPISTLE TO THE PHILimANS. 33 be understood when he enjoins the Colossians " to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord," Col. i. 10; and likewise what he writes to the Thessalonians, that they should " walk worthy of God, who hath called you to his kingdom and glory," 1 Thess. ii. 12. Kow it is evident that he means to speak, not of a life which deserves God, (which would be an ab- surd and impious thought,) but rather of a life suit- able to the name and the quality which they bore of children of God, and which should accord with the excellence of their calling: so that when he else- where says that believers who suffer persecution with faith and patience are " counted worthy of the heavenly kingdom," 2 Thess. i. 5, he does not mean to imply that they have merited this reward, and that the value of their sutferings is equal to that of this glory, and may be weighed against it, contrary to what he expressly denies, Rom. viii. 18; but simply that they have marks suitable to the kingdom of God, and, as it were, the garments of his household, and the qualities to which, out of his pure mercy in Jesus Christ, he promises eternal life ; according to that maxim so often repeated by the apostle, that " if we suffer with him, we shall also reign with him." But to return to our subject. Every one must suf- ficiently see and understand what this conversation worthy of the Spirit of Christ is, which St. Paul here proposes to us as the only business of our voca- tion, without requiring any thing else. Would to God that it were not more difficult to practise than to understand it. And yet, to speak truly, that we ac- quit ourselves so ill arises oftener from our cowardice and wickedness than from the difficulty of the thing itself. The gospel of Jesus Christ is that holy doc- trine which the Lord has brought us from the bosom of the Father, which he has published on earth by the ministry of his apostles, which he has revealed to us by his Spirit, and the profession of which he has given us grace to embrace. The mystery of god- liness is, without doubt, great; it proposes to us a God manifest in the flesh, justified by the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, raised into glory ; and teaching us besides, that after having received the grace of God, profitable to all men, we should renounce iniquity and worldly lusts, and live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world, looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ. The conversation worthy of the gospel is that which agrees with this beautiful and heavenly doctrine, and which bears its creden- tials; in which none of the productions of ignorance or error appear ; where the rays of knowledge and faith shine throughout; it is, in short, a life which bears a just relation to the rules of the Lord Jesus, tinted with his beauty, and moulded and formed after his example. This holy law teaches us that vice is the greatest evil of our nature ; that it degrades man from all excellence ; that it changes him into a brute or a devil ; that it kindles against us that violent and just anger of Almighty God, which no- thing can extinguish but the blood of his own Son. Undoubtedly the life in which vice reigns is then unworthy of the gospel, and bears no relation to it ; on the contrary, wherever it exists, it opposes and seeks to overthrow it. This same law warns us that the earth is the abode of vanity and death; that this world is but a shadow which passeth away; that its pleasures, its honours, and its riches are but false idols, incapable of affording us any real or solid con- tentment. Those then who fix their desires on it, and whose whole life is only occupied in serving mam- mon, or in worshipping ambition, voluptuousneBS, and luxury, have nothing in iheir conversation which is worthy of that high and heavenly doctrine of which they make profession. The gospel declares to us that our happiness is above in the heavens, hid in Jesus Christ, the depositary of our glory and immor- tality ; that in this high sanctuary are our country, our city, and our abode, and that love and holiness are its sovereign law. To respond to this instruction, who does not see that we must continually have our thoughts, our desires, and our hearts entirely in heaven ? that the design of arri\-ing there ought to be our only anxiety, and that therefore the search for that which can lead us thither, that is to say, the love of God and of our neighbour, ought to occupy all our mind and intellect ? From hence, believers, judge, I pray you, how very small is the number of those who converse in a manner worthy of the gos- pel ; and, seized with shame and horror, let us hence- forth labour to be of the chosen few. Let us leave every other care to attend to litis. Remember the direction of the apostle, "Only let your conversa- tion be as it becometh the gospel." God calls you to that alone. You call yourselves " evangelical ;" and those even who try to corrupt your faith, by adulterating it with a mixture of the traditions of the flesh, still flatter you with this title. Be then such in truth. May this name be your glory before God and men. Do nothing that is unworthy of it. Con- sult it on every thing which presents itself to you. This name alone, if you listen to it, will be sufficient to teach you what is your duty. Receive nothing that is contrary to it, either in your belief or in your manners. If "the world invite you to share in its superstitions, in its vices, in its amusements, reflect how unworthy are these things of the gospel of Christ. If the flesh entice you to hatred, vengeance, or impurity, remember how directly contrary are these feelings to the voice and to the Spirit of your Master. If it were only in consideration of our own honour, it would ever oblige us to lead a life con- formable with our profession, there being nothing more shameful than to do the contrary of what we say, and by the example of our manners to ruin that which we have professed and established with the moulh. This contradiction is so abominable, and so unworthy of every honourable mind, that even among the sects of worldly philosophers, w hich were at best but folly and vanity, every one endeavoured to adjust his manners to his dogmas, and to live as he taught. But, alas ! here is much more than honour. For we shall be judged at the last day by our life, and not by our language ; by our conversa- tion, and not by our profession. If we do not live in a way worthy of the gospel, in vain shall we have made profession of it, in vain shall we have called ourselves evangelical, or have been so called by others. All this vain-glorj' will be useless, yea more, it will be infinitely hurtful to us. We shall be re- proached with it, and with good reason, as the great- est of our crimes, having had the insolence to pro- fane so holy a name, and of not having been ashamed to lead the life of a pagan under the profession of a Christian, sullying and tarnishing the venerable name and holy law of the Lord Jesus, the King of angels and of men, by the blemishes and filth of our actions. God preserve us, dear brethren, from falling into so frightful a misfortune. Let us be true Christians, and evangelical. May our conversation hencefoith be worthy of this gospel that we maintain. To enforce so necessary a duty on the Philippians St. Paul, besides their own interest in salvation, re presents also to them that which he takes in it: " Let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ ; so that (says he) whether I come and see 56 AN EXPOSITION OF Serm. Vl you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that you stand fast in one spirit." If ever there was a master whose disciples were bound to hold him in high esteem, it was doubtless this apostle, who had delivered to the Philippians, not the vain and perish- able arts and sciences of the world, but the know- ledge of God, and of salvation ; who had drawn them from the abyss of hell into the true light of heaven ; and who, for communicating to them this Divine treasure, had even suffered shame and persecution to the very shedding his blood, so great and so ardent was the love he bore them. To which must be united the situation in which he then was, bound with a chain for the gospel, and the constancy of his affection for them, which he so tenderly felt in the midst of all his troubles. What did they not owe to such a man ? And certainly the care that they had shown for him during his bonds, a sure sign of the love which they bore him, evidenced also that they would have been very much concerned to have displeased him. He puts then this consideration foremost; and to lead them to live in a manner worthy of the gos- pel, he proposes to them the joy that he should re- ceive at hearing such good news. I ask of you no other reward (says he) for so many troubles that I have undergone to instruct you in the gospel, than that your conversation should respond to my doc- trine, and that you should show forth in your man- ners that beautiful and holy way I have set before you in my instructions. This ardent affection that I had and still have for your salvation will be abund- antly rewarded, if the gospel of my Lord shines as well in your conduct as it is retained in your mouths. Such, my brethren, is the desire of St. Paul, and of every true minister of Jesus Christ. All the pay- ment that they seek for their laborious exertions is the sanctification and salvation of their flocks. As in truth, from the little taste that you have for heavenly things, you will confess that there is no labour in the world whose fruit is either more de- licious or more glorious than to see religion flourish, and sanctification, the first-fruits of a blessed immor- tality, the ornament and the light of heaven, in a flock that you have yourselves instructed and formed. If fathers and mothers bless the infinite trouble that the education of their children has given them when they profit by it, and if the masters of worldly arts esteem themselves happy to have made some clever scholars in their calling, what must be the delight of ministers of the Lord, when they see his word pros- per in their hands, and the ground that he had committed to them crowned with his blessing, and entirely covered with those Divine fruits of godliness which endure eternally! O sweet and happy troubles! O blessed and valuable labour! Dear brethren, if the care that we take to instruct you by the preach- ing of the gospel deserve that you should have any regard for our comfort, give us that which the apostle here asks from the Philippians. May the purity of t/our conversation testify to the power and Divinity of our gospel, that your manners may show that we have not laboured in vain, and that your life may praise our preaching. God knows, dearly be- loved brethren, that it is the most ardent of our wishes, that it is the joy and crown that we daily en- treat from him. As for the rest, when the apostle says to the Philippians, " That whether I come and see you, or else be absent," it is not to retract what he had said in the preceding verses of his certain re- turn to them, but only to make them understand that he had nothing more at heart than the goodness and holiness of their life ; that if present among them, he could see nothing more agreeable; and tha' absent from them, he could hear nothing sweeter than the report of their constancy and progress ir piety. II. But it is time to come to the three last points of our text. For the apostle, instead of saying tha' he desires nothing more than to learn, whether ab- sent or present, that the Philippians behaved in : way worthy of the gospel, (as it seems that the ordei and natural course of the language would require,) acts otherwise ; and, that he might take occasion tc particidarize some of the principal duties of an evan- gelical conversation, see how he explains himself, " To the end that 1 may hear of your condition, that you stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel ; and in nothing terrified by your adversaries." You see that he touches three points in which an evangelical con- versation almost entirely consists, in its three prin- cipal and most important parts. The first is to " stand fast in one spirit." The word dnj/ttrt in the original signifies to hold on, and to remain firm at one's post, and is derived from the combats, in which each endeavoured to keep his place, and to maintain himself in his seat, without going back, or being shaken by all the attacks of the enemy. The apostle, employing this image to represent to us the life of the faithful, means, that in this spiritual warfare we shotild never allow ourselves to be drawn from' that position in which God has placed us, and that all together, like his faithful and valiant soldiers, courageously repulsing the enemy, we should ahva}-s stand firm, without quitting either the faith or the profession which by his grace we have made. And ! as things diametrically opposite sometimes help to \ give us light, you will know what to stand fast is, if you consider what fault is opposed to this duty. In the first place, they fail in it who, having given their name to the Lord, shamefully desert his standard, to pass into the enemy's camp, like those who quit the profession of the gospel to follow that of supersti- tion. In the second, those fail who, retaining the profession of Christianity, corrupt it by the inter- mixture of error, and (like the Galatians formerly) having begun in the Spirit, end in the flesh, receiving into their faith the deadly leaven of some false opinion. Thirdly, those likewise fail in it who, re- maining in the camp of Israel, relax in their affection to piety, or, like the angel of Ephesus, fall from their first love. I would add also,, that in religion not to advance is, in some respects, to retrograde. For this strength, as much as depends on us, is extremely active, and in continual motion ; and when it makes no progress, it is a sign that it is weakened, and that it has lost something of its natural vigour. From which you see, my brethren, the duty opposed to these failings, and signified here by the apostle, when he commands us to stand fast ; it is a firm and in- extinguishable perseverance, not only in the profes- sion, but also in the zeal of piety, in the purity of the faith, in the warmth of love, and in the reality of all the other Christian virtues ; so that instead of losing any thing in this respect, we should rather go on ac- quiring and growing daily, until we come to the measure of the perfect stature, which is in Jesus Christ. Now the apostle does not only say that we should stand fast, he adds, " in one spirit," which may be understood in two ways, according as the word " spirit" is used ; either for the spirit of a man, that is to say, his understanding, or for the Holy Spirit, and the grace which he communicates to be- lievers. Taking it in the first sense, the meaning of the apostle will be, that believers stand fast, and per- severe together in the same mind, having all one thought, one faith, one belief. For the understand- ing being the seat of our knowledge, those are said Chap. I. THE EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS. 37 to have the same mind who have the same belief and the same sentiments in religion. The present ■ state of the Philippian church gave occasion to the apostle to address this good and suitable exhort- ation to them ; for the evil workers of the circum- cision, whom he afterwards names, having an e_ye upon this tlock, and endeavouring to slip in their false and deadly opinions, of the necessity of the Mosaic law, and of the mixture of its ceremonies with the gospel, gave just reason for St. Paul to ap- prehend that their minds might be divided, and that some members of this church might receive in their understandings this strange doctrine. Thus he could very properly exhort them to stand fast in one spirit, and not to permit that diversity of opinions should divide and puzzle their minds, breaking that holy unity of faith in which his preaching had previously bound them. But perhaps it will not be less proper to refer what he says to the Spirit of God, and to his grace, and those salutarj' effects which are often called by his name in Scripture. For this spirit is the sole cause of our constancy and perseverance in the faith ; and as our body, deprived of the soul, which gives it life, immediately falls to the earth, having no more strength nor vigour, so also it is impossible that a man should remain good and continue firm in piety if this holy Spirit should fail him. It is then with good reason that the apostle refers us to him for con- tinuance in this holy profession : " Stand fast in one spirit," says he ; that is to say, by the Spirit of God, with which Jesus Christ has baptized you. Retain him amongst you, so that, delighting and animating you with his salutary presence, he may preserve your feet from backsliding. How many are there, dear brethren, whom the neglect of this great Comforter has thrown into deadly sorrows ! They grieve him by the impurity of their lives, by the coldness of their devotion, by the licence of their thoughts, by the audacity of their reasonings, and by the impiety of their opinions. This Divine guest, grieved by such bad and irreverent conduct, departs from their souls, which are as immediately taken possession of by their spiritual enemy, who never fails in the end either to drive them into the abyss of infidelity or superstition. This is undoubtedly the real cause of tlie rebellion of the greater part of those who have quitted us. That we may not fall into their calamity, let us walk purely and holily under the eyes of the Holy Spirit. Let us serve him in truth ; let us draw him into our hearts. Let us take no rest till we hear his voice, and experience his movements. But the apostle says that this Spirit is one. It is very true that that might relate to his person. For as there is but one Father, and one Son, so also there is but one Spirit. But I am of opinion that here St. Paul rather looks to the uniformity of his graces ; for he spreads in all believers, though in divers measures, the same faith, the same love, and the same hope ; by reason of which the Scripture says that we all make but one and the same body : " For by one Spirit we are all baptized into one body," 1 Cor. xii. 13. It is then in the enjoyment and participation of this one Spirit that we must look for our continu- ance in the church ; it being evident that no body could live if agitated by two different minds, nor could one state support itself if the people were governed by divers and conflicting authorities ; so also would the church inevitably fall into ruin, were the members of whom it is composed led, or rather, to speak more properly, torn, by many contrary spirits. III. But because this perseverance of believers is opposed in many places, and by many kinds of enemies, it is impossible to maintain it without fight- ing. This is the reason why the apostle adds, as the second part of our duty, " Striving together with one mind by the faith of the gospel." Some translate it fnr the faith of the gospel, or " together with ;" as if it directed us to aid or help the faith with all our powers, to prevent its being extinguished, or tarnished, or obscured by the malice or violence of the enemy. But it seems much more proper to un- derstand it as it is translated in our Bible, " by the faith ;" by which faith is the weapon, and not merely the subject of our warfare. Thus you see that the apostle recommends us, in the first place, to fight ; then, union and agreement in this spiritual combat; and finally, shows us what means or what arms we ought to employ, that is to say, the faith of the gos- pel, that we may happily accomplish it. As to the first, it is not here only that St. Paul compares the condition of the Christian to a warfare. " En- dure hardness, (says he to Timothy,) as a good soldier of Jesus Christ," 2 Tim. ii. 3. " No man that war- reth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life." And elsewhere to the Ephesians, he bids us " put on the whole armour of God ; for we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers," Eph. vi. II, 12. And in 2 Cor. x. 4, he says of our warfare, and of the arms that must be employed in it, that they " are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds." Indeed, if you consider attentively the condition of a Christian, you will confess that that which Job formerly said of all men in general belongs to him in particular, namely, that his life was a warfare upon earth. Job vii. I, or, (to follow more closely the comparison of our apostle,) a furious and bloody battle, in which he is always in danger, and always engaged with cruel and implacable enemies. Jesus Christ is his General ; the spectator, arbiter, and judge of his combats. The devil and all his servants, the profane, the su- perstitious, heretics, tyrants, and others whose num- bers are infinite, are his adversaries. Our flesh itself, with its perverse inclinations, is on their side, and importunes us as much or more than the rest by its understanding and collusion with the enemy without. The subject of this battle is the glory and the truth of the Lord Jesus, our own salvation, and that of our brethren. The adversaries, to snatch this precious treasure from our hands, employ both force and arti- fice, and there is nothing so abominable or so infamous that is not good to them, if they can injure us by it. Who can tell all their stratagems, the colouring of their sophisms to embellish lies, the tricks of their chicanery to conceal the truth ; the subtlety of their wit, their promises, their flatteries, their menaces, and their invectives ; their words, sometimes as it were steeped in honey, and then again in gall ; their arrows, some of gold, and others of iron ; their calumnies against the good cause, their pretences for the bad ; their assiduity, their zeal, and their indefatigable industry, in sjjying out all our steps, in searching out all the secrets of our condition, to find out our weak point and to attack us by it ? Who can tell their harsh- ness and their blind injustice to those who do not yield to them ; the unkindnesses and the hatred with which they oppress them ; the shame and re- proach with which they overwhelm them ; the tricks and delusions they practise on them ? If these arti- fices do not succeed, they at last resort to cruelty; and the history of the first and last ages of the church show us that there never was any thing more furious nor more inhuman among men, than the rage of the enemies of the gospel, except that other abo- minable and hellish device of Satan, when he raises up persecutors against us from among our own off- spring; or false friends, who only remain with Jesus 38 AN EXPOSITION OF Serm. YI. Christ to give him up to the priests, and who only kiss to betray. I have not enumerated many other of the wickednesses of tlie enemy. I should never have done were I to enter into all the particulars. Neither is it necessary, for the trials in which it pleases God to place us all every day teach us enough of them. It is then against this thick crowd, against men and devils, against the great and little, against the learned and the ignorant, against impiety and superstition, against fraud and violence, against enemies from without and false brethren from with- in, that you must fight, O Christian. If there is dif- ficulty, there is still more honour in the enterprise ; and its necessity is not less apparent than its glory. For it must be granted that in this engagement you must either conquer or perish eternally. There is no middle course. Courage, then, believers ! Listen to the apostle, who cries to you, " Fight ;" and to Christ, who promises to assist you in the combat, and to crown you in the heavens after the victory. Stand fast, and support this great onset. Shut your cars to the flatteries and to the promises of the enemy. Reject the vain fancies of those who undertake to make truth agree with error, and light with darkness. Persevere in an open and pure profession of the gospel. Oppose your confession to the blasphemies of the enemy; your prayers to his curses; yoio- thoughts, your words, and your actions to all his cflTorts. May the day of the Lord find you standing. " Whosoever shall persevere unto the end, the same shall be saved," Matt. xiv. 13. But remember, believers, to fight together, as the apostle directs, with one mind, and one soul, as the original means, h'm ^vxn- As there is no body or society more noble than the church, so there is none in which union and concord are more necessary. You are begotten of the same seed, that is to say, of the gospel, brought up in the same family, nourished with the same food, animated by the same Spirit, destined to the same inheritance. If so many close ties cannot unite you, at any rate let this com- mon warfare in which you are engaged, this common danger that you run, and these common enemies with whom you contend, extinguish your diflerences, and make you rally together for your common pre- servation and defence. Often among the kingdoms of the earth, the fear of an enemy without stays the misunderstandings and quarrels within. Let us imi- tate in this respect the prudence of the children of this world. Let every difference that there may be in our thoughts, our dispositions, and aflections sleep in eternal silence. Let us all do what the cause of the Saviour requires, keeping whatever strength we have for this enterprise alone, without wasting the least part elsewhere. Whatever you may have of wisdom or courage, turn it against the enemy. May he alone feel the vigour of your arm, and the point of your weapons. It is not against your brother that they should be employed. They are made, and they have been given you, to defend, and not to wound him ; to preserve, and not to shed his blood. God forbid that the army of Israel should do as the army of Madian did formerly ; which, alarmed by a spirit of terror and division, turned against themselves, every one raising his sword against his companion. For if, when well united together, we can nevertheless only subsist by a mi- racle, what can we expect but certain and inevitable ruin if we separate ; and if, instead of helping, we tear each other ? I say it with regret, it is nothing but our division, my brethren, which has prevented the defeat of the enemy, and the triumph of the church. If we had all fought together, we should long ago have been conquerors. But Satan, who cannot stand against our united forces, planned to separate them, by throwing amongst us unhappy diflerences, which have weakened our body, and uselessly consumed against ourselves that which ought only to have been employed against the com- mon enemy. As the efiects of discord are so fatal, dear brethren, if we love the glory of God, if we de- sire our own salvation, let us promptly extinguish whatever there may have been amongst us of hatred, animosity, differences, and passions, contrary to that mutual love which we owe to one another. Let us give all our interest to the glory of God, and the sal- vation of the church, and let us unite in such a per- fect concord, that it may be truly said of us as of the early Christians, " that we have but one heart and one soul," Acts iv. 32 ; and that all this congregation may be like a divine army of people, who, animated by one Spirit, and aiming at the same object, fight all together with one mind. Then we shall expe- rience the truth of the saying of the prophet, " that it is there that the Lord has commanded his blessing, and life for evermore," Psal. cxxxiii. Besides, for this great combat, the apostle arms us with faith alone. By it believers have " conquered kingdoms," Heb. xi. By it they have " shut the mouths of lions, stopped the violence of fire, and escaped the edge of the sword." By it they waxed valiant in fight, and turned to flight the armies of the aliens. Faith is the shield of the believer, by which he quenches the fiery darts of the enemy, Eph. vi. 16. It is the victory which has overcome the world. For if we are really and truly persuaded of the truth of the gospel, what temptation can there be that shall be capable of shaking us ? What arrow or what sword shall not be turned back by such a solid shield ? Will the multitude of the enemy, the pomp of their preparation, their strength, and their fury, make us throw down our arms ? How can they, when faith shows us Jesus Christ on our side, with the legions of his angels, infinitely more power- ful both in number and strength than all the armies of the world and of hell ? We will laugh at their efforts, and be as little touched with the magnifi- cence of their promises as alarmed at the terror of their threatenings, because faith shows us bless- ings and evils infinitely greater than those of the world ; the first prepared for those who persevere, and the others for those who are led away by tempt- ation. Prisons, losses, exile, afflictions, torments, and even death itself, can do nothing against us ; as we are assured that for these little sutferings we shall for ever enjoy a perfect felicity in the heavens. For the earth and its dust, God will give us heaven and its light; for false hope and vanity, a solid and weighty glory; for trifling pleasures, eternal bliss; for a building of clay, a heavenly palace ; for a vile life, a blessed immortality. Dear brethren, it is only the want of faith which ruins us. If we have it only as a grain of mustard seed, we may remove moun- tains, as says the Lord in the Gospel, Matt. xvii. 20 ; that is to say, we might do wonders. There would be no difficulty that we should not conquer, no moimtain could present itself which faitlr could not remove, nor abyss that it would not close before us. IV. After having supplied us with so good a weapon, the apostle is right in ordering us, in the third place, "to be in nothing terrified by our adver- saries." I acknowledge, that to look at them with the mind of the flesh, they are capable of causing us alarm. But if you regard them with the eye of faith, you will find that all their fury ought only to excite pity, and not apprehension. For in reality they are but an empty trouble, a tempest which, with much noise and clamour, discharges itself uselessly, Chap. T. THE EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS 33 without being able (o do us any harm. Let them fret and storm as much as they please, they cannot take from us the Lord Jesus, the peace of conscience, the joy of the Holy Ghost, the heavenly life ; that is to say, in one word, sujireme happiness. Their blows, for the most part, can but fall on this poor flesh, and upon those things with which it is surrounded. Our true life, and our true blessings, are in safety, above the reach of their rage. " Fear not (says the Lord) those who can kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul." Besides, they have no other power over our body, or over the other things which we possess on earth, but what God gives them, that same God who is for us, our Prince and our Father. Live then in assurance, O tnily blessed flock of the Lord Jesus. Look on your adversaries without dismay, with a calm and stedfast soul. These great efforts, in which they exhaust all their mind and strength, shall fall on their own heads, and instead of ruining, will only help to establish you. Instead of disturbing, they will permanently establish your happiness. And this is what St. Paul represents, when he adds, in speaking of their hatred, and of the persecution with which they pursue the truth, " that it is to them a token of perdition, but to you of salvation." For since it is just in God (as the apostle teaches else- where) that affliction should be given to those who afflict us, and rest to us who are afflicted, according to his immutable decree to punish for ever in hell those who persecute the gospel, and to crown with immortal glory in the heavens those who suffer for the truth; what greater or more certain testimony can you have, both of their perdition and of your salvation, than the afflictions that they make you suffer for the profession of his law. I acknowledge that there is a great difference in the. union of these two consequences with that which precedes them, and that if the persecution of the one merits hell, heaven is not due to the patience of the others, judging them by strict justice. But while it is the goodness and mercy of the Lord whicli crowns your patience with his glory, whereas it is his justice which punishes the cruelty of your persecutors with the torments of hell ; nevertheless, as the conse- quences of these two effects are necessary and cer- tain, and that it cannot be but that the believer, suf- fering with patience, shall be saved, nor but that the adversary, persecuting the truth, must perish, it is obvious that the war which they wage against you on account of the gospel is a clear and certain demonstration, both of their perdition and of your salvation. Far then, from being troubled by this sort of affliction, you ought, on the contrary, to re- gard it as the seal of your happiness ; and as to your adversaries, to conceive for them more pity than hatred or indignation, seeing the unhappy end to which they are proceeding, by the blind hatred and unjust persecution of that which they ought most to love and cherish. You see, beloved brethren, what is the meaning of the lesson which the apostle gives us to-day in this text. Kever was it more needed than in these degenerate times, in which impiety and error, profaneness and superstition, perfidy and treason from within, hatred and violence from without, em- ploy every thing that is most malignant and dan- gerous against the truth. Believers, as God has given you tlie grace to know and to embrace its pro- fession, fight valiantly for it, and show in this conflict a constancy and a courage worthy of so good a cause. Be not troubled, either by the efforts of the enemies, t or the seductions of false brethren, nor yet by the bad examples of apostates. Fix your eyes on Jesus the Prince of your profession. May nothing snatch from your heart the Divine deposit that he has placed there. Preserve it more tenderly than the apple of your eye. Stand nobly fast in one spirit. Fight to- gether with one heart by the faith of the gospel, opposing your union to the plots of the enemy ; the truth of heaven to the lies of the earth; the hope of salvation to the threats of the world ; the consolation of the Spirit, and the glory of the world to come, to the evils we must endure m this ; and to calumny a conversation which is tinaly worthy of this heavenly doctrine, of which you make profession : so that after having here fought this good fight, kept the faith, and finished your course, you may one day receive, from the merciful hand of the Lord Jesus, in the company of saints and angels, that crown of righteousness laid up for those who shall have loved his appearing. Thus may it be with you ; and to him, the only true God, with the Father, and the Holy Spirit, be honour, praise, and glory, for ever and ever. Amen. Preached at Charenton, Sunday, \Olh Jiine, 1640. SERMON VII. Verse 28—30. And that of God. For unto you it is given in the he- half of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake; having the same conflict which ye saw in me, and now hear to be in vie. OxE of the Christian's greatest consolations, amidst all his conflicts, is the firm assurance which he feels that all his affairs are conducted by the pro- vidence of God, and that nothing can happen to him but by Divine permission. For this sovereign Lord, loving us infinitely, and being moreover per- fectly wise and powerful, if we be persuaded that it is he who governs our life, it is impossible but that we should look forward with a well-grounded hope of a happy termination to all the difficulties in which we may find ourselves involved. For this reason we ought always to have our eyes upon his hand, and consider it as the true source which dispenses to us good or evil ; to enjoy the one with gratitude, and to bear the other with submission. But we ought to be particularly armed with this thought in those afflic- tions which from their nature most violently trouble our mind, and be certain that it is the Lord which sends them, and that without his will and his order neither men, nor other causes which alarm us, could have any power against us. Thus Job, when sud- denly overwhelmed with divers calamities, did not fix his mind either upon the Sabeans and Chaldeans who had ravaged and pillaged his flocks, nor on the tempest which had crushed all his family under the ruins of a single house ; but rising above the heavens to God himself, and acknowledging him as the true autlior of all these severe blows, made this beautiful and magnificent confession, "The Lord hath given, and the Lord hath taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord." David afterwards did the same in a case of a similar nature, when Sbimei insolently in- sulting him in his deep affliction ; " Let him do it, (said he to his servants,) for the Lord has said to him. Curse David," 2 Sam. svi. 11. This our apostle points out to his Philippians in the text we have just read, for their consolation under the persecutions they were suffering for the gospel. He conjures them in the preceding verses not to be alarmed 40 AN EXPOSITION OP Serm. YII. either by the menaces or cruelties of their adversa- ries, telling them that these trials would terminate in the perdition of the persecutors, and in the salvation of the persecuted. Now, to keep and fix this thought in their hearts, he recalls to their recollection, that it is God who guides the whole business ; so that from the power, wisdom, and justice of this great Director, they should wait with confidence the happy success which he promises them in this conflict : " And that of God. For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake ; having the same conflict which you saw in me, and now hear to be in me." The phrase at the beginning, " And that of God," may relate to both the points to which we have adverted ; that is to say, as much to the perdition of the persecutors, who were hastening it by their outrages, as to the salvation of believers, who were advancing to it by their sufferings ; for it is evident, in the doctrine of Scripture, that however wicked and impious the cru- elties of the enemies of the gospel may be against believers, nevertheless, it cannot happen without the permission and the guidance of the Lord, who also punishes the rebellion of those who reject his grace, and do not receive the love of his truth; leaving them to fall into horrors worthy of the curse of heaven and earth, and particularly directing the point of their rage against those of his serv- ants whom he desires either to chastise, prove, or glorify. And this is what David meant in saying that God had "commanded Shimei to curse him:" not to signify that the Lord (that is to say, equity and goodness itself) had incited this wretch to com- mit so abominable an outrage, or that he had given him an order for it either by word or vision ; but rather, that finding these evils in the heart of this miserable being, he was expressly willing to permit that they should be poured out on his servant for the purpose of humbling him. But although this mean- ing may be very true, it appears in this place that the apostle was only thinking of what regarded be- lievers. This is the only, or at least the principal, design of his words, as appears by the reason he adds, which only relates to believers ; " For unto you it is given in the behalf of Jesus Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake ;" evi- dently signifying by these words, " and that of God," that he meant only, or principally, the arrangement which the Lord had made of conducting the Philip- pians to salvation by the sufferings with which they ■were exercised for the profession of his gospel. For this reason, without stopping to inquire into the conduct of Divine Providence with regard to perse- cutors, we will simply rest upon the fact that it has ordained the afllietions of believers, and consider the part that it takes in them, according to what the apostle teaches us in this text : and, that we may the better understand it, we will divide the exposition into three parts, examining, in the first place, what he says, " that it was freely given to the Philippians to believe in Christ ;" and then what he adds, " that, besides that, it had also been freely given to them to suffer for the Lord;" and, finally, that which he particularly touches in their sufferings, in saying that they sustain a conflict like that which they had formerly seen in him, and also like the one in which they knew him to be then at Rome. I. What he says at the beginning, that it was on the behalf of Christ that it was given them to believe in him, and also to suffer for him, seems to mean that it is for the love of the Lord Jesus, because of him, and for his sake, that God had given him these two graces ; which is indeed perfectly true. For the Lord Jesus having by his death appeased the anger of God, and opened a road for his loving-kindness, has made us capable of receiving his favours, whereas, without such a propitiation, we could have only been the objects of his indignation and vengeance; from whence it follows that he is the cause, and the only source, both of the first grace that God has given us, to believe, and of all the others which he adds, and particularly of the honour which he communicates to us when he chooses us for witnesses and defenders of his gospel. Nevertheless, to look at the words of the apostle as they are in the original, it seems that this is not what he here intends, and that these words, " for Christ," simply signify, " in what regards Jesus Christ, in that which concerns his cause and his gospel." As if he had said, that in the affairs of the Lord and of his salvation all is given to us freely, and nothing happens, with respect to them, which does not come from the pure bounty of God, and both what we do and what we suffer is alike grace. The apostle uses the same mode of speaking in the 10th verse of the 4th chapter, praising the Philip- pians, that the care they had of him was flourishing again; where the words which signify, "as to the care that you have for me," are arranged exactly in the same manner as these which are here employed, to say "for Christ, or in behalf of Christ," as those know who understand the Greek language. As to the faith of which the apostle speaks in the first place, one may gather from his words three things: 1st, That faith is the gift of God; "it is given you to believe," says he. 2dly, That it is a free gift, that is to say, has been communicated to us by the sole goodness of God, without any merit on out part ; " it is freely given you," says he; for the word here employed by the apostle signifies precisely that. And, finally. That it is a grace peculiar to believers, and not common to other men ; " it is given to i/ou," says he, opposing ihem to others, and particularly to the adversaries of whom he spoke in the preceding verse. That faith is a gift of God, is a truth so evident, that there is no Christian who does not ac- knowledge it to be so. And you will see it easily, if you consider for a moment, on the one side, what is the object of faith; and, on the other, what is the power of our nature. Faith is a certain and assured knowledge of the mysteries of the gospel ; it is " to believe in Jesus," to see, with open eyes, the mercy, the wisdom, the power, and the justice of God dis- played in tlieir highest degree on the cross of his Son for the redemption of men. The things which are the objects of faith are all heavenly and Divine ; viz. the purpose of God to send his Son into the world, and to clothe him with our fiesh, and to ' deliver him up to the death of the cross, the price of his sufferings, and the expiation of our sins; his resurrection, and his triumph, a blessed immortality, the exquisite and singular example of holiness and of love which the gospel presents to us. Never had the eye of man seen any of these things, his ear had never heard them, nor had they ever entered into his heart to conceive. It is God alone who, from the depth of his treasures, has drawn forth this new and unknown wisdom. And as it is he who has revealed it by the Son of his love, it is he also who has pre- sented us its image by the hand of his ministers, having, by the power of his Spirit, raised up the apostles and their successors, and particularly those t who have taught us. All this is the work of his goodness, and of his power. But this is not all. Besides that, the substance itself of this holy doctrine is altogether the fruit and the production of God, neither men nor angels having been capable of re- vealing any thing like it; the very circumstance of our havine- received it into our hearts, and been per- Chap. I. THE EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS. 41 Eiiaded of its truth, is also a gift of this same Lord. You see likewise that the apostle does not simply say that faith has been given us, which a malicious per- son might, in some degree, per\'ert, as being the sole object of faith, and of the doctrine that it embraces, which all acknowledge to be the instruction of God. But he says expressly, " that it is given us to believe in Jesus Christ," which necessarily implies that this movement itself of our heart, opening to the light of the gospel, and receiving the truth that the preacher 1 resents to it, is a gift of GoJ, and not a work of nature. I acknowledge that if our mind were in its light and legitimate state, similar to that in which it ■R-as originally created, it would receive this truth as soon as it was presented to it ; and that, to make us believe the mysteries of the gospel, it would only be necessai'v to declare them to us, as to make a man that can see perceive an object, it only requires to be placed before his eyes. But the eye of our under- standing having been injured, or rather blinded, by sin, which has spoiled and changed all the powers of our nature, proposing the gospel to us is no more sufficient to insure our belief, than would presenting visible objects to a blind man suffice to make him see. And this is what the apostle teaches us elsewhere, ■where, speaking of the mysteries of the gospel, he says, " that the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God," those which the Spirit of God has revealed to his servants, " for they are foolishness unto him ; neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned," 1 Cor. ii. 14. Only it should be remarked, that instead of its being a simple infirmity and want of natural power, claiming rather pity than blame, which prevents the bhnd from seeing the ligh" which is offered him, it is a/ voluntarv sin, desti viiiL: the hatred of God and men. wliich maKes tUe unbeliever misunderstand and reject the truth which is proposed to him. But if the causes are different, the effects, nevertheless, are similar; it being no more possible for the natural man to understand and believe the gospel, than for the blind man to see the sun. Also, as when a blind man is restored to sight and to the perception of visible objects, there are none who do not acknow- ledge that this blessing is a gift from Heaven, it be- ing clear that nature could not produce such an effect ; so also ought we to confess, that if we believe in Jesus Christ, it is a grace which has been given us of God, and not an emotion which we owe to the natural strength of our mind. You see also that the Lord, speaking to believers in the 6th chapter of St. John, ver. 45, says, quoting the prophet Isaiah, " that they are taught of God," because it is he who, by the voice of his Spirit, moulds them into the obedience of his word, and writes his covenant in the heart, as says another prophet, Jer. xxxi. 32. It is he who opened the heart of Lydia to attend to St. Paul, Acts xvi. 14. Paul plants, and Apollos waters; but they are neither of them any thing. It is God which giveth the increase. "We are his husbandry, and his work, I Cor. iii. 6, 7i 9. It is he who revealed his secret to Peter; it was not flesh and blood. Matt. xvi. 17. It is he who revealed his Son to Paul, shining in his heart, that he might enlighten the Gentiles, Gal. i. 15. In fine, it is he who, according to his good pleasure, hides these things from the wise and prudent, and reveals them unto babes, 2 Cor. iv. 6. But the apostle does not say simply that it has been given us to believe. He makes use of a word which signifies that it has been given to us freely, as our Bibles have faithfully translated it ; and by so doing has refuted two errors, both contrary to the truth. The first is tliut of those who, acknowledging that faith is a gift, add, that the Lord makes a pre- sent of it to those who have made a good use of the light of nature; as if, for example, they were to see a pagan who lives sincerely in his error, they pretend that the Lord, induced by this praiseworth}- conduct, gives him the faith of the gospel ; and this is what they call in the schools " grace of congruity," or pre- paration for grace. From this they are not far who say, that the good use of the pretended free-will in afflictions, mortifications, and the humility before God which they produce in the hearts of the elect, is the preparation which invites him to distribute faith to them. The apostle condemns the vanity of these imaginations, saying, in one word, that it is given to ms freely to believe. For according to these people, faith is not a free gift; it has not been given to us for nothing, but for and in consequence of these pretended preparations. Besides, as, according to the apostle, Rom. xiv. 23, all that is done without faith is sin, it is impossible to understand how man, before having faith, can do any thing which should either force or invite God to give it to him. What ! do sins invite God to do good to men ? to give them the greatest of all blessings, faith, which compre- hends in itself salvation and eternal life ? Kow if these pretended preparations invite God to give us faith, undoubtedly they must then please him, not- withstanding which the apostle tells us elsewhere, that without faith it is impossible to please him, Heb. xi. 6. Finalh', if God crowns some works with the gift of faith, or some dispositions previous to faith, he either does it in virtue of the works themselves, because they deserve it, or in conse- quence of some one of his promises. They will not say the former. For they expressly confess, that to speak properly man desers-es nothing out of a state of grace. But neither can they pretend the latter, because the promises of God are only ad- dressed to those who are in communion with him, and who consequently already have faith, without which none can enter into communion with God, according to that which the apostle teaches us in Heb. xi. C, " He that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him." God then promises nothing to those who have not faith, and consequently neither gives it them, nor an}- thing else, in virtue of any pro- mise which he had made, but from his goodness and free grace alone, without being at all obliged to do so, either by their works or his promises. The second error is of those who say that God gives faith to such as he foresees will make a good use of it. But if that were the case, what the apostle says, that he gives it to us freely to believe, would be false ; it being evi- dent that, according to this, faith would not be given us for nothing. God would give it in consideration of something that would be its price — some equiva- lent on the part of man ; instead of which, that which is given gratuitously excludes all price, and lie who receives the gift after having done some- thing, and he who receives before he has performed any thing, (for with regard to the future and the past there is no difference,) would both in the end pay a real price. To which I again add, that the imagination of these people destroys itself. For this foresight of which they speak, of the good use of faith, can only signify that God foresees ; that sup- posing he gives faith to a man, to Peter or to Paul, for example, the individual having once this gift of grace, will in consequence love the Lord and his neighbour, that is to say, that he will have piety and love. Now faith is of such a nature, that he who possesses it truly has also piety and love, according to the doctrine" of St. John; "Whosoever believes 2b 42' AN EXPOSITION OF Seem. VII. thnt Jesus is the Christ is bom of God," 1 John v. 1 ; he loves him by whom he is begotten, and those that are begotten of him ; so that tlicre is no man in whom you can presuppose faith, without also, as a necessary consequence, adding both piety and love. Thus it appears that God never foresees that any man will abuse faith, for that would be to foresee a false thing, an impossibility in itself, opposed to his own truth ; and which cannot be said of the Lord without blasphemy. If then this pretended foresight of a good use of faith was the reason why he gives faith, he would give it to all men, it not being pos- sible for any of those to whom he truly gives it to abuse it. Nevertheless, one sees by experience that the number of those to whom God gives faith is very limited, in comparison of those whom he permits to fall into infidelity. Let us then acknowledge that it is the grace of God alone, and not any considera- tion of what man has done, or of what he will do in future, which induces God to give him faith. He gives it to us that we may make a good use of it. This good use is the end and effect of his gift, but it is not its cause. From whence it follows, that, ac- cording to the apostle in this place, faith is truly, in every respect and degree, a free gift of God. But in the third and last place, he again here gives us a very excellent lesson ; that is to say, that the grace of God by which we believe, is peculiar to us, according to what he elsewhere expressly says, " that all men have not faith," 2 Thess. iii. 2. For it is to distinguish Ijelievers from others, and to point out the advantage that they have over them, that he says to them individually, " It is given you to believe." Consequently, this gift was peculiar to them, as common things make no difference be- tween the subjects to which they are common. From whence it appears how false is the opinion of those who dogmatize that the grace by which faith is pro- duced in us is univei'sal, and common either to all men, or at least to those to whom the gospel is preached. For if that were the case, it would not be the gift of God (common to all according to this supposition) which would distinguish the believer from the unbeliever, but the choice and effort of the man who receives that which others have rejected. Now St. Paul desires that this gift of God which causes us to believe should distinguish us from others. " It is given you to believe," says he. Ac- cording to the supposition of this error, he ought simply to say, " You have believed," and not, " It is given you to believe;" for it holds, that they had not a peculiar belief, the gift which had pro- duced the belief in them being common to them (as they pretend) and to those who had rejected it. That which the apostle adds, that it is given them to suffer for Jesus Christ, still shows the same thing. For as this grace of God, from which the patience and the suffering of believers spring, was evidently peculiar to themselves, why was not that from which their faith came, here expressed by the same word and in the same way, also peculiar to them ? The thing speaks for itself. For when the Lord calls his elect to himself, he enlightens them, he teaches and in- structs them in his will. Certainly the grace which he imparts is then peculiar to them, it being evident that he does nothing of the kind to infidels and rebels. And the Lord expressly declares this, " Every man that hath heard and hath learned of the Father Cometh unto me," John vi. 45. Now neither unbe- lievers nor rebels come to him. They therefore have neither heard nor learned of him, they have had no share in that Divine teaching with which he favours his elect. And in fact you see that it is only be- lievers who are said to be taught of God, as well in Isaiah as by our Lord and St. Paul. Let it there- fore be concluded, that to believe in Jesus Christ ia a gift of the grace of God, aye, of a grace not com- mon to all, but particular,' and which the Lord vouchsafes to none but true believers. II. But do not let us imagine that this beginning of our salvation is all that is afforded us by grace. The same grace which gives us the beginning gives also the progress and the end. The whole of this work depends on the merciful goodness and free favour of the Lord. Without it, it is as impossible for us to persevere as to believe. The apostle teaches this in the following words, " that it is given freely, not only to believe in Christ, but also to suffer for his sake." The whole life of men is full of suffering, and neither birth nor fortune can exempt any one from it. Nature subjects us to divers evils, and vice also procures for us its own afflictions, the discomforts of the body, the vexations of the mind, the loss of goods and honour, to say nothing of those punish- ments which the public laws award to some for their excesses. Sometimes also the lustre of moral honesty, or of extraordinary knowledge, or of some other good, esteemed by men, raises up against us envy and trouble. There is no manner of life on the earth which is not subject to its sufferings and its trials, and which has not (in some way or other) its perse- cutions and its martyrs. But this is not what the apostle means. It is not by the gift of the grace of the Lord that men enter into these sufferings. It is oftener by the award of his anger, and by the order of his avenging justice. These chastisements are rather the effect of his wrath than the gifts of his love. He speaks of those which the profession of the gospel draws upon us ; when it is the name and the cause of the Lord Jesus which invites the perse- cutor to inflict, and us to endure them. For if it be heresy, or superstition, or infidelity which draw upon a man the hatred or the sword of those who perse- cute him, it is useless for him to say that it is the name of Jesus ; it is not for liim that he suffers, ac- cording to that true saying of the ancients. That it is not the suffering, but the cause, that makes the martyr. And as it is not the name of Christ which causes him to suffer, so neither is it his grace which gives him the courage to do so. It is the spirit of Satan, or the rage of superstition ; for the devil has also his martyrs, whom he disguises as cunningly as he can, in order that he may deceive men by the specious colouring of false strength of mind, or pre- tended patience. I will say still more ; although it be truly the profession of the gospel which incites the world against us, nevertheless, if in the suffering you endure for so good a cause you seek your own praise and the glory of your own name, it is not really for the Lord that you suffer. You are a martyr, not for his truth, but iox your mm vanity, one of the most abominable idols in the world. And if there be any unhappy person who suffers in this way, whose patience is such as to give you pleasure, it is at least very certain that his firmness is of earth, and not of heaven. It is a production of vice, and not a gift of grace ; a work of the flesh, and not a fruit of the Spirit. But St. Paul here speaks of a suffering for Jesus Christ, which is so in deed and in truth, and not only in the outward appearance. It is to that, and not to any other, that the eulogium belongs, which the apostle here gives, when he says that it is a gift of the grace of God. But here let us pause whilst we briefly solve an objection, which our ad- versaries derive from this passage, against the doc- trine of the inseparable union of love with faith. For from what it declares, that it has been given us freely, not only to believe in Christ, but also to suffer Chap. I. THE EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS. 43 for him, they conclude that it is possible that a man may believe in the Lord without suffering for him, and consequently, without loving him, and without having love ; pretending, that if it were otherwise, this language of the apostle w'ould be vain and im- pertinent. But I answer, in the first place, (hat even granting what they say, and that it were possible for a man that believes in Jesus Christ not to sufler for him, nevertheless it does not follow from thence that we can have faith without love. For God does not call all those to suffer for his Son who have the ne- cessary constancy and zeal so to do. And the apostle in this place speaks of the vocation to suffer really and in truth for the name of Jesus Chi-ist, and not only of the patience necessary for doing so, meaning to say that it is a grace that God gave the Philip- pians to call them to so honourable an employment. Secondly, I say, that presupposing the apostle here to speak simply of the gift of patience, still it does not follow that it, or the love from which it springs, can be separated from faith. I acknowledge that faith and patience are two distinct gifts. But al- though difl'ercnt, it does not follow that they can be separated. How many things are there which, though varying in themselves, never subsist the one without the other ! That faith and patience always go to- gether does not prevent their being two graces from God. Their inseparable conjunction ought not to frustrate the glory which belongs to him of giving both to believers. It is on this account that the apostle considers them apart, although they subsist together, that he may amplify the liberality of the Lord towards us. And his language is no more ir- relevant than what he elsewhere says of believers, " that they rejoiced not only in the hope of the glory of God, but also in tribidations," not to signify that one may be had without the other, (for it is certain that whoever rejoices in hope of the glory of God will also rejoice in tribulations,) but to deduce from it, and (o display before our eyes, all the parts of the assurance, the joy, and the spiritual rejoicing that we have in the Lord, considering them separately, al- though they subsist together. This difficulty re- moved, I return to the text of the apostle, " that it is freely given to the Philippians to suffer for Jesus Christ." I willingly admit, that by these words he means, in the first place, that the resolution and firm- ness of the martyrs and confessors is a gift of grace ; that it is God that freely gives them by his Spirit the courage and constancy necessary to sustain these conflicts. And if you well consider their history, and represent to yourselves the natural condition of these divine warriors, if you examine their conduct, their w'ord, the disposition of their mind, and even of their body, in the midst of those great and terrible trials, you will confess that their strength was un- doubtedly the gift of the grace of God. Persons of all a^es, sexes, and qualities are seen to suffer nobly for the name of a crucified man, all that the most horrible cruelty could invent. Young and old, men and women, great and small, ran to punishments and torments. Persons of a very delicate frame and edu- cation, who had never before seen a naked sword without turning pale, sprang cheerfully into the fire, for the love of their Jesus. Neither the severity of the judges nor the barbarity of tyrants, neither tlie cries of the people, nor the horrors of the execution- ers, nor the sword, nor the hatchets, nor tortures, nor gibbets, neither the ready wheels, nor the lighted fires, could make them give way. Full of a new courage, they despise all this bloody pomp of cruelty, and, as if they were fighting in insensible bodies, suffered with a contented mind barbarities which the executioners themselves could not inflict upon them without pity. They were heard to sing in the flames, and to bless God in the tomienls. A heavenly light of joy, sweetness, and humility might be perceived shining in their eyes and on their countenances. They suffered as other men triumph, and endured the most dreadful ignominy in the same manner as others enjoy the highest honours. To this blessed company we must unite those who, to preserve the faith and the religion of the Lord, voluntarily quitted, with a similar magnanimity, their goods, their honours, their houses, their beloved country, their wives, their little children, and all those other things which are not less dear to us than life. From whence could so great a courage spring ? or strength so extraordinary, in persons naturally so weak, arise ? What could so suddenly have transfused so much vigour into their minds and bodies ? What could thus have changed their constitutions, miraculously taking from them every thing that was low and earthly, and clothing them with an invincible firmness, proof against every kind of attack ? Let the profane say what they will, this strength, in so good a cause, could come to them from Heaven alone. Most undoubtedly it was God who perfected his strength in their weak- ness ; who, by the power of his Spirit, sustained the weakness of their flesh. It was this great Comforter who inspired them with these heroic dispositions, who elevated them above themselves, and who poured into the hearts of men the thoughts, the courage and the knowledge of angels. Let us acknowledg the hand of God in the patience of his servant^., and let us say, with the apostle, that it is he who freely gave them to suffer for him. But besides that, St. Paul particularly intends to signify in this place, that even that which the Philippians had been called to suffer for the name of the Lord was one of his favours. From hence we learn two things. The one, That the persecution of believers is not a fortuitous event, which happens either by chance, or by the malice of men or devils alone. It is God, who guides the whole afi'air by a special providence. He sees the rage of the enemies of his people. He knows their designs, he perceives all that they are contriving against the gospel, and could (if such were his good pleasure) dissipate both their plans and their efforts in an in- stant. He lets them alone, and by secret arrange- ments manages their violence against every one of his servants, as his supreme wisdom sees best. He himself marks the field where the combat is to be decided. He orders the weapons and the blows, and rules every action. He calls his warrior, and him- self places him in front of the enemy. Christian, do not stop at men, and at the appearances of things. Be convinced that it is the Lord who arranges all your trials. You w'ill enter into none but by his permission. But the apostle also shows us, in the second place. That this employment which God gives us, and this calling which he directs us to suffer for him, is a gift of his grace. I well know that flesh forms quite another judgment, and that of all the favours of God, there is none that it esteems and desires less than this. It takes it rather for an effect of his hatred than of his love, and considers it an unkindncss rather than a bounty. Thus in war, a coward does not think that it is favouring a soldier to send him on an assault or to a conflict, or to give him some other commission where there will be blows to endure, neither would he think himself obliged to a friend, who would choose him to go and defend his quarrel at the peril of his own life. But these are only the thoughts of low and pusillanimous minds. They who are brave and noble judge other- wise, and so highly value this sort of employment, 44 AN EXPOSITION OF Serm. VIL that they are vexed if it be given to others, thinking that to leave them behind on such occasions is to de- spise and underrate their courage, forasmuch as they value honour more than life. They deem the choice made of their persons as a testimony of the high opinion entertained of their valour and fidelity, and consequently consider it as a gratification. It is the same, dear brethren, in the government of Jesus Christ. Lukewarm minds, which have not tasted aright tlie goodness and excellence of this sovereign Lord, and who have but a weak desire for his glory and for his service, do not regard it as a good to suffer for him. But his true disciples, they who have seen in his light the wonders of his kingdom, and who have been strongly animated thereby, they who, like his apostles, have been baptized from heaven, and whose feelings have been sanctified by his Spirit from on high, these, my brethren, think there is nothing on earth more honourable and more glo- rious than to suffer for the Lord. Such were those blessed ones whose names and praise St. Paul has registered in his Epistle to the Hebrews, who took the reproach of Christ for greater riches than the treasures of the world. Such were the holy apostles, who, having been ignominiously scourged by the Jews for the sake for Jesus Christ, rejoiced (says the sacred history) to be " counted worthy to suffer shame for his name." This also was the opinion of our St. Paul, who took pleasure in infirmities, in injuries, in necessities, in persecutions, and in distress, for Christ ; who rejoiced in his greatest tribulations, and gloried in all the disgrace which he suffered for him, as his most splendid trophies. Such likewise were the feelings of that noble army of martyrs, who not only bravely and cheerfully endured torments and death, but who could also loudly praise the Lord for having thus called them to his service. Indeed, if, setting aside the tenderness of the flesh, you will consider the thing itself, what can be esteemed more honour- able than sufl'ering for the name of the Lord Jesus ? This Jesus is the King of ages, the Prince of angels, the Lord of glory. His gospel is the highest of all truth, it is the salvation of the world, the seed of life and immortality. For what better subject then could we suffer? If men (as we have before observed) consider it a high privilege to be chosen by their princes to fight for their interests, how transcend- ently more honoured is the martyr of Jesus Christ, whom this Prince of eternity has chosen to maintain his quarrel .' whom he consecrates with his heavenly unction to enter into this trial ! to yield a public testimony to his truth ! to be the advocate of his cause, the teacher of the human race, the spectacle of heaven and of earth ! Angels look upon and bless him ; they accompany him both at the entrance and issue of the combat ; they honour his stedfastness with their applause, and conduct and present him to their Lord and Master to receive from his own hand the crown of glory and immortality. Men gaze upon him with astonishment. The church preserves his memory here below ; and his very enemies are con- strained to praise him. But besides all this, he has moreover this obligation to his sufferings, that they render him conformable to Jesus Christ, and cause him to bear the image of the Son of God, consecrated as you know by his passion, and elevated into the heavens by his cross. Let cowardice judge as it will, there is no act in the world more pure, more noble, or more glorious than this. And the blood which the martyrs shed, or the lives that they lose in the conflict, must be lightly esteemed ; this loss is too insignificant to be put in competition with the acquirement of so much glory and profit. For what is this life, but a wretched breath that we may lose to-morrow ? Shall I call it an evjoyment, or a svffer- iiig of a few years ; a vapour, which the heat of a fever, or of some other malady, will consume; which the fraud or the force of an enemy, or of any one of those innumerable accidents in the midst of which we live, may take from us perhaps in a few months or days ? If you could keep it for ever, your coward- ice would have some more reason. But since it must be lost, who cannot see that it is a great folly to pre- fer yielding it to the infirmities of nature than to the glory of Christ? Again, I would add, that to employ it in his cause is not to lose it. It is to put it to in- terest, as in exchange for what we sacrifice for his glory, he will give us another infinitely better, celes- tial, immortal, and full of all kinds of blessing; whilst that which we live here below is weak, and vile, and subject to all sorts of evils. Let us then, dear brethren, conclude with the apostle, that it is a gift of the grace of God to suffer for his Son. From which appears how greatly they err who attribute merit to the good works of believers. For if there be any which can pretend to be such, doubt- less it must be martyrdom, the most excellent of all : and after all, what reason can it have to pretend to be such, when it is a gift of the grace of God? Those who defend this error acknowledge that faith merits nothing. Now the apostle says the same of martyrdom as he says of faith, and declares that it has been freely given us to suffer for Christ as well as to believe in him. It must then be acknowledged that in suffering for him we deserve no more than for believing in him. It would be a very ridiculous absurdity to pretend, that for having received a favour from one's prince, we should therefore deserve to have a share in his crown. As then martyrdom is a gift and a grace of God, he who suffers it would not be more reasonable, if for having been so honoured by the Lord he were to boast of having merited his paradise. Thus you see in the Apocalypse, that the most excellent servants of God throw their crowns at the feet of the Lamb; and instead of demanding a recompence from him for their services, they give him thanks for them. But it is time to finish this discourse, of which there only remains one point, and that, presenting no difficulty, can be disposed of in a few words. It is what the apostle particularly says of the sufferings of the Philippians in the last verse : " Having the same conflict that you have seen in me, and now you hear to be in me." The conflict of the apostle which the Philippians had seen was the persecution he endured in their city when he was taken on account of his preaching, and dragged before the magistrates, shamefully scourged through their unjust sentence, and then put in irons in the prison. The Philip- pians had seen him in this trial. As to the one in which he was when he wrote them this Epistle, a prisoner at Rome for the name of the Lord, they had not seen it indeed, but they had heard of it. Say- ing, then, that they are sustaining such conflicts as his, he means, that they also are persecuted by their magistrates and fellow citizens for the profession of the gospel. In this conflict the believer has for his adversaries the devil, the world, and his own flesh. Their weapons are the promises, and the threaten- ings, and the injuries, and the caresses, and the prisons, and the chains, and the swords, with all that impiety and superstition employ against the church. The arms of the believer are faith, hope, charity, pa- tience, humility, constancy, and those other spiritual graces by which he resists the blows of the enemy, holding fast without ever relaxing in the profession of piety, and remaining, by these means, victorious to the end. It is the condition of all true Christians 1 Chap. I. THE EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS. 45 to be subjected to this conflict. The apostles of the Lord entered into it first. Their disciples, (you see,) and the churches they planted, passed tlu-uugh it also after them. None is admitted into the school of Christ, but on condition of submitting to it. " Whoever will come after me," says Christ, "let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me," Matt. xvi. 24; and his apostle says, "Every one who will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution," 2 Tim. iii. 12. Assume, then, dearly beloved brethren, this good and noble resolution, to suffer with the Lord, that you may one day live with him, now taking part in his cross, that you may hereafter share his glory. Give him thanks, in the first place, that you be- lieve in him, and humbly acknowledge, with the apostle, that it is a gift of his grace. Value this favour at its just price, and every day admire its wonders, whether in considering its value, or regard- ing its extent. As to its worth, it is the greatest of all the gifts that God has given to men, as it includes in itself all the riches of his Christ, of his Spirit, and of his heaven. This faith which he has given you is the only happiness of man, iris salvation, his life, and his glory ; it is the only remedy against death and sin. It draws you from hell, and opens to you an entrance into heaven, from slaves of Satan it makes you children of God. "Without it man is most miserable, and with it he cannot but be eternally bless- ed. You are rich enough, since God has given you Ruch a precious jewel. Do not then envy those whose bodies he fills with his provisions, to whom he gives, as formerly to Esau, the fatness of the earth for an inheritance, honours, riches, pleasure, and the other good things of this world. AH this is but a fashion which passes away, (as the apostle elsewhere says, 1 Cor. vii. 3,) a form, because it has but a false ap- pearance and a vain colouring to please the eye, but not any true and solid substantial good to satisfy the soul. Witness the perpetual disgust in which we see those who amuse themselves with these things, and the insatiable ardour of their lusts, which are never satisfied. But the worst of it is still that this vain shadow passes away. It has nothing that con- tinues. It flies while people are looking at it, and escapes from their hands when they expect to take hold of it, leaving them full of anguish and despair : death at last destroys both them and their idol. Do not grieve that he has not given you such wretched possession, so full of vanity and illusion. The gift that he has made you in leading you to believe in liis Son is of quite another nature. This gift, if you cherish it, and rejoice in it as you ought, will fill your soul with consolation. It will cause Jesus Christ to inhabit it in the fulness of all his blessings. He will shed abroad his Spirit. He will extinguish the fire of earthly passions. He will drive from it fear and vexation, lust and envy. He will put peace into the conscience, assurance of the love of God, and the precious hope of his glory ; and when you leave this world, will conduct you into his sanctuary, to possess there, for ever, his kingdom, and his eter- nity. But what also extremely increases the value of this gift that God has imparted to us is, that it is neither universal nor very common. How many nations are there in the universe who have never heard of his Christ ! or who have never heard his gospel but corrupted and injured by superstition ! and of those in whose ears his pure word has been preached, how many are there who have rejected it ! What have we done to the Lord which has in- duced him to draw us from the number of these miserable and ungrateful beings, to touch our hearts, and to open them to the voice of his Son, by leading us to believe in him ? What, then, will be our in- sensibility, if, having received from him so signal a favour, we do not render to him a special gratitude ; living in the light of the faith with which he has favoured us, holily, righteously, soberly, and god- lily ; flying, as from a deadly pestilence, from all that can displease so good and so merciful a Lord, and seeking, with continual care and ardent zeal, all that may be pleasing to him ! This will be the true means, dear brethren, of preparing us to suffer nobly for his glory, if he should ever vouchsafe to us such an honour. For if we serve him faithfully, let us not doubt but that, on such an occasion, he will give us the necessary strength to acquit ourselves worthily in so great and so illustrious a duty. But in what- ever way he shall be pleased to dispose of us, may it be to the glory of his name, to the edification of men, and to our own salvation. And to him, the only true God, blessed over all things, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, be honour and praise for ever and ever. Amen. Preached at Charenton, Sunday, Ibth July, 1640. SERMON VIII. CHAPTER II. Verse 1 — 4. If there be therefore any consolation I'n Christ, if any comfort of love, if any felloivship of the Spirit, if any boivels and mercies, fulfil ye my joy, that ye be like- niDided, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. Let nothing be done through strife or vatn-glory ; but in louliness of mind let each esteem otiter better than themselves. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. Amonc, all the religions which have sprung up in the world, none has ever been found to have a higher design than the Christian religion. For it aspires at nothing less than to change men into angels, and to form here on earth living images of those blessed societies which dwell in the heavens. It drives away error, vice, hatred, and discord from amongst those who obey it. It takes from them meanness, lewd- ness, and malignity, with which sin has filled the earth. It sheds there light, love, union, and the eternity of heaven ; and purifying the mind, the heart, and the affections of every believer, binds them to- gether, and makes them one body, a Divine brother- hood, and a celestial city. Such was this holy church, conceived and produced by the first rays of the gospel of Jesus Christ, that Jerusalem formerly saw, with astonishment, arise and grow in a single 46 AN EXPOSITION OF Serm. Yiir. flay; full of such perfect love and piety, that the sacred history tells us that all the multitude of those of which it was composed had but one heart and one soul, Acts iv. 32. Such also were other churches propagated from this one in the lands of the Gen- tiles. Truth and holiness flourished there, and love reigned among them; and if there were found in the profession of Christianity either persons, or entire societies, otherwise disposed, they were imperfect, irregular, and monstrous productions, not conformed to the true and natural design of the gospel. You see it clearly by the preaching of the holy apostles, the first ministers of this celestial instruction, who la- lioured every where to strip men of all forms and habits of sin, only to render them participators of the Divine nature in righteousness and holiness. Paul, who so often speaks to you from this place, preaches nothing else. It is the subject and the object of all that he has left us in his Epistles. You have heard before, in the first chapter, with what care he presses the Philippians to live in a way worthy of the gos- pel. You will hear him again in this and the fol- lowing chapter treating the same matter with the same warmth. He conjures them here, at the be- ginning, by the most efficacious motives he could urge, to live in perfect union, love, and humility. For this purpose he sets before them in a very striking manner the example of the Lord Jesus, and goes on to promise them a visit from Timothy and from him- self, that the expectation of these two great teach- ers might animate them in well-doing. But for the present, we will only examine the first part contained in the four verses we have read ; and to give you a clearer exposition of them, we will consider, by the gracious assistance of the Lord, three points dis- tinctly and consecutively. The first is the adjuration whicli the apostle makes to the Philippians in these terms : " If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies, fulfil ye my joy." The second is the exhortation which he adds to concord and union ; for it is in that that the ful- filment of his joy, which he so affectionately asks of them, consists : " That ye be like-minded, having the f Hme love, being of one accord, of one mind." The tuird point is the recommendation he makes them, in the two following verses, to humilitj' and brotherly affection, the two nursing-mothers of concord : " Let nothing be done through strife or vain-glory ; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others." I. As to the first point, the apostle has expressed it with so much ardour and emphasis, that it would be difficult to find in any other place in his Epistles any thing more pathetic and affectionate than this ; for he places before them all that is sweetest, most tender, and forcible to obtain from them wiiat he wishes. Being the apostle of the Lord, the master, and, as it were, the father of the Philippians, having begotten their whole church through the gospel, he had the right and authority to command them. Not- withstanding which, he does not use it. He strips himself of all the dignity of his office. He humbles himself to the extreme condescension of mpplicatrng those who oive him obedience. He throws himself as it were at their feet ; and, as if he asked them not a duty, but an alms, implores their compassion, and the bowels of their pity, entreating them in a manner 60 sweet and humble, that the poorest beggar could not say more in his greatest need : " If there be any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies, filial ye my joy." It was love and alTection, my brethren, that constrained this holy being to these terms; for you wil] see afterwards that in reality he asked nothing from the Philippians but that they should be perfect and happy, an evident sign that their good was his most ardent desire, his satisfaction, and his fervent joy; which could only proceed from a very great and most cordial affection. He acts like a good father, the power of whose natural affection obliges him to supplicate his children with tears, and to conjure them by every thing that he imagines to have most power over their minds. If you have (he says to them) any respect for him who has brought you into the world ; if you have any remembrance of the care that I have taken to feed and educate you; if my blood, and my allcction, and the desire that I have for your good and honour, be any con- sideration to you ; love one another, I beseech you, my dear children, and live together in tender friendship and concord. This is exactly the image the apostle here uses, except that instead of nature and the flesh, he derives the arguments of his prayer from grace and from the Spirit ; and instead of his services, re- presents to them his wants, willing to owe what he requested of them to their pity rather than to his merit. He touches upon four principal motives which obliged them to grant him his request ; of which the first was Christian consolation; the second, the comfort of love ; the third, the communion of the Spirit ; the fourth, compassion and mercy. I connect all the four with what he had said at the be- ginning, "in Christ:" " If there be any consolation in Christ." For he signifies, in my opinion, by this word, the fellowship of the Lord Jesus, and the grace we have through being in him by the faith of his gospel. He means Jesus Christ as he is preached by his ministers, and believed on by the faithful. If there he then any consolation in this Christ, whom I have announced to you, whom ye have received, and who dwells in your hearts by faith ; if there be in him any comfort of love, any fellowship of the Spirit, any tenderness of mercy ; if this Divine Lord has impressed truly on those who obey him some feeling of these things ; if his discipline and fellowship have formed our minds to such a state as exists among those who are in him, a mutual interchange of consolation, of love, of soul, and of compassion ; I beseech you all now to exercise these sacred duties towards me. The first of these four things which is found in Jesus Christ is " consolation." It is the duty that we ought to perform towards those who are in afllic- tion, both by words and deeds, doing for them and saying to them, in the best way that we can, what- ever we judge capable of diminishing their weari- ness and of re-establishing spiritual joy in their hearts. The comfort of love, which he adds in the second place, is nearly the same thing; it is as if he had said that love obliged us to contribute to the comfort of our brethren the same help and attention as we owe to those we love. The fellowship of the Spirit, of which he speaks in the third place, is the spiritual union which exists among believers, not earthly, nor indeed carnal, but real and solid, founded upon this consideration, that they are all children of the same Father, formed, quickened, and guided by one Spirit, so that they have in this respect a very close connexion ; and if they are different and separated according to the flesh, they are notwithstanding joined and united according to the Spirit. The cor- dial affections and mercies that he instances, in the last place, are the feelings of pity that we have for those who sufler ; these he calls ''bowels," (for the word that we have translated " cordial affections " properly signifies the entrails, after the manner of the Hebrews, whose style he follows,) for that of Chap. II. THE EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS. 47 which the heart is the seat. The remainder of what he says, " if there be any of these things in Christ," is not to cast any doubt upon it, as if the Lord did not certainly produce all these effects in all those to ■tthom he makes himself known by his word, and by his Spirit, or as if the apostle were not assured of it ; but, on the contrary, he means that this is very cer- tain, and that it is not possible to belong to the Lord, without having received from him these im- pressions. The word " if" is affirmative in this place, as it often is elsewhere, and takes what follows for granted, as true and undoubted, as when we say, 'If you be children, honour then your father;" which is the same as if we were to say. Since you are children, honour then your father ; it being evident that without so doing you render yourselves unworthy of that name. Here it is the same, when the apostle says, "If there be any consolation, and any love in Christ ;" it is the same as if he said, " Since Jesus Christ gives all these dispositions to those who are in him, show indeed that you are in him by fulfilling my joy." For the Lord Jesus recom- mends nothing so nmch in his word as love towards our brethren. He desires that we should be interested in all their blessings and afflictions ; that we should feel their sorrows as our own ; that we should grudge nothing, not even our blood and our life, for their consolation and edification. And the better to im- press this lesson on our hearts, he is not contented with giving it to us in his word, he has confirmed it to us by his example, having laid down his Hfe for us. Certainly then it is impossible that we can be in him, that is to say, that by faith we should em- brace his gospel, without receiving into our hearts the movements of this Divine affection ; and those who, without having them, boast of his name, are liars. I say the same of the fellowship of the Spirit. For the Lord has but one and the same Spirit, with which he baptizes all those who are his ; and " if any one have not his Spirit, he is none of Christ's," as the apostle elsewhere says : so that it is impossible to be in him without having this union in Spirit with believers. Judge by this, dearly beloved bre- thren, what opinion we must have of those barbarous and unnatural souls who have no affection for be- lievers, who look upon their sufferings without emo- tion, who neither deign to console their troubles, to soften their sorrows, to sympathize their grief, nor to employ any spiritual commerce with them. How are they in Jesus Christ, sinc^ they have none of those things which he produces in all such as belong to him ? Surely if this Divine Lord tndy dwelt in our hearts, he w ould by his power melt the hardness of our bowels, he would open in them an active source of consolation for the afflicted, he would there establish an ardent love for his children, he would shed there that Spirit which he has given them, the Spirit of union, love, and compassion. But these Philippians who are here spoken of were not de- scribed in this way. Their profession w'as true, and it appears by what we have heard that they were Christians indeed, and not in name only. This is the reason why the apostle appeals to them by the things of which they had a real and lively feeling. If Jesus Christ, (says he,) our good Master, for whom you and I sJuffer, has put into you some consolation for the afflicted ; if the love with which he has filled your hearts constrains you to dispense some comfort to those who need it ; if this same Spirit which he has given us ought to bind us in a holy and spiritual union ; and finally, if his grace has rendered your bowels tender and sensible to the interests of be- lievers ; I conjure vou by all these sacred ties, fulfil ye my joy. He draws this conclusion very reasonably from what he had proposed to them in the preceding chapter, with which he unites this by the word " therefore:" " If there be therefore any consolation in Christ." For it is to those who are afflicted that the consolation belongs. Here let us bear in mind how he said to them before he was in prison at Rome, persecuted by pagans w-ithout, and by false brethren within, that love ought to comfort those who are overwhelmed either by trouble or necessity. Now he had represented to them the sad state to which he was reduced. It is principally towards those who teach the gospel, or w bo suffer for preaching it, that we ought to exercise the fellowship of the Spirit, or the duties of pity. He had just shown them that this was the cause of his chain. After having set before them these things in the former chapter, it is with good reason therefore that he here urges them by the love, the Spirit, the affection, and the mer- cies of the Lord to fulfil his joy. And the Philip- pians must have been harder than stones, if they had not felt touched by so warm and reasonable an en- treaty. II. But he does not tell them that they will be the cause of his joy. He only asks that they would fulfil that which he had already. For however sad and lamentable the state of the apostle might be ac- cording to the flesh, he had nevertheless joy in his heart. Neither the darkness of the prison, nor its impassable barriers, nor the vigilance of the guards, can prevent joy from entering into the souls of be- lievers. Neither the weight of the irons, nor the obscurity of their dungeons, nor the sorrows of cap- tivity, are capable of taking it from them. In the first place, the Lord Jesus, for whom the apostle suf- fered, was night and day with him, and- shed the peace of the Father, the consolations of the Spirit, the assurance of his grace, and the hope of his glory, as a heavenly balm in the soul of his ser\ant. He there sustained that inextinguishable and glorious joy which these feelings necessarily produce in our hearts ; since even the success of his sufferings, which had given courage to many to proclaim the gospel, refreshed him extremely, "1 rejoice, (says he,) and will rejoice." But besides that, (and it is what he particularly regards in this place,) the fine be- ginning of the Philippians, their love, their patience, and their other graces, had also afforded him much satisfaction. It is this joy that he conjures them to fulfil, to add what was wanting to it, and to render it full and complete. What then was it, 0 holy apostle, that was wanting to thy joy ? What dost thou wish the Philippians to do to fulfil it ? Dost thou desire that they should endeavour to deliver thee from the prisons of Nero, and to procure thee that liberty of which thou art deprived ? or that, to alleviate thy wants, they should redouble their liberality, and send thee another Epaphroditus with the gifts of their love ? No, says he, this is not what I ask. Wy chain does not weigh so heavily upon me that it diminishes my comfort, and I wait in peace for my deliverance by the providence of my God, without harassing my mind ; and as to the discomforts of the prison, I well know how- to find content and abundance even in indigence itself; I have been so filled with what I have already received from these believers, that I have no more to wish from them. What I ask from them with so much warmth, as the only thing capable of rendering my joy perfect, is, that " they should be like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind." It is this, O dearly beloved Philippians, that I desire of you ; it is the only office that you still owe to the consolation of your master. If you fulfil this my desire, I freely 1 48 AN EXPOSITION OF Si;rm. VIII. acquit you of all the duties that the name of the Lord Jesus, and the love that he has given you, and the Spirit that he has imparted to you, and the compas- sions which he has impressed on your bowels, oblige you to render me in my bonds. This, dear brethren, is the meaning and the design of the words of St. Paul. From which we have first to learn, that the good and the prosperity of the church ought to be the chief subject of our consolation and of our desires ; according to the declaration fonnerly made by the psalmist, " that he preferred Jerusalem above his chief joy," Psal. cxxxvii. 6. This apostle was in the fetters of the most horrible tyrant that ever lived, pursued by both Jews and pagans with the most fu- rious animosity, and every day on the point of being exposed to the lions, or to suffer some other cruel punishment. Nevertheless, all this will not prevent his rejoicing in perfect joy, if he may see the church of Philippi in a good condition. Their good is alone capable of curing all his sorrows, of softening all his griefs, and of appeasing all his own sufferings. O admirable love, which had so changed the apostle into those that he loved, that it was their interest, and not his own, from whence sprang his sorrows and his joys ! Why have not we a similar love for the church of the Lord? and especially for those with whom we here live in fellowship? Why do we not make their good or their evil the only, or at least the principal, subject of our consolation, or of oiu- sorrows ? .Certainly, besides the example of the apostle, which ought to be a law to us, the reason and nature of the thing itself evidently oblige us to it. For the church is the body of our Lord Jesus Christ, formed of his flesh and of his blood, and quickened by his Spirit; it is the mirror of his glory, the pillar of his truth, and the most illustrious instrument of his goodness and wisdom. It is the family of God, and the school of his children ; the depository of our most precious jewel, of the gospel, and of salvation; so that we can- not help loving it ardently, if we have ever so little zeal for the glory of God, or affection, whether for the edification of others, or for our own happiness. But let us also learn from this, in the second place, in what this happiness of the church consists, which ought to form and to fulfil our joy. It is not that it should enjoy a profound peace in the world, that it should abound in the honours and riches of the world, that the great should caress it, that kings should favour it, or that people should applaud it. This worldly prosperity is often its greatest misfor- tune, and it is usually in these false calms that it is injured. Neither is it that cunning, or knowledge, or eloquence, or secular erudition shoulil flourish in it. This vain pomp is the share of the world. But the true happiness and the true prosperity of the Christian church consist in wdiat the apostle here asks of the Philippians, that concord should reign in it; that a common love, and one faith, should bind the members to one another, and, mingling them together, should reduce them to one and the same body. Whatever besides may be the condition of our church, she is truly happy and in prosperity, if she live in this union, and retain the form of that Jerusalem which the prophet describes to us, built " as a city that is compact together," Psal. cxxii. 3. On the contrary, if divisions creep in, however cheering may be the prosperity and abundance which she enjoys without, nevertheless she is in a very sad condition. It is a city in which an enemy has made a breach, and it is near its ruin if the Lord do not marvellously assist it. This is why St. Paul here desires the concord and luiion of the Philippians with so much zeal. And although in this Epistle he every where gives them an excellent testimony to their piety, to the strength of their faith, and the ardour of their love, never- theless, the great earnestness with which he recom- mends union seems to show that there was some- thing to say to them in this respect ; and his conjuring them to fulfil his joy by their agreement signifies that he saw some dissension among them, or, at least, that he perceived the seeds of it ; for you know that the devil never fails to throw this bad seed among Christians, having learned, by experience, that there is nothing more suitable for his designs. In truth, we shall hear afterwards that the false teachers among the Jews, who so sadly troubled the first Christians with their pretended mixture of Moses and Jesus Christ, had also an eye upon this church of the Philippians ; and what the apostle still presses upon these believei-s in the following chapter, to have always the same mind, and to walk by one rule, to which they had already attained," chap. iii. 16 ; and particularly beseeches some persons, as Euodias and Syntyche, to yield themselves to this uniformity of sentiment, and entreating his own companion and Clement to help them ; all this, I say, plainly shows (as appears to me) that some dif- ference and division in doctrine began to manifest itself among this flock. From whence it arises that he recommends concord to them in such an affection- ate manner, and that he expresses himself upon it in so many precise terms, that he links one sentence with the other, although in reality they all nearly signify the same thing. In the first place, he asks of them that " they should have one mind." On which some (Beza) have in my opinion w"ell remarked, that the apostle does not simply mean by this that they should have one opinion and belief on points of re- ligion; which is precisely what the word "mind" signifies in our language; but that they should in general have the same disposition of mind, the same feelings, the same designs, and the same desires ; that their souls, in all their faculties, should have the same form and figure, whether in the understanding, which is their highest and chiefest part, or in the will and the affecdons, which depend on it. Thus the apostle uses this word in a similar passage in the Epistle to the Romans, where he orders believers to '■be of the same mind one towards another;" and in the verse which immediately follows our text, " Let the same mind be in you, w'hich was also in Christ Jesus." But after having thus in general commanded the Philippians to have each the same disposition of mind, he descends to particulars, and touches espe- cially some one of these or similar forms, which he wishes that they should possess ; adding, ia the second place, " having the same love." Some (Chrysostom) make this relate to the degrees of brotherly love which ought to be in us ; as if the apostle meant that we should have for our brethren the same love that they have for us, and bear towards them an affection equal to that which they feel towards us, loving as much as we are loved, that we may not fall into the crime of those who, with great injustice, for a high degree of love, return but a very i moderate portion. But although this idea should 1 not be rejected, it seems to be more simple and T natural to take what the apostle says, in regard to the j object of love, to mean that we ought all to love the same thing. For those have not the same love or affection of whom one loves one thing, and one another ; of whom this man for example loves honour and ambition, and that voluptuousness and pleasure ; one hunting, and another learning. These are affec- tions and passions dilfering according to the diversity of their objects; but love is the same, when many love the same object; as when many subjects love Chap. II. THE EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS. 49 the same jirince, or many children the same father. This, then, is what the apostle here asks of the Phi- lippians, that they should have the same love, that their affections should not be divided among many contrary or different things, like those of the Co- rinthians, of whom some loved Paul, others Cephas, and others ApoUos ; some admiring one form of doctrine, others a different one; but that their hearts should all meet on the same object, as in a common centre, all loving the same Christ and the same church. Then he requires of them, in the third place, " that we should all be of one accord." In the original it is, " that we should have altogether the same soul," to^vJ/uxoc- The same, not in its essence or in its nature, (for that is impossible,) but in its affections and in its designs, in its wishes and in its desires ; that we should all look to the same object, and should propose to ourselves the same end, the glory of God our Lord, and the furtherance of the kingdom of his Son ; that we should have the same zeal, that we should desire the same things ; and, in a word, that the acts, transports, and emotions of our minds should have a perfect conformity, as if there were in us but one and the same principle of life, one only soul which animated and quickened us altogether. Finally, the apostle adds, as the last part of Chris- tian concord, "that we should be of one mind." Word for word in the original it is, " that we should feel the same thing." But all comes to one ; it not being possible, if what we feel is but one thing, that we should not also be the same thing. From the unity of the will, he passes on to the conformity of the affections and sentiments. He desires that as there is but one and the same chief, that is to say, Jesus Christ, and but one and the same baptism, there should only be in the church one and the same faith. And this agreement in one and the same doctrine is the foundation of the concord and com- munion of Christians. For the understanding being the guide of our souls, it is difficult for those whose sentiments are opposed not to have different affec- tions ; and from a difference of opinions it is easy to fall into a difference of love, or contempt, or hatred for one another. Assuredly it is much to be wished that there were no difference or variety among be- lievers in this respect. But because of the infirmity in which we live in this mortal flesh, this blessing is more to be wished than hoped for : we must re- strain the necessity for the union of our sentiments to those points which are essential, and without the belief of which there can be no salvation. With respect to them, all believers ought to feel the same thing. None can here differ without a break. But as to other matters, which are not of this importance, ■we ought there to bear with a difference, should there be any, after the example of the apostle, who, though he afterwards obliges all believers to walk by the same rule to which they had attained, nevertheless defends those who, in some degree, felt otherwise than he and the more perfect believers did, hoping that God would reveal this to them also. As you see in a state, so long as all the citizens hold its funda- mental doctrines necessary for the performance of the duties essential to its preservation, differences are tolerated on many other subjects of minor im- portance. However this may be, as we ought all to strive after perfection, we should try by every means in our power to have amongst us an exact and entire uniformity of sentiments; so that it may be truly said of us what the apostle here required from the Philippians, that we should all feel the same thing. Thus it appears what this concord is which he so strongly recommends, namely, a holy union of mind and will in faith and affection. And he has every reason in the world to ask it of us so pressingly. For in fact it is our all ; it is the legitimate iorm and per- fection of the church. In the first place, this con- cord is the most beautiful thing in the universe ; aa the prophet sings in one of his psalms, "Behold, how good and how pleasant it is that brethren should dwell together in unity!" Psal. cxxsiii. 1. God sees nothing more agreeable to him on earth than such a society. It is an image of the hearts of those blessed spirits who adore him in the heavens in perfect union. But besides its beauty, it is infinitely useful and salutary, for it is to it that the eternal Father gives blessing and life, Psal. cxxsiii. 3. It is to it that the Lord Jesus promises his grace and his favour: "If two of you (says he) sliall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father," Matt, xviii. 19. This concord is the joy of angels, the terror of devils, the strength and glory of the church. If you would know how necessary it is to the latter, behold the misery and the ravages that discord has made in it. It is it which in times past ruined ancient Israel, having broken, by a sad separation, the forces that God had united. It is it which has warped Chris- tianity into so many fashions, and has occasioned all the old and new wounds which it has received. It has extinguished religion and love. It has pointed the swords, and lighted the fires. It has armed brother against brother, and has violated every thing that is most holy and most sacred in human nature. It has exhausted the church of blood and strength ; and finally, exposed one part a prey to infidelity, and another to tyranny. It is it again that has stayed the progress of the gospel in the days of our fathers, having unhappily divided hands which ought to have laboured together in so good a work. Pearly beloved brethren, let us fly so deadly a plague, and having known, by so many sad experiences, how pernicious it is, let us dwell united together in the sweet and happy bonds of perfect concord. III. To this end, let us attentively listen to, and faithfully practise, the instruction which the apostle gives us in the two last verses of our text : " Let nothing be done (says he) through strife or vain- glory ; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others." To retain peace and union in the church, he warns us against two vices, strife and vain-glory, the two principal sources of division and schism, and recommends two virtues to us, humility and the care of our neighbours, the two mothers and nurses of concord. That w-hich he calls strife is a cross and punctilious humour, which occasions suits and quarrels on every thing ; the disease of headstrong and obstinate minds, which enjoy debate and contention. These people hate the beaten track, and always choose rough and solitary roads. They disdain common sentiments, though they be certain, clear, and true ; and form on all subjects peculiar opinions. They always place themselves in opposition to their brethren, and their hand, like that of Ishmael, is against every one, and every one's hand is against them. It is enovi^h to make them give up an opinion to show them that others hold it. Nothing charms them more than novelty, extravagance, and singularity. Unhappy and trouble- some minds, plagues of human society, parents of the greater part of the seditions and wars that trouble the world and the church. But their venom is so much the more dangerous in the church, in propor- tion as its society is holy, and its union precious. It is this cursed humour which formerly inspired, and 60 AN EXPOSITION OP Serm. VIII. still continues to imbue many heretics with such wild and ridiculous opinions, that it is a wonder how they have ever been able, I do not say to please, but to enter into any man's mind. And when it has once produced some monsters of this kind, it caresses and defends them, and, engaging in this design, finally becomes incapable of yielding. It is thus tbat during the first ages the sects were formed which distracted the church. And would to God that ours were ex- empt from them. But the other vice, whicli the apostle adds in the second place, namely, vain-glory, has as much place or more than the preceding. It is a desire to acquire reputation and to be talked of ; and the apostle calls it " vain-glory," because this lustre and renown, and all this pretended honour after which ambitious spirits so passionately aspire, is at bottom but a pure vanit)', whicli has neither virtue nor efficacy to render liim who possesses it more happy or more perfect citlier in body or soul. Who can tell the miseries that this fatal passion has caused among men ? It is it which sows wars in states, quarrels in families, and divisions in the church. "When once it has taken possession of the mind of a man, there is no longer any abomination of which he is not capable. I omit the torments and uneasiness which it gives to the ambitious and to others. But we may well say that there is no vice more contrary to concord, as it consists in a certain degree of equality ; instead of which vain-glory can sutler no equal, always desiring to be first. Thus it has lighted all the divisions that have ever burnt in the church. And if contention has given a begin- ning to some of them, vain-glory has not been want- ing to enrol itself instantly of the party. They most frequently go in company, and giving each other the hand, contention nourishing what ambition has en- gendered, and in the same way ambition supporting that which contention has produced. It is from this infernal couple that Arianism, Nestorianism, and Eutychism formerly sprang, which were likely to ruin the whole of Christendom. It is from hence that the famous schism arose between the east and the west ; the one not choosing to endure a supe- rior, and the other an equal. It is from hence that have arisen those sad and shameful disputes among the ministers of the Lord, whose traces appear so visibly in the history of the church. Notwithstand- ing which, (O madness of human passions, of so much trouble and misery !) this vice gathers no other fruit than a vain glory, as the apostle here says, and a real infamy. To these two perverse affections he opposes submission and humility : " Let nothing be done through strife or vain-glory, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves." The gospel every where recommends humility to us, a virtue unknown to worldly philosophy. The Lord teaches us that it is even so necessary to his disciples, that without it it is not possible for a man to enter into his kingdom ; and makes so great a point of it, that he gives the first rank to those who are the most humble. And in truth, if we consider, on the one hand, the excellence and the greatness of the Lord, and, on the other, the meanness and unworthiness of our nature, vile and despicable in its being, and made still more so by being infected with sin, and subject to its curse, we shall readily confess that it is very reasonable that we should think but little of ourselves, and that the most esteemed among men cannot without injustice have a high opinion of themselves. But nevertheless, it seems difficult to imderstand how this virtue obliges us to the duty, the performance of which the apostle here directs, that of each one of us esteeming our neighbour better than ourselves. For Christian virtues are not con- trary to one another. Now it appears that the mind which is here ordered to us may be contrary to the soundness of truth which ought to be in all our judgments. For if one believer be better than an- other, how can he, without falsehood, esteem that other better than himself? And besides, as each of the two ought to have the same mind towards his companion, and, at the same time, it is impossible that each of the two should be more excellent than the other, it appears that humility necessarily obliges one of the two to believe a thing that is not true, which cannot be the duty of a worthy man. To that, my brethren, I reply, that things are of two kinds. Of the one the truth is certain and evident. Of others we can only judge by signs and appear- ances, which are not infallible. As to the first, we are obliged to believe them such as they are, and neither humility, nor any other consideration, can free us from this. But as to others, charity ought to regulate the judgment that we make of them, and to take all in good part ; and if sometimes the tnith of a thing does not answer to the opinion that we have of it, we may well say that we have been deceived, but not that we have lied. 'When then we compare ourselves with others, we must consider what sort of things are in question. If the question be about those of which we can certainly know the truth, our judgment nuist go with the side on which it is found. For example, if you know yourself to be more healthy, more courageous, more eloquent, or more rich, than your neighbour, (and all this may be easily and undoubtedly known,) it would be follij, and not humilily, to believe the contrary. And thus is it with other things of this nature. But it is not thus with the things of which the apostle speaks. He speaks of the worth and excellence of the person itself, and particularly as relating to the kingdom of God. Now it is evident that we cannot judge with ' certainty what is truly the state of our neighbour in this respect ; appearances not always answering to what is within, and the advantages of this nature not consisting in what may be outwardly seen. It is here then that humility should step in, to prevent, in the first place, our preferring ourselves to our brother, under the shade of some outward advantage which we may have over him ; and secondly, to lead us to presume much in his favour, and charitably to believe that he has in heart hidden treasures, which place him above us, and which nevertheless are very precious in the sight of God, although ue see them not. And it is in this feeling (as I said) he may well be in error, but it is evident that there is no falsehood. If the Pharisee had followed this rule, he would not, under the cover of some false appear- ances, have preferred his person to that of the publi- can, who really, and before God, was worth more than himself. I confess that our nature does not easily relish such teaching. For we can hardly bear that any one should equal us, much less to place our- selves below all others, each one bearing the heart of a king in his bosom, and imagining that there is nothing more excellent than himself, and that if rank followed merit, he ought to be the master of the human race. But then we are not called by the Lord to live according to the dictates of our nature, which is entirely seasoned with vanity and pride. That we may then acquit ourselves of this duty, let us consider seriously our unworthiness, the miserable state we were in before grace came, that infinite brood of all sorts of vices which swarmed in us, the excess, the rage, to which we were carried, the curse and the hell that we deserved, our weaknesses them- selves even since God has called us, our cowardli- ness, our ingratitude, our evil inclinations, our sins^ Chap. II. THE EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPFIANS. 51' the innumerable faults of our actions and of our words, and the secret vanity, injustice, and filth of our thoughts and affections. And that if we liave any graces, they are graces which ought not to elate, but to humble us ; and that the more we have re- ceived, the more we ought to abase ourselves, as you see among the ears of corn, those bend their head lowest which are the best and the fullest of grain. And as to our neighbours, let us look at and prize whatever they have that is good, acknowledging and admiring their gifts ; let us be ignorant of or ex- cuse what there is wrong, and let us do quite con- trary to that fabulous nymph of the poets, who was blind at liomc, and had eyes only when she was with her neighbours. Let us be clear-sighted and severe against ourselves, gentle and indulgent to others. If we consider in this way our persons and those of our brethren, it will be easy, as the apostle directs, to esteem them more excellent than ourselves. If once we make this judgment in our heart, if each of us esteem his neighbour more excellent than himself, we shall establish by these means charity, patience, and concord amongst us. "We shall feel no envy at the good things of others, and we shall have great compassion for their son-ows. AVe shall receive their good offices with deep gratitude, as favours, and not as duties ; and we shall bear their insults (should such be shown us) with more patience. And if they have the same opinion of us that we have of them, what society in the world will be more happy than ours ? Neither contempt, pride, nor contention, neither disputes, discord, nor envy, nor any of those other plagues which ruin and infect humanity, shall ever enter therein. Humility, as a rampart of brass or a wall of iron, shall preserve us in safety against all the efforts of the enemy. And this respectful and favourable feeling that we entertain for each other will, of itself, lead to the duty that the apostle here, in the last place, requires of us : " Look not every man on his own things, but eveiy man also on the things of others." For it will be impossible for us not to regard them, if we esteem them more excellent than ourselves ; the little care that we have for them only proving the small esteem in which we hold them. It is true that some make even this relate to what the apostle had just directed, of esteeming our brethren more than ourselves : as if he intended, that, to lead us to this duty, we should consider not only what we are, and what God has given us, but also what others are, and what graces they have received, being very certain that the pre- sumption of the greater part of those who elevate themselves above their brethren arises from their never looking at or admiring any thing but their own good qualities, their talents, their knowledge, their prudence, without ever throwing their eyes on the advantages that Heaven has dispensed to others as much or more than to themselves. But in my opinion it is more proper to take these words as a new precept, which directs us, for the preser\'ation of peace and concord amongst ourselves, to have re- spect, not only to that which is useful and advan- tageous to us, but also to what the edification and consolation of our brethren demand. He does not absolutely forbid each one looking to himself; the care is just and legitimate ; but he does not wish that wc should so entirely attach ourselves to it as to forget others. And certainly, if that communion of nature which men have together so evidently obliges each of them to care for his neighbours, that the pagans themselves acknowledge it, saying that they hold no human things as foreign, or separated from them, how much more should the grace of the Spirit, and the blood of Jesus Christ, which has united us all into one body, unite our interests ! Do not look upon these believers whom the apostle recommends to you as strangers. They are your brethren. They are your flesh, and your blood. But if he obliges us to look upon what belongs to them with care for their interests, it is not from thence to be said that he permits curiosity, that vice of human nature which another apostle expressly forbids, not wishing that we should be prying into the affairs of others. To know what belongs to your neighbours, and afterwards to be careful for them, it is not necessary to leave the business of your vocation, nor to intermeddle with that of others, nor to trouble yourselves with useless inquiries, or prying curiously into the secrets of persons or families. You may, at least, yield your brethren the duty here re- commended, with a sincere and upright conscience, and entirely exempt from such unworthy motives. Thus we have now explained all the parts of this text. It is not, as you see, brethren, very difficult to understand it. The principal point is, that you should put it in practice ; and that this excellent instruction of the apostle should be read in your lives as well as in his Epistles. Among the reasons which enforce it upon vou, I dare not bring forward, after his ex- ample, what consolation you owe us, from the ex- treme and immense disproportion there is between us and this great apostle; although, after all, what- ever we may be elsewhere, as we have the honour to be ministers of God amongst you, it is clear that you cannot, without injustice, refuse to have some regard to our satisfaction. But putting ourselves aside, I will bring before you the example of all the church, that of the holy angels who are in the midst of us, that of the Lord Jesus himself, who incessantly sees and looks upon us. Their united joy is to behold us living holily in perfect concord. The church, in those battles which she is now enduring, can receive no greater consolation. And the Lord and his angels can see nothing on earth that is more agreeable to them. If, then, beloved brethren, " there is any con- solation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fel- lowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies, fulfil ye my joy." May they see nothing among us calling for' their tears, or for their sighs ; no disputes, no contentions, no vanity, no pride, no quarrels, no law-suits. May they see only subjects for rejoicing ; one faith, one love, one firm and inextinguishable concord, one simple and real humility, a respectful deference and a cordial affection towards each other. May they see from this age the first-fruits of that which is to come, a willing and peaceful people, full of piety and good works, clothed with light and purity, and worthy of the extraction, the citizenship, and the communion of the heavenly and immortal Jerusalem, founded and built above in the heavens. And as all the benefits of God, both spiritual and temporal, ought to minister to our sanctification, so let that favour also, dear brethren, which he has just granted us in hearing the united prayers of all this kingdom, and fulfilling the joy of the king, our sovereign lord, by the happy birth of the second son which he has given him. This favour is great and excellent in every way, both in itself and as it re- gards us: in itself, for it is an effect of that extraor- dinary power and goodness of God which the prophet celebrates in one of his psalms : " He niaketh the barren woman to keep house, and to be a joyful mother of children," Psal. cxiii. 9. This is the won- der that he shows us now in the house of our monarch, enriching it with these fruits of his blessing, after its having so long been without them. But this favour is also great as it respects ourselves. For the offspring of the king are the supports of his hoiisCj 52 AN EXPOSITION OF Serm. IX. the column of his kingdom, the establishment of the public peace, and the sure foundation of the pros- perity and happiness of his people. And among all these subjects there is not one which has more interest for us than that we, in the midst of so much evil and so many fears, only subsist, humanly speaking, by the clemency and authority of our sovereign. Let us then rejoice before God, and let us receive this his favour with all the gratitude of which our souls are capable. Let us bless his Divine majesty, and praise him with all humility, in that he has given to our king the wish of his heart, and has not refused him that which he had desired with his lips. Let us beseech this almighty and eternal Lord to pour out his grace on the sacred branches of the royal stem, that they may grow and prosper in his presence. To the devotion of our prayers, join we the innocence and the goodness of our works ; let us love and religiously serve this great God who is so good to us. Let us yield ourselves with sincere de- votion to his anointed, whom he deigns to load with so many favours, yielding to him and to his minis- ters an exemplary obedience and tidelity. Let us live with our fellow citizens in all righteousness and honesty, and amongst ourselves with a purity and sanctification which may accord with the excellence of the doctrine of which we make profession ; to the glory of God, the edification of men, and to our own salvation. Amen. Preached at Charenton, Sunday, \6th Sept. 1640. SERMON IX. Verse 5 — 8. Let this mind he in you, which uas also in Christ Jesus : who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: who made himself of no reputatioyi, and took upon him the form of a serv- ant, and was made in the likeness of men : and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. My dear brethren, if there be any mystery in the Christian religion which is great and high above the thoughts of men and angels, it is without doubt the incarnation of the Son of God, and his profitable hu- miliation. And if there be in all the Holy Scriptures any place in which this important truth is clearly and magnificently represented, it is in the text we have now read, which is our portion for to-day. The terms of it are so sublime, so majestic, that it is im- possible any thing more heavenly could be said. The meaning is so noble, and so well established, that nothing more powerful could be imagined ; the apostle battering down in these few words all that hell has ever invented against this sacred and in- violable foundation of our faith. You may remem- ber, that in the preceding text he had very affection- ately recommended to us humility. But as this virtue is on one side absolutely necessary to our sal- vation, and on the other infinitely contrary to the tastes and inclinations of our nature, he does not content himself with those efficacious means which he had before employed for touching our hearts, conjuring us to yield ourselves to them by every thing that is most holy and most delightful in the fellowship of the Lord; but to vanquish, and en- tirely eradicate, all the pride of our flesh, he here places before us the example of Jesus Christ himself, as much to elevate before our eyes a true and lively image of the humility which should be in us, as to take from those who cannot relish it every excuse and every pretext for their vanity. For since the Son of God has voluntarily abased himself to such a depth of humiliation, what vengeance and hell would not our pride deserve, if, after his example, we, wlio are but miserable worms of the earth, should still make any difficulty in humbling ourselves ? " Let tliis mind (says the holy apostle) be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus." Do not imagine that, in exhorting you to humble and abase yourselves be- low your brethren, I am requiring any thing un- worthy of you. I ask nothing of you which has not been in Jesus Christ. These thoughts and feelings which I recommend to you he has first entertained. Do not then disdain what he has cherished. That humility which was sanctified by having had a place in his heart, receive ye into yours. Have for your neighbours sentiments and feelings similar to those which he had for you. What coidd the apostle al- lege more suitable to his design ? For in the first place, as Jesus Christ is our Master, and we make profession of being his disciples, is it not reasonable that we should follow his example ? Where is the servant who does not consider it a glory to resemble his master? Surely, if we have any spark of true gonerosity, nothing ought more ardently to incite us to the study of great and difficult things than thinking that in doing them we shall be like our Lord. For what is there in the world finer or more noble, or more worthy of our love and of our wishes, than this holy and heavenly conformity ? This is the reason why Jesus Christ in the gospel does not only propose to us the ancient prophets, although in truth it would be a great honour to us to have some resemblance to such holy persons ; but he presents us with liis own example, and even with that of his Father : " Learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart," Matt. xi. 29. " Love your enemies, bless them whicli curse you, do good to those that hate you ; for your heaven- ly Father causeth his sun to rise on the good and on the evil, and sendeth rain on the just and on the un- just," Matt. V. 44, 45. St. Paul also speaks in the same way : " Forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake has forgiven you," Eph. iv. 32. " Be ye followers of God, as dear children ; and walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us," Eph. v. 1. And in exhorting the Corinthians to exercise charity to the poor, he says, " For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, who, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye, through his poverty, might be rich," 2 Cor. viii. 9. And in various other places he proposes to us the example of Jesus Christ, and certainly with good reason. For besides the excellency and dignity of his nature, he has also that of a private person, and as such has been given to us by the Father as the true and only pattern of our life. All the faithful are predestinated to be con- formed to his image, says the apostle in the Epistle to the Romans. " He has left us an example," says St. Peter, " that we should follow his steps." He is not only the author of this new and happy life, which he has purchased with the price of his own blood, he is also the mould and the pattern. He is its efficient cause and model, as they speak in the schools, having formed for us in himself a fine and living image, perfect in all its features, and set off with all its colours; so that, having it continually before our eyes, we may each of us draw in our souls the most perfect copy of it, one as like the original as possible. Thus it is with great reason that the apostle, to form Chap. II. THE EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS. 53 us to humility, proposes to us the example of Jesus Christ. Christians, behold this Divine example with attention ! Open whatever you have of mind to un- derstand and admire it, but strive principally to imi- tate it, which is the design for which it is here placed before our eyes. And may the Lord himself discover to us its wonders, and inspire us with a love for it, by the efficacy of his good Spirit, to his glory, and to our consolation and edification. To explain to you what the apostle says of the hu- mility of our Lord Jesus Christ, we must by the grace of God consider in order the two points which pre- sent themselves in this text : first, \Vhat the Lord was in himself; and secondly. In what, and to what, he liad humbled himself for us. The apostle presents the first to us in the sixth verse in these words, " That Jesus Christ, being in the form of God, and equal with God." The second in the two following verses, "That he made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men ; and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross." The former of these is the first and original condition of the Lord, in which he was with the Father; the latter, the second, in which he is among us : the one treats of his nature, the other of his dispensation or econo- my ; the one of that state from which he had abased himself, the other of that to which he had humbled himself. I. To arrive at the first, the apostle describes it by saying that Jesus Christ, being or subsisting (for that is precisely wliat the word signifies in the original) " in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God," where you see that, to explain to us the state in which the Lord Jesus was when he took upon himself the form of a servant, he attributes two things to him ; the one, " that he was in the form of God ;" the other, that he was " equal with God." Certainly the Son is the image of the invisible Father, the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person; his living and essential image, which contains and truly exhibits in itself all his essence and all his perfections, his Divinity, his eternity, his power, his goodness, his justice, and all his other attributes; there being nothing in the nature of the one which there is not in that of the other: so that in this respect we can justly and truly affirm that he has the form of God ; in the same manner (if we may compare earth to heaven, and the creatures to the Creator) as we say of a child, that he perfectly re- sembles his father, not only in the features and linea- ments of the body, but also in the virtues and habits of his mind ; that he is the form or image of his father. But we must consider that the apostle says that Jesus Christ was in the form of God, and not that he was or that he had the form of God. What then is this form of God in which the Lord was wlien he took our flesh upon him ? Dear brethren, it is not simply the Divine nature which was in him, the true and perfect form of the person of the Father ; but it is that nature invested with his majesty, clothed with his glory, and accompanied with a pomp wortliy of his supreme excellence. " To be in the form of God" is to have a sovereign majesty, to enjoy an in- finite glory, to exercise the authority, the rights, and the functions of God, to live and appear in a man- ner suitable to this. great and incomprehensible na- ture. Thus to be in the form of God signifies not only to be king, to possess majesty and power, but also to have the insignia of royalty, its courtly train and splendid equipage. For what is the form of a kin" unaccompanied with the symbols and characters of tliat dignity, the pageantry and the brilliance which accompany it, as the sceptre, the diadem, the throne, and the guards? Thus formerly among the Romans we might call the form of a consul, the equipage and the pomp with which the laws and cus- toms of that people invested those who exercised the office, the purple, the ivory chair, the twelve lictors with their fasces and rods, and such like. When then the apostle here says that the Lord, before taking our nature upon him, was in the form of God, he does not merely intend that he was God in him- self, and that he had the true nature of the Divinity ; but further still, that he possessed the glory, and en- joyed all the dignity, majesty, and grandeur due to so high a name. This is precisely what the Lord means in St. John, by the glory which he says he had with the Father before the world was. For be- fore this eternal Word and Wisdom had taken to himself the human nature, he had nothing low or weak in him. Every thing was great, magnificent, and truly Divine. He was with God in the bosom of the eternal Father, subsisting there in an incompre- hensible manner, and worthy of his Divine nature. If he negociated with men, if he interfered in the government of the universe, there was nothing in his providence which was not glorious and majestic. Those communications which he held with the crea- tures were the same as those of the Father. I con- fess that it was the Son who created the world, and that without him was no part of the universe made. It is by him that kings rule and princes govern; he then frequented the earth, and his delight was with the children of men, as says the wise man in Prov. viii. But notwithstanding, in all this there was nothing abject or contemptible ; on the contrary, it was therein that a part of that glory, and of that form of God in which the Lord was, consisted. For the rule and empire over all things is an honour that be- longs to God alone. Such was the state of the Son of God when he descended for our sakes upon the earth. Seated on the eternal throne with the Father, surrounded by his angels, and adored by all his crea- tures, he lived and reigned with him in a Divine manner, without having any other intercourse wdth the vilencss of the world, except so far as it required his providence to uphold it in the condition in which he had created it. This is what St. Paul means when he says that Jesus Christ was in the form of God. To which, for the purpose of explaining himself more clearly, he adds that he was " equal with God." As to these words, " he thought it not robbery," on account of the difl'erent expositions of them which have been given, we shall for a while defer explaining their meaning, and at this time only dwell upon that in which all interpreters unanimously agree, namely, that the Lord " was equal with God." Doubtless the psalmist and the other prophets declare in a thousand places that there is nothing in the universe equal to God, whether it regard his nature, his power, or his wisdom. As then Jesus Christ was equal to him, we must necessarily conclude that he was God blessed for evermore with the Father, of the same power, wisdom, and goodness ; that he was the same Eternal formerly adored by ancient Israel, and cele- brated by the prophets. Now, before going further, remark and admire, I beseech you, the richness, the strength, and the efficacy of the Scriptures in these few words of the apostle, which are sufficient to de- molish all those heresies which have risen up against the Lord. In the first place, they confound the im- pudence of those who deny that Jesus Christ has subsisted in the nature of things, before his concep- tion and his birth of the blessed Virgin. " Being, or subsisting, in the form of God, he made himself of 54 AN EXPOSITION OP Serm. IX. no reputation, and took the form of a servant." He ii-as then already in the form of God, wlien he tools upon himself the form of a sei-vant. Now it is evi- dent that he took it when he w'as made flesh, w'hen he was conceived by the virtue of the Holy Ghost in the womb of his mother. Undoubtedly he then al- ready was ; he was God, and only began to be, with regard to his human nature, in the form of a scr\'ant, with which he invested himself, not having had it before. As to what some of these heretics say, that by the form of God in which the Lord was we must understand the excellence and the dignity of his hu- man nature, shown in the rays which from time to time he caused to appear through the veil of his hu- manity, it is an illusion which cannot stand. In the first place. By this reckoning, Jesus Christ must have taken the form of a servant before being in the form of God; directly contrary to the sense and words of the apostle, who says that being in the form of God, he thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation, and was clothed with the form of a servant. Secondly, Because all this splendour in the human nature of Jesus Christ, if there had been nothing more in him, could not in any sense whatever have been called the form of God, and still less as being equal with God. The angels are as excellent, or more so, than any human nature can be, whatever grace we may suppose the Creator to have imparted to it, except the personal union with the Ueity. Yet the psalmist declares that there are none of these blessed spirits who are, I will not say equal, but even comparable to the majesty of God. As then the apostle protests that the being of the Lord Jesus was equal with God, it must necessarily be acknowledged that there was in him some other thing than the tlesh, which he took for us ; that is to say, that eternal Word, which at the beginning was with God, and was God. I confess, that so long as the Lord was here below, the infirmity of his flesh could not so entirely veil the light of his Divinity, but that it pierced tliis cloud, and shone forth in splendour capable of making itself recog- nised Ijy those who beheld it attentively. And this is what St. John means, when he says at the begin- ning of his Gospel, that they had seen his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father. But notwithstanding this, all these rays and emanations of his glory are not sufficient to justify the expres- sion that he then lived in the form of God, and in a manner equal to God, as the humility of his flesh kept the greater part of this Divine form hidden. I come to those who, confessing that the Son of God existed before he was born in our flesh, will have, that this chief nature which he then possessed had been created, and was of a substance different from that of the Father. The apostle completely upsets their impiety ; first, in saying that the form in which he then was was the form of God. For who can maintain, without blasphemy, that any of the angels, or any other creature wdiatsoever, can be in the form of God ? Give them what intelligence you please, if they are creatures, they will always remain infinitely below the form of the Creator. And it cannot here be argued that "the form of God" sig- nifies his glory, and not his nature ; his majesty, and not his essence. For in the first place, I contend that though it be true, that this word here denotes more precisely the first than the second, it never- theless appears by the contrast, of " the form of a servant," which the apostle adds, that it compre- hends both ; that is to say, as we have before re- marked, that it really signifies a nature truly Divine, clothed with a suitable glory ; as well as " the form of a servant," that the Lord has taken, signifies in the other part of this test a flesh truly human, clothed with all its weaknesses and infirmities. Secondly, Supposing it were granted, ^that this " form of God," of which the apostle speaks, only signifies the glory and the majesty of God, still I maintain that it is enough to convince us that the Lord was truly God by his nature. For none can have tliis glory but God; and that for two reasons: the one, that the thing itself is absolutely impossible ; the other, because the will of God is opposed to it. As to the first, it is evident tliat a finite subject is incapable of that which is infinite, it being impossible that that which is less should hold, or contain, that which is greater than itself; so that every creature being of necessity finite, it is a thing in every way impossible that it should have the form, that is to say, the glory and majesty, of God, who is infinite. But the will of God no less rejects it than the nature of the thing itself. For God protests loudly in Isaiah, " I will not give my glory to another," Isa. xlii. 8; xlviii. II. As then the Lord Jesus, before he took our flesh, was in the form of God, it necessarily follows that he was truly God, no one being able to have the glory of God but He who had his nature also. And what the apostle adds, that he was " equal with God," clearly also determines the same thing ; it being evident that if the Son were a creature, he could not be equal to God ; every creature being of necessity infinitely below the nature, power, and majesty of the Creator. But that also incontestably proves that the Son is a person distinct from the Father, against those who, being forced to confess that their nature is the same, confound also their persons. For equality can only exist between differe'jt persons ; none is equal to himself; so that St. Paul, saying that the Son is equal to the Father, necessarily presupposes that the Father and the Son are two persons. Such is the power and copiousness of these words of the apostle against all sorts of error. But he does not merely say that Jesus Christ was equal to God. He adds, that " he thought it not robbery to be equal with God." The word "rob- bery " may here be taken either literally or figura- tively. Literally, as when we call a thing stolen, of which an individual has become improperly pos- sessed, without any just and legitimate right. It is thus that the king of the evil angels wished to have the divinity, carried away by pride, and having usurped the honour which only belonged to his Creator. Adam, our first father, aimed at it in the same manner, having undertaken, against all reason, to become like God. If these unhappy beings had succeeded in their vain and unjust designs, the pre- tended equality they would have had with God, and it was such in their foolish imagination, would have been a robbery. The apostle then intended to say that it was not the same with our Lord Jesus, that he wronged no one by being in the form of God, and equal with God ; because being truly God, as he is, the glory and majesty due to such a nature lawfully belonged to him ; so that he had a right to possess and enjoy it, and for employing it cannot justly be accused of robbery, that is to say, of force or fraud, or, in a word, of any injustice. But although the Lord did not think this equality of being that he had with God to be robbery, although he knew that he had a right to it, and could retain it lawfully, neverthe- less of his free-will he " made himself of no reputa- tion," says the apostle, " and took the form of a serv- ant." I acknowledge that this exposition is true in the main, and that it does not ill become either the object or the words of the apostle. For for its foundation nothing is more true than what it presup- poses, that the Son, before his humiliation, enjoyed Chap. II. THE EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS. 55 the form of God, and a majesty and glory eqnal to his, by the just and legitimate right of his own na- ture, and not by robbery, or any other species of injustice. And as to the apostle, it forwards his object, which is to glorify the humiliation of the Son of God ; showing, as it does, that he humbled him- self, taking quite another form from that in which he had been before ; that he had not been constrained to do it, or that he did it through ignorance of his rights, but by his pure and voluntaiy goodness ; know- ing well that he might justly have acted otherwise, had he pleased. And, finally, as to the words of St. Paul, this interpretation may be accommodated, as the genius of the Greek language in which they were written permits their being so interpreted, "Jesus Christ, being in the form of God, would not have thought it robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation ;" or, as our Bibles have translated it, with the same meaning, "however, he made himself of no reputation." But besides this exposition, which is the most com- mon, there is still another, which perhaps is not less easy or less suitable, in taking the words of the apostle figuratively, " that Jesus Christ thought it not robbery to be equal with God," as implying that he has not made a trophy of this his prerogative, that he has not drawn from it any subject for glorj' or vanity. For it was then a custom almost universal in the world, that victors who had conquered or carried off something from their enemies by force, as their ensigns, or their arms, should erect them as trophies, elevate them on trees or columns, or some high places, and raise other similar monuments for a testimony of their valour; whilst as to the things which we possess by the ordinar}' rights of nature, or by civil justice, we do nothing of the kind. This vanity, which was common in the apostle's days, is a reason why these words, " thought it not robbery," may be employed, as meaning to glorify himself by it, and make a parade of it, and take it for a matter of trophy or triumph. Thus the sense of this text ■nill be simple and easy, that the Lord Jesus, being in the form of God, did not make a trophy of being equal with God ; he never thought of making a parade of it, publishing and showing it to every one, in bearing himself as God, and appearing on the earth with a pomp and glory worthy of his Divinity. II. The apostle adds, he " made himself of no re- putation, and took upon him the form of a ser%"ant, and was made in the likeness of men ; and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and be- came obedient unto death, even the death of the cross." This is the second point of which we pro- posed to treat. We have heard what the Lord was by nature ; let us now see what he became by dis- pensation. He was God, equal to the Father, and in the form of God. He made himself man, and a ser^'ant, obedient unto the cross. The apostle pro- poses two parts for our consideration in this mystery : first the form or condition that the Lord took ; and then the obedience which he therein yielded to the Father. He explains the first to us in these words, " that Jesus Christ made himself of no reputation, having taken the fonn of a servant, made in the likeness of men, and being found in fashion as a man." Now what he says, " that he made himself of no reputation," shows us that all this humiliation of his has been a work of his love, and not of necessity. It is neither the authority nor strength of any op- posing power that induced him to make himself of no reputation. It was his will which made him do it. He bent not under the efibrts of any other power than that of his own love. Then afterwards the apostle tells us in what his " emptying himself" pro- perly consisted, when he adds, " he took irpon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men." Do not imagine that his tlius abasing him- self signifies that he had ceased to be God, or that he despoiled himself of either his immortal and im- mutable nature, or of any of its properties. He made himself of no reputation, not in losing or quitting what he had, but in taking that which he had not ; not in extinguishing the glory of his Divinity, but in concealing it beneath the veil of infirmity. Fur- thermore, this " form of a ser%"ant" which the Lord took is not simply human nature. For now that he is in the heavens, in sovereign glory, he has no longer this form of a ser\'ant, whilst he still has, and will eternally have, human nature. But even as the form of God in which he was signifies (as we have before obsened) a Divinity clothed with its glorj-; so also the form of a servant which he took is a low, con- temptible, and human nature, accompanied by all those infirmities which are now found in man's na- ture. It is the same that St. Paul elsewhere calls the form or "likenesS of sinful flesh," Rom. viii. 3. And St. John expresses the same truth in other words, when he says, "The "Word was made flesh," John i. 14; that is to say, not man simply, but weak man, despicable in appearance, and tempted in all things, like as we are, sin only excepted. Now a servant or a slave is not simply a man ; for there are many men who are not slaves. But it is a man re- duced to a low and vile condition, dependent on the will of others, and living meanly, in contempt, with- out glory or honour ; so that the form of a servant, besides the nature which the Lord took upon him- self, signifies still further the state and condition of that nature. That which he adds, " that being made in the likeness of men, and being found in fashion as a man," is only to make the same thing clear. For, in the first place, in saying that he had " the likeness of men," he specifies precisely what that form of a servant was, of which he had spoken in general, and confines it to the nature of men. The nature of angels is very excellent, particularly above that of animals. But though this be so, in comparison with that of God, it must and ought to be called " the form of a servant," as it really is, as " angels are ministering spirits sent forth to minister," Heb. i. 14. If, then, the Lord had clothed himself with their nature, there is no doubt that it might truly have been said " that he had taken the form of a servant." But the apostle shows us that it is not this that he means, and that he speaks of the nature of men, and not of that of angels, when he says that the Lord took the form of a servant, according to the information which he elsewhere expressly gives us, that " he took not on him the nature of angels, but the seed of Abraham." Again, in saying that he was made in the likeness of men, he declares to us the manner in which he has taken to himself this poor and weak nature witli which he clothed himself, not simply as a veil, or a dress, or a symbol of his presence, as he had formerly taken exterior forms, under which he had appeared to the prophets, with- out having any union of nature with them; but that he united it to himself personally in such a way that this flesh, in which he manifested himself, is not foreign to him, but his own. He has not only taken man, he is become man ; he was made in the like- of men ; he was made flesh, as says St. John. But let none here receive into their mind the dream of some ancient heretics, that St. Paul took from the Lord the truth and substance of human na- ture, and left him nothing but a false and vain ap- pearance, under pretence " that he was made in the likeness of men," and not simplv that he was made 56 AN EXPOSITION OP Serm. IX. man ; and besides that, " being found in fashion as a man," and not simply being found man. For, in the first place, it is to reason badly, to conclude that he has not truly had our nature from what the apostle says, "that he was made in the likeness of men." At this rate it might be inferred that Seth was not truly of the same nature as his father Adam, because Moses says he was begotten in the likeness and image of Adam. It simjily follows from this, that the Lord was not those other men in whose likeness he was made, neither was Seth Adam ; but not that he had not truly a nature like theirs. The apostle really says that the Lord had a likeness to other men. But he does not say that this likeness which he bore to us has no foundation but that of a false shadow and vain picture of our flesh, as these people imagine, and not upon a true and substantial nature, that he has in common with us, as Scripture teaches us, saying, that Christ has partaken of flesh and blood with us ; that he was made of a woman, of the seed of David; that he was made flesh; that he was like us in all things, sin excepted. Secondly, I say that the meaning of the apostle is clear, " Christ was made in the likeness of men ;" that is to say, that in appearance there was no difference between him and other men, that nature which he took to himself be- ing so truly ours in all things, that to look at that alone it appeared that he was only man, although indeed he was also God. It appears that there was nothing particular in him, nothing elevated above others, though in reality he had an infinity of pre- rogatives above other men. In the same manner the following words must be understood, " that he was found in fashion as a man." This form of the Lord is nothing else than the situation and apparent condition of his flesh, and of the life which he led ; all the outward appearance of his person. On beholding him, there would be found nothing which should distinguish him from other men, and those who only judged from their outward senses would have taken him for a common man. They would never have believed that under so mean, so sad, and so poor a form, had been veiled the eternal Son of God, the King of angels and of men. It is a form of speech similar to what we meet with in the 82nd Psalm, where the prophet, speaking to the princes, says, " You shall die like men ;" that is to say, as he explains it in another part of the verse, " You shall fall as one of the princes ;" not meaning that these great ones, to whom he addresses this, were not truly men, but simply to say that their quality should not prevent their dying; there being, in tins respect, no difference between them and others. And Samson, in the Book of Judges, says, "If I be bound, I shall be as a man;" that is to say, as another man ; there will not then be any difference between me and other men. Here, then, - in the same way, when the apostle says, " that the Lord Jesus was made in the likeness of men, and found in fashion as a man," he only means, that to look at the outward condition of the life which he led on earth, it would be found, in this respect, ex- actly like that of others, and not appearing to have any advantage over them. And this is what Isaiah had prophesied so many ages before with extreme astonishment : " He shall grow up as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground : he hath no form nor comeliness ; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him," Isa. liii. '2. And it is this external form in which he was found which has deceived worldly minds, and has made them ask the spouse in the mystical Song, "What is thy Beloved more than another beloved, O thou fair- est among women ? what is thy Beloved more than another beloved, that thou dost so charge us ?" Cant. V. 9. Thus you may henceforth see in what this humili- ation of our Lord, or making himself of no reputa- tion, (for St. Paul gives it both these names,) consists ; not indeed simply that he has taken to himself our nature, (for he does not cease to have that now in the heavens, where he is out of his humiliation, in his sovereign glory,) but truly in this, that he clothed himself with feeble flesh, frail, mortal, and subject to all the meannesses and indignities of earth ; a flesh which in reality was formed by the hand of the Holy Ghost, but nevertheless in the womb of a virgin, of the seed of David, and of a mortal substance ; a flesh which came into the light of life among the lowliness of ordinary births, which was wrapped in linen, and nurtured at the breast; which grew by degrees, and which was subject to cold, to heat, to rain, and to the other injuries of the atmosphere ; to weariness, to hunger, to thirst, to grief; which required sleep and rest to recruit it ; which had nothing great, celestial, or extraordinary, either in its form, its com- plexion, or its appearance. Add to this the extreme poverty in which he willingly passed his life, inso- much that he had not where to lay his head ; growing and dwelling many years, not in the palaces of the great, but in the abode of a carpenter, labouring with his own hands at a low mechanical trade ; and when he began the exercise of his office, he was accom- panied, not by guards, or a number of disciples who were of some reputation in the world, but by twelve fishermen, as rough and uncouth as possible, and teaching oftenest in the deserts, on the mountains, or on the solitary banks of lakes. What shall I say of the law of Moses, to all the penalties of which he sub- mitted, having felt its yoke from his infancy when he was circumcised, and having afterwards observed its ordinances as faithfully as if he had been its true and legitimate subject ? He yielded the same respect to the baptism of John. And besides these two servants of his Father, he submitted to Roman go- vernors, and to the orders of inferior magistrates. He paid that tribute which he did not owe, and there was no sort of subjection or servitude through which he did not pass. He was exposed to the temptations of Satan, to the blasphemies of the Pharisees, to the insults and mockeries of the people, and allowed himself to be loaded with abuse. He was willing that devils and men should have free liberty to at- tack him, opposing all their designs with gentleness and patience ; whilst the last degree of his humilia- tion was that cross of which we shall presently speak. What abasement could possibly have been imagined deeper, and more wonderful, than this, I do not say by men only, but by all the angels of hea- ven ? From what higher point of glory could Jesus have descended to the lowest condition of man ? The most elevated among men is but a miserable worm ; so that had the Lord taken to himself the form and the situation of the most august on the earth, this would be to have descended infinitely lower than to have gone from the highest point of heaven to the centre of the abyss. Judge then what we ought to think or to say now, when he has clothed himself with the form, not of a king or an emperor, but of a vassal or a slave. This was truly " to make himself of no reputation," when the Son of God emptied himself (thus speaks our apostle) of all that fulness of good which dwelt in him. In that form which he took, there appeared no part of that abundance which he possessed in the other. There is neither light, nor strength, nor glory, nor empire, nor majesty to be seen. From almighty, he became very weak ; from the most rich, the most poorj from the Lord of Chap. II. THE EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS. 57 angels, the scirant of men ; from the glory of the world, the reproach and sport of the most wretched. He dwelt above the heavens from eternity to eternity, without beginning and without end ; and here we see that he was born in a manger, and died on a cross. There he was worshipped by angels ; here he was scourged and nailed to the tree b)- executioners : there he walked on the heavens, and trod the empires of the world xmder his feet ; here he appeared before the servant of Tiberius, and waited from the mouth of this earth-worm the sentence of life or death: there he controlled the elements, the seasons, and time ; here he lived under their rule, and bore their confusion : there he supported plants and animals ; here he required their nourishment and their Hesh for his food : there he enjoyed a most pure and in- effable beatitude; here he had but gall and tears to drink. And do not tell me that it is the flenh of the Lord that has suffered all these indignities, and that his Diviyitty nevertheless preserved all its riches and glorj% without either the rage of the devils, or the insolence and barbarity of the Jews, having taken from him the smallest part of it. I agree, and I willingly confess, that nothing happened to his Divine nature, neither can there occur to it any alter- ation or shadow of change ; but this other form that he took to himself belonged to him so completely, that all he did and all he suffered was truly his own. This man, the son of Mary, who has borne all our infirmities, is no other than the eternal Son of God. Both of these natures, so different from each other, were united in one substance and made but one per- son, as the soul and body make but one man. It is one and the same Jesus who was in the form of God, and who took upon him the form of a servant. Since then you acknowledge that this form of a serv- ant was extremely humbled and stripped of glory and strength, neither can you deny that the Son of God was made of no reputation : whatever belongs to either the one or the other of these two forms be- longed to him equally, though in different aspects. Thus it must be added, that though no alteration could occur in the Divine nature of the Lord, still . the infirmity of his flesh hid its splendour ; as when the body of the moon or a thick cloud passes before the sun, its light is not extinguished, but hidden from our eyes ; and if it neither become paler nor less beautiful, our senses nevertheless feel a difficulty in judging of it otherwise than as it appears to them ; hence we say that it is eclipsed. But 1 come to the second and last part of the Lord's humiliation, namely, his obedience : " He was obe- dient unto death, even the death of the cross." From which we first learn, that true humility consists in abasing ourselves in the things that God ordains, and into which he leads us by his will, either by the commandments of his word, or by the dispensation of his providence, in such a way that we can truly say that our humility has been obedience. This must be remarked, contrary to that superstition which cuts out for itself the matter of its humility, placing it in voluntary devotions, (will worship,) as St. Paul calls them in the Epistle to the Colossians, ii. 23, which God does not require at our hands. These have some appearance of wisdom and humility, but in reality are but presumption and pride. For it is to be wiser than God, and covertly to disparage his institutions and rules, as if they were not sufficient to lead us to salvation. Add to which, it is to fail in the principal point of humility, which is to renounce our own will, and to submit entirely to that of God. The Lord Jesus did not act thus. Although he was the sovereign wisdom, nevertheless he did nothing of himself. He followed the will of his Father in all his paths. His whole humiliation was but one con- stant and perpetual obedience. Secondly, we must restrict this obedience to the subject of which the apostle speaks, namely, to that which relates to the no reputation of the Lord. For as to holiness, which consists in love to God and our neighbour, it is in- deed an obedience, seeing that it is in conformity to the will of God ; but that was not a part of the hu- miliation of the Lord. Nevertheless, it is in that that its chief excellency consists ; there being nothing more beautiful nor more divine in rational nature than holiness. Thus you see that it makes in heaven (where abasement has no place) the chief part of the glory of the Lord and of his saints. 'What then is precisely the obedience which is here spoken of ? It is that which Jesus Christ yielded to the Father in all things which properly and necessarily belong to the satisfaction for our sins, and his office of Me- diator, and what relates to it; such was his subjec- tion to the Mosaic law, and all the suflerings by which he was consecrated. For of himself, and by reason of his nature, he was not obliged to it. But he submitted to it by the will of the Father, to execute the commission which he had given him, to save the human race. And the apostle, to lead us to it, names here expressly the last and chief of these things, that is to say, the death of the Lord. " He was obe- dient unto death, even the death of the cross." For the word " unto" is used in this place to signify, not the continuation of the time to which the Saviour was obedient, even to its termination, but the end of the things in which he was obedient, even to the greatest and most difficult of all, and to which all the others related as to their true end. Hence, in the Epistle to the Hebrews, the apostle takes the obe- dience which the Lord yielded to the will of God, saying, "Behold, I come to do thy will, O God;" he takes it, I say, for the oblation of his body, offered and sacrificed on the cross for the redemption of the world. Jesus Christ then has not only been obedient in suffering patiently, according to the will of his Father, all the inconveniences and miseries of this life, poverty, contempt, grief, persecution, and such like, however unworthy they were of him and of his nature ; but he was obedient even unto death. To fulfil the commands of the Father, the Prince of life and immortality has not refused death, that thing which in the world appeared most contrary to his dignity and his nature. He has bound all the feel- ings of his flesh which resisted it, and brought them into captivity to the will of God. " Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me : nevertheless, not my will, but thme be done," Matt. xxvi. 59. But the apostle, to enhance the value and the wonder of this humble obedience of the Lord to its highest degree, remarks particularly what the death was which he suffered : " He was obedient unto death, even the death of the cross." There is no kind of death which would not have offended the dignity and the nature of the innocent and most holy Lord, the resurrection and the life, the author of immor- tality, the Father of eternity, made a quickening Spirit, and not, like the first Adam, a living soul. But among the various kinds of death, none could be more unworthy of this sovereign Lord than the death of the cross ; the most shameful, infamous, and pain- ful punishment then in use among men, and had this peculiar to it, that it was expressly cursed of God in his law. The disgrace of men was found joined to the execration of (iod, and the greatest shame to the most extreme tomient. And nevertheless. O ineffa- lile, O adorable and incomprehensible humility ! Jesus, the eternal Son of the Father, humbled himself even to this ! The Lord of the world endured the punish- 2f 58 AN EXPOSITION OF Sebm. IX. ment of slaves. The King of glory submitted to the extremest disgrace. The Holy of holies received the wages and the treatment of the most infamous male- factors. The well-beloved of his Father was volun- tarily made a curse. Dear brethren, this obedience is so great, and elevated so much above our minds, that we neither know how to express it nor to cele- brate it otherwise than by silence and astonishment. What then remains for us, ravished and, as it were, swallowed up by so high and so strange a wonder, but to prostrate ourselves in deep devotion before this crucified Saviour ? and, touched to the very bottom of our hearts by so admirable an example, we should cast down before liis cross all that is haughty in our nature, there faithfully strip ourselves of our vanity and presumption, our hatred, envy, and every similar passion, the true productions and offspring of pride. Let us there offer to him our courage and our interest, and let us have nothing either so agreeable to us that we do not count dross, nor so repugnant to our nature that we would not cheerfully bear, when- ever his will and the good of our neighbour may re- quire it. Proud man ! does not this humiliation of the Lord mortify your vanity ? He, who was the King of glory, abased himself below the lowest of men. You, who are but a worm of earth, you elevate yourself above the greatest. He did not make a triumph of being equal to God ; and a little spark of mind, a handful of dust, a shadow, a dream, a nothing in- flames your heart. Being in the form of God, he did not disdain to take that of man ; yet a little land, or some trivial worldly advantage which you think you possess, renders you insolent towards God. He made himself of no reputation, and stripped himself of hea- venly majesty and glory, to save men ; and you make a difficulty, not for their edification alone, but for your own salvation, to rid yourself, not of some advantage that you have over them, (for in truth you have none, and if you would dispassionately weigh yourself, you would find that you were either below others, or at best their equal,) but simply of an empty and false opinion which you have of your excellence. Christ, to obey his Father, quitted heaven, and the glory that he enjoyed there ; and you are not willing for his service to yield the slightest of your advantages. He has suffered, for love of you, poverty and shame, death and the cross, all things unworthy of him, and entirely estranged from his nature ; and you are not willing for his name's sake to endure the least dis- grace and pain to which our sin and the constitution of our flesh subject all men. But this obedience of the Lord ought not only to confound pride, it ought to extinguish all our vices. Sensualist! how is it that you are not ashamed to Eass your life in pleasure, seeing that your Master egan and finished his in perpetual suffering? He quitted the joys of heaven for your salvation. How is it that you do not renounce the pleasures of the earth for his glory ? Miser ! how is it that you adore that which your Lord despised ? how is it that you are sparing of a few pence for him who, leaving for your sake treasures and riches inestimable, made himself poor that you might be rich ? Sinner ! who- ever you may be, how do you dare to violate the will of God, after the example of the obedience which the Lord Jesus yielded to him ? He neither owed these sufferings, or this death to which he submitted him- self by the will of the Father ; whereas the holiness which he requires of you is a duty to which all sorts of reasons oblige you. His obedience was in no wise necessary to his happiness ; without that which he demands from you, you cannot but be very miser- able. Your obedience is useless to him; but it is truly useful to you. His was necessary for you, and it is for your sake alone that he performed it. And this consideration, my brethren, ought further to recommend to us the love and imitation of the obedience of the Lord more than all the rest, that it is love alone towards us which has been its cause. It is for us that he took the form of a servant. It is for us that he made himself of no reputation, and hid for a time his form of God. It is for us that he was made in the likeness of men, and was found in fashion as a man. It is for us that he was obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. All this ad- mirable humiliation was the effect of the love that he bore us, and the cause of our salvation and of our glory. Let us then love him, dear brethren, since he has so loved us ; let us serve him, since he has re- deemed us. Let us do nothing but for him, since he has done so much for us. It is the road in which we must walk, marked with his blood, with his example, and with his steps, to arrive at that heavenly king- dom to which the Father has raised him, and where he has prepared our eternal mansion, to the end, that after the likeness of his humiliation, his sufferings, liis cross, and his obedience, we may also for ever be like him in his glory and felicity. Amen. Preached at Cliarenton, Sunday, 28th Oct. 1640. SERMON X. Verse 9—11. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name uhich is above every name : that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and tilings in earth, and tilings under the earth ; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. The gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, under which we live, my brethren, has great advantages over the law of Moses, under which the ancient believers lived ; and this among others, that it explains to us, much more clearly, all those mysteries the know- ledge of which is needful to our salvation. Not to speak of other advantages, whilst the law of Moses only discovered to the Israelites, obscurely and im- perfectly, the evil of sin, and the excellence of holi- ness, two most important things to draw us from evil and to unite us to good, the gospel has made them both perfectly clear. Moses most frequently repre- sented the punishments of sin and the rewards of holi- ness, the two most touching arguments of their kind, only under the veils and in the form of divers earthly maledictions and blessings. But the gospel says to us openly and expressly, that the punishment which sin deserves is eternal death, and that the reward prepared for holiness is a glorious and immortal life. To which we must add, that the examples by which the gospel has confirmed, and as it were sealed, this truth, are much more lively and efficacious than those of the law. For what clearer and more convincing testimony to the evil of sin can we ever have than that which the gospel presents to us in the cross of Jesus Christ, where we see the only Son of God, and the Lord of glory, suffering a most cruel and ignominious death for the expiation of our crimes ? And as to holiness, what clearer demonstration of its excellence can we desire than his exaltation, receiving, as the price of his obedience, at the end of his bitter suffei- Chap. II. THE EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS. 59 ings, a heavenly life, an empire, and a gloiy in every respect equal to that of the Father. In truth, if our Bouls were pure and sincere, we should not have need of these spurs to urge us to the study of holiness. The beauty alone of the duties in which it consists should suffice to make us love it, and require but to propose them to us to insure our acceptance. But this flesh with which we are clothed, filling our un- derstandings with darkness, and our affections with weakness and languor, the Lord and his ministers, to excite us, take occasion continually to place before our eyes the glory and happiness with which he will one day crown our obedience, if we will but walk in his paths. It is with this design that the apostle row proposes to us the exaltation of our Lord Jes'is Christ as the end of his humiliation, that from his example, as a true and certain pattern of our destiny, we should conceive an assured hope of a glory similar to his, which would make us cheerfully imitate tlie humility, and the love, and all the other graces from which he has gathered such precious fruits. If you remember, he described to us in the preceding text the extreme abasement of the Lord, who, being in the form of God, took upon him the form of a servant, and humbled himself, even to the death of the cross. If there were nothing else, this ought always to be sufBcient to force us to humility, it being clear that the example of such a Lord ought to be the law of our life. But there is yet more. Besides the glory which will accrue to us from our conformity to him, humility will still be very useful to us. Instead of an empty honour that we ought to have despised to obey him, it will bring us another, solid and eternal. God, the sovereign Judge of the ■world, will fake care not to leave for ever in mean- ness and suffering that grace which, of all the graces, he loves the best. He has shown us in Jesus Christ the account that he makes of humility and of obe- dience, and the reward that he has prepared for them ; when, at his rising from the tomb, into which he had voluntarily descended, he gave him all his dominion, and all his glory : " Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name." This gift is the reward of his abasement, and of his obedience. He after- wards adds the effect and acquisition of this gift, the better to represent to us the grandeur and magnifi- cence, that is to say, the homage, subjection, and adoration, which all creatures in the universe owe to the Lord Jesus, on account of this dignity to which the Father has raised him. He explains it in these words : " That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth ; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." Thus we have two points on which, by the grace of God, to treat in this discourse : the one contained in the first verse of our text, the dignity to which the Lord Jesus has been elevated ; the other explained in the two following verses, the privileges of this dignity, that is to say, the homage and the subjection which all creatures owe him. I. For the first point, that we may clearly under- stand what the apostle says, we must primarily con- sider the relation which the Lord's exaltation bears to his voluntary humiliation ; and, in the second place, what this exaltation is, and in what it consists. St. Paul instructs us in the first word, when, after having spoken of the abasement and obedience of Jesus Christ, he immediately adds in this verse, " Wherefore," or, as it is translated in our Bibles, " For which cause God also hath highly exalted him;" clearly signifying, that it is in consequence of, on occasion of, and because of his preceding humiliation that he was exalted. In which you see he takes twQ things for granted : the one. That the order of the two parts of the mediation of the Lord is such, that he must first be abased, and then exalted. The other. That the abasement was the reason, or, as they say in the schools, the moral cause, of his ex- altation. Assuredly it is an order that we see estab- lished in almost all parts of nature, that things pass through a low estate before attaining perfection and excellence. And what is usual in nature has been particularly needful in the mediation of Jesus Christ. For being in himself originally in the form of God, it was not possible that he should be exalted and have any higher dignity than that, if he had not first descended from that weight of glory and abased himself that he might afterwards be exalted. It was thus also that the Father had ordained in his eter- nal counsel, and had so declared it in the times of the Old Testament by the mouth of his prophets; who, as St. Peter declares, (1 Pet. i. 10,) have in many places predicted the sufferings which should happen to Christ, and the glory which should fol- low. Thence it is we read, in Luke xxiv. 26, that the Lord, speaking of his cross, said to the two disciples who were going to Emmaus, " Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory ? " which also he aftenvards proved to them by the Scriptures ; from which, you see, that he takes this order for granted, as necessary and immutable, that suffering should precede glory. But the reason of his office did not less oblige him to this order than the decrees and oracles of the Father. For his design was to open to us the sanctuary of God, and to lead us to the throne of his grace. Now sin, of which we are all guilty, shutting against us the en- trance of the house of God, it was absolutely neces- sary that he should begin by expiating our crimes, which he could no otherwise accomplish than by his death ; that is to say, by his humiliation. The de- sign which he also had of forming for us a pattern of patience, of humility, and of the other virtues necessary for obtaining salvation by the way of afflic- tion, required it; examples which he could only give by suffering. And the apostle teaches this in the Epistle to the Hebrews, saying, "that it became him for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the Cap- tain of their salvation perfect through sufferings." This order then being thus established, and taken for granted in the will of God, as becoming his wis- dom and the nature of the things themselves, that the Christ should suffer first, and then be glorified; it is evident that these sufferings once completed, it was needful that he should in consequence be ex- alted to glory, even though in other respects his abasement should not have contributed to his glorifi- cation. As you see in the order of this world, that nature, after having suffered the colds of winter, is afterwards comforted by the softness of spring, and that, summer ended, the autumn necessarily follows ; though no one of these seasons is, truly speaking, the cause of that which follows it, these being nothing in themselves but a simple dependence of order. Formerly, the Lord transporting his people to Baby- lon, resolved, at the same time, to bring them thence at the end of seventy years, and foretold it by Jere- miah. This same order being fixed, who does not observe that we may say, that Israel completed the seventy years of her captivily, and this was the reason that the Lord brought them back iuto Judea by the command of Cyrus ? In the same manner the apostle says in this place, that the Lord Jesus having been obedient unto death, God has, for this reason, highly exalted him. Nevertheless, I do not 60 AN EXPOSITION OF Serm. X. deny, that lietween the abasement and exaltation of Jesus Christ there may be something more than a simple consequence and order of dependence. I ■willingly admit that his glory was the fruit of his cross, and his exaltation the effect of his humiliation. It seems, in this place, as if the apostle looked prin- cipally to that. For he wishes to recommend hu- mility to us, and to make us love it ; and it was right thus to propose to us the advantages which the Lord Jesus has derived from his, and to show us that it contributed to his glory, that it was its cause and foundation. Christ "humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross; therefore God also hath highly exalted him ;" that is to" say, that the Father had respect to his humilia- tion and obedience w hen he crowned him with glory, and that this high dignity in which he has estab- lished him is the reward of his obedience. For, in the first place, the Father had promised the Son the empire of the universe, and a sovereign glory, after the conflicts and the suiferings of his office. Christ, then, having punctually acquitted himself in it, having humbly and constantly suffered all the things that the Father required of him for the satisfaction of his justice, and for the redemption of the world, we nnist perceive that his own truth obliged him to exalt him into the promised glory; and that in consideration of his death, and of his sufferings which preceded it, all this grandeur and dignity were given him. But suppose that the Father had not obliged him- self to this reward by his promises ; 1 say, that even in that case the excellence of the obedience of the Son, and the w'onder of his humility, could not but have touched him, and drawn from his pure goodness this same reward which he has given him in virtue of his promises. For God, by his nature, being infi- nitely good, it is impossible that he should not love holiness, and that it should not be agreeable to him in proportion as he sees it shining with goodness. And his power not being less infinite than his goodness, it is also impossible that he should not do good to him who pleases him, that he should not draw him out of his misery, and shed his blessing upon him. Now the obedience that Jesus Christ rendered him in all his abasement is the work of the most exquisite and complete holiness that can be imagined ; in which there was seen to shine the greatest charity towards men, a sovereign love towards God, and, in a word, an altogether Divine goodness similar to his own. Assuredly it was not then possible that, seeing in this humiliation of his Son so perfect an image of his holiness, he should not look upon it with an eye of content, embrace it with sovereign affection, as the most beautiful and most admirable thing in the world, in which he found his own good pleasm-e, and all that he most loved ; and it was equally impossible but that afterwards he should extend his munificence towards a subject who was so perfectly agreeable to him, crowning him with every thing that was highest and most heavenly in the treasures of his glory, as he found in him all that was most holy and most con- formed to his will. He could not, without giving up the laws of his ow-n goodness and beneficence, and without, in some degree, denying himself, leave Buch perfect lioliness, 1 will not say, in misery or in meanness, but even in the rank of the liappiest of created beings. As the obedience of the Son was above all the holiness of earth or heaven, so also must his recompence be above all their glory. This is enough, in my opinion, my brethren, to show us how the Father has exalted Jesus Christ because of his humiliation. It is not necessary to carry the in- quiry further, and to dispute with some whether the Lord deserved the glory to which he is exalted. This question is one of the fruits of the boldness and curiosity of the human mind, on which we should wish rather to be silent than to speak, if it were not that the adversaries of our communion force us to act otherwise : not contenting themselves with positively declaring that Jesus Christ by his sufferings merited that glory for himself which he enjoys, but they pretend further to conclude from thence, that be- lievers also merit that blessed immortality which God will give them one da_v in heaven ; by these means rendering his merit either less necessary or less useful and efficacious to us. To stop, then, so unjust and dangerous a pretence, I will first say, that what they take for granted, that Jesus Christ merited for himself that glory to which he has been exalted, cannot be proved by Scripture, in which all the merit of the abasement of the Lord is constantly referred to the salvation of the church, and to the re- demption of the world, and that we are no where told that in obeying of the Father he has merited for himself the sovereign and infinite dignity which he now enjoys. He did not need this title to acquire it. He possessed it as the .well-beloved of the Father, as the Mediator and Head of the church. What he has merited is the remission of our crimes, the redemption of the world, and the right of our immortality, the true and real price of his sacrifice. And as to this passage, and many similar ones, what we have said will suffice to show, that they rightly take for granted that God had regard to the obedience which was ren- dered to him by Jesus Christ, when he exalted him to glory ; but we may not deduce from this that he merited this glory. They truly show that God has had regard to it in his goodness, and in his truth; but they do not prove that he had regard to it in his justice, in such a way as that he could not have given him less without being unjust. We say every day of Peter and Paul, of tlie good thief, of Mary Magdalene, and of every repentant sinner, that they have believed and repented of their sins; and that for that reason God has pardoned and justified them ; and yet none conclude from thence that the faith or the repentance merited pardon and justification. Those against whom we are disputing confess that these first graces of God are purely gratuitous, and not merited by men. They cannot then conclude that Jesus Christ merited his glory from what the apostle here says, that he was exalted because he had been abased and obedient. I say the same of what the psalmist sings, " He shall drink of the brook by the way, therefore shall he lift up the head," Psal. ex. 7 ; in which he only shows the order of these two parts of the mediation of the Lord, disposed so by the will of the Father, and the reason of the things themselves, that after having suffered and fought, he should afterwards triumph and reign. And this is precisely the meaning of the passage in St. Luke, which we have already spoken of above, where the Lord says " that Christ ought to have suffered, and to enter into his glory." And we must also take that which is declared in the Epistle to the Hebrews, " We see Jesus crowned with glory and honour by reason of his suffering and death," in the same way as this text of the apostle, if we must thus read the passage, and not rather as it has been more flowingly translated in our Bibles, and certainly much more clearly ; " We see Jesus crowned with glory and honour, he who was made for a little time lower than the angels, by suffering and death." Thus the Scrip- ture not defining this question, it ouglit either not to be agitated at all, (perhaps the better course,) or to be argued soberly and modestly, without offend- ing any one in a thing so obscure. But I say, in the second place, that even if it were plain and certain Chap. IT. THE EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS. 61 by the Scripture that Jesus Christ could have merited for himself, it would, from thence, by no means fol- low that each believer could merit for himself, there being too great and evident a difference between the obedience of Christ and that of believers to argue from one to the other. For, in the first place, his is complete in all points ; whereas ours is soiled with many defects: and, secondly, his was such, that by right and nature he was not obliged to humble him- self as he did ; whereas we are obliged by every kind of right to the things which we do and suffer. He could, without robbery, have remained in the form of God ; and we could not, without injustice, retain the glory and the vanity which humility takes from us ; whereby it is evident that his obedience might have been meritorious for him, whilst ours could never have been so for us. But let us return to our subject ; and having already considered the consequence and the union which is between the exaltation of the Lord and his preceding humiliation, let us now see what this exaltation was, and in what it consists. The apostle explains it to us in two ways ; saying, in the first place, that God had highly elevated Jesus Christ; and adding, in the se- cond, that he had " given him a name which is above every name." If you have clearly understood how the Lord abased himself, and made himself of no reputation, you will easily conceive how he has been exalted. For being God and man in one person, it is clear that as Divinity is immutable and absolutely incapableof any alteration and change, he was neither abased nor exalted as regards the substance or the properties of that Divine nature, which always re- mained the same within him. But although in say- ing that he made himself of no reputation, we mean, (as was explained to you in the preceding text,) in the first place, that he clothed himself with feeble flesh, in which he endured all sorts of indignities, meannesses, shame, and grief; and secondly, that although his Divinity truly dwelt in his flesh, yet it concealed the brightness of it, allowing neither its presence nor its light to appear: so now must we understand the opposite, that the apostle, in saying he was exalted, means, first, that his human nature was really and truly drawn from the meanness, suf- ferings, and indignities in which it had been plunged, and placed at the same time in a high and glorious state ; and secondly, that his Divinity has caused tliis sacred vessel to shine and glitter every where with the rays of his glory, which formerly the veil of in- firmity had restrained and hidden. This word com- prehends all the parts of that change which occurred to Jesus Christ after he had finished the work of our redemption. And first his holy and miraculous rc- sun-ection, when his body, lying in the sepulchre, not only took again life, but immortality, and instead of this feeble and mortal being which he had yielded up upon the cross, clothed himself with one that was glorious and incapableof suffering; being by these means exalted not only above the nature of sinful men, in the likeness of whom he had appeared, but also above that of Adam in Paradise : for however beautiful and excellent was the nature of our first parent, nevertheless that nature was still animal, and supported by the fruits of the earth ; whereas that new nature which Jesus Christ took is heavenly and spirit- ual, having life in itself, and subsisting in the same manner as spirits, without any longer having need of the earth or of its fruits ; perfectly holy, glorious, and brilliant. As the Father clothed" the "nature of Jesus Christ with heavenly qualities, so also he exalted him above the earth, from these lower regions, the abode of perishable and corruptible things, into a place worthy of his new condition, when forty days after his resurrection, seated on a cloud, that is to say, on the chariot of God, as the prophet calls it, and surrounded by angels, he was carried up into heaven, the sanctuary of immortality, and lifted above all those visible orbits in which the sun, the moon, and the other stars revolve, into the heaven of heavens, the true firmament, the highest and most august place in the universe, which is represented to us in Scripture as the palace of God, his seat and eternal throne. There he crowned him with sove- reign glory, and seated him on the right hand of his majesty, to live from thenceforward in a condition as highly exalted above the honour and happiness of all creatures visible and invisible, as the place where he is seated is exalted above the centre of the world. This is what the apostle means when he says that God has highly exalted our Lord Jesus Christ, sig- nifying by this word the exaltation both of his dwelling and his condition above all things, which comprehends his resurrection, his ascension, and his seat at the right hand of the Father. And the second description which he gives of the glorification of our Lord, adding that " God has given him a name which is above every name," relates to the same. It is wonderful that the greater part of commentators find a difficulty in so plain a word. For some understand this name given to the Lord of the name of Jesus, as if he had only had that in con- sequence of his humiliation, and as if he had not borne it from his infancy, and during all the days of his flesh. Others make it relate to the name of '• Son of God," and 1 acknowledge that the resurrection of the Lord brought this very quality into clearness ; from whence the apostle says at the beginning of the Epistle to the Romans, i. 4, that he was openly de- clared to be the Son of God by the resurrection from the dead ; and elsewhere. Acts xiii. 13, he particularly applies to this period the passage in the second Psalm, " Thou art my Son, to-day have I begotten thee," because it was then principally that it appeared that Jesus was the Son of God. But if the infirmity of his flesh prevented the generality of men from ac- knowledging this quality before his resurrection, it cannot be denied that the Father had given him this name a long time before, when he had called from heaven " that he was his beloved Son, in whom he was well pleased," Matt. svii. 5, and commanded us thenceforth to hear him. 'Who does not see that the holy apostle does not here mean words and syllables ; but that, by a method of speaking com- mon to all languages, and particularly to that of the Scriptures, by the name he means dignity, quality, and glory ? It is also clear that the use of names and titles is to explain the quality of persons. It is manifestly thus that the apostle uses it in Eph. i. 20, 21, in a passage where he is treating the same sub- ject, saying God has made " Jesus Christ sit at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come ;" where you see he places the principalities, powers, might, and do- minion in the rank of the names above which Jesus Christ was exalted. Now it is clear and certain, by many other passages, that the " principalities, powers, might, and dominion" are the diflerent orders of the holy angels, according to the different degrees either of the gloiT or of the ministries with wliich the Lord hath honoured them ; so that these other names which he adds are also in like manner the other dignities established by God, whether in this present world, or in that for which we are looking; in which there will be incomparably higher than in this, because sin, which has tarnished this world, having no place 62 AN EXPOSITION OF Serm. X. in tlie other, the goodness of God will be communi- cated then to his creatures much more freely and fully, and in a more illustrious manner, than it now is. When the apostle then says " that God has given Jesus Christ a name which is above every name," he simply means that he has established him in a dig- nity which surpasses the glory of all creatures, high, low, present, and future ; and that of so many illus- trious and venerable names by which the grandeur is expressed of things elevated into some dignity, whether in earth or in heaven, there is not one that can represent to us that which the Father has given to Jesus Christ, in consequence of his obedience. The names of princes, kings, monarchs, with those of cherubim and seraphim, thrones and powers, are all infinitely below his. His is an entirely new name, which has never been borne by man or angel. There is nothing in the universe equal or comparable to his glory. For, no longer to keep you in suspense, this dignity, my brethren, that Christ received at his entrance into heaven, after his sufferings and conflicts, is the dig- nity, the glory, and the authority of God himself. It is his quality, his state, his empire. It is the office of Head of the church, and sovereign Judge of the universe, titles which belong to God only, and can be ascribed to no one else. Our Lord also had the same meaning, when he said to the apostles after his resurrection, " All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye, and make disciples of all na- tions, and, lo, I am with you, even to the end of the world." Again, it is what St. Peter meant in his first exhortation to the Jews, when he said to them that " God had made," that is to say, ordered and established, " this Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ." It is the name which was then given him, above every name, to be " the Christ," " the Lord." And it is this that St. Paul explains again in an- other way, speaking to the Athenians, and saying " that God had appointed him the Judge of the whole world." All these expressions have the same mean- ing as that which the church has drawn from the Scripture, and which she usually employs to signify this mystery, saying that Jesus was " seated on the right hand of God." But you will say to me, that as the Lord Jesus is the true and eternal God, blessed for ever with the Father, had he not this dignity and glory before and during his humiliation ? If he had it not, how was he God ? If otherwise, how can it be said that the Father gave it him after his resur- rection only ? Dear brethren, I reply, that Jesus Christ was in truth the Almighty God, and the Lord of glory, before his humiliation. These qualities were his before all time, as he possesses them by his nature, having received them from the Father, by his eternal and incomprehensible generation. Here, however, the question is not that of his original and essential dignity, or even of his Divinity, but that of his office ; of that which he had being Mediator, not of that which he possessed as being Son of God simply ; of that power which the Father has given him as being Son of man, as he himself says in St. John, because he is the Christ and the Mediator of the church. And this power is nothing else than the right and authority to save the world, to found the church, and to preserve it against the gates of hell, to raise up and judge the human race, and to estab- lish afterwards a second universe, where righteous- ness and immortality should dwell for ever. Jesus was only invested with this great and magnificent right after having completed the work of his humili- ation ; and if from time to time he has performed some of its functions, it has only been by dispensa- tion, and in virtue of the faith that he had pledged, to satisfy exactly all the required conditions for being installed into this great and Divine office of expiating the sins of the world, by a perfect sacrifice, and to support all the trials by which he should be tempted. This is the reason why he did not till then bear in his flesh the ensigns of this glorious dignity. He only took them at his resurrection, which was as it were the day of his consecration and of his corona- tion. Truly do I confess, that to execute the author- ity that he then received an infinite wisdom and power is necessary ; and had he not already had such, God, who never gives the title without the qualification, nor an office without a capacity for it, would doubtless have communicated it to him. But being the Almighty God, there was no need in this respect, but to deliver to him the name and right, with which being provided, he displayed in the sight of men and angels this power of his Divinity, wliich till then, as it were, had been hidden under the veil of the infirmities which were necessary for our salva- tion. And as to his human nature, which, that he might obtain it, had been clothed at his conception with the form and weakness -of our poor flesh, God then (as we have before said) filled it with glory, and gave it all the excellence of which it was sus- ceptible, while dwelling within the limits of its true being. I add this expressly to exclude the vain ima- ginations of those who, under pretence of glorifying the flesh of the Lord, would destroy and annihilate it, declaring that by the resurrection it received the incommunicable properties of Divinity, that is to say, omnipresence and such like. II. But it is now time to come to the second and last part of this text, in which the apostle describes the rights and privileges of this sovereign name which the Son of God received ; " that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth ; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." He lays be- fore us two rights which the dignity of the Lord has legitimately acquired for him : the first is the adora- tion of his name ; and the second the confession and acknowledgment of his dignity. To every dignity established by God in the world an honour is due proportioned to their respective excellence. As then the Father has exalted Jesus Christ to a sovereign and truly Divine dignity, it is evident that we owe him a supreme honour, and that species of worship properly due to the Deity, which we usually call adoration. And the Lord has taught us this himself: " The Father has committed all judgment to the Son, that all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father," John v. 22, 23. And this duty is now so necessary since the manifestation of Christ, that he adds, " He who honoureth not the Son, honoureth not the Father who hath sent him." It is precisely this kind of honour that the apostle here means in saying " that every knee should bow at the name of Jesus," as appears from the passage in Isaiah, from whence he quoted this sentence. For it is the God adored by ancient Israel who spoke in these words, " I have sworn by myself, the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return. That unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear," Isa. xlv. 23. The apostle refers this saying to Jesus Christ here and in Rom. xiv., an evident proof that the Son is the true and eternal God who spoke by the ancient prophets, and that the same honour and the same adoration which were formerly paid to the Father by the Israelites also belong to the Son. I confess that to bow the knee is only the sign, the outward and bodily symbol E: Chap. II. THE EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS. 63 of that adoration, which really consists in submission, and in the affections of the mind. But these words are commonly used here and elsewhere for the adora- tion itself; it being clear that the heavenly things, that is to say, the angels, which the apostle enumer- ates among those who render this honour to Jesus Christ, have properly speaking no knee. And from this form of expression we may gather that, to yield to God and to his Christ the honour that is due, we must honour them not only with the heart, but also with that exterior inclination of our body, which you know, that when the Lord distinguishes his true servants from idolaters, he expressly attributes this mark to them, that they had not bowed their knees to Baal. Such then is the honour due to Jesus Christ the Mediator, namely, supreme adoration and Divine worship. As to those who owe him this, the apostle describes them to us in these words, " the things that are in heaven, and in the earth, and under the earth ;" by which you perceive he includes all the creatures in the world, of whatever quality or condition tliey may be, who are endowed with reason, and capable of knowing and serving God. It is a very usual method in Scripture to divide them into three orders, the heavenly, the earthly, and those that are under the earth ; as at the beginning of the law, where God, for- bidding to worship any image of any sort, says, "Thou shalt not make to thyself any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth," Exod. XX. 4. And in Rev. v. 3, " And no man in heaven, or in earth, or under the earth, was able to open the book, neither to look thereon." And in ver. 13, where the subject still is of glorifying God and his Son, " I heard every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, saying, Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever." Now, in my opinion, the words of St. Paul may be taken in two ways, both good and appropriate : first, By understanding them generally of all things, animate and inanimate, seen or unseen ; and by interpreting them thus, that every knee should bow at the name of Jesus, of the things that are in heaven, and in the earth, and under the earth ; to signify that there is no creature in the whole circum- ference of the universe which is not subject to him, which does not submit to his will, and yield him the same obedience as to God, according to what he said, " All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth." For we must not consider it strange that tlie words " bow the knee" may be applied to inanimate things, to signify the subjection and obedience which they yield to the Lord, moving or resting, acting or ceas- ing to act, according to the laws of his will ; as there is nothing more usual than in the Psalms and other parts of Scripture to speak thus, where the actions and qualities of living and reasonable beings are attributed to such things as are inanimate ; and it is in truth a very elegant and beautiful figure. Thus St. John, in that part of the Revelation which we have just quoted, makes every living thing praise and glorify tne Lord. Secondly, The words of the apostle may also be restricted to persons endowed with reason, and capable of serving God ; and it is in this sense that our Bibles have taken them in the translation, " that every knee should bow, of thoic which are in heaven," and not of the things which are in heaven. Understanding them thus, it may be asked who those are whom the apostle means. Is it not we, who, being on the earth, ought to bo^v the knee to the Lord? Our adversaries of Rome, who never dare to speak of places under the earth without thinking of their purgatory, do not fail to make this passage re- late to it, wishing that by " those who are under the earth" we sliould understand those pretended spirits which they keep in prison till they are purified. But nothing can force us to come to that interpretation. For who will here prevent our understanding, with some of the ancient fathers, by those who are in heaven, all the angels generally ; by those who are on the earth, living men ; and by those who are under the earth, the dead? (Theodoret.) Or, with others, to take those who are in the heavens for the good angels and just men made perfect, those who are on earth for men, and those who are under the earth for the devils ? As to the dead, it is evident that they will also bow the knee at the name of Jesus, and will one day appear before his throne to be judged. And as to devils, however opposed their wills may be to it, still they render homage and obe- dience to the Son of God, and tremble at his word. But perhaps it would be most suitable to explain this text by the first method, where this pretended diffi- culty has no place. For the remainder, it is clear enough from what we have said before, that by the name of Jesus the apostle means his majesty, and his person invested with the glory and sovereign dignity that the Father gave him j as it is usual in Scripture to use the name of God in that sense in many places where it says, " Bless and praise the name of God ;" and it is a childish error to make it relate precisely to the word Jesus itself, as our adversaries understand it, who are accustomed to uncover themselves every time they pronounce the name of Jesus. In the first place, we must pay attention to the words of the apostle, who says, " bow the knee," and not, uncover yourself. Besides, if it be the words, the sound and the syllables, that they venerate, it is an inexcusable superstition. If it be the person signified by this name, then why do they not uncover themselves in the same way when they hear the name of Christ, of God, of our Lord, which mean the same thing ? As- suredly we can neither think nor speak of the Lord Jesus with too much reverence, and God forbid that we should blaspheme any of the true honours that are paid to him. "We only reprove superstition and will worship, which the Lord neither ordered nor ex- pected from his seiTants. The true honour that we owe him is to adore him and to serve him, to obey him and glorify him in spirit and in truth. To this the second homage relates, -which the apostle adds, saying, "And every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord." These words may be understood either generally, of the confession of all reasonable creatures, who ought to acknowledge him for their sovereign Lord ; (for the angels also have their tongues and their language, that is to say, their manner of expressing the thoughts of their minds, and of communicating them, and being understood by one another ;) or at any rate to restrict these words to the human race, as saying that there is neither people nor nation upon earth that ought not to serve tire Lord Jesus, and acknowledge him for what he is, the Christ of God, the Lord and Re- deemer of men. Since the division of languages, the nations have (as you know) been distinguisned by their language, each people having its own peculiar dialect, and not understood by others. To confess that Jesus is the Lord, is to recognise the Divine and sovereign dignity in which the Father has placed him. This is what the name "Lord" signifies, and we must even remark that it is precisely the word that the Greeks have used to express the peculiar and incommunicable name of God, that is to say, " the Eternal," as our Bibles have well translated it. - 64 AN EXPOSITION OF Serm. X. And from tins we may gather two things : the first, That Jesus Christ is the true God, the Eternal, the Creator and Preserver of the world; and that those are unworthy to be called Christians who do not serve him in this quality. The other is, That it is not enough to believe that he is the Lord ; we must also confess it with the tongue, and make an open pro- fession of it before men ; according to what the apostle declares, Rom. x. 9, 10, " If thou shall con- fess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved ; for with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." The aposlle finally adds, that this subjection of all creatures to Jesus Christ, and the confession that they make of his grandeur and dignity, "is to the glory of God." Undoubtedly all the works of God manifest his glory to us ; but there is no one which so magnificently proclaim it as the redemption of Jesus Christ. This is the reason he avows, " I have glorified thee upon earth." His other works show ns hut the smallest part of his glory. The Lord Jesus has discovered to us the highest and most Divine mysteries ; showing us that his goodness, his power, his justice, his mercy, and his wisdom, are in- finitely greater than men or angels could ever have conceived : so that it is not possible to see and be- lieve what Jesus has revealed to us without being wrapped in admiration, without blessing and glori- fying him as a God, most perfectly and most su- premely good, wise, and powerful. Or should it ap- pear that the apostle simply speaks in this text of the subjection and honour which all creatures owe to Jesus Christ, and not of that which they really yield him, still it is his intention to include this point also, and to place before our eyes, not only the end, but also the eflect and the event of this gift which the Father has made to the Son of his sovereign dignity ; that is to say, that this great name which he lias given him shall cause him to be obeyed and acknow- ledged in all the world, and shall finally draw from all his subjects that adoration and service which they owe him. This, indeed, commenced from the time of the apostle, the sceptre of this Divine and crucified Saviour having so prospered in the hands of his ministers, that his name was already great from east to west ; and since then it has prospered more and more, ruining the dominion of Satan, abolishing error and the false religions of mankind, putting down idolatry, confounding the demons, and finally, constraining all the habitable world to bow beneath his yoke, to adore his cross, and to confess, in all the variety of its languages, that this Jesus, manifested in the flesh, received and treated witli so much ignominy and opprobrium upon earth, the stumbling-block of the Jew, the scorn of the Gentile, is, nevertheless, in reality the Lord, the true and eternal God, the Son and the Christ of the Father, the King of the universe, the Father of eternity. This work continues still by the grace of the Lord, and shall continue to the end of time ; and then it will be entirely fulfilled. Hence the apostle, in the 14th chapter of his Epistle to the Romans, makes this prophecy of Isaiah relate to the last judgment, that every knee should bow to the Lord, and that every tongue should give him praise. For in this great and illustrious day, the. heavens, the earth, and the deep, all things ten-estrial, celestial, and below the earth, shall submit to the power of Jesus, and every one yield him that homage of which he is capable. The heavens and the elements shall be changed at his word. The deep shall yield up the dead that have been concealed in its caverns. Angels shall encompass his throne with profound respect; men, both dead and living, shall all_ appear before his tribunal, and after having worshipped him and con- fessed that he is Lord, shall receive from his mouth the sentence either- of life or death. Such are the rights and effects of this great name, which the Father has given to the Son as the price of his obedience. Let us yield ourselves then, dear brethren, in good time to his power. Let us kiss the Sou, whom God has given to be our Lord and Master. Let us adore his name ; let us bow our knees and our hearts before him. Let us confess that he is Lord. Let us believe it in our heart, and proclaim with our mouth ; and if we acknowledge him in this dig- nity, let us yield him a faithful and constant obedi- ence. May his will be the only rule, and his glory the sole desire, of our lives. Let us leave other men to run after the foolish and perishable objects of their desires, some worshipping one thing, and some another, according to their vain imaginations. As for us, my brethren, may the name of Jesus be our portion ; may it be our fear and our dread. Let us have no desire in our minds which does not bow in reverence to him, no interest in our lives which does not yield to his glory. Far from us be the extrava- gance of those who are ashamed of Jesus Christ and of his gospel. O wretch ! are you ashamed of a name which is above every name ? Are you ashamed of a name which all the universe adores, and before which the devils and hell tremble ? On the con- trary, let us make it our greatest glory. May the profession of this name be our dress and our orna- ment. Let the marks of it be engraven on every part of our life ; let us make our children, and all those who are most dear to us, wear its livery. Under the protection and safeguard of this name we have nothing to fear. Earth and hell fear it ; and there is no name, quality, or dignity which is not under it. The kings and monarchs of the world, their ministers, their people, their armies, and their states, their laws, their wills, and their desires, depend on our Jesus, and are in his keeping. The devils are in his chains, and cannot take a step without his permis- sion. Christians, of what are you afraid, since you have the honour to belong to so powerful a Master ? It would be too unfeeling if you were to doubt his love after so many testimonies of it as he has given you. Live, then, securely under his holy hand, and have no other fear than that of displeasing him. And as the apostle informs you that it is through humility that he is exalted into this great glory, fol- low his footsteps, and humble yourselves as he did, renouncing your own interests whenever the will of God, and the good of your neighbours, shall require it. For humility is the true road to glory, and pride is that of shame ; and there is no shorter way of being exalted than to humble yourself, nor of being abased than to exalt yourself. If we will humble ourselves with the Lord, the Father will exalt us with him. This abounding glory has also been given him for our sakes, and he will keep it faithfully for us, crowning us with it in that day when, having finish- ed our course and the work of our humiliation, he will transport us into his heavenly kingdom, there to dwell and reign for ever with him and his holy angels. Amen. Preached at Charenton, Sunday, 2nd Dec. 1640, Chap. II. THE EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS. es SERMON XI. Terse 12. ' Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as m my presence only, but now much more in my ab- sence, tiork out your own salvation with fear and trembling. Dear brethren, as you see in the world that neither trees nor animals attain at once to their highest point of excellence, but arrive at it little by little, by dif- ' ferent stages, as by so many degrees, advancing and growing with time until they have acquired the entire and legitimate form of their being : so is it with be- lievers in the church, God, the author of nature and of grace, having in his infinite wisdom established a similar order for the perfection of these two kinds of things. From the gospel, which he sheds in our hearts as the seed of our regeneration, he first brings out a heavenly and spiritual creature indeed, but nevertheless, still rough and unpolished. And then by the power of his Spirit, with which he quickens it, he strips it by degrees of the weaknesses of in- fancy, supplying each part with its needful strength, and enlarging them into their legitimate size ; con- firming its temperature, improving its judgment, il- luminating its faith, warming its charity, hardening I its patience, assuring its hope ; until, having passed I through all the variety of its stages, the believer shall [ finally arrive at the measure of the perfect stature which is in Jesus Christ. This arrangement of the ' Lord in the work of our salvation is the groundwork of the exhortation formerly made by the apostle Paul i to the Philippians, and which he addresses to us to- day in the verse that we have just read, " to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling." ^Vhen the tree is once planted, nature, without stopping, labours incessantly at that perfection which she has com- I menced, spurring and hastening it on, until she has clothed it with leaves, and crowned it with flowers 1 and fruits, and omamented it with all the beauty I belonging to its kind : she does the same also in even,- animal ; when once they are born into the 1 world, without losing a moment of time, she employs 1 herself in forming, and polishing, and completing their being. In the same way, my brethren, it is very reasonable, that having received from the Lord the commencements of spiritual life, and as it were the rudiments of that Divine nature of which he has made us partakers, we should not stop there, but should employ ourselves night and day in perfecting so excellent a work, improving everi- moment of our time to this purpose, and incessantly adding some new trait of beauty to what we before possessed ; un- til we are truly divine and heavenly men, fellow citizens with the saints, like unto the angels, brethren and heirs with Christ, and the first-fruits of all his creatures. This is what the apostle here asks from the Philippians, as well as from all other believers. And, that we may correctly understand the sense of these words, we will examine them briefly, if it please the Lord, as there is not one which is not to be noted. And, for your comfort, we will divide this examina- tion into two articles, of which the first shall be the preface which the apostle makes use of before bring- ing forward his exhortation, in these words, "'Where- fore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my ab- sence;" the second shall be the exhortation itself of the apostle, in these words, " Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling." I. The whole preface is full of motives and reasons for inducing the Philippians to do what he exhorts them. The first word, " Wherefore," which unites this verse with the preceding ones, brings before our eyes what the apostle had just said to us of the hu- miliation and exaltation of our Lord Jesus Christ, deducing from thence that we ought to conduct our- selves, in the work of our salvation, with the same humility, patience, and constancy of which he gave us the example in the days of his flesh, and aspire to the fellowship of his glory by the fellowship of his holiness. This discourse contains two parts; of which the apostle explains the one, and takes the other for granted, \yhat he takes for granted is, that Jesus Christ is the pattern of our life ; and that, in virtue of the union which conjoins us with him, the likeness of his whole conduct ought to shine forth in us, in such a way that each of us may be like a portrait, a living and animated representation of this sovereign Lord. He is our Root and our Vine, and the anns and the branches have the same life and being as the trunk which bears them. He is our Master and our Head ; in every society he who is such ought to be the mould and pattern of the manners of his subjects. He is our Father, and it is the glory of a child to re- semble him who brought him into the world. From whence we derive this right, which is very beneficial to us, to be able (as the apostle here does) to argue from the Lord to ourselves, and to say, not only for the duties, but also for the conditions and circum- stances of life. The Lord Jesus was obedient, humble, and patient ; he was gentle and kind ; he pardoned his enemies ; he endured their insults and their abuse without returning them : we then must do the same. And besides, he was aided, blessed, and comforted m all his sorrows, and was waited on by angels ; he was crowned with the highest glory after his conflicts. Assuredly then God will treat us in the same way, whatever the world and hell may do against our salvation. The other point which the apostle has expressly touched upon in the preceding text is, that the Son of God humbled himself and took the form of a servant, and was obedient even unto the death of the cross ; pointing out to us in these words the constancy of the Lord in the execution of the work which the Father had given him to do. He never stopped in so difficult a career, but ran even unto the end, persevering in humble obedience, however fear- ful were the temptations with which he was sur- rounded ; teaching, instructing, rebuking, exhorting, and calling men to salvation by his words, his know- ledge, and the miracles of his life ; enduring the in- sults of the Jews ; bearing their malice ; and omitting nothing, however painful or unworthy, until all was fulfilled ; as he himself exclaimed at the end of his course. L^ndoubtedly, as we are called to form our lives after his example, (as the apostle sets forth, and we have shown you,) it is then evident that we all ought to employ ourselves in our salvation with fear and trembling, that is to say, (as we afterwards hear,) work with deep humility, and a firm, unwearied perseverance, to fulfil the work of grace that God has condescended to begin in us. ■ The love which the apostle here testifies to the Philippians, calling them his " beloved," is a second motive to induce them to receive his exhortation with respect, and to obey it with care. It was not a stranger who spoke to them, or a person to whom they were indifferent. It was a master, or, to speak more properly, a father, who burned with love for them ; who had more anxiety for their wel- fare than ever any father had for the interest of his children. He had begotten them by the gospel, and, to maintain the work of God in them, had cheerfully suffered grievous persecutions ; and even now in the 66 AN EXPOSITION OF Sebm. XL midst of his captivity, although his o-rni troubles seemed to excuse his thinking of them, yet so great was the desire he felt for their salvation, that he thought of them night and day ; and his bonds could not pre- vent his writing this Epistle to them full of testi- monies of his affection. He describes it all in this little word, calling them his well-beloved. As if he had said. If you have any regard to the consolation of a man who always loves you and cares for you ; if you still remember my care, the sorrows through which I have passed, and the blood I have shed for you ; beloved, finish what I have begun. May my absence neither change nor diminish any thing in this gi-eat work which my presence began and carried on among you. This gentle manner, employed here and elsewhere by the apostle, should serve as a lesson to ministers of the gospel, to teach them, in the first place, to have such a cordial affection for their flocks, that they may in ti-uth call them their dear and well- beloved brethren ; and secondly, to banish from their teaching that harshness and severity, more suitable to tyrants and barbarians, than to the servants of Jesus Christ, the Prince of peace, the Master of humility, the Pattern of kindness. He desires, I acknowledge, that we should draw and attach his disciples ; but with the chains of love and the cords of humanity, which to be gentle and agreeable do not cease to be strong, and force minds without wounding them. It is to the same method we must apply the testi- mony that the apostle here bears to the Philippians, saying, in the third place, that they had always been obedient. For there is nothing which so easily enters into our hearts as praise ; and every one being natur- ally desirous to obtain it, a stronger motive cannot be applied, nor one which penetrates with more gentleness and efficacy. And do not imagine that this was flattery, like the flatteries with w'hich the children of this world gratify one another, rather through civility than truth. Such vanity had no place in so holy a mouth as that of the apostle. He praises them because they were indeed praiseworthy, and had yielded to the gospel of the Lord, and to the preaching of his ministers, that obedience of which he here speaks. For, in the first place, they had re- ceived the word of God with faith, and embraced the yoke of Christ as the only way of salvation. And not satisfied with that good beginning, they had con- tinued in that profession, living holily and courage- ously in it, notwithstanding the afllictions it had drawn both upon their master and themselves. This is the reason why he does not simply say that they have obeyed, but that they have alicays obeyed, that is to say, constantly, from the time of the apostle's entry among them, without in any way relaxing in their zeal. For the rest, this obedience must be un- derstood not of the severity of the law, as if these believers had never sinned in any particular of their duty since their conversion to the Lord, for our life, while we bear this mortal flesh, is not capable of such perfection ; but according to the kindness and justice of the gospel, meaning that they had con- tinued firm in the profession of godliness, and in a studious, serious, and sincere practice of charity, and of all the other virtues which it commands ; " obeying from the heart," as the apostle elsewhere says, that is to say, in truth, with zeal and without hypocrisy, " that form of doctrine which had been intrusted to them." And from hence it appears, contrary to the harshness of some morose minds, that we may and ought to praise the piety of believers, and to cele- brate with honour the obedience they j-ield to God. I confess, that as regards the Lord, their virtue de- serves nothing, and that in fulfilling their duties they have done nothing for him, but for themselves alone, as the psalmist sings in Psal. ■svi. 2, 3, " My goodness is nothing to thee, but to the saints that dwell upon the earth." But this does not prevent us on our side from being obliged to acknowledge it, and to praise its excellence ; and that as the Lord, through the abundance of his goodness, will one day crown them in the heavens with his blessedness^and gloiy, we ought here below to adorn them witti our praises, that we may recommend them to men, and thereby show the consideration in which we hold them. And in truth, however little we may consider them, we shall find them very deserving of our admiration. For, not to wander from my subject, was it not in the Philippians a virtue to be admired, and truly worthy of being celebrated by the pen of the apostle, that they had at that time, amidst the confusions of pa- ganism, acknowledged the truth of God, renounced the idolatry, religion, and manners of their fathers and of their country, to embrace the name and yoke of Jesus Christ ? to have had the courage to perse- vere in it, and to render that constant obedience to the Crucified which he expected from them, notwith- standing the shame of his cross, the threats and pun- ishments of their enemies, and the inclinations of their own flesh ? Certainly if there ever has been any thing praiseworthy among men, it must be con- fessed to be this obedience. Thus you see, that be- sides the example of the apostle, the reason of the things themselves obliges us to praise believers. But in doing so we must observe these two conditions : the first, That the praise we give them be founded in reason and truth; that is to say, that we neither praise them, nor the things they possess, if they be not praiseworthy ; nor for those that are praiseworthy, if they have them not. For to do otherwise, instead of rendering them a good service, would be to do them a very ill one ; serving as pillows of security to lull them to sleep in their vices. From this it appears (I would remark in passing) how false and perni- cious is the praise that the Romanists usually give to the obedience of their devotees, who receive from their hands, with closed eyes, all that they present to them under the name of apostolic tradition, stifling the light of their own sense and reason to place themselves under the yoke of these people. I ac- knowledge that in religion obedience is needful and praiseworthy ; but it must be that which we render to God and his institutions, such as was that of the Philippians here celebrated by the apostle, and in general that of all the Lord's sheep, who follow his voice, and are obedient to the instructions of their Pastor, who hear his word and believe it. But not to discern the word of men from his, and to take as doctrine all that is offered to us under that name, without examination, without comparing it with the canonical Scriptures, as did formerly those of Berea, whose diligence is praised in the Acts, certainly is rather stupidity than docility ; it is to mock the truth of the Lord under pretence of respecting his author- ity; it is to betray his salvation, instead of confirming it. But it is not enough that the praise be true, it ought also to be suitable, that is to say, as to time and place where it may profit, as this which the apostle here gives to the Philippians. For what could he say more suitable to engage them more and more in god- liness, which is his only design in this text, than to allege the obedience which they had hitherto yielded to the gospel ? Who cannot see that to praise them thus for the past was to encourage them for the fu- ture ? You are already solemnly pledged to perse- verance, says he to them. This beautiful and noble obedience, which you have so constantly yielded to Jesus Christ from the first period of your conversion, is a warrant for your fidelity to us, and to yourselves Chap. II. THE EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS. 67 an obligation to continue in it to the end. Hence- forth you can neither turn from it, nor even look bacli, without covering yourselves with opprobrium. Continue then, in the name of God, and crown these good beginnings with a happy end. He uro;es the Romans by a similar reason, when, to incite them to the study of sanctification, he alleges that salvation is nearer to them than when they believed, Rom. xiii. 11. In like manner, he magnifies the crime of sloth- fulness in the Galatians, who had allowed themselves to be seduced by false apostles, by this consideration, that they had formerly embraced the gospel with much zeal and ardour : " You did nm well ; who did hinder you that you should not obey the truth ? Are ye so foolish ? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh ?" Gal. v. 7; iii. 3. After having praised the Philippians for the obe- dience they had yielded him, the apostle adds, in the fourth place, " Not only as in my presence, but now much more in my absence." By w'hich he warns them not to do as some, who had been retained for a time in their duty by the presence of certain persons of respectability, but who allow themselves to be led into debauchery as soon as they are at a distance from them. St. Paul elsewhere calls the obedience of such people " eye-service and men-pleasers," Eph. vi. 6. Nature itself has imprinted the sentiment on our hearts, that sin is a filthy thing, and unworthy of ns ; however strong may be our inclination, we dare not commit it except in secret. It fears the light, and the eyes of other men ; above all, of those who are holy and serious, apprehending their censure, and being ashamed of appearing in their presence. Hence the Stoics, one of the most famous sects of the ancient pagan philosophers, order their disciples to choose I one of their most esteemed sages, as a Socrates, or a C'ato, and to take him as a witness, and an arbiter of their lives, looking on him as present at all their actions, that from respect to him they may form their lives to honesty and justice, and drive from them vice and debauchery. But although this modesty may be useful to repress the unholy actions of our lusts, it must be acknowledged to be a weak and feeble guardian of our minds, and that those who only refrain from evil and do not apply themselves to good are not Christians. The true Christian hates the evil and loves the good for themselves. He respects the eyes of God, and not those of men ; so that in whatever place you may put him, were it in the most separate, the most solitary, and the darkest comer of the world, it will not induce him to be more indulgent to his passions. This is the disposition which St. Paul here desires for his Philippians, that they should not obey only as in his presence; that they should eveiy where alike embrace the study of holiness, whether he were present among them or not, always remembering that it is God that they eerve, and not Paul ; that it is to this supreme Ma- jesty, who is present at all our actions, that we must be acceptable, and not only to his ser\-ants. He also adds, that they should be much more careful now in his absence ; for whilst he was present he exhorted and warned them continually of their duty, he dis- covered to them the ambusbes of the enemy, he led them (so to speak) by the hand, and rendered them a thousand kind services, of which they might con- sequently discharge themselves towards him. Now that his absence deprived them of such a salutary help, were they not therefore bound to redouble their solicitude, to be upon their guard with more atten- tion than ever, and to seek from their own vigilance the guidance of their lives, w'ithout resting in any de- gree upon another ? as a sick person ought much rather to take care of himself in the absence than in the presence of his physician ; and as good soldiers never give themselves more trouble or more attention than when the absence of their officers leaves them entirely charged with all the guidance of their corps. II. But let us now consider what this care was which the apostle here demands from the Philippians, and from all other believers; he explains it in the second part of our text in these words, " Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling." Upon which we have two points to consider : first. The thing itself the apostle commands, " to work out our own salva- tion ;" and secondly. The manner in which he wishes us to do it, " with fear and trembling." As to the first, there is no one in the church who does not know what the apostle means by " our salvation ;" it is that blessed and immortal life which the Lord Jesus ob- tained for us by his death, and which he communi- cates to us by his Spirit, of which we enjoy the first- fruits in this world, and its perfection and fulness in the other. The Scripture does not only call it life, but salvation, because God does not simply give us happiness ; he saves us first, and delivers us from the evil in which we were by nature. The blessing which the law promised to those who fulfilled it is simply called life ; for the law delivers no one from sin, neither lifts man from the soitow into which he had fallen ; but acting as if he were in a state of innocence, rewards the obedience which be shall have yielded to it with immortality ; hence that which it promises him is only called life, and not salvation. But in Jesus Christ we are first drawn from that miserable state into which sin had reduced us, absolved from our crimes, and freed from the curse, then clothed with light, and peace, and holi- ness, and glory. This is why the gift of Jesus Christ is called salvation, and not simply life; salvation, as you see, signifying life given, not simply to a crea- ture, but to a miserable creature, such as we are by nature. The apostle then desires that we should ap- ply ourselves to this salvation, to this new life which Jesus Christ communicates to us, by delivering us from death. The word KaTipya^iaOai, which we have translated " to apply oneself to," properly signifies to do, to work, to labour, and is taken in two ways in the Scripture ; sometimes to express to polish, form, and fashion a rough and raw thing, as when a carpenter cuts and polishes wood, and a mason stones, which they desire to employ in their work ; and in this sense we may say that God 77iakes us when he creates us in his Son, stripping us of this vile and miserable form of sinners and slaves of Satan, in which we are born, and giving us another, holy and glorious, by which we become his children, precious and lively stones, and fit to enter into the building of his temple, from vile and dead stones, which we were by nature. The other, more common, signification of this word is, to accomplish, perfect, and finish a thing already commenced, to execute it and guide it to its end; as when the apostle says, in Rom. vii. 18, that " to will is present with me, but how to perform that which is good I find not ;" and when he says be- sides, in Rom. iv., it " worketh wrath," because it completes in us the feeling of the wrath of God against sin, which without is weak and languid, the light of nature alone without the law only exciting and beginning it in us. St. Paul in these two places uses precisely the same word which he has here employed, and this sense suits it well : " H'ork out your salvation ;" meaning, accomplish that which is liegun in you ; labour incessantly to complete this fine work, and to bring it to its perfection, and, as our Bibles interpret it, employ yourselves on it, that your whole occupation may be in the things neces- sary to this great salvation to which you are called. I 6H AN EXPOSITION OF Serm. XI. It 18 in substance the same exhortation that St. Peter gives to believers, 2 Pet. i. 5, 6, where, having spoken of salvation, he says, " Giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, and to virtue knowledge, and to knowledge temperance, and to temperance patience, and to patience godliness, and to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness charity." This is what our Lord calls to " labour for that bread which endureth to everlasting life," John vi. 27 ; and in Matt. xvi. 24, to " seek the kingdom of God and his righteousness;" and again in another place, to take up the cross, and to follow him without look- ing back ; and in St. Jude 20, to build up ourselves on our most holy faith. It is as St. Paul will say to us presently, " I follow on, that I may apprehend. Forgetting those things that are behind, and reach- ing forth unto those which are before, I press towards the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Jesus Christ," Phil. iii. 12 — 14. But the adversa- ries of our doctrine touching the grace of God elevate themselves in this place, and misuse this passage alto- gether; in the first place, to establish free-will; and secondly, to prove the merit of our works. As to the first. To what purpose (say they) would St. Paul exhort us to work out our own salvation if we were not able to do so, and if we had not the necessary strength ? But this objection is absurd, seeing that the apostle speaks here to believers made free by the grace of Jesus Christ; whereas our dispute is with men who are in a state of nature, in the chains of sin. For it is of those of whom we say, that they can neither understand the things of God, nor submit to his will. We readily confess that those who have re- ceived the Spirit from on high can embrace the things of God, yea, they embrace them in truth, and perse- vere in them to the end, according to the doctrine of the Lord, Every one that has heard and has learned of the Father cometh unto him, and remaineth in him, John vi. 45. We simply say, that all the strength by which they believe and persevere is a gift of Divine grace, and not an effect or production of their own. And as to those who are still in the corrup- tion of nature, their inability to do good is no reason why they may not and ought not to be exhorted, not to persevere, (which the apostle here demands,) but to begin, because it is a helplessness entirely founded in the malice of their hearts ; they cannot believe, because they seek the glory of the world, John v. 44. For we every day exhort those to sobriety and right- eousness who have contracted so confirmed a habit of drunkenness and theft, that philosophy itself ac- knowledges that it is not possible they should abstain from these vices ; and yet, under that pretence, no- body accuses such as exhort them of absurdity, or those who punish them of injustice. As to merit in our works, neither can our adversa- ries found that on this passage. It is true that be- lievers work out their salvation; that is to say, (as we have shown,) they labour at those things which belong to the kingdom of God. They believe ; they pray ; they watch ; they take heed to themselves ; they resist temptation ; they practise works of charity, righteousness, and patience ; in a word, they walk in the paths of the Lord. It is certain that believers do these things, and it is still further certain that in doing them they work out or accomplish their salva- tion ; that they progress towards the end of their call- ing; they build up themselves, as St. Jude teaches; yea, they save themselves, as the apostle says, when speaking to Timothy, that in doing his duty he will both save himself and them that hear him, 1 Tim. iv. 16 ; that is what the apostle here says, and with that we agree. But he does not say, either that be- lievers do the things by the power of their own free- will, and not by the virtue of the grace of God alone ; on the contrary, he adds in the following verse, " that God works in us both to w'ill and to do of his good pleasure ;" or that this endeavour or labour of believers merits salvation ; on the contrary, he elsewhere protests that our sufferings are not to be compared to the glory that shall be revealed in us, and that the life eternal with wliich God will reward our race is a gift of his grace, and alms from his mercy. It must then be considered as one thing to merit salvation, and another to enter into the posses- sion of it. The first belongs alone to Jesus Christ, the second to believers. For there is no one but the Lord who has obtained life at the price of his blood, having satisfied the Father's justice by his sufferings, and obtained the privilege of immortality ; by reason of which he alone is called our Saviour; this name, as well as that of Mediator, Redeemer, and Interces- sor, belongs to him alone. But as to the possession of the salvation acquired by him, it belongs to all those who believe in his word. It is very true that even in this respect it is the Lord who does the busi- ness. For being as incapable of conducting our- selves in this state as of acquiring it, God gives us strength and power to do it by his Spirit ; in conse- quence of which we act as the instruments of his hand, and are said to work out, or to complete, our salvation, because by faith, by the practice of holi- ness, and by perseverance, we enter into the posses- sion of eternal life, acquired for us only by the merit of our Lord. This has been well explained by an author whom our adversaries reckon among their fathers, (Bernard on Free-will,) that our good works are the path, and not the cause, of the heavenly king- dom. It may then be concluded, that the apostle commanding us in this place to employ ourselves on our own salvation, to work it out and to finish it, does not take for granted any power of free-will in us, nor any merit in our works, but simply means, that in consequence of, and by the efficacy of, this merci- ful grace, with which God has freely favoured us, we should incessantly labour, each in his calling, to ac- complish the work of godliness, watching aiid pray- ing, renouncing the world more and more, and all its vain lusts, and daily growing in faith, hope, and charity, in patience, and in all those other spiritual graces necessary to arrive at the entire enjoyment of that precious and glorious inheritance which the Lord Jesus has acquired for us by his death, assured by his resurrection, and promised in his word. I now come to the manner in which he desires that we should acquit ourselves of this duty, that is to say, " with fear and trembling," which is the second and last point that we liave to consider in this dis- course. Those of the Romish communion teaching, as you know, that the believer ought always to doubt of his salvation, not being able, as they hold, to have a certain assurance of being now in the grace of God, and much less of persevering in it constantly for the future, wrest this passage to their error, and pretend that the apostle, by this " fear and trembling" which he directs, means doubt and mistrust, and wishes us to be in a perpetual apprehension of falling from salvation, without being certain that God loves us, or that we shall ever arrive at salvation. I will not here largely refute this doctrine, nor show you how contrary it is to Scripture, which (caches us in a thousand places both the certainty of the salvation of the elect, and the testimony borne by the Holy Spirit to their adoption, and the confidence they should take from it, being certain, with the apostle, that neither death, nor life, nor any other thing, should ever separate them from the love of God in Jesus Christ. How insulting is it to God that we Chap. IT. THE EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS. 69 should be unwilling to assure ourselves of his mercy towards each of us, which is the highest glory that we can ascribe to his goodness ! how destructive of that comfort of believers, which, in the midst of the miseries among which they live according to the flesh, is all founded on the feeling of the grace of God in Christ Jesus! and to what feelings of horror and apprehension mnst such doubts necessarily give rise, when viewed with reference to what they must endure if they shall be eternally lost! To minds thus disposed it is impossible that one single spark of contentment should remain, much less that they should possess that peace of God which passes all understanding, or that unspeakable and glorious joy ■which the apostles attribute to the true children of God, as a necessary consequence of their adoption. And finally, how does such a doctrine clash with the theology of Rome itself, which, setting forth that grace is received into the hearts of men by the volun- tary motions of their pretended free-will, here evi- dently contradicts itself, adding, that none can be certain if he has this grace or not, as if we can know- ingly and voluntarily receive a thing into our minds without knowing whether we have received it or not ! But I leave for the present all this controversy, and will content myself with simply showing that this passage in no wise favours their error; and, that we may well understand it, I maintain that the " fear and trembling" here recommended by the apostle signifies neither doubt nor mistrust, (which ought to be strangers to souls justified by the blood of Christ, and sanctified by his Spirit,) but a very deep hu- mility, accompanied by a supreme reverence for God, giving him all the glory of our salvation, without at- tributing any part of it to ourselves ; a disposition of mind which we affirm ought to be in every true be- liever, according to the doctrine of the Scriptures. And it is a remarkable circumstance, that this exposi- tion was brought forward in the Council of Trent itself, as history tells us ; such admirable methods has the providence of God for causing his truth to shine even in the midst of the thickest darkness. That we must thus take the text of the apostle is proved in many ways. First, By the terms themselves which he uses, fear and trembling, which are never employed in the New Testament to express doubt or mistrust, but always every where to signif)^ hu- mility and reverence ; as in the Epistle to the Ephe- sians, vi. 5, where St. Paul commands servants " to obey their masters with fear and trembling," who does not see that he means not with doubt and mistrust, (which would be very unsuitable, and contrary to what he adds, "in simplicity of heart, as unto Christ,") but with humility and reverence ? and when he praises the Corinthians, " that they had received Titus with fear and trembling ;" that is to say, with the respect due to him, and not with distrust, which would have been contrary to their duty ; and when he says to the same believers " that he has been among them in fear and trembling," I Cor. ii. 3, he signifies not that he had doubted them, that he had been afraid of them, (for this meaning would be ab- surd and ridiculous,) but the humility, gentleness, and simplicity of his conversation among them. These are the only three passages, besides our text, in which we meet with this manner of speaking in the whole of the Xew Testament, all of which imply humility and reverence, and not doubt or mistrust. AVho can argue that, in this fourth passage, we must not take these words in the same sense ? I prove it, in the second place, By the second Psalm, from whence this manner of speaking is evidently drawn, where the prophet, treating a similar subject, says, " Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trem- bling." Undoubtedly this great joy, this exultation with which he accompanies the fear and trembling of believers, is incompatible with doubt, uncertainty, and mistrust ; but agrees very well with humility and reverence to God. Let us then say that both the psalmist, and St. Paul, who has borrowed these words from him, by the fear and trembling which he di- rects, intends humility and reverence, and not doubt and uncertainty. The same appears again from what the apostle, in Rom. xi., opposes to the fear which he recommends to us ; which is not assurance, but pride ; " Be not high-minded, but fear," ver. 20 ; an evident sign that the fear which he approves in us is reverence and humility, the reverse of pride, and not doubt or uncertainty, the opposite of assurance. But what need is there to travel beyond this text to estab- lish its meaning? Its connexion even with what precedes and what follows it sufficiently explains it to us. For the apostle draws this exhortation from the example of Jesus Christ, as we have already shown. Christ humbled himself, and was exalted; for which reason occupy yourselves about your own salvation with fear and trembling. This conclusion, to be good and right, ought to follow the nature of its principle, and draw nothing from it but what is really in it. Now in this example of the Lord, from which it is deduced, we see a very deep and most ad- mirable humility, with an extreme reverence and obedience towards the Father, as the apostle divinely represents to us in it. But of doubt, uncertainty, or mistrust, neither does the apostle remark any thing, nor in reality is there any. For who can say, with- out blasphemy, that the Son of God either doubted or was uncertain of his victory ? Since, then, from this example the fear and trembling are drawn which the apostle recommends to us, it must neces- sarily be acknowledged that this fear and trembling are humility and reverence, which clearly appears, as the origin of this reasoning, and not doubt or mis- trust, which has no place in it. Finally, that which follows no less establishes it than that which preceded it : " Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling." ^Vhy.' "Be- cause (he adds) it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure." Undoubtedly this great and admirable grace of the Lord, which thus deigns to accomplish his work in us, leads us truly to conclude that we ought to walk before him with extreme humility and reverence ; but not at all that we should doubt our salvation ; on the contrary, we should rather conclude that we ought to have a firm and assured hope of it. As then this reason is that which the apostle alleges for the fear and trem- bling with which we must work out our salvation, let us conclude that it is humility and reverence to- wards God which he recommends to us, and not doubt or uncertainty, as our adversaries pretend. For this fear consists in two things : first, in a profound humility ; and secondly, in a perfect reverence to- wards God. The humility which proceeds from the consciousness of our own weakness, the worthless- ness of our nature, and the dangers which surround us, produces in us a contirual solicitude to employ all the means necessary to salvation, and particularly an attention to bind ourselves wholly to the Lord, hoping nothing from ourselves, and expecting all from him ; as you see in an infant, who, the more knowledge it has of its own weakness and the danger in which it finds itself, the more closely it will cling to its mother. Reverence towards God produces also the same efTect, and gives rise in our hearts to a greater knowledge of his goodness and supreme majesty than of our own sin and misery. For who is he whose respect for so great a God does not lead 70 AN EXPOSITION OP Serm. XI. him to the study and practice of that which is agree- able to liim ? Such was the disposition of our apostle. He was assured of his own salvation, as he so clearly testifies in a thousand places, that our adversaries them- Belves are obliged to acknowledge it, and to except him from among the number of doubters ; yet he did not cease to feel much solicitude, and to take wonder- ful care of all the means which are prescribed for us to arrive at the heavenly kingdom ; as he declares, both in the third chapter of this Epistle, and in 1 Cor. ix. 26, 27, where he declares that he runs, and fights, and wrestles, and brings his body into subjection, so that after having preached to others, he himself may not be a castaway. He recommends to us what he practised himself, — assurance without security, and labour without pride. He does not wish that the goodness of God should render us cowai-ds, or that our labour should render us presumptuous. Satan deceives some by making them believe that there is no need to withstand vice, or to give themselves much trouble ; and he puffs up others, and intoxicates them with a good opinion of themselves, turning their own virtue into poison to them, and their con- fidence into ruin. By the first means he destroys that large number of carnal Christians of which tlie ■world is full, and wlio liave nothing of Jesus Christ but the name and the profession. By the second lie condemns Pharisaical minds, proud and puffed up with the presumption of their righteousness and of their deserts, under whatever period or garb they may live. The apostle calls to the first, " Work out your own salvation," and adds for the second, " with fear and trembling." Dear brethren, it is not suffi- cient to remark these vices in others, or even to listen to what St. Paul directs us against them; we must watch ourselves, and unceasingly practise tlie holy exhortation of this great minister of the Lord. May this heavenly voice of his resound in our ears and in our hearts night and day, " Work out your own sal- vation with fear and trembling." May it hasten us, and not give us any moment of repose; may it awaken our minds, and keep them entirely occupied on this Divine care. Let us receive nothing that is contrary to it. Let us shut our ears to the gentle but perni- cious songs of the world, which invite us to its vile pleasures, and its useless pastimes, and to the miser- able exercise of its laborious vanity. Let us not listen either to the necessities or the desires of carnal nature, or of our family. Let us leave the dead to bury their dead, and tlie children of this mortal world to amuse themselves with mortal and perishable things. Let us follow Jesus Christ, and remember the salvation to which he calls us, and for which he consecrated himself for us, and of wliicli he has al- ready given us an earnest. It is our task and our work. It is the vineyard into which he lias sent us, the talent that he has committed to us. Let us every morning attend to tliis work ; let us examine it every evening. Let us hold that day lost in which we have made no progress in it. If any of the qualities necessary to this salvation are wanting to you, such as charity, patience, chastity, or liberality, labour, watch, and pray till you have received tliem from Heaven. If what you have is weak and in a bad state, quit it not till it lias regained its proper form. And here do not allege any excuse. You cannot have a good one here, where the question is one of salvation ; that is to say, of your supreme happiness.- You know what happened to Lot's wife. For only having looked behind her, she was changed into a pillar of salt. Let us always have before our eyes this sad and memorable monument of the just vengeance of God against those who do his work deceitfully. But, beloved brethren, the obedience that you have hitherto yielded him, in embracing and keeping the profession of his gospel, in spite of the temptations which surround you, makes us hope better tilings of you. God forbid tliat you should lose the fruit of such excellent perseverance ; and that negligence should ruin a work which you have so gloriously be- gun, and so courageously followed, in the midst of so many stumbling-blocks. The greatest difficulties are overcome. Y'ou have broken througli the hinder- ances which keep back so many miserable wretches at the entrance,— -the shame of the world, and the lusts of the flesh. You have rejected the temptations which have ruined a large number, bringing them back again into the slavery of superstition. Y'^ou have left Egypt and the Red Sea behind you, and have crossed a good part of the desert. Henceforth you behold that blessed land which the Lord has promised you. You are on its frontier, and have but the Jordan to cross. In the name of God, finish happily this good journey. May your strength in- crease in proportion as your task diminishes. Do in godliness what heavy things do in nature, which quicken their motions the nearer they approach their place of rest. Employ yourselves more than ever on your salvation, as you were never before so near it ; but may it be with fear and trembling, with true humility and a holy reverence towards the Lord. If you have made some progress in this design, you have wherewith to rejoice before God, but nothing of which to be proud in yourselves. Look upon your obedience, your faith, and your perseverance as the works of his goodness, and not as the victory of your strength. May your submission and your reverence arise from it, and not a good opinion of yourselves. The more blessings you possess, the greater respect, and gratitude, and modesty you owe him ; for in truth you have nothing that you have not received from his liberal hand. Behold, dear brethren, what is required of us by this holy and glorious pattern of the obedience and humiliation of Jesus Christ, which the apostle has placed before our eyes, and from which he drew the exhortation which has been ad- dressed to us this day. If we imitate his constancy, his perseverance, his humility, in the course of our calling, he will crown us in the end with a glory similar to his own, according to his holy and faithful promise, " To him that overcometh and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will 1 give power such as I have received from my Father, and he shall sit with me on my throne," Rev. ii. 26, 1^ ; iii. 21. The Lord give us this grace ; and to him. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, the true and only God blessed for ever, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen. Preached at Charenton, Sunday, \3th Jan. 1641. SERMON XII. Verse 13. For it is God that workelh in you both to wilt and to do of his good pleasure. Dear brethren, to deliver us from the death into which we had fallen, and to restore us to the life we had lost, two things were necessary : one beyond ourselves, namely, the satisfaction of God's justice j the other within ourselves, namely, faith and repent- ance. For as sin, of which we are guilty, had shut Chap. II. THE EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS. 71 up our entrance into the house of God, and had, as it wt-re, tied the hands of his beneficence, it is clear that whatever disposition we might have had towards liim, it was not possible that we should obtain from him either pardon or life, if, in the first place, his i' -lice was not satisfied, and our crime expiated. Si that a propitiatory sacrifice was absolutely neces- sary for us to appease the wrath of God, and gain his favour, by blotting out sin, which had set him at variance with us. But as, on the other hand, it is iK-ither suitable nor possible that an unbelieving or impenitent creature should enjoy the salvation of (lod, you perceive that, in order to attain it, besides that propitiation which removes hinderances from ^vithout, repentance and faith are necessary to bring IN into a state to receive the grace of our Sovereign. 1 he gospel clearly teaches both these things, when it says that " God so loved the world, that ne gave his only Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life," John iii. 16. As to the first cause of salvation, the Scripture shows tliat God alone is its author, who, moved by his in- finite goodness, has entirely prepared, procured, and accomplished the satisfaction of his justice, and the purchase of immortality, by sending his Son, the great and precious gift of his grace. No one has arisen among Christians who does not acknowledge it, or at least does not pretend to do so. Those who make man capable of expiating sin, of satisfying the justice, and of meriting the grace of God, are ashamed of their own doctrine, and willing that the Lord should have entirely the glory of our redemption. But as to the other part, that is to say, faith and ho- liness, however clearly and expressly the Scripture t;ives all the praise to God, yet many in diiTerent ages have attempted, and many are still trj-ing, to give a 1 art of it to man. They rightly confess that it is (lod who presents to us, in the first instance, the testi- monies of his favour, and the instructions of his love, w liether in the books of his word or by the mouth of liis ministers ; that he solicits and addresses us by his jiiovidence ; without which means it would be no more possible for us to believe than for a man to see an object which is not before his eyes, as the apostle observes, Rom. x. 14, " How can they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher ? and how shall they preach except they be sent?" But this is all that these people assign to God in the production of our faith and sanctification. And if some of them add to it a few rays of his grace, by which he accompanies within what he addresses to us from without, it is only to arrange the objects which are presented to us, and to offer them to us in a brighter light, or to advise and simply invite us to embrace them, and not effectually to imprint them in our hearts; pre- tending that it is our will which effects the chief, nay, the whole, receiving or rejecting the operations of God, by its own motions, at pleasure, without grace necessarily having any thing to do with it. But the holy apostle, whose writings we are explaining, teaches us a very different doctrine, condemning everj- where this presumption, and constantly giving to God the entire glory of our salvation, in all the parts of which it consists. Among the texts in which he establishes this excellent truth, this which we have just read is without doubt one of the most illus- trious on which to found the exhortation he made in the preceding verse, to work out our salvation with fear and trembling, that is to say, (as we have al- ready explained in its place,) with deep and sincere humility ; he takes from us every pretext for our vanity, and boldly pronounces that it is to God alone that we owe all that w'e are in Jesus Christ : " For it is God that worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure." That we may truly understand the meaning of this doctrine of the apostle, we must, in the first place, consider. What is this " to will and to do," of which he speaks ; secondly, How God produces it in us effi- caciously ; and in the third and last place. What is that " good pleasure " according to which it is pro- duced. Thus we shall have three things to discuss in this discourse, trusting in the Lord's help. The first, the effect of the grace of God in believers ; it is " to will and to do." The second, the operation of God in putting this willing and doing in us ; it is a work with power. And the third, the motive which leads the Lord so to work in us ; it is " his good pleasure." I. To begin then with the first point, the effect of the grace of God in believers. It would appear that the apostle here takes " to will" for the internal disposi- tions of our souls in the things that regard piety and salvation ; and " to do " as the external execution of these resolutions, and the good works which proceed from them without ; so that, for example, the design of believing and loving the gospel is " to will," and its confession " to do." But as piety has its prin- cipal seat within us, according to the apostle's declar- ation, that " the kingdom of God is righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost," Rom. xiv. 17, all depending on the interior fixedness of the soul, the outward works and actions being either good or bad according to the quality of the heart, from whence they spring; it is better to understand " in us," (the division which St. Paul here makes,) as dis- tributing all things that regard piety into two parts, one of which he calls " to will," and the other " to do." For it is clear that in the mind itself there are certain actions and dispositions which may be called energy and perfection, and others simply the will. To understand it better, we must consider what even the wise men of this world have remarked, that the human will (which is the origin of all moral actions) has two kinds of movement. The first a weak and doubtful one, which is rather a wish or a desire than a firm and settled will, when we would indeed wish to do a thing, but when in reality we do it not. The other an entire and complete action of the will, firmly fixed upon an object, and in consequence using all the power it possesses to accomplish it. Of the first sort we simply say that they u-isli, but of the second we say they will indeed. You every day see in common life examples of this difference. A mer- chant wishes to preser\-e the cargo of his vessel, la- bouring at sea in a great tempest ; but nevertheless he does not will it, the fear of perishing himself making him resolve to throw out with his own hands that wliich is most precious to him. Among corrupt people, how many are there who really wish to keep in the path of duty, and fail in it with regret, carried away by the violence of their passions ; and who, like that woman of whom the poets speak, see and ap- prove the better part, and nevertheless follow the worse ! But those who are not troubled with such passions, or who, having fought and conquered them, continue in the practice of honesty and justice, those, I say, do not simply wish the good, but they also will it in truth. These diversities in the will proceed from the different disposition of the understanding, which is the guide of all its movements. For when we judge absolutely that a thing is good and salutary for us, we also will it absolutely. If the understand- ing only judges it to be doubtfully and imperfectly good, the will is only led to it feebly and languidly. Now in piety, which perfects and enriches nature, but does not destroy it, these diversities and differ- 72 AN EXPOSITION OF Serm. XII, ences of the will also appear. For there are some who are only touched with the beauty of the gospel, and the blessings which it promises, to the degree of simply wishing "that they could embrace it. But see- ing that to do so they must deprive themselves of the sweets and pleasures of life, and expose themselves to the hatred of men, they stop at wishing, without going further. Such is the will of those who are usuatly called Nicodemuses, who would indeed wish to make a profession of the truth, and would do so, if it were compatible with the repose and peace of the world ; but they do not will it. For if they will it, why do they not do it ? They can allege no other reason than the feebleness of their will. Such was the disposition of him who, oiTering to follow the Lord, went away sad, when he heard that he must give up his riches ; and of those who, having received the seed of life with joy, withered as soon as the heat of persecution had blown upon them ; and of those again, who having conceived Jesus Christ in their hearts, have not strength to give him birth, nor to show their fruit without, by bringing it into the light of life. But that noble merchant of the gospel who, having known the inestimable value of the heavenly pearl, sold all that he had to buy it, had a true and perfect will ; and Paul likewise, who, as soon as he was acquainted with the glorj' and excellence of Jesus Christ, renounced all to embrace it, following him thenceforth with as much ardour as he had before evinced in persecuting him ; and finally, all those who give up the world and its vanities, to make an open and constant profession of the way of God. The apostle says of all such in general, " they will live godly in Christ Jesus," 2 Tim. iii. 12. Those only who in truth live so, are they who will to live in this sense, it being evident that such as have only simple wishes, and who are content with saying, " I wish I could live so," are free from the persecution the apostle says shall come upon all those who " will to live." It is then the first motion of the will, trem- bling and led to love and to desire godliness, that he here calls " the will ;" and it is the second when it fixes upon this design, and embraces it with a firm and resolute affection, which he calls " to do." This is the true perfection of the will. The first of these motions is only the beginning of its operation ; the second is its operation and its work completed. And that it must thus be taken, appears from other pas- sages, where he employs the same words in this sense; as in Rom. vii., where he describes the conflict of a man troubled between the love of good and the desire of evil : " To will is present with me, but how to perform that which is good I find not ;" where by " to will" he means those weak and vain desires of doing good, but which perform it not, whilst, on the contrary, he calls " to perform" a full and entire will, followed by its effect. In the Epistle to the Gala- tians, he also expresses it by a similar word, where, speaking of the wrestling of the flesh and of the Spirit, he says, " The flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh ; and these are contrary the one to the other ; so that ye cannot do the things that ye would," Gal. v. 17. Here again he opposes "to do" with " to will;" that is to say, a firm and con- stant temper of the will, which is always followed by its effect, to those light and weak desires by which good is rather wished than willed. It is in my opinion exactly this which he means by " the will and the race," when, arguing on the causes of our vocation to salvation, he concludes, " that it is neither of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy," Rom. ix. 16; as if he would say, that it is neither the wishes nor the first motions of man, nor his firmest resolutions, nor the works which proceed from them, which are the causes of his vocation ; but the grace and mercy of the Lord alone. And thus, in these three passages, under the words " to do," and " to run," he understands, with the firmness and perfection of the will, all the affec- tions and works which depend on it, and by which it is shown : so does he in our text. And the reason is evident. For as a firm and settled will necessarily produces its elTects, and it is not possible for it to exist without them, it is clear that whoever speaks of such a will speaks also of all its effects. Perhaps it may happen in other things that such a will may not execute what it wishes to do, because what it wishes may depend on others, or may be taken out of its power. But in religion, what is willed cannot be resisted, provided it be firmly and constantly willed; for religion only demands from us those things which we can execute. For example, it does not require us to give alms if we have not the means of so doing ; nor to preach the gospel if we have not the gifts necessary for preaching ; nor to hear if we are deaf, nor to speak if we are dumb. In these respects the intention will be accounted to us for the deed. This is why the apostle, in a passage on which we have before remarked, says, " those that will live godly," to signify those who do so live; as it is not possible that a man should have a fixed and settled will so to live without living so indeed. From whence it ap- pears that in these words, " to will and to do," are entirely comprised every part of godliness, without any exception, all the movements that we make for the kingdom of God, and all the duties we perform to arrive at it. "To will" signifies the first emo- tions and the first affections of the soul towards god- liness, which are the commencements of our salvation ; God raising these first emotions within us by the first rays that he causes to shine in our hearts. Man, hearing the happiness that the gospel promises him, and seeing the beauty, the justice, and the excellence of the means which it sets before him that he may at- tain it, is attracted by it, and turns his will towards it, desiring to have a share in such a rich treasure, and to place himself in the road that leads to it. The other words, " to do," signify, in the first place, the resolution that we take to believe and embrace godliness, the lively and ardent love of the Lord Jesus Christ, and of his kingdom ; and secondly, all the holy emotions of a will thus disposed, the courage to suffer in so glorious a cause, the contempt for the vanities of earth, disgust at its pleasures, works of charity to our neighbours, temperance in the conduct of our life, and all those works which flow from this Divine source, with perseverance and a final accom- plishment of our salvation. There is nothing good or praiseworthy in the life of believers, whether of those who begin or of those who finish, there is nothing in the infancy of the one, nor in the riper years of the other, which does not relate either " to will" or " to do." These two words comprise all the efforts and all the success of their piety; its begin- nings, its progress, its perseverance, and its end; its conflicts, its victories, and its triumphs. This shows how empty is the presumption of those who divide the glory of our course in the faith be- tween God and ourselves; freely granting that God works in them the beginnings of salvation, but pre- tending that, after having received the first tokens of his grace, they are afterwards the authors of the rest, which they express by a word full of vanity, saying that they co-operate with God, making themselves, by these means, companions of the Godhead in this work. The apostle here throws down all this pro- ject of their pride, pronouncing, gloriouslj', that "it is God which works in them to will and to do," the Chap. IT. THE EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS. 73 progress and the end, as well as the beginning. If there be any thing else in them besides to will and to do, I am content that they should attribute it to themselves. But since these words comprehend all, who does not see that it is wronging the apostle to give man some part of a work which he attributes entirely to God ? This same Lord that brings us out of Egypt preserves us in the desert, and introduces us into Canaan. As he has given us the intention to follow his Christ, so also has he given us the strength to do so. Our progress, as well as our be- ginning, is the w'ork of his grace alone ; and our per- severance no less so than our progress. II. Let us now consider how he gives us this " to will and to do," of which he is the sole author. The apostle explains it by a remarkable term, saying " that he produces both the one and the other in us with power." This word,* in the language of the Holy Scriptures, signifies a powerful and efficacious action, which, surmounting all resistance, and throw- ing down every impediment, succeeds in its design, and executes what it has undertaken. Hence the Greek interpreters have used it in Isa. xli. 4, to ex- press that all-powerful work of God by which he created all things, gi^^ng them being by an infinite power, whose efficacy nothing could stop : " Who (says the prophet) hath wrought and done it, calling the generations from the beginning?" And St. Paul employs it in a similar way, to signify the action of that all-powerful and insurmountable virtue by which Jesus Christ was raised from the dead, saying that it is the action or energy that God displayed with power when he raised him from the dead, Eph. i. 20 ; and in the same chapter he expresses also by this word the action by which God executes his decrees powerfully and infallibly, " that we were predesti- nated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will," ver. 1 1 . And St. Matthew, in like manner, to express the action by which Divine power does and executes his miracles, in setting before us the opinion that Herod had conceived of Jesus Christ, makes him say, " It is John the Baptist ; he is risen from the dead ; and therefore mighty works are wrought by him," Matt, xiv. 2. It is then the same term which the holy apostle here employs to express the action by which God gives us " to will and to do," saying that "he works in us with power," as it has been well translated in our Bibles. From which it appears that this action of the grace of God on us, when he regenerates us in his Son Jesus Christ, is not a moral suasion, by which he invites us to believe in him, or a naked and simple proposal of the means which should draw us to do so, having sometimes its effect, and sometimes not, according to the different inclinations of human wills; but a strong work, sweet and agreeable, it is true, but powerful and invincible, which is always certainly and infallibly followed by its cflTect ; so that it is impossible that the soul in which it is dis- played should not have henceforth " to will and to do." I acknowledge that God also calls unbelievers and sinners to faith and repentance, addressing them by his word, and declaring his will j and that with respect to some he goes still further, enlightening tliem within by some rays of his light, and spreading in their hearts some power of his Spirit, even to the production of this " will " of which we have spoken above. And I confess that all this work of God re- mains often, nay, always, destitute of its last true and legitimate effect, that is to say, of the real and entire conversion of the sinner, by the hardness of men, and not by the defect of the revelation of God. But the • 'S.vipyiLv. question here is not of the kind of calling common to reprobates, hypocrites, and unbelievers ; but of that which God directs to his elect, and by which he converts them to himself. For it is that which the apostle here means, as he is speaking to people who have in them "to will and to do," which belongs alone to true believers. The Scripture never calls the action of God on those who reject his voice an energy, or an efficacious icork. This word is only suitable to the action by which he converts his elect ; from whence it clearly follows that it is always efficacious. This is the reason why the Scripture calls it elsewhere a creation, as when David prays the Lord " to create in him a clean heart," Psal. li. 12; and when St. Paul says "that we are the work of God, created in Christ Jesus unto good works," Eph. ii. 10. Creation (as every one will acknow- ledge) is a work whose effect cannot be frustrated, it is infallibly brought into being. Undoubtedly since the work by which God converts us is a creation, it is then a certain and infallible power. The greater part of the other terms of which the Holy Spirit makes use, to signify this work of God in us, takes this truth for granted, as when he calls it a resur- rection, a regeneration, a new life ; it being clear that when God displays the power necessary to raise, regenerate, and quicken, it is impossible that the subject on which he has displayed it should not be raised and brought to life. And in truth, what could hinder the effect of this Divine work ? Could it be the rebellion of our will ? But how, seeing that the apostle declares that God produces the will in us^ that is to say, he makes us willing, unwilling as we were ? Could it be the powerlessness to do what we would wish? But the same apostle says that God also works in us " to do." Assuredly then it is not possible that this work of his should remain without its effect. It is not that he does not meet within us great resistance to his work, and that error, malice, passion, pride, a host of lusts, or, to speak more pro- perly, of demons, are not opposed to his will. But there is no strength which he does not conquer, or resistance that he does not surmount, or strong hold that he does not destroy, or pride that he does not throw down, or counsel that he does not dissipate, or thoughts that he does not lead captive, or lust that he does not bring under his yoke. When he hardens the wicked by his just decree, the apostle testifies "that none can resist his will," Rom. ix. 19. Who will believe that he has less power to soften than to harden ? or that the hand of his righteousness should be more powerful on the vessels of his wrath than that of his grace on those of his mercy? If this work of God had not this insurmountable and certain efficacy, what would be more cold and less reason- able than the rich and magnificent expressions which the apostle gives us, saying "that God has displayed on us who believe the exceeding greatness of Ins power, according to the working of his mighty power?" Eph. i. 19. Of what use are these great works, if God only simply shows us the objects of his truth, without really softening our hearts to receive them ? Or where is the man of sound judgment who would thus speak of a philosopher, and say " that he had displayed on us the exceeding greatness of his power, under pretence that he had taught us to live well ?" But from hence it still further appears, that we contribute nothing to the work of our new birth, and that all those pretended powers which some attribute to our own free-will are but fictions and chimeras. They wish that the will of man should be the queen and mistress of his movements ; and that, supposing that God has done every thing on his side, that he has enlightened the understanding, ■2. u 74 AN EXPOSITION OF Serm. XIL that he has manifested forth his judgments in the world, that he has displayed all his strength and power, still that this shall be without any effect, put- ting neither "to will nor to do" into man; that man still has, after all this, the power in his will to reject grace, and to live in sin or not. Certainly if it be so, the apostle is wrong in saying that God works with power in us both " to will and to do." At this rate he has done neither the one nor the other. It is to the empire of our will that we owe it, and not to the work or efhcacy of Divine grace. And what need was there that God should act so nobly towards us, and that he should display all the glory of his power, even that by which he raises the dead and creates the worlds, to work nothing in us ? all his work not having, according to these people, any power or efficacy on our hearts, for fear of violating their natural liberty. Besides this passage which is so clear, there is hardly one in Scripture, treating on this subject, which does not confound this error, and show us that the work of God on be- lievers does not, by any means, leave their will in this pretended indifference and liberty to determine. As when it says, that God circumcises our hearts ; that he takes away our hearts of stone, and gives us hearts of flesh ; and that he puts his law within us, and writes it in our hearts; that he converts us to himself; that he delivers us fiom the power of darkness, and ti-anslates us into the kingdom of his dear Son, Col. i. 13; that he gives us the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, and enlightens the eyes of our understanding, Eph. i. 18; that as the light shined in darkness, so has it shined in our hearts, to give us the light of the knowledge of his glory in the face of Jesus Christ, 2 Cor. iv. 6, 7 ! that he draws us to himself, John vi. 44; that he grafts lis by his power into the good olive tree, Rom. si. 23; that he opens our hearts. Acts xvi. 14; that those who were dead in trespasses and sins he has quickened in his Son, Eph. ii. 1,5, 6; and similar modes of speaking, which all explain, as you see, with wonderful emphasis, a very powerful and effi- cacious work, and w hich assuredly produces its effect, without leaving it in doubt, or putting it off to the action of any other cause whatever. And not here to insist upon it any more, I will only finally add, that our Lord also shows it clearly to us in John vi. 44, 45, where, after having said that none can come to him exce])t the Father draw him, he adds, that whoever has heard the Father, and has learnt of him, comes to him. The language of the first proves to us that man has no power in himself, even to will or to do any thing that regards godliness, none ever converting himself to Jesus Christ, unless God draws him. And the second shows us that this work, by which God di-aws us to his Son, is so powerful that none can resist it, all those on whom it is displayed coming to him, which would be false if it happen- ed (as our adversaries pretend) that any of those whom God has taught should remain out of Christ for having rejected the calling and teaching of God by his own will. But we must briefly answer some of the most epeeious objections which they bring against a doc- trine so clearly founded on Scripture. In the first place, they say that if it be God who works in us to will and to do, in the way that we have set forth, it will consequently be he who wills and who believes in us, and not we in him, in the same way as some of the most extravagant heretics have held, that it is not properly the sun that shines, or the fire that burns, but God who shines in the one and burns in the other. To which I reply, that this objection has only been dictated to them by the violence of their inclinations. They themselves acknowledge that God enlightens the understandings of men in the knowledge of himself, by a work which is neces- sarily efficacious, and which man cannot resist, so that it is not possible that he upon whom it is dis- played should not know it. And, nevertheless, for all that, they do not say that it is not the enlightened man that knows God, but God who knows himself in him. Wherefore, then, should we not likewise say, that though God certainly and infallibly converts our will, still it is not he who wills and who believes, but ourselves who will and who believe in consequence of his operation ? Our works in religion are one thing, the operation of the cause which produces them another. Those are ours, these are of God only. We believe, we repent, we know the Lord, and we love him ; we leave the things that are be- hind, and press on to those which are before ; we persevere ; we finish our course : these are the works of the believing man, and not of God. But it is the Lord who, by the power and merciful operation of his Spirit, puts our minds in a state to act thus, en- lightening them in such a way that we see, soften- ing them so that they are converted, drawing them so that they follow, creating and quickening so that they live. They add, in the second place, that by this method we change men into stocks and stones, de- priving them of their liberty and will, without which they are not men. I acknowledge that we take from them that vain and imaginary power that they give them of being able, wdthout any reason, to turn themselves to one or the other of two contrary sides, which is hut a fiction of their mind, devoid of found- ation either in Scripture or in real reason. But I deny that the action of the grace of God, such as the apostle describes, and such as we declare it to be, in- jures either the will or the true liberty of man. It does not injure his will; on the contrary, it enriches it; it makes him embrace God and heaven, eternal and glorious objects, instead of the world and its goods, mean, vain, and perishable things ; it renders him zealous and persevering, instead of slothful and flighty, as he was before. Can there be any thing more ridiculous than to accuse a work of God of ruining our will which works in us both to will and to do ? which makes us will more powerfully, more nobly, and more firmly than ever ? But neither does it deprive man of his true and legitimate liberty. For the liberty of man does not lie in the power which they attribute to it of embracing good or evil indiscriminately. At this rate God would not be free, seeing that his will is firmly fixed on good, nor the mind of Jesus Christ, nor those of the glorified saints, nor the spirits of the blessed angels, who all confess cannot be inclined to evil ; nor, on the other hand, demons nor men, whether hardened in this world, or damned in the other, who all acknowledge cannot embrace the good. What sort of liberty then must that be which man would lose in making use of it? ceasing to be free at the very instant that he w'ould use his liberty. For as the will loses this indifference every time that it wills something, resolving or retract- ing the part it should embrace, if it be in indifference that its liberty consists, it is evident that it must lose it every time it uses it. But the true liberty of rational nature consists in its following and embracing that which is good ; not that it should be ignorant of it, like plants and animals, or that it should exercise no choice, as those who are under constraint, but that it should incline to that which it knows and judges to be best and most expedient, being led to will by its own judgment, and not by a blind instinct, or by a foreign power. Now God in no way thwarts this order and privilege of our nature in working in us Chap. II. THE EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS. 75 to will and to do. For he does not lead us into the plan of salvation either in spite of ourselves, or by bringing us up in the fellowship of his Son as stones, or pieces of wood, or as slaves, who are made to do and suffer by the rod things that they hate in their hearts. But he leads us in a manner suitable to our nature, and by an action so gentle, yet so powerful, enlightens our understandings, and forms in them by the hand of his Spirit a firm and solid knowledge of his truth, and in consequence by this light draw- ing our wills and affections to his love, efficaciously, but agreeably ; invincibly, but without constraint. And as the Scripture shows us the inevitable efficacy of this his work, in saying that he creates us; that he quickens us ; that he draws us ; that he brings us under the yoke of his Son ; that he vanquishes and subdues us ; that he leads us captive : it also testifies to us its gentleness, when it says, in many places, that he teaches us ; that he persuades or draws us gently, John vi. 45 ; that he leads us, and speaks kindly to us, Hos. ii. 14; that he gives us counsel in the night season, Psal. xvi. 7 ; and that our hearts say unto us from him, " Seek ye my face," Psal. xxvii. 8; that he opens our ears morning by morning, that 'we may hear as those who are well taught ; that he opens our ear in such a way that we are not rebellious, neither go backward ; that he draws us, but with the cords of a man, Hos. ii. 4 ; that he binds us, but with the bonds of love ; that he constrains us, but that it is by the love of Christ ; that he is stronger than we, and has prevailed, but it is by his Divine attractions, Jer. xx. 7. Thus you see that the objections of error against truth are empty. Let us then conclude, with the apostle, that it is God which efficaciously works in us to will and to do. And certainly if it were otherwise, if the effect of the efforts of his grace depended entirely on our ■will, we must then acknowledge that his providence would be imperfect, as at this rate the motions of our wills would be beyond his government and out of his power. It must then be said that he did not cer- tainly foresee, either the future motions of our wills, or the effects which depended on them, as according to this supposition they are all doubtful and uncer- tain until the will has determined, and it is clear that of a thing uncertain in itself the knowledge cannot be certain. We must then deify the will of man, as this opinion makes him supreme and inde- pendent with respect to God himself. We must then abolish the use of the greater part of the exhorta- tions, prayers, and thanksgivings, that is to say, the principal part of religion. For of what use are ex- hortations, if all the light that they throw into the understanding has no efl'cct upon the will, and leaves it as undecided as it was at the beginning, all its motions depending on its own caprice, and not on any reason ? And if it is not the hand of God, but the blind impetuosity of the will, which decides for good, how and wherefore shall we pray the Lord to turn us from evil, and incline and soften us towards good ? Or how and why shall we give him thanks that he has sanctified and separated us from those who perish ? and how shall we give him, with the ancient church in one of the collects, the praise " of having forced our wills, rebels as we were, to turn to him ? " Undoubtedly it is a lie to praise him for that which he has not done ; and it is folly to ask that of hira which he neither will nor can do for us. If we will then preserve faith in the providence, fore- knowledge, and sovereignty of God; if we will en- tirely retain the holy and salutary use of exhortations, prayers, and thanksgivings; let us fly and reject this arrogant error, and humbly give God *h.e glory of having efficaciously worked in us both to will and to do. III. That nothing may be wanting to our blessed- ness, let us add, with the apostle, that the Lord has done it according to his good pleasure, that this is the only motive which induced him to bestow upon us so much good. The actions of God on his crea- tures are of two kinds. Of some, the reason appears in the subjects themselves on which he displays them ; and others not. For example, the faith of the repenting sinner is the reason for which he justi- fies and saves him ; the unbelief of the impenitent is the reason for which he condemns him. When these are spoken of, there is no need to allege the good pleasure of God, the reason of his work being seen in the thing itself. Thus you will not find that the apostle has recourse to it, when he treats of the justi- fication of man. But when we do not see in the things any cause which has moved God to treat them as he does, there we are forced to adore his judg- ments, and to believe that he does it because it is his will. As when we consider that, of all the people of the world, he chose Israel, who were in nothing bet- ter or more excellent than others, we are obliged to come to this, that he acted thus because it was his good pleasure. It is this good pleasure that the apostle here alleges as the reason of the grace that God gives us, iu working in us both to will and to do. And elsewhere in treating of this mystery, he speaks again to the same effect, when he says he has " predestinated us to the adoption of children by Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of his will," Epb. 1. 5. And our Lord in like manner, " Thou hast (says he to his Father) hidden these things," the mysteries of his gospel, " from the wise and pru- dent, and hast revealed them unto babes; even so, Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight," Matt. xi. 25. And it is this same good pleasure the apostle means, when, speaking of the illumination of the Gentiles in the gospel, he says, " that God would make known to them what is the riches of the glory of this myster)', which is in Christ," Col. i. 27 ; and St. James likewise, when he says, " that God of his own will hath begotten us by the word of his truth, that we might be the first-fruits of his creatures," James i. 18. From which it follows, in the first place, that it is not the consideration of any thing that is in us which moved the Lord to call us and convert us to the knowledge of himself. And thus it entirely crushes the presumption of those who found this election and preference of believers, either on their merit of covgntiti/, as they call it, or on the disposi- tion of their heart, subdued, softened, and prepared by affliction, before the period of their calling, or upon the good use of their free-will, foreseen by the Lord in the light of his foreknowledge. For if God called men to himself for any one of these reasons, there could be no cause for assigning it to his good pleasure. The reason for which he would have given them his grace, rather than to others, would have been quite evident ; there being no one who will deny that he who merits ought to be preferred to him who does not ; and that he who is dejected and humbled, to him who remains haughty and proud; and he whose will is inclined to good, to him who has not been stopped in his love of evil. But from hence again appears, in the second place, the truth which we have previously declared, namely, that the effect of the work of God in us does not in any way depend on the movements of our will. For if it were so, it would pioduce in us to will and to do not ac- cording to the good pleasure of God, as the apostle says, but according to our own. But here the adver- saries arise, and pretend that if it be the good plea- 76 AN EXPOSITION OP Serm. xir. Bure of God alone which distinguishes those whom he calls from those whom he does not call, at this rate there will be accepting of persons; giving unequally to objects that are equal, converting one sinner and not another. To which I reply, that this by no means follows. For he does what he will with his own ; and owing nothing to any, gives to him whom he pleases without injustice. As when among a great number of poor, we give alms to some, and not to others, he to whom we do give them has reason to thank us, and he to whom we do not give them lias no right to complain. We have satisfied one, but we have done no wrong to another, because we owed nothing to either. Thus is it with the Lord in respect to men. Criminals and sinners, they all deserve death, and were he to leave all in the perdition in which he finds them, none could accuse him either of injustice or rigour. Those whom he snatches from this gulf are bound to acknowledge that he does them a won- derful favour. Those to whom he does not give similar grace cannot without injustice impute their misery to him ; and so much the more, that he does not entirely forsake them, but presents them his word, invites and calls them to himself, and receives them if they listen to him. When instead of yield- ing him so right and reasonable a duty, they proudly reject all his exhortations and warnings, scotf at his voice, insult his servants, abhor piety, and give them- selves up to vice, of whom can they complain but of themselves, who knowingly and willingly precipi- tate themselves into perdition by their rebellion against so good and jiowerful a Lord .' I acknow- ledge that if he had not displayed on us the work of his marvellous grace, by which he worked in us both to will and to do, we should have valued it no more than others ; and I acknowledge further, that had he been pleased to act in them as in us, he had worked in their hearts to will and to do as well as in ours. But still I maintain, that although the grace that he has given us is the cause of our salvation, it is not right to say, that because he has deprived them of it is, properly speaking, the cause of their perdition. It is their sin and their wickedness. They feel it so in themselves, and will one day publicly acknowledge it to their shame. For what other power leads them to rebel against God, than that of their ow-n evil lusts ? What violence plunges them into vice, but that of their own passions ? Who is it shuts the eyes and ears of their minds, if it be not the love of the world and the flesh ? But if you desire still further to enter into the mystery of God, and if, throwing down the respect due to the counsels of such supreme Majesty, you require, at all hazards, that I should tell you why he acts so with some that he has gained and persuaded, and in another way with others that he has not so persuaded ; I will say to you, with St. Augustine, that I have but two things to reply there- upon : the one, " O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God ! how unsearch- able are his judgments, and his ways past finding out !" Rom. xi. 33; and the other, "Is there unrighteous- ness with God ? God forbid," Rom. ix. 14. If this answer does not content you, seek some more learned persons, but take care that instead of knowledge you do not find presumption. This is where I shall end, dear brethren, after having briefly touched on the principal lessons that we have drawn from the doctrine of the apostle for our edification. He teaches us that God is the sole author of our conversion, working in us with power both to will and to do according to his good pleasure. You then. Christian souls, who have had the courage to embrace the gospel, and the happiness of enjoying this holy light, which sows even in this world peace and joy in our hearts, and in the other will crown us with glory and immortality, see with what warmth you ought to love the author of such a great and marvellous blessing. He has not only given to you, as to others, a body, mind, will, and earthly life, with every thing necessary to support it here below. He has not only drawn you from those depths of en-or in which idolaters live. He has not only caused his word to sound in your ears, and presented his light to your eyes. He has done much more than that. Extending from heaven that same hand which cre- ated the universe, and raised Jesus Christ from the dead, he has enlightened your understandings, and softened your wills ; and planted the cross of his Son in your hearts, opening them at the preaching of his ministers, and himself producing with power this " to will and to do" which you ask. What then henceforth should these understandings, enlightened with the light of God, think or meditate upon, but upon his wonders and his mysteries ? What ought these wills, freed by the hand of the Lord, henceforth to love, but the goodness of their great Liberator ? And what consolation, what joy, and what assur- ance ought you to have for the future ! You carry the work of God in your bosom, the labour of his hand, the production of his Spirit, the inviolable seal of your salvation. What can you refuse to him who has lavished on you so many wonders, who has so many efforts and exploits of his power which he does in spite of yourselves in your favour still to add to those of which the interior of your heart is the sub- ject and the witness ? But, believers, if I command your gratitude and joy, I do not permit presumption. Look at the gifts of God ; consider with delight what he has done for you and in you ; but do not become proud of them. Believe that of all these gifts that you enjoy there is not a single one but what is an alms of God. Believe that it is he who has worked in you both to will and to do ; both the smallest sparks of piety, and the noblest conflicts that you have endured for it ; that in this respect there is nothing in yon either great or small that does not come from him, that does not call upon you to bow the head, and walk before him with fear and trem- bling. Beware also of the security of those who flatter themselves and are satisfied that they are the children of God, under the pretence that they make a profession of being so. None are his children but those whom he has begotten, in whom he has put his Spirit and life, and in whom (as the apostle says) he has worked to will and to do. He does not only say, to will, he adds, to do. Those transient emo- tions of piety you sometimes feel arising in your hearts, and which disappear as it were almost in the same instant, are not the whole work of God in his faithful people ; he brings their wills into the obe- dience of his Son. He crucifies their flesh ; he sup- presses, or, to speak more properly, he mortifies, their lusts and passions. Judge with what right you pre- tend to be creatures of God in Jesus Christ, you who, instead of his will, only fulfil that of the flesh and of the world ; you who are enticed by the vanities of earth and the follies of time, as slaves, into the most infamous exercise of your most miserable slavery. One sighs after gold and silver; another after the sinful lusts of the flesh. One runs after ambition; another seiTcs some other idol. And is that. Chris- tians, the will that God works with power in the hearts of his children ? Is this the fixed will that he gives them, so constant, so firm, and always followed by its effects ? Is this all the success of the great efforts of his Spirit, and of the power which he dis- plays on his own ? But how is it that you do not perceive that these are rather the productions of drive nclina- Chap. II. Satan than the works of God? And how is it that you do not tremble at seeing the enemy so powerful m you, master of your wills, and absolute tyrant of your hearts, which he fills with his desires, and acts there with the same efficacy as in the children of disobedience ? In the name of God, forsake your error, awake from this great stupefaction ; di from your hearts such unjust and dishonest incli tions. Receive in them the will of God, which aL.,^ 6 good, salutary, and holy. Pray to him that he f^ould display his all-powerful hand upon you, that I he would extinguish the fire of the enemy, that he [would create a pure heart and renew a right spirit I within you, and that he would work with power in I you both to will and to do according to his good I pleasure. Amen. Preached at Charenlon, Sunday, \Qth Feb. 1641. THE EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS. 77 SERMON XIII. Verse 14, 15. Do all things without murmurings and disputings : that ye may he blameless and harmless,* the sons of God, tcithout rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world ; holding forth the word of life. Dear brethren, among all the Christian virtues, there is hardly one that is more necessary or more useful than humility ; and if you will seriously consider its nature, you will find that it is either the mother or nurse of all the others. It works in us patience in adversity, and modesty in prosperity. It disposes us more po\\-erfully to obey God and love men. It pre- serves in our souls both the light of faith and the fire of love. It plants in them the peace of heaven and tranquillity of mind. It both founds and preserves the hopes of the world to come, and defends us against the temptation of that which now is. It covers us like a large buckler, so that neither Satan nor the world can obtain any advantage over us. As by humility Jesus Christ obtained eternal salvation, so also by it do we enter upon and possess it. This heavenly virtue presides over all this miraculous work. It governs its beginning, its progress, and its end. This is the reason why the holy apostle recom- mends it with so much care to the Philippians, and through them to all other believers. You have here- in before seen the exertions he has made (o plant it in our souls, proposing it to us in Jesus Christ our Saviour, both as a most perfect example, and as an unheard-of reward ; and adding still, in the last text that we have discoursed upon, a very powerful i-eason drawn from this, that all the good that is in us, whether to undertake or to execute the plan of god- liness, is a gift and a work of the pure grace of God, which works in us with power both to will and to do according to his good pleasure. Now after having established humility among the Philippians, he makes it act, representing to them in the verses that you have heard some of its duties, and concluding this doctrine by a beautiful and magnificent exhortation to the pursuit of a rare and singular holiness worthy of the name they bore, and of the end for which God had created them in his Son. The duties which he recommends to them as necessarily flowing from * Fr. "wi(hout reproach and simple." humility are contained in these words, " Do all things without murmurings and disputings : that ye may be blameless and harmless;" and the general exhorta- tion to holiness which he adds is comprised in these, " that ye may be children of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world ; holding forth the word of life." We will examine all this in this discourse, if it please the Lord. And, that we may proceed regularly, we will consider, in the first place, the prohibition which he gives us against murmuring and disputing; secondly, the commandment which he adds to it, to be holy, and without reproach; and, in the third and last place, the reasons with which he enforces this exhortation, drawn both from our character as children of God, and from the office to which the Lord has consecrated us as lights of the world. I. He commands us then at the beginning to " do all things without murmurings and disputings," where it is evident that by the "all things" of which he speaks, he means those things which regard religion, and the obedience that we owe to God, the whole of the Christian life; desiring that we should serve the Lord and edify our neighbours cheerfully and will- ingly, without any thought arising in our heart, or any word coming out of our mouth, either contrary to a heavenly disposition, or to the good and useful- ness of men. For the flesh with which we are clothed, loving naturally its thoughts, its ease, and its convenience, it often happens that when the duties of Christianity oppose it, it objects, either secretly or openly ; so that although the authority of God forces us to obey him, yet we only do so by constraint, complaining of our condition, and of the judgment which condemns us to it. This resistance takes place sometimes solely in our hearts, secretly thwarting the work of God, without bursting out into a formal op- position to his will ; sometimes it goes further, and even doubts the truth or justice of the duties which it prescribes to us. St. Paul here calls the first murmuring, and the second disputing, and banishes both from the life of true believers, as the plague and ruin of piety, a commencement of disobedience, and a seed of rebellion. Besides, I would extend them generally to all complainings and disputings, whether against God or men. Against God, when we have the boldness to call in question, and to find fault either with the doctrine that he has given us, as if it contained something false, or with his provi- dence in tlie guidance of our life, as if it were unjust or unreasonable. Against men, when we judge them, their morals and their actions, rashly and inconsider- ately, condemning them without cause, opposing them, and even coming to debatings and quarrellings with them. St. Paul, in 1 Cor. x., sets before us an example of the flrst kind of murmuring drawn from the ancient Israelites, who murmured so many times in the wilderness against the Lord and his servants, foolishly blaming the counsel of God and his con- duct, and insidtingly complaining of the way in which he treated them, as if he had done them a great injury in delivering them from Egypt, and leading them' to Canaan : " Wherefore hath he brought us into this land (say they) to fall by the sword ; were it not better for us to return into Egypt?" Numb. xiv. 3. It appeared to them an injustice to detain them so long in that frightful wilderness where they were wandering, and to expose them to so many dangers and battles, before permitting them to enter into the Promised Land. And although, in reading their his- tory, we cannot help detesting their presumptuous fury, and their ingratitude, still we must acknow- ledge that we ourselves often fall into their murmur- 78 AN EXPOSITION OF Serm. XIII. ings. For how many Christians are there who are displeased with the Lord's ways in the guidance of their lives .' who will freely say to him, like some of his ancient people, Wherefore dost thou treat us BO sadly in this wilderness? Wherefore dost thou feed us with such poor and light bread ? Why dost thou provide so little for us ? We are in continual fears, in the midst of serpents and venomous crea- tures, surrounded on all sides with the swords of our enemies. What is the use of this heavy cross under which we groan ? Would it not be better if thou wert to lead us to the inheritance that thou hast promised us by a pleasant and agreeable road, strewed with flowers, and abounding with pleasures ? To these general murmurs each adds his own pecu- liar complaint ; one asking God the reason of the poverty into which he is plunged ; another, of the sicknesses wherewith he is afflicted : some, of the persecutions they endure ; others, of the ill success of their designs : one, of the death of his children ; another, of their life : one, of sterility ; another, of fecundity: and all pretending that if there be not injustice, at any rate there is no reason for his treat- ing them thus; and that if it were not necessary, at least it would have been more suitably ordered otherwise. It often happens also that we murmur against the truth of God, whether for the things themselves which are set forth, or for the manner in which they are taught. Such was the murmur of the people of Capernaum, of whom St. John tells us in his Gospel ; who, offended because the Lord declared that he is the bread that came down from heaven, said, " Is not this Jesus the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know?" John vi. 42. Some among his own dis- ciples allowed themselves to be carried away with the same fault: " This is a hard saying, (say they,) who can hear it ?" John vi. 60. Thus we every day see people who murmur; some, against the predesti- nation of God, which the apostle teaches us; others, against the incarnation, or the propitiation of the Lord Jesus Christ, and against divers other articles of his wholesome doctrine. From hence arise the blas- phemies, the heresies, the schisms, and the rebellions of men. Murmuring is the grain from whence spring all these miseries. They first induce doubt and ir- resolution, then debate and dispute, afterwards, aided by passion, bring all kinds of evil into the world. And as it is a crime full of hoiTor, which attacks the majesty of God, and insults it in its tenderest part, it rarely remains unpunished. You know how he for- merly chastised in a fearful manner the murmurs of the ancient people, causing them to be destroyed of the destroyer ; as St. Paul expressly remarks, 1 Cor. X. 10. At this time, under the New Testament, it is still more severe against this species of sin, as we have less cause to commit it. Thus those who mur- mur are often left to a reprobate mind, God giving them up to a spirit of folly, error, and seduction, which either precipitates them into atheism, or into superstition, or into some other of those frightful abysses in which the wicked perish. Let us then fly, beloved brethren, let us fly from so dangerous and so deadly a plague ; let us fly from the presence and the breath of those who are infected with it. May it never happen to us either to utter or to listen to any murmur against the truth, or against the pro- vidence of our good God. Let us adore all the mysteries both of his word and of his judgments with profound submission. To keep us from this fault, in the first place, let ns meditate on his word with extreme care, separating diligently the truth which it presents from that which men have added to it of their own imagina- tion. For I acknowledge that there are a great many things which the world would pass for the word of God, against which murmuring is just and complaint lawful, as they oppose, not merely the flesh and its interests, but right reason and true piety. But when once it appears to us that a doc- trine is truly and really taught in the word of God, then we must receive it witli respect. Murmuring is no longer permitted. If the flesh be opposed to it, let us stifle its thoughts and slay its motions. If reason alleges that she does not understand it, that she finds nothing in her own knowledge by which it can be proved ; let us remember how weak our reason is, and in how many natural things, the most common and usual, she is at a loss. Let us establish the belief of the Divinity of the Scriptures in our hearts by a continual meditation of the arguments that God has given us in the wonders of their dispo- sition, of their subject, of their order, and of their style ; in the predictions which he has scattered here and there; in the knowledge of the holiness, of the miracles, and of the truth of the prophets and apos- tles, who are its writers ; and finally, in the efi'ects that this heavenly doctrine has produced, and that it still produces every day on the earth, creating and preserving there a new people, in spite of the eiforts of Satan and the world. This thought will easily repress all our murmurings. For when God speaks, it is for man to listen, and to submit his mind to the voice of so glorious a Majesty. And as to his pro- vidence in the guidance of our life, if we have well understood the teachings of his word, neither shall we find any thing to say against it. I will not allege to you here that the potter does what he will with his clay, and that we are infinitely more beneath God than the clay is beneath the potter. But I will say, I that even to examine these things by the rules of] gentleness and equity, there is no father whose good- ness and tenderness towards his children does not ' permit him to use whatever we may find harsh in the conduct of the Lord towards us. For I would ask, Does the father wrong his child when he chas- tises him ? when he tries him ? when he fashions him to true worthiness by hard and laborious exer- cises ? when he keeps him from wine and dice, and all the other instruments of debauchery ? Where is the sensible man who does not see, that this rigour in a father of which the child complains is in truth kindness and goodness, that it is the chief of his favours, and the most valuable of all his attentions ? And why then do you find it strange that God, the eternal Father of our spirits, to make us good people, worthy of his name and heaven, should cause ns to i undergo his discipline ? Even if we had no inclina- tion to vice, still it would be suitable for his glory : and our praise, to make our virtue appear and shine, which can only do so in those conflicts and trials which weary us. But being full of evil habits, of pride, luxury, and effeminacy, having a nature so prone to debauchery, that the slightest opportunity tempts it, and the least prosperity renders it insup- portable, have we any right to complain that God takes from us the allurements and food of our vices ? Believers, consider the troubles that your crimes de- serve. Consider the inclination that you have for sin. Examine the fruits of afflictions, modesty, repentance, disgust with the world, and the desire of heaven ; their utility in forwarding the glory of Jesus Christ, in edifying men, and in assuring your own commend- ation ; and, far from murmuring against God, you will thank him for having treated you in such a way, and you will acknowledge that nothing more just, nothing more excellent or more Divine, could be devised, than the conduct which he employs towards his Chap. II. THE EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIAKS. 79 people. If in the circumstances of your life, or in those of your brethren, something should occur, the reason of -which you do not perceive, remember that though you may be ignorant of it, you are not on that account to say that there is none. Allow that Bod is wiser than you, and that there is something in his ways which is above your comprehension. Have at least as much deference for this supreme Monarch as you every day yield to the counsels cf the kings and princes of the earth, whose orders you often respect, although you cannot penetrate into their reason. But the apostle means that we should use this modesty likewise towards our bre- thren, and not only towards God; that we should have for them also equity and respect ; that we should not hastily condemn their proceedings. Let us con- sider, that we shall be judged ourselves as we have judged others; that we should not put all on the same level in their differences with us ; that we should endure their weaknesses even in the faith, being truly but infirmities, without murmuring, with- out complaining of them ; like some who move hea- ven and earth about things indifferent, who trouble weak consciences with endless questions and debates, and who are possessed of such a morbid sensibility, that they thunder at and anathematize all errors equally. 1 say the same in civil life, in which we ought to conduct ourselves towards men, whether •.vithin or without the church, with gentleness and patience. If it sometimes appear that they yield to us or to others less friendship or respect than they ought, if even occasionally instead of good they render us evil offices, it is expedient that we regard them in the most favourable light, not imputing it as a crime, but as a last alternative ; and even then we must do it in so temperate a manner, that in showing them their fault, and prosecuting our right, we may neither fall into murmurings nor disputings. And this is principally required in that which regards either our superiors in the state or in the church, or at any rate our equals. For it is chiefly in our con- duct towards those that murmurings and disputings or quarrellings take place. As, for example, if it happen that the magistrates issue some order which offends us, or that a pastor in the church does not preach or conduct himself to our liking. It is in this and similar subjects that the apostle forbids us to murmur. But as for those who are subject to us, you see clearly that the remonstrances and complaints that we make of their faults, and the resistance that we oppose to them, cannot be called murmurs ; neither can the lawsuits, by which we prosecute our rights modestly and in a Christian-like manner before the tribunals of our superiors, whether ecclesiastics or secular, against those who desire unjustly and obsti- nately to violate them. II. But after having forbidden us to murmur or to dispute, the apostle adds, "that ye may be with- out reproach, and simple." In which you see he directs two things : the one, that we should be with- out reproach, or blameless; and the other, that we should be simple. The first of these directions obliges us to a perfect honesty, justice, gentleness, and equity in our whole conversation, so that none may have occasion to complain of us, or to accuse us of having failed in any of the duties of charity or meekness of which we make profession. This is the testimony the Holy Spirit bears to Zacharias and to Elisabeth his wife, " that they were both righteous before God, walking in all the statutes and ordinances of the Lord blameless," Luke i. 6. It is true, that in this place the apostle principally regards our conduct towards our neighbour, opposing the duty which he requires of us, to the murmurings and disputings from which arise the greater part of those complaints men make to us, and reproaches which they cast upon us. He desires, then, that we should so conduct our- selves towards them that they should have nothing to find fault with in our manners ; that superiors should receive honour and submission from us ; in- feriors, care, watchfulness, and love; equals, affec- tion and cordial friendship; the poor, the aid of charity ; the afllicted, the soothings of compassion ; those who oblige us, gratitude ; those who insult us, meekness ; the old, respect ; the young, concord ; the learned, docility ; the ignorant, instruction ; the in- firm, support ; those who are without, the attractions of piety ; those who are within, the intercourse of union ; and all in general, purity of actions, honesty of words, gentleness of mind, courage and vigour in adversity, modesty and propriety in prosperity, a soul uncorrupted by sensuality and inflexible to the passions, a firm and unshaken innocence, which de- lights in doing good to all, without ever offending any. This is what the apostle demands of you, O Christian. He only desires that you should not give any just cause of reproach. As to events, he does not require you to be warned against them ; that is to say, he does not mean that men should not blame you. It is enough for him that your life should not give them any occasion to do so, and that if they re- buke or hate you, you may truly say with the psalmist, that they do it without a cause, Psal. xxxv. 19. It is very true, that the picture of this holy and innocent life, which he asks of you, is so beautiful and agree- able, that it naturally pleases all men, that it softens their passions, gains their friendship, and often draws from the greatest enemies approbation and praise. Witness the language that the pagans formerly held respecting believers : " Such a one is a virtuous man, although he is a Christian," as we read in an ancient author.* But nevertheless the malignity of men is so great, that we cannot always promise ourselves success from our innocence. Sometimes it makes them angry, and renders our cause suspected. You know of how many crimes the Jews formerly charged our Lord Jesus Christ, the Prince and Pattern of all holiness. His apostles were treated by many in the same way, and the bonds in which St. Paul himself was, when he wrote this Epistle, had been prepared for him only by the calumnies of that unhappy na- tion. We ought not to hope for better treatment either from Satan or the world, which are not im- proved by having grown older. But this will be enough, both for their conviction and our consola- tion, that we live in such a way that they can only reproach us with evil by a falsehood. Would to God that we were in these circumstances. It would be easy for us to despise the detractions of the world. But, dear brethren, it must be acknowledged, to our shame, the faults of many among us exceed the re- proaches that are cast upon them, and the impurity of their morals deserves still more blame than the world gives them. In the name of God, and as his glory and our salvation is dear to us, let us wash out these spots from our conversation, and let us render them henceforth so clean before heaven and earth, that none may blame us without falsehood, nor re- buke us without manifest injustice. To this goodness and blameless innocence the apostle adds simplicity, the badge of Christianity, which the Lord commanded his disciples in these excellent words, " Be ye harmless as doves, and wise as serpents," Matt. x. '16 ; and of which he proposed the innocence of a little child, as a fit emblem, in de- claring that if we are not changed, and do not be- come like little children, we shall not enter into his • TeitiUliaa. AN EXPOSITION OP Seem. XI 11. kingdom, Matt, xviii. 2, 3. The word aKspmoi, here employed by the apostle to express this grace pro- bably means sincere; that is to say, pure, not mixed, not sophisticated, that is entirely of one kind, with- out the true and natural constitution having been altered by the admixture of any thing foreign to it. And it appears that, to set forth this simplicity and sincerity, God formerly forbade his ancient people to plant a vineyard with different kinds of plants, and to unite under the same yoke animals of different species, and to clothe themselves with a cloth of linen and woollen mixed together, to teach us by the enigma of these figures that he hates a mind and life double and variegated, in the composition of which enters vice and virtue, good and evil, piety and super- stition. He wishes us to be entirely Christians, and that there should be nothing strange in the whole range of our conversation ; that the outside and the inside should be of the same nature, the one exactly corresponding to the other ; that the form, colour, and substance of our lives should be simple, and not mixed. And although this virtue is very extended, it may, nevertheless, be referred to four principal heads : in the first place, that we should be without hypocrisy before God, acknowledging and confessing ourselves such in his presence as we are in truth, without lessening the good which there is, without also hiding interior defects and the secret disgrace of our souls with the paint and false colouring of our artifices, imitating the coarse fraud of our first father, who, having renounced the naked simplicity in which he had been formed, wished to disguise himself be- fore that sovereign Majesty by covering himself with fig leaves. It is also one of the features of Christian simplicity not to counterfeit before men, any more than before God, giving up frauds, pretences, and dissimulations, crooked and equivocal ways, which the people of the world use, to make their neighbours believe of them the contrary of what they really are. In the third place, simplicity comprehends under it, or at least certainly draws after it, gentleness and meekness of mind; it is not easily irritated, or if irritation should sometimes arise, it is soon appeased, and in reality loses the remembrance of the offences that have been committed against it. Finally, sim- plicity is exempt from curiosity ; it only employs itself on its own business ; and, entirely turned with- in, does not observe very carefully what passes with- out, from whence it is neither suspicious nor distrust- ful. When, then, the apostle orders us to be simple, he forbids all these vices, and commends all those virtues that are opposed to them. He desires that we should be Christians indeed, walking sincerely and boldly according to our profession, having in the heart, and in every part and action of our life, that same Christ and that same gospel which we have in the lips and on the tongue. And what follows shows this very clearly, when he adds, " That ye may be children of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world; holding forth the word of life." III. In the latter part of this text, the apostle, con- tinuing his exhortation to the Philippians, sets before them many reasons which compel them to the holi- ness which he asks from them. I acknowledge (says he) that this innocence, and integrity, and simplicity, without rebuke, to which I call you, are things rare and unheard of upon earth, and far above the ability of men. But then you are not men of this world. Your origin is not from the earth. You are the chil- dren of God, and lights of the world. As your origin and end are above the earth, so should your life be also. It ought to bear in all its parts the marks of its author, and the qualities necessary for the purpose for which he gave it you. In saying to them, then, " that ye may be the children of God, without re- buke," he shows them what ought to be their man- ner of life, that is to say, holy and heavenly ; and for the same end sets before them a reason which com- pels them, namely, their extraction and their quality. To speak correctly, the Father has no other Son than our Lord Jesus Christ, begotten from all eternity, of the same substance and the same nature as himself, almighty and eternal God, all-wise and infinite, as himself. But the Scripture also attributes, figura- tively, this title of " children of God" to those among men to whom this great and glorious Lord has deign- ed in some measure to communicate his Divine na- ture, by the work of his heavenly Spirit, forming in their minds, by the light that he there sheds, some features of that holiness, peace, and supreme joy in which blessedness consists, and destining them to his most blessed immortality, of which he gives them here the pledges and first-fruits, reserving for them its substance and its fulness in another world. All those to whom he has given these rich gifts of his grace have the honour to be called, in his Scriptures, "his children, his heirs, his brethren, and co-heirs with him." As St. John tells us, that Jesus Christ has given to all those who believe in his name the right to become children of God, as to those who are not born of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God, John i. 12, 13. As, then, the Philippians had received the gospel of the Lord, and believed in his name, they were children of God, This is what the apostle recalled to them. But he does not simply say, that they may be chil- dren of God. He adds, " without rebuke," or without blame, and w'ithout reproach ; for that is the mean- ing of the Greek word which he uses. Why did he add this word ? Does he mean to say that there are two sorts of children of God, some blamable, others not ? God forbid, beloved brethren. The glory of this great name only belongs to those whose lives are irreproachable, and whose morals are pure and un- blamable. But although in truth this praise only be- longs to children of God, there are still a great many people who call themselves children of God, who make profession of being so, and have the appear- ance, the language, and other exterior marks of it, who, with all this, do not cease to lead a shameful and scandalous life, fall of debauchery and vice. It is to separate us from these that the apostle commands us to be children of God, without rebuke and without reproach ; as if he had said, not bastards, or counter- feits, but true and legitimate children, worthy of this glorious title, and whom none can reproach with any of those evil qualities which are incompatible with the truth of this name. " That ye may be chil- dren of God, without rebuke, and without reproach." Be in truth what you make profession of being. That your life may not supply your accusers with any proof against your language, nor any just and reason- able reproach against the dignity you take that may compel you to renounce it. For as you see that in the world art counterfeits precious stones and drugs, exchanging them for others of little value, which they pass off for good by favour of some apparent re- semblance which they have to the true ; so also in the church there has always been found a number of cheats, who, deceiving themselves and others, take the colour and form of the children of God, although in reality they are not so. And as there are certain means by which adulterated goods, such as the gold and stones of alchemy, are discerned from the true; so also in religion there are marks and certain proofs whereby those may be known who have oiily the Chap. II. THE EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS. 81 name of children of God from those who are so in reality. Those who sustain these trials, and in whom are really found all these marks, are they whom the apostle here very elegantly calls " children of God, without rebuke ;" those whom the crucible cannot make to blush ; those in whom neither the calumny nor the cunning of the enemy can find any thing to lay hold of; such as the Scripture sets forth in a Job, who confounded all the artifices of Satan, and justified most fully by his trials the glorious testi- mony which God iiad condescended to bear to him with his own mouth. And here, dear brethren, it is not needful that I should enlarge upon or set forth these divine and inimitable marks of the true chil- dren of God. Their name sufficiently shows you in what they consist : in a serious and constant imita- tion of him whose children they are; in real charity towards men, in kindness, holiness, and purity ; in fleeing from all pursuits likely to displease our hea- venly Father; and in studying and practising his will, according to the doctrine of St. John, " All that is born of God overcometh the world ;" and, " Whoso- ever is born of God doth not sin, because the seed of God rcmaineth in him," 1 John v. 4 ; iii. 9. From which it appears that when the apostle here wishes that we may be the children of God, without rebuke, he calls us by these words to a peculiar sanctifica- tion ; as if he directed us to renounce all the filth and impurity of vice, all the meannesses and vanities of the world, to lead henceforth a spiritual and heavenly life, that may be full of that purity and innocence, that zeal and charity, which are found in heaven, the holy and blessed kingdom of our eternal Father. But besides the form of this sanctification, the name of " children of God," he also proposes motives and reasons for it. For as this name warns us that we so closely belong to this supreme Lord, is it not reasonable that we should imitate him with all our powers, and that we should show forth the fruits of {lis Spirit, and the marks of his blood, in all the ac- tions of our life? Where is the man, the offspring of a noble and illustrious father, whose soul is not roused by the remembrance of his birth, and animated with thoughts worthy of his extraction ? And does not this incomparable favour that God has done us still more incite us to this feeling ? For from slaves of the devil we see ourselves, by his kindness, become children of the supreme God. What a heart we must have if the consideration of such a high privilege does not affect us ! But that blessed immortality which this glorious name promises us, ought also to excite us forcibly to run with all our strength towards this Divine end of our calling, and to employ us night and day on sanctification, without which, whatever the flesh may promise or hope, no one shall ever see the Lord. In the following words the apostle puts still another consideration before the eyes of these Philippians, which ought not less to influence their love and their study of a spiritual life ; it is that they were '" in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation." He, doubtless, borrowed this expression from the song of Moses, where they are found in the Greek version, when the prophet, inveighing against the infidelity of the Israelites, that they have corrupted themselves towards the Lord, calls them " a crooked and per- verse generation," Deut. xxxii. 3. He applies these ■words to the Gentiles and to the Jews, among whom then lived the faithful of Philippi. From which we may learn, in the first place, what is the condition of men who are out of Jesus Christ ; they are (says the apostle) " a crooked and perverse generation," which have nothing right or simple either in their religion or morals, whose whole life is only a confused laby- rinth, entangled in a thousand windings, without issue, without guide, and without any light. Judge from this, in passing, what a situation men are in by their natural strength, and that it is to the Spirit of God alone to which ought to be attributed the glory of all that is correct and wise in us. From this you may also see what is the situation of the church wliilst sojourning here below. She subsists, like these Philippian Christians, surrounded by a multitude of enemies. It is a Lot in Sodom, an ark of Noah in the deluge, the Hebrew children in the furnace of Babylon, a little island beaten on all sides by a great and infinite sea. It is true that the church is not always equally mixed with this crooked generation ; it is true that she has sometimes more elbow-room, the nation in which she dwells being either favour- able to her doctrine, or less enemies to it than were the fellow countrymen of the Philippians. But how- ever it may be, there are always many hypocrites and sensual and unregenerate people in those very places where profession is made of its creed. What the apostle here says to the Philippians is suitable, in some measure, to all Christians, according to what the oracle has predicted of Jesus Christ, that he shall reign in the midst of his enemies. But as we have to thank God that he has so favoured us as to separate us from the generation of this world ; so ought we to take heed that we have nothing in common with its manners, faithfully keeping ourselves unpolluted in the midst of its corruption. And as naturalists say that there are rivers w'hich run through lakes with- out mingling their waters with them, may we flow together in this w'orld without uniting in its ways, preserving all the colour, strength, and substance of our Divine source ; may we be truly that people of God, of which Balaam formerly said, " They shall dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned among the nations ;" always strangers in the world, although living on the earth, and breathing its air ; floating in the midst of its waters without being confounded with them ; walking in its fires without being bm-nt ; constantly remaining upright, perfect, sincere, and unrebukable in the midst of all its obliquities and perversities. This mixed state of our existence obliges us to do so, my brethren. For as you see in the world that things contract and concentrate all their powers, uniting them that they may preserve the qualities and perfections of their nature, when they are sur- rounded by their opposites, which is what the schools of philosophy call " antiperistasis," so should we also do in religion. When we find ourselves enclosed and besieged on all sides by the adversaries of our profession, it is then that we must more than ever draw into ourselves, collecting all the strength we have to oppose the enemy, to maintain our faith and our holiness entire against the violence of contrary examples ; let it still more shine forth, the more it is pressed down. But besides our preservation, the consideration of other men compels us to do so, God having thus mingled and dispersed us in the midst of a perverse generation, that we may gain some, and straighten its crooked ways by the efibrts of our piety ; or at least, if the children of this world do not amend, that we may one day serve to convict them of having despised the riches of Divine grace which we would offer them. And this is the third reason that the apostle places before us, representing the service that we ought to render to the children of this world : " Among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding forth the word of life." Some take these words for a com- mandment, and read them thus; "Shine ye among them as lights." But both comes to the same mean- ing. For it is clear that in the main the apostle sets AN EXPOSITION OF Serm. XIII. before us the dignity and the destiny of believers by a brilliant simile, saying that they are lights or lumi- naries of the world, and that therefore their office is to shine among men. The comparison may have been drawn either from artificial lights, which men light that they may shine during the darkness of the night, and especially of those that are placed on light-houses to guide vessels which are sailing on the sea, in showing them the port, and pointing out their course ; or from the luminaries of nature which God has placed in order in the heavens, the moon and the stars ; and this last meaning is plainer and more magnificent, and even, in my opinion, more in ac- cordance with the words of the apostle, who says, "shine as lights in the world;" consequently rather meaning the lights of the world than those of our houses. The Lord had from the beginning used this comparison, when, speaking to the father of the faithful, he told him that his posterity should be as the stars of heaven ; having by that, besides the mul- titude of his children, signified also their quality and their excellence. Thus you see that the world is, as it were, the emblem or portrait of the church. In the world God has placed the sun, to be there the inexhaustible source of visible light. In the church he has placed the Lord Jesus, the fountain of all in- tellectual light, the Sun of righteousness, and the Light of the world. Besides the sun, God created the moon and the stars in the universe, that, during the darkness of the night, they might console the world by their brightness. The whole body of the church in general is as a mystical moon, which, during the absence of its sun, sheds its light upon the earth. Each of the faithful, in particular, is as a star ; they are, in truth, of divei's forms and magnitudes, but never- theless all shining according to the measure of grace that has been given to them. And as, according to the very probable opinion of the most learned mathe- maticians, all those stars which are nearest to the earth, that is to say the planets, borrow from the sun all the light they have ; thus, also, the church col- lectively, and believers individually, have all their brilliancy, their life, and their glory from Jesus Christ alone, their great Sun, in whom dwells bodily all the fulness of knowledge and wisdom. From this it appears how great is the dignity of believers. For as among all material bodies there are none comparable to the stars of heaven in beauty and perfection ; so, of all men, believers are, without doubt, the happiest and the best gifted. Christians ! rejoice in the glory to which the Lord has raised you, and possess it with extreme content in the midst of the troubles and agitations of this world. But do not forget the service and the edification that you owe to the world. As the stars of heaven do not shine for themselves, nor hide their light, but communicate it liberally to all parts of the universe, sending it from the highest heavens to the lowest and most distant regions, piercing, by the power of their rays, into all these great spaces which are between us and them ; do also the same, O holy and mystical stars of Jesus Christ. Shed all around you the rays of the faith and holiness that he has communicated to you. Share them with men. May the innocence and kindness of your life continually enlighten the darkness of their ignorance, and give them the means of seeing salvation, and being led into it. This is precisely what the apostle means, when he says that you shine in the midst of a perverse generation as lights in the world. And this is what the Lord had already com- manded his disciples, saying to them, " Men do not light a candle and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick, that it may give light to all that ai-e in the house. So let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven," Matt. v. 15, 16. But the apostle, to explain this more clearly, after having called believers "lights," adds, "holding forth the word of life." The word which he uses* does not simply mean to have a thing in possession, but rather to hold it forth, to show it, and to present it to others. He means, then, that as the stars have not only in themselves this beautiful and lively light with which God has clothed them, but present it and show it to other creatures that they may enjoy it, and that this is what makes them lights and luminaries of the world ; so also Christians ought not only to have, and faithfully keep in themselves, this heavenly truth that Jesus Christ has given them, but also to show it forth, and place it before the eyes of other men, that they may be enlightened with the know- ledge of God, and be, by these means, the true lights of the human race. As to the stars of the world, the light that they shed here below only enlightens the living; it does not give life ; or if it contributes any thing to life, all its power only serves to the support of earthly and animal life ; whilst the light of believers is capable of quickening the dead, and of communicating to them true life, alone worthy of this glorious and im- mortal name. For the light that they hold forth is, as the apostle says, "the word of life." It is the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ that he means; and he gives it this name in the same sense as St. Peter had already said, speaking to the Lord, " To whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life," John vi. 68, to distinguish this wholesome doctrine from the learning of the wise of this world, more capable of wearying man than of edifying him ; and with the law of Moses, which, considered in itself, was the ministration of death. Whereas the gospel of Christ being received into our hearts by faith, brings there, as a living and eternal light, consolation and joy, the love of God and of our neighbour, and finally, that life and that immortality which are there- in brought to light. Judge from hence, believers, how desirous those are of the salvation of Christian people who hide from them this holy word of life, and, far from giving it to them that they may hold it forth and present it to all, as the apostle here says, are not even willing that they should either see it or read it, making them believe that it is a word of death, capable of killing them by its obscurities and pretended difficulties, whilst this holy man of God assures us that it is the word of life, the only light that is capable of enlightening and quickening men. God be for ever blessed, who has condescended to rekindle this Divine light among us, driving away and dissipating, by the strength of its light, that darkness and those thick mists of abuses and errors with which ignorance and superstition have filled the world. Let us rejoice in its light. Let us listen to and diligently study this holy word of life. Let us learn all its secrets. Let us love it as our sole advantage over others ; let us impress it on our memories, and lodge it in our understandings. May it be the usual subject of our thoughts and of our conversation. But above all, may it be the rule of our aflections, and the guide of our life ; may it govern it in every way, and be absolutely obeyed. For it is nothing to hear and to speak of it if we do not receive it with faith ; if it do not penetrate our souls, and change all their dispositions, conforming them to the image of the Lord. Without this effect, the knowledge that we have of it will turn to our condemnation. For it is to offend God to take hia 'E-TTt X"" Chap. II. THE EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS. 83 holy word of life into an impious or profane mouth ; added to vhich, it is to lessen its efiect upon other men. For h'ow can you expect that they should have faith in what you say, if your life testifies that you do not believe it yourself? If, then, you have any desire either for your own salvation, or for the improvement of others, beloved brethren, obey the commandment of the apostle; reject the works of darkness ; clothe yourselves with the armour of light, Rom. xiii. 14. Be truly children of God with- out rebuke in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation. Shine among the people of the world as the lights of the world, holding forth, and pre- senting to all, the word of life. It is the praise and the title of true believers. Such, in primitive times, was the church of Jesus Christ, clothed W'ith the Sun, and shining in every place where it dwelt with a wholesome light. Its associations were like a great torch, throwing on all sides, as it were, so many li\'ing rays of words and holy works, full of honesty, righteousness, temper- ance, modesty, and charity. Thus it pierced, in a short time, the darkness of paganism, thick and frightful as it was; it dissipated error; it disclosed the horrors of hell; it confounded devils, and forced the world to worship that same truth that it had so long and so cruelly persecuted. The light of the saints lives contributed more to his work than their miracles. Such also was this new people whom God formed, in the time of our fathers, by the power of his gospel. They were truly the lights of the world, in whom shone the pure light of knowledge and holiness. There was so much brilliancy in their manners, that it was immediately acknowledged wherever they showed themselves. The gravity, gen- tleness, and courtesy of their words, seasoned with the salt of grace, and free from all the oaths and filth with which the people of the world filled the whole of their discourse ; the openness, sincerity, and candour of their conversation, void of all malice ; the love that they had one for another, the sobriety of their repasts, the modesty of their dress, the good nurture of their families, the abundance of their alms, the strictness of their lives, quite retired into the service of Heaven, without taking any part in the excesses or the vanities and pastimes of the world ; their zeal for the glory of the Lord : all these things, I say, distinguished them from the rest of mankind, and made them sparkle and shine among them as the stars of the firmament in the darkness of night. But, O grief! the deceits of the enemy have, by de- grees, stripped us of this glorious and brilliant ap- pearance. He has tarnished, by different artifices, the brightness of our light, and has covered us with the darkness of vice. He has taken from us the marks which separated us from the world, and, so to speak, has snatched us from heaven where we shone, and has cast us down into the dust, and plunged us in the mire. Our manners are no longer illustrious or remarkable. In them are as many or more spots than in the lives of the people of the world. We run hastily into all their excesses. AVe amuse ourselves, and are foolish like them. The same avarice, the same ambition, the same cupidity occupy the one as the other. Our discourses, our designs are as earthly and as low as theirs. Murmurings and disputings, fraud, injustice, and perfidy, take place as well amongst us as them. Even in these holy assemblies our corruption is felt ; that respectful modesty which formerly shone there has evidently relaxed, and is giving place to contempt, talking, and ridicule. Dear brethren, how can we, after so unworthy a change, be still called the children of God, and lights of the worli ? By what right can we take the glory of so high a title ? Who does rot see, that, having lost the thing, we have also lost the name ? Notwitiistanding which, consider, I pray you, the consequence of this loss. Your eternal salvation is concerned in it, none having a share in that blessed life who are not chil- dren of God ; none can shine in heaven in the king- dom of glory who have not first shone here in the kingdom of grace. And do not imagine that this only relates to the ministers of the gospel. St. Paul here speaks of all believers. Of whatever order you may be, if you wish to be members of Jesus Christ, you must be a star and a light of the world. Let us, then, turn our hearts towards this great Sun of right- eousness ; let us open our minds to him, and beseech him most humbly to rekindle there his extinguished lights, faith, love, zeal, righteousness, and holiness; so that, filled with his light, we may edify our neigh- bours ; and after having shone here below in the midst of a perverse generation, we may one day shine above in the heavens with angels and saints. Amen. Preached at Charevton, Sunday, IJth March, 1641. SEEMON XIV. Verse 16—18. That I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I hare not run in tain, neither laboured iji vain. Yea, ayid if I be offered* upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I joy, and rejoice uith you all. For the same cause also do ye joy, and rejoice with me. Dear brethren, there is so close a union between the ministers of the gospel, and the churches which they build up in the Lord, that their joys and sorrows are in common. And as in the world a fine and fruitful flock is the riches of the shepherd, an honest and well conducted family the joy and honour of the father, a happy and flourishing state the strength and glory of the prince ; so also in the kingdom of Jesus Christ, a holy and blessed church, abounding in the fruits of righteousness, is the crown, the joy, and the triumph of its pastors. This is the reason why the apostle St. Paul, having in the preceding verses powerfully exhorted the Philippians, whom he had built up and instructed in the Lord, to a purity and holiness of life, worthy of their heavenly calling, represents to them the fruits that will spring from it ; " Be ye without rebuke, simple and unrcprovable, children of God in the midst of a crooked and per- verse generation, shining as lights in the world, holding forth the word of life ;" he now adds, "that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither laboured in vain." It is as if he had said to them. Do not be astonished that I so warmly and carefully press you to live holily, and in agreement with the rules of the gospel. Besides the love that I bear you, and that makes me desire your happiness, it also concerns my own interest. Your piety is my honour, and your holiness my glory. You are the field from whence, in the day of the ap- pearing of the Lord Jesus, I hope to reap the praise which I look for as the reward of my labour. Then, to show them how much he prized and desired that glory, he declares to them in the following • French, "poured forth." 84 AN EXPOSITION OF Sebm. XIV. words, that to acquire it he was ready cheerfully to shed his blood, and to crown with his death the other labours of his sacred ministry : " Yea, and if I be poured forth upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I joy, and rejoice with you all." And that this declaration might not grieve them, he adds, that if the Lord permitted it to be so, they would also in truth have a great cause of consolation and rejoicing : " For the same cause also do ye joy, and rejoice with me." Thus we have three points of which to treat in this discourse, that by the help of God we may give you an entire explanation of this text. In the first jilace. Of the glory that would ac- crue to the apostle from the piety and holiness of the Philippians ; secondly. Of his free and cheerful reso- lution to die for the building up of their faith ; and, in the third and last place. Of the joy that they ought to have in themselves when the Lord should call him to martyrdom. I. As to the first point, the apostle does not simply say that it would turn to liis glory that the church of the Philippians should live well and holily ; he says more, that he should glory in it, which seems contrary, at first sight, to what he elsewhere forbids, viz. that believers should glory in any thing but the Lord. But I reply, that it is also in the Lord that he hopes and professes here to glory. For although we cannot without injustice and without vanity boast of the least thing which relates to the kingdom of God, nor attribute any part to ourselves without offending the Lord; yet, after having humbled our- selves under his feet, and having acknowledged that all we are is by his pure grace alone, as well as all that we have done in him, it is not forbidden, it is even commanded, us to behold with admiration, to celebrate and to represent with joy, the works of his goodness in us, looking at them in ourselves, and showing them to others, as the fruits of his mercy and of his power, and not as the effects of our own courage. It is thus that the apostle teaches us else- where, that we should rejoice in the hope of the glory of God, and even in tribulations, receiving them as so many seals of our glory ; whilst they pro- duce patience, and patience experience, and experi- ence hope, which maketh not ashamed. It is in this sense that the perseverance and progress of the disciples of St. Paul in piety gave him cause for re- joicing. In fact, he often thus rejoices in his Epistles, alleging the success of his labour as so many illus- trious and glorious marks of his Divine vocation, and of the power which the Lord had designed to display in him to the furtherance of his kingdom, and to the salvation of men ; as when he says in the Epistle to the Romans, that he hath whereof to glory in Jesns Christ for the things which belong to God, after- wards setting out the magnificent effects of his sacred ministry : " For I will not dare to speak of any of those things which Christ hath not wrought by me to make the Gentiles obedient by word and deed, through mighty signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God ; so that from Jerusalem, and round about unto Illyricum, I have fully preached the gospel of Christ," Rom. xv. 18, 19. And else- where, in the same manner, he draws proofs of his apostleship from the great success of his labours among the Corinthians : " Are not ye my work in the Lord ? If I be not an apostle unto others, yet, doubt- less, I am to you, for the seal of mine apostleship are ye in the Lord. Mine answer to them that do ex- amine me is this," I Cor. ix. 1 — 3. And it is in this sense, and for this same reason, that he afterwards calls the Philippians his joy and crown, that is to say, the subject and matter of his joy and glory that he had before God and his saints, of being the apostle and minister of Christ, a thousand times greater and more illustrious glory than all the crowns of the earth. Thus you see that the apostle then rejoiced of the fruit of his painful labours, gathering from their success great and ineffable content, which he did not hide, but showed it and communicated it freely to others whenever the occasion required it. This is what he calls to " rejoice." In truth he had every reason in the world to do so. For what can one picture to oneself more delightful or more glorious than to have freely preached the gospel of Jesus Christ in all the universe ? If it be an exploit worthy of being crowned with public gratitude and praise to have saved a citizen from death, as the most virtuous of all people formerly judged ; what, then, ought to be the crown and the glory of the apostle, who had delivered, not one or two men, but churches and nations, and, if one may so speak, an entire world, not simply from death, but from hell, from the dark- ness of ignorance, from the slavery of idolatry, and from the curse of God ? not to preserve them in mortal and perishable life, but to put them in possession of the blessing of a happy immortality? not with arms and by shedding the blood of others, but by holy and pure preaching, which by saving some did not injure others, which, to preserve the citizen, did not wound the enemy ? True it is, that the world did not ac- knowledge this glory ; that the greater part of the Jews and Gentiles, blinded by the rage of their malice, turned this honour into shame, disgracing, in every possible w'ay, both the design and the work of the apostle. But their fury did not prevent this holy man from experiencing his happiness, and from that time rejoicing in his glory in the secrecy of his con- science, and in the judgment of believers. Nor does he stop at the fruits that he drew from it in this world. He looked much further. For he does not simply say. Live well, that I may rejoice ; he adds, "in the day of Christ." We usually call, in the church, the day in which Jesus Christ was raised from the dead, " the day of the Lord ;" and it appears also that St. John means thus in the Apoca- lypse, when he says " that he was in the Spirit on the Lord's day," Rev. i. 21. But the Scripture both here and elsewhere much oftener uses these words in another sense, meaning the day of the last judgment to which the Lord Jesus will come from heaven in the glory of the Father to judge both the quick and dead, as we have before remarked, (Sermon I. p. fi,) where we proved to you that this method of speaking is drawn from the Old Testament, which usually calls the day of the Lord, as you may see in many places in the prophets, the time in which God will display his judgments on men, both in delivering his church, and in punishing the wicked. For though he dispenses and governs all parts of time, and though, properly speaking, there is no day which is not his, nevertheless, those destined for the execution of his judgments belong to him in a peculiar manner. If we look at the exterior of things, it appears as if he abandoned other times to disorder and confusion, leaving it in the power of Satan to dispose of and abuse them to the execution of his pernicious designs, from whence it arises that our Lord Jesus Christ calls them the hour of the wicked: "This is your hour, and the power of darkness," said he to the Jews, Luke xxii. 53, speaking of the time they were about putting him to death. But when God comes to dis- play his arm, confounding his enemies, and consoling his children by some grand and illustrious act of his providence, constraining the most obstinate to ac- knowdedge that it is the work of his hand, then it is truly his day, his time, set apart and employed for his work. And as there shines in all judgment some Chap. II. THE EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS. 85 representation of this proceeding of God, it hence arises that wlien the word " day " is used in con- nexion with any judge who manifests his authority, justice, and power in the exercise of his office, it is taken simply to mean judgment ; as when St. Paul says in the First to Corinthians, "that it is a small thing for him to be judged of man's day," ch.ap. iv. 3; that is to say, by the judgment of men, as our Bibles have translated it. Perhaps from this has arisen that method of speaking common in our lan- guage, calling " the great days" the time of judg- ment, which the prince appoints in this kingdom by the parliaments, which he sends sometimes extraor- dinarily into the provinces. Now because of all the judgments that the Lord Jesus displays in the world, exercising in different ways the power wliich the Father has given him in seating him at his right hand, there is none so remarkable or so illustrious as the last, when coming from heaven with his angels in supreme and incomprehensible glory, he will make all men appear before his throne, and will give to every one according to his works; from whence it arises that the great day destined for the execution of this by the certain and immutable counsel of God, is particularly called the day of Christ on account of its excellence : and it is for the same reason that it is sometimes simply called " that day ;" as when St. Paul prays God would grant to Onesiphorus " to find mercy of the Lord in that day," that is to say, in the last day, 2 Tim. i. 18; and again, in 2 Thess. i. 10, he in like manner says, "that the Lord in that day shall be admired in all that believe ;" and some ex- cellent expositors take in the same sense the phrase, " that ihe day shall declare every man's work," 1 Cor. iii. 13. It is in this great day, then, that the apostle wishes to rejoice at the success of his labour in the church of the Philippians. It is then that he expects the fruit of their obedience to his word; and he speaks of it also to the Corinthians and Thessalo- nians in the same manner: "You are our glory (says he to the former) in the day of the Lord Jesus," 2 Cor. i. 14 ; and to the latter, "What is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing ? Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming?" 1 Thess. ii. 19. It is not, as we iiave already noticed, that he does not rejoice in the days of his flesh at the fruit of his labour, the conversion and piety of these fine and flourishing churches planted and in- creased by the efficacy of his preaching, giving him, doubtless, even then an extreme satisfaction of mind. But he puts it off to the last day, because he here comprehends in it their perseverance in holiness, over which he could not then rejoice or glory, seeing that he could not have an entire and firm assurance of their state for the future. The conversion of the Galatians had been to him in the beginning a sub- ject of joy and triumph. Their error had since changed his satisfaction into anxiety, and his hope to fear, when he saw them quitting the good road and following the seduction of false apostles. This, then, was a sly goad to stir up the Philippians to constancy and perseverance in the faith ; as if he said, Do in such a manner that I may rejoice and glory in your piety, not here only, where every thing is changeable, but also in the great day of Christ ; that the good beginnings which I have seen and still see among you may be persevered in and crowned with constancy ; that time may cause no change in them, if it be not for the better; so that when the Lord shall appear, after our combats are ended, I may then also have cause to say with joy, to your glory and mine, that I have not laboured in vain. Preserve this crown whole and inviolable for me to the end of the world; so that in no time to come shall accidents or trials either wither, tarnish, or diminish its beauty and glory. But besides this reason, the apostle has thus used it, according to his usual style, always to carry us back to the last day, because then will be the final and complete perfection of our life and glory. Till then there is always something to say about our hap- piness. Here the flesh, the world, and our infirmi- ties oppose our comfort. Even in heaven itself, where our souls will be received at their parting from this valley of tears, we shall not have the full and complete satisfaction of our desires ; this poor flesh, which is a part of our being, remaining in ruin under the empire of corruption and worms ; and a part of our company still fighting on the earth. But in that great day of the Lord, our whole nature and our whole brotherhood being fully and com- pletely delivered both from evil and fear, our joy and glory will be perfect in every respect. Nothing will then be wanting to it. All our desires will be en- tirely satisfied. As in that great day the works of believers will be produced and displayed before the eyes of heaven and earth, their alms, their love, even the smallest fruit of their piety, we cannot doubt but that the troubles and the successes of those of them who served the gospel will also appear in that su- preme light. St. Paul teaches us this expressly, when speaking of them particularly, he says, that they shall receive the reward of their work, 1 Cor. iii. 14; "and then shall every man have praise of God," 1 Cor. iv. 5. And Daniel had already foretold long before St. Paul, " that those who turn many to righteousness shall shine," in that happy time, "as the stars for ever and ever," Dan. xii. 3. How ad- mirable and how great will then be the glory of this great apostle, when, accompanied by so many millions of believers that he had formerly begotten by the gospel, he shall present himself before the throne of his Master, saying, with the prophet, " Behold, I and the children whom thou hast given me ! " This is the fruit of the talent that thou committedst to me. It is the production of the grace that thou bestow- edst upon me. AVhat will be the joy of his heart to see himself thus miraculously multiplied ! What will be the satisfaction of his disciples thus to pro- mote his glory ! And how great will be their com- mon delight to hear the Son of God praise the preaching of the one, and the obedience of the others, all being together received into the heavenly Jeru- salem with the blessings and applause of men and angels ! That is exactly what the apostle means when he says, that he shall rejoice in the day of the Lord " that he has not run in vain, neither laboured in vain." You know that he often compares the life and plans of believers, and particularly of the minis- ters of the gospel, to a race ; so that he here means by this race, and the labour of which he speaks, the trouble that he had taken, and still took daily, to in- struct, teach, and admonish the Philippians in the doctrine of salvation, and all the functions of his apostleship towards them. It is true that the praise of the servants of Jesus Christ does not properly de- pend on the success of their labours. For if they acquit themselves faithfully in their office, their re- ward is certain from God, in whatever manner men may receive their preaching, as the Lord expressly declares to them in Ezekiel, " If thou warn the wicked of his way to turn from it, if he do not turn from his way, he' shall die in his iniquity : but thou hast delivered thy soul," chap, xxxiii. 9. The God of glory judges things by the event, which is not in our power. He sees our hearts, he looks at our affection ; he considers our labour, and if it has been lawful, he does not fail to crown it, though the 86 AN EXPOSITION 0¥ Serm. XIV, wickedness of man, and such other things which are without us, may have hindered its efTect. We shall never, in this respect, have served him in vain. Our labour and our race have always their certain re- ward. Nevertheless, if you turn your eyes upon those to whom our ministry is addressed, if you consider the design that we have to gain them to Jesus Christ, and to lead them to his eternal salvation; one cannot deny that in this sense we have run and laboured in vain, if our labour have not produced in them that faith and sanctification which we desire. And as it is not possible that we should not be wearied with this bad success, either frustrating the fruit of our labours, or secretly opposing them; so, on the contrary, it is evident that the happy success of our ministry is a singular blessing, and a crown of honour, so much the more glorious and illustrious in propor- tion as our labour has been great and more abundant. It is then in this meaning, and in this respect, that the apostle here desires " to rejoice in the day of Christ that he has neither run nor laboured in vain." Believers, let us all lift up our hearts, after his example, to the day of the Lord. Let us extend our thoughts thither. Let us leave the things that are seen, which are perishable, and all of which time will destroy one after another. If we desire glory, (which is a desire natural to all men,) let us seek that which will remain unmoved to the great day of the Lord, and which will then be made manifest, whatever efforts the world may make to annihilate it. All the glory of the children of this world will perish, and the praise that we give to their discoveries and their mighty acts shall end with the earth. There will be no mention of them in the day of the Lord, the day-spring and commencement of eternity. If we wish to have a share in it, if we desire to be praised by the mouth of the King of glory, let us labour for the advancement of his kingdom. He will not say any thing, either of our buildings or of our wars, of cur government or of our books, or of the other works of our vanity ; and, far from rejoicing in them, we shall be ashamed, and only reap from them regret and confusion. Christ will only reward in the light of this august and venerable assembly the works of piety. They will for ever preserve their grace and lustre, and we shall obtain by them on that day a truly immortal glorj^. May the ministers of the gos- pel be occupied in them more than others, and may they be warmed with an ardent desire for this real honour; may they employ every moment of their lives to edify, by words and good examples, those believers who are committed to them ; remembering that all those souls. whom they shall gather to the Lord shall be so many trophies of their labour which shall endure to eternity, and after the ruin of the world and its elements, shall for ever publish their praise in the Jerusalem that is above. But, dear brethren, as their glory depends on your piety, the love and respect that you owe them com- pel you to contribute to it as much as possible. The apostle here clearly shows it to you, wishing, among the other reasons that should lead the Philippians to holiness, they should also have an eye to his praise, and that they should persevere in faith and piety, so that he might rejoice in the day of the Lord that he had neither run nor laboured in vain. In that the gratitude of flocks towards their pastors consists. I acknowledge that they are obliged to provide for their support, and, for the spiritual things which they have received from their hands, to com- municate to them temporal things, according to the command of the Lord, that those who preach the gospel should live of the gospel. But the first point of your gratitude is, that heartily obeying our preach- ing, you may give us this satisfaction in this world, and that glory in the other, of being able to say that we have not laboured in vain. If you do not soothe our troubles wilh this fruit, you are guilty of ingrati- tude; just as we call ungrateful that earth which, disobedient to the culture of the labourer, receives the grain that he casts into it without yielding him its fruit. If, then, this painful exercise of the offices with which God has honoured us among you, if our labour and diligence to acquit ourselves of them with a good conscience, be any consideration to you, dear brethren, profit by it. Receive this incorruptible seed of the gospel that we sow in your hearts with faith and obedience. May it germinate there and fructify abundantly, and faithfully yield to the Lord the glory which belongs to him, and to us the praise we wait for. May all your life be crowned with the piety and love that we preach to you, so that to our common joy we may one day both of us appear with- out confusion before the Lord at his last judgment, and bear away together the praise of not having run in vain. I say the same to those children who have the happiness to possess fathers and mothers careful of their instruction. Young people, the principal gratitude that you owe for their care is to live well, and to shine forth in the midst of the world as holy lights, so that you may be one day before the Lord a crown of blessing and honour to those who so ten- derly love you, and that they may then have the satisfaction of rejoicing in presence of heaven and earth, that the labour which they employed in your cultivation has not been useless. II. But it is time to come to the second part of our text, in which the apostle, to show the Philip- pians how highly he estimated that glory that he had just asked from them, declares, that if it be necessary to seal with his own blood the preaching of the gospel he had declared to them, and add hia death to the labours of his painful race, he would do so willingly, cheerfully, and without regret ; which he expresses in rich, figurative, and excellent lan- guage, as usual, "That if even I be poured forth on the service and sacrifice of your faith, I may joy, and rejoice with you all." In the first place, he compares himself to a priest, and sets before us the conversion of the Philippians to the faith of the gospel, brought about by his preaching, and their piety as its conse- quence, under the image of a sacrifice. He speaks in the same way in the Epistle to the Romans, where he says that he "is the minister of Christ to the Gentiles, ministering to the sacrifice of the gos- pel of God, that the offering up of the Gentiles might be acceptable, being sanctified by the Holy Ghost," chap. XV. 16. In this mystical sacrifice the apostle was the high priest ; the gospel was, as it were, the knife wilh which he spiritually immolated his vic- tims. The Philippians converted to Jesus Christ were his victims ; for as also the ancient priests con- secrated to God the victims that they offered, so also the apostle, and all the faithful preachers of the gos- pel, lead and ofl'er to the Lord those to whom they preach the word with effect. Besides, as the priests of old put their victims to death, so now do the minis- ters of the gospel in some manner immolate men who receive their preaching, making them die to the world and the flesh, drawing out of their hearts vain affections and lusts, in which their life consisted. And as for the ancient victims, they remained purely and simply dead, without receiving from the hand of the priest any kind of life instead of that of which he had deprived them. But it is not so with the men whom the ministers of the Lord immolate with the sword of his gospel. For instead of this miserable, earthly, and carnal life which they take from them, Chap. II. THE EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS. they clothe them with another that is holy and Di- vine, and infinitely happier than that which they have lost, changing them by this mystical sacrifice from children of Adam into children of God, {lom old and perishing creatures into new and heavenly men. Besides this difference, there is still another, hctween this evangelical sacrifice and that of the ancient victims. For whereas those poor animals which they immolated, destitute as they were of reason and intellect, suffered death simply, without any act on their part taking place ; now the victims of Jesus Christ are only immolated when they know- inglv and willingly receive the stroke of the gospel. Thus you see that the apostle here expressly men- tions the faith of the Philippians, as it was through that they had been offered to God. From whence again a third difference arises between these two kinds of victims. For whereas the ancient victims remained entirely deprived of their being, without obtaining any new one ; men now offered to God by the gospel, besides being made by it new, living, and immortal creatures, become also themselves priests, to offer themselves henceforth to God, by a true faith, presenting their bodies to him in sacrifice, lively, holy, and acceptable, which is their reasonable ser- vice, as the apostle says, Rom. xii. 1 ; whence also St. Peter calls them all " a holy priesthood, to ofier up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ," 1 Pet. ii. 5. And this is the reason that the Scripture honours with the name of sacrifices, all those actions of their spiritual life which they prac- tise in faith, as their alms-giving, their repentance, their patience, their hymns, their prayers, and such like. St. Paul comprehends here, in my opinion, all those spiritual oblations under the name of sacrifice and service of faith of the Philippians; first of all that which he had himself done at the beginning, converting them, and presenting them to the Lord ; and, secondly, all the works of piety and charily that these believers had offered, and still offered every day to God in the faith of his gospel. He considers all that as the sacrifice of a single victim, immolated at the beginning by his hand ; and since elevating continually before God upon the altar of his grace, Jesus Christ our Lord, where he had placed them, the perfumes, the sweet and agreeable odours of prayer and alms-giving, of patience and other Chris- tian virtues. He calls it " the sacrifice and service of their faith," because this whole oblation depends on faith, and is only done by it ; neither our persons nor our actions being capable of pleasing God without faith. He calls it our service or liturgy, in the same sense as he names it a sacrifice, because it is the function of the ministry to which we have been con- secrated by the faith of the gospel. And as formerly the ministry of the Levitical priesthood was to pre- sent to God many earthly offerings upon their typical altar; so also now the worship and the service to which we are called is, to offer continually our bodies and our minds to God, with all the fruits that they are capable of bearing, in the name and on the cross of Jesus Christ, our true and heavenly altar. The apostle then says, that if he be poured forth on the sacrifice of the faith of the Philippians, he shall be joyful and contented. To understand this completely, we must be aware, in the second place, besides what we have said before, that the ancients in their sacrifices did not offer their victims to God simply and alone, but were accustomed to pour over them some liquor, such as wine or oil. As to the pagans, it appears in a thousand places in their writings which still remain that they did the same. And as to the Israelites, Moses expressly commands them to throw upon each of the two lambs of their daily sacrifice a little fine flour mingled with beaten oil, and to pour over it a certain quantity of wine, Exod. xxix. 40. The word here used by the apostle is precisely that which he employs to signify such pourings and effusions. From whence it appears what is its meaning. For continuing the metaphor begun and drawn from the sacrifices, he compares his death, and the pouring out of his blood in conse- quence of it, on account of the faith of the Philip- pians and of the gospel that he had preached to them, to that pouring forth which was done on the victims which had been immolated. If 1 am poured out, if my blood is shed on the sacrifice of your faith, so that nothing is wanting to this divine oblation, I am ready cheerfully to suffer death on such a good account. And that such was his intention, besides all the circumstances of the text evidently showing it, still further appears by what we read in the Second Epistle to Timothy, where, speaking of his approach- ing martyrdom, he employs the very same word which he here uses, in the same sense: "As for me, I am now ready to be poured forth ;" to which he, adds, as if to explain it more clearly, "and the time of my departure is at hand," 2 Tim. iv. 6. And the reason of this metaphor is evident. For, in the first place, as this part of the ancient sacrifices was made by pouring out some liquor, so also this part of the evangelical service of St. Paul, that is to say, his martyrdom, must be, and was indeed, made by the shedding of his blood ; so that in all the functions of his sacred ministiy, there is not one that has a closer resemblance to the scattering or pouring out which was done upon the ancient sacrifices. And more, as this pouring out of the liquor upon the victim W'as the seal of its consecration, so also the death of the apostle was the crown of his ministry, and the au- thentic and solemn confirmation of his whole doc- trine, which would increase and establish the faith of the Philippians and other believers, and be more and more the means of consecrating their spiritual service to the Lord. Now although he does not say certainly that he shall be poured out on the sacrifice of his preaching, but speaks of it doubtfully and con- ditionally, simply saying that if it should happen he should rejoice at it ; nevertheless, he signifies pretty clearly that he was of that opinion, that he should some day glorify the Lord by martyrdom. Besides the rage of his enemies, and his firm resolution to continue constantly to preach the gospel, making him thus believe, it may be that he had had besides some warning of it from the Lord, like that which he had given to St. Peter, telling him, after his resur- rection, by what death he should glorify God, as St. John relates at the end of his Gospel. The effect answered to it precisely ; for although God delivered him from his first bonds, according to the assurance that he had given the Philippians in two places in this Epistle, he, nevertheless, permitted that some years after he should be again made prisoner and executed in the city of Rome; and the punishment was precisely such as he had signified in this place ; that is to say, a death in which his blood should be shed, to serve as an aspersion upon the sacrifice of his preaching, all the ancient historians of the church unanimously testifying that he was beheaded by the command of Nero. But whatever might be the hour and manner in which God should be pleased to dispose of him, he testifies here that he was quite resolved and ready to suffer martyrdom, not only without regret and appre- hension, but even with joy. If that should be, (says he,) " I joy, and rejoice with you all." You see, be- lievers, what a change the gospel of .Tprhs Christ has AN EXPOSITION OF Serm. XIV. made in the nature of things. Death is to other men a subject of fear and horror, as the ruin of their be- ing, and the end of all their enjoyments. To the apostle and to the true disciples of Jesus Christ it is an agreeable object; a subject of joy; as being, by the blessing of their Lord, the crown of their per- fection, their entrance to immortality, and the first day of their triumph. But the apostle does not only rejoice in it for himself, regarding his own pouring forth as the last of his painful sei'viccs, as the end of his labour, and the beginning of his rest and glory ; he also rejoices in it for the Philippians and for other believers. For that is what he means when he says, " I rejoice with you all ;" because in truth this last part of his ministry ought to be very useful to them in sealing and confirming their faith by such an illustrious teaching of celestial truth. For if his bonds had served to such a great furtherance of the gospel, as he said before, how much more effi- cacious would his death be for the same purpose ! III. But he goes still further, and wishes that the Philippians should feel the same disposition with re- gard to his martyrdom ; that they should rejoice at it when it should happen, as a good and happy event : " You also, (says he to them in the following verse,) for the same cause, joy, and rejoice with me." But how is it, O thou holy apostle, that thou desirest that the Philippians should rejoice in such a time of mourn- ing ? and that the loss of so good, so admirable, and so affectionate a master should not be to them a cause of sorrow? Would it not be to change them into rocks, and to deprive them of all feeling, to compel them to such a strange duty ? Thou thyself in another place hast permitted the mourning and tears of believers for the death of their neighbours ; only forbidding them to afflict themselves after the man- ner of the Gentiles, who have no hope, 1 Thess. iv. 13. And we read in Acts viii. 2, that the disciples made great mourning fur Stephen, the first martyr of Jesus Christ. Dear brethren, the command that the apostle here gives the Philippians is not opposed to the duties and feelings of humanity. He does not absolutely forbid them to weep and to regret his death. He simply wishes that if his absence is pain- ful to them, the fruit of his sacrifice may be sweet to them; that they should not be so attached to their own interest as not to consider his; that sorrow for his loss should not so fill their minds, that feeling for his happiness, and the joy for his victory, should not also have a place. He tlesires that they should feel as they ought the efi'ect and usefulness of his death, the weight and authority that it would give to his preach- ing, and the value of it to the church, gaining some, and establishing others in the fellowship of Jesus Christ. This is what he means when he tells them to rejoice at it. But he also wishes that the benefit that he himself should derive from it should touch them, and console them for his loss ; that they should see the victory that it gave him over all his enemies, the glory that his death should obtain for him, the rest and felicity in which it would place him. This is the meaning of the last words of the text, '• you also rejoice with me." From which we have, finally, to collect briefly the principal instruction that the apostle here gives us. In the first place, he shows us what are the sacri- fice and lawful service of the ministers of the Lord Jesus in the church. It is not to offer animals to God, as the children of Aaron did formerly ; neither to present him with bread and wine, or (as they do in the communion of Rome) the flesh and blood of his Son under the appearance of bread and wine. Neither Paul nor any other of the sacred authors teaches us any where that the Saviour had instituted, or that his disciples had practised, any thing of the kind. The true sacrifice of the servants of Jesus Christ is to preach the gospel, to convert men to their Master by the power of his word; to make them die to the world and the flesh, that they may live according to the Spirit ; to plunge this Divine sword into them, even to the dividing of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow ; to present them to God as so many living sacrifices, holy, pure, and reasonable. But if there be any question of a pro- pitiatory sacrifice to expiate sin, and to satisfy the justice of the Father, both this same apostle and the whole Scripture of the New Testament teach us that Jesus Christ has offered that once upon the cross, so that to undertake to ofl'er another would evidently be to accuse his of insufficiency. After so perfect an oblation, it only remains for us to rejoice in it, to ap- ])ly the fruits of it to ourselves ; and that, in gratitude for so excellent a benefit, we should continually pre- sent, by Jesus Christ, " the calves of our lips," as the prophet calls our thanksgivings, and the fruits of a truly evangelical and spiritual life. This is what the apostle teaches us in the second place, calling the conversion and sanctification of the Philippians, the sacrifice and service of their faith. Remember then, believers, that having been sacri- ficed to God by the gospel which you have received into your hearts, you have, at the same time, been invested with a new dignity, and have been made altogether victims and priests of the Lord. You are henceforth a sacerdotal nation. You are all in Jesus Christ the ministers of the living God. Have ever before your eyes the excellence of such a high office. Keep yourselves holy and unpolluted. Flee all soil and filth ; touch none of those things which are dead and profane. Exercise that holy office with which God has honoured you with care and fidelity. Pre- sent him every day a pure and chaste body, a mind full of faith and good thoughts, an innocent soul, bowels of mercies, a mouth dedicated to his praise, lips purified by his Divine fire, incorruptible hands, honest eyes, and a Christian conversation. Present to him, on the poor members of his Son, the altars that he has left us on earth, the oflferings of your charity in abundance, and with joy. Consecrate your goods to his service ; employ and use them but for him. Dedicate to him the vigour of your youth, the prudence and experience of your old age; all the periods and moments of your life. And, to sum up all in few words, may the thoughts and affections of your hearts, the words of your mouths, and the actions of your body, be so many sacrifices set apart and oflFered to the Lord. This, my brethren, is the ser- vice, the liturgy (as the apostle calls it) to which the faith of the gospel constrains us. Still it is not enough that we should consecrate our life to God. Death, which is its end and final part, must also be employed in the same use. And this the example of the apostle teaches us here, in the third place ; all of us ought to have a disposition similar to his, and to be ready to suffer death cheerfully, and to shed our blood with joy upon the service of his faith, as an effiision, or pouring forth, agreeable to the Lord, if he should call us to it. It is the seal, the crown, and the perfection of the sacrifice of the Christian, by which he confirms and ratifies all the other parts of his service, by which he glorifies God and edifies men in the highest and best manner pos- sible. I acknowledge that the example of the apostle particularly concerns the ministers of the Lord, as those who ought always to be ready to sign with their blood the truths they have preached with their mouths. But in reality there is no Christian who is not bound to the same thing. For we are all soldiers Chap. IL THE EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS. 89 of the Lord Jesus. We have all sworn to him the oath of fidelity ; and entering into fellowship with him, we have sworn to contend even to blood for his gospel. And what can be more just than to die for the glory of him who made no difficulty in dying for our salvation ? And if we do not find this disposition in ourselves, let us blame our own cowardice, and the imperfection of our faith. We every day see men of the world cheerfully sacrifice their life to an empty idol, which they falsely call honour ; and there is not one of them who would not willingly meet his rival every time that the laws of this unjust and imaginary rule of their own vanity calls upon them so to do, without the menaces both of the justice of God or man being capable of preventing them, and they consider them as cowards and deprived of honour who would draw back. Christians ! shall we not have for the service of God, and for a true and solid glory, the same courage that they have for an empty imagination ? But all our cowardice arises from the weakness of our faith. If we were firmly persuaded that Jesus Christ will crown with glory and immor- tality all those who suflfer for his name, we should embrace such opportunities with joy. We should fly to them as the first Christians did formerly, and acknowledge that it is the highest honour that could ever happen to us to shed our blood in so good a cause, and the issue of which is so undoubtedly blessed. But the example of the apostle ought to extend still further than martyrdom. All are not called to shed their blood. But there are none who are not called to die. Prepare yourself then in general, 0 Christian ! for that death which is inevitable, from whatever hand it may come, whether by nature or by the hand of men, with a steady, cheerful, and re- joicing mind. Lay down your life willingly, and resign it cheerfully into the hand of God when he shall demand it from you. Let him not take it from you by force and in spite of you, as from a faithless trustee ; but let him rather receive it as a sacrifice that you yourselves present with thanksgi^nngs. Re- member, even in this time of extremity, the honour of your priesthood, of the obedience that you owe to God, and the edification that you are bound to afford to your neighbours. Do not allow yourselves to be surprised by the fancies of ignorance and error, which paint death to us as the chief of evils. Think that the Lord Jesus has deprived it of its sting, and spoiled it of all it had of sorrow. Henceforth it can- not hurt you. It will perfect instead of destroying you. It delivers you from a rough and troublesome combat, and places you in a blessed peace. It only takes earth from you to give you heaven, and merely removes you from the company of men that you may enjoy that of Jesus Christ and his saints. But as the apostle instructs us by his example to die with joy, he also commands us to support the death of our brethren with patience, and to put away from amongst us that obstinate mourning, and those inconsolable tears, which weakness and ignorance shed upon their graves. It is to insult a martyr of Jesus Christ to weep for his death. It is to injure his sacrifice, and to pollute his triumph. Are you sorry because he has overcome the world, and confounded all the efforts of the enemy ? Rejoice in it, says the apostle, and rejoice with him. Indeed there is much more cause to congratulate than to pity him. He has finished his sacrifice, he has glorified his Lord, he has been faithful to him to his last sigh. He has confirmed the gospel, and testified to its truth. The angels have seen it with joy, and have accompanied his victory with their applause. Jesus Christ has accepted his burnt-ofTering, and, receiving his soul into heaven, has crowned him with his glory. Who does not see, that if we love the Lord, and the serv- ant that he has consecrated to himself, we ought to rejoice in his happiness? Thus we read that in the first ages of Christianity the interments of the martyrs were rather triumphs than funerals. All of them resounded with praises, and hymns, and thanks- givings, as is particularly mentioned in the book of the Passion of St. Cyprian. My dear brethren, these same reasons oblige us to support, in like manner, the death of other believers ; for although not martyrs, they are, nevertheless, those who have died in the Lord, and have changed their earthly tabernacle for a heavenly habitation. Every species of death of his beloved ones is precious in the eyes of the Lord, Psal. cxvi. 15. Do not weep for him who is most blessed, who sins no more, who rejoices in God, who is in the harbour of salvation, free from the agitations and tempests of life. And if you re- gret the loss of his conversation, let the consideration of his well-being soften your sorrow with the hope of one day meeting him again in the kingdom of God. For thus we must take these kinds of affliction, and all others, for occasions of lifting our hearts towards heaven, and in good time to set our affairs in order, faithfully employing the life and death both of ourselves and others to the glory of the Lord, waiting for his great day, when he will wipe away all tears, and will give us the fruits of our faitn and hope in the eternal possession of his blessed glory. To him, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, the true and only God, eternally blessed, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen. Preached at Charenton, Sunday, list April, 1641. i SEEMON XV. Vebse 19—24. But I trust in the Lord Jesus to send Timotheus shortly unto you, that I also may be of good comfort, uhen I know your state. For I have no man like- mitided, tcho will naturally care for your state. For all seek their own, not the things that are Jesus Christ's. But ye know the proof of him, that, as a S071 with the father, he hath served with, me in the gospel. Him therefore I hope to send presently, so soon as I shall see how it wilt go with me. But I trust in the Lord thai I also myself shall come shortly. What the apostle here says, that the care of all the churches was continually upon him, 2 Cor. xi. 28, appears in all his Epistles, but is especially discover- able in this to the Philippians. For although his sad condition when in Rome, a captive in the prison of Nero, and in danger of his life, might seem to ex- clude every other care, nevertheless, the affection which he bore to that dear flock pressed so heavily on his holy mind, that his own danger could not prevent his thinking of their safety. He thought of them under the tribunal itself, which was about to judge his life, and is in more trouble about their sal- vation than his own safety. They had sent him Epaphroditus, their pastor, to wait upon him in his necessity ; and this good minister of God acquitted himself'of that office towards him with all the love and fidelity in his power. But the holy apostle, fearing that his absence might be injurious to them, sent him back to them, as we hear at the end of this 2 H 90 AN EXPOSITION OF Serm. XV. chapter, preferring to be without his attentions and good offices than to deprive this church of them. He is not satisfied with doing this, he accompanies it with this beautiful Epistle, in which he gives them salutary advice against all kinds of errors, and arms their faith, and establishes their consolation, with an inconceivable diligence and ardour. Still all this does not suffice his affection. He wishes to send Timothy to them, that is to say, his right hand and his other half, that he might assure their salvation by the presence of such an excellent servant of God ; and, after all, to go and see them himself as soon as he should be at liberty, the love that he bore them not being satisfied with any thing short of that. This, my brethren, is what he promises them in the text, where, cutting the thread of the exhortations that he had given them in the preceding verses, he declares, " But I hope to send Timothy unto you shortly ;" as if he had said. It is not necessary for me to enlarge any more in these instructions, having the intention of sending them, on the earliest day, another living epistle, that is to say, his dear Timothy, who was very able to improve them in every thing neces- sary for their edification and consolation. He then adds the reasons which had induced him to choose him rather than any other for this employment, which were drawn from his incomparable zeal and fidelity in the work of the Lord, proved by long and tried experience : " For I have no man like-minded, who will naturally care for your state. For all seek their own, and not the things that are Jesus Christ's. But ye know the proof of him, that, as a son with the father, he hath served with me in the gospel. Him therefore I hope to send presently, so soon as I shall see how it will go with me." And, finally, he gives them hope that he shall see them himself at an early day : " But I trust in the Lord that I also myself shall come shortly." Thus we have, by God's help, to treat of three points in this discourse : the promise of sending Timothy ; his recommendation and praise ; and the assurance of the apostle's arrival among the Philippians. I. The promise of sending Timothy. Their church, newly planted by St. Paul, like a young plant still tender and weak, had need of support, and so much the more so on account of the attacks of enemies, who did all in their power to ruin it. It flourished in the midst of the thorns and briers of infidelity, whilst the cruelty of the Jews and pagans was likely to stifle it easily if it were not assisted. This occasioned Paul's anxiety, fearing every moment lest Satan, who never sleeps, should pull up, or at least shake, these new plants of the Lord. The account that he had received from Epaphroditus redoubled his fears that evil workers, the teachers of circumcision, who, in these early times, troubled the greater part of the flocks of Jesus Christ, had also attacked that of the Philippians. It is then to soothe his own trouble, and to strengthen these believers, that, not contented with sending Epaphroditus back to them, he promises to make Timothy soon follow him, one of the most celebrated ministers of the Lord, known in Asia and in Europe by the great services which he had ren- dered to the gospel ; so that the hope of such con- siderable assistance should support and strengthen them ; in like manner, you see a place acquires new courage and vigour to resist the enemy who keeps it in a state of siege, when its prince gives it the hope of very soon sending it powerful aid. " But I trust m the Lord to send Timothy unto you shortly, that I also may be of good comfort, when I know your state." He here sets before us two things : the sending of Timothy, and the object or reason of so sending him. On the first we have to remark that he does not simply and absolutely say, I will send Timothy to you, but, I hope to send him to you, and still more modifies his hope by adding, " I hope in the Lord Jesus." As the actions, and even the words, of the apostle ought to serve as examples and instruction for us, let us learn from these, my brethren, what they clearly signify, that we should never be entirely certain about things to come, of which God has given us no assurance : this I expressly add, to exclude from this proposition the things that the Lord has pro- mised in his word, as the continuance of his grace, and the inheritance of his glory. Of these St. Paul in many places speaks with entire confidence, being fully persuaded that nothing shall be able to separate him from the love of the Lord ; and we can and ought, after his example, to be certain also of the promise of God, that none shall ever pluck us from his hand ; and that he will bring us out of all our temptations, making it as certain as if it was per- forming or already accomplished. As to other things, of which we have not the promise in the Divine word, such as the circumstances and events of our common life, we may hope for them, as the apostle does in this place, but not be certain of them, all their success depending on the will of God, of which we have not the knowledge. The issue of things does not always depend on their disposition and ap- pearance. A moment often changes their order, and overturns all the opinions which the reason of men had formed of them ; God, the sovereign Lord and Ruler of the world, having reserved to himself the right of turning them, as seemeth to him good. It is to rob him of what belongs to him, to take for granted the certain issue of things to come. Our life itself, the foundation of all our actions, is not assured to us ; and there is no person in the world, however healthy and vigorous he may be, who can be certain of living another day. How many do we every day see who, an hour previous to that fatal moment, were perfectly well ! This is the reason why the apostle St. James rebukes justly the rashness of those who dispose of the future as if they were masters of it, who say, " To-day or to-morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy, and sell, and get gain. Whereas (he says) ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life ? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. For that ye ought to say. If the Lord will, we shall live and do this or that." St. Paul loved the church of the Phi- lippians, he saw that it had still need of his ministry, and knew that Jesus Christ had thereunto called him. This disposition made him judge that God, for the good of believers, would preserve him still alive, and draw him out of those sad bonds which then held him, that he might edify those believers as much by sending Timothy to them as by his own presence. From hence, then, he expects that the Lord will dispose of him in that way. But knowing how deep are the judgments of God, and how much higher are his ways and thoughts than ours, often ordering things quite contrary to our reason and ex- pectations, he does not feel entirely certain of what however seemed to him probable, and remits all to the providence of the Lord, reposing humbly under his shadow. Dear brethren, let us imitate his modesty, and, with a humility similar to his, let us leave the future in the hand of God, only disposing of it under his good pleasure, without fixing upon any thing with 60 much certainty as not to be ready to submit to a contrary issue, in case that the sovereign Lord has been pleased to order otherwise than we wished or hoped ; let us acquiesce quietly in his counsel, and after having resigned all our thoughts, hopes, and Chap. II. THE EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS. 91 deliberations to him, let us always add the clause that our Lord and Master has taught us, "Thy will be done." Not what I will, but what thou wilt. We must also remark what the apostle says, " that he trusted in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to the Philippians. By these words he evidently gives to Jesus Christ the empire of the universe, and the providence which governs the issue of all the things which pass in it, according to what he had previously said, that he was highly exalted, and that his name was above every name, and that there is nothing in heaven, or in earth, or under the earth, which does not bow the knee before him. For as it is of the Lord Jesus that he hopes to send Timothy, and so to console the Philippians, it is clear that it is on him that all the events necessary to do so depend. He was in the bonds of Nero, the most powerful monarch then on earth, and the most opposed to the doc- trine of the truth ; so that, looking at the thing as a man, there was no great appearance that he should get out of his chains into liberty. But to the power of this tyrant he opposes that of his Christ, knowing that he held in his hand the hearts both of this lion and of all other similar beasts, to bend them as he pleased. He knew that, however great might be the rage and confusion of men, yet Jesus was their Mas- ter; that he governed all their actions ; and that, however high and powerful they might be, all their works depended on his will. And from thence it necessarily follows that Jesus is the true and eternal God, of the same essence with the Father; the government of the world, and the guidance of all that passes in it, requiring infinite wisdom and power, such as cannot be but in a similarly infinite nature, that ts to say, one truly Divine and eternal. Hence not Christians only, but even pagans, and all men generally, refer the disposition of the future to God, saying, in their usual language, " If it please God," If God wills, and. With the good pleasure of God ; re- cognising, as it were, by the secret teaching of nature herself, that this providence and disposition of things can only belong to a Divine Being. How then can we adequately express our astonishment at the blind- ness, shall I call it, or at the fury, of those who, grant- ing to the Lord Jesus the guidance of the universe, the inspection of the hearts of men, and the govern- ment of all their aflFairs, yet refuse him the name and glory of a true and eternal Divinity ? As for us, be- loved brethren, who know that this administration of the world, and this supreme Providence over all that happens in it, is the highest and chiefest part of that glory which belongs to God, which he gives not to another, let us worship our Jesus in all assurance, as this belongs to him. Let us serve him as a supreme and eternal Divinity. Let us on his power and good- ness confidently build our faith and hope, and let us make the issue of all our thoughts and desires de- pend entirely on his will. Let us implore his help in all our designs, great and small. Let us be cer- tain that there is nothing so difficult that we cannot do in him, and nothing so easy that we can do with- out him. Such was the disposition of St. Paul in re- gard to sending Timothy to the Philippians, " he hoped to do so in the Lord." Let us now see what was the object he had in view in sending him : " I hope to send him to you shortly, that I also may be of good comfort when I know your state." It is certain that the first and chief design of the apostle in thus sending him was the good and edification of the Philippians themselves, to establish them in the faith according to the need they had of it; and the second and more distant object his own joy and consolation, by learning, at the return of Timothy, the good state in which he had placed and left this church. But consider, I beseech you, the wisdom and goodness of this holy minister of God, and how exquisite is the prudence with which he manages these believers. He says nothing to them of the first object which he had in view, which was to support and strengthen them against the shock of enemies, for fear that setting forth this would afflict them, by appearing as a secret reproach of weakness, and a testimony of some distrust which the apostle felt in their perseverance and piety. He speaks to them but of the second object that he had in view, which was his own comfort, rather as if it had been his need instead of theirs which had ren- dered Timothy's journey necessary. This holy and spiritual address of the apostle ought to instruct us to treat those believers who are committed to us with the greatest circumspection ; to avoid as much as possible all that is likely to offend them ; and never to employ towards them without necessity, not fire and sword only, but even bitterness or other painful remedies, remembering that our ministry is to comfort and edify, not to afflict or destroy. I know well that there are morose and inexorable minds who will not approve this proceeding, who will accuse it of complaisance and flattery. But their judgment ought not to be in such high con- sideration with us, that we should not rather regard what the edification of human souls requires of us, the most delicate subject in the world, and one which ought to be managed with the utmost tenderness and moderation. The example of St. Paul, which stands in the place of law to us in the church, com- pels us to it. For you see how, both here and else- where, he seasons all his discourses with an un- paralleled gentleness and love ; and never with that which wounds and offends, such as remonstrances and censures, but by constraint ; and at last, " I will send you Timothy, that I also may be of good com- fort, when I shall know your state." Could he say any thing more gentle and affectionate ? That mind which braved hell and the world, which smiled at prisons and the threats of tyrants, which preserved its joy entire in irons, which looked upon life and death indifferently, could not bear the absence of the Philippians without trouble. That great courage, which defies and despises all the rest, yields under the feelings of the love which he cherished towards them. This passion alone was able to melt him. His uncertainty respecting their state gave him more trouble and uneasiness than all the chains and threats of Nero. 1 shall have no rest (says he) till I hear news of you. If there is any languor and weakness in my courage, that anxiety alone which I feel for you causes and maintains it. I am firm and strong against the rest; it is here only that I feel myself weak. But I hope that sending Timothy will relieve my anxiety, and at once set my heart at ease. Your prosperity will increase my courage, and once know- ing you to be in safety, I shall have no more fear or uneasiness. Such was the feeling of the apostle for his Philip- pian converts, and such ought to be that of all pastors for their flocks. Judge, then, in what proportion the feeling of the Philippians towards St. Paul should be, what desire they should have for the repose and comfort of a man who loved them so tenderly. Dear brethren, we are infinitely below this great apostle, who never had his equal in the world. But however weak our ministry may be, you ought to cherish it, since it is appointed for you. And the chief favour that we ask at your hands is, that your piety, and charity, and sanctification may be such as to give us joy ; that your spiritual prosperity may fill our souls with delight ; so that knowing the happiness of your 92 AN EXPOSITION OF Serm. XV. state, we may have (as the apostle Bays) so much more courage to labour for your edification. For the rest, as St. Paul hoped that sending Timothy would give him satisfaction, so he promised himself that it would afford much to these believers. And this is the meaning of the word "also," which he uses in this text, "so that I also may be of good comfort;" clearly taking for granted that he alone should not gather fruit from it, that the Philippians should do so in the first place, and he afterwards ; and as they would receive great comfort in seeing Timothy amongst them, and in learning from him the deliver- ance and happy state of the apostle, their common master; so should he also in his turn have likewise extreme encouragement and rejoicing, in knowing from this faithful deputy the prosperity of their church. II. But in order to excite their hearts to this ex- pectation, and to make them more desire the enjoy- ment of this happiness, he sets before them in the following verses the excellent qualities of Timothy, which compelled him to appoint him to this deputa- tion in preference to any other : " For I have no man like-minded, who will naturally care for your state. For all seek their own, not the things that are Jesus Christ's. But ye know the proof of him, that, as a son with the father, he hath served with me in the gospel." There is hardly in the Scriptures of the New Testament any minister of the gospel more celebrated than Timothy. St. Luke, in the Acts of the apostles, and St. Paul, in his Epistles, every where make very honourable mention of him ; so that the apostle uses his name in the title or address of five of his letters, writing them in his name and in that of Timothy ; and this is one of them, as you have heard at the beginning. And besides that, he has done him the honour to write two to him ; the last of which is, as it were, the will of this great apostle, in which he commits to his dear disciple his last wishes, being on the point of leaving the world. These divine pieces teach us that he was born of a pagan father, but of a Jewish mother, named Eunice, daughter of Lois, both of them gifted with excellent faith, and celebrated by the pen of the apostle. These two good and religious women brought him up from his infancy in piety, and particularly in the knowledge of the Holy Scriptures, the true source of the fear of God, and salvation, in which he made great progress, 2 Tim. i. 5, 6; iii. 15; iv. 14. And having since heard and embraced the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, he consecrated himself entirely to his service j and received the imposition of hands from St. Paul and the company of priests or elders, and followed the apostle in the greater part of his travels. It is, then, this holy man whom the apostle here intends to send to the Philippians, and to whose zeal and piety he bears so great and singular a testi- mony. It is not to flatter him that he praises him, but to recommend him to the Philippians; so that seeing the opinion which the apostle entertained of him, they might desire his arrival, and receive him, when he should come among them, with the reverence and love due to his merit; and that by this means both his expectation and arrival should produce more fruit among them. I acknowledge that it is an abominable and pernicious delusion to praise those who do not deserve it, and I still further confess that it is a sad and odious vanity to praise even those who are praiseworthy without some reason compel- ling us so to do. But I also maintain that it is a duty, not only just, but very useful, to praise and re- commend the piety and virtue of believers in suitable times and places. In the first place, it is like a tribute that we owe to these good qualities to ac- knowledge them, and sincerely to praise them every where where we see them shining; and it would be ingratitude both towards those who possess them, and towards God who gave them, not to appear to see them. And every body knows that there is nothing which more stirs up right minds to the prac- tice of honesty and virtue than praise. It attracts and binds them for ever to it ; giving them a secret shame not to continue and increase to the end in a thing in which such an honourable testimony has been given them. Add to which, this recommenda- tion gives efficacy to their usefulness with those with whom they have to labour. This is the reason why the apostle makes no scruple in this place to praise his disciple Timothy, and has willingly engraved his eulogium in this Epistle, as upon solid and durable brass, which has hitherto preserved and will pre- serve his name and his glory in the church to the end of the world. This example compels superiors to render similar testimony to those of their inferiors who deserve it, as fathers to their children, pastors to their sheep, crowning each of their good qualities with these sweet and agreeable flowers of praise every time that occasion requires it. Behold then how the apostle exalts the zeal and piety of Timothy : " I have no person like-minded, who will naturally care for your state." The first eulogium, then, that he gives him is, that he has no person like-minded, fi-om which it is clear that he places him above all his other disciples. But what he says, " that none are like-minded," may be inter- preted in two ways. Some think that the apostle compares Timothy with himself, and means that he had a zeal and courage equal to his own. Others imagine that by these words he is compared, not with the apostle, but with the other disciples, im- plying that, of all those who were with St. Paul, there was not one whose zeal and courage were equal to those of Timothy. And although both expositions are good and beneficial to this holy servant of God, yet the second seems the best, from the relation that it bears to the following words, where the apostle, to confirm what he had said, " that he had nobody like-minded with Timothy," adds, " that all seek their own, not the things that are Jesus Christ's." Be it how it may, it is evident that by " this mind," whether like that of the apostle, or incomparably greater than that of the other disciples, is meant the zeal with which Timothy glowed for the advance- ment of the gospel, and for the glory of Jesus Christ; his affection and his quickness in embracing every occasion that might be useful to it, there being nothing either so difficult or so painful that he would not willingly undertake for this purpose. It is a quality necessary for all Christians, but more parti- cularly for the ministers of the gospel, seeing that the difficulties they meet with in the exercise of their office are likely to discourage them at every mo- ment, if they have only a common-place affection and courage. The other praise that the apostle here gives Timothy is, that he is more careful than any one else in the things that concern the Philippians ; in which you see that, besides the affection which he bore in general to all the flock of Christ, he had an especial one for that of the Philippians ; either that the stay which he had made among them, or the noise and wonder of their extraordinary piety, or the sympathy of his own feelings with theirs, or some other reason, had more powerfully inclined his heart towards them. He expresses the care that he took for them by a term full of emphasis, which signifies a great anxiety, which filled his mind with many thoughts, keeping it continually balanced and divided, as it happens sometimes to ourselves when we take Chap. 11. THE EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS. 93 the charge of a thing of which we are very fond. The apostle still adds another term, that he may bet- ter set before us the nature of that care which Timothy took for the affairs of the Philijipians, say- ing that he was truly or naturally careful for them ; that is to say, without pretence, or fraud, or hypo- crisy; acquitting himself of his duties in all frank- ness and sincerity, without seeking any other thing in them than the good and edification of these be- lievers. For evil-workers sometimes take charge of what belongs to a flock, but with bad designs ; one to satisfy his curiosity, another to gratify his ambition or avarice, each rather for himself than for Jesus ' Christ or his church. But St. Paul still further heightens the glory of Timothy in the following verse by the singular rarity of his virtue : " For all Beek their own, not the things that are Jesus Christ's." His zeal is so much the more admirable, that it is almost without example. In a great mul- titude of disciples, he alone does the work of the Lord with that true nobleness of mind which only re- gards his Master. All the others seek their own in- terest, rather than that of Jesus Christ. In the first place, it is clear enough that the apostle does not here speak of apostates, who, carried away by the cares of this world, whether the lusts of the flesh or the fear of persecution, had renounced the gospel, and openly quitted its profession ; as that Hymeneus, and Alexander, and some others, of whom he com- : plains elsewhere, saying " that some, having put ! away a good conscience, concerning faith have made shipwreck." Such wretches do not deserve that Timothy should be put in comparison with them. St. Paul speaks of those who were living in the pro- fession of Christianity, and exercised its holy minis- try, and who were numbered in the company of his disciples. From which it appears, in the second place, that those of whom he here complains were not profane, and who took no care of the kingdom of Jesus Christ, nor of the edification of his church. i These words of the apostle, " they seek not the I things that are Jesus Christ's," must not be taken simply and absolutely, as meaning that they took no care whatever, nor gave themselves any trouble with the affairs of the Lord, more than the Jews or the pagans, but only as said by comparison, to mean that they sought their oini things, rather than those of Jesus Christ ; that they preferred their o«h in- terest to his, and had less care for his kingdom than for their oini comfort ; in the same way as the prophet Rosea said, as it is quoted by the Lord in St. Matthew, " That God would have mercy, and not sacrifice," Hos. vi. 6; Matt. ix. 13, meaning that he better liked the works of mercy than the oblations of the sacrifices ; and as St. Paul says, " that God, in forbidding to muzzle the ox that treadeth out the crivn, took not care for oxen, but for us," 1 Cor. ix. 9, 111. signifying that in that he had much more regard to us than to oxen; and as a prophet said that the Israelites had rejected, not Samuel, but the Eternal, meaning that it was not so much the government of Samuel that they had rejected, as that of God him- self, 1 Sam. viii. 7; and in many other places of Scripture, where this method of speaking is very usual. And that this passage must be so taken, the thing itself very evidently shows. For speaking simply, and without this comparison, it is not forbid- den us to seek what is our own, and to take care of our own interests, and of those who belong to us, as, for example, to preserve the health, reputation, and faculties both of ourselves and others. Even the apostle teaches us elsewhere that it is a grievous sin ab.solutely to neglect the care of such things; de- claring that if any one careth not for his own, and chiefly for those of his own family, he has denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel, 2 Tim. v. 3. That which is forbidden, and which is indeed a grievous sin against God and against ourselves, is this passion carried to excess, when we have more love and affection for our own affairs than for those of the Lord ; " when we love (as it is in St. Matthew) father or mother, son or daughter, (let us add health, repose, honour, goods, or life,) more than him ;" when we seek our own convenience more than his glory, or attach ourselves more to our own interest than to his ; and, in a word, when the consideration of what belongs to ourselves causes us to be wanting in his service. According to this Divine doctrine, it is evident that the apostle does not here intend, either that Timothy had no care whatever for his own things, (which would rather have been blamable than praisewor- thy,) or that those other disciples with whom he compares him had simply some care or some atten- tion to their own interests (which is not forbidden). But he means to say that Timothy, having placed the Lord Jesus in the chief spot of his heart, loved his glory and his kingdom above all things, treading under foot that which was most dear to him, when it interfered with the spread of the gospel, or the service of his church ; and that these other disciples, on the contrary, although they had some regard for the kingdom of God, and employed themselves in preaching his word, were nevertheless so attached to their own interests, that this passion made them neg- lect those occupations of their office which inter- fered with their own comfort. And as it often hap- pens that the interests of Christ and his gospel are incompatible with our own, you see how pernicious this foolish love is which prefers earth to heaven, and our own affairs to those of God, in all our call- ings, especially in that of ministers of the word. This then is what the apostle reproves in those of whom he speaks in this place ; and this is the reason why he does not reckon them fit to be sent to the Philippians. For the question being of a long and dangerous journey, persons who loved their own convenience so much might not easily resolve to undertake it. Believers, are you not astonished that even then, during that blessed golden age, when the presence of the apostle caused so much virtue and piety to flourish on earth, there were nevertheless at Rome, even in the society of St. Paul, so few good and noble-minded soldiers of the Lord ? " All (says the apostle) seek their own, and not the things that are Jesus Christ's." I acknowledge that we must not take his expression strictly, as if he meant to say simply and really that, except Timothy, there was no one at all who was not wrapped up in this cri- minal backwardness. But however that may be, it cannot be denied that this manner of speaking means that this corruption was so widely extended, and so few were exempt from it, that we may learn from it not to lose courage if we at present see the same evil in the church, and so few labourers of whom we can truly say that they seek what is Jesus Christ's and not their own. But I return to Timothy. The apostle having thus preferred him to all his fellow labourers, adds, " But you know the proof of him, that, as a son with the father, he has served with me in the gospel." It is not necessary (he observes) that I should recom- mend him to vou beforehand. You yourselves know his value, and are not ignorant of the proofs which he has given of his zeal, and of his fidelity, in the exercise of his holy ministry. They knew the proof of Timothy; first, because they had seen him them- selves among them, there being great reason to think that he was with St. Paul, when, by direction of 94 AN EXPOSITION OF Serm. XV. a heavenly vision, he passed into Macedonia, and went to preach the gospel in the town of Philippi ; and perhaps the apostle had also since sent him thither. They had, secondly, doubtless, heard the great ac- tions of this holy man of God, his assiduity and fidelity in the work of the Lord, and the assistance and service that he had rendered to St. Paul, keep- ing himself inseparably attached to him in all his journeys and enterprises. And this is what he ex- pressly says, that " he had served with him in the gospel as a son with the father." In these words he praises the faith and modesty of Timothy ; his faith, in that he served in the gospel, signifying by that he employed with zeal and assiduity every gift that he possessed in preaching the gospel ; yielding to Jesus Christ his Lord, in this enterprise, all the duty that a slave owes to his master ; sincerely proclaiming his word, such as he had received it from his apostles, without mixing with it the leaven of any human doctrine ; seeking his glory alone, and labouring only for his name. The climax of his praise is, that he had served with St. Paul, drawing, as it were, in the same yoke, following and imitating him in all things ; so that in his conduct there shone an express image of the zeal, courage, sincerity, and laborious assi- duity of that great apostle. But besides this imita- tion, it also signifies the faithful association he had maintained with him in all his journeys and dangers, and the part he had taken in all his victories. And it is to this that the following words relate, " He has served with me as a child with the father;" that is to say, that he had yielded to him, in the work of the Lord, all the obedience, reverence, subjection, and love that the best son could have yielded to his father, remaining always attached at his side in all his painful and dangerous expeditions, softening the labours of his apostleship by his continual assistance, flying where he sent him, refusing no danger, whether by sea or land, but taking as kindnesses all those labours in which St. Paul employed him, religiously obeying all his orders, without ever infringing any of them. Indeed, if you read in the Acts the history of the apostle left us by St. Luke, you will every where find Timothy with him ; or if he sometimes quits him, it is by his command to execute his orders elsewhere. Neither the rage of the Jew-s nor the persecutions of the pagans, neither imprisonment nor trouble, neither storms at sea nor dangers by land, could separate him from this holy man. He gave up all to share his labours and his sorrows. This ap- pears also in the Epistles of the apostle, in which Timothy is never forgotten. And this praise is still greater, as he was yet but a young man ; and this is the reason St. Paul says here that he had been with him as a son with his father. For is it not a wonder- ful thing that, notwithstanding the passions of that age, so difficult to restrain, disdaining with great courage the pleasures and exercises to which youth is given, he kept with the apostle, subjecting himself quietly to all his directions, employing in the work of the Lord all that strength which others lose in debauchery and folly, preferring ratlier to weep and to suffer with St. Paul than to laugh and amuse himself with the world ? After having thus nobly recommended him to the Philippians, he repeats the promise which he had already made to them above to send him to them shortly : " I trust then to send him to you shortly, as soon as I know how it will go with me." In the un- certainty in which his imprisonment kept him, not knowing what would be its issue, it was difficult for him to send Tnnothy far away from him. This is why he detained him yet some time; but with the promise, that as soon as he should see his affaiis in such a state as to be able to do without him, he would not fail sending him on this journey. In whicli he plainly testifies, that although he was not entirely certain of the issue of his bonds, he, nevertheless, hoped to be delivered from them. III. And what he adds in the third and last part of this text shows us still more expressly his opinion : " I trust in the Lord that I also myself shall come shortly." Before he had given them this hope, towards the end of the 1st chapter, where he said to them, " I know that I shall abide and continue with you all for your furtherance and joy of faith," Phil, i. 25. Now then, for fear that sending Timothy, as he promises, should make them think that, changing his first plan, he no longer intended to visit them himself, he gives them this express a.ssurance to the contrary. In which you see on one side the warmth of his affection for the Philippians, and on the other his humility and modesty, how he refers all to the will of God, saying that he trusts in the Lord, the same as he had said above, " I trust in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you shortly." Now what was in- deed the issue of his imprisonment, and what the success of his intentions, we have formerly con- sidered very fully in the exposition of the 1st chap- ter, in which we proved that there is great reason to believe that the apostle was delivered from his first bonds; and that he saw once more the churches that he had planted in Asia and Greece, which is pre- cisely what he hopes here. Thus nothing now re- mains for us to do on this text than to meditate seriously on, and reduce to practice, the instructions which it contains. In the first place, the example of Timothy teaches you what pastors you ought to desire for the guid- ance of the cliurch, namely, such persons as have courage similar to that of the apostle j who may be truly and sincerely careful of that which concerns their flocks, who seek the things which are Jesus Christ's, and not their own, and who serve the gospel with St. Paul, and as he did. I acknowledge that eloquence and the best literary acquirements are not to be despised. But faith, zeal, and the love of Christ and his church, are the principal parts of this ministry. This is what you ought the most to desire, seek, and esteem in your pastors, as that which is most needful for your edification. The rest serves to please your ears, this to the salvation of your souls. But this lesson especially regards us whom God hath called to the exercise of this honourable office, com- mitting to us the guidance of his church. His provi- dence has preserved the eulogium with which St. Paul here adorns Timothy, exactly as if this were to be the pattern and idea on which we should form ourselves, in such a way, that if the holy apostle were still upon earth, he might conscientiously give us the same praises which he here gives to his dis- ciple. But, O ye faithful ministers of the Lord, who- ever you may be, and in whatever place you may labour, the absence of St. Paul will not deprive you of this fruit of your labours. If you are not praised by the pen of the apostle, you shall be so by the mouth of the supreme Master, who sees your troubles, and regards your fidelity, and will proclaim them one day in the presence of men and angels, when he will bestow on every one of his servants the praise that is due to him. Then what will be your joy and your glory, when you shall hear the Son of God in that august assembly say of you what the apostle here wrote of his Timothy, This servant has been truly careful of the good of my church ; he has sought my interests, and not his own ; he has served me in the gospel, as a son serves his father ! Have always before your eyes this Divine reward. That Chap. II. THE EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS. 93 you may have a share in Timothy's glory, imitate his zeal and fidelity. Be careful of the flocks which Jesus Christ has committed to your care. Remem- ber that it is for him you labour, for the glory of the Lord of the world, for the salvation and immortal felicity of men, to guide souls, which he hath re- deemed with his own blood, to glory. God forbid that in so noble a design you should think of the flesh, or of the earth, or that you should injure such a ministry by low and mercenary thoughts, seeking reputation, ease, or convenience in offices which ought only to serve for the furtherance of the king- dom of God and the edification of his saints. May the glory of Jesus Christ be your only desire and your only interest ; may this govern your whole life, and subdue every action of your minds and bodies. And as this should be your sole object, may the gos- pel also be your only occupation. Preach it in season, and out of season, with your voice and by your writings, with your mouth and in your manners. Mix with it nothing of your own. May your tongue and your life represent it faithfiilly, such as it was given you by the Lord and by his ministers. Cast the desire of ruling behind you. You are called to serve, and your whole office is but an honourable servitude. You are not the lords, but the servants of the flocks over which you preside. This is what the portrait of Timothy, here drawn by the apostle, feacties ministers in general. But it particularly warns the young to live humbly and modestly with the elders, to look upon them as their fathers, and to soften the trials of this laborious ministry by their respectful attentions. On the other hand, the con- duct of the apostle instructs likewise the elders not to abuse the advantage which their age gives them over their Timothies ; to love them tenderly, and to look upon them as their brethren, and not as their slaves, as the oflScers of Jesus Christ " who serve irith them," as is here particularly said by the apostle, and not under them ; to praise them, and to recom- mend them very afiectionately to their flocks, and to do all in their power to render their ministry honourable. This same Timothy consecrating his early years to this holy office, ought also to incite you, 0 Christian youth, to dedicate yourselves at once to the service of God, and immediately to awaken those among you who have the necessary gifts to devote themselves to the holy ministry. And God be praised, who has touched the hearts of some among you, to lead them to such a good design, crowning their beginnings with the flowers of his grace in such abundance that we have all good reason to hope for much fruit in its season. Follow their example, and employ, to the advancement of the kingdom of God, and to the building his house, that warmth and vigour, and those other graces which your age consumes uselessly in worthless occupations. This is what the example of Timothy teaches us for the holy ministry. But, dear brethren, do not imagine that you have no share in this, under pretence that you are not called to this office. I acknowledge that the holy ministry requires certain gifts, and certain peculiar cares. But in truth, as there is but one and the same salvation for the pastors and for the sheep, so there is but one and the same way to attain it ; and those deeply deceive themselves who imagine that the morals of the people must, or at least may be, differ- ent from those of their guides. Consider then also, be- loved brethren, this example and pattern of Timothy, which the apostle here places before your eyes. Children, learn from it respect, obedience, and sub- mission towards your fathers. Render them the same duties that Timothy yielded to St. Paul. Aid them in their sorrows, accompany them in their travels, console them in their adversities, be to them through- out their lives a cro^vn of blessing and joy. Fathers, imitate also, and show towards your children, the gentleness, care, and friendship of St. Paul towards Timothy, loving them tenderly as your own bowels, dedicating them to the Lord, placing them and lead- ing them in his ways, giving them in the purity of your morals a beautiful and perfect pattern of life, which they may follow without blushing. Youth, here learn in general the deference which is due to elders. Treat them as your fathers. And you who are elders in age, have for the young affections and feelings similar to those of our Paul towards Timo- thy. Train them by your words and your examples to all godliness and honesty. Regard them not as strangers, but as your children, and unite with one another in a holy agreement to serve the gospel of the Lord, advancing it every day, attracting towards it those who are without, establishing those who are within, by the good example of a truly Christian life. For the principal thing is that all, young and old, rich and poor, of whatever age, sex, or condition we may be, we should each of us in our calling carefully imitate the zeal and faith of Timothy, that we should have, like him, an apostolical mind and courage, burning with love towards God, and a sin- cere affection towards his church ; that, detached from earth, we should only seek heaven; that the affairs of the Lord Jesus, his kingdom and eternity, should possess our hearts day and night; that we should henceforth leave ease, convenience, and glory, and all the other petty passions of this vile flesh, to embrace the interests of God; that our whole lives may be only one continued proof of our faith and devotion ; that it may be spent entirely in the service of the gospel, in that same course in which St. Paul ended his old age, or in which the blessed Timothy sanctified his youth ; that we may serve with them, that we may enjoy as they do the peace and conso- lation of the Lord Jesus in this world, and his glory and immortality in the other. So be it ; and to him, with the Father, and the Holy Spirit, be honour and praise for ever. Amen. Preached at Charenton, Sundat/, 30th June, 1641. SERMON XVI. Verse 25—30, Vet I supposed it necessary to send to you Epaphrodi- tus, my brother, and companion in labour, and fellow soldier, but your messenger, and he that ministered to my wants. For he longed after you all, and uas full of heavi?tess, because that ye had heard that he had been sick. For indeed he teas sick nigh unto death : but God had mercy on him; and not on him only, but on me also, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow. I sent him therefore the more carefully, that, when ye see him again, ye may rejoice, and that I may be the less sorrowful. Receive him therefore in the Lord with all gladness ; and hold such in repu- tation : because for the work of Christ he was nigh unto death, not regarding his life, to supply your lack of service toward me. The preservation of those societies which exist amongst mankind depends upon the union and good intelligence of the parties of which they are com- 96 AN EXPOSITION OP Serm. XVI. posed. It is of great consequence to such as govern clearly to understand the minds of those they guide. For unless that be the case, their obedience being forced and unwilling, it is not probable that their union should subsist long; experience teaching us every day that tilings that are violent are not of long duration. But among these superiors, there are none to whom this esteem and this disposition are more necessary than to the pastors whom God hath estab- lished in the church, because their whole govern- ment is only a gentle and amiable control, founded upon the devotion and submission of their flocks, and not a regal power ; that is to say, a ministry, and not an empire, according to what the Lord said to his apostles, " The princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them; but it shall not be so among you," Matt. xx. 25, 26. And even if the pastors should have this lordly power, which some among them have usurped, contrary to the express com- mand of their Master, still it is very evident that it would be useless to the design of their office, which is to gain the hearts, and not to subject the bodies of men ; so that to edify the societies over which they preside they must be held in great esteem, to the end that every body being persuaded of their good intentions, may willingly submit to their guidance. And they, and all those who desire the welfare of the church, ought to do all in their power to place them in high estimation, and to turn from them as much as possible every thing that is likely to diminish the opinion and respect of their flocks towards them. The apostle St. Paul, who often gives us this lesson in the instructions which he has left us in his Epistles, confirms it here by his example, recommending Epaphroditus very affectionately to the church of the Philippians, of which he was the pastor, and dis- abusing their minds of whatever little suspicion they might have about his conduct. These believers had sent him to St. Paul, then a prisoner at Rome, not only to carry him their presents, and the aid of their charity, but also to remain about his person, and to yield him in so pressing an emergency all the sei'vice he possibly could until the Lord should otherwise order. Returning then now to thepi, that they might not imagine that it was his impatience, or his deli- cacy, or any other bad reason, which had induced him to return, the apostle shows them that it was he who had sent him, and sets before them the real and true reasons which had led him thus to act, all much in favour of Epaphroditus. He yields a plain and full testimony to his piety and virtue, and highly praising his fidelity, and the zeal with which he had acquitted himself of the business in which they had employed him, even to despising his own life for the work of the Lord, he directs them to receive him with peculiar joy and affection, as an excellent serv- ant of God, and a precious gift of his grace. He says to them, in the first place, in general, that he thought himself obliged to send him back quickly : " I supposed it necessary to send to you Epaphrodi- tus, my brother, and companion in labour, and fellow soldier, but your messenger, and he that ministered to my wants." He then explains to them particu- larly the reasons for this return, drawn from the sick- ness of Epaphroditus, and from the desire it had awakened in him to see once more his beloved flock : *' For he longed after you all, and was full of heavi- ness, because that ye had heard that he had been sick. For indeed he was sick nigh unto death : but God had mercy on him ; and not on him only, but on me also, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow. I sent him therefore the more carefully, that, when ye see him again, ye may rejoice, and that I may be the less sorrowful." And, finally, he recommends him to them : " Receive him therefore in the Lord with all gladness ; and hold such in reputation : because for the work of Christ he was nigh unto death, not re- garding his life, to supply your lack of service to- wards me." This is what St. Paul says of Epaphro- ditus. To understand it properly, and to draw from it all the teaching which is given for our instruction and consolation, we will examine these five points in order, if the Lord- permit : the titles of Epaphroditus ; his sickness ; his cure j his return ; and his recom- mendation. I. For the first, the apostle gives him five consider- able titles. For, in the first place, he calls him his " brother ;" then, his " fellow labourer ;" in the third place his " fellow soldier ;" in the fourth place, " the apostle of the Philippians ;" and finally, "the minister of his wants or necessity." The first of these names shows his religion, and the holy union there was in this respect, both with the apostle and with other believers. For the Christians in these early ages called each other brother, a name full of sweetness and friendliness, derived from the custom of the Jewish church, of which Christianity is the daughter. The Hebrews, as we learn from many places of the Old and New Testament, called themselves brethren, because they were all descend- ed from the same father, that is to say, from Jacob and from Abraham. Christians, after their exam- pie, also took that sacred name. And, indeed, it is not less suitable to them according to the Spirit, than to the others according to the flesh ; for as the Jews were all of one race according to the flesh, so Christians also have one Father according to the Spirit, Jesus Christ, who has begotten them by the same blood, and quickened them by the same Spirit, uniting them in one and the same family. They are nourished by the same food, consecrated by the same sacraments, brought up under one rule, washed by one baptism, united by one communion, called to the same inheritance, and destined to the same glory. Believers, remember this ; and every time that you see a Christian, whatever may be his condition, believe that he is your brother. St. Paul was a great apostle, elevated above all men by many advantages which God had given him. And yet he does not here disdain to call Epaphroditus his bro- ther, and does the same honour elsewhere to each of the other Christians, however much they might be lower than he. May this sacred name warm your charity towards those who need either your alms, your assistance, or your consolation. May it ap- pease your feelings against those who have offended you. Respect in them the blood and Spirit of the Lord, of which you both participate, and recall to yourselves continually what Moses formerly said to the Hebrews, " "We are brethren, why do ye wrong one to another?" The second title that St, Paul gives to Epaphro- ditus is, his " companion in labour," which relates to his office, viz, the holy ministry of the gospel, to which he had been consecrated, and in which he had acquitted himself faithfully. From which it appears that this excellent person had laboured in Rome it- self, in preaching and in the edification of people, and so much the more as the imprisonment of Paul prevented his doing so as freely as he desired. Ob- serve, believers, I beseech you, how excellent this office is ! It renders us companions of Paul, and of all the holy apostles. It gives us an entrance into their sacred college, and associates us with the judges of the world. By it we have the honour of being brethren of Jesus Christ the Prince of bishops, and workers with God, which is the highest glory Chap. II. THE EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS. 97 that man can have. Judge with what desire we should wish for such an excellent office, and what respect we ought to yield to those whom God has called to it, and who worthily exercise it in his church. But besides the holy ministry, the apostle still as- sociates Epaphroditusin his labours, naming him, in the third place, his " fellow soldier ;" thus express- ing the part that he had taken in his battles against the devil, the world, and false brethren, for the glory of his Master, and the salvation of his flock. It is indeed true that it may be said of all mortal men in general, " that their life is a warfare upon earth," as we read in Job, chap. vii. 1. And it is still further true, that it is more peculiarly suitable to believers in Jesus Christ, who are all called to suffer persecu- tion, and to carry the cross, and who wrestle not against flesh and blood only, but also against princi- palities and powers, against the lords of the world, the rulers of the age, and against spiritual wicked- ness in high places ; Satan no sooner seeing man consecrated to God by the sacrament of baptism, than he immediately begins to fight, and to tempt him, as he acted formerly towards Jesus Christ him- self, the Prince of warriors; and this is the reason why the apostle elsewhere exhorts believers in general to clothe themselves with the armour of God, that they may be able to resist the efforts of so po- tent an enemy. But as the ministers of the gospel have the honour to carry the standard in this sacred war, and to lead and encourage others at every op- portunity, it is evident that no Christians have more to do in it than they. It is to them that the enemy particularly addresses himself, it is to them that he directs the most dangerous of his blows, and against them that he employs his darkest malice, and the most poisonous of his arrows. He leaves none of them at rest ; and no sooner does he see them occu- pied in this Divine ministry, than he raises against them from all quarters innumerable fightings within and without, filling their whole lives with trouble and bitterness. Christians! you who by a noble vow have consecrated yourselves to this heavenly office, reckon that you are entered on a difficult and deadly warfare. Do not imagine that the Lord calls you to a festival, or to a soft and voluptuous life, in which you have only (like the greater part of the Romish priests) to enjoy at your ease the comfortable reve- aues of a living. What you have undertaken is a painful labour ; a bloody and obstinate battle, in which you will continually have your enemy upon you. That you may have a share in the honour of Paul, you must also participate in his fatigues, and you must be his fellow soldier to partake his tri- umph. This is what he elsewhere shows to his dear disciple Timothy, and what every faithful minister ought always to have before him : " Endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ," 2 Tim. ii. 3 — 5. Far from us be idleness and pleasure, the encum- brance of the cares of earth, and the business of the flesh. No one who goes to war encumbers himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who has enlisted him. So also, if any wrestle, he is not crowned if he have not fairly fought. The laurels of Jesus Christ are not otherwise gathered. But if the labour of these combats be great, the con- solation and glory is infinitely greater; the supreme Pastor continually assisting his warriors, gently wiping away the perspiration, inspiring them with new strength and vigour; keeping for them, on the day of his triumph, an incorruptible and glorious crown ; and giving them here, during their life, the approba- tion and praise of the saints. Thus he formerly treated Epaphroditus, consoling him in his labours, by the testimony which the apostle gave him ; placing on his head, if one may so say, as a rich crown of beautiful and immortal flowers, those two superb titles with which he honours him, calling him his companion in labour and fellow soldier. He still adds two other titles, which seem to relate to the employment which had been given him by the Philippians. The first is that he calls him their apostle (for this is what the original precisely means, and which our Bibles have translated " your mes- senger"). Some take the word apostle here to mean those ministers that St. Paul elsewhere names evan- gelists, who assisted the apostles of the Lord, and were as their lieutenants. For the holy apostles not being able to remain long in each place, were accus- tomed, when they had commenced the conversion of a country by their preaching, to leave there some of their inferiors, with authority to establish a suitable order, and to complete that which they had begun ; as St. Paul says that he had left Titus in the isle of Candia, that he might continue the arrangement of things in proper order, which still remained to be done, and to ordain elders or priests in every city, Tit. i. 5. They imagine, then, that Epaphroditus was of this class of ministers, formerly left by St. Paul in the city of Philippi, with the office of estab- lishing there, and in the surrounding country, the order and discipline necessary for the preservation of the church. And it is clear that the word of the apostle may indeed frequently be taken in this sense, as he says "that Andronicus and Junia were of note among the apostles," Rom. xvi. 7. And it is possible that Epaphroditus had the honour of being one of this class of ministers. Others, considering that it was by the hands of this person that the Philippians sent to St. Paul the fruit of their love, here take the word, " apostle of the Philippians," as meaning their ambassador, he that had been sent by them. For besides that this is what the word signifies in its first and original sense, apostle, in the Greek language, being the same as messenger or deputy in ours; be- sides that, I say, it appears also that St. Paul some- times uses the word apostle, apostle of the churches, that is to say, their ambassadors and deputies, for those whom they had sent to gather the alms and contributions which Macedonia and Greece made for their relief. Our Bible has followed this second exposition ; to that sense the last of the titles relates, which the apostle here gives to Epaphroditus, call- ing him the minister of his necessities; that is to say, he who had furnished him with the things necessary for life, amid the discomforts of a prison ; by which he testifies that this holy man had faith- fully acquitted himself of the office which the Philip, plans had given him, of carrying to St. Paul some charitable assistance in his necessity, as he after- wards more clearly tells us, where he praises them for having taken care of him, and for having com- municated to his affliction ; and says that he abound-^ having received what they had sent by him, an oJour of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, well-pleasing to God, PhO. iv. 14, 18. It is with good reason that St. Paul mentions that amongst the glorious eulogiums with which he honoiu^ Epaphroditus. For if the Lord wUl one day publish in the general assembly of men and of angels the little charities that we ha\ e shown to the least among believers, the visits and the assistance that we have given them in their ne- cessity, rewarding them in his infinite mercy with the heavenly inheritance, and the crown of a blessed immortality ; what a glory was it to Epaphroditus to have served the apostle, the greatest of God's servants, and to have soothed his sorrows on this sad occasion ! visiting his prison, softeuing its ia- 98 AN EXPOSITION OF serm. xvr. cotiveniencies, and refreshing him by the alms of an entire church! Such are the titles given him by St. Paul. II. Let us now consider the grievous sickness into which this holy minister of the Lord fell, in faith- fully acquitting himself of his office, and of which the Philippians themselves had heard the sad and painful news: " You have heard that he was sick ; and indeed he was sick nigh unto death." If we only regard the natural constitution of the body, it is composed of so frail a substance, and of so many parts differing from one another, and so delicate in their complexion, and requiring so many things for its preservation, and exposed by sin to so many injuries and blows from without, that we have no reason to be astonished that Epaphroditus, after the troubles of so long a voyage, and the continual labour which he had undergone for the service of St. Paul in the work of the Lord, should at last have fallen into so serious a sickness. These are accidents common to men, the consequence of our infirmity, the fruits of our toil and labour, and the forerunners of death, to which our disobedience has subjected us all. But if we lift our eyes higher, and consider on one side the providence of God, which watches over his own in a peculiar manner, often changing in their favour the most fixed order of nature ; and on the other the piety and fidelity of Epaphroditus in his ministry, and the gifts of Paul with whom he then lived ; we shall doubtless find it very strange that the Lord should have permitted so excellent a man, so usefully occu- pied in the aifairs of his house, to have been afflicted with such an illness ; and that this great apostle, who cast out demons, who cured all sorts of ills, who even raised the dead by touching them with his hands, and by the simple words of his lips, could not keep from such a scourge a person who was so dear to him, and that he should have been without the power to prevent the attentions and services of his love being interrupted by this sad accident, or rather that they should have produced so bad an effect, there being much probability that this labour itself had brought this indisposition upon him. It is a doubt which de- serves to be cleared up, so much the more, as it often harasses the weak, and furnishes to men of the world a great matter for their abuse of piety, when they see the most excellent servants of Jesus Christ sub- ject to the common troubles of human nature ; some tormented with most acute diseases, such as the stone, or the gout; others afflicted with long and wearying infirmities ; some plunged into poverty, others persecuted by calumny ; some even troubled in their minds, or falling, notwithstanding their piety and innocence, into strange and extraordinary dis- grace, or carried out of this life by some sad and tragical accident. Indeed those within the church, after the sufferings of Job, and the trials of Paul and the other apostles, have no longer any cause to con- sider such accidents as arguments either of the im- piety of men, or of the hatred of God towards them. But if such strange events cannot but give them pain, and in spite of themselves occasion them heavi- ness and trouble, to console them on the one hand, and to repel on the other the blasphemies of the worldly-minded, we will bring forward on this sub- ject some of the reasons which lead Providence to permit such things. In the first place, then, the Lord wishes that his servants should be subject to these afflictions and infirmities, lest the excellence of their piety, and of the graces with which he has clothed them, should raise their vanity. This exer- cise preserves them in a salutary modesty, and makes them feel the weakness, the misery, and the nothing- ness of their nature, and prevents their being elated with pride. St. Paul teaches us this expressly, when after having related the grace that he had experienced of being lifted up to heaven, and of having there heard " unspeakable words," he adds, that, lest he should be lifted up above measure on account of the excellence of these revelations, there was given him a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to buffet him ; and though he had earnestly asked the Lord to be freed from it, he had not been able to obtain deliverance. Although it is very difficult to define what this affliction was under which the apostle la- boured, still it sufficiently appears that it was very J grievous and painful, from his calling it a thorn, and ^ a pointed cross fixed in his flesh, and the buffetings of a messenger of Satan. It was like a cautery, truly vexing, but useful and beneficial, by which this holy man was preserved from pride. For although this apostle and his brethren were great and admirable persons, they were, nowithstanding, men, subject to our passions, and capable of falling into the vice common to our nature, and to feel vanity from their own holiness. It is from this kind of temptation Phariseeism sprang, the plague of the old and new church. God, to secure his elect from this mis- fortune, visits them with divers sorts of afflictions as a counterpoise to keep them low, and to prevent their rising or flying too high. He does it also to show us that they are men, lest seeing them in such full and entire happiness, we should make idols of them, and imagine them to have a nature different from that of others. For it is from hence that idolatry has enter- ed into the world. As soon as we see any thing great or extraordinary in any one, immediately we deify him, and we willingly cry, like the auditors of Herod, " It is the voice," or work, " of a god, and not of a man." Thus the first idolaters changed those of their princes into gods, in whom there shone any valour, or goodness, or uncommon power. And we read in Acts xiv. 13, that the Lycaonians, astonished at having seen a lame man cured by St. Paul and Barnabas, wished to oflfer sacrifices to them ; and that the barbarians of Malta, having seen the former shake off a viper, hanging from his finger, without being injured, said among themselves that he was a god, Acts xxviii. 6. This is the reason why these holy men themselves so eagerly repulsed these false imaginations, so extremely insulting to the Divinity : " Why are your eyes fixed upon us, (said they,) as if by our own power or holiness we had done these things?" Acts iii. 12. " Stand up, for we also are men," Acts x. 26. " Why do ye these things ? for we are men, subject to like passions with you," Acts xiv. 15. And St. Paul, not wishing to display all the wonders with which God had gratified him, re- strains himself, saying, " Lest any man should think of me above that which he seeth me to be, or that he heareth of me," 2 Cor. xii. 6. To deliver us from so dangerous an error, the Lord condescended to be af- flicted in every way, and to pass through our great- est infirmities, having placed purposely in our sight these true and indubitable marks of his humanity that we might be assured of it ; and it is for the same reason that the Holy Scripture has so carefully set forth the faults of the greatest servants of God, with- out hiding any of them from us. Still you see that, notwithstanding these warnings which the Lord has shown us, and the proofs of their weakness, there are people to be found among Christians who yield them a religious worship, and fix their devotion even on the ashes and the relics of their bodies and of their clothes ; who pray to them, and invoke them, al- though dead and absent, presuming on a quality, which belongs to God alone, that they know all the secrets of their hearts ; and, not satisfied with the Chap. II. THE EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS. 99 saints of antiquity, make new ones daily of those after their death, whom they formerly saw living in all the infirmities of this poor nature, even to the basest and most shameful ; and, that they may not ap- pear to do so without some colour, forge miracles, the credit of which they impute to them ; so strong in the minds of men is that empty desire to deify all that appears to them to surpass their own common standard. God then was graciously pleased to root out this crying evil by the afflictions and calamities with which he visited his servants. But he also acts thus for another reason, that the wonders of his power may shine gloriously, when with such weak instruments, and which are not ex- empt from any of our miseries, he still does not fail to perform his work. And this is what the apostle means, when he tells us that he and his companions had the treasure of the gospel " in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God, and not of us, " 2 Cor. iv. 7. And elsewhere, when he asked to be delivered from the messenger of Satan, which buffeted him, he was answered, " My grace is sufficient for thee ; for my strength is made perfect in weakness," 2 Cor. xii. 9. It shines in your weak- ness. The shadows of your afflictions and sufferings give a brilliancy to my power, which appears so much the brighter, the more weak and frail the instruments which it uses. For as the skill of a pilot is more clearly seen in the guidance of a bad vessel among banks and breakers, than if he piloted some good ship, well equipped in a safe sea without danger ; so is it evident that the power and wisdom of God are more clearly and wonderfully shown, when he pre- serves and guides to the completion of his plans his poor believers, weak and subject as they are to the Bufferings and miseries of other men, than if, strip- ping them of their vileness, and clothing them from thence with an immortal nature, incapable of suf- fering, he employed them thus fitted in his work. Besides, he acts thus for the praise of believers themselves, afflictions justifying their piety, and making its lustre appear as well as its firmness in the eyes of men and angels. It remains subject to calumny whilst in prosperity. Satan desires to make it pass for hypocrisy, and for a mercenary service, as if they only loved God because he spared them. It is what he formerly said of Job, that he only feared the Lord because he had every where encompassed him with a hedge of providence and blessing, and that he would doubtless change his piety into blasphemy if God were to strike him. To confound this malice, the Lord gave up to him the property and health of his servant, and caused his faith and his love to be seen by his constancy in the midst of these severe trials. Sickness, poverty, per- secution, and other sufferings, are as it were the cru- cible of God. He makes believers pass through this fire, that their piety being preserved, and that coming out of it more pure and brilliant, every one may be forced to acknowledge their value ; and this is what we are taught by the apostle St. Peter, saying that the trial of our faith in the midst of temptations is much more precious than gold which perishes, and though it be tried with fire shall turn " to praise, and honour, and glory, at the appearing of Jesus Christ," I Pet. i. 7. For besides that this manifestation is very honourable to us, and very useful to our neigh- bours in this world, it is necessary to justify in the last day the equity and righteousness of the judgment of God, making it clearly seen that those to whom he will give heaven and immortality are truly believers. St. Paul teaches it to us, when he says that their pa- tience and faith in afflictions is a manifest demonstra- tion of the righteous judgment of God, that they may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, as also that it is a righteous thing in God to render affliction to those who trouble them, and rest to those who are troubled, 2 Thess. v. 6, 7. For be- sides these trials tending to the praise of believers, they are also useful for their sanctification. They detach their hearts from earth, and make them feel the vanity and misery of this world. They warn them of the weakness and mortality of their nature, and by these holy thoughts mortify any desires they might have for the lusts of the world, and oblige them, after having renounced them, to take their flight towards heaven, there to embrace the Lord Jesus, and seek in him alone all their happiness, with more ardour and zeal than ever. Seeing and feeling the nothingness of this life, which is but a vain shadow, they think of another, which is spiritual and immortal, and of the resurrection, which is the door of it, and of heaven, which is its home, to die henceforth to the world, and to live to Jesus only. This is what David acknowledges, when he sings, that it is good for him to have been afflicted, that before he was afflicted he went astray, " but now (says he to the Lord) have I kept thy word," Psal. cxix. 67. For these and similar reasons God per- mits believers sometimes to fall into great disgrace according to the flesh, and to them must be referred the painful and dangerous sickness with which he visited Epaphroditus, notwithstanding his zeal and fidelity in the execution of his office. Hence it also appears why the apostle did not preserve him from it. For since it was not the wish and particular de- sire of Paul, but the will of the Lord, which ruled and rendered efficacious the virtue of the cures and miracles with which he had favoured him, dispensing them or not, according as it was suitable for the in- terests of his glory, we must not be astonished that he should not have displayed it on a man whom God pleased to visit with sickness. For the same reason, this grace of the apostle had no power, either to de- liver himself from the pricking thorn which was fixed in his flesh, nor to cure Timothy of his stomach complaints and other infirmities, under which he continually suffered, 1 Tim. v. 23. For the power of miracles was given at the beginning, not to oppose the institutions of God, or to trouble the order of his regulations, but to confound ungodliness, to conquer incredulity, and to plant and establish the faith of the gospel in the world. III. I come now to the cure of Epaphroditus. His illness had been extreme, as St. Paul shows in saying that he had been near unto death : " But God (adds he) had pity on him ; and not on him only, but also on me, that I should not have sorrow upon sorrow." It is thus that the Lord often acts towards his own, allowing them to descend to the last degree of sor- row, to relieve them afterwards from it with greater eclat and glory. Hezekiah was brought to the gates of the grave, as he says, and considered his life cut off, when God set him again on foot, and added to his life fifteen years. How often did he permit Da- vid to fall into the extremity of anguish ! This pro- ceeding is very suitable both for us and for him. For us, that our faith may be so much the better ex- ercised, the extremity of the danger firing our zeal, and warming our desires in our vows and prayers. For him also. The greater is our danger, and to sU appearance without resource, the more glorious is the power which he displays in delivering us from it. St. Paul here entirely attributes to him the cure of Epaphroditus, whether he had sent it immediately from heaven, or, to procure it, had blessed the reme- dies or the medicine, or the hands of St. Paul, as some imagine. For in whatever way health may be 100 AN EXPOSITION OP Serm. XVI. restored to us, either by the use of means or without them, it is always the work of God, and second causes never ought to obscure his glory, since we know that it is he who gives them, by the secret power of his blessing, whatever efficacy they have. But the apostle does not simply say that the cure of Epaphroditus was the effect of the power of God. He says that it was a gift of his mercy, " God had pity on him." How could that be, seeing it would only prolong his suf- ferings, and the time of his misery ? and that, on the contrary, to separate him from this body, was to draw him out of prison, and from a sad and dangerous com- bat, to place him in the enjoyment of celestial light ? I acknowledge that our sojourn on earth is accom- panied with many infirmities and evils, and that, taking it altogether, it is infinitely better for us to be with Christ, as the apostle tells us, than to languish here out of his sanctuary. But all this does not op- pose the idea, that this life, considered in itself, away from this comparison, is an excellent gift of God, and a present of his mercy, particularly to those who (like Epaphroditus) possess it in Jesus Christ, and to whom it is gain to live, no less than to die. Added to which, the true believer, such as he was, has more regard to the glory of God and the good of the church, than to his own satisfaction ; and considering life in this sense, that it is useful to one or both of these objects, he may desire it, to have the means of finishing his course, and the work committed to him. If such were the desire of Epaphroditus, (as it might lawfully have been,) who cannot see that his cure was an effect of Divine mercy, whose property is to hear our prayers, and to grant us what we ask ? But besides, St. Paul here recognises the goodness of God towards himself : " He had also pity on me, (says he,) that I might not have sorrow upon sorrow." He does not conceal the fact, that the death of his dear fellow labourer would have been very bitter, and would have overwhelmed him with a new trouble ; by which he again acknowledges that his present situation in the bonds of Nero was a cause of sad- ness. For the patience and courage of the saints in afflictions, is not a proud insensibility, such as Bome of the pagan philosophers demanded in their wise men, desiring that they should feel no senti- ment of grief or sorrow. This is to despoil man of his nature, and to turn him into stone or brass. Chris- tian piety tempers the passions, but it does not eradi- cate them. It softens and tranquillizes, but it does not extinguish them. To render man courageous it does not make him insensible. It leaves him the in- nocent and necessary feelings of nature. St. Paul felt the inconveniences of his prison, the loss of his liberty, and that it took from him the means of going hither and thither to sow in the ministry of the gos- pel. But however grievous these things were to him, he supported them, nevertheless, courageously ; the will of God, and other considerations of religion, softening the feeling, and leading all the desires of his nature captive under the yoke of the Lord. It is properly in that that the sacrifice of our obedience consists, when we present to God a heart not in- sensible to his chastisements, but tamed and subdued to suffer them with patience and resignation, and to submit to his will both our tears and sorrows. St. Paul was touched in the same way with the sickness of his friend, and would have been still more so by his death ; but without murmuring or resistance, ruling his sorrows and his feelings in such a way that he had finally settled and subdued them to the orders of nis Master. Thus, elsewhere, he does not positively forbid believers to weep for the death of friends in Christ, but not to weep excessively, or to suffer in the manner of those who had no hope, 1 Thess. iv. 13. In the first place, the death of every man, whoever he may be, is a sad thing, and frightful in itself; an effect of sin, and of the wrath of God against human nature ; hence the grave of Lazarus drew tears even from the eyes of the Saviour of the world. The death of a dear friend, such as Epaphro- ditus was to St. Paul, is still more sad; for besides the general horror that it occasions, it deprives us of the pleasure of his conversation and of his good services. But we cannot doubt that the apostle looked more to the interests of the church than to his own, in the death of Epaphroditus, which would have taken from the Philippians an excellent pastor, whom it would have been difficult, or perhaps even impos- sible, worthily to replace, the number of similar la- bourers always being very small. It is this consider- ation, more than any other, which w'ould have caused the sadness which the apostle confesses he should have felt at this loss. IV. This reason led him to send him back to them quickly as soon as he was well ; in which the feel- ings of Epaphroditus were conformed to his own. For this good servant of God, know'ing that the news of his malady had much grieved the church of the Philippians, and touched with reciprocal love, de- sired, as soon as he was in health, to see them again, that he might change their sorrow into joy: "For (says the apostle) he longed after you all, and was full of heaviness, because you had heard that he had been ill." Which shall we most admire, the affection of the flock towards their shepherd, or the love of the shepherd towards his flock? Although distant and far separated, they have the same mind, the same desires, the same feelings. It is one of the miracles of love which unites and blends thus what distance of place in vain separates. The Philippians love and so tenderly honour Epaphroditus, that they feel his illness as much as he did himself, as soon as they heard of it. Epaphroditus so cordially loves the Philippians, that the sorrow which his illness had occasioned them cause him more anguish than he felt from his own malady. He longs for them all with a very remarkable affection, and can have no rest until his presence shall have dried up their tears, and drawn their minds from the pain they had felt. 0 happy churches which have such pastors ! 0 happy pastors who have such churches ! What in the world is sweeter, more beautiful, more pleasing to God, or more beneficial to men, than this holy union and sympathy of the affections ? What is the sorrow that it cannot soften ? or the pain that it cannot soothe ? or the anxiety that it cannot console ? The apostle, tliat he might not injure it, nor deprive either of their full satisfaction, consents to the departure of Epaphroditus, and obliged by these necessary rea- sons, sends their dear pastor back to the Philippians, rather preferring to deprive himself of the good services which he rendered to him at this difficult period, than to see him languish in that secret anxiety which the absence from his beloved flock occasioned him. " I sent him therefore (says the apostle) the more carefully, that, when ye see him again, ye may rejoice, and that I may be the less sorrowful." He himself also enters into the fellowship of their joy : he takes so lively a share in it that he forgets his own interests. See, I pray you, my brethren, in this example, the power of love, and how absolute the empire which it exercises in the minds of believers. When Epaphroditus shall be gone, says he, " I shall be less sorrowful." What then, O holy apostle? Dues the presence of such an excellent man whom you esteem and love so much give you sorrow ? Is his society wearisome ? Are those offices and duties which he has performed towards you with such kindness Chap. II. THE EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS. 101 and attention become painful to you ? Yes, he re- plies, and his absence (who would think it ?) will bring me comfort ; and, what is still stranger, it is in part the love itself that I bear him which makes me wish for his departure ; for, whilst with me, he cannot be with that beloved flock, by which he is so ardently desired, and which he himself longs for, and where his presence is no less necessary than it is wished. I am sorry that consideration for me takes him from them, and that the offices which he renders me should prevent his acquitting himself of those which he owes to his Philippians. A consideration which costs so much is painful to me ; I cannot enjoy it I without grief, and it is to comfort myself that I send I him back. It is not simply for the satisfaction of the Philippians, it is also for my own. This is, dear brethren, the true meaning of these words of the apostle. V. After having thus explained the reason of his sending Epaphroditus back, he finally recommends him to his flock : " Receive him therefore in the Lord with all gladness." " In the Lord ;" that is to I say, for the love of the Lord, as his faithful servant, t whom he has given you, whose life he has preserved, and whom he restores to you safe and sound for your preservation and edification. This is what Jesus Christ calls receiving some one in his name : " Who- soever receiveth one of these little ones in my name receiveth me," Mark is. 37. Here he regulates the manner in which they ought to welcome their pastor, not according to the fashion of the men of the world, with festivals and carnal rejoicings, but as becometh saints, with reverence and spiritual love, cherishing him, and respecting in his person the Lord, of whom he is the servant. " With all joy ;" that is to say, with full and perfect content, with a pure and sincere joy, which fills the whole heart, so to speak, as he else- where does, where he says, " Though I may have all faith," that is to say, a very complete faith, even to " remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing," I Cor. xiii. 2. But from Epaphroditus in- dividually the apostle extends his order to all good and faithful pastors in general : " Hold such in repu- tation." Look upon them and cherish them as pearls and precious jewels, drawn from the treasures of God for the consolation and salvation of your souls. The more scarce they are, the more ought they to be esteemed. It is the will of God who gives them to us, and w'ho often very severely punishes those who despise them, sending them bad and faithless ones, such as deserve their contempt. But the common edification of the church compels us also to the same duty, there being nothing which more conduces to it than the lawful authority of good pastors, or which does more harm than bad ones. And although the Philippians had sufficiently known the value of Epaphroditus by their own experience, and also what the apostle had just said sufficiently testified it, still, not being able to satisfy himself in the praise of this good man, and still more to draw upon him the hearts and affections of his flock, he further dilates on his zeal and fidelity, adding, in the last verse of this chapter, "that for the work of Christ he had been nigh unto death, not regarding his life to sup- ply the Philippians' lack of service to him." He does not mean that the Philippians had failed in affection towards him. On the contrary, he praises them for their love in many places of this Epistle. But their absence prevented their rendering him in his bonds the services which they owed him, and which they would willingly have yielded if they had been present ; it neither being possible nor conveni- ent that a whole church should transport itself to Rome for this purpose. It is, then, of this want that he speaks, and which Epaphroditus had endeavoured to supply ; exerting all his strength in the service of the apostle, that he himself might, in some measure, supply whatever consolation the whole church would have given him had it been on the spot. This is what he also calls " the work of the Lord," for two reasons : First, Because to serve his ministers is to serve Jesus Christ, as he declares in many places : " He who re- ceiveth you receiveth me, and whatsoever you have done to one of these little ones you have done to me also." Secondly, Because it is a work that the Lord has commanded us, wishing that we sho\ild honour and succour in a peculiar manner those who suffer for his name, and especially the ministers of his word. He says, then, that Epaphroditus, to acquit himself worthily of this duty, had not had any regard to his own life, and had been nigh unto death. Some understand by this the danger in which he had been by visiting the apostle, drawing upon himself there- by the hatred and cruelty of the ministers of Nero, who retained him in prison ; as we know that tyrants often seize and condemn to death those who wish to favour or comfort believers, whom they persecute for the gospel's sake. But it appears from the last chapter of the Acts, and from this Epistle itself, that Rome did not then exercise towards St. Paul that inhu- manity which she has since used, and still uses at this time, towards the faithful servants of God ; and the end of this text clearly shows that it must re- late here to the illness of Epaphroditus, which he had drawn upon himself by too much labour, pre- ferring rather to fail in the attention which he owed to his own health than in the services which he was obliged to yield to St. Paul; so that his illness itself was both the effect and sign of his piety. For though there is no merit in being ill, there is much in not sparing oneself for the service of Christ. Such, dear brethren, is our exposition of this text. It remains to apply it to our own profit ; and that so holy and salutary a doctrine should not uselessly reach our ears, let us imprint upon our hearts the images of the three examples which are set before us, in Epaphroditus, the Philippians, and St. Paul. Let us contemplate and imitate them, let us form the affections of our minds, and the actions of our life, after these excellent models. The illness of Epaphroditus teaches us, in the first place, not to judge of men by the accidents which befall them ; as if affliction and disgrace were the necessary marks of a bad cause. Let us remember the warning of the prophet, " Blessed is he that con- sidereth the poor," Psal. xli. 1. Innocence is not always in prosperity, and piety often falls into great calamities ; God permitting it to be so for the reasons explained above. And as we should act with this equity to others, we ought also to have it towards ourselves. Never let the illnesses with which God visits us either make us doubt his love or our elec- tion. He has truly promised us in this world his friendship, his peace, the joy of his Spirit, and the assistance of his Christ, and in another immortality. But he no where promises that we shall be exempted from the evils and miseries of the present life. He declares to us, on the contrary, that we shall be more subject to them than others. Let us then receive these strokes from his hand with patience and gentleness of mind, and instead of murmuring or hardening ourselves under the rod, let us profit by it as a salutary correction and an honourable trial learning from it the vanity of this life, and of all the good that it possesses, thinking rightly of the in- firmity of our nature, and of death, which will as- suredly destroy it, to withdraw our affections from earth, to renounce vice and its lusts, and to aspire 102 AN EXPOSITION OP Serm. XVII. only after a blessed immortality, the end and prize of our holy calling. And as to your life, if it is use- ful, either to the cliurch or to your families, I do not forbid you to desire it ; I simply wish that you would ask it from God, and expect it from his mercy alone, who brings to the tomb, and lifts you fi-om it, when he will ; and that, when you have recovered your health, you would ascribe to his goodness all the glory of your cure, devoutly consecrating to his ser- vice all the fruits of a life which you only hold from his grace. But while the illness of Epaphroditus gives us this lesson, the cause whence it arose teaches us another, not less necessary. For he had gained it in the work of the Lord. 0 happy sickness, which carries its consolation with it ! for it is not possible that so good and so holy a cause should produce a bad effect. How different from this are our diseases, which are mostly the consequences of our vices, the effects of our intemperance, our vanity, or our ava- rice ! as those of whom Job said, " whose bones are full of the sins of their youth," Job xx. II ; bad fruits of a bad ti'ee ; shameful effects of an evil cause. Believers, if it is not possible that you should be ex- empt from infirmities and indispositions, order your life in such a manner that, while suffering them, you may have the consolation of knowing that it is in the service of God, and not in that of the world ; that it is the work of Christ, and not that of Satan, or of vice, which has drawn them upon you. It is true that, strictly speaking, we can and ought to take care of our life, so moderating the lawful labours of our calling that they should not injure our health. But where the service of God calls us, we must put every thing under our feet, and, like the blessed Epaphroditus, courageously hazard health and life, and have no regard to either, rather than fail in the work of our Master. The illnesses caught, the deaths endured, with such a good design and for so holy a cause, are martyrdoms before God, which he will assuredly crown with abundant consolation and im- mortal glory ! But besides these general lessons, Epaphroditus especially warns pastors to cherish a warm affection for their flocks, sensibly to feel their sorrows, and to hold nothing so dear as their consolation. It was, doubtless, a very great and pleasing satisfaction to Epaphroditus to be with St. Paul, to listen to his heavenly words, and to see his noble bonds. But as soon as he knew that the report of his sickness had put his church in pain, he was willing to leave all to restore it to joy. How also, believers, does both the example of the Philippians, and the command of the apostle to them to receive Epaphroditus with joy in the Lord, oblige you to share the good and bad fortune of your pastors, to compassionate their sor- rows, to rejoice in their happiness, and by love and i cordial reverence to soften all the bitterness of so la- ] borious an office ! Finally, The example of St. Paul, who cheerfully yielded to the edification of the Philippians every advantage and pleasure which he received from the presence of Epaphroditus, shows to both mutually, that there is nothing so dear to us that we should not willingly give up to the interests of the church, reckoning our losses gain, when they are needful for the consolation of our brethren; remembering the love of the Lord Jesus, who, being rich, became poor, and, being the King of glory, submitted to the great- est shame, that he might enrich and glorify us. To him, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, blessed for ever, be honour and glory, for ever and ever. Amen. Preached at Charenton, 4th August, 1641. Chap. in. THE EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS. 103 DEDICATION. TO MADAME DE DANGEAU. Madame, These sermons would have belonged to your late mother, Madame la Mareschale de la Force, as a con- I tinuation of those which I have already presented to the public under her patronage; but since it has ! pleased God to take her to the repose of his heavenly kingdom, where she has no longer need of our feeble assistance, seeing fully and clearly in the great Source of light those Divine truths which we can behold only through a thick veil, and can explain only in a stammering tongue, I consider myself obliged, , Madame, by all means, to dedicate my little work to you. And if that happy spirit, in the enjoyment of I the felicity she now possesses, according to her hope and the promise of her Lord, can have any knowledge i of the events which occur on earth, I feel assured she will approve my choice, and rejoice to see the page '' formerly destined for her name occupied by yours. For not only are you of her blood, and the eldest of the children she has left behind, but you also inherit her virtues. You assemble the church in your house, as she was wont in her lifetime, and, like her, you there strengthen its confidence in God and the know- , ledge of his word. You train up the children which God has given you, and form them for his service by ; diligent instruction, and by the example of a holy life. You carefully preserve the sacred deposit of faith : which (to speak with Paul) dwelt first in your ancestors, and especially in that great hero, whose praise is I in the world and in the church, Monsiegneur du Plessis, your grandfather. I therefore deem it my duty to I honour virtues which flourish on so illustrious a stem, and spread a pure and sweet odour through the house I of God. Be pleased, then, Madame, to receive this book which I present to you, not only as the heiress of your late mother, to whom it belonged, but also as a sincere testimonial of the esteem which I feel towards you, and of the ardent desire I have to promote the edification of yourself and all your family as far as I am able. To God I commend you in my prayers, and remain inviolably, Madame, Your humble and obedient servant, Paris, April Uth, 1647. " DAILLE. SERMON XVII CHAPTER III. Verse 1—3. Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you, to me indeed is not grievous, but for you it is safe. Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the concision. For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jes-us, arid have no confidence in the flesh. As there is no doctrine in the world more contrary to the kingdom and interests of Satan than the gospel of Jesus Christ, so there is none which that mortal enemy of the human race detests and combats more cruelly. Besides the persecutions that he raises from without against this Divine truth, he attacks it still more from within by his seductive artifices, inspiring its ministers with various errors, in order to corrupt the purity of the sacred word, and thereby render it ineffectual to the salvation of men. This the apostle foretold to the Corinthians, and the experience of all ages has verified the prediction, " There must be also heresies among you, that they which are approved among you may be made mani- fest," 1 Cor. xi. 19. And he also warned the Ephe- sians, that " after his departure would grievous wolves thrust themselves in among them, not sparing the flock ; and that even of themselves would men arise, speaking perverse things, in order to draw away dis- ciples after them," Acts xx. 29, 30. In fact, we learn from the Epistles of this holy man, that scarcely had ]04 AN EXPOSITION OP Serm. XVII. he quitted the churches he had established among the nations, when false teachers immediately pre- sented themselves, to tempt them and corrupt their failh. Amongst others, he complains often of the Jews, who, from the commencement of Christianity, used every effort to confound the gospel with the law, and mingle Moses with Jesus Christ ; endeavouring, under various plausible pretences, to introduce among believers circumcision, and the observance of the other ceremonies of the Old Testament. It was these miserable people who had tainted the churches of Galatia with the pernicious leaven of their false doc- trine, as appears by the divine Epistle addressed to them by St. Paul, wherein that true servant of God, burning with zeal for the honour of his Lord, argues at some length against those impostors with apostolic plainness and vehemence. They had also tempted the Philippians, although without success, those believers having courageously resisted their seductions, and constantly maintained the doctrine of St. Paul in all its purity. But as love is always full of apprehension, the apostle, fearing that the arts of those deceivers Blight at length make some impression on the hearts of his dear disciples, warns them in this chapter to stand on their guard. Hitherto he had armed their faith against persecution and the vices of the world, now he fortifies it against the assaults of error. And as in the former part of this Epistle he presents to them Jesus Christ, in whose humiliation and glory we have abundance of consolations in affliction and of preservatives against sin ; so in this second he again sets him forth as the inexhaustible source of justice and truth, in opposition to all the seductions of error. He also declares to them his own example, ■who, having every advantage which those false teach- ers possessed, and in a much higher degree than they, had, nevertheless, voluntarily renounced all to be found in Jesus Christ. Then, having exhorted the Philippians to modesty, concord, and the imita- tion of his conduct and conversation, and having manifested the filthiness of those evil-doers who thought only of their belly and the pleasures of the flesh ; he concludes, by setting before their eyes the dignity of Christians, and the excellence of their condition who have no inheritance on earth, but are citizens of heaven, from whence they expect Christ their Lord, and his blessed immortality. This, dear brethren, is the subject and summary of this chapter, which shall be hereafter, if it please God, matter for our discourses. At present, we shall endeavour to explain to you the first part, contained in the three verses you have just heard : and, to pro- ceed with order, we shall consider, First, The conso- lation given by the apostle to the Philippians at the commencement, which is, as it were, the conclusion of the whole preceding chapter, and the foundation of the present : " Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord." Then, Secondly, Follows a brief excuse which he makes to them for teaching them often the same things ; " To write the same things to you, to me in- deed is not grievous, but for you it is safe." Thirdly, We shall see the grave and solemn warn- ing he gives them to beware of false apostles : " Be- ware of dogs, beware of evil-workers, beware of the concision." And fourth and lastly, We shall consider the reasons which he adds : " For we are the circum- cision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh." I. Touching the first point, where the apostle com- mands the Philippians to " rejoice in the Lord," some have considered that it relates simply to what Lad been said in the preceding chapter respecting the mission, the recovery, and the zeal of Epaphroditus, and to his own contentment in the midst of bonds, and firm resolution to live or die joyfully for the gos- pel. As though he had said to these believers, Since your affairs and mine are in this state, nothing remains but that you should be content, and extract from these mercies of God a pure and spiritual joy worthy of that heavenly Sovereign and Lord whom you serve. But I consider that, besides this, it re- lates principally to what he had before taught of the humiliation of Christ, and the glory to which he had been raised, and to the providence with which he governs all things ; concluding from thence, that since they have the honour of belonging to this sove- reign Lord, and of being in him by faith in his gos- pel, they might henceforth be at rest, rejoicing in the possession of so rich a treasure, without being aston- ished or afflicted at the misfortunes which might happen to them, or with which others might threaten them. This is signified by the word " finally," which he uses at the commencement to unite this and the preceding chapter; that, since they are built upon Jesus Christ, and their salvation is secure in him, they have now but to persevere with constancy, and to rejoice during the remainder of their life with that perfect peace which such a certainty of bliss is cal- culated to produce in their hearts ; seeking and find- ing in Christ that consolation in distress, and that peace and joy, which their souls require in the midst ' of so many trials. For Satan, by the troubles he raises up for believers, endeavours to imbitter every feeling, and render the name and the gospel of Christ unpleasing. But the apostle desires that we should so taste the grace of God, that this holy feeling should sweeten every thing, and render us joyful in all the doubts, trials, and afflictions of this life. Indeed, if we have Jesus Christ truly dwelling in our hearts by faith, no grief, no labour, no calamity is capable of hurting us, or of destroying our peace. For in him is abundantly found a fulness of every good, and a deliverance from every evil. Let the world and the devil take away from the believer every thing he holds dear on earth, let them plunge him into the most dreadful evils, — they cannot take away his joy, because Jesus Christ, the Prince of peace, the Father everlasting, the Author of all grace, dwells in him ; and he preserves all those who possess him in the fires, and even in death itself; and, in spite of the efforts of their enemies, defends and maintains in them the life, happiness, and immortality which he gave them. Rejoice then in him, beloved brethren ; shut your eyes to all other objects, and regard none but this. Consider the grace that Christ has given you, and it is impossible but that the consideration must bring with it solid and true peace. This Saviour has ap- peased the wrath of God; he has rendered him pro- pitious and favourable to you; he has abolished the curse of the law; he has conquered death; he has I opened heaven to you ; he has made you the childreal of God, brethren and fellow citizens with angels ; hel has united himself to you, having mingled his bloodl and spirit with yours ; so that henceforth you are co-f heirs with him, "members of his body, of his flesh,! and of his bones ;" you partake of his kingdom and! glory. But we shall have (with God's help) another! opportunity of treating more fully on the subject of I the Christian's joy, when, in the following chapter,! we shall find the apostle repeating the same com-' mand to us in stronger terms : " Rejoice in the Lord| always ; and again I say. Rejoice." For the present, I will only add that St. Paul here! lays the foundation of the exhortation to the Philip-I plans which follows, to beware of false teachers of thel CftAP. III. THE EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS. 105 circumcision ; it bein^j evident that if these believers rejoice in the Lord as he commands them, if they rely on him as on a sure foundation, where they can enjoy true peace, it will be in vain tliat these people press them to mingle the observances of Moses with the gospel ; for all these additional ceremonies, whether they be of ISIoses or of others, which false teachers are continually endeavouring to introduce into the religion of Christians, proceed purely from the dis- taste which they have for Christ. It appears to them that faith is too simple and naked a thing, and there- fore they smother it with their own inventions, and accuse those who content themselves with Christ alone of spoiling religion of her necessary ornaments. This was the sin of the Israelites in the desert, who [ were disgusted with the manna sent from God, as ! meagre food, and coveted the flesh and onions of Egypt. These Jews also, of whom the apostle here complains, despised like them the simplicity of the Lord Jesus, the true Bread which came down from ' heaven, and wished to unite with him Moses and a carnal service. And from the same root springs the I disordered appetite of those who, in the present day, ' add to the gospel of Jesus so many traditions and human ceremonies. Very wisely, therefore, does the apostle, both here and in his Epistle to the Colossians, shield believers from this snare, by setting forth Jesus Christ as the source of joy, the treasury of all good, which con- j tains in its simplicity every grace of which we stand in need, and where dwelleth the fulness of the God- head bodily. II. Having laid the foundation, he goes on to the warning which he gives them to beware of false teachers. But, first, he makes a short preface, which we now, in the second place, consider ; " To write tne same things unto you, to me indeed is not griev- ous, but for you it is safe." These " things," of which he speaks, may relate generally to all the points of doctrine on which he had already dwelt in this Epistle, or to those on which he might hereafter dwell. IBut it seems best to restrict them especially to the warning which he was about to give the Philippians to beware of the corruptions of false teachers. It is unnecessary to suppose he had written any previous letter to them, in which he had treated of the same subject. It is sufficient that he had spoken of it when with them, recommending them, as he did his other disciples, not to lend an ear to those impostors who wished to replace Christians under the yoke of the Mosaic law. He therefore replies to an idea that may have arisen in their minds, that it was useless to take the trouble of repeating in his letter the same warning which he had so often given them in word. No, says he to the believers, it is neither grievous to me, nor useless to you, that I should frequently teach the same thing. It rather insures your safety. This repetition may serve to place your faith out of danger, and secure it at all points against the assaults and temptations of the enemy. For the dulness of our minds, in every thing regarding salvation, is such, that we easily pass over that which is told us but once, or we imagine that at least it is not a matter of any consequence. Fearing, therefore, that his silence might place the faith of the Philippians in danger, the apostle is not ashamed to reiterate the warnings which they had formerly heard from him. And in thus acting he gives an excellent lesson to those in the church who preach, and to those who hear, not to be weary ; the former with teaching, the latter with hearing, often- times the same things. As for the first, since God has established them pastors of his flock, it is not enough that they present to the sheep the pasture of the heavenly word once or twice, or that they chase away once or twice the wolf from the fold. They must continue these du- ties to the end without weariness. For as the enemy watches night and day for the destruction of the church ; as he is never discouraged, but returns again and again, presenting himself boldly, and incessantly sounding in our ears the same lies and seductions; it is but reasonable that we should oppose indefati- gable vigilance to his obstinate effrontery, and the firmness of the truth to the importunity of his lies ; and that we should have as much ardour and zeal for your salvation as he has for your ruin. And as for you, believers, instead of being wearied with our continual reiteration of your duties, O take it in good part, remembering that it is for your greater security that we thus act towards you. Let not your ears be so refined that they cannot endure to hear a thing repeated more than once. Alas ! the life of the majority too visibly proves, that however often truth may have been set before them, it has not yet been well understood. We cannot therefore explain too often what you do not yet comprehend ; and if the gospel of Christ cannot be too much in our hearts, it is evident it cannot be too often in our mouths. III. But the apostle, having now secured the at- tention of the Philippians, gives them a holy and salutary warning against the corruptions of false teachers, in these words : " Beware of dogs, beware of evil-workers, beware of the concision." We have already said, that he here alludes to those among the converted Jews, who considered the observance of the Mosaic law and its ceremonies, as circumcision, &c., to be necessary before Christians could be justified in the sight of God. That they are the same against whom he argues at length in the Epistles to the Galatians and Colossians, is manifest from the words and ideas which he here uses ; it being evident that they are perfectly descriptive of these people, and cannot relate to others. He describes them especially by three remarkable appellations : First, " Dogs." Secondly, " Evil-workers ;" and. Thirdly, " The concision." The " dog" is in all languages the image and symbol of impudence, and the most ancient of hea- then poets * gives to a man the eyes of a dog to sig- nify extreme impudence, because the countenance, and particularly the eye, should be the seat of bash- fulness. Scripture, also, uses the name of this animal as a term of reproach, to describe a profane person, a hardened sinner, who sells himself a slave to all kinds of vice without shame before God or man. It is in this sense the word is used in Matt. vii. 15, where our Lord forbids his disciples to give " holy things to the dogs ;" and also in Rev. xxii. 15, where the Holy Spirit banishes from the celestial city " dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and mur- derers, and idolaters, and whatsoever loveth and maketh a lie." In the book of Proverbs, chap. xxvi. 11, and in the Second Epistle of Peter, those who fall many times into the same wickedness are com- pared to "" dogs :" " As the dog returneth to his own vomit again, so doth the fool to his folly." And our Lord gives the same name to pagans, who live far from communion with God and his people, when ha says to the Canaanitish woman, " It is not meet to take the children's bread, and give it to the dogs," Matt. XV. 2(5, i. e. on account of their ignorance, brutality, and profaneness. The law placed the dog among unclean animals, so that even the money pro- cured by the sale of a dog was an abomination to • Homer. 21 106 AN EXPOSITION OP Sebm. XYII the Lord, Dent, sxiii. 18. All these reasons prove that the apostle in this place, under the general word " dogs," would describe false teachers. For their impudence was evident, in that they gave the lie bold])' to the real servants of God, and dared to re- establish what Christ had abolished. They had also fallen back into their original error, for, from Jews having become Christians, they had again returned to Judaism, wishing to mix it with the gospel. And lastly, they had thrown themselves by this out of communion with God, and out of his church, none being qualified to have part therein but those " who ■worship him in spirit and in truth." But it is very likely that, in calling them " dogs," St. Paul had especial reference to that filthy and shameful glut- tony which he afterwards, at the close of this chapter, so expressly blames, saying, " Whose belly is their god, and whose glory is in their shame, vho mind earthly things, who are enemies of the cross of Christ." From whence it appears, that however fair and spe- cious the pretensions of these people might be, yet, in reality, they were guided only by the flesh and the belly. For it is this profane and sensual brutality ■which is specially pointed out by the name here given them of " dogs," as though he would say that they ■were but filthy and gluttonous beasts, -who railed against wholesome doctrine that they might the more indulge the lusts of the flesh. Isaiah also calls the false teachers of his day " greedy dogs which can never have enough," Isa. Ivi. 11. The second title the apostle gives them is that of " evil-workers." I would not absolutely deny that in naming them thus, he might not have reference to that which these people were incessantly crying, Works, works, pretending that through them alone man can be justified before God. But it certainly appears to me more probable that St. Paul intends simply to blame them, and to reject the pains they took to preacli, and to run hither and thither, because it was done with a bad design, and still worse suc- cess, both with regard to themselves and to others. They laboured — bLit it was to tear up that which had been well and happily planted, and to sow the seeds of dissension and error. They laboured — but it was for the ruin of souls, like Satan, who disquiets the world, and prowls around the church to tempt men and draw them into perdition ; or like the scribes and Pharisees, who compassed sea and land but to render their proselytes doubly the children of hell. For there are always in the world numbers of these workers, who give themselves much trouble to do that which is of no value, and who, under pre- tence of edifying the church, embroil and ruin every thing. Unhappy people ! who, after so much time and trouble lost in these visionary schemes, reap no other fruit than their own damnation, and the utter confusion of those who were carried away by their impostures. It would be infinitely better, both for themselves and others, that they should remain all their life with their arms crossed in the most pro- found indolence, than consume themselves thus by labouring in a bad cause. Lastly, the apostle calls these false teachers "the concision:" "Beware of the concision." This word is not in use in our language. But our Bibles have necessarily retained it, in order, in some measure, to represent the elegance and grace of the original term, and to preserve the resemblance which exists between the word signifying circumcision and that ■which the apostle here uses, ■which signifies to re- trench, cut off, tear a^way ; and which is rendered " concision," from a Latin word, approaching as you Bee to circumcision. These false teachers retained the Mosaic ceremonial, and especially circumcision, the seal of the old covenant, the livery and mark of those who had part therein, of such great importance under the law, that even the sabbath, one of the most ancient ceremonies of the primitive race, yielded to it, it being permitted to circumcise infants on the sabbath day (all other work or manual labour being forbidden) when it happened that this was the eighth day from the birth of the child. On this account the whole Jewish nation is frequently called " the cir- cumcision," from its most ancient and necessary mark. For this reason those false teachers who re- tained the custom among the Christians might be called by this name, and perhaps they gloried in it, calling themselves and those of their sect "the cir- cumcision," as though none but they were in covenant with God. St. Paul, to put down their presumption, instead of this glorious name of circumcision, gives them another, nearly approaching to it in sound, and in the number of syllables, but very distinct in sense ; for he calls them " the concision," that is, the cut off, thediniinished ones, and not " the circumcision ;" mean- ing to show, that by their doctrine and the practice of this ceremony, instead of placing men in covenant with the Lord, they cut them oft', and unhappily divided the church, instead of uniting it to the Saviour; this mark which they made in the bodies of their miserable disciples being no longer, as for- merly, under the old covenant, the sign of their re- nunciation of the sins of the flesh, but rather a sign and seal of their renunciation of Christ, and of the wounds and divisions which they were making in Christianity. It is a mode of expression somewhat similar to that of some learned writers of the church of Rome, who, describing the lives of some of their popes, which they acknowledge to have been very wicked and pernicious to the church, call them not apostolical, (which is the title usually given to the popes,) but apostalical.* Such was also the witty saying of a learned man of our nation,! who, speaking of Pope Boniface VIII., well known for his violence against this kingdom, called him Mali face instead of Boniface. This figure of speech is not uncommon in the best authors, and teachers of rhetoric call it paronomasia. It is thus therefore that St. Paul calls these false judaizing teachers " the concision," and not " the circum- cision." Upon which we have three remarks to make before we pass on ; tlie first upon the words, and the two others on the things themselves. And, first, with regard to the words ; this example teaches us that the instruments of the Holy Spirit disdain not that elegance which allusions and the affinity of words give to language, provided they consist with decency and gravity, and do not fall into affectation and buf- foonery, both of which are unworthy of an honest man, and still more so of a servant of God. Thus we find that elsewhere the apostle often, with beauty and elegance, contrasts various w'ords and ideas with their opposites, and that even sometimes he seeks to orna- ment his language by allusions from the Hebrew and Syriac : as, for example, when he says, " the praise of a real Jew is of God," Rom. v. 29, he evidently al- ludes to the origin of the name " Jew," which in Hebrew signifies praise ; and in another place, where he says " our afflictions work out for us a weight of glory," 1 Cor. iv. 17, he, without doubt, makes al- lusion to the word "glory" in the Syriac, where it ! signifies ueiglit or heaviness. The prophet Isaiah, among the writers of the Old Testament, makes such frequent use of these ornaments, that there is scarcely one of the writers of his age whose language is so • Gcnebrard in his Chronicle, A. D. 901. f M. Servia. Chap. III. THE EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS. 107 flowen', and so abundant in figures and allusions. From whence it appears how unreasonable those are who wish to banish these elegancies from the words and writings of God's servants. But we must, secondly, remark, most carefully, the inutility, or, to speak plainly, the poison, of those things which are pressed into religion without the command of God. God had formerly instituted cir- cumcision ; he had given it to Abraham, and after- wards, by the law of Moses, had again commanded the Israelites to observe it. It was the seal of the justice of God, and the token of his covenant. Yet, nevertheless, when Jesus Christ had abolished the carnal law, and established Divine worship in spirit and in truth, circumcision became concision, a cut- ting ofT, instead of a union. Such, without doubt, is the nature of every other ceremony of man's de- vice, as abstaining from meats, observing days, Szc. These are no longer the livery of God's people; the marks of our faith in him, or the seals of our union to him. They are vain things, of no other service than to rend the mystical body of Christ, to wound the conscience, and to injure rather than edify. And, lastly, we must remark here the holy vehe- mence of the apostle against these false teachers, whom he denominates " dogs, evil-workers, cutters- off;" very severe words, to teach us that we must never regard with an indifferent eye those who dis- turb the church and truth of God, but must con- sider them such as they are in reality — unhappy and pernicious instruments in the hands of Satan. We should however beware, lest, under colour of zeal, we suffer ourselves to be carried away by an excess of hatred ; but let us so restrain our hearts and tongues, that in the just indignation we feel against the at- tempts of these people we may still show love to their per.ions, not to uphold them or follow their doctrines, but to desire and endeavour after their salvation as much as possible. For the apostle commands the Philippians to beware of those whom he had thus described ; and to show them how needful it was for the glory of God and their own safety to fly such pests, he repeats his words three times : " Beware of dogs, beware of evil-workers, beware of the con- cision." This duty contains two parts. First, That we should be able to distinguish these evil-workers from good ones; and second. That having distin- guished them, we should shut our ears to their in- structions, and quickly withdraw from communion with them. The word here used by the apostle re- lates precisely to the first of these duties, signifying to see, regard, and consider a thing, so as to discern and recognise it among others. This is the same that St. John so distinctly commands, "Beloved, try the spirits, whether they be of God," 1 John. iv. 2 ; and St. Paul elsewhere says that " we should examine all things, and hold fast that which is good," I Thess. T. 2. Our Lord also gives us this mark of his sheep, " that they know his voice, and discern it from that of a stranger," John x. 4, 5. From whence it ap- pears, first. That it is by the doctrine that preachers should be discerned, and not the doctrine by the preachers, as the papists maintain ; and secondly. That the Lord's sheep are not of the description of those of the pope, who receive with closed eyes that which is presented to them, without examination or recognition ; who regard the mitre and the cross rather than the words and instructions of the preach- er. As for outward appearance, the Lord has warned us that it is often deceitful ; that wolves can disguise themselves as sheep ; and that the angels of Satan are Bometimes clothed like the angels of light. But the • Article 4. Council of Txent. truth is a certain and immutable thing, which can never be abused. It is that wliich we must recognise, and for which we must examine the doctrines that are presented to us, if we wish to be capable of obey- ing the apostle, that is, of discerning evil-workers, and keeping ourselves from their impostures. Now this injunction of the apostle exposes alike the absurdity and impiety of the modern method, which enchains the senses, and extinguishes the light of reason, not allowing us to receive as certain any truth which is to be discerned by their means. For how could the Philippians distinguish between true and false apostles, except by applying the marks given by St. Paul ? and how can Christians of the present day discern the true faith amidst jarring opinions, but by confronting every doctrine with these rules, that is, by reasoning? And it must not be answered that the church saves us this trouble. For, first, what church soever you may intend, I cannot assure myself that it is the true church, nor re- ceive the witness it gives to any doctrine, except with the assistance of my understanding; so that it is clear, that if all that is done by its interposition be fallible and uncertain, I can never have any firm and assured belief in what the church maintains. For respecting the church itself, these evil-w-orkers, of whom the apostle commands us to beware, often as- sume that title as boldly as those who compose the true church in reality. And lastly, supposed (but not granted, for God forbid it) that the assembly of those who follow the pope composes the true church, how am I to know what is really its belief on each point of doctrine, when its ministers teach differently respecting it ? For example : a teacher presents himself who recommends the people to study the word of God. To discern whether this be a good or an evil worker I seek to know the Romish church's decision on this subject. At first it appears to me that it condemns this custom ; for I read that the popes, who are its heads, say that to permit the reading of the Scriptures to all indifferently brings more vexation than profit, and they therefore forbid it to all their people,* "except (say they) that the said reading might be allowed to those to whom the bishop or inquisitor, with the advice of the curate or confessor, should not consider it hurtful." The succeeding popes add, in the observation which they make on this article, + that the bishops, inquisitors, or superiors of religious houses, must not suppose that by that they have authority to give licence to any to purchase, read, or keep a Bible in the vul- gar tongue; such power (as they say) having been taken from them by the command and usage of the holy Roman and Catholic Inquisition, and that this command must be inviolably observed. The cardinals Bellarmine and Hosius also, with the greater number of the most celebrated writers of their communion, have spoken on this point, and have argued in the same manner. Yet nevertheless, other teachers newly arisen strongly and positively deny that their church forbids the people to read the Scriptures in the vulgar tongue, and boldly contradict those who believe it upon the authority of their popes. Thus also with regard to images : they accuse those of misunderstanding their sentiments who be- lieve that they give to them more honour than to the Bible, the candlesticks, and lamps employed in re- ligious worship, although their last council (Trent) commands them to uncover the head and prostrate themselves before images, and although the public custom gives them still greater honour. In like manner, on the doctrine of assurance in the t Observation on the 4th Article. 108 AN EXPOSITION OF Serm. XVII. grace of God, one will tell you that their church be- lieves it, and others that it condemns it ; and so on many other points. How then can a thing so doubt- ful and obscure in itself regulate the judgment to be given on particular teachers ? Let us then, leaving this uncertain method, cling to the truth of God revealed in the Scriptures, the only constant and unchangeable rule of our failh, keeping ourselves carefully from all those who would add to or take from it, as from evil-workers. IV. But it is time to pass on to the latter clause of our text, in which the apostle, to prove that he ■was justitied in giving to these false teachers the name of concision, as signifying cutters-off, adds that to us belongs the true name of " circumcision :" " For (says he) we are the circumcision, who worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh." It is evident that he here speaks of true Chris- tians, who, embracing w-ith a lively faith the disci- pline of the gospel, serve God in spirit and in truth, putting all their trust in his Son, and not in any carnal thing. In what sense then does he denominate Christians "the circumcision?" Dear brethren, the apostle, by calling them thus, and by speaking of them else- where as " the seed of Abraham and the Israel of God," does not intend to say that they are Jews pro- perly speaking, that is, descendants of the patriarchs after the flesh, but rather that they have by faith all the privileges of God's ancient people, and that they are (as St. Peter also says) " a holy nation, a royal priesthood ;" all the dignities of the first Israel hav- ing been derived by our Lord Jesus Christ, and by him transmitted to the Christian cl' li. He like- wise does not here maintain that Christians are literally circumcised, but rather that they now pos- sess all those advantages and salutary effects which circumcision formerly bestowed or signified. It was the seal of the covenant of God ; it incorporated with his people and in the communion of his repub- lic all those who received it. Jesus Christ has be- stowed both these privileges on those who believe in him. Certainly then they have " the circumcision;" they have all the etfects, virtues, and excellencies of it, although they have not the literal mark. For the Holy Scriptures usually designate by name rather the dignity and value of a thing than its mere out- ward form. As, when Isaiah says that alms and munificence are the true fast chosen by the Lord, Isa. Iviii., he intends to show that they possessed all the excellence and value which were attributed to fasting. And when the Lord Jesus says that " who- soever shall do the will of his Father which is in heaven, the same is his brother, and sister, and mother," he means that he holds them as in the same degree of relationship ; that he loves them, and feels for them, as though they were his brother, his sister, or his mother. It is said also in another place, " that he that shall humble himself, the same shall be greatest in the kingdom of heaven," Matt, xviii. 4; intimating that he shall have all the honours and dignities which the disciples understood by that priority concerning which they had disputed among themselves. But this manner of speaking, which in itself is very elegant, is of still greater advantage when, between the subjects whose names are exchanged, there is a similarity capable of maintaining such a change. And thus it happens in our text. For though the Christian receives not the old circumcision in his person, he suffers nevertheless a certain separation which may be so called, because it is the reality and signification of the other circumcision. To under- stand this, you must know that the "circumcision" of Israel was not merely the mark that was made in the flesh. For then the Ishmaelites and other pro- fane people (who were circumcised outwardly as well as the Jews) would have possessed the sacrament of circumcision. But in it was contained a mystery, denoting the cutting away from a man all carnal af- fections. That this was its sense and signification we learn from Moses, who thus taught the Israelites: "The Lord thy God will circumcise thy heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the Lord thy God with all thine heart and with all thy soul," Deut. xxx. 6. Jeremiah also commands the Jews to " circumcise themselves to the Lord, and take away the foreskin of their hearts," Jer. iv. 4. And St. Paul still more clearly teaches the same truth, saying, "Neither is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh : but circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter," Rom. ii. 28, 29. Thus the mystery and reality of bodily circum- cision was nothing less than a renunciation of flesh and blood; the Jew professing by this ceremony to cut off from his heart every carnal thought, affection, and desire, in order thenceforward to serve God in spirit and in truth, attaching himself to him alone, and putting all his trust in him, and not in man or in the flesh, in which by nature we are so prone to place our confidence and glory. This is the circum- cision of which Paul speaks, calling it " that made without hands," Col. ii. 11. Now that the Christian does sufter this sort of cut- ting away when he receives the gospel of Jesusl Christ is evident. For, instead of that external cir- cumcision which takes away but a part of the flesh,! the Christian (as the apostle elegantly expresses it, 1 Col. ii. II) " puts off the whole body of the sins of] the flesh;" and again, "He has crucified the flesh with its aflfections and lusts," Gal. v. 24; and having cut and torn it, not with the sword of Moses, but of j the true Joshua, the thorns and nails of Jesus, hef casts it from him, and buries it in the sepulchre of| his Lord. This then is what the apostle teaches in our text,l having chosen those functions of our religion which! relate to this spiritual circumcision by which to de-j scribe true Christians : " We (says he) are the! circumcision, who worship God in the spirit, and re- joice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the! flesh." By serving God in spirit, he understands thati spiritual worship established by Jesus Christ in the! gospel, consisting of faith and the love of God, and in I the continual practice of piety, charity, and all those I virtues which depend thereon, and not in bodily ex- 1 ercises (of which the worship of the Jews consisted) j f they having been but the shadows and types, ofl which spiritual piety is the truth and reality ; and] thus our Lord told the Samaritan woman, that in hisl reign " the servants of God must worship him inJ spirit and in truth." The apostle tells us, in the second place, that wel "rejoice in Christ Jesus;" that is to say, we make] profession of the religion of this Divine and heavenly I Prince, in whom is nothing carnal; calling on his) name, and putting all our hope of eternal life in him, ( and glorying continually in the communion that we ] have with him. To this he adds by opposition, that " we have no confidence in the flesh," that is, in any outward or corporeal thing, our religion being alto- j gether spiritual and Divine. From whence it ap-J pears, that no people in the world can and may soj exclusively claim the title of " the circumcision,'' not even the ancient Israelites, to whom circum- cision especially belonged. For although in com-i Chap. III. THE EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS. 109 I parison with the false religions then in vogue, they I might say that they worshipped God in spirit and in I truth, having cast away from amongst them (he gods, I the idols, and the carnal ceremonies of the pagans ; , yet, to speak plainly, their worship was still carnal, I consisting greatly in washings, expiations, sanctifi- I cations, sacrifices, and otlier exterior ceremonies. They had not in this respect altogether crucified I the flesh ; whereas among Christians there is nothing of all this, their worship being purely spiritual. It 1 was the same with their glorying. For although j God was the author of their religion, nevertheless 1 they gloried also in Abraham and m Moses, and in ' their carnal extraction ; so that in this respect again they had not cast away the flesh from the midst of them ; whereas Christ, in whom we place our glory, has destroyed by his cross all that was carnal in him and in us, and is now a heavenly man, having nothing in common with the corruptions of flesh and blood ; on which account the apostle says, " The Lord is Spirit," 2 Cor. iii. 17, and that those who are called by him receive their dignity "not of men, neither 1 by man," Gal. i. 1 ; and again, " If we have known : Christ after the flesh, yet now know we him no more," 2 Cor. V. 16. And, lastly, although the confidence of the Israel- ites was placed in God, yet they also in some degree 1 trusted in the flesh, since their temple, their altar, '< their sanctuary were " worldly," as the apostle calls them, Heb. ix. 1 ; and not only was their worship " bodily," but even the priesthood depended on flesh , and blood ; whereas our Lord Jesus draws our love, our confidence, and indeed our whole conversation, upwards to the heavens, " the world being crucified j to us, and we unto the world." If then, as is very evident, they best merit the (name of " circumcision" who have most absolutely and completely cast away the flesh, then does this title properly belong to Christians; the ancient be- lievers having possessed but the shadow and type of that of which we possess the reality and the spirit; we (that is) who worship God in the spirit, who glory in the crucified One, and put all our trust in him alone. From this it appears how impious and pernicious, as well as ridiculous, was the superstition of those false teachers who were endeavouring to introduce circumcision and the knife of Moses among Chris- tians, as if the sword of Jesus and his gospel were not powerful to circumcise them; thus raising up that ; which the Saviour had for ever buried, and conceal- ling the very mystery and signification of circum- cision, which consists in the cutting off and taking away of all carnal things; instead of which these unhappy people wished to re-establish in the church a trusting in the flesh, exhorting men to place their confidence in works and carnal services, rather than in the alone grace of Jesus Christ our Saviour. It follows, then, that the apostle has justly taken from them the name and glory of circumcision, which belongs solely to us, and given them in contempt that of concision, since in reality all their teaching served but to mutilate the body, the spirit, the re- ligion of true believers. Thus, dear brethren, we have expounded to you this text of the apostle. Let us now endeavour to profit by seriously applying its doctrine to the se- curity of our faith, and the sanctification of our lives. Let us then, first, receive into our hearts this blessed Saviour Jesus Christ, the Prince of life, who is presented to us here, and throughout the Scrip- tures. Let him dwell in us by faith, and maintain peace and joy in our souls in the midst of the storms of our earthly pilgrimage. Let our understandings be enlightened with that knowledge which can alone render us capable of discerning truth from error, or the traditions of men from the commands of God. Let our minds be so habituated to his teach- ing, that we instantly know his voice from that of strangers. For we have to do with evil-workers as well as the Philippians, and we must not be surprised when they discover themselves among us, since even in the time of this great apostle, under his eye and in his brilliant light, people were found bold enough to disturb his preaching, and endeavour to corrupt his doctrine. I leave it to their consciences to ex- amine whether it be not the flesh which prompts them to act thus, whether it be not the desire of ease and advantage, and whether the end of these works, of which they boast so much, be not to have part of the good things of this life. But be their motives what they may, I assert (from Scripture) that they are " evil-workers," who labour to ruin and destroy what the gospel has built up ; who corrupt and disfigure what the Lord has made and established; who mingle together things incom- patible, earth with heaven, flesh with spirit, Jesus with his adversary. Let us, dear brethren, be con- tent with our Lord, and never suffer the pure and spiritual service which he has prescribed to us in his word to be injured by the admixture of ceremonies and carnal observances, inspired by fleshly minds, and not by the Spirit of God. For if the apostle is so strenuously opposed to circumcision and the other ceremonies solemnly and publicly instituted by Moses the minister of God, how much less should we be disposed to admit into the religion of Jesus doc- trines established and authorized by flesh and blood, which proceed from Rome instead of Sinai, from man instead of God ! But above all, O believers, take heed that you be the true "circumcision" of God, serving him in the spirit, rejoicing in his dear Son Jesus Christ, and putting no manner of trust in the flesh, or, as St. Paul elsewhere expresses it, " renouncing ungodliness and worldly lusts, live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world; looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of our God and Saviour Jesus Christ." If you possess this mystical and spiritual circumcision, you will easily despise the other, as well as the whole encumbrance of super- stitious ceremonies. For the desire of a carnal wor- ship arises among Christians entirely for want of a spiritual mind ; they have recourse to the external sacrifice of their altars, in order to supply the defect of that internal oblation which the apostle commands us to present continually to God, i. e. our bodies, as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to him, Rom. xii. 1. If their consciences had been truly purged from the dead works of sin, they would not have re- quired the flames of purgatory, holy water, or other carnal purifications. If they had diligently given to the Saviour that reasonable service which he de- mands, they would never have had recourse to their fastings, their scourging, their pilgrimages, their confessions, and other bodily exercises, in which, alas, nearly the whole of their religion consists. To preserve yourselves from their errors, you then must crucify the flesh, and serve God in spirit. Cir- cimicise your hearts with the sword of his word, and take from them the lusts of the flesh, ambition, avarice, luxury, pride, envy, cursing. Present your- selves daily to the Lord with a chaste body, with clean hands and a pure heart, with a humble and holy mind, raising these your offerings to heaven on the wings of faith, and placing them on the only true altar, Jesus Christ, by whom alone they can be ac- cepted of the Father. This is the service he demands 110 AN EXPOSITION OF Serm. XVIII. from us ; tin's is the victim he graciously beholds ; a heart full of pious desires, and purified from all affec- tions contrary to his word. Let his Son, Jesus Christ, be all our glory, the only object of our hope, the only object of our joy. Let his life be reflected in ours, so that those within and those without may recognise the marks of this sovereign Lord. Let us ever seek in him alone our justification, our holiness, our liberty, our knowledge, our happiness, our life. May our hearts and our confidence be detached from tlie flesh and fleshly things, how specious and pompous soever they may be j and may we love, adore, and serve none but Christ alone, so living and dying in him that we may have part in his kingdom and glory. Amen. SERMON XVIII. Verse 4 — 7- Though I might also have confidence in the flesh. If any other man thinlcelli that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more : circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an He- brew of the Hebreivs ; as touchmg the law, a Phari- see ; concerning zeal, persecuting the church ; touch- ing the rigldeousness which is in the law, blameless. But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Brethren, well might John the Baptist warn the Jews who came to him not to place their depend- ence on having had Abraham for their father. Matt. iii. 9. For the presumption which their extraction, and the privileges consequent upon it, produced in their hearts, was one of the principal causes of their perdition. Sprung from this ancient and noble stem, in cove- nant with God, of which they bore the mark in their flesh, and in their external obseri'ances, they sup- posed salvation must infallibly be theirs. Vain idea ! which caused them to despise the study and practice of the only true way which conducteth to salvation. John, therefore, commenced at the root, and endea- voured first of all to eradicate from their hearts this foolish and hurtful imagination, as the principal hinderance to their repentance and their happiness. Our Lord himself spoke also to the same eSect, showing them from the first the inutility of those outward advantages, and decrying the righteousness of the Pharisees, the wisdom of the scribes, and all that was then in the greatest estimation among the Jews; so that the first lesson he gave to Nicodemus was, that if he would enter the kingdom of God, he must be born again ; i. e. he must put away all those vain notions in which he then gloried, and present another mind before God, cleansed and purified from every presumptuous hope. In fact, the love and admiration of these carnal ad- vantages not only hindered that unhappy people from profiting by the baptism of John, but also prevented their embracing the gospel of Christ. For besides those among them whose opinion of their own righteousness kept them altogether from believing in Jesus, those even who, convinced by his instructions, received his gospel, were also for the most part desirous of mixing with it the ceremonies of Judaism, and retaining in the school of heaven the rudiments of the earth ; so strong was their afiec- tion for those things which birth and education, strengthened by habit, had rendered venerable. It is against the advocates of this dangerous me- lange that the apostle argues in this chapter, (as you will remember, brethren, I mentioned in my discourse on the preceding text,) wherein he prays the Philip- pians to beware of such evil-workers, declaring that by the Spirit of Christ we have every advantage which was vainly sought by the letter of Moses. Now, to give more weight to his words, he shows them that it is not through envy that he thus speaks, , being himself as well or even better furnished than j they were, with all those advantages of which they I so much boasted. For it sometimes happens that! men, through extreme vanity, despise the things f which they do not possess. They rail at and decry such gifts as they are destitute of, that their failing in that respect may not detract from their merit in the sight of others. St. Paul, to prove that no such reasons induced him to contemn circumcision and justification by works, which were taught by false apostles, represents here, in a forcible manner, that he failed in none of these things, nay, that he even possessed them in a higher degree than those did who esteemed them so greatly ; yet, notwithstanding the advantages he ap- peared to have, he is constrained to declare that, whatever lustre they may possess in the eyes of flesh, they are of no avail before Jesus Christ. As when some learned man, after having thrown contempt upon philosophy and worldly knowledge, might add, to give power to his words, that it was not that he was unable to enter the lists for the prize in that sort of wisdom ; so St. Paul, in the same man- ner, after having strongly repulsed those who pressed the observance of circumcision and other rites, to de- monstrate that it is the truth itself, and not personal interest, which prompts him so to speak, adds directly, " Though I might also have confidence in the flesh. If any other man thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more." And to convince them that he boasts not without reason, he enumerates at length all the advantages he possessed with regard to these things : " circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee; concerning zeal, persecuting the church ; touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless." But after all, he protests that, so far from building his hopes thereon, " he considers all these things as loss for Christ," although, were he to follow the false teachers, he should consider them as gain. This is a summary of the apostle's meaning in the text; and that God may bless it to your further in- struction, I purpose to consider the subject under three heads : First, The declaration of St. Paul, that he had more than others whereof he might trust in the flesh. Secondly, The advantages which he de- tails at length respecting the subject of this trust. Thirdly, His solemn protestation, that he counts them all as loss for the love of Christ. I. The apostle had said, in the preceding verse, speaking of himself and of all true believers, " We serve God in spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and havf> no confidence in the flesh," i. e. (as we have alread) explained,) we lean on no carnal thing, Jesus Christ alone being the object of our hope and joy. When, therefore, he adds, " Though 1 might also have con- fidence in the flesh," it is evidently as if he had said, Although, with regard to myself, I take the Lord Jesus for my only joy, and place all my dependence on him, yet this is not b~ecause I am conscious of be- ing without those advantages which the false teachers hold in such high estimation. Were I iucliucd to Chap. III. THE EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS. Ill follow their doctrines, and, like them, mingle the ser>'ices of Hesh and blood with my hope in Christ, I might also have whereon to lean ; for I have abund- ance of those things on which they build their hopes, and possess all the privileges wherein they find their joy. But the apostle goes even beyond this, and chal- lenges, not these teachers only, (who perhaps really possessed few of those qualities which they so strongly urged upon Christians,) but all others, whoever they might be, convinced that none could be found pos- sessing as many of these external advantages as him- self: "If any other man thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more." Thus he ranks himself above them all, because they had nothing which he had not also (as we shall presently see) ; and, on the other hand, he pos- sessed many things in which they failed. And here I beg you to remark carefully the apostle's expres- sion: he does not say, " If any man have," but, " If any man thinketh that he hath;" showing us thereby that all the trust which these people placed in carnal things was but fancy and opinion, they being in reality no just ground of confidence. For it is evident, and St. Paul has explained it more fully in several of his other Epistles, that neither circumcision, nor the observance of the Mosaic law, nor any other carnal service, can be capable of justi- fying man in the sight of God ; so that all who trust in them are greatly mistaken. Nothing but the right- eousness of Christ can reconcile us to God and shield Hs from the curse. Yet it was the will of the Lord that this his apostle, who so loudly contemned all trust and confidence in the law or any external advantage, should not himself be wanting in any one of those things in which so many placed their confidence. And herein is made manifest the wisdom of God ; the tes- timony of St. Paul being by this means purified from all suspicion or reproach. It is in like manner that he employs his pen(l. Cor. ix. 6, 7) to recommend to the flock the maintenance of their pastors, because, having always supported himself by the labour of his own hands, and having never required assistance from the churches he had planted, he could treat the sub- ject without being suspected of interested motives. And for the same purpose God often calls to the knowledge of his Son those who are gifted with the things most esteemed in the world, as nobility, riches, learning, talent, whether in arts or sciences, and other similar advantages, in order that they may with greater authority declare the vanity of such things, and teach men with more freedom to humble themselves at the cross of Christ. And those believers who are thus qualified should not be ashamed, when opportunities occur, to detail the advantages they possess in these respects, in order to confound the arrogance of worldly men who make such things their pride, and to show them that it is not through envy that Christians despise them, but rather from the dictates of their conscience, which can find no solid foundation of hope and assurance but in Christ the Lord; all trust in the flesh and its works being vain presumption. St. Paul has inculcated this by his example. For he makes no scruple of lowering the pride of these false apostles by enumerating at length the advan- tages he had according to the flesh, &nJ the confi- dence he might have drawn from them had he been BO inclined ; none of those external things being wanting in him in which these people so greatly exulted, whether it were nobility of descent, the privilege of circumcision, the advantages of learning, probity of manners, or purity of life. This carnal superiority which the apostle possessed without trusting in consisted of seven qualities, and these we will now examine one after another, as he has enumerated them. First, That he had been "circumcised the eighth day." Second, That he was " of the stock of Israel." Third, That he was " of the tribe of Benjamin." Fourth, That he was " a Hebrew of the Hebrews." Fifth, That he was by religion " a Pharisee." Sixth, That he had been so zealous for Judaism as to have " persecuted the church" of Christ. And seventh and last, That his life, "touching the righteousness of the law, was blameless." He names circumcision the first, because it was the first and most necessary sacrament of the Jewish people, the seal of the Mosaic covenant, the livery, mark, and glory of an Israelite, which separated him from all the nations of the world, and was the princi- pal subject of controversy between the apostle and the false teachers, who, above all-things, contended for it, and esteemed it essentially necessary to justifi- cation. But he also particularly mentions having received it on the eighth day, i. e. eight days after his birth, according to the original institution and command of God ; and this added greatly to the ad- vantage of it; for those proselytes who, from the darkness of idolatry, had ranged themselves under the banners of Judaism, could but receive circum- cision at the age to which they had attained at tlie time of their conversion, some in youth, others in manhood, and others again in old age. And although it was to them a great privilege to be admitted by this rite into communion with the people of God, yet they could not glory in it as much as those who were born to this privilege, and who, from the eighth day of their lives, had been solemnly consecrated to the service of God, and had worn his livery and badge. Although it was an honour to receive circumcision at any age, it certainly was the greatest honour to re- ceive it on the eighth day. For this cause St. Paul expressly mentions it among other external advan- tages, not merely saying that he was circumcised, but that he had been circumcised the eighth day. To this he adds, secondly, That he was " of the stock of Israel." To have received circumcision on the eighth day plainly proved that a person had been bom of parents professing J'udaism ; but it did not prove that he was descended from the blood of Israel. The Gentile proselytes, having themselves entered into communion with God's people, circumcised their children on the eighth day, as well as the true Israel- ites. The apostle therefore is not satisfied with sim- ply saying that he had been circumcised the eighth day : he goes beyond this, adding, that he was of the race of Israel, to show the nobility and purity of his extraction, that his blood was unmingled with that of Gentiles, being derived from the ancient and illustrious root of Jacob, the patriarch of the Jewish nation, and to which he had given name ; that people (as you know) calling themselves the " children of Israel," from the surname given to Jacob by the Almighty, as a token of blessing, on the memorable night that he had wrestled with him. This was the great privilege of the Jews, and that on which they set the highest value ; for with regard to circum- cision, observance of the law, zeal for religion, the light of knowledge, purity of life, and other things of a like nature, the proselytes might equal them; nay, ihcy sometimes greatly surpassed them in these respects, and their history furnishes several exam- ples of such being the case ; but this nobility of descent was peculiar to the Jews, and no foreigner could contest this advantage with them. And if we consider the subject in itself, without 112 AN EXPOSITION OF Seem. XVIII. prejudice, we cannot, deny that the advantages after the flesh were great. For with regard to antiquity, which is generally esteemed one of the most essential qualifications of nobility, there was then, and there is now, no family in the whole human race so noble as that of the Jews, who could show their genealogy clearly and distinctly from Adam to themselves, that is, for upwards of four thousand years ; whereas all those grand and illustrious families who flourished among the Greeks and Romans, or who flourish now in Christendom or elsewhere, are supposed to have fully established their noble descent, if they can reckon back for seven or eight hundred years ; and even the proudest and highest cannot trace much further than that. But if we consider the qualities of their ancestors, which are the principal foundations of true nobility, who can be compared to the Jews ? Descended from Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, at once the elect, the anointed, the holy prophets of God, the most noble and illustrious persons of antiquity ! AVhcreas the genealogy of most other families is drawn from foul and disgraceful sources, from the blood of a barba- rian or an idolater, sometimes even from a robber or a monster, celebrated more for his vices than his virtues. Though, however, this true nobility of descent be- longed originally to all the race of Israel, yet it had not preserved itself equally pure among the several families who had issued from that root. For this reason the apostle, after having said that he was of the stock of Israel, particularly signifies the tribe to which he belonged, " of the tribe of Benjamin." For I do not think he would have added this, except to show by his family the purity of his extraction. It seems that he mentions the circumstance in order to distinguish his blood from the pollutions in which great part of that of Jacob was involved. For of the twelve tribes which sprang from him ten had sadly degenerated, soiling the honour of their nobility by their vices, plunging into idolatry, and separating themselves from the communion of the ark and tem- ple of God j for which they had been afterwards, by the just anger of Jehovah, transported into Assyria, where they had for the most part lost the purity of their extraction by intermarriages with the Gentiles. The apostle therefore shows, that it is not on that side that he is descended from Jacob, but from the family of Benjamin, illustrious among his people, not only for having had the honour of giving the first king to Israel, but still more so for having pre- served in itself, in conjunction with Judah and Levi, the purity of Divine worship, at the time when the ten tribes, revolting from the house of David, gave themselves up to the idolatry of the golden calves, established by the rebel Jeroboam in Dan and Beth-el. Thus you see that the apostle's extraction was very noble, he being not only of the most ancient and illustrious nation in the world, but also of one of the purest and most esteemed tribes in that nation. ' But he continues, " an Hebrew of the Hebrews." This name of Hebrew (as you know) was especially given to the people of Israel, and still continues to be one of the most common appellations of the Jews ; although it appears that originally the Chaldeans applied the word to all those nations who inhabited the countries beyond the Euphrates ; and that the Egyptians gave them the same appellation for a like cause, namely, that they dwelt beyond the rivers that separated Egypt from other lands ; and if you atten- tively consider those passages in Genesis where the word "Hebrew" is employed, you will easily per- ceive that it signifies literally " one who dwells be- vond the waters." The posterity of Jacob, however, having afterwards occupied the country of Canaan, the inhabitants of which were called Hebrews, the word began to be applied to the Israelites, and in process of time became the appellation of the nation. So also the language spoken by the Jews during their occupation of Canaan, and in which the Old Testament, both the law and the prophets, (except two or three chapters of Daniel,) was written, is called, as well by ancient as by modem authors, " the Hebrew." Thus, therefore, the apostle, by styling himself " an Hebrew of the Hebrews," signifies that he was a Jew by lineage from father to son ; not having par- taken of this privilege by adoption or the conversion of his forefathers, but by a regular and uninterrupted descent from that first ancient and noble stem from which his ancestors themselves had sprung. After having thus shown the dignity of his extrac- tion, he declares, fifthly. His profession or sect in the Jewish church, saying that he was "by religion a Pharisee." In the original, " as touching the law, a Pharisee." Now it appears that the word " law " in this passage would denote a sect, order, or profession, such as the order of monks, or the societies of men or women that are found in the church of Rome, and the word is often used thus in our common conversation. Thus, when the apostle was brought before the assembly of the chief priests and elders at Jerusalem, he cried aloud, " I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee," Acts xxiii, 6 ; and afterwards, when pleading his cause be- fore Festus and Agrippa at Cesarea, he said, in like manner, that all the Jews knew that " from his youth up, after the straitest sect of their religion, he had lived a Pharisee," Acts xxvi. 5. In another place also, (Acts xxii. 3,) he declares that, in order to be better instructed in their doctrines, he had been sent in childhood from Tarsus in Cilicia, his native city, to Jerusalem, where he had been educated " at the feet," that is to say, in the doctrines and discipline, " of Gamaliel," a Jewish doctor of high estimation. From these and several other parts of the New Testament, you will perceive that the Pharisees were at that time a sect of great repute among the Jews, and generally the most esteemed of any, as you would now describe the order of Jesuits in the Romish communion, except that the Pharisees did not dwell together in convents, but had their own houses and establishments like other citizens ; at the same time composing one body, holding the same doctrines, living uniier the same discipline, and sustaining and assisting one another as much as possible. It was about a hundred years before the birth of Christ that three sects arose among the Jews; the Pharisees, the Essenes, and the Sadducees. No mention is made of the Essenes in the New Testa- ment Scriptures, partly because there was scarcely any difference between their doctrines and those of the Pharisees j and partly because they lived retired in distant places, having but little intercourse with the world. But the other two sects dwelt in cities, in the society of enlightened men, taking part in civil as well as in ecclesiastical affairs. The Sadducees (as we learn from the writings of the New Testament, from Josephus, and other Jew- ish authors) held most extravagant opinions, boldly denying a resurrection and the immortality of the soul, and even the existence of angel or spirit. Acts xxiii. 8. The Pharisees also maintained some dangerous errors, but at the same time they held the funda- mental truths of Scripture, believing the immortality of the soul, and the resurrection of the body ; neither is there any proof of their having taught (as some Chap. III. THE EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS. m modem writers allege) the transmigration of the soul after death. Thus they easily gained the ascend- ancy over the Essenes by the greater refinement of their life, and over the Sadducees by the greater purity of their doctrine ; to which must be added, by their extraordinary profession of sanctity, which tinctured all their conversation and manners. To this outward profession the Scriptures relate, when they inform us that they " made wide their phylacteries, and enlarged the borders of their gar- ments," Matt, xxiii. 5, &c. ; (i. e. they wore on their foreheads and on the edge of their robes wide pieces of parchment, on which were written certain texts from the law or the prophets ; and this is still a Jew- ish custom;) that they washed often and carefully their persons, their utensils, and their furniture ; that they fasted twice a week, and gave tithes most scru- Eulously of all they possessed, even of the smallest erbs of the garden, as mint and cummin ; that they built and superbly adorned the sepulchres of the pro- phets ; and that they would compass sea and land to make one proselyte. We learn also from other sources, that the devotees among them slept on very narrow planks, or upon gravel, and that they fastened thorns under their garments, which pricked their heels and ancles in walking so as even to draw blood. This austere manner of life, indicating so much zeal and sanctity, procured for them the name of Pharisee, which signifies, a person separated and uilh- draun from the world; with which indeed they pro- fessed to have nothing in common, having entirely withdrawn from the vices of the multitude ; calling them in contempt, people of the earth, shunning their society, and even considering themselves unclean if they had been accidentally touched by one of them. It was to this refined sect that St. Paul belonged, both by birth and education. But if his ancestors and preceptors had on their part given him a birth and education propitious to Judaism, he also, on his part, had so diligently applied himself to profit by the advantages he thus possessed, that he had arrived at the highest possible perfection of a Pharisee. And this he shows in the two last clauses of the account which he is here giving of himself, by adding that, " concerning zeal, he had persecuted the church," and that, " touching the righteousness of the law, he had been blameless." With regard to the first, we are informed by St Luke, in the Acts of the Apostles, that Paul took part in the murder of the blessed martyr of Christ, St. Stephen ; and that afterwards, " breathing out threat- enings and slaughter," he devoted himself to the per- secution of the Christians, and left Jerusalem with letters from the high priest empowering him to carry thither as prisoners all the disciples of Christ whom he should find in Damascus and its neighbourhood. He has himself also often related this sad story : speaking in the assembly of the Jews, (Acts xxii. 3, 4,) he says, " Being zealous toward God, as ye all are this day, I persecuted this way (Christianity) unto the death, binding and delivering into prisons both men and women." Again, pleading before Agrippa, (Acts xxvi. 9 — 11,) he thus speaks, " I verily thought with myself that 1 ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth. Which thing I also did in Jerusalem : and many of the saints did I shut up in prison, having received authority from the chief priests ; and when they were put to death, I gave my voice against them. And I punished them oft in ever}' synagogue, and compelled them to blas- pheme ; and being exceedingly mad against them, I persecuted them even unto strange cities." He also tells the Galatians, in the commencement of his Epistle to them, that he had " persecuted and wasted the church of God beyond measure, having been exceedingly zealous of the traditions of the fathers," Gal. i. 13. Again, writing to Timothy, he acknowledges that he was once a blasphemer, a perse- cutor, and an oppressor, 1 Tim. i. I'i; on which ac- count it is that he speaks of himself to the Corinthi- ans with such deep humility, saying that he is unworthy to be called an apostle, because of having persecuted the church of God. He mentions it in our text to prove his extreme devotion to Judaism; and as he himself calls perse- cution a " blasphemy," a " wasting," a " ravaging," of the church of God, he highly condemns it, and witnesses against himself that he had grievously sin- ned in this respect. Therefore it is not his intention here to class it among good and praiseworthy actions. He alleges it solely as an incontestable proof of his zeal for the honour of Judaism ; a blind zeal, cer- tainly, and not " according to knowledge," but never- theless ardent, and clearly showing the sincerity with which he had formerly undertaken the defence of his religion. The false teachers against whom he argues were satisfied if circumcision were retained, and Moses were made a companion of Christ. But Paul had gone much further, desiring Closes to reign alone, and fiercely overturning every thing that op- posed his empire in such a manner, that if there were any profit or glory to be expected from having zeal for Judaism, it is evident that Paul in this re- spect had the advantage of these pretended upholders of Moses. Lastly, he adds, that whatever might have been his zeal for the religion of his forefathers, the purity of his life and conversation was in the same proportion. For it often happens that enthusiasts, under the boil- ing of their zeal, conceal a very irregular life, and shamefully violate, every day, the laws and regula- tions of that religion, the name and outward forms of which they are defending with so much warmth. There are in history many examples of this, and especially among the Jewish people. At the last destruction of Jerusalem, how many wretched men were there, tram- pling under foot every law, human and Divine, and leading the most execrable lives possible ; at the very time that they were such zealots for the name and temple of Jehovah, as to be resolved to endure to the last extremity in his cause ! But the apostle must not be classed with such fanatics. He had been a Jew in truth and sincerity, and in the midst of his zeal against Christianity had observed with such strictness all that was enjoined by his religion, that he can boldly say in our text, " touching the right- eousness which is in the law, blameless." What then, (you will perhaps say,) while Paul lived a Pharisee, an alien from the grace of Christ, had he so fulfilled all the righteousness prescribed to us in the law, that he can be reproached with nothing in that respect ? Did he fail in no point in that righteousness which the law demands of men ? Dear brethren, I answer, that by " the righteousness which is in the law " he intends, and it is a common mode of expression in the sacred writings, all the righteousness that is by the law ; that is to say, as much as the law could work in any man, even in the best and most advanced among the Pharisees ; and this is so far from being perfect, or even from being a step towards admission into grace, that Jesus him- self said, " Except your righteousness exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven." As for the righteousness contained in the law, which consists of a perfect love to God, a perfect charity towards our neighbour, and an innocence and holiness of life maintained in every point, neither 114 AN EXPOSITION OF Serm. XVIII. Paul nor any other Pharisee has ever possessed it ; as this great apostle himself has clearly shown in several places; but especially in the 7th chapter of his Epistle to the Romans. And if any man ever had possessed this righteousness, that man would have been justified by the law, (which is absolutely im- possible,) and would have had no need of Christ, without whom w'e are told we can do nothing. These words of the apostle have the same signification as in Rom. ii. 14, where he Bays, " the Gentiles do by na- ture the things contained in the law ;" that is, not the things commanded by the law, as, to love God with all the heait, and our neighbour as ourselves, (for how could the Gentiles do those things naturally which the Jews themselves were never able to ac- complish?) but all that which the law does for its disciples ; restraining and bridling their outward man ; leading them to the admiration and study of virtue ; and, in fact, accusing or excusing them in the secret recesses of their hearts : and this the apostle calls the tiork of the law ; because it is what the law does in us, and not what the law prescribes to us : so he also, in the text, speaks of the righteousness which is in or bi/ the law, — not merely that which the law commands, but that which it works in the hearts and lives of its disciples. This then is the righteousness of which St. Paul boasts ; meaning to say that he had shown forth in his former life and character all those good qualities which the profession of Phariseeism required ; and that he could not be reproached with having failed in one duty which his sect considered to be prescribed by the law of God. Thus it appears how truly the apostle spoke, in saying that if any man might trust in the flesh, it would be himself, since he possessed every advan- tage that was a ground of trust ; whether by birth, as a free Israelite, of the blood of Jacob, of the tribe of Benjamin; whether by instruction, having been circumcised on the eighth day, and educated in Phariseeism, the most celebrated sect among the Jews ; whether by devotion to the cause, having been zealous even to the persecuting of the church, and observant of every legal rite, so as to have acquired a character without reproach. "But (says he) what things were gain to me, those 1 counted loss for Christ." So far from building my hopes on these carnal advantages, in which the false teachers place their glory, I despise them all since I have known and tasted the Lord Jesus ; and now consider them, not merely as useless, but as hurtful to my salvation. II. This is the concluding verse of the text, in which the apostle mentions two things : first. That these prerogatives that he had in Judaism, and of which he had just spoken, " were gain to him," or rather, had been gain to him ; and, secondly, That for the "love of Christ he had counted them as loss." As for the first, I must acknowledge that it was no small step towards salvation to be born in Israel, of the blood of the patriarchs, and to be nourished and instructed from childhood in the knowledge of the Divine law; which was to the church in its infancy as a schoolmaster, and an excellent means of bring- ing men to Christ : and the apostle elsewhere says, that " the advantage of the Jew, and the profit of circumcision, were great every way, but chiefly be- cause that >into them were committed the oracles of God," Rom. iii. 1 ; which grace had not been given to other nations, as the psalmist tells us, Psal. cxlvii. 20. And they to whom the law had rendered this good office of preparing and bringing them to Christ, as Simeon, and Nathaniel, and many others, could truly say that it had been gain to them, being born in Israel, and circumcised, and instructed in the school of the law. But this is not the case here. For the instruction that Paul had had in the law was mixed with the leaven of Phariseeism ; his mind was puffed up with his own merit, and his zeal was full of rage against the Christ of God. How, then, could he say that these things were gain to him ? Dear brethren, I maintain that the apostle does not say this literally and absolutely. God forbid that he should! for this would, by one stroke of his pen, efface all the truth of his doctrine, which every where declares that there is nothing so opposed to salvation as the leaven of the Pharisees and the presumption of merit. Nor is there any thing so abhorrent to God or so pernicious to men as the persecution of Christ and his members. But he here speaks ac- cording to the notions he had formerly held on this subject in his blindness and error, and according to the ideas of the false teachers against w'hom he is arguing. They " were gain to me," that is, in my opinion ; and with this idea I gloried in them, and imagined that on them my salvation depended. For this was in reality the doctrine of the Phari- sees. They placed their hopes and their happiness in these carnal advantages ; in being the seed of Abraham and the disciples of Moses; and considered the furious zeal which they had for the law as one of their highest merits, imagining that they did God service in persecuting the Christians. And all this would have been gain to the apostle had he continued in Judaism, as the false teachers supposed he ought to have done. For by this he would (according to their view) have obtained favour with God and men ; he would have preserved the good-will of his nation, and acquired reputation and esteem among his coun try men by passing for one of their most accomplished and learned doctoi-s. But he protests, however ad- vantageous these things might have been to me after the flesh, " I count them loss for Christ." III. When once the Lord had enlightened his mind, and delivered his eyes from the thick scales of ignorance which formerly covered them, he be- came altogether changed in judgment and temper. He saw that that Jesus whom he had so fiercely per- secuted was the Lord of glory, the Prince of peace, the everlasting Father, the only author and giver of grace. He saw in him truth, righteousness, and sal- vation for men, treasures of Divine mercy, and the plenitude of the Godhead. Satisfied with so precious and perfect a gift, he condemns his former errors, and renounces with all his heart all those petty ad- vantages of birth and education which he had here- tofore so much admired, and resolves, like the mer chant in the parable, to acquire, by the loss of all he possessed, the inestimable jewel that was to be found in Christ. He is so in love with this treasure, that he not only leaves all he had, but hates all for its sake, He does not merely confess that he can draw no profit from his former merits, but complains that they are hurtful to him ; that they have kept him long in ignorance, and have prevented him from earlier en- joying peace through Christ ; that they increased his furious zeal, and soiled his hands with the precious blood of his sovereign Lord. For although this last had been done in ignorance, he never ceased to re- member it with horror, and to reckon it the greatest misfortune that had ever occurred to him. Thus St. Paul is to be understood, when he declares, "what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ." But, O holy apostle, elect instrument of God, that which was loss to thee has proved gain to us ; and it was for our profit that the gracious Lord, who had separated thee from thy mother's womb, did permit thee to enter so deeply into Judaism, and to remain Chap. III. THE EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS. 115 for so long a period out of his true church, that so thy testimony concerning it might be the more effi- cacious to us. Certainly, dear brethren, the testi- mony of the other apostles respecting the resurrec- tion and Divinity of our Lord is authentic and worthy of belief, and whoever calmly considers it must be constrained to confess that their witness is true. But the testimony of Paul is stronger. For with what can infidelity reproach him ? Can it say that he was an ignorant person, easily duped in that which re- spects religion ? He was a Pharisee from his birth; instructed in the school of the first master of his age and sect ; and very learned in all the traditions and doctrines of the Jews, as his writings clearly prove. AVas it intimacy with Jesus, and friendship for him, that induced him to uphold his religion? He had never seen him during his life, and, after his death, far from loving or favouring, he had outrageously perse- cuted him. And yet, behold him stopping suddenly in the midst of his career of rage and fury, changed in a moment, adoring him whom he had blasphemed, preaching him whom he had persecuted, continuing several years in this new faith, and at length dying for him whom he had formerly so often slain in his members. AVhat could have caused so wonderful a change ? "What could have snatched from Judaism so obstinate a Pharisee ? so attached to his sect by birth, educa- tion, reputation, interest, manner of life ? What could have broken in one moment so many ties ? What could have drawn forth from that heart and mouth, hitherto sending out fire and flames against Jesus, praise and adoration of him? Dear brethren, it could have been nothing less than the truth itself, manifested to him by an Almighty hand, (as he him- self often and fully declares,) arresting and convert- ing him on his way to Damascus. Let us then embrace this Divine Saviour whom he so eloquently preaches to us. Let us be converted with this happy Pharisee. Let us believe on the testimony of so authentic a witness, that Jesus is in heaven crowned with glory and honour ; that he is truly the Son of God, the end and object of the law, the salvation of Jews and Gentiles, the true circum- cision, the root and offspring of David, the propitia- tion for sin, the peace of the conscience, the light of the understanding, the wisdom of the heart, the author of the justification, holiness, rest, resurrec- tion, and immortality of all believers. Dear brethren, let us render to him the homage due to his majesty. Let nothing separate us from fellowship with him. Let us be zealous for his glory. Never let us suffer any thing whatever to divide with him our confi- dence and hope. Let us serve him only, as he only has redeemed us. However useful and advantageous a thing may appear, let it be as loss to us, or even as a calamity, if it be prejudicial to the interest of Christ. Never let us purchase ease, or peace, or even life itself, at his expense. Let us rather hate and despise all things for love of him. Let that which is gain become loss to us, if hurtful in the smallest degree to his service and glor)'. Nobility of birth, abundance of riches, the honour of our reputation, the excellence of learning, the friendship of those among whom we dwell ; all these 1 confess are great advantages. But if they estrange you from fellow- ship and communion with Christ, if they hinder you in the heavenly race, regard them as losses, as mis- fortunes. Do not hesitate to renounce them, and generously sacrifice this vain-glory at the foot of the cross, as did Paul the Pharisee. Hold nothing so dear but that you can quit it with alacrity for so good a Master. Remember that in reality there is nothing good, nothing useful without him ; that all that men worship, out of him, whether it be grandeur, or science, or morality, or even the deepest and warmest devotion, is incapable of turning away from us the curse of God, or of bringing us to his heavenly kingdom. Alay the Loi-d himself impress these sentiments deeply on our hearts, so that faithfully serving him in this life, we may dwell with him in life everlast- ing. Amen. SERMON XIX. Verse 8. I'ea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord : for uhom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ. Dear brethren, in order to be truly wise, it is not sufficient to be able merely to distinguish between good things and bad ; we must also discern the differ- ence that exists among things that are good, so as to set each at its real value, and esteem those the most which are the most excellent : and it is in this sense that many understand the apostle, when he desires for the Philippians that they " may approve (or dis- cern) things that are excellent," Phil. i. 10. For if you consider this matter, you will perceive that the weakness of being unable to reject the lesser good for the greater, is the cause of almost all the miseries of men. They have less difficulty in discerning good from evil, because of the immense diflVrence between them. But when two things that are good present themselves, the desire of possessing both perplexes their judgment to that degree, that they are unable to resolve to quit the less that they may win the greater; and instead of this generous resolution, they continually, though uselessly, endeavour to find means whereby they may keep both the one and the other. From whence it frequently happens that they lose the whole, because they were not satisfied with the better part ; like the merchant, who could not resolve to save his life during a storm by throwing the cargo of his vessel into the sea, and therefore lost his vessel and his life together. In how many countries and families does this error cause disasters daily .' But who can enumerate the evils it produces in religion, the most important object of our life! It is this that causes the destruction of the lukewarm, of the Nicodemuses, (commonly so called,) of all who would fain possess both earth and heaven, both flesh and spirit, and, in fact, of the greater part of those that perish. It is this that suggests to them all those pernicious expedients which they adopt to their own ruin, fancying they can, by these means, be ex- empted from the losses and troubles to which the gospel subjects them, and can at once maintain peace with God and with the world. It was the same error which disturbed in its in- fancy the Christian church, from the endeavours of some within it to mingle Judaism with Christianity. It was not that they hated or despised Christ, buc that they did not esteem and love him sufficiently. If they had thoroughly recognised his sovereign ex- cellence, they would have been contented with him, and would have found in him so full a satisfying of ever}' desire, that they would have wished for no other good. For this reason, St. Paul, in the text, to guard the Philippians from this error, shows them 116 AN EXPOSITION OF Serm. XIX. the estimation in which they should hold the Saviour ; and having already detailed all the advantages wliich he possessed according to the flesh, he adds, that these things, however great they might appear, yet, considered in themselves, must vanish before the light of the knowledge of Jesus ; and that, compared with the blessings the Saviour bestows on his serv- ants, they lose their value, and become as dross or dung, or the very vilest things. He had taught the same doctrine in the preceding verse, where, after sliowing the prerogatives of his birth and education in Judaism, he said, " But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ ;" and this I explained to you in my last dis- course on this subject: and now again he takes up the same idea, and enlarges upon it, adding, " Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord : for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may whi Christ." The apostle thus repeats his words for two reasons : first. On account of the importance of the suljject, the noblest, the grandest, the most necessary in the world. And it is very usual for ministers thus to in- sist on essential subjects, if they desire deeply to im- press the hearts of their hearers ; and even to repeat the same thing two or three times : and the best masters of eloquence consider these repetitions, if well done, among the greatest ornaments of language. Secondly, The apostle wishes to show that he main- tains the same feelings towards his Saviour as he had at the beginning. For it occasionally happens that the novelty of things surprises and dazzles us at first, causing us to despise every thing besides; but when time has lessened the attraction which novelty gave, and experience has given us more intimate know- ledge of them, we repent of having allowed ourselves to be deceived, and change the opinion we at first held respecting them. St. Paul, therefore, having said that when he had once seen Christ, he despised and counted as loss those advantages which he had formerly prized, adds now that he is still of the same opinion. My senses (says he) were not dazzled by the glory of Christ, which at first struck me so forcibly ; it was not the novelty of his doctrine which delighted me, and caused me to contemn all that I had hitherto valued. I have always preserved the same feeling in this respect as I had then. Time has not discovered to me in my new Master any thing which corresponds not with that excellence which my first view of him promised. The esteem and love I then felt and avowed, far from having lessened, have increased within me more and more. And as I then quitted all for his sake, and considered every thing as hurtful which separated me from com- munion with him, so I do still, and am more than ever resolved to be eternally his. I find nothing beautiful, nothing excellent, but in him, and I re- nounce from my heart every thing the world esteems, and most willingly suffer the loss of all things that I may win Christ. These are the reasons that induced the apostle to repeat his words. For though the all things of which he speaks might be taken in their simple and uni- versal sense, (as in fact there is nothing in the world which ought to be compared in value to Christ and his salvation,) yet the apostle's argument seems to require that they should relate to what he had be- fore spoken of, namely, the advantages he possessed in Judaism. And our French Bible connects them in the translation of the second clause of this verse, where the apostle is said not merely to have deprived himself of all things, but of all these things, i. e. of which he had just spoken. But this must not pre- vent our understanding all that St. Paul had said respecting the advantages of Judaism, as extending also to every other means of salvation which men consider necessary, equal or preferable to, or at least joining and associating them with, the gospel oi Christ. For if the blood of patriarchs and prophets, if the seal of the Mosaic covenant, if observance of and zeal for the law of God, if an unblemished repu- tation, are but small things compared with the know- ledge of Jesus Christ, if they must be regarded as dross, in what class must we place ceremonies and traditions purely human, w-hich were commanded neither at Sinai nor at Zion, nor by the voice of a prophet, and have their authority from superstition alone ? But without going further into this subject, let us consider what the aposlle says in our text respecting those advantages he formerly possessed in the Jew- ish religion. He declares that he counts all these things as loss, and afterwards, that he has suffered tlie loss of them, and esteems them but as dross. But he is not satisfied with this ; he shows us the reason why he made such small account of things apparently so advantageous, " for the excellency of the knowledge of Jesus ;" and also his design in re- nouncing them, " that I might win Christ." V/e have thus three subjects set forth in the text, on which, by God's grace, we will endeavour to speak. First, The excellency of the knowledge of Jesus. Secondly, The uselessness and vileness of all such advantages, and even of the observance of the law, as the price of this knowledge. Thirdly, The necessity of renouncing them all, if we would win Christ. I. Respecting the first, this is not the only place in which the apostle sets forth, above all things, the excellency of the knowledge of Christ, to confound the superstition of the Judaizing Christians. He does the same in his Epistle to the Colossiaus, (Col. i. 15 — 19,) where, arguing against this error, to show how vain and useless was the addition which these new teachers wished to make to the gospel, he re- presents to believers the sovereign dignity of the Lord Jesiis, the image of the invisible God, the first- born of every creature, yea, the Creator of all things in heaven aiid in earth ; the Head of the church, the first-born from the dead, in whom dwelleth the ful- ness of the Godhead bodily, and in whom also are liidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Here, then, for the same reason, he alleges the ex- cellency of Christ, calling him his Lord, not merely as a testimony of the ardent affection he bore him, but also to show the insult offered to him by those false teachers who would fain give to them whom he had saved another Lord beside him. The excellency of knowledge may be considered in two points ; either as regarding the things known, or as regarding the use and fruit thereof. And for the first, we call that knowledge excellent which treats of lofty and elevated subjects ; and it is in this sense that philosophers prefer the least knowledge of the heavens, and the motions of the luminary bodies, to the most intimate acquaintance with earth and its concerns, because the first of these subjects is much more noble and wonderful than the other. And, secondly, we consider that knowledge excellent which is useful and necessary to us, and increases the happiness of life : and it is in this sense that the same philosophers esteem the knowledge of morals, placing it above the abstract sciences, because it is more needful for the conduct of our life ; and those among them are praised who have brought the study of the heavens down to the earth ; that is to say, who, instead of amusing themselves by speculations upon Chap. III. THE EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS. iir the motions and properties of the heavens, have em- ployed all their powers in the consideration of the nature of man, of the end for which he lives, and the qualities necessary to render him happy. The knowledge of Jesus our Lord includes both these excellences in a high degree. For surely Jesus Christ is the grandest, the most excellent, the most exalted subject in the universe ; not a mere heavenly body or immaterial being, but the Creator and blaster of the heavens, the King and Lord of angels, the brightness of the Father's glory, and the express image of his person, his word, his wisdom, his eternal power; in a word, " God over all, blessed for ever:" and, surpassing wonder! not merely God, but " God manifest in the flesh ;" God and man in one person, in wliom, as in a mirror, may be seen all the perfec- tions of the Divine and human nature ; not slightly and faintly represented, but vividly portrayed, or rather existing in the most perfect and exalted form ; not in type and shadow, but in reality and truth. In Jesus Christ are made known the length, and breadth, and depth, and height of the Divine glories, secrets which no eye has seen, no imagination conceived. In him is shown forth the incomprehensible distinc- tion of three Persons in one Being, and the unity of one Being in three distinct Persons. In him are manifested all the attributes of God, his eternity, his infinitude, his power, his wisdom, his justice, his goodness, his providence ; the designs of his eternal mind, and the mighty works of his hands. In him are seen, not only the past and the present, but also the future ; the diversity of times and dispensations ; the origin, progress, and end of ages; the wonders of this world and of that which is to come. And the knowledge which Christ gives us is not a doubtful and uncertain opinion, such as we acquire in the schools of men, whose wisdom at best is but suspicion or belief; not a true and certain knowledge only ; but it is a clear and solid understanding of these sub- jects; a power of contemplating "God with open face," as St. Paul saith, 2 Cor. iii. 18, God having rendered himself visible and palpable in Christ, in such wise, that whosoever has seen him has seen the Father; which St. John also declares, "That which was from the beginning, wdiich we have seen with our eyes, which we have heard, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life," 1 John i. 1. But if the knowledge of Jesus Christ is excellent on account of the grandeur of the object, and the clearness and certainty of the evidence which it gives, it is not the less so on account of its usefulness ; and it is in this sense principally that the apostle con- siders it in the text ; because if this wisdom were of no avail, it would not induce us to despise or reject I things otherwise advantageous to us. The results I which arise from a knowledge of the Saviour are on I the one hand so grand and Divine, and on the other so important and necessary, that we may truly say, It alone is excellent ; all other knowledge being use- less without this, and this being alone capable of rendering us eternally happy. For, in the first place, while other systems are either ignorant of or extenuate our evil condition, this knowledge instructs us respecting the greatness and the extent of our vileness, showing us that, born : as we are, and living as we do, we must expect no- thing but death and damnation. It revals to us the I wratli of God kindled against the hur.an race, his I inexorable anger against sin, and tl : inevitable punishment that awaits us. It shows us the blind- ness of those who falsely imagine they owe nothing to the Divine justice, as well as the vanity of all means invented or employed by men to appease the Almighty and win his favour. But having made us sensible of our evil state, it places in our hands the true and only remedy, Jesus crucified and raised again for us. By the blood of that sacrifice, alone capable of expiating the sins of man and of purifying his soul, because it is an offering equal to the infini- tude of his crimes, the wrath of God is extinguished. Thus the knowledge of Jesus gives peace to the con- science, chasing away from the soul the fear of the avenging anger of God, which waged a cruel war within us by day and night. It disarms the destroy- ing angel of the sword that alarms us, and heaven of the thunder which threatens us. But it does not merely deliver us from the fear of hell. It gives us the blessed hope of everlasting life ; it opens to us heaven and its eternal sanctuary, putting us in possession of that perfect and supreme felicity for which we sighed even before we were acquainted with it. For Christ in dying has not only satisfied the Divine justice, he has also obtained from the Father's love, besides the pardon of our sins, the Holy Spirit, heaven, and eternal life to bestow upon his servants ; in token of which he was raised from the dead the third day, and is now seated at the right hand of God, to administer his kingdom, and to dispense life and glory to all who believe in him. From thence he clothes his people with armour, and sends them all things needful for their earthly pil- grimage : he sheds into their hearts a joy that pass- eth understanding : he gives them consolation in every affliction, and assurance even in death itself. He fills their hearts with ardent love to God, and real charity towards their neighbour, producing with- in them true sanctification ; not a mercenary spirit like the Pharisees, who acted for hire, and sei-ved God only in order to profit themselves, but a sincere and candid mind, which embraces truth for the love of it, and in so doing considers itself entitled to no reward, but simply as having done that which it was its duty to do. And when, having passed through the trials and labours of this life, they are called to the grave, he receives their souls to himself, and pre- serves their bodies amidst all the changes and con- fusion of the world, to be raised again at the great day, and to be made conformable to the glory of his body, when he will bestow on them his last and high- est gift, and elevate them to a participation of his glorious and eternal kingdom. Judge, then, believers, whether the apostle is not right in calling the knowledge of Jesus excellent, since it produces such sweet and precious fnrits. I confess, however, that not all who say they possess it are partakers of these fruits. But such are pre- sented for their acceptance, and to them belongs the blame if they have them not. Although, to speak correctly, no one truly knows Christ who is not a partaker of his righteousness and glory, because in this knowledge is life. " This is life eternal, that they might knoio thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent," John xvii. 3. There- fore St. Paul scruples not to say that none of the princes of this world possessed the knowledge of God, alleging as a reason, "for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory," 1 Cor. ii. 8. For how is it possible that a man could know Jesus without loving him, without believing his promises, and trusting in him? Now, all who believe in him and trust m him receive his Spirit, pass from death to life, and participate in all his pre- cious gifts ; and it therefore follows that they who are not thus in him know him not. " If thou knew- est the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink, thou wouldest have asked of him. and he would have given thee living water," John iv. 10. 118 AN EXPOSITION OF Serm. XIX. Thus St. Paul confounds the false teachers of the circumcision, proving to them that they had not the knowledge of Christ, although they so loudly boasted of it, and even affected to instruct others therein ; because, had they really known him, Ihcy would not, any more than himself, have made such account of the mere rudiments as to propose to mingle them with the gospel. For that all the observances of the Mosaic law, and all the advantages with regard to the flesh that can possibly be had, are of no value com- pared with Christ, is very evident from what has just been said respecting the excellence of the know- ledge of him. -;>-.. 11. This brings us to the second point of the apos- ♦Je's argument, in which he declares that, " for the excellency of this knowledge, he considers all these things as loss, that he has suffered the loss of them, and that he esteems them but as dung." Certainly it is scarcely possible to hold them in greater con- tempt than this. For, in the first place, while the false teachers recommended them as important, use- ful, and even necessary for the justification of be- lievers, the apostle, on the contrary, " counts them as loss," retarding, rather than advancing, the salva- tion of their souls. He adds, secondly, that so con- sidering them, he has renounced them all, and volun- tarily " suffered their loss ;" just as a mariner who, seeing that his merchandise is sinking his vessel, throws every thing into the sea with his own hands, preferring rather to save himself alone than to en- danger his life by retaining the goods in the ship. And, thirdly, the apostle tells us that " he counts them but as dung." Now he who throws his merchandise into the sea, does it with sorrow, constrained by the ne- cessity of saving his life, and when the danger is over, he remembers his loss with regret. St. Paul, on the contrary, makes no more account of the loss of those things of which he had deprived himself for the love of Christ, than if they had been straw and rubbish. For the Greek word which he here uses * signifies literally that: a thing of nothing, filthiness that is thrown away, as not being merely useless, but dis- gusting. And to understand more fully the sense and reason of this doctrine of St. Paul, we must remember that the Mosaic law was given but for a certain time, and as a certain dispensation ; to be, as it were, a school- master to the ancient people of God until Christ came: not to yi(47)'/"y believers, but to keep them in fear, and discipline them unto obedience, till the church should have attained (so to speak) the age of its majority ; as the apostle explains at some length in his Ejiistle to the Galatians, and in several other places. This era was now arrived ; the legal economy ceased ; Moses gave up the people to Joshua ; he put them into the hands of Jesus, his living Lord, to be thenceforth under his guidance, to live at liberty, no longer subject to the severity and the beggarly ele- ments of the schoolmaster of their infancy ; so that all the bodily services which they were accustomed to render became from that moment perfectly use- less, because in Christ there is an abundance of those benefits which, prior to his coming, were obtained by the law. For what service could the law now render to us ? It showed to the Jews the evil of sin, by the curses that were recorded against those who were guilty of it. But the gospel of Christ shows the evil of sin much more clearly and efficaciously, since it places before our eyes the Son of God suffering an ignominious death to atone for our sins, and at the same time opens to our view the everlasting miseries in hell, which they who die in unbelief and impeni- • SKvBoKa. fence must certainly endure. Again, the law dis- covered to man his weakness and impotence by the endeavours it produced in him to obey it, as St. Paul explains fully in the 7th chapter of his Epistle to the Romans. But Jesus shows us this more clearly, tell- ing us at once, without any disguise, that of ourselves we can do nothing, and that our whole nature is so dreadfully corrupt, that if we would enter the king- dom of God, we must be altogether born again. The law, by the spirit of slavery which it induced, kept the Israelites in some measure to their duty, con- straining them to abstain from vice, and devote them- selves to the study of piety and holiness. But Jesus does this more effectually, transforming our hearts into the fear and love of God, by the Spirit of adop- tion, by the clearness and propriety of his doctrines, by the beautiful picture of holiness which he pro- poses to us, by the example of his own life, and lastly, by the many proofs of the goodness of God, and the blessed immortality reserved for us, which are scattered every where throughout the gospel. And finally, the law represented the mysteries of Christ and his kingdom, the value of his sacrifice, the assistance of his Spirit, the purity of his worship. But what need have we now of the shadow, since we possess the things themselves ? Of what use to us could the types be, since we have the spirit and the substance ? Thus you see that, according to the design of God, tJie advantages and sacraments of the law are of no avail since the manifestation of his Son, and that those who now beguile themselves with them lose their time and their trouble, as completely as though, after the rising of the sun, they still used the light of a lamp; or as if, in the strength of manhood, a per- son were retained in all the exercises and sports of childhood. Therefore those false teachers who de- sired to retain the ceremonies of the law among Christians, regarded them in quite another light than that for which God instituted them, supposing them to be, not instructions for leading men to Christ, (and in this respect they could be no longer necessary, since Christ was already come,) but as a means of ob- taining salvation, by the merit and efficacy of which man might be justified before God. And this was pre- cisely the error in which Paul himself had formerly been, when in the school of the Pharisees ; believ- ing, like them, that circumcision, sacrifices, absti- nence, ablutions, and other ceremonies of the law, were really expiatory for sin, and merited the favour of God, having been instituted by Moses for that end. And it is on this account that the apostle here so strongly decries all the advantages of the law, pro- testing that he counts them as dross, that he rejects them as not merely useless, but vile and abominable. Ce]-tainly the ideas the Phansees entertained were full of error, and at the same time the obedience they rendered to the law was by no means such as the law demanded of them. It was a mark or image of righteousness, ornamented outwardly with fine colours, but within full of falsehood and deceit ; and, to crown the whole, it was fainted with the deadly poison of presuming to merit the favour of the Al- mighty. However, supposing they had been all they pretended to be, it is yet evident that every advan- tage they could possess must be nothing in compari- son with the excellency of the knowledge of Christ. I'ou boast, O Pharisee, of being of the blood of Abra- ham, an Israelite, nay, a Hebrew of the Hebrews ! But what is that compared to all we possess in Christ ' Jesus, who has made us bone of his bone, and flesh of his flesh, citizens of heaven, brethren of angels, children of God, and heirs of his kingdom ? Fou glory in having been circumcised in carr-'inc the CnAP. III. THE EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS. 119 seal of the covenant in your flesh; but Christ gives us infinitely more in which to glory, taking from us the entire fleshly nature, and sealing both the soul aiel body with the mark of his Holy Spirit unto the day of redemption. I'ou make a parade of your righteousness, and tell us that it is without spot; but what can you reply when we tell you, that the righteousness with which our Christ clothes us is much more perfect than yours can be, inasmuch as it is Divine and not human, eternal and not temporal, capable of meeting the eyes and the examination of God, and not those merely of men ? But I will go further. Even were you perfectly to fulfil the whole law, so as to have no need of an atonement, and were you thus r.ble to appear before the tribunal of God, and justly claim all that he has promised to entire obedience, still to you could not be given crowns so delightful and so excellent as those which he has given to his Son ; and although you would re- ceive your reward, you would not enjoy the kingdom purchased by his blood, you would not share in the honours of Jesus, by being pai'takers with him, ani- mated by his Spirit, and members of his body, which are certainly the highest honours a creature can possess. From whence it is evident, that, whatever may be the advantages of the law, they fall veiy short of those which are to be found in the knowledge of Jesus; so that, in comparison with them, they may well be counted as loss. And if you consider in what estimation the Pharisees and judaizing Christians held them, who expected to be justified by the de- fective imperfect obedience which they rendered to the law, it appears that by thus regarding them they became an obstacle to their salvation, their loss rather than their gain. The apostle, having been taught in the school of Christ, attacks their error sharply, and exposes their pretended advantages as mere things of nought, protesting that, far from glorying in them, he has them in contempt. And he even ventures to compare them to dross and dung, in order to show how great was the folly of these people, who, in glorying in such things, were only making crowns of straw and filth, which would soil and dishonour the head, instead of adorning it. As for himself, he says, although the advantages he pos- sessed were greater than theirs, yet he has willingly Kufl"ered the loss of all, that " he may win Christ." And this brings us to the third clause in the text. III. The apostle compares the things of which he has deprived himself to a price that he willingly paid to possess Christ, and calls him a " gain," because he had found in him infinitely greater good than all lie had renounced ; a divine instead of a carnal pa- rentage ; a complete and perfect righteousness in- stead of a corrupt and imperfect obedience ; the love of God instead of the favour of men ; the friendship of angels instead of that of the Jews ; immortal glory instead of the vain approbation of the world ; true peace in the conscience instead of the mere assumption of it; happiness in the Spii'it instead of ease in the flesh ; in a word, all the treasures of heaven and eternity instead of a few trifling and perishable pos- sessions in the earth. But I must here entreat you, dear brethren, care- fully to remark what is shown to us by the apostle, namely, that in order to win Christ we must deprive ourselves of all other things. This pearl of great price is only to be obtained at the sum of all that we have. Those false teachers did not openly renounce Christ; they professed to believe in him, and trust him ; they even gave him the highest place in their esteem : but they also required that the sacrifices and ceremonies of Moses should be associated with him as the proper means of man's justification. But the apostle utterly condemns this union of the two. He tells us we must be saved entirely by Christ, and must owe all our righteousness to his free grace alone. He teaches that we must either renounce him alto- gether, or serve none but him. You insult him if you imagine that to be saved you have need of Moses or any other being. But what ! (you will exclaim,) in order to win Christ, am I then obliged to deprive myself of all my worldly goods ? Must 1 quit my no- bility, for instance, or my dignities, or my wealth, or the refinement of my manners, my integrity, my strict justice, and other virtues which are often found in those who know not Jesus ? Is it not pos- sible to have part with him without abandoning every thing I possessed before ? Dear brethren, I answer, that it is necessary to dis- tinguish between the real value of those things, and the qualities attributed to them by nature or super- stition. Paul, to become a Christian, did not re- nounce his extraction from the blood of Abraham, but he renounced the absurd trust which other Jews placed in this carnal nobility. He did not lay aside his probity and the righteousness commanded by the law in order to give himself up to intemperance or licentiousness ; his conversion rendered him more pure and virtuous than he had ever been ; but he dismissed for ever all the pride that he had felt in his own perfection. He did not lay aside good works, but he did lay aside all presumptuous hopes founded upon them. And when we discourse upon the right- ousness of faith, it is not that we blame or contemn good works, (God forbid,) but we simply take from them the virtues which our adversaries falsely ascribe to them, namely, of being capable of justifying men before God. This is the leaven that spoils them ; this is the fly that corrupts them; this it is that changes their gain into loss, and from jewels pro- duces dross and filth. As for riches and honours, and similar things, which are good only in their use, and not morally so, we should detach them from our hearts to that de- gree as to be ready instantly to part with them, whenever it happens that we cannot maintain them in possession without danger of losing Christ. You may be a Christian without being poor. But you cannot be a Christian without being willing to be- come poor whenever your Master calls you so to be. In short, the doctrine and the example of the apostle teach us to renounce every thing that can only be possessed without Christ, that is to say, every thing incompatible with his inward kingdom, with that entire rule which he ought to bear over us; every thing that can hinder our saying with truth, In him is all our glory. Thus, dear brethren, I have -explained to you this word of the apostle. May God, who has given it to us by the pen of his servant, engrave it in our hearts by the hand of his Spirit, so that henceforward the Son may reign therewith absolute power; and in order to gain him, may we hold nothing so dear that we cannot easily part from it, counting our lives but as rubbish in comparison of preserving ourselves pure in him. Let us then, first, bless God who has given us this knowledge of the Son of his love, the must precious of all his treasures. Let us, with Paul, admire the excellency of this grace, and learn from him to value it at its just price. This knowledge, brethren, in- finitely surpasses all earthly wisdom, and even the wisdom of the law itself, though given from heaven. All that knowledge of the ancient Israelites, so much esteemed by Moses, and so exalted above the know- ledge of every other nation on the earth, was yet but 120 AN EXPOSITION OF Serm. XIX. the rudiment of our gospel : compared with it, it was but like the twinkling of a star, dimly discerned through the darkness of the night, or the pale light of a lamp, feebly indicating the glory of the noon- day sun. I will say more : the knowledge of Christ is above the knowledge that Adam had, or could have acquired, in Paradise. It is even more excel- lent than the light which angels possessed before the manifestation of the Saviour. Let us then praise the Lord for thus enlightening our minds ; for thus in his infinite mercy separating us from the rest of the world, which lieth in the darkness of nature or su- perstition ; and vouchsafing to send us his apostles and proi)hets to teach us the knowledge of the mys- tery of Christ. O let us profit by his goodness, and be attentive to his instructions. Let us leave all other subjects to study this ; and, with St. Paul, let us resolve to know nothing but Jesus Christ and him crucified. Let us give ourselves no rest until we be- come acquainted with him. For the light we possess, which shines brightly in the midst of us, will but ag- gravate our misery, and enhance our condemnation, if we make not the proper use of it. Its real use is to dispose our hearts, like that of Paul, to admire and love Christ above all things, and to esteem as filth and dross whatever places itself in competition with him. And, in fact, brethren, there is not, and there never can be, any thing on earth comparable to this gracious Lord, whether for the excellence of his gifts, or the means by which he bestows them on men. The Paradise of Eden and its delights were but types of the glorious and perfect beatitude which God has prepared for the members of his Son ; so that had we been enabled to perform the whole law, and been on the point of receiving the reward pro- mised under the first covenant, and had the happi- ness derived from Jesus been then offered to us, we should certainly have quitted the former to embrace the latter, renouncing Adam and his Paradise to ob- tain Christ. But, alas, these are not the terms offered to us. In the case described, not to choose Christ would be a loss truly ; but it would be only the loss of a greater benefit, while the lesser would still re- main to us. But now there is no middle line between communion with Christ or the most awful reverse. We are somewhat in the condition of princes, who cannot descend to a private station, they must perish or reign. It is the same with us. We must either reign with Jesus, or perish for ever with devils ; either enjoy the most perfect happiness, or suffer the ut- most misery ; because, being sinners, we can be saved only by Christ, and whom he saves he renders happy to all eternity. Let us then embrace his salvation with our whole hearts, both on account of his excellence and our own necessity. Let this great truth be stamped upon our minds, that out of him every thing is mortal and evanescent. You behold the wrath of God revealed from heaven against all unrighteousness of men ; time which ends with the world; death which spares none ; riches, honours, men, families, villages, em- pires passing away one after another, and leaving no traces behind them : a secret and inevitable decree sapping the foundation of things apparently the most solid ; ravaging and carrying away all things, and plunging them, like the deluge of old, into a dark and deep abyss from whence there is no return. These things you behold now. But those which are yet invisible are infinitely worse ; hell-fire unquench- able ; the worm that never dies, but is eternally gnawing impenitent sinners! Remember, therefore, that Jesus Christ alone, like another Noah, saves from destruction all who take refuge in his ark, which now stands open to receive them. That ark, sinners, is your only hope. O flee to it. Disengage yourselves from the trammels of this world, and forsake all to gain it. Reject what- ever might retard you in the pursuit of so requisite an end, and scruple not to say to those who would dissuade you from your purpose, though they were even your parents or best friends, " Get thee behind me, Satan ; thou art an offence to me." Remember, you have nothing so precious as your ■, soul ; nothing so sacred, so essential as fellowship with the Saviour ; that for him it is needful to " hate father, mother, wife, children, brothers, sisters, and even our own life:" and that to obtain his salvation it is necessary, in the language of Scripture, " to cut off our hands, or our feet, or even to pluck out our eyes ;" it being " better to enter into life halt or maimed, rather than having two hands or two feet to be cast into hell-fire." Unhappy sinner ! of what avail can those honours and those pleasures be which you so dearly love, if you lose your own soul ? How can you be so ill-advised as to prefer such vanities to the Lord Jesus, the King of glory, the life and hap- piness of mankind ? How is it you do not under- stand, that in losing him you lose every thing, but by gaining him you lose nothing? If you are will- ing to quit these things for his sake, he will give himself entirely to you. He will give you the peace of the Father, the consolation of the Spirit, and a blessed immortality. And is not the acquisition of so great a benefit at the expense of such mere trifles an inestimable gain ? But, my friends, we have been hitherto spared, and have experienced no tempta- tion, save " that which is common to man." At pre- I sent, our Lord has not required us to shed our blood for his sake, or to deprive ourselves of our goods, though, were he to demand these things, they would be nothing to the price he has given for us. He re- quires only that we renounce every evil thing, am- bition, avarice, hatred, strife, envy ; that we con- sider all sin as a monstrous thing, for so in fact it is ; tliat we hold it in abhorrence, and look upon it as abominable filth ; and that we at all times prefer his glory to the gratification of our" own sinful lusts. Let us then obey these reasonable demands, and in order to win the Saviour, who thus so graciously pre- sents himself to us both in his word and ordinances, let us cast away every thing of a sinful nature, and accustom ourselves so to behold and taste the value of this Divine Redeemer, that at length we may be enabled for his sake to despise every earthly good, and to say with the apostle in sincerity of heart, " Yea doubtless, I count all things but loss for the excel- lency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord : for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung that I may win Christ." Amen. SERMON XX. Verse 9—11. Aiid (that I may) be found in him, not having mine own rigliteousness, which is of the law, but that which it through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith : that I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death ; if by any means 1 might attain unto the resurrection of the dead. We read in the book of Genesis that Adam and Eve, immediateli' after their fall, perceiving their naked- Chap. III. THE EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS. 121 ness, sewed fi" leaves together, and made themselves aprons ; that, hearing the voice of the Lord, they hid themselves from him among the trees of the garden ; that the Almighty, after having convicted them of their sin, and pronounced their sentence of con- demnation, (ameliorating his threatened judgments by giving them the hope of restitution through the seed of the woman,) condescended himself to " make them coats of skin, and clothe them." As all things contained in the ancient Scriptures relate to Christ, who is the sum and substance of them, I have no doubt, brethren, that this wonderful transaction represents to us some of the mysteries of his gospel. Now in my opinion the first part of this mystical picture describes the feelings and senti- ments of sinful man in the state in which he is born. He is not so brutish that he cannot perceive his misery, and the nakedness of his nature, despoiled of that innocence and holiness which ought to dwell therein. This sense of nakedness induces him to seek some covering to conceal his sin and shame, and enable him to appear in the light without blush- ing. But instead of providing himself with suitable clothing, he does but industriously sew fig leaves together; a vain and useless attempt, too well de- scribing the expiations, satisfactions, and pretended righteousness which nature and superstition have invented to conceal sin, and justify man in the sight of God. For as the fig leaf is rough and unpleasant to the touch, and, moreover, its edges so divided and cut, that it necessarily leaves some part of the body uncovered ; so the superstitions and ceremonies which the heathen, the Pharisees, and all others, ancient or modem, who would justify themselves, have in- vented to hide sin, (the shame of our nature,) are difficult and wearisome to the mind, and are, more- over, unequal to the task assigned them, being ut- terly incapable of concealing our nakedness. And therefore it often happens, that those who beguile themselves with such things (though they may strut before men, and talk loudly of their expiations and their merits, fancying they have sufficient not only for themselves, but for others also) no sooner hear the voice of God coming to judge them, than, like Adam and Eve, they flee trembling from him, con- scious of the impotence of the miserable fig leaves with which they are adorned, and vainly wishing to hide their nakedness from the eyes of their sovereign Judge. This appears to me the mystical meaning of the first part of this wonderful history. But what can be the signification of the second part ; God himself making coats of skin for Adam and Eve, and clothing them therewith ? Dear brethren, it is an image of the infinite mercy which God has shown toward us in the person of his Son Jesus. Adam, that is to say, man, with all the fertility of his invention, supplies himself with nothing but useless leaves. God alone, in his goodness, has provided a garment capable of concealing our nakedness, and of enabling us to ap- pear in his presence without shame and without fear. The substance and quality of the clothing made for Adam represents in a lively manner that mystic gar- ment which God has bestowed on us by his Son. For Adam's covering was not made of flax, or of hemp, or of wool, or of silk, or of any of those articles which man employs for this purpose, but of skins, as the Scripture tells us ; of the skin of some animal put to death in order to clothe our first parents; thereby signifying to us, that the robe with which the Saviour by grace covers his people must cost that blessed Lamb his life, being taken from him who is sacrificed for us. For, as you well know, his death is our life : he has shed his blood to cover our naked- ness, and conceal our shame ; and by his death alone his saints are invested with their immortal robe of glory. As the clothing of Adam was a gift from (jod, and not the invention or work of man ; so the righteousness of Christ is a gift from heaven, and not a production of the earth. It is given to us by the free grace of God, who, in his wisdom, designed, formed, and made this mystical garment, of which neither angels nor men could have conceived an idea. And as the clothing provided for Adam was suitable to his need, and fit for the purpose designed, not un- seemly and imperfect, like the absurd fig leaves of his own sewing together ; so the righteousness of the Lamb of God has every requisite for our complete justification, being perfect and entire, and suited to our necessities in every respect, and not defective, like the supposed merits of men, which are in reality more likely to hurt and disgrace than to clothe and adorn us. It is of this righteousness of God that St. Paul speaks to us to-day, brethren, in the test which you have heard. He had seen how useless and imperfect was that with which the disciples of superstition or of the law imagined they could appear before God, hav- ing formerly lost his time and trouble in adorning himself with those vain leaves while he was yet in the school of the Pharisees. But the eyes of his under- standing having been enlightened from heaven in a miraculous manner to see the wonderful treasures of the Lord Jesus, he instantly and for ever quitted the false splendour of his Pharisaic clothing, casting it away as no better than mere fig leaves, and gave himself entirely to the Saviour; thus putting aside the garments of the first Adam to adorn himself with those of the Second. He had begun this subject in the preceding verse, in which he declares, as you will remember, that " he had suffered the loss of all (these) things, counting them as dung, that he might win Christ." He now enforces this proposition, showing us more especially in what the "gain" of possessing Christ consisted ; and what were the eflects of that fellowship with him which he was so desirous to possess : " That I may be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith : that I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made con- formable unto his death ; if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead." The apostle in this rich and magnificent, though brief, language, declares to us that which he ex- pected from the Lord Jesus, and which he actually gives to all who truly believe in him. First, He clothes them with " the righteousness of God by faith." Secondly, He gives them a part in " the power of his resurrection." Thirdly, He makes them " conformable to his death." And, Lastly, He conducts them to his glorious "resur- rection;" and this includes all the principal mercies that we receive from God by his Son : it is by him that we are justified and sanctified ; by him we are armed with patience to endure afflictions ; and by him we shall at length be raised in glory. These, therefore, if it please God, shall form the four sub- jects of the present discourse : the righteousness of God in Christ ; the power of his resurrection ; the fellowship of his sufferings ; and the resurrection from death to which we aspire. I. To commence, then, with the first clause, the apostle tells us that he renounced all other advan- tages in order that he " might be found in Christ not 2k 122 AN EXPOSITION OF Serm. XX. having his own righteonsness, which is of the law, but that which is tlirougli the faith of Clirist, the righteousness which is of God by faith." To be found, in the hinguage in which the apostle wrote, is gener- ally expressive simply of to be, and in the text, there- fore, to be found in him, signifies to be in him: how- ever, the common mode of expression may perhaps be best here. For when God comes to .iudge men, he finds them in opposite states ; some without Christ, having no fellowship with him ; others in Christ, trusting to him alone, and united to him by a pure and simple faith. The apostle desires to be of the number of these last, well knowing that out of Christ nothing is to be expected but condemnation and misery ; and therefore to this end he, as it were, quits himself, he casts away every advantage that be- longed to him by birth and education, to put on Christ ; so that when the sovereign Judge shall come, or the accuser present himself, he may be found in Christ, in his body, in his vine. It appears that he here alludes to what he had said before, that he counted all things loss, and most willingly deprived himself of them, that he might win Christ ; adding now that he had done so to be found in him, or, to And himself ill him ; and this signifies that the loss o( all was very advantageous to him, since instead of those things of nought of which he had deprived nimsclf, he now possessed Christ, being lost in him- self to be saved by him. And truly there is but this one Saviour in whom man can be found ; he is lost if he relies on any other: and, on the contrary, what- ever loss he may sustain to win Christ, he finds again in him ; as saith our Lord on another subject, " Who- soever will save his life shall lose it ; but whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it," Matt. x. 39. But the apostle, in order to mark more especially the object he seeks, and, in fact, finds in Christ, adds, " not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness \vhrch is of God by faith." God, being of purer eyes than to behold sin, will never communicate himself to the creature who is guilty of it, while he remains unpunished ; there are there- fore but two methods of appearing in his presence and partaking of his favour : the one is, by proving that we are free from sin, having perfectly fulfilled his commands ; the other, by receiving mercy and grace through the satisfaction of Jesus Christ, who by his obedience even unto death, has made an atonement for sin, and appeased the wrath of God. The first of these two ways is that which the apostle calls in the text, " his righteousness, which is of the law ;" the second, " the righteousness which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith." He had formerly followed the first waj', while in the darkness of Phariseeism, ex- pecting to be justified (that is, declared righteous, and treated by God as such) by the works of the law, in virtue of that obedience which he daily studied to render to its commands. And these false teachers, by reason of whom he seems partly to have penned this Epistle, still retained the same error while pro- fessing Christianity, subjecting believers to the law, and supposing that these observances which they added to the gospel would be the means of justifying them in the sight of God. But St. Paul, enlightened by the Lord, altogether rejects this way of justifica- tion, showing at some length, in the five first chap- ters of his Epistle td'the Romans, that in the pre- sent state of man it is impracticable ; and again, he carries on the same argument in the Epistle to the Galatians. And indeed, if we consider the subject calmly, this truth is self-evident. For as the law curses with inexorable rigour whoever should fail in one point which it commands ; and as it appears, on the other hand, both by the word of God, and the answer of the conscience, that there is no mortal man who has not sinned, and who fails not continually in that obedience which the law demands ; who does not see that if he were to have the boldness to pre- sent himself before the tribunal of the law, he could but bring thence confusion and cursing? Yes, it is impossible that man can be saved by the law. It is on this account that David entreats the Lord not to enter into judgment with him, adding that in his sight no flesh could be justified, Psal. xiv. 3. But there is no need to insist on this point. The author- ity and the example of the apostle are sufficient for us, and he loudly and clearly renounces in the text " the righteousness which is of the law." But blessed for ever be the Lord, who in the inexhaustible treasures of his wisdom and mercy has found another method of justifying the sinner, not only possible, but easy, by sending his Son to be the propitiation for our sins, and through his blood making a new covenant with us, which saith not, as the old cove- nant, "Do this, and live," but, "Believe, and thou shalt be saved ;" so that whosoever believes obtains remission of sins, and access to the throne of God, there to receive the fruits of grace, peace, consola- tion, sanctification, and in the end a blessed immor- ' tality ; all in virtue of that obedience which Jesus rendered to the Father on the cross, where he was made sin and a curse for us, his agonies being im- puted to us as though we had suffered them. It is to this righteousness St. Paul alludes. This he de- sires to possess as the only means of obtaining the peace of God, as the only title to salvation and to life. He knows that no other can stand before an all-searching Godj that no righteousness but this can meet his view. He calls it righteousness because it is by it that we are justified, being dealt with by the Lord as though we were perfectly righteous, as though we had 'never committed a sin against him. He tells us it is by the " faith of Christ," (that is, by the faith we possess in the gospel of Christ,) because it is communicated to the believer in Jesus, according as the Scriptures teach in an infinite number of places. " He that believeth in the Son is not con- demned, but is passed from death unto life," John iii. 18, 36. And therefore the apostle elsewhere says, that whoso believeth on him that justifieth the un- godly, his faith is counted for righteousness, Rom. iv. 5, because it occupies the place of righteousness; this faith obtaining from God all the recompence that is promised to the most perfect obedience, even as it is said of Abraham, " He believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness." The apostle adds, that this " righteousness is of God by faith," because it is God alone who estab- lisheth us therein, who hath given us the Son, the foundation of our faith, having revealed him from heaven, and who communicateth this righteousness in imputing to the believer the obedience of the Me- diator, regarding him with a favourable eye when thus clothed as it were with Jesus, and crowning him with all the benefits he purchased by his death upon the cross. Our adversaries of the church of Rome, who retain in some degree the doctrine of those whom the apos- tle here condemns, interpret these words in another manner, and understand by "the righteousness which is of God by faith," the good works St. Paul per- formed after he became a Christian, pretending that through their means he was justified before God, and therefore calls them " the righteousness of God by faith," because they were the fruits of his faith in Christ. But this interpretation upholds a doctrine I Chap. III. THE EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS. 123 full of vanity and pride, condemned by the apostle a hundred times, namely, that man may be justified by his works : it strains and perverts the whole text, and makes void the contrast which St. Paul expressly draws between " the righteousness which is by the Jaw," and " the righteousness of God," which he de- sired to possess in Christ; it being clear, even ac- cording to our antagonists, that he might equally well call the good works whicli he performed when a Christian his " righteousness which is by the law," as those which he had performed when a Jew, since it was himself who did them ; since they were done ^according to the law, which commands us to love God with all our heart, and our neighbour as our- selves ; and since he wrought them, if you believe the Romish church, with a view to be justified by them, according to that word of the law, " Do this, and live." But this explanation evidently injures the cause of the apostle. For those of whom he had been discoursing also professed to have embraced the gospel, and maintained that the good works by which they expected to be justified were fruits of faith in Christ ; so that if the apostle's righteousness consisted also in good works, he was wrong for having argued so forcibly against them. He ought only to have forbidden circumcision and the other ceremo- nies which these people retained, leaving to the works commanded by the moral law the glory they ascribed to them, that of being the cause of our justi- fication ; instead of which he every where disputes against this doctrine, absolutely denying that man can be justified by the works of the law ; and placing expressly among tlie advantages that he had re- nounced all " the righteousness that is by the law," in which, until then, he had been irreproachable ; and it is evident the works of the moral law are equally intended with those of the ceremonial. And as for that which some allege, that the right- eousness which St. Paul renounced proceeded from his own free-will, while that which he desired to find in Christ was derived from the grace of the Holy Spirit, if the apostle had had any intention of mark- ing this difference, it is strange that he says nothing respecting it, either here or elsewhere ; all his argu- ment being against the power attributed to good works of being able to justify man, and not against the principle from whence they proceeded. Again, is it not very clear that these people held that their works were the offspring of their own free-will, after they had received the gospel? and it appears they maintained on this subject an opinion similar to that which is taught in most of the Romish schools, name- ly, that good works spring partly from grace, and partly from free-will. But they add, that the righteousness the apostle desired must be understood as a righteousness in- herent in his person, and not imputed by the grace of God, because he says he is in Christ, and those who are in him, by virtue of that fellowship,' are really sanctified in their hearts ; and this, they sup- pose, is signified by the words, " that I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fel- lowship of his sufTerings ;" which, however, evidently signify the sanctification produced in us by the com- munion we have with Jesus crucified and raised again. Thus far I most willingly allow, that every man, who by a true and lively faith enters into com- munion and fellowship with Jesus, is, by the mercy of God, transformed into a new creature, and " created unto good works," that he may walk therein in fear and trembling, as the apostle has taught us else- where : " Who has given himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify us unto him- ilelf a peculiar people, zealous of good works," Tit. ii. 14; and again, " If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature," 2 Cor. v. 17 : and I grant also, that Paul, the chosen vessel, abounded in these Divine fruits more than any other disciple of the Lord. We dispute this with none. We simply contend that, ujion the subject of appearing before God to partake of his grace and glory, neither Paul nor any other true believer trusts to any thing but the death and passion of the Lord Jesus. No believer depends upon his works for justification, however excellent they may be. Be it then that Paul, by the efficacy of fellowship with Jesus, and by virtue of his death and resurrec- tion, was greatly sanctified, and produced excellent fruits of piety and charity (as I believe, and for which I praise God) ; it does not therefore follow that this holy apostle pleaded his works as his righteous- ness before the tribunal of the Lord, or that he in- tends to speak of them here by the " righteousness of God," as opposed to his own, or " the righteous- ness which is of God by faith," opposed to that which is " by the law." On the contrary, the distinction he draws between " the knowledge of Christ and fel- lowship with his suft'erings," and the possession of the " righteousness of God," as of effects and cause, evidently proves that this righteousness, and the ho- liness depending thereon, are separate things. The righteousness of God, which we have in his Son, is the principle, the source, the cause : holiness is the fruit, the stream, the effect; good works, as one said formerly, following, and not preceding justi- fication; an evident token that they are not the cause of it. This truth is so clear, and so needful for the peace of the soul, that our adversaries are constrained to join hands with it, when they con- sider it calmly, without the excitement and warmth of dispute. And to close the subject, 1 will quote the words of a cardinal of the Romish church, cele- brated in his age for the purity of his doctrine, the integrity of his manners, the nobility of his birth, and the various offices of trust which he discharged.* "We ought to rest upon the righteousness that is given us in Christ, as on a sure and solid foundation, and not upon the grace or holiness inherent in us. For as for this inherent righteousness, it is but in its infancy, and very imperfect, and cannot prevent us from sinning and transgressing continually in many things; consequently we have need to pray to God daily for pardon. And therefore, clothed with our own righteousness, we cannot stand before God just and holy as the children of Christ should be. But the righteousness of Christ, which is bestowed on us, is a true and perfect righteousness, complete in the sight of God, in which can be nothing offensive, nothing unplcasing to him. It is, then, upon this only secure foundation that we ought to lean, be- lieving that by this alone we are justified, that is, ac- counted righteous and holy before God. This is that precious treasure which Christians sell all they have to procure. This is the pearl of great price, which whoever finds leaves all to possess ; as says St. Paul, ' I count all things but dung that I may win Christ, and be found in him, not having my own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is by the faith of Jesus Christ.' " And again, " We see by experience that the more holy men advance in holiness, the more are they dissatisfied with them- selves, and the more do they perceive their need of Jesus Christ and his righteousness ; and therefore they renounce themselves, and trust on Christ alone ; because their eyes are more enlightened to behold the imperfection of their obedience and inherent • Contarin on JustiGcation, p. 572. 124 AN EXPOSITION OF Serm. XX. righteousness ; and the more clear and distinct their sight is, the more spots and blemishes do they dis- cover in themselves ; so that at length they are brought to rely entirely on the grace and righteous- ness of Christ, instead of leaning in any degree upon their own holiness and merit." Such is the acknowledgment made by this writer, of the truth of the doctrine of justification by the grace and merit of Christ alone. Ah, God forbid, beloved brethren, that we should ever be drawn aside into error by the persuasions of others, so as to be in- duced.to depart from so holy and essential a doctrine. II. I must now return to the apostle, who goes on to recount the excellent fruits of this righteousness of God which he possessed in Christ; saying, " that I may know him, and the power of his resurrection." I am not ignorant that the apostle says in his Epistle to the Romans, " Christ was raised for our justifica- tion ;" meaning that by his glorious resurrection he has shown us that the atonement made by his death was perfect and entire, and as such accepted by the Father; his resurrection, being as it were a token of complete acquittance for the payment of our ransom : and therefore what Paul says in my text of the power of his resurrection, may relate to that faith which it is capable of producing in us, whereby we are justified.* But it appears that the apostle having spoken sufficiently of our righteousness in Christ, these words more properly relate to the effi- cacy of his resurrection for our sanctification, by raising us from the sepulchre of sin. For St. Paul attributes this effect to it in many parts of his writ- ings, teaching us that " we are buried with Christ by baptism unto death ; that like as Christ was raised again from the dead by the glory of the Fa- ther, so we also should walk in newness of life," Rom. vi. ; and " if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection." St. Peter also tells us that " we have been begotten again unto a lively hope, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead; and that by this resurrection we have the answer of a good conscience towards God," 1 Pet. i. 3 ; iii. 21 ; in which he makes the principal virtue of our baptism to consist. And therefore it is that when he would describe our sanctification, St. Paul makes use frequently of these grand expressions, that " we are risen with him througli the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead," Col. ii. 12; and he says not only that we are "raised together with him, but that we are seated with him in the heavenly places," Eph. ii. 6. On this account it is that he so beautifully exhorts the believers at Colosse : " If then you are risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sittcth at the right hand of God," Col. iii. 1. In fact, the resurrection of Christ from the dead has detached the hearts of believers from this world, in which they were formerly buried. It has manifested the sovereign love which God bears to them, and his design of clothing them with his own glory, of taking from them all that is carnal and earthly, and of con- verting them into celestial and Divine beings. He has shown them in the person of Christ, the model of their life, and the only real good, which ought thenceforward to be all the desire of their souls ; for by faith beholding him rising from the grave, laden with the spoils of death, and crowned with glory, surely it is impossible but that this manifestation of the power and goodness of God must constrain them to aim at the like resurrection, to place all their hopes and slFections in him, and to find their highest * The Cardinal Contarin. joy in communion with him; and fulfilling his com- mands by following his example. This, my friends, is " the power of his resurrection" which the apostle desired to know ; that is, to feel by experience its sovereign efficacy. For he speaks not here of a dead and naked knowledge ; of an idea conceived in the mind without any impression made upon the heart. But according to the usual style of Scripture, he means to express a lively knowledge, which is con- firmed by feeling and experience. And the addition of this to the righteousness of God by Jesus Christ is very suitable. For the mercenary spirit of those against whom he argues, and of all their disciples, leading them to believe that there can be no induce- ment to good works, except the reward which (they suppose) they merit, they therefore imagine that holiness is at an end when justification by the free grace of God in Christ is established. Therefore, to prevent these people from calumni- ating the doctrine of the apostle, and imputing to him that in teaching the righteousness of Christ by faith he opened a door to sin, he adds, that such was not the design of God in justifying us freely, and tliat the righteousness of faith is given us in order that we may go on to " know the power of the resurrection of the Lord." In the same manner, in his Epistle to the Romans, after having at some length magnifi- cently established the doctrine of justification by faith without works, he adds, " What shall we say then ? shall we continue in sin that grace may abound ? God forbid." To which answer he adds also the efficacy of the resurrection of Christ for our sanctification. And in this our day, is not our doctrine misunder- stood and calumniated in the same way ? do they not say. Since you are justified by faith alone, what in- ducement have you to perform good works ? But, O ye adversaries, it is to perform good works that I am justified. This Divine righteousness of Christ has been communicated to me, in order that I may be transformed into his image; that I may know the piower of his resurrection, and that I may be like him, a new creature; that I may love God, not to lay him under obligation to me, (far, far from my soul such a preposterous notion,) but to acquit my- self in a small degree of the immense debt I owe him. I love him because he has loved me, because God is love, and because he has sent his Son Jesus to die and rise again for me. Will my obedience be less acceptable to him because I think not of merit in rendering it ? Will he reject it because the cross and resurrection of Christ inspires it, and not an in- tention of deserving a reward p You allow that the holiness of the blessed, of those who are already in heaven, and of those who will be there after the re- surrection, does not justify them, or merit for them a continuation of their glory. Why then do you blame me for believing that the commencement of the rudiments of holiness are of the same nature as its completion and perfection ? Why may I not serve God here on earth in the same manner as I hope to serve him hereafter in heaven, with a pure, a free, and a truly filial affection ? And such affection, far from presuming to acquire any right of reward from so good and so merciful a Father, must after all its efforts remain dissatisfied with itself, and be content to ascribe all it has been able to do to his free grace alone. III. It is again to confound these false teachers of works that St. Paul adds, in the third place, that he desired, with the righteousness of Christ, to know " the fellowship of his sufferings, being made con- formable unto his death." These people against whom he argues boasted of Chap. III. THE EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS. 125 enhancing the value of good works by the opinion of their merit, and pretended also that believers were bound to the observance of legal ceremonies, such as abstinence from certain meats, distinctions of days, &c., as plainly appears by the Epistle to the Colos- sians. And you know that at this day those who maintain justification by works support their opinion j in two ways : by accusing the doctrine of grace of I cutting the very nerves of holiness ; and by command- I ing various carnal observances of fasts, of feasts, j voluntary poverty, pilgrimages, and such-like devo- I lions, which they practise (they say) for the mortifi- cation of the flesh ; so much the same at all times is the spirit of superstition. To the efficacy of their pretended doctrine of merit by works, St. Paul op- poses the power of Christ's resurrection, as being in- comparably more capable of sanctifying us. To their legal exercises he opposes the part we have in the af- flictions of the Lord, suffering in his name, and after his example, in various ways. These (he observes) are my fasts and my mortifications ; the gospel fast, predicted by the Saviour to his disciples, when he warned them that after the Bridegroom should be taken from them, they should fast and mourn. Matt. ix. And the apostle explains this discipline to which we are subject during our earthly pilgrimage in his usual splendid manner, calling it "to know" (that is, as we have already said, to understand by expe- rience) " the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable to his death." The sufferings of the Lord are the things which he has suffered for us, and especially upon the cross, as appears by the apostle's adding, " being made conformable unto his death." These sufferings may be considered in two ways : first, as expiatory of our sins, borne by Jesus Christ in our stead in his quality of Surety. And of these we are partakers, inasmuch as, embracing them by faith, God imputes them to us, as though we our- selves had suffered in our own persons ; and he com- municates to us the fruit thereof, namely, that Divine and perfect righteousness whereof we have spoken above ; by which, absolved from all our sins, we be- come acceptable to God as his dear children, and can never more be called to endure any meritorious or expiatory sufferings as were those of the Saviour. But these afflictions, besides this first and primary object, have yet another; inasmuch as they are the models, the patterns which Jesus has left us to fol- low, having submitted to them with this view, as our elder Brother : and inasmuch as they are the first- fruits of death, showing us the path by which it is the good pleasure of the Father to conduct us to sal- vation. And thus we are partakers with him, being called to suffer after his example. And this fellow- ship may also be considered in two ways : first, as in- terior; second, as exterior. The first is the mortifica- tion of sin within us, the crucifixion, so to speak, of the old nature upon the cross of Christ, transpiercing it with his thorns and nails, drinking of his vine- gar, and thus putting it to death by degrees ; in which the passion of the Saviour is represented within our hearts. And in this sense St. Paul is to be un- derstood, when he says " that we have been planted together in the likeness of his death ;" and " that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin," Rom. vi. 5, 6. In the same manner, in another place, he tells us that " he is crucified with Christ," and " that they who are in Christ have cru- cified the flesh with its affections and lusts," Gal. ii. 20 : V. 24. The second fellowship in the sufferings of the Lord, and which we have called exterior, is the part we have in the afflictions and persecutions of the church, for the confirmation of the truth of God, for the glory of the name of Jesus, and for the edifica- tion of men ; according to that we are taught in the Epistle to the Romans, that we are " predestinated to be conformed to his image," chap. viii. 29, evidently in this respect of suffering; and again, "All who will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecu- tion," 2 Tim. iii. 12. This is properly the " fellow- ship of his sufferings," of which the apostle is speak- ing in the text ; and he also mentions " a conformity to his death," because it was an image of that which he suffered, when he endured with humility and pa- tience the death to which he was condemned by the persecutors ; nobly finishing his course, and sealing the truth with his own blood. Behold, then, the two principal fruits of our justi- fication by Christ Jesus, deeply to feel and experience, first, the power of his resurrection ; and secondly, the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death. This is the path by which God con- ducts us to the third and highest point of all happi- ness ; it being very certain that if we suffer and die with Christ, we shall live and reign with him. And this the apostle teaches us in the last clause of the text, adding, " if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead." IV. It is quite clear that by this expression he does not simply intend the general resurrection of the dead. For, speaking literally, all men shall rise again, even the wicked, though in shame and igno- miny. But he especially intends the resurrection of believers, with all the glory and blessedness with which they are to be crowned ; and our Lord himself often uses these words in the same sense, promising to those that believe in him, and eat his flesh and drink his blood, that " he will raise them up at the last day," John vi. 39 ; that is to say, that he will give unto them eternal life. And, in fact, since the term resurrection properly signifies a re-establishing of that which was decayed and fallen to pieces, the word is hardly suitable to the reappearing of the wicked, who only rise from the tomb to be hurried into the abyss of destruction. The enemies of the doctrine of the assurance of be- lievers conclude from this clause in the text, " if that by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead," that St. Paul was not certain of his salva- tion, since he speaks of it doubtfully and with an " if." But how can that agree with what he says elsewhere ? " I know in whom 1 have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day," 2 Tim. i. 12; and, "Hence- forth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me at that day," 2 Tim. iv. 8. Again, " I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor princi- palities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other crea- ture, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord," Rom. viii. 38, 39. These, and similar passages, are so clear, that even those who object to the doctrine of assurance except St. Paul from the number of doubters, supposing that by a special privilege he had been assured of his perseverance in Divine grace. What are we to say then to the passage before us ? Dear brethren, we must say, first. That the expression used here of " if by any means " does not necessarily signify the doubt- fulness and uncertainty of an event, but it rather de- notes the difficulty as well as the diversity of ways and means by which it is to be brought about. And we must add', secondly, That which takes away the whole difficulty, name'ly, that one of the most learned Greek grammarians reniarked several centuries since, 126 AN EXPOSITION OF Serm. XX.I that the best and most ancient writers in thnt lan- guage use the term which the apostle here employs simply to signify, in order to, to the end that ; and he adds, that those who lived in the earliest ages were familiar with this expression : as, " I hasten, if by any means I may finish this,"* signifying simply, " 1 hasten in order to finish this." From this you will see that there is no real difficulty in this passage ; the apostle, by the words, " if that by any means 1 might attain unto the resurrection of the dead," not intending to express any doubt or distrust, but sim- ply the desire and endeavour of his mind, exactly as if he had said, "in order to attain to the resur- rection." Such, my brethren, is the gain which the apostle found in Christ. First, He obtained a perfect and assured salvation, a righteousness of God by faith of Jesus Christ. Secondly, A blessed and happy ex- perience of the power of the resurrection of his Lord. And, thirdly. The glorious fellowship of his sufferings, in order to attain at last to the resurrection and eter- nal life. Judge, then, if, to possess so great an abundance of precious things, an eternal and solid peace with God, the honour of dying and being raised again with Christ, and of entering at length into his glorious kingdom, he was not right in re- nouncing the pretended merit of Phariseeism, and the ceremonies of the Jewish superstition. My be- loved brethren, let us imitate the wisdom of this holy apostle ; and let us leave all to embrace Jesus Christ. Let us spoil ourselves of all that we possess, in order to be clothed with this precious Lamb, and be willing to lose ourselves that we may be found in him, not having our own righteousness, but his. Our right- eousness, how perfect soever it may ajipear, is soiled with many spots, and is totally incapable of sustain- ing the examination of the piercing eyes of Divine justice, which discovers blemishes in the sun itself, and which " charges the very angels with folly." There is no righteousness but that of Christ that can be acceptable to the Almighty. Clothed in that, I may boldly appear before the "throne of God, without fearing either the accusations of the enemy ; for what can he say against the blood and obedience of the eternal Son ? or the thunders of the law ; for with what can the law threaten me, since its curse has been abolished by the cross of my Lord ? or the horrors of death, since my Saviour has disarmed it of all that was terrible to me. With this righteousness I shall enter heaven, and converse with angels with- out a sensation of shame. With it I shall obtain all the promised blessings of God, his Spirit, his para- dise, his eternity. The Father can refuse nothing to a righteousness which he himself ordained, and which has been proved perfectly acceptable to him by his having already crowned it, in the person of our Head, with all the glory of his heavenly kingdom. And here, I entreat you, say not. Who shall descend into the deep, or who shall mount up to the heavens, to bring me this precious righteousness ? This right- eousness is not, like that of the law, difficult and la- borious, or, to speak truly, impossible to obtain, being altogether beyond our reach ; but it is nigh unto us, in our moutli, and in our heart. It is, says the apostle, " by faith." " If thou confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe with thy heart that God has raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved." Only take care that your faith is lively and sincere, that it is not a mere illusion, a fancy, an idea, but a firm persuasion, an entire assurance of the truth of the gospel. Let it be a faith like that * See also Eiistathiiis in Iliad iff, p. 1286, and in Iliad m, p. 1350, Edit. Rom. See in 10. p. 135U. 65. and p. 1016. 1. 46; and in Odys. 3. p. 1556. 1. 2. of Abraham, and of the apostle. Whoso has this faith has Jesus Christ dwelling within him, and nc; man has the Son without being a partaker of his righteousness, of his life, and of his salvation. It is for this that the righteousness of Christ is given us, that he may dwell within us, and strengthen us in order that we may know the power of his resurrec-i tion, as the apostle declares. Far from us be the ideas of those profane persons who abuse the doc- trines of grace, and turn them into licentiousness. Such people have never known the righteousness or faith of our Lord Jesus Christ. If they were mem- bers of his body, they would be animated by his Spirit, they would be dead and raised again with him, they would live his life, that is, not an earthly and carnal, but a heavenly and spiritual life. And although, by God's grace, our doctrine is entirely innocent of their misfortune and crime, rejecting certainly the supposition of merit, but in such a man- ner that it retains and establishes the necessity of true sanctification, yet, nevertheless, as error and superstition continually lay this blame to our charge, as they formerly did to St. Paul, let us study with the utmost care to refute their calumny, not with the pen or tongue, but with that which is much more effectual, namely, the holiness of our lives. Let our life be a manifest proof of our faith. Let our con- duct be so pure that our adversaries may be con strained to recognise in us the Spirit of sanctification Let the " power of Christ's resurrection" shine forth through us. Christian, the power of this Divine resurrection can never be experienced while you are buried in the sepulchre of vice, having your heart wallowing in the mud of voluptuousness and carnal delights ; admiring the vanities of this world, and seeking your happiiness therein ; or sighing after gold and silver with your affections swallowed up in the mines from whence those metals are drawn. The resurrection of Christ detaches all who feel its power from such miserable follies. It makes them breathe the air of heaven, and see the light of the glory of God. It fills them with Divine love, and thereby purifies their affections and desires. It changes their habits, clothes them with light, and produces a hea- venly life and walk ; in a word, it transforms them into the image of Jesus their Lord. Let us then, dear brethren, seek to receive this Divine power in our hearts. Let us attentively con- template this beautiful and glorious life, which he has placed before our eyes by rising from the grave holy and immortal, and in which is every thing that can be desired to render us perfectly happy. And having seen so beautiful an object, how could we have any affection for the trifles of earth.' O un- happy earth, where time and death consume all things, none but Christ my Saviour has escaped thy vanities ! Thy chains were unable to enslave him. He broke thy bonds, and instead of the weak animal life which thou didst take from him, he has obtained another. Divine and incorruptible, which has no need of thy elements, no fear of thy changes and alterations. And he has not taken this Divine life for himself alone. He will communicate it to us also, (for we are his,) but according to the method arranged by his wisdom, and of which he has given us an example in himself. For he was tempted ; he died before he could revive. And herein is he our model. Let us not fear, then, to travel that road wherein his footsteps can be traced. Let us be par- takers, not with patience merely, but with joy, of his sufferings and of his death. Let us believe that these sufferings, and this death, will add to our glory and happiness, since they render us conformable to the Son of God, and conduct us to the enjoyment of his Chap. in. THE EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS. 127 immortality. ^Miat if the flesh find them difficult to bear ; they are sent to mortify it, to disturb its pernicious pleasures, to extinguish its passions, and to humble its pride. They also exercise our piety, they awaken and revive our faith, they inflame our atTections, quicken us in prayer, and produce in us a deadness to the world, and more ardent desires after heaven. They try our patience, and prove our faith in Christ. They confound Satan, and cause angels to rejoice. They glorify God, and edify men. And, after all, they will soon be over. Jesus was but six hours upon tlie cross, and now reigns for ever in heaven. Let us then cheerfully support these light afflictions which quickly pass away, that we may at- tain to the resurrection, the blessed end of all our sorrows and trials, and the joyful commencjement of our trae happiness ; when our glorious and gracious Lord, who now gives us his righteousness, and makes us to know the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, will give us a share in his glory, transforming our bodies into the likeness of his own, putting a crown upon our heads, clothing us with immortality, and granting us an everlasting abode in his palace ; allowing us to eat at his table, and to live and reign in his court with him and his holy angels for ever and ever. Amen. SERMON XXI. Verse 12—14. Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect : but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for vhich also I a!)t apprehended of Christ Jesus. Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Ix the books written by the ancient Greeks, which have been preserved from destruction, we read that one of the most esteemed amusements of that nation ■was the sight of the games and combats which were celebrated from time to time with great solemnity. Companies of persons were established among them, the best qualified to judge of the trials of strength made in the circus ; they named the reward proposed to the conqueror ; they fixed the day, and appointed the place for the combats, to which multitudes came from all parts of Greece, who regarded the games with extravagant delight, and honoured those who excelled w-ith acclamation and applause. The victors were cromied by the hands of the judges in the pre- sence of all their countrymen. Their names were engraven on plates of brass, and registered by com- mand of the magistrates in the public archives, to mark the time. They were conducted back, and re- ceived by their fellow citizens, with as much pomp as the generals and commanders of armies in their tri- umphs, and they and their descendants enjoyed ample privileges, with which the public had honoured them. Dear brethren, God invites us to-day to a spectacle much more beautiful than those which I have de- scribed ; to a combat, instituted, not by vain men, but by the eternal Father, in which is to be seen, not a Greek nourished and exercised in the halls and plains of this world, but an apostle trained in a hea- venly school ; running a race, not level and smooth, but rough and difficult, and strewed with thorns; not before the eyes of a single nation, but in the sight of God, of angels, and of men ; not for a corruptible crown of leaves and flowers which fade in a day, but for a crown of immortal life. Bring hither, then, your mind awakened and purified. Consider the strength, the valour, the courage, the address, the zeal of this Divine champion. Be careful to observe all his steps, not just to feed your eyes with a vain amusement, which was all the fruit reaped by the Greeks at their spectacles ; but rather in order to imitate the course of this holy man, to enter the same career, to follow him courageously, to place your feet on the traces of his footsteps, and arriving with him at the goal, to receive with him, from the hands of the eternal Judge, the glorious reward provided for the victor. This same Paul, who formerly undertook, and so happily completed, this celestial course, represents it to us to-day in the text which you have heard. His design is to induce the Philippians to embrace Jesus Christ alone, to content themselves with him, and, without lending their ears or hearts to any other, to fix and concentrate all their thoughts, affections, and desires on this Prince of life, convinced that in pos- sessing him they possess every thing. To persuade them to this, he sets before them his own example, showing them how, renouncing all other things, he had given himself entirely to Christ, despoiling him- self of all that he possessed in order to be found in that sovereign Lord, clothed with his righteousness, transformed into his image, dead and raised again with him. He, however, adds here that he had not arrived at his desired end ; he had not yet compre- hended in all its fulness the power of this Divine resurrection ; so deep, so grand is chis study, so inex- haustible are the riches of this knowledge. For which reason he subjoins that he is always endea- vouring to go forward, and that, leaving the things that are behind, he reaches forth incessantly towards the goal, every day making some advance in his heavenward course, in order at length to receive the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Thus you see how diligently it behoved the Philip- pian converts to study the gospel, since their master, the great apostle, who was so far beyond them, had not been able, with all his zeal and devotion, to ex- haust its riches ; and how it also behoved them to forget, like him, the things that were behind, and to press toward the mark, whereby they miglit attain the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. But this lesson, my brethren, belongs to us, as much or even more than to the Philippians, because, if we compare our progress with theirs, it will be found that they were more advanced than we are in the fear of God, and in the knowledge of his gospel. Let us, then, listen attentively, that we may practise carefully ; and in order more fully to comprehend our subject, we will consider separately, with the bless- ing of God, the two points which here present them- selves to us. The first is the declaration of the apostle, that he has not yet arrived at perfection, con- tained in these words: " Not that I have already at- tained, either am already perfect. Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended." The second, which regards the efforts he was making to arrive at perfection, is expressed in the following words : " But I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also 1 am apprehended of Christ Jesus. One thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are be- fore, I press toward the mark, for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." I. As for the first point, it explains itself, as you 128 AN EXPOSITION OF Serm. XX r. must perceive, in two ways. First, in these words, wliich relate to the verses preceding, " Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect." For having protested above that he had renounced all things to be " found in Christ, having the right- eousness of faith ; that he might know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, and that he might attain unto the resur- rection of the dead" (words which allude as well to the sanctification as to the glory which Christ gives to the saints) ; lest any should imagine that he already possessed these things in full perfection, he antici- pates this idea, and declares that he thus spoke, not to signify that he had already apprehended, or that he was already perfect, but rather that he was follow- ing on to appreliend them perfectly. The same truth is then again advanced, though expressed in a some- what difi'erent manner; for, addressing more espe- cially the Philippians, " Brethren, (says he,) as for me, I count not myself to have apprehended." It is clear that in both these sentences the apostle meant to assure them that he had not yet apprehended, and was not yet perfect. Will it be asked what it was which he had not yet apprehended or understood ? It is true that in the words immediately preceding he was speaking of the resurrection of the dead. But it does not appear that he alludes to that j for " to have apprehended the resurrection of the dead" must signify one of two things, either to have received from God that blessed resurrection, or to have embraced the hope of it as certainly as if it were already possessed. St. Paul here is evidently not speaking of either of these sub- jects. Not of the first ; for although it was true that in this sense he had not yet apprehended the resur- rection, yet there was no occasion to say so in this place ; because, having said it, why should he say It the second time ? It would have been very useless, and utterly unworthy of this great apostle, to say to the Philippians, to whom he was writing, and who knew that he was living at Rome, that he was not yet raised from the dead ; and then to protest again. Brethren, as for me, I am not yet raised from the dead. For who could suppose that he was ? Who could imagine it for a moment ? Neither was he likely to say that he had not yet apprehended the resurrection by faith, that is, that he wa° not assured of it j for how could he say that, who declares in another place, " God has raised us up together with Christ, and has made us to sit to- gether in the heavenly places ? " Eph. li. 6; speak- ing of the resurrection as of a thing so certain that it is (as it were) already accomplished ; and so assured was he of the fact, that he says in 2 Tim. i. 12, " I know in whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day." No, brethren, the apostle's words in this place re- late to quite another thing than to this last effect of the grace of God towards us ; they relate not to glory and immortality, but to that knowledge of Christ, of the power of his resurrection, and of the fellowship of his sufferings, of which he had been speaking. It is this which he tells us he had not yet apprehended or understood ; and by reason of this, he adds, that he has not yet been rendered perfect. For the first of these words* is often used in the Greek language to signify a perfect apprehension, in which nothing more is wanted, and would express a thing so thoroughly well known and understood, that there remained nothing more to be known. This it is the apostle intends by saying that he has not yet entirely " apprehended" (the power of Christ's resur- rection, the fellowship of his sufferings, and the knowledge of himself) ; that is to say, he had not yet received all the blessed effects of the power of the death and resurrection of Christ, in such a manner and degree that he did not fail in any point, and that he could make no more progress in the divine life. Indeed it is very evident that he speaks not here of a simple and naked knowledge, but of an experi- mental acquaintance with Christ, as we have before explained. And for this reason he adds that " he has not yet been made perfect." For this term, which, according to the different subjects for which it is used, signifies different degrees of perfection, may here be taken for the last and highest, when believers fail in np point or degree of sanctification which the power of Christ crucified and raised again ought to produce in them ; precisely in the same manner as the apostle is to be understood in his Epistle to the Hebrews, when he speaks of " the spirits of just men made perfect," Heb. xii. 28 (for in this passage he makes use of the same word). It is this state of holiness, as perfect as that of the saints in heaven, to which he alludes, when he says he " has not yet been made perfect," signifying that he had not come to that ; that however advanced he might be in some respects, yet in others he still failed, and had not therefore yet attained to this last and highest point. And because believers who saw in him such an ad- mirable zeal, and a life so ardently devoted to the service of Christ, might find this his humility strange, and might be astonished at his classing himself with those disciples who were still learning, and endea- vouring after perfection, instead of with those who had arrived at that point, he repeats his words, " Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended;" as though he had said, Your charity perhaps judges otherwise, but as I know myself better than any other person can know me, and as I have some idea of the holiness to which the power of Christ's resurrection and fellowship with his sufferings conducts, I can- not consider that I have yet arrived at this high point of perfection. There are those who suppose that the apostle al- ludes to some among the Philippians who boasted of being perfect, (and you know that they who desire to be justified by their own works often attribute to themselves perfection,) and that it was to humble their pride that he says, " Brethren, as for me, I count not myself to have apprehended;" as if he would say. Though there are some among you who imagine they have attained the highest degree of per- fection, yet, for my part, I have not that opinion of: myself; I confess freely, that I have not yet perfectly apprehended the sanctifying power of my Lord, and that I am still in the number of those who learn and advance in this study. In the same manner, a mas- ter, who saw some of his scholars puffed up with a foolish opinion of their knowledge, imagining they had nothing more to learn, might say to them to humble their vanity. My children, for my part, I do not consider that I know all things ; I learn some- thing every day : the science we have embraced is . so deep that I discover daily some new wonder wherewith to enrich my mind. But whatever design the apostle may have had in this discourse, thus much is evident, that he con- fesses he is not already perfect, and he repeats this twice, that we may remark it as a matter of some im- portance. And in fact it is a secret of great use in religion ; for the opinion of our own perfection is a very dangerous error, and has two most pernicious consequences : the one renders us guilty of pride, the disposition of mind most at variance with sal- Chap. III. THE EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS. 129 vation, God giving grace to the humble ; the other relaxes the nerves of devotion, for he who supposes himself to have attained the highest degree of sancti- fication will not labour to advance further, but will be contented to remain where he is. Now what remedy can there be more efficacious in curing men of this baneful distemper, than the truth which the apostle here teaches and repeats twice, namely, that he himself was not yet made perfect ? If to the advocates of presumption we speak of Noah and Job, if we bring forward David's prayer, " Enter not into judgment with me, O Lord," they have the boldness to answer that these personages lived under the old covenant, whereas they are living under the new. But truly this pretext is vain. For we shall be judged in the same manner as be- lievers in former days : there is one and the same tribunal for them and for us, before which we must all appear, and be there judged by the same law ; as is evident from St. Paul's arguments respecting our justification and theirs ; so that if David cannot plead the merit of his works, which are confessed to have been imperfect, neither can we allege the merit of ours. But although this answer of the advocates of merit is absurd, yet there are too many who avail themselves of it. As for St. Paul, however, he can- not be reproached with like presumption. His ex- ample deprives them of pretext or excuse. For if there ever had been any man in the world who could pretend to perfection, it would be, without doubt, this great apostle, who had been instructed by Jesus him- self when living and reigning in heaven ; who had been snatched up into paradise, and had heard and seen there the unutterable things of the heavenly kingdom, and brought back with him to earth a lively and perfect faith ; who, conducted and animated by this Divine light, had renounced all that the world calls delightful, in order to devote himself entirely to Christ, whose cross he carried and planted in all parts of the world, spending his life so religiously in this holy exercise, that there never was and never will be any minister, bishop, or even apostle, who can com- Eare with him. And yet, after all these great com- ats, these glorious victories, these admirable tri- umphs, hear him saying with deep and heartfelt humility, " Not that I have already apprehended, either am already perfect : no, brethren, for my part, I count not myself to have apprehended." Who is there, after this, sufficiently bold to speak of his sup- posed perfection ? Where is he who dares attribute to himself that which Paul confesses he had not ? Nay, none should be ashamed to acknowledge with him, that in some things he still fails. The force of this example has, however, been in some degree felt, and they who would exalt themselves above David have been ashamed to do the same by Paul, judging well, that if they did, no one would be able to en- dure their arrogance. What then do they ? Why, to render their presumption less odious, they make St. Paul guilty of it, and pretend that he did attain in this life to that perfection of righteousness, in all Eoints, in which they make their boast. Paul says he as not yet ; they maintain that he has. St. Paul cries, " Brethren, for my part, I count not myself to have apprehended ;" these men assert that he has appre- hended. Now which shall we believe, them or Paul ? But the height of their injustice is, that to make their own cause good, they distort his words, and would fain make us believe he has not said what he has said ; interpreting this passage in a way unheard of in the church of God, or the schools of real Chris- tians. They say that the apostle is speaking of the continuance of his race or combat, which was not yet finished; and that he does not intend to say that his sanctificafion was not complete m itself, or that he was not altogether perfect, but merely that he had not persevered as long as was needful for him, and that his holiness had not lasted a sufficient time. But this explanation cannot be right, either as it re- gards the thing itself, or the words of the text. For, with respect to the first, St. Paul had no occasion to say more than that he should continue some time yet upon the earth to preach the gospel ; and that the course of his life and ministry was not yet likely to be finished ; in the same manner that, being on the point of finishing his ministry, he warned Timo- thy of it, saying, that he was ready to be offered, and that the time of his departure was at hand ; that he had fought the fight, had finished his course, and had kept the faith, 2 Tim. iv. 6, 7. But he cer- tainly is not speaking thus in this place. For why should Paul say again to the Philippians what he had already said in the first and second chapters ? " 1 know (said he) that I shall abide and continue with you all, for your furtherance and joy of faith." And again, " I trust in the Lord that I shall shortly come to you." After this, what could be more un- likely than that he should repeat that the course of his life and ministry was not yet ended, and not satisfied with that, should add also, "Brethren, for my part, I do not consider myself arrived at this point?" Besides, what connexion could there be between this idea and the preceding verses, " I have sufiered the loss of all things, that I may be found in Christ ; that I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his suffer- ings ?" To what purpose could he add, " No, I am not near my death, my race is not yet run ?" As if they who truly embraced the Saviour expected to die immediately after, or as if some of the Philippians held that opinion. But the apostle's words will not allow of this interpretation. For the word " appre- hend" cannot be thus translated. Now what is it which the apostle says " he has not yet apprehend- ed ? " Is it the knowledge of the death and resur- rection of Jesus Christ ? Certainly it is. But who has ever heard that to apprehend these things was to have ended the occupation of preaching, and to have finished his course and his ministry ? No, these expressions can only signify what we have already said, to have felt and experienced in per- fection the sanctifying power of Jesus, dead and raised again for us. Could it be the prize of his high calling, namely, the resurrection from the dead, which the apostle says he has not yet apprehended ? Is it possible any thing could be less to the point than that? that Paul, living at Rome, and writing from his prison in that city to the Philippians, should declare to them that he had not yet received his crown, that is to say, was not yet raised again from the dead ? Beautiful idea, well worthy of so grave, so solemn a pen as that of our apostle ! But the other word employed in the text, " to be made per- fect," is not less incompatible with this interpreta- tion. It is true that " to be made perfect," sometimes signifies to be reridered so by death ; as when our Lord said, " Behold, I cast out devils, and I do cures to- day and to-morrow, and the third day I shall be per- fected," that is, my work will be completed, Lukp xiii. 32. But it is evident the apostle does not speak in this sense. For to what purpose could he inform the Philippians that he had not yet been put to death ? Besides, " to be made perfect" signifies always the degrees of perfection, and not its duration or extent ; for if it were otherwise, one might say of the angels that they are not yet perfect, and of the saints after the last resurrection that they are not yet perfect, because their perfection has not completed 130 AN EXPOSITION OF Sebm. XXT. its duration : antl, in a word, one might then say that neither the blessed, nor the angels, nor our Lord Jesus Christ himself, would ever be made perfect, be- cause their holiness will continue eternally without end or diminution ; and this would be, as must be plain to every one, extravagant language, not to say blasphemous and scandalous. If, however, the sancti- fication of the apostle had been at the highest point of perfection, as is that of the angels and glorified saints, he would not have said in this Epistle that he was not yet perfect. Nevertheless he does say so. We must, therefore, of necessity, confess that his sanctification was not yet arrived at the point to which some suppose it had. And this is in fact the way in which all Christians understand the passage, and the generality, as St. Jerome* tells us, draw from it the doctrine which may most clearly be de- duced, i. e. that no believer is ever so entirely sancti- fied in this life, as that he does not fail daily in some point. And I do not think that the interpretation which we have refuted, or the error which gave rise to it, namely, that believers can attain here below to the highest perfection of holiness and inherent right- eousness ; I do not think, I say, that either one or the other is to be found among the writings of any other Christians than the Pelagians, and the modern enemies of the eternal Divinity of Christ. And the authors of this interpretation object to us, that the apostle says in another place that he has " fought the good fight, has finished his course, and has kept the faith." True, but he does not say that he never re- ceived a blow in the fight, or ever made a false step in his course. St. Peter could say as much touching his death, and yet we know that his life was not passed without falls. David also could say the same, nevertheless even they must confess that his right- eousness had not been perfect. St. Paul, then, describes in these words the con- stancy and perseverance of the believer in the gospel doctrine and practice, who goes forward to the end, and is at last victorious, though he may have often fallen and been wounded. This perseverance ex- cludes impenitence and apostacy, but not all sin ; it excludes only those sins which are not followed by repentance. But, say our adversaries, if St. Paul liad not been perfect, why did he expect the crown of righteousness from God ? Because, I answer, God is faithful, and righteous, and true. Now he has promised to save whosoever shall continue to the end in the faith and obedience of his Son, and in repent- ance for his daily failings. But, say they again, as the perfection of Paul was the end of his course, it follows that he was perfected when his course was finished. Who doubts it ? He is so clearly after that, because he is then entered info heaven, the place of our perfection, and there he knows even as he had been known, that is to say, in perfection, and not in part, and darkly. Let us therefore rest assured, that the sanctification of the apostle, however excellent it might be, was not perfected in all points as long as he remained on the earth. From whence it follows that no man living is perfected here below. This the Scriptures, the ancient church, and the feelings of our own con- science, so loudly witness, that it is wonderful men can be found so deafened by the love of self that they hear none of these voices. Does not the Scripture tell us that " no man living can be justified before God?" Why not, if there are some perfectly right- eous .'' That every believer, though he were a con- fessor or an apostle, must thus pray daily to God, " Forgive us our sins, as we forgive them that tres- Dialogue I. against the Pelagians, t Ibid. pass against us?" Why thus, if there are some who never sin, and therefore need no pardon ? Does it not say that " in many things we offend all ? " How so, if there are some faultless? Does it not say that " now we know but in part, and see through a glass darkly ?" How so, if holiness, which is the fruit and effect of this sight, is not in part, but in perfection ? Does it not say that " the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh, and that these are contrary one to the other, so that we cannot do the things that we would ? " But how can this be, if there are those who sin no more ? Does it not say again, that " if we say we have no sin we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us ?" Could it pos- sibly say any thing more express against this error ? The ancient church also teaches by its most illus- trious organs, that " we speak truth when we confess ourselves sinners; that the true wisdom of man is to know himself; that he is imperfect, and that all the righteous who are in the flesh have an imperfect per- fection.! That not one of the saints while he is in the body can possibly have every virtue; that there are righteous men on the earth, some of whom are great, or strong, or prudent, or chaste, or patient, or pious, or merciful, or who suffer all sorts of evil humbly and meekly ; but there are none without sin ; and none are foolish or arrogant enough to think they need not say the Lord's prayer on account of sin, though in comparison with other men their sins may be few. J That he has greatly profited in that holiness during his life, which shall one day be perfected, who has discovered as he advanced his distance from the per- fection of righteousness : that it is by the wisdom, not by the impotence, of God that no believer is ever per- fect here below ; the Lord so conducting the saints in this life, that there should always remain some- thing either to give them freely when they ask, or to pardon them mercifully when they confess to him: and that the reason of this is hidden from us in the depth of his wisdom, in order that the mouth even of righteous men may be stopped in regard to their own glory, and may be opened only for the praise of God." Our own consciences likewise, if we consult them, will witness also for this truth. For it is evident from the greatness of the Divine Majesty, from the excellence of those benefits which we daily receive from his bounty, and from the express declaration of his word, that we ought to love him with all the heart, and our neighbour as ourselves, and to employ all we have to his service and glory in so strict a manner that not one word, thought, or act should escape us that is not conformable to his will. Now, where is the believer, however perfect he may be considei'ed, who, entering seriously into himself, and examining without disguise the whole tenor of his life, can discover no faults, not merely in his words, thoughts, and affections, but even in his actions ? Where is he whose heart has never desired or loved any thing but what was pure and holy ; whose tongue has always uttered words not only true, but also use- ful, and to edification ; whose eyes and other senses have apprehended only that which is reasonable and righteous ; whose hands and other members have neither done nor attempted any thing but what is good; whom temptation has never staggered; who has never coveted ; whose flesh has at all times ren- dered a full and entire obedience to the dictates of the Spirit, without resisting his motions, without murmuring against his orders, without struggling against his illumination? If you make no inward war against this enemy, sin, how is it you are not ashamed? If you do, why not confess that you are X Augustin de Peccat. Merit, et Rem. Cbap. 111. THE EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS. 131 not perfect ? To employ the words of St. Augustine on this subject, " Certainly it is either stupidity not to be aware of such palpable imperfection, or effrontery to deny it." * But it is time to leave the vain and false teachers to enjoy the glory of their supposed perfection, and to return to St. Paul, who, acknowledging and con- fessing " that he is not yet made perfect," studies earnestly to render himself daily more and more per- fect, saying of himself, " I have not yet apprehended, but I follow after, if that I may apprehend." He stops not in his course. His progress had been great ; but he is nol therewith contented. He cannot re- main as he is ; he desires, if possible, to arrive at per- fection, and to lay hold entirely on Jesus, so as to experience in himself all the power of the life and death of his Divine Master. For this cause he adds, " for which I am appre- hended of Christ Jesus." The original wordf might be rendered, as, or being, or because, " I am appre- hended of Christ Jesus ; but this would give the sentence nearly the same meaning. If you take the first translation, St. Paul is setting forth the design for which Jesus unites us with himself, namely, that we may grow from faith to faith, from hope to hope, suffering no day to pass by without making progress in his fear and love. If you understand it in the second form, it is the rule which the apostle proposes in this exercise, namely, to apprehend the Saviour in the same manner as he has been apprehended of him, not weakly and in part, but perfectly, as the Lord in his goodness has apprehended us, drawing us out of our own path, and placing us in his, by the power of his word, and the teaching of his Spirit. St. Paul makes use of a like expression in another place, where, to signify that in heaven he should know God perfectly, he says, "Then shall I know even as also I am known," 1 Cor. xiii. 12. Lastly, if you read it in the third sense, because " I am apprehended of Christ Jesus," this would sig- nify the motive which urged the apostle to aim with ardour at perfection ; and this motive is the wondrous grace of the Saviour towards him, which had stopped his mad career in the way of error and of death ; and had taken him and changed him into a vessel of honour, for the glory of God and the conversion of the Gentiles. II. But to explain more clearly the efforts which he was making to advance in his heavenward race, he adds, in the last verse of our text, " One thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, 1 press towards the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." He compares, in this and several other places, the object and endea- vour of a Christian to a lawful race; so familiar was this image to the Philippians and other Greeks, among whom these exercises were very frequent, as we have already remarked. The superintendent of this mystical course is God, who instituted it by his Son Jesus Christ. The path in which it is run is the path of faith, of repentance, of holiness, of every Christian virtue. The time allotted for the race is during our life. The moment of our conversion is the commencement of it, and is (as it were) the bar- rier from whence we start, each in his turn, as soon as the heavenly voice has called us ; and the place where the race is finished is the moment of death, when we quit this world. The goal to which it con- ducts is the perfection of our sanctification, of the knowledge of Jesus Christ, of the power of his resur- rection, and the fellowship with his death ; and to • Aupistine iii Julian, B. II. c. 106. f 'E' m. this we can only attain in departing from this life. The steps by which the Christian advances, are prayer,- study of the word, love, watchfulness, and pa- tience. The Christian graces, as we acquire them, and as they are strengthened by labour, prayer, and meditation, are the spaces or intervals of this course, each one being more or less advanced, according as he attains to a greater or less perfection of holiness. The rewards bestowed upon the winner are immor- tality and glory in the life to come, and this the apostle terms " the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus," because it is God who calls us to it from on high, who keeps it for us in heaven, and will one day bestow it ; being himself the Institutor, the Judge, and the Rewarder of the race. And the apostle adds, " in Christ Jesus," in order to show us that it is by the Son of God, dead and raised again for us, that this career is opened, and this crown of glory offered ; and more, that it is by him we receive all needful strength at once to enter upon and persevere with our design ; and finally, that it is through his great love that the prize to which we aspire shall be given to us. Such is the Christian race. Paul entered upon it when called by the voice, not of man, but of Jesus himself, who cried to him from heaven, " Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me ? " and who not only called him to the common salvation, but also to the apostle- ship of the Gentiles. It would be superfluous to in- form you of the progress he made in the course, having, in a short time, not only reached, but passed by, those who had begun to run before him ; and having advanced in such a manner and with so much energy and courage, that nothing could be more mi- raculous ; casting aside, with irresistible power, all that opposed him on the right hand and on the left, so that nothing was able to arrest, or even retard, his progress in the least degree ; although both men and devils did all they could to cross the designs of the devoted runner. You know his history. Behold in what manner he writes concerning himself in this Epistle to the Philippians. First, he says, " This one thing I do." He has cast aside every other idea ; this race is now his only thought. He has, with Mary, chosen the good part, the one thing needful, without having " a divided heart," like those who endeavour to unite heaven and earth, flesh and Spirit, God and the world, Christ and Belial. Secondly, he says, " I press towards the mark ;" that is, he pursues his point ; he perseveres in his pious design. For it would be of small avail to enter the course, if he were again to quit it directly, without continuing to the goal ; it being evident that in this case, besides having no part in the promised reward, he would be the scorn and jest of every beholder. So, in the service of Jesus Christ, it is useless, nay more, it is hurtful, to enter it merely to quit it again. Unless we per- severe to the end, all the eflbrts we may make are useless. Again, the apostle says, " I press towards the marli." For as the race-course is marked clearly, even to the goal, and to run beyond the lines which conduct to it, in the least degree, would be useless, not to say dangerous; so with the believer, Jesus is the mark towards which he should press, having his eye directed to him, in order to advance in the know- ledge of him and his Divine power. It is Christ alone who should regulate all his motions, and who- ever loses sight of him, or docs not direct his steps straight towards him, wanders from the true path. Again, the apostle says, " Forgetting the things which are behind." So great is his desire to advance, that he thinks no more of the past than if it had never been. And as those who ran in the games never amused themselves by casting their eyes here 132 AN EXPOSITION OF Serm. XXI. and there, and still less by looking round to ascertain how much progress they had made, because it would have been but losing time ; so the apostle thought no more of what he had once been. He had banished such thoughts from his mind, as completely as if he had lost the remembrance of his former self. For weak believers are often retarded in their progress, by considering what they were, or what they might have been in the world, before they were called unto Christ. Sometimes also the way we appear to have made satisfies us, while looking over the path we have trodden, and we become lazy and inert. The apostle, however, resolved to forget all, whether it were the progress he had made in Judaism or in Christianity, and to run as zealously as though he had not yet made a single step. If he occasionally recollected his former condition among the Jews, it was but with a shudder, and he hastened onwards more firmly. If his progress in Christianity recurred to his mind, it lifted up his heart in praise to God alone. But, pursues the apostle, " pressing onwards to- wards those which are before ;" that is, (as we have already said,) to the highest and more exalted Chris- tian virtues, doing all that was possible to attain the very summit of holiness. And the word* which is here employed is extremely emphatic, signifying literally, " reaching forth," " throwing himself for- ward," as they do who run with most energy. Finally, he informs us of the rewards which await him at the end of the course, and these he calls, for the reasons we have already given, " the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." The advocates of human merit vainly endeavour from these words to draw an argument in favour of their erroneous notions. For if the prize is elsewhere called "grace," I Pet. i. 13, "mercy," 1 Tim. i. 16, and " gift," Rom. vi. 23, it is evident that it is not be- stowed on account of our merit, but rather because God has promised it of his great goodness and love. And truly there is as little proportion between our works and the celestial gloi-y with which God will reward us after this life, as there would be, should a monarch bestow an entire kingdom on a man for having run two or three hundred paces. This would be the prize to be obtained, but it would be a prize according to the liberality of the giver, rather than the desert of the receiver. Our adversaries again often press us to say why St. Paul laboured so much to arrive at per- fection, if it were not possible for him to attain to it during this life. But for my part, I must answer their question by asking them why Paul and other true believers studied to attain a perfect knowledge of God, since they could never really know him in this world ? They laboured because it was their duty, because therein consists the perfection of their nature, its excellence, its happiness. But, perhaps you will say, they never could hope to arrive at the highest and last point. Although they might never at- tain it, yet they might daily approach nearer to it, and the nearer they were, the happier for them. Would it be wise to neglect to exercise the body or improve the mind, because the one could not arrive at the perfection of strength, or the other of science ? "Would it be wise for an invalid to refuse to obey his physician, because he could not hope to attain perfect health ? Do not the masters who instruct men in eloquence, philosophy, and the other arts and sciences, teach us that it is not possible for any mortal to ac- quire an art or a science in perfection ? Yet they never intend thereby to dishearten their pupils, and disgust them with study. It is a vanity which almost amounts to folly to be unwilling to embrace the study of any thing because we are not likely to attain perfection in it. And although the Christian will not in this life arrive at perfection, however he may desire it, yet he will attain unto it hereafter. And therefore, as we do not neglect the instruction of children, under pretence that they cannot fully comprehend what they are taught, until they arrive at maturer years ; so we also now are in our infancy, and must wait for the " age to come" before we are full grown men. Let us then, dear brethren, never neglect to culti- vate the growth of the new man during its infancy, to form it for good, and to give it all the instruction of which it is capable. And although it may not attain in this life to the perfection which you desire, it surely will hereafter in heaven, when the presence and light of its Divine Lord will be reflected in the perfect man. Imitate then the example of our great apostle. Shun like him both presumption and neg- ligence. AVhatcver progress you may have made in the way of life, never imagine yourselves to have arrived at the goal. Whatever failings you may dis- cover and acknowledge in yourselves, never cease to labour and advance in this race. For thus St. Paul has taught us in this place. He had laboured more than others, and yet this holy man feels and declares that he has not yet apprehended, that he is not yet perfect. Christians, let his modesty instruct you in humility, and teach you not to be ashamed to con- fess your infirmities. If this sun had its spots, be not ashamed when you discover spots in yourselves. If our father Jacob was lame, (as the Hebrews were ac- customed to say,) let none of his posterity be sur- prised if they also sometimes limp. God permits these infirmities to maintain theif power, to keep us humble, and to show us that if there is any good in us, it is the gift of his grace, and not the fruit of our corrupt nature. He allows this remnant of the Canaanites to remain in tlie land, in order to exercise us continually, and that we may have constant recourse to his mercy, and seek our salvation in him alone. But this imperfection should urge us forward more and more towards perfection. It should produce in us a hatred of this world, this sojourn in Kedar and Mesech, this place of our weaknesses and our combats, and a sighing after heaven, the place of perfect bliss and perfect holiness. It should be tons as a continual spur to urge us onwards to that happy world. For it would be indeed strange if the very feeling of our own imperfection caused us to love it, or prevented us from endeavouring to cure it. And as it behoves us to follow the example of the apostle in acknowledging our faults; so also should we imitate his zeal and firmness in struggling against them, and we should do so with the more care, on account of our doctrine being accused of relaxing our efforts after hoKness. But, O adversary, you are wrong in blaming our faith. We condemn nothing in you but your presumption. It is the leaven of pride which displeases us. As for the rest, we recommend and preach, as much or more than you do, the mortification of the old man, the vivifica- tion of the new ; diligence, vigilance, constancy in prayer, in fasting, in alms; and the continual exer- cise of works of piety and charity. We only desire that the believer should present these Divine fruits to God, crowned with modesty and humility ; that he should look to it carefully, lest they become spoiled and tainted by the presumptuous notions which you teach, of having fulfilled the law or de- served paradise. But, my dear brethren, it is better to refute calumny with works than with words. Let Chap. III. THE EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS. 133 us therefore live as did the apostle ; let us run dili- gently as he ran. Let us also forget the past, and hasten onwards. Let us press towards the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. This is the only path that will conduct us to life and immortality. You must enter, you must persevere therein, if you wish to attain to perfect bliss. What do you not owe to that blessed Saviour who has called you to it, who has apprehended you when you thought not of him, arresting you, as formerly he did Paul in the way to Damascus, when in the career of superstition or vice, and placing you in the path of life ! And this is a special favour, not done to all. Behold the majority of mankind walking, or rather running, in the broad way which leadeth to perdition, labouring night and day for riches, honours, plea- sures, for worldly knowledge, for earthly and hurt- ful things, which lead to hell and eternal misery. But, O believers, have you less desires after heaven than they have for earth? Do you take less pains for your salvation than they do for their ruin ? Do you employ less time and study to become eternally nappy, than they employ, or rather lose, to become eternally miserable ? The first injunction given by the apostle is to leave the things that are behind ; see then that you efface them from your memory and heart as entirely as if they had never been. God has forbidden you not only to retrace your steps, and return to those things from which he has drawn you; or to plunge again into the vices and superstition from which you have been delivered: those who do so are no Christians; they are out of the path of Jesus Christ ; and, not content with losing themselves, they endeavour to decoy others into the snare, and unfurl the standard of revolt among the people of God, in order to induce them to go back to Egypt, from whence they have been miraculously brought out. But, O Christians, to do your duty faithfully, you must banish from your heart even the thoughts of these things. While thinking of the onions, and the melons, and the flesh of Egypt, you will sigh and desire some of those sad snares of Satan ; and, ere long, desires and sighs will form themselves into murmurs and rebellion against God. Remember Lot's wife, and learn from her the danger of looking back. And yet it is not sufficient to be on your guard against looking behind you ; you must also have the eye and the foot, as it were, in advance. Instead of receding, you must go for- wards. It is only a top (as said one of old*) that can remain spinning in the same place ; but a Chris- tian should be always advancing and pressing to- wards the mark. Never, then, allow a single day to pass without making some progress: add (as says St. Peter) to your faith, virtue ; to virtue, knowledge ; to know- ledge, temperance ; to temperance, patience ; to pa- tience, godliness ; to godliness, brotherly love ; and to brotherly love, charity. If there be any virtue, and if there be any praise ; if there be any thing true, holy, pure, lovely, and of good report ; adorn yourselves therewith, therewith enrich your conversa- tion, for thus has Jesus, the sovereign Lord of the race, commanded. It is to this that you are called, and surely the prize which he holds in his hands shall be placed on your heads if you run lawfully, as he has ordained ; to you shall then be addressed, before tlie assembly of heaven and earth, those glo- rious words, " Come, good and faithful servants ; come, blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world ; enter ye into the joy of the Lord." Amen. • Gregory Nazianzen. SERMON XXIL Verse 15—17. Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded : and if VI any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you. Nevertheless, where- to we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us mind the same thing. Brethren, be fol- lowers together of me, aitd mark them which walk so as ye have us for an ensample. It is very desirable, brethren, both as a reward for praiseworthy actions, and for the instruction of men, that the memory of persons of exalted virtue should be honourably preserved among mankind. Even the pagans, involved as they were in the darkness of ignorance, acknowledged the propriety of this, and considered it so necessary a duty, that, in order to fulfil it, (as we learn from the Greek and Latin authors,) they were accustomed to draw from the life portraits of the most illustrious men in the coun- try, or to make statues of them in marble or bronze, and place them in the most public and conspicuous parts of their cities, that by the continual view of such objects the citizens might be inflamed with the desire of imitating the actions of those extraordinary personages. This artifice, however, was not merely defective, inasmuch as the bovly, which is the weaker, and not the mind, which is the nobler part of our na- ture, was thereby represented ; but it was also highly dangerous, (as the event has fully shown,) by arousing the inclination to idolatry, which dwells in every heart, and by insensibly leading thereto. And on this account our God, whose wisdom is infinite, banished the use of such images from among his people, and provided other means both for honouring his servants and for our instruction. For instead of these cold and dumb representations of their bodies, he has taken care to draw to the very life in his holy word the portraits of their minds ; there portraying by the pen of his Spirit their piety, their faith, their charity, and other virtues, in a way which neither the pencil, the crayon, the colours, the metals, the marble of human artists are able to express ; and has erected these divine statues in the books of Scrip- ture, as it were, in celestial niches, exposing them to the eyes and observation of all believers ; so that they are enabled to contemplate and admire the true images of those holy men, in order to imitate by every means in their power, in the station in which they are called, the virtuous examples thus set before them. But among all the exquisite portraits to be found in the Scriptures no one is more laboriously executed, and more highly coloured, than that of Paul, the great apostle of our Lord Jesus Christ. He occupies, as you well know, a large part of the book of the Acts ; and in several of his own Epistles this holy man, guided by the Spirit of his Master, has himself placed before our eyes the principal events of his life. In this very chapter (Phil, iii.) he has drawn his own portrait, representing to our view both his character as a Pharisee, before the Lord had touched his heart, and as a Christian ; not the outward ap- peai-ance of his Christianity, but its true nature, form, and essence : and it is in the consideration of this latter character that we have employed the four last discourses. You have seen the humility of his great mind in renouncing all his natural advantages ; his spiritual wisdom, resolving to lose all in order to win Christ, the only source of true peace; his love for that Divine Saviour, manifested in liis willingness to 134 AN EXPOSITION OP Serm. XX ri. be despoiled of all things that he might be trans- formed into his image ; his modesty in acknowledg- ing his own imperfection ; his ardour and constancy in the Christian race, always forgetting the past, and reaching onwards to the goal, in order to attain the prize of his high calling. Now he discovers to us the design of his discourse, and teaches us that it is in order to show the Philippians by his own example what ought to be their sentiments and deportment in the school of Christ. That church, as we explained in the commencement of the chapter, had been at- tacked by teachers of the circumcision, who advo- cated the observance of the Mosaic law, as necessary to justification and salvation. And although their efforts had not entirely succeeded, yet they had made great impression on some ; so that there were in the flock two kinds of people : the first, firm and sted- fast, resolved to mingle nothing with Jesus ; the second, more weak, who, insnared by the artful dis- courses of the false teachers, were unable to compre- hend the utter inutility of the law after the light of the gospel had arisen. The apostle in the text speaks to each party separately, and afterwards to both con- jointly. To the first, whom he calls " perfect," and in whose number he classes himself, he recommends to hold themselves continually in the path described to them by his own example : " Let us, as many as be perfect, be thus minded." To the second, whose faith was not so advanced, he adds this consolation, "And if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you." He then goes on to give them in common two warnings : the first. To unite themselves together, and strive mutually after the same end: "Let us mind the same rule, let us walk after the same thing." The second. To imitate carefully the good examples set before them, both by himself and other faithful servants of their Lord : " Brethren, be followers together of me, and mark them which walk so as ye have us for an ensample." These four subjects we propose (the Lord willing) to treat of in this discourse. First, The duty of perfect believers. Second, The humility and hopes of weaker be- lievers. Third, The mutual concord and union of both. And, Last, The care which all should take to follow the examples of St. Paul, and other holy men of God. I. Respecting the first point, the apostle explains it in these words, " Let us, as many as be perfect, be thus minded." And here a difficulty presents itself, in that the apostle calls himself, and other believers, " perfect," whereas he had said in the preceding verses that " he had not yet apprehended, neither was al- ready perfect," making use of a term similar to the one employed here, and thereby apparently denying what he now affirms. Some, in order to explain this seeming contradiction, say that St. Paul in speaking thus, " we who are perfect," has not regard to the thing itself, because no one is perfect in any respect ; but that he speaks in accordance with the opinion of the false teachers, who esteemed themselves perfect, and that, allowing them to retain their self-allotted title by a figure called in schools " concession," he meant to declare that by whatever name they were known, or however good their opinion of themselves might be, if they wished to be real Christians, they must have the sentiments which he had been labour- ing to inculcate. But it appears that this explana- tion is not correct, because the apostle places himself in the number of those of whom he speaks, " Let us, as many as be perfect." Besides, in understanding it thus there appears a species of irony in his language, which would be very much out of place here, where he is showing simply to the believers in what their duty consists. It is therefore vain to teach that he does not here give to believers the designation of " perfect," when in many parts of Scripture they are so called by St. Paul himself, and the other sacred writers ; as in the First Epistle to the Corinthians, " We speak wisdom among them that are perfect," chap. ii. 6 ; and the Epistle to the Hebrews often gives to Christians this appellation. St. James also says, that " if any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man." And David in an infinite number of places, speaking of himself and other believers, says that they are " perfect and entire." In fact, this word "perfect" is, in a certain sense, equivocal ; for although it signifies always the high- est point of a thing, yet as the highest point of things is different in their diflerent states, so the per- fection which is attributed to them differs also. Thus the perfection of infancy differs from that of man- hood, and in schools for the instruction of youth each class has its distinct perfection. So, in like manner, a person may be perfect in one sense, and not so in another ; because he may have attained perfection in one point, while he fails in another. The people of God have been dispersed through all ages, and to each a distinct form of perfection belongs. Under the Old Testament the church was in its infancy, and (as it were) in the lowest class in the school ot God. Under the New, it is in its manhood, and in the highest class : so that when the earlier believers are compared to the later, it is evident that with re- gard to them they were imperfect; and therefore the apostle, in his Epistle to the Hebrews, says, " They without us could not be made perfect," chap. xi. 40. Our Lord also declares, that although John the Bap- tist was the greatest of the prophets, yet the very least in the kingdom of heaven (i. e. in the church of Christ) is greater than he. But, notwithstanding this, it is most probable that, under the Old Testament dispensation, there was a standard of knowledge and sanctification, to which he who had attained might truly be called perfect. Even in the New Testament school there is a diversity of grades among believers, and though they all in common have a perfection to which none could at- tain under the law, yet, when considered as indi- viduals and compared one with another, there are certainly those who, in the comparison, may be termed imperfect. For while some are but com- mencing, and have to learn the very rudiments of Christianity, others more advanced have their senses exercised to discern good and evil ; the first are learn- ers, the second teachers. On this account the apostle, to mark the distinction between them, speaks of some as " babes who have yet need of milk," and of others as " perfect men, able to digest strong meat." Some have supposed that this mode of expression was taken from the language of the ancient Greeks, who had in their worship certain sacred ceremonies called mysteries, to the sight and participation where- of none were received until after long preparation : such as had been admitted to the mysteries were styled perfect, while others were considered but as novices or learners. But there is no need to seek for the origin of these words among foreigners. They were taken, as was much of the apostle's language, from the customs and terms of the Jewish church, in which were several classes : some lower, in which were taught the first rudiments of doctrine ; others higher, wherein were unfolded the deeper mysteries ; and this latter part of their theology was designated by a word which signifies perfection,* because they * Gemara Chap. III. THE EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS. 135 considered it the very summit of their religion ; and those who were instructed in it were likewise called the perfect* It is from thence that the holy apostles have taken these words, applying them to the gospel, the last and highest revelation of God, to which alone tnily and justly belongs that epithet of perfection which the Jewish rabbis vainly gave to their tradi- tions. It is in this sense that St. Paul uses the word perfect in our text, meaning thereby a man perfectly instructed in the gospel, who was acquainted with and had embraced all its truths, without any mixture of error ; and this is evident from his adding, " and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall re- veal even this unto you." For you see that to these perfect ones, of whom he is speaking, he opposes those W'ho have still some diversity of sentiment, and to whom God has not yet revealed all his mind ; an evident proof that by the perfect ones he understands those to whom the Spirit of God had given know- ledge and faith in all the doctrines of his word. If, then, you call to mind the state in which the Chris- tian church was at that time, you will easily compre- hend who those were whom the apostle calls per- fect, and who they were whom he was unwilling to honour with such an appellation. For there were then believers who, although they had received the gospel, and acknowledged in Jesus the true Messiah, the only Saviour, yet retained the observance of the ceremonial law, esteeming it, if not absolutely neces- sary, at least very useful, and conscientiously op- posing in this respect, as we learn from many parts of the New Testament, not only the most esteemed doctors of the Christian church, but even the holy apostles themselves. Other believers, on the contrary, contenting themselves with Jesus, added nothing foreign to his gospel ; and having discerned in the light of truth the real value of all things, held legal observances both useless and superfluous, as indeed they were. These, doubtless, were the men whom the apostle calls, in this place, perfect ; and whom in another, for the same reasons, he designates as strong, saying, "We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves," Rom. XV. I ; while to those who have still a difTerence of sentiment, and who have not received the whole truth, he gives the appellation of " weak in faith." From hence it appears, first, That there is no con- tradiction in the apostle's language; for when he said, above, that " he was not yet perfect," he spoke of simple, absolute perfection, which we can never have but in heaven, as he himself has distinctly de- clared in another place, saying, " AVhen that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away," 1 Cor. xiii. 10; whereas now he is speaking of perfection, so called by comparison ; not absolute, 'but with regard to other believers who have not received certain truths which we already know and acknowledge. For although the believers of the Old Testament, considered with respect to the dispensation under which they lived, are frequently called perfect and entire; yet, in comparing their light with that of the gospel, they can and must be esteemed imperfect, inasmuch as they failed in those advantages which New Testament believers possess : 60, in like manner, the apostle and those who re- ceived his doctrine were called, and justly, perfect in the sense we have exidained, yet nevertheless they supposed not that they had attained the highest point of Christian excellence ; and in comparing their con- dition on earth with what they expected to be in heaven, it was most true that they " had not yet ap- prehended, nor were already perfect." • Gemarim. Secondly, You see how the teachers of perfection make use of this and similar passages, where such eulogiums are given to believers, in order to establish their own presumptuous doctrine. For if all that is said of David and many others under the law, that they were " perfect, entire, after God's own heart, just before him, and walking in his commandments and ordinances blameless," does not indicate (as these adversaries themselves confess) that there remained in them no spot and imperfection ; but, on the con- trary, they were incapable of appearing before the tribunal of Divine justice, and had cause to cry unto the Lord not to enter into judgment with them; it is evident that the praise given here and elsewhere to Paul and all his true disciples of being perfect, in like manner does not signify that they were clear from all spot or stain of sin, against the express doc- trine of Scripture and the church, as we showed at length in our last discourse. At the same time, we most willingly confess that this perfection, though not entirely exempt from sin and infirmity, is not- withstanding something more than a vain and empty title, as worldly-minded Christians imagine. It is a reality, an excellent thing, a fruit of the Spirit of God, a work of his hand, the impress of his wisdom and righteousness. Although there are spots on the surface of the moon, her light is not the less beauti- ful, and clear, and perfect in its kind, and so it is with the holiness of the church ; though, w'hile hero below, it has its blemishes, yet is it nevertheless ex- cellent and glorious, and even in a certain sense per- fect. And our adversaries of Rome, who give to the church the title of Holy, because of the profession she makes of a divine and holy doctrine, spoil her of her most beautiful and necessary mark. If there be one among us (which God forbid) who has this ima- gination, and who supposes that, in order to be holv and perfect, it is sufficient to live in communion with God's people, to participate in their sacraments, and to mingle his voice with their prayers and praises, let such a one be delivered from liis en'or ; or, if he persevere, let him know that we are innocent of his misfortune, protesting to him now openly that no man is a true Christian who is not truly sanctified, whose flesh is not mortified, who has not love to God and charity towards his neighbour. We wait cer- tainly the highest point of this Divine work to be completed in heaven; but we hold that it begins and advances on earth, and that nothing will be completed on high which has not been begun below. This is the doctrine of Paul, who desires, in the text, that " as many as be perfect be thus minded." For this " mind" of which he speaks is nothing less than the exercise and practice of all that he has repre- sented to us in the seven preceding verses, on which this last depends. I know there are persons who suppose this word to relate only to what the apostle had said, i. e. " that he had not yet apprehended, and that, forgetting the things which were behind, he pressed onwards to those that were before," saying this is what he wished that all should do ; that the most perfect should feel their imperfection, and ac- knowledge that they were not yet at the goal. But it is doubtless best to extend this sentiment which St. Paul requires in us generally, to all the dispositions which he before represented to us in his own person. He wishes that, like himself, we should renounce all the advantages given us by nature, that we should despise at once the lustre of our nobility and the pride of our knowledge, the dignity of our station and the supposed innocence of our morals ; that we should reject all these things, which form the hap- piness of worldly men, as vanities fit only for the dunghill, in order to embrace the knowledge of 136 AN EXPOSITION OF Serm. XXII. Jesus Christ our blessed Saviour. He desires that, naked and despoiled of all other, we should clothe ourselves with his salvation ; that, putting aside our own righteousness, we should seek and desire his alone, being found in him and not in ourselves. He desires that our w-hole lives should be spent in tast- ing the power of the cross of Christ, in receiving in ourselves the marks of his life and death, the wounds of his crucifixion, and the consolations of his resur- rection, in order to be transformed into the image of this dead yet living One. He desires that after all we should be deeply sensible of our infirmities, think- ing and speaking of ourselves with humility, acknow- ledging that we have not yet apprehended, and that there yet remains much of the race to run before we can arrive at the goal. He desires that this feeling should be to us as a continual spur, urging and hastening us onwards j so that, forgetting (as it were) the past, as though we had yet done nothing, we should run with all our strength towards the mark and prize of our high calling of God in Jesus Christ. This is that which the apostle demands of thera who are perfect : " Let us, as many as be perfect, be thus minded." Therefore, lest any one should suppose that such sentiments and discipline were only for novices, being the first principles of the doctrine of Christ, he recommends them expressly to those that are perfect ; as the true and only rule which all the disciples of the Lord, the more advanced as well as the younger converts, must follow. The admirable wisdom of the apostle manifests itself here. For su- perstition always daubs her inventions with the false paint of perfection. She confesses that the doctrine and discipline of our Lord Jesus Christ is good and holy, but she pretends that the observances she would add thereto serve to perfect it ; that in order to be a Christian it is sufficient to do what the gos- pel enjoins, but in order to be perfect we must submit to what she prescribes to us. I am persuaded that those false teachers, whom the apostle combats in his Epistle to the Colossians, had not failed to employ this precept to give authority to the observances with which they loaded the believers, and which had, as he said, " a show of wisdom in will-worship, and hu- mility, and neglecting of the body," Col. ii. 23 ; and it cannot be doubted that those also, against whom he argues in this chapter, maintained the necessity of observing the ceremonial law in order to be en- tirely perfect. No, no, says the apostle, this is not the study and endeavour of those who are perfect. They have enougli in Jesus Christ to occupy them, without troubling themselves with such things. Our true perfection consists in dying to ourselves that we may live to him ; in a word, in acting according to the sentiments I have declared to you. From all this you see, brethren, how vain is the distinction drawn by our opponents of the Romish church, between the precepts and advice of the evan- gelists. They say that the first relate to all Chris- tians, but the last to the perfect only ; and in this class they place celibacy, monkery, and all their de- pendences. It is a most preposterous idea to make essential to the perfection of the Christian religion ceremonies which were formerly in vogue among pagans, and at this day form part of the worship of divers false religions ; to suppose that walking with- out shoes, dressing like a Capuchin, begging, eating nothing but fish, and such things, can procure true spiritual perfection. But be this as it may, it is clear tliat the apostle directs his perfect ones to very dif- ferent exercises than these people. He commands neither beggary, nor dirtiness, nor a monkish habit. He does not forbid either marriage or the moderate use of meat. He neither teaches them to boast of being at the height of perfection, nor to presume upon their merit. All the discipline that he recom- mends is to embrace Jesus, to seek in him both justi- fication and sanctification, to die and rise again with him, to run continually towards the prize of their high calling ; things, as you plainly see, w'hich have nothing in common with the hood and the sackcloth, the orders of Benedict, or Francis, or Dominic, or Ignatius, the pretended teachers of Christian perfec- tion. Let us tlien, beloved brethren, leaving all these fanciful institutions, cleave only to those of the apostle ; and if we are perfect, as we ought to be, having so long been instructed in his pure doctrines, let us be of his mind, and practise what he commands. He adds, secondly, " And if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you." By calling those perfect who were of one mind with himself^ he places his doctrine above dis- cussion, and shows it to be an indubitable and cer- tain truth, since it was an imperfection not to receive it entirely. And although, by thus speaking, he sharply stung those who were of a different opinion, declaring that they could not be reckoned among the perfect and finished disciples of the Lord, yet, at the same time, he gives them encouragement by telling them that he hopes " God will reveal this unto them also," that they may prepare themselves with meekness and humbleness of mind to receive the true light of the gospel. We have already shown who they were of whom the apostle speaks, viz. the weak, who were unable to enjoy the full liberty of the gospel, considering themselves obliged to per- form certain legal ceremonies. On which we have to remark, first, that God does not always communi- cate the whole light of truth at once to his believing people ; but often, while bestowing a part, still leaves for a time some error in their understanding, even as you know that the apostles themselves were a long while under the idea that the partition wall between Jew and Gentile continued in force after the coming of Christ. As this is the case with indi- viduals, it may also happen with entire flocks ; and you are aware that it did happen in the days of our forefathers : many churches received not the whole light of truth, but retained both in doctrine and dis- cipline errors and corruptions which they have now cast off. II. The example of St. Paul shows us the manner in which we ought to conduct ourselves towards in- dividuals of this description, guarding us against two extremes into which men commonly fall on such oc- casions, flattery and harshness. We ought to testify constantly for the truth, and boldly lay before the weak believer the error in which he stands, as does the apostle here, not concealing from those who were not of one mind with him, that they failed in this respect, and were consequently far from Christian perfection. But, at the same time, it is not necessary to tear and persecute our weaker brethren as though they were lost without resource, or to flee from them as excommunicated persons, the instant we remark in them any difference of sentiment. Let us rather hope, with the apostle, that God, who is good and powerful, will in time reveal his truth to them also. Let our kindness induce them to think, and give thera reason to judge favourably of our cause. Further, we learn that God alone is the Author of all the knowledge we possess of his blessed truth. It is he who gives it in the commencement; it is he alone who preserves it in us ; it is he who re- stores it to us, when we have lost some of its rays. Paul may plant, and Apollos water, but God givetb the increase. He that planteth is nothing, and he that watereth is nothing, but God that giveth the Chap. III. THE EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS. 137 increase. Far from hence be those who imagine that God is said to " reveal his truth to us," because he places before our eyes the things of the gospel, and that it is our part to receive them or not. Had such been the case, the apostle would not have spoken here of the revelation of God. For he was not ar- guing respecting some new thing which had never been made clear to the Philippians, but rather of the persuasion of a truth which they had seen and re- jected. When, therefore, the apostle says that " God will reveal this unto them," he means that God will so discover it to their heart, and cause them to feel it so deeply, that instead of rejecting, as heretofore, they will gladly receive it in the obedience of faith. Again, let those who are weak learn from hence never to be puffed up in their ignorance, rejecting and casting from them the light of truth, but let them humble themselves in the sight of God, and desire to listen to his instructions with meekness and affec- tion, in the conviction that the blessed Lord never fails to hear all who pray to him ; but teaches his ways to the blind, opens to them that knock, and gives to them that ask ; while, on the other hand, he resisteth the proud, and increaseth the darkness to those who love the night, sealing error upon them who receive not the light of truth. Finally, learn here the pitiable weakness of our I understandings, since those already so far instructed in the gospel, that St. Paul calls them " brethren," were yet incapable of unravelling a question which appears so easy, or of acknowledging their error, gross as it was, until the God of heaven should him- self reveal to them the things of which they were ignorant. III. But I must come to the two last points, which the apostle recommends to all believers in common, whether perfect or weak. The first is contained in these words, " Neverthe- less, whereto we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us mind the same thing." It would be an excellent thing, brethren, if believers were so perfectly agreed, that there were among them one only sentiment with regard to religion. But this happiness being rather to be wished than expected, because of the infirmity of our minds while we remain on earth, the apostle here commands us to restrain ourselves in such wise, that if there arise a diversity of sentiment among us, it should produce no bitterness in our feelings, no disturbance of our concord. And to understand his meaning well, it must be remarked that he is not in this place speak- ing of all diversity of opinion. For there are some from which we ought to separate, viz. those which would shake the very foundations of the faith, inculcating impiety towards God, or vices contrary to that charity due to our neighbour. After having warned and ex- horted such as hold views of this nature, unless they turn from them we ought to banish them from our communion, for fear lest their false doctrine should injure the truth of God. But if this diflference of opinion should not interfere with the foundations of our faith, obliging us neither to fail in the service of God, nor in love to man, then must the apostle's commands here be brought to bear. They are, first. That they who have the truth on their side should encourage a holy and charitable hope that God at some future time will reveal it also to those who differ from them. Secondly, That each party should consider the other as brethren, and, notwithstanding their opposition of sentiment, live in harmony to- gether; they who know the truth not rejecting or despising those who know it not, nor they who are ignorant allowing themselves to be puffed up against those who are instructed in it. That to this end each party ought to remember the principal truths on which they are agreed, and to the knowledge whereof the_v have come by the grace of God alone. Such truths should be the very bond of union ; they should mutually defend them, and firmly maintain their common creed, taking care not to separate from that, and continually rendering one another, on this foundation, all those duties which charity enjoins ; thus living in the constant exercise of holy friendship and piety. Such is the apostle's meaning in this expression, " whereto we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule." He calls the points on which we are agreed together, " that to which we have already attained," and the "rule" by which he would have us walk is the knowledge or belief that we possess in common. This he would have us take for the rule of our intercourse and conversation with others. He adds further, " let us mind the same thing ;" that is to say, with regard to those subjects on which we agree, let us carefully retain them, without allow- ing the enemy to increase our differences, or extend them to the principal and fundamental articles of our faith. There are those who suppose these last words to signify the result of the apostle's commands, and they would translate them thus : " Whereto we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, in order that we may mind the same thing." And this exposition is not bad, that the securest method of maintaining perfect harmony amongst us is to hold ourselves strictly united in the principal points in which our common faith consists. If we conduct ourselves thus, God will not fail to bless our modera- tion, and enlighten the minds of those who err, so us to cause all differences to cease. The apostle also adds this condition to the hope which he holds out to weak believers, " God shall reveal even this unto you. A'evertheless, whereto we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule :" as though he would say that they should without doubt receive this grace from God, provided mean- while they were not seduced away from fundamental truths, but continued in harmony and kindness with their brethren in respect to those subjects on which they held a common creed. Wonderful meekness ! Admirable wisdom of the apostle ! How much is it to be lamented that this Divine rule here given has been so little acted upon in the churches of Christ ! Had it been followed, the enemy could never have produced all those ravages and disorders which have conducted most of them to ruin and destruction. Christendom would not have been so often embroiled for some trifling difference of opinion ; ministers of Christ hurling against one another excommunications and anathe- mas ; the people, led on by the example of their spi- ritual guides, tearing each other in pieces, and even brethren becoming to their brethren as wolves and tigers. Sometimes, I must confess, they who had truth on their side did not conduct themselves as they ought, but rather irritated than healed the wounds already made by their haughty and intoler- ant deportment. But, generally speaking, it has been the case that where the greatest error existed in doctrine, there also has it been most manifested in practice, and they who were most ignorant of the truth have shown the least charity towards others ; and this was especially seen at the commencement of the Reformation, when they who continued in error invariably proved themselves the most violent and obstinate enemies of peace. Let us then profit by the weaknesses of others, and rejoice with thankfulness in that perfect union which 2 L 138 AN EXPOSITION OF Serm. xxir. God has preserved among us, in spite of all the effects of those who endeavour to disturb it : let us put on the howcls of mercies recommended to us by our Lord in order to bear the infirmities of such brethren as feel differently from ourselves ; and while hoping and waiting for them to be enlightened from above, let us walk by the same rule with them in that to which they have already attained. IV. To this we are directed by the excellent ex- ample of the apostle, which he himself conjures us all to follow, whether we be strong or weak, perfect, or of those who have not yet attained, or indeed of what condition soever we may be: "Brethren, be follow- ers together of me." He often reminds the believers, to whom he writes, of this duty : when representing to the Corinthians that he had begotten them through the gospel, he adds, "Wherefore, I beseech you, be ye followers of me," 1 Cor. iv. 16; and afterwards, "Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ," 1 Cor. xi. 1. He also praises the Thessalonians for having been his imitators : " Ye became followers of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction with joy of the Holy Ghost," I Thess. i. 6; ii. 3, 7- Again, in another place, he tells them that he had abstained from things lawful in order to be to them as an ensample. But here he desires further that the Philippians should unite together with one accord, and endeavour to imitate his con- duet, each one in his own life. This therefore was the design of God in causing him to endure so many trials, that there should be no virtue of which he has not left us a noble example. Happy minister of Christ, whose perfect consciousness of his own inno- cence enables him to propose himself boldly as a pattern to his flock ! even as a good father does not fear to set forth his life to his children as the model for theirs. But, not satisfied with setting before the Philip- pians one excellent example, St. Paul exhorts them to regard also the other servants of God who, like him, lived in pureness and holiness, and devoted themselves faithfully to their appointed work : " Mark them which walk so as ye have us for an ensample." He does not wish that they should carelessly copy all who present themselves with the name and outward appearance of the Lord's servants; for the messen- gers of Satan are sometimes disguised as the minis- ters of Christ. But he desires them to examine them first, and if they find upon them the mark and character of the apostolic life, the coin (as it were) of Heaven, the same form of sound words, then to endeavour at once to follow them. From this we learn that Paul and the other apostles were designed by God to serve as models in the Christian church, both with regard to doctrine and practice, according to OUT Lord's promise, that they should sit on twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel. It is to their rule all tilings must be brought, and then be re- jected or received according as they coincide with that. However excellent and esteemed a minister may be, before we follow him, let us carefully ex- amine whether he walks according to the pattern of those holy and excellent servants of the Lord, who faithfully transmitted to us the example they had received from Jesus. Neither does the change of time exempt any one from this rule. Although the authority of those who are set before us may be very ancient, yet must we examine their doctrines in the apostle's light. For the same law that he gave then holds good now, " Mark them which walk so as ye have us for an ensample." If we desire to walk with assurance, and without fear of falling, we must take this holy man for our model, whether with regard to our faith or conversation. It is for this purpose that Divine Providence has so distinctly engraven his image in many parts of holy writ; for this purpose is it preserved to us until now. Let us receive nothing into our creed which did not appear in his. Let us be careful to reject whatever cannot be found in his preaching, and let us hold him accursed who shall preach any other gospel than that he had preached, though he be a prophet, or an apostle, or even an angel from heaven. There are who complain that it is difficult to dis- cern the truth of Christianity from the many errors men have mingled with it. But behold a short and easy tnethod, if we seek it in Paul ; if we content ourselves with his rule, and do not weary ourselves to discover what he has not taught us ; if we main- tain the resolution to believe and do like him ; for this apostle did not preach with the mouth and pen only, as too many do who philosophize, but with the tongue. His whole life is a sermon, a living law, exemplifying and authorizing, in his own character, all that his mouth and his pen had declared. To be then his perfect and accomplished disciples, we must imitate him in this respect. For it will little avail us to have our faith founded on his word, unless our lives are also conformed to his. You well know that the Lord of all will judge men, not by their pro- fession, but by their works ; and justify their faith by the fruits it shall have produced. Let us, then, con- tinually place before our eyes the conversation of this great apostle, his zeal, his love, his humility, his charity, his patience, and all the other virtues which shine out in his life. Let our manners be cast in this heavenly mould, and formed exactly after this beautiful pattern. Let us, like him, obey the voice of Jesus, and leaving for ever the evil way in which vice or ignorance had enthralled us, let us faithfully serve that blessed Saviour who calls to us from hea- ven. Let him be henceforth all our desire ; let his glory be the only aim in our conduct, and the love of him the one law of our life. Let us no longer con- sult with flesh and blood, but let their interests be trampled under our feet. Let the world be crucified to us, and all its pomps and vanities he held in abomination. Observe also the love of the apostle towards men ; how he yielded and changed his manners in outward things in order to win their souls ; how he pitied their blindness, and even wished himself accursed for their sakes ; what interest he felt in their welfare, even forgetting his own trials, and caring neither for prisons nor chains, if assured of the prosperity of his brethren. How shall I describe his constancy and the strength of his courage, which enabled him to despise the most bloody persecutions, prisons, ship- w'recks, stripes, and to support all, however dread- ful, not only with patience, but even with joy ! re- garding death with calmness, wishing for rather than fearing it, and triumphing over whatever ap- peared most formidable, whether in life or death. But in the midst of all this how meek, how humble is this holy man ! He esteems himself as nothing ; he condescends to mean things; he hesitates not to work witli his own hands like a poor artisan ; to say nothing of his sobriety, temperance, and the purity of his private life, withdrawn not merely from in- justice or dishonesty, but even from allowed pleasures. Dear brethren, how far are we yet from this stand- ard ! we who hate our neighbours ; who despise and outrage them; who make our profit of their ruin; who make it our pastime to injure them; who persecute our brethren instead of wishing well to our enemies, and often offend our neighbours in entertaining strangers ; who, forgetting the teaching of Christ, the example of Paul, and the very laws of nature Chap. III. THE EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS. 139 themselves, feel no horror in openly practising iniqui- ties against those whom we ought to honour and cherish even more than ourselves ! How far are we from this model ! we who cannot suffer affliction without being almost in despair ; who upbraid Hea- ven and murmur against its decrees at the least trial ! we who are often ashamed of the gospel, and instead of being ready cheerfully to seal its truth with our blood, are unwilling to expose ourselves to the small- est inconvenience for its sake ! we who are so filled with self-love, that we imagine every thing ought to yield to our interests; and so little habituated to the moderation of the apostle, that the excess of our pleasures and luxuries is only in conformity to the manners of the age ! Christian, is this imitating Paul ? Is it thus you follow the example he set be- fore you ? O let us henceforth efface from our life this vile likeness to men of this world, and let us manifest a conformity to the apostle. Let us give our- selves no rest until we have copied, if not his entire Eortrait, at least a little sketch of the love, patience, umility, candour, and moderation of that holy man. And although in him shine forth all the features of true Christianity, yet let us not copy him alone. Let us also contemplate the other saints who, in various ages and countries, have lived after the same rule. And as it is said that a famous painter of former times once assembled around him a number of hand- some countenances, in order to copy the most beauti- ful feature in each, that he might thereby produce a perfect face ; so let us assemble in our hearts the portraits of the most eminent servants of God who flourished either under the Old or Kew Testament. Let us choose the most beautiful feature in each character, and so copy it that it may be manifested in our conversation. Let us imitate the faith of Abraham, the love of Joseph, the cheerfulness of Moses, the patience of Job, the zeal of Elijah, the purity of Daniel, the ardour of Peter, the mildness of John, the obedience of Matthew, the repentance of Zaccheus, and the devotion of Stephen. Let us leave no plant in the garden of Scripture from which we may gather a flower to adorn our life ; so that having faithfully followed and imitated here below the con- versation of these holy men, who were set before us as models, we may also partake of the glorj-, honour, and immortality which they enjoy in the bosom of Jesus Christ, the author of their and our salvation, the first and sovereign model of all perfection ; to whom, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, true and only Lord, blessed for ever, be honour and glory, world without end. Amen. SERMON XXIII. Verse 18, 19. for many walk, of irhom I have told you often, and now tell you even ueeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ : whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things. We read in the Gospel of St. Alatthew that our Lord, among other parables wherein he set before his dis- ciples the mysteries of his kingdom, proposed to them that of a man who had sowed good seed in his field ; but while men slept, the enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, so that when the wheat was grown up, then appeared the tares also. This, my brethren, is a striking picture of what is daily occurring under the preaching of the gospel. The man who sows is Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the great Teacher, the Redeemer of the world. The seed which he sows is the word of life, the pure and wholesome doctrine that he plants in the hearts of men, a.s his field, by the hand and ministry of his servants. The fruits produced thereby are faith and piety, which render men Christians and the children of God, instead of the wretched slaves of sin and death, which they were by nature. The enemy is the devil, the prince of darkness, who, burning with hatred against this holy work of God, crosses and combats it with all his power. The night, wherein he does his work, signifies the artifice and disguise in which he wraps himself that he may pass undis- covered ; and the sleep of men, during which he so artfully labours, is the negligence of believers, who, too often, having their minds overcharged with the affairs of this world, do not give sufiicient attention to the object of their high calling. The pernicious tares which he sows in the midst of them signify the heresies, false doctrines, and schisms which he spreads among those who make profession of Chris- tianity. Such is the picture which the Saviour draws of the state of his gospel and church here below ; and every succeeding century has justified the truth of the prediction. For never has the gospel of Jesus been faithfully preached in any place, but the devil, that fierce and mortal enemy of the church, has also scattered his bad seeds, raising up false teachers, op- posing, by their means, truth with error, and endea- vouring to darken the faith of believers by pernicious impostures. Thus, at the present day, there is no part of the Christian field in which the tares, the work of the enemy, do not manifest themselves. Such was also the experience of our fathers, when, in the midst of their useful labours, so many evil- workers arose, who disturbed the church and scan- dalized the world by their false and destructive in- ventions. The holy apostles, the first ministers of our Lord, were not exempt from this sort of persecu- tion ; Satan having, even in their time, brought in various strange doctrines to disturb and perplex the early Christians. And from that period until now, if you consider every age of Christianity, you will find none without this sort of warfare ; for the enemy never sees the heavenly seed sown by the Lord but he immediately endeavours to scatter his tares. You may hence judge, my dear brethren, with what vigilance we should watch, and with what earnest- ness we should exercise our senses in discerning the production of heaven from that of the earth, the seed of the Son of God from the tares of the enemy ; not confounding them together because they spring out of the same furrow or in the same field. It is for this reason that the apostle Paul repeats in the text the injunction he had before given to the Philippians in the preceding verse, to mark them who walked like himself in the perfection of Chris- tian doctrine : " For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ." It is not without cause that I would open your eyes to ex- amine attentively, by the model that I set before you, those who come to labour among you, for you must not suppose that all you meet witli in this field are the seed and servants' of God in Christ. Often do his enemies conceal themselves under his name and livery, and in this disguise ravage his flocks and ruin his innocent sheep ; hating and fighting against that cross which they pretend to adore, and carrying on their warfare in a manner the more dangerous as it 110 AN EXPOSITION OF Serm. XXIIl. is hidden and unsuspected. And therefore, in order that the Philippians might hold such wicked and unhappy instruments of Satan in abhorrence, the apostle represents them in their true and lively colours. For after having said that they are the enemies of the ci'oss of Christ, he adds in the next verse, " Whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things." The warning here given to the Philippians .shall form (if it please God) the subject of my present dis- course. And in order that you may be enabled to understand it the more fully, I purpose to treat the two heads distinctly and consecutively : First, The form and fashion of the warning, " I have told you before, and now tell you even weeping." Secondly, Its matter and substance; and this divides itself into five points, or distinct qualities, possessed by these evil-workers of whom the apostle speaks. First, "Enemies of the cross of Christ." Second, Their " end is destruction." Third, Their " God is their belly." Fourth, Their " glory is in their shame." Fifth and last, They " mind earthly things." I. With regard to the first subject, the apostle re- minds the Philippians that he does not now for the first time warn them of the numbers and errors of those false teachers of whom he advises them to be- ware : " I have told you often." From whence it appears to be the duty of every faitliful minister of Christ, not only to preach the truth, but also to re- prove error, and combat those who endeavour to cor- rupt and hinder the right preaching of the gospel. St. Paul, who here teaches us this by example, gives it as an express command to Titus his beloved dis- ciple, " Exhort, rebuke with all authority," Tit. ii. 15 ; and in like manner he tells Timothy, among other duties, to reprove and rebuke, 2 Tim. ii. 4. Every church may be compared to a flock of sheep, and the ministers thereof may be called the shep- herds. Now the duty of the shepherd is to watch for the safety of the flock, and to guard it from wild beasts. For this reason the prophet Isaiah compares those inert ministers, who see false teachers creeping in, without rebuking them and opposing their efforts, to " dumb dogs who cannot bark," Isa. Ivi. 10. I know very well that these false teachers complain, and accuse of bitterness and want of charity, all those who, unable to endure their doctrines, warn their people of them, and put them on their guard, by pointing them out clearly, and hiding none of their evil qualities. But it is by no means remarkable that the barking of the dogs should annoy the wolves. Let them cease to be wolves, and we will cease to rail against them. But if they persist in persecuting our flocks, it is natural that we should have at least as much courage and constancy in defending our- selves as they have in attacking us. They may, if they please, accuse us of violence ; it is sufiicient that we have the apostle's example whereby to justify our- selves. He was not satisfied with once warning the Philippians against the destructive doctrines of the false teachers ; no, says he, " I have told you often ;" and having given them these many warnings by his voice, he repeats the same thing in writing, "and now tell you again." For while the enemies of our salvation are continually prowling around us, like Satan, whose example they follow, and who is de- scribed as "going about like a roaring lion," 1 Pet. v. 8; while they are never tired of attacking us, but, however repulsed and driven away, have always the boldness to return again to the assault; the faithful pastor also must not spare himself. He ought to be continually defying them, and with invincible courage should oppose them in spite of their malice, employ- ing in so honourable a cause not only the lips and voice, but also the hand and the pen ; as did the great apostle. Such is his command to Timothy, " Be in- stant in season, out of season," 2 Tim. iv. 2. In so pressing a duty it becomes us rather to be impor- tunate than indifferent. The Lord gives a similar order to his prophet Isaiah; "Cry aloud, spare not; lift up thy voice like a trumpet," Isa. Iviii. 1. And again, describing the ministers that he would appoint over his church in Jerusalem, he predicts that " they shall never hold their peace day nor night," Isa. Ixii. 6. But here it is worthy of remark, that the apostle adds that he has given these warnings to the Philip- pians in weeping. He testifies in another place that he had used the same weapon with regard to the Ephesians: "By the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears," Acts XX. 31. For this holy man was not of that hard and pitiless sect, which in former times was in such re- pute among the pagans, where the heart and affec- tions of the philosopher were steeled and dried as well as his tears; he was of the humane and tender school of the Lord Jesus, who moulded his followers to such exquisite charity, that they could not behold the evil ways of a fellow creature without being touched to the quick, and feeling the deepest sorrow ; who was not himself ashamed to weep when he met with objects worthy of his tears. Besides that, weep- ing is a necessary and natural consequence of pily ; for it is impossible that a soul can be deeply touched without affecting the body, and instantly opening that secret spring of tears which God has placed in our hearts as a sign of the softness and kindness of that nature he has given us ; man alone, of all animals, having the faculty of weeping : besides, I say, these tears, which in themselves appear a trifling thing, are often very useful, and produce more effects than the most formidable strength. How often have they weakened the firmest courage ! How often have they brought about that which neither reason nor violence was able to effect ! Minds that had resisted all other efforts have been subdued and won by tears, and after having stood firm against the rudest shocks, have yielded to this apparently feeble weapon. But, to say no more respecting the merits of tears generally, it cannot be denied that those of Paul, and of such servants of God as, after his example, have shed them on like occasions, were very necessary; for they proved their zeal, and were an evidence that it was neither envy, nor hatred of men, nor any un- kind feelings, which animated them against these evil-workers, and inspired them with such sharp and bitter censures as they applied to their doctrine and morals. They proved that their warmth was but the legitimate offspring of their love, and the effect of a holy grief. And, of a truth, the case before us might well draw tears from the apostle's eyes; for he saw on the one hand the misery of those whom he reproves, and on the other their danger to whom he writes. He weeps for either party. For with regard to the first, is it not a lamentable thing when they to whom God has granted the knowledge of liimself abuse that knowledge to their own perdition ? when, after being marked with his seal and enrolled under his banners, they desert to the service of his enemies, and fight against himself ? when they endeavour to corrupt by their secret poison those whom open enemies could not subdue by force ? Is it not spectacle worthy of our tears, to behold those whom the Son of God has redeemed by his blood clenched in the claws of Satan ? to see such as he would elevate to heaven trampled in the very dust ? to find flesh and blood triumphing over the seal and Chap. III. THE EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS. 141 teaching of the Spirit of God ? The hardest heart would behold with pity the downfal of a man from an honourable station to indigence and sorrow ; what then must be our emotion when we contemplate these unhappy ones who are falling from heaven into the abyss of woe, becoming teachers of error after having been followers of the truth, and, from the glory of being children of God, drawn into the igno- minious condition of the seiTants of corruption ! But besides their own ruin, well calculated to ex- cite compassion, the apostle would consider still more the danger in which their malice placed the church of Christ ; these impostors boldly occupying the place of true and faithful teachers, and disguising their odious designs under the most attractive colours. For their doctrines had charms, and the more, be- cause we all naturally desire that which they pro- mised to their followers, — peace with the world, the favour and friendship of those from whom true Chris- tians had separated, and who every where stirred up against them the most cruel persecutions. St. Paul, seeing his converts, whom he had be- gotten in Christ with so many afflictions, whom he had placed in the true light of life by means of such bitter pains, in such imminent danger, was unable to restrain his tears ; like a tender mother, who can- not see her beloved children threatened with mis- fortune without terror, groans, and weeping. Brethren, let us imitate the apostle's holy example. Let the error of the false brethren, and the danger of true believers, awaken in our hearts sentiments similar to his. When, in the midst of the church itself, vipers are produced who devour the entrails of their mother, and disturb the communion to which they belong, we have need to weep and not to laugh ; to pray to God that he would so admonish men as to prevent the effect of an injurious doctrine ; and to warn each of the brethren to beware of the enemy, and not be deceived by the mark he wears. This the apostle does in the text ; and besides his tears, in order to give the Philippians a just horror of the false teachers, he unfolds in a few words all the mystery of their iniquity, and tearing away the de- ceitful mask with which they covered themselves, exposes them as they really were to the eyes of true believers. In the first place, he tells them that " many walk," that is, among the Christians ; and this would add to the anxiety of the Philippians, for it is evident that the greater the number of enemies, the greater the danger, and the greater should be our vigilance. The Holy Spirit does not feed us with vain promises ; he does not conceal from us the danger in which we are, or the number of our enemies ; he warns us of every thing so faithfully that w-e have no right to plead being taken by surprise. And here I would observe, brethren, how inevitable this sort of trial appears in the church. For if, at the commencement of Christianity, and under the very eyes of the apostles, there were not few, but many, evil-workers, as we have just seen, certainly the multitude of errors, contradictions, troubles, that disturb Christendom in our day, should not surprise us, or raise a doubt in our minds respecting the truth of our religion ; but, on the contrary', should confirm it to us, as an evident mark that it is the religion of the apostles, since it is exposed to the same adversaries. For Satan leaves those who follow lies quietly to themselves, being well assured of their perdition. Those whom he opposes are generally followers of the truth, because they alone of all men are likely to disturb his reign, and are capable of destroying it. On this account there have been many more here- sies and schisms in the Christian than in any other religion : in the Mahomedan, for instance, there are very few; so also the popish faith reigned in Christendom in peace in that respect, before the Lord revealed the light of truth. As soon as that bright sun arose, immediately thousands of serpents and venomous reptiles manifested themselves, and continue to this hour to scandalize the church of God. II. Let us now observe particularly the apostle's description of these men ; their marks, their manners, their condition. As I have already said, this descrip- tion comprises five distinct subjects. First, They are " enemies of the cross of Christ." I confess (says he) that they speak of Christ and his cross i but in reality they are his enemies. They paint his emblems on their banners, and profess to follow him ; but in secret they deny him and injure his cause. For do not imagine, brethren, that the men of whom the ap)ostle speaks were Jews or pa- gans, that is, open enemies ; no, they had been bap- tized in the name of Christ, and they also baptized others. They boasted of following the gospel, and of teaching it better than any. Yet, notwithstanding these appearances, St. Paul cries respecting them, " They are enemies of the cross of Christ ;" that is to say, of the most sacred of his mysteries, the loftiest trophy of his victory, the most salutary doctrine of Scripture. And this should teach us to judge of men rather by their works than words, and not to recog- nise as followers of the Lamb all who boast of being such. It often happens that the very people who in words most honour the cross, in deeds the most in- sult it. They worship it in name, but they deny its power. They exalt it in profession, but they darken its glory, unwilling that it should be the only justi- fication of man, the only expiation for sin, the only sacrifice capable of appeasing the wrath of God. And as for these of whom the apostle speaks, judaizing teachers, mingling the law and the gospel, they were certainly enemies of the cross in many ways ; they taught that man can be justified by the law, an error most offensive to the cross of Christ, since it takes from him his highest glory, that of saving men, as St. Paul has elsewhere declared, " If righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain," Gal. ii. 21. Again, the motive which induced them to publish this doctrine was nothing less than fear of the hatred and persecution of the Jews, as we learn from the apostle; when speaking of them he says, " Lest they should sufi'er persecution for the cross of Christ," Gal. v. 21. It was the fear of being called to endure, for the gospel's sake, those sufferings to which its true disciples are exposed, which inspired them with the love of so pernicious a doctrine ; so that, although in outward appearance and profession they worshipped " Christ crucified for us," yet in fact they were enemies of his cross; that is, both of the afflictions to which his people are subject, and which are frequently called his cross; and of the principal cause of them, namely, a firm reliance thereon. Again, after living as slaves to the flesh, and worshipping the belly, as the apostle mentions below, it is very evident that in this respect also they were the enemies of the cross, which has nothing more inimical to it than the flesh ; for it was elevated to humble the flesh, and to cure us of the bite of that wily and deadly serpent ; to destroy its lusts and bind its passions : and they who have truly tasted the virtue of the cross become new creatures, dead to sin and the flesh, but alive to God and the Spirit : so that they who follow the flesh and minister to its desires, whatever profession they may make, are really the enemies of the cross of the Saviour of the world. Added to this, the cross, which is the found- 142 AN EXPOSITION OF Serm. XXIII. ntion of eveiy doctrine of the gospel, is often, by a figure of speech, put for the gospel altogether, from whence it follows, that people who corrupt its holy mysteries in any way, whether in belief or morals, are rightly denominated enemies of the cross. It appears, therefore, that we must place in this class, not only those who deny the death of the Sa- viour, (as do the Turks,) or its merit and atonement in being the perfect propitiation for sin, (as heretics,) or who rob it of its glory (as the papists) by insist- ing on other sacrifices besides that of the cross, or who teach justification partly by works ; but like- wise all those who endeavour, by artifice and dis- simulation, to avoid the afflictions to which a faithful profession of the gospel always leads ; or who, by the luxury and dissipation of their lives, deny the power of godliness, notwithstanding that outwardly they retain the appearance of Christians. And although this description of the false teachers, viz. that they " were enemies of the cross of Christ," might be sufficient to excite a just horror against them in the breast of every real servant of the Sa- viour, who loves nothing so ardently as the glory of his cross, the only source of his felicity and his life ; yet St. Paul, in order more deeply to impress the Philippians with the necessity of fleeing from such people, adds. Secondly, That their " end is destruction." I ac- knowledge that the word " end," which the apostle uses here, sometimes signifies the design and inten- tion of a man, the end that he proposes, the object at which he aims ; and indeed it may not be inappro- priate thus to understand it, for the design of these men was certainly the ruin and destruction of all who allowed themselves to be seduced into their errors ; in the same manner as our Lord says that " the thief cometh but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy," John x. 10. But it appears more suitable to suppose that the words relate rather to the destruction of the seducers themselves ; that they describe the horrid and end- less ruin in which their malicious labours were plunging them. And in this light the word " end" may be under- stood in two ways : first, as salary or wages. For Scripture employs it sometimes in this signification ; as when the apostle, speaking of the sins to which men are prone in a natural state, says, "The end (that is, the wages) of those things whereof they were now ashamed, is death," Rom. vi. 21. Some also interpret St. Peter's words in the same way, " Receiving the end of your faith, even the salva- tion of your souls," 1 Pet. i. 9. Here, in like man- ner, destruction is the end of these evil-workers ; all the wages they obtain for the trouble they give themselves and others being nothing less than per- dition. O sad, but most just retribution! O blind and senseless' madness, preferring to labour for so unhappy a reward, rather than to aspire after the precious wages reserved for the truly pious! It is true these unhappy people toil much, that cannot be denied; the discipline they teach is difficult to endure ; yet all the recompence they shall obtain is eternal damnation. Probably they do not imagine this. Probably, intoxicated with delight at their own vain works, they already in imagination divide among themselves, like the mother of Sisera, the spoils of the world, and conceive that their great and laborious designs will be crowned with eternal glory. But the apostle, the faithful interpreter of the oracles of God, promises them no other wages than destruction. The sanie thing is however signified, if by this word " end" we understand the issue and success of a matter ; as the apostle himself takes it, when, speaking allegorically of the world, (that is, man,) which produces only briers and thorns, he adds, " whose end is to be burned," Heb. vi. 8. And our Saviour also, in the parable already quoted at the commencement of this discourse, denounces these evil-workers in the same terms ; saying, " They shall bind the tares in bundles to burn them," Matt. xiii. 30. Again, it is said the " end" of such evil-workers as transform themselves into ministers of Christ will be "according to their works," 2 Cor. xi. 15; in other words, that having lived and laboured as the enemies of the Lord, they would hereafter be treated as such. And, in fact, these people always go on from bad to worse. They fall from one precipice to another, the justice of God pursuing them, and , awfully witnessing that they have never really loved I the truth ; so that, after descending into various 1 depths of sin, they are at length hastened into the abyss of death and everlasting damnation. O be- lievers, if we tremble at their end, let us also beware of their error; and, in order to avoid their doom, let us also avoid their crime. But the apostle, after having shown us the " end" of these people, in order to justify such a consum- mation, proceeds, Thirdly, to represent to our eyes the enormity of their sin. Their " god (says he) is their belly." In another place, speaking in a manner similar to this, and which may serve to explain the text, he re- proaches them for the same thing, saying, " These serve not the Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly," Rom. xvi. 18. For when he says in the text, their " belly is their god," he does not mean that they liter- ally believed their belly to be a god, and that so feeble a part of the human frame could really be a partaker of the Divine nature, as the pagans sup- posed with regard to their false gods. Such a sup- position is too carnal to dwell in the mind of any man. But the holy apostle intended to signify that to please the belly, to indulge and gratify the flesh, was their ultimate object ; and that so unholy a pas- sion for the things of the flesh, subjecting all their thoughts and desires, was the same thing as though the belly had been the divinity they adored. For nothing was permitted to interfere with its gratifica- tion ; but, on the contrary, every thing was sacrificed to it. And as we might say of an avaricious man that money is his god, so the apostle, in like manner, expresses himself, saying that a " covetous man is an idolater," and that " covetousncss is idolatry," Eph. V. 5 ; Col. iii. 5. For as we ought to love our God supremely, and consider his will rather than our own, preferring his service to every other considera- tion, it is with much elegance St. Paul gives the name of God to that which men most esteem, and to which all other things are forced to yield. Perhaps he also referred to the language of these men, who boasted of regarding nothing but the will and glory of God and his Christ in the alterations they were endeavouring to make in the church. The apostle therefore declares that the god to whom they made these great sacrifices was really their belly, and not the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, or Jesus Christ himself, because, in fact, (as we have already shown,) seeing with what rage the Jews persecuted Paul, and that it was not possible for them to preach the gospel purely without kindling a like fury against themselves, in order to be exempt from this, and find their preaching subservient to the flesh, (being above all things desirous of its repose,) they retained circumcision, and mingled the law with the gospel of Christ. Fourthly, The apostle adds, their " glory Is in their Chap. III. THE EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS. 143 shame." Some suppose that he intends here the fame which these teachers enjoyed; for it often hap- pens that people of this sort, by the boldness of their address, and the arrogance of their behaviour, so im- pose upon tlie simple, that they even prefer them to the true and faithful servants of God. St. Paul therefore protests that this vain idol of glory and fame is in truth but ignominy and shame; and that the colours with which it is decked at present will be torn away by the just decree of God, who will expose it in its true light. In the same manner Hosea speaks, " I will change their glory into shame," chap. iv. 7- But this interpretation, though good, and followed by authors of respectability, appearing rather strained, it would seem better to apply the words differently, and read it thus, " their glory is in their shame," meaning, they glory in those things of which they ought to feel ashamed, which are rather shameful than honourable. For it is usual in the Holy Scrip- tures to give the name of a thing to the causes which produce it, and on which it depends. Thus Jesus is often called " our life, our hope, our gloiy," because he is the Prince and Author of life and glory. In this sense Wisdom speaks, "Whoso hateth me loveth death," Prov. iii. 6.; not that such people actually and literally desired death, (that is opposed to our nature,) but it signifies that they loved earthly things, and would thereby be conducted to certain ruin. So the apostle, when he says in the text, " the glory of these false teachers is in their shame," does not mean that they were ashamed of what they did, and that in such shame consisted their glorj', (this would be a most extravagant idea,) but rather that those things in which they gloried were worthy of shame and blushing instead of boasting. We read in the Epistle to the Galatians, (chap, vi.,) that among other things they gloried in the flesh of those whom they persuaded to be circumcised; as though it were a good action to have corrupted the faith of a Chris- tian, and placed the Lord's free-men again in a state of slavery ; whereas, in reality, this was an action worthy of blame rather than praise. It cannot be doubted that they boasted also of having amalgamated the religion of Jesus with that of the Jews, whereas they should have wept for having so unhappily mingled the kingdom of heaven with the elements of the earth. Again, it is probable they talked loudly of the peace and friendship with the Jews, which they had procured for the church by their amiable yielding; yet this in reality was nothing less than purchasing ease and security to the flesh, at the ex- pense of the truth of God, and peace of conscience ; the most shameful and infamous bargain of which man can be guilty. Behold how St. Paul casts down with a word the glorying of these unhappy men, changing their boasting into confusion, and their trophies of honour into brands of disgrace, and making their awful arrogance manifest to all. For although it is an evil thing to be guilty of dishonourable and de- ceitful conduct, yet does a blush at the remembrance of evil deeds make some small amends for having committed them ; but, on the other hand, to glory in them and rejoice in boasting, instead of asking par- don on the knees, is doubtless the very height of in- solence. Lastly, The apostle gives the fifth mark of these false teachers, saying they " mind earthly things." Now some suppose that this relates to the Mosaic ceremonies which these people wished to retain, and which St. Paul elsewhere calls " the weak things of the world," opposing them to celestial things, mean- ing thereby the mysteries and service of the gospel. But, having said that their god was their belly, and adding, in the following verse, " our conversa- tion is in heaven," it is clear that the words must be taken in a general sense, as in other parts of Scrip- ture, especially Rom. viii. 5, " They that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh." His meaning there I conceive to be this, that these people possessed gross and sensual minds, attached to this world and its pleasures, without raising their eyes higher, without being inwardly moved by the Spirit of God, or having one true and lively feeling of that pure and spiritual glory which Christ has purchased and now lays up for us in heaven. For these earthly things of which he speaks are such as relate to the ease, and convenience, and pleasure of the flesh, of this weak and mortal state in which we now are, whether they be riches, honour, or pleasure. Thus much, beloved brethren, for the explanation of our text. In order to draw profit from it, we must treat it in a different manner from the preceding one. In that we considered the character of the holy apostle, set forth as our pattern ; now we must ex- amine that of the false teachers, that we may care- fully avoid their snare. Then we endeavoured to copy the features of that beautiful portrait on our own minds ; now we have to efface from them the re- semblance of this ; and if we have arrived at this point, that we do not find in our opinions and actions some (at least) of the marks described by St. Paul, we may be considered to have made no small pro- gress in the heavenly course. God grant it may be so! And certainly we ought to be thus advanced, considering the honour we have of living in the church of Christ, the Prince of life and Author of immortality. But, alas ! oiir conduct too plainly shows that we are yet far from this. There are in the very house of the crucified One those who hate his cross ; there are to be found there, O shame ! people who adore the belly, the most infamous of idols, and who glory in their shame. There are to be found in the school of heaven those who savour only of the things of earth, and in the abode of life and salvation unhappy beings whose end is de- struction. We boast of loving the cross of Christ, and ascribe to it the glory of having redeemed us. If this lan- guage be true, whence comes it that we still serve sin, which this cross has destroyed? Whence comes it that the lusts of the flesh still live in our members? If we love it, why do we listen to its enemies ? Why do we favour them ? Why do we betray its glory ? Why east down its tropliies, denying its virtue, and changing it into an instrument of corruption, as though it were of no other use than to procure for us a licence to sin with impunity ? Dear brethren, let us put away from our hearts this infamous idea. Let us truly love the cross of Christ, because it is in- deed lovely, though in appearance so frightful. Let us embrace it as the sole instrument of our salvation, as that which has appeased the wrath of God, silenced the demands of the law, shut up hell, abolished sin, opened heaven, and obtained for us eternal life. Let every action of our lives bear its impress, and our conversation be altogether sanctified by it ; and while we leave its vain and dead images to idolatry and superstition, let its wondrous virtue be mani- fested in our members. Let this cross drive far from them the lusts of the devil, the love of sin and of the world. May its thorns and nails pierce our old nature, and its holy efficacy be upon ns in such wise as that each of us may be, as it were, living copies of the crucified One, who on it accomplished the work of our redemption. Let us for ever renounce the service of idols, which this cross has abolished; not 144 AN EXPOSITION OF Serm. XXIII. Euch alone as the pagan in his ignorance worships, but those also which the world worships now in the very face and liglit of truth. The flesh is, of all others, the great idol which maintains its dominion over the larger portion of mankind. For this monster the arts are put in requisition ; for it men tread the desert land, and brave the stormy ocean, dreading no tempest, no danger, for its gratification. Its will is so completely obeyed, that for it the service of the true God, and the salvation of men's souls, are utterly neglected. At its desire, in former days, Esau bartered his birth- right, and its accompanying blessings, for a mess of pottage. It is in the service of this idol that so many unhappy ones barter heaven and eternity for a morsel of bread. This it was which so subtilized the minds of these false teachers against whom St. Paul is here arguing, and which instigated them to the proposal of a pernicious agreement between Judaism and Christianity. This it is which is the author of all those things which bring scandal on the church, the inventor of the artful snares with which Satan entraps the world, and the most dangerous assistant he has in the destruction of men's souls. Who can describe the injustice, the outrages, the enormities, the excesses of this iilthy, this greedy creature ? who recount the robberies of time and money committed by it against the service of God; the alms ravished from the poor ; the maladies incurred even by itself as a reward of its deeds ; the paralysis with which it strikes the mind, laying low all the nobler faculties ; the health of which it deprives the soul, plunging it into perdition that it may be entirely a slave to the flesh? Christians ! suffer not yourselves to be governed by such a monster. Remember that you have within you another and better part, — the soul, formed in the image of God, capable of immortality ; unlike the flesh, which will be destroj'ed with its aliments. It is the soul that should govern and command; it is the soul that ought to direct your conduct during life. The belly was given to be the servant and 7iot the master of your other members. Keep it in sub- jection. Sufler it not to transgress the laws of God. You are not forbidden to nourish it, but you are for- bidden to worship it. We may take due care of it, provided we never allow it to interfere with the glory of God, the edification of our neighbour, or the sal- vation of our own soul. For were we reduced to this extremity, (which indeed could rarely occur,) it would be better that the belly, with all its meats, should perish, than cause the least prejudice to the interests of the soul. And what I have here said with regard to the belly is equally applicable to all earthly things, for their value is no greater than it, nor their nature more excellent. There are none capable of render- ing us happy, or of guarding us from those real evils, the pangs of conscience, the wrath of God, death, or damnation. There are none capable of withstanding the secret ravages of time, which must inevitably consume them all ; and even now are they passing quickly away. They fly — they perish while I am speaking. Oh when shall we cease to desire so vain, so perishable a possession ? How long are we to build on so sandy a foundation ? How long shall we con- tinue to grasp air, clouds, smoke, shadowy forms which elude our embrace ? O believers, let us raise our hearts above the earth. Let us use this world without abusing it. It is disgraceful for persons called to a heavenly inheritance, and separated for the enjoyment of eternal life, to amuse themselves with mud, and delight in earthly things : nay, it is more, it is highly dangerous ; for the apostle most clearly shows that everlasting destruction is the end and reward of such slaves of vanity. If, then, we have any consideration either for our safety or our consistency, let us renounce for ever this infamous, this ruinous bondage, and serve from henceforth the sovereign God alone. Let us sigh for the happiness he promises, and desire only such things as will con- duct thereto. May Jesus Christ, the author of our salvation, give us this grace ; to whom, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, be all honour, glory, and praise, for ever and ever. Amen. SERMON XXIV. Verse 20, 21. For our conversation is in heaven ; from whence also ve look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able to subdue all things unto himself. Dear brethren, the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, the mystery of which we have this day celebrated, produce in those who truly participate therein two principal effects. First, This mystical food changes carnal and earthly men into spiritual and divine. For while the natural food which we take for the nourishment of our bodies loses its own form, and becomes a part of our substance, the body and blood of Christ, on the contrary, by their wondrous power, transform those who receive them into their nature, and produce in them a likeness to the Lord ; clothing them with his love, his patience, his purity, and his other heavenly qualities. Secondly, This spiritual food delivers us from corruption, and renders us im- mortal, according to the promise of our Lord, " Who- so eateth my flesh, and drinkelh my blood, hath eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day," John vi. 54. For as the tree of life in the garden of Eden had this virtue, that it shielded from death and perpetuated life in the man who fed thereon, so also the Lord Jesus, the true Tree of life, the joy and happiness of the second paradise, gives immortality to him yv'ho partakes of his sacred fruit, his body and blood which he has given for us. But while the life of Eden was terrestrial, animal, and subject to change, as the event has shown, that which the flesh and blood of Christ gives is celestial and unchangeable. Having then this day been partakers of this sacred food and living water at the holy table of the Lord, I consider that jt is suitable after partaking of this banquet to exercise ourselves in the meditation of the two excellent fruits which it is calculated to produce in us, in order that we may more effectually under- stand the value of this grace. For this purpose I have chosen for the subject of my discourse the passage of St. Paul which has been read to you, wherein that great apostle describes these two mysteries : First, Our condition after having been brought into communion with the Lord ; Citizens of heaven, men whose conversation is in the new Jerusalem. Secondly, The life we look for : Our vile bodies changed into glorious bodies. For the apostle having in this chapter combated certain evil-workers, who endeavoured to subject Christians to the Mosaic law, and having declared that they were enemies to the cross of Christ, that their belly was their god, and their glorj' confusion, as men who desired only terrestrial objects; the I Chap. III. THE EPISTLK TO THE PHILIPPIANS. 145 apostle, I say, now opposes to such men the temper, condition, end, and hope of true believers. " For our conversation is in heaven ; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ : who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able to subdue all things unto himself." Therefore, as I have already said, I purpose treat- ing of two subjects in the present discourse : Our citizenship and heavenly conversation, and the change hereafter to take place in our bodies at the second and glorious advent of our Lord, when they shall be conformed to his body. And may God enable us so to meditate on these things that our souls may be edified and built up, that being, while here below, citizens of heaven, we may hereafter participate in the Divine nature of the Lord Jesus, the sovereign Prince of life. Amen. L Touching the first point, the apostle explains it in few words : " Our conversation is that of citizens of heaven."* The word here employed t may be in- terpreted two ways ; for it occasionally signifies a republic or state ; the author of the book of Macca- bees uses it in this sense, when he says that Judas, being vexed with the perfidy of the inhabitants of Joppa, resolved to destroy their republic, 2 Mace. xii. 7, that is, to ruin their state ; wherein he makes use of the same word employed in the text. If then we understand it thus, the apostle's meaning will appear to be that our state or republic is in heaven. But as this word is derived from another, which signifies to converse, live, and conduct ourselves m a certain manner, agreeably to the customs of our fellow citi- zens ; and as St. Paul uses it in this sense, both in the Acts, (chap, xxiii. 1,) where he declares that he has lived in all good conscience towards God, and in this Epistle, (chap. i. 27,) desiring us to have our con- versation as it becometh the gospel of Christ ; it is evident that the word may be understood as referring to conversation, character, and manner of life. And thus it has been translated in the Vulgate, and by most of the ancient Greek and Latin fathers. Now although both these interpretations are good, yet, if I may venture to give an opinion, I consider that the first is more simple, rich, and beautiful than the second. Our French version has united the two ex- pressions, and translated it thus, " Our conversation is that of citizens of heaven ;" and by the expression "citizens of heaven" is signified that our cili/ or state is in heaven. This, then, is our first subject, and afterwards we have to consider the necessary consequence of this, viz. that "our conversation also is in heaven." By a city or state we understand a multitude or society of people, united in one body, governed by the same law's, enjoying the same rights, subject to the same prince, and having among them the same form of policy. From whence it is evident that the Christian church, that is to say, the multitude of be- lievers who receive the gospel of our Lord as pro- claimed by the holy apostles, is a. state, since all these conditions belong to it j all believers composing but one body, living under the same teaching, having the same laws, privileges, customs, and habits, the same form of government, and being subjects of the same King. But this holy republic dilfers entirely from the kingdoms of the world in many respects, but more especially in this, (which indeed includes all the others,) that it is in heaven, whereas all others are on the earth. On this account Daniel, predicting the foundation and establishment of this kingdom, con- * French ttanslatioa. f TloXiTivfitt, trasts it with those of the world, of which he had been speaking : " In the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever," Dan. ii. 44. And therefore it is that this state is frequently denominated " the kingdom of heaven," an appellation as you well know- of constant use in the Scriptures, and employed by the Jews themselves to signify the church of the Messiah. This holy kingdom is also called " the city of God," Heb. xi. 10; " Jerusalem which is above," Gal. iv. 26; and " the new Jerusalem w'hich descendeth out of heaven from God," Rev. xxi. 2. And herein it differs not only from the kingdoms of the world, properly so called, but even from the state of the first Adam in Paradise, and from the ancient Jewish republic in the land of Canaan. This divine city is really in heaven, first, because Jesus, its Prince and Builder, is heavenly, not only as regards his Godhead, but also as regards his man- hood, according to the doctrine of St. Paul, who says that the second man, viz. the Lord, is /"com heaveyi, 1 Cor. XV. 47 ; not formed of earth and dust, like the first Adam, the head of the first republic ; not by virtue of flesh and blood, like Moses the lawgiver and founder of the Jewish polity ; but formed of celestial mould, and animated by the Holy Spirit. And as his origin was heaven, so also is his abode there ; there is his court, and the seat of his empire, whether you consider his Divine or human nature. For although as God he is even,' where filling all space with his essence, yet Scripture particularly in- sists upon his presence in the heavens, because there is no place in the universe where that presence is so gloriously manifested, to the utter exclusion of sin, death, and sorrow. It is true that in the flesh he conversed for a season on earth, but this only on ac- count of the work of our redemption; and that finished, he was immediately raised up into heaven, his natural element, from whence this Divine Lord governs his empire : whereas the palaces of princes, how mag- nificent soever they may be, are all here below ; and even the Paradise destined for the habitation of man, though delightful and happy, was yet terrestrial ; so also the country of Canaan, the place of the Mosaic republic. And as our King is in the heavens, so from thence is the root of our extraction, the source of our blood. Prom thence are all true believers, not sprung from dust, as was the first man ; not from the loins of Abraham and Jacob, as were the Israelites; (these were of earthly original ;) but from the eternal Spirit, after the pattern of Christ : and this we learn from John, chap. iii. 3, 5, "Who are born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God ;" and also from our Lord's discourse with Nicodemus, " Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit he cannot enter into the king- dom of God." For the Holy Spirit, rendering the word of life, which is the seed of our regeneration, fertile within us, forms us into new creatures, fit to enter into the heavenly state. Further, in heaven is our home and rest ; we live on the earth in the character of pilgrims and strangers until the work of our trial be completed. Then will the Lord gather us into the celestial garner, in order that where he is there we may be also. There already dwell the first-fruits of our society, the spirits of all the holy brethren who are gone before. There they now dwell with the Lamb, and there in due time will the remainder of the happy citizens assemble. Hea- ven is the eternal city to which we aspire ; the true 146 AN EXPOSITION OF Serm. XXIV* Canaan, flowing with milk and honey, and abounding in delights, towards which we are now travelling. There the archives of our state are kept, the sacred registers in which the name of every citizen is en- rolled. In heaven are also to be found the armies of our state ; not weak soldiers armed with wood, or even iron, whose fidelity may be corrupted by the artifice of the enemy, whose strength may be weak- ened by illness or a thousand casualties, and whose life may be taken by the sword; but immortal war- riors, millions of angels clothed with wisdom and strength incorruptible. They watch over us night and day, and are sent here and there upon errands of mercy to us by our gracious Prince. Lastly, in this same place are our dignities and honours preserved ; the thrones on which we shall hereafter sit ; the cities of which our Master will give us the dominion in reward of our faithfulness; the incorruptible crowns with whicli he will ornament our foreheads ; the king- doms and priesthoods with which he will invest us ; the manna on which we are to feed ; the rivers of delights whereof he will grant us to drink ; the robes of fine linen, white and clean, in which he will clothe us ; in a word, all those rewards and blessings which will console us for our labours, and are comprised in that blessed word, "eternal life," now concealed, as St. Paul saith, " with Christ in God." Thus, brethren, you see the holy apostle had a good right to say that " our city," or our state, " is in heaven." But " our conversation" is also there. I do not speak of the time which our souls shall pass in heaven from the moment of death until the " last day," nor yet of the blessed eternity which we shall spend in the same place, and when these truths will be made evident and clear. But I say that even now, if we are truly Christians, we have our con- versation there. For they who are such " have been crucified together with Christ, and have been raised up together, and are sitting with him in the heavenly places," Eph. ii. 5, 6, as the apostle also witnesses elsewhere. 1 acknowledge that their body is on earth ; but their life, their conversation, is in heaven, each being truly able to say, " I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me ; and the life that I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and hath given himself for me." And as the conversation of the Israelites was in the temple of Jerusalem, however distant they might be from it with regard to the body, because to it their thoughts and affections turned ; towards that place they lifted their eyes in prayer when absent, and from thence expected the required succour, no captivity, no mis- fortune obliterating the memory of that holy sanc- tuary, the source of all their joys: so also the Chris- tian beholds in heaven the true Ark, the Lord Christ, where all the fulness of the Godhead dwells, not in types and figures as in the Mosaic ark, but in truth and reality ; the Ark truly worthy of adoration, the only source of joy, the living spring of happiness, wherff God communicates with them, and manifests himself to them ; where he receives their prayers, pronounces his instructions, and distributes to them grace, life, and blessing. Having this treasure in heaven, there is also their heart ; and the heart be- ing found there, there they have also their life. In heaven their faith dwells, their hope rests, elevated above all terrestrial things, penetrating within the veil, anchoring upon the Rock of ages. There dwells the soul in love; and beholding throughout the rest of tlie universe nothing but vanity and sin, it retires continually into this heavenly palace, where it may worship the Lord in spirit and in truth. There it feasts upon the sight of him, holds converse with holy angels and departed spirits, and endeavours to stamp upon its own character the impress of theirs ; imitating their purity, their zeal, their devotion, their earnestness in prayer, their warmth of love towards God and man, and, in fine, aspiring after that immor- tality which they enjoy. This is the conversation which the apostle commands : " Seek the things that are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth," Col. iii. 1, 2. To have one's " conversation in heaven," is to seek heavenly things and love them ardently. Such is the sense in which the apostle says, " Our city and our con- versation is in heaven." And with regard to the first of these truths, viz. that " our state is in heaven," you see how they deceive themselves, who, by a strange blindness, would transform the church into a visible monarchy with an earthly dominion, wishing her to possess a king, princes, magistrates, armies, cities, dignities, and glory in the world. Certainly they have not drawn the idea of this imaginary state, where heaven and earth are mingled together, from Scripture, but rather from their own passions ; which would fain establish, under the name of Christ and his kingdom, the interests of avarice and ambition, and would miserably plunge in the earth, or, to speak more plainly, in the mud, that holy republic, which the Lord Jesus has elevated far above all heavens. For what can be more earthly than their state, the head of which is a man, a plain man, like the other princes of the world, whose scat of government is still the same which in former times so long and so cruelly tyrannized over the universe, whose strength is in flesh and blood, whose only support is from the earth, metals, gold, iron ; where all that is dis- tributed is earthly, riches, honours, dignities; where the government is but carnal, founded entirely on human maxims ? And as the Jewish rabbins called the earthly empire which they foolishly supposed their pretended Messiah would establish at his coming " the kingdom of heaven," so these people likewise are not ashamed to give the name " Christian re- public," "Catholic church" to their carnal state, which has been built U]) by degrees from the ruins, and wrecks, and spoils of earthly empires. As for us, dear brethren, who know that the king- dom of our Lord is not of this world, and that his empire is in heaven, God forbid that we should re- ceive as the sovereign of his church any earthly man. Our Head and Sovereign is in heaven, where is also our citizenship. But as we have seen, secondly, that the conversa- tion of Christians is heavenly, it plainly follows that there should be nothing carnal in all their polity, whether with regard to religion or manners. I say with regard to religion, because during the Mosaic dispensation there was something carnal and terrestrial in the worship of the people of God ; as, viz. their sacrifices, their circumcision, their abstain- ing from certain meats, their feasts, and other cere- monies. All this was well so long as the church was linked to earth, and dwelt in Canaan. Now we have no other city but a heavenly, and all our wor- ship ought to be heavenly and spiritual. And this, no doubt, is one of the designs the apostle had in view in representing here to the Philippians that our con- versation is in heaven, viz. to show how vain were the pretensions of the false teachers of whom he \ spoke at the commencement of the chapter, who were endeavouring to re-establish the law of Moses among Christians. Be watchful then, brethren, against the seductions of those who fill this heavenly city of the Lord with carnal ceremonies, whose wor- ship is quite earthly, while the true worship of a Chap. III. THE EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS. 1-17 Christian is Divine and spiritual. A Christian should worship the Lord in the same manner as the angels and the spirits of the just serve him in heaven; not by a dOitinction of meats and days ; not with images, and chaplets, and sackcloth, and chastising of the body, and holy water, and such like ; hut in right- eousness, and peace, and joy of the Holy Ghost, in faith and love, by holy and honest thoughts, by fer- vent prayer, by an ardent charity, and by the con- tinual exercise of all the virtues that depend thereon. And this is the second part of a Christian's service, consisting in the sanctification of the life ; that as our city is in heaven, there our affections and desires may also be ; so that neither the world, nor an}' thing belonging thereto, shall henceforth be the aim or object of our life. This is certainly the intention of the apostle in declaring to the Philippians that our conversation is in heaven ; for he had just before blamed the false teachers because their belly was their god. Now therefore, in order to show that we should have no communion with such, he adds, that the conversation of true Christians is in heaven ; whereas these miserable people have their conversa- tion plunged into the filth of the world. And from this you perceive how false is the opinion of papists, who acknowledge as members of the Christian church those who, under the profession of the name of Jesus, conceal a life corrupted by the passions and lusts of this world ; whereas St. Paul admits none into the communion of the city of God, but such as have their conversation in heaven, and whose profession of faith is accompanied by a conduct worthy of heaven, and by a mind purified from the corruptions of the earth. But the apostle is not satisfied with saying that our city and conversation are in heaven ; he gives a proof of it, and establishes the fact in the words fol- lowing, wherein he adds, that it is from heaven we expect the Saviour, that is, the Lord Jesus Christ. This reasoning is drawn from the intimate union we have with this sovereign Lord ; for since he is our Head, and we are his members, making together one mystical body, it is evident that it must either be said that the members are separated from the Head, (a monstrous and impossible notion,) or that we are where he is, and have our conversation there. Now he is in heaven ; and since he is our life and our hap- piness, it follows of necessity that our souls must be where he is. This discourse of the apostle clearly shows that the Lord is not on earth, contrary to the dreams of such as suppose that his body is yet here below, whether in all places, like those who hold its ubiquili/, whether on altars, or in the mouths and stomachs of such as receive the sacrament, as our ad- versaries of the Church of Rome maintain. If it be on earth as well as in heaven, (as these people sup- Eose,) who does not see that if his presence is not in eaven, neither can our conversation be there ? For, according to this doctrine, we could be with him as the members with the head, as those who love with the thing loved, without raising ourselves above, be- cause he would be in the earth : nay, in more places therein (according to Rome) than in heaven. For what need were there to quit this earth in order to converse with him, if we have him here present with us, yea, dwelling in our bodies, as our adversaries hold. Now St. Paul declares that our conversation is in heaven because Jesus Christ is there. Certainly then it cannot be true that the Lord .fesus is on earth. And as he says " we expect the Saviour," it is clear that he is not with us. For one cannot be expecting things which are not absent. We have already such as are present. And a person would be considered almost insane who should say he was expecting one already with him. Though such language might be considered rational by our opponents, it is at least clear that St. Paul counted it absurd, saying, in his Epistle to the Romans, " What a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?" Rom. viii. 24. Now he says himself that we are expecting the Lord Jesus. He therefore did not believe he was already preseut. And with regard to the Saviour's promise of being with his people even to the end of the age, and of being present in every assembly where two or three were gathered in his name, what Christian does not know that this is to be understood of the power, and teaching, and blessing of the presence of the Holy Spirit, and not of the bodily presence and human nature of Christ ? as the ancient fathers of the church have clearly ex- plained. For respecting his body. Scripture teaches us that it is in the heavens ; St. Peter telling us that " the heavens must receive it until the restitution of all things," Acts iii. 21 ; and St. Paul, that in the sacrament of the Lord's supper " we do show forth his death till he come," 1 Cor. xi. 26, and that we are " looking for him from heaven ;" and again, " looking for his glorious appearing," Tit. ii. 14 ; and, lastly, it is the creed of Christians, that " he shall come to judge the quick and the dead :" so that the words of our Lord to his disciples must be understood with re- gard to the body, " And now I go my way to him that sent me," John svi. 28; and again, " Me ye have not always," Szc, John xii. 8. It is for this reason that the holy apostle com- mands us elsewhere to " seek those things which are above;" and the ancient church warned the faithful, when speaking of the communion of the body of Christ, "Lift up your hearts;" an evident token that, in order to embrace and enjoy him, our souls must mount up to heaven, for this could not be said were he yet below, descending to earth with the passions and nature of a mortal man. Let us then firmly retain this holy doctrine, and, rejecting the illusions of those who, in spite of sense and reason, and even of the declarations of the word of God, would persuade us to believe that the body of Jesus is yet here, let us seek it in heaven, which he really inhabits ; and let us be satisfied with the apostle's assurance that he reigns there in the midst of angels and blessed spirits, without inquiring with vain curiosity respecting the exact situation thereof, whether it be towards the east or the west, or whether he be sitting or standing, or making other questions of like nature, matters of importance which Scripture has not revealed. The Holy Scripture tells us what it is indeed of infinite importance to know, both for our edification and consolation, that Jesus shall come from heaven in like manner as he was seen to go up to heaven, in order to judge the world in righteous- ness, and render to every man according to his deeds. This St. Paul most distinctly declares in our text, saying, "From whence" (viz. from heaven) "we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ." Oh the wonderful advantage of believers! Other men tremble at the coming of Jesus Christ, believers desire it. They expect him as their Saviour, others fear him as their Judge. On this account the apostle here specially gives him the title of Saviour. True, he may be called the " Saviour of all men," as in point of fact St. Paul gives this appellation to God, inasmuch as he calls all men, without distinction of age, sex, nation, or condition, to the reception of his grace by the faith of the gospel. But with regard to his appearance at the last day, he can only be called " a Saviour" to believers. All others shall be destroyed, the time allotted to faith and repentance being past. And the sense of the name Saviour must be especially and entirely restrained to be- 148 AN EXPOSITION OF Serm. XXIV. lievers in interpreting tliese words, " from whence we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ ;" that is, in order to fulfil towards us the truths pro- mised in that name, delivering us from all evil, and from death, the last enemy, and bestowing upon us every good thing. Thus the title of Saviour, here given to the Lord, is not given vainly. It explains the whole passage, showing us that we have good reason to have our conversation in heaven, because it is from thence alone we look for salvation and the author of our happiness, all other things, wherever we turn our eyes, being contrary to us. The apostle also declares elsewhere that we are " looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ," Tit. ii. 13 ; and again, in another place, (Rom. viii. 19 — 2'2,) he treats this doctrine more at length, saying that " we who have the first-fruits of the Spirit" are groaning within ourselves while waiting for the adoption; yea, even that the whole universe is sighing for tliat day, and expecting with fervent desire the revelation or manifestation of the sons of God, hoping at that time to be delivered from the bondage of corrup- tion and sin to which they are now subject, and per- mitted to share in his glorious liberty. For this second coming of our Lord, whom we are expecting from heaven, shall be the accomplishment of his promises and of our hopes. It will be the consum- mation, by giving us possession of that heaven to which we have now only the claim and hope, instead of the actual enjoyment. II. This the apostle declares in the second and last clause of the text, saying that this blessed Lord, being revealed from heaven according to our ex- pectation, " shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able to subdue all things unto himself." There is nothing in the world which so strongly resists belief in the citizenship of hea- ven to which we are called as the condition of our body. Our soul being spiritual, and capable of con- ceiving and desiring immortality, it does not appear Btrange to us that this glory should be promised to it ; and there have even been wise heathens who, en- lightened solely by the light of nature, have elevated their minds to this, and have boldly taught that the human soul was a celestial substance, and that heaven was its true home. But when we cast our eyes upon this poor flesh which clothes us, subject to a thousand infirmities, and finally to death, which destroys its beauty, we are at a loss to comprehend how those who partake of so weak a nature can be citizens of the sanctuary of immortality ; this principle being deeply graven in our heart, and St. Paul himself ex- pressly declaring it, that "flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, neither can corruption inherit incorruption," I Cor. xv. 20. To the end therefore that this idea may not prevent us from re- ceiving what he has just taught, namely, that our city and conversation are in heaven, he here sets forth a truth which instantly clears away the whole difficulty, viz. that this body, which indeed in its pre- sent state is incapable of entering heaven, shall be changed by the mighty power of the Lord, and clothed with those qualities which are needful to if, in order that it may enter into the kingdom of glory, being made conformable to his own body. This is the chief and last diflference between believers and other men. All must rise in order to be judged; but all will not be changed. That will be the case with such only as are destined to be citizens of heaven, that is to say, with true believers. The apostle here briefly touches upon each part of this great mystery : First, The author of our change ; this shall be " the Lord Jesus Christ." Secondly, The subject of this change; "our vile body." Thirdly, Its form ;" ren- dered conformable to his glorious body." And fourth- ly, The power by which it shall be accomplished; "according to the working whereby he is able to subdue all things to himself." With regard to the first, the Lord Jesus attributes to himself the glory of this work, when he repeats several times in StJ John's Gospel, that he will give unto us eternal life, and will raise us up again at the last day. He has already given us the type in his own resurrection, having raised up at the end of three days the temple of his body, destroyed by the Jews ; and having established it in glory, as he ex- pressly foretold. The subject which shall be glorified is this same body in which we now dwell, as the apostle clearly proves by calling it "vile;" and in another place for the same reason he calls it an "earthly tabernacle ;" and Job speaking of this subject declares the body to be " a house of clay whose foundation is in the dust." Certainly it cannot be denied that the Lord has shown incomparable wisdom and power in the composition of the body ; in the structure and union of its parts; in their disposition, symmetry, and pro- portion ; in the multiplicity of its faculties ; in the di- versity and exquisite arrangement of its organs ; in the form of ever)' member, and wonderful adaptation to its use; the whole conducted and managed with so much ease, that it is beyond a doubt that tlie human body is the most beautiful and the most perfect of all bodies; so much so that a barbarian philosopher has said that it is a miracle surpassing the elements and the heavens themselves. And one of the servants of God, rapt in the contemplation of this subject, exclaims, " I am fearfully and wonder- fully made," Psal. cxxxix. 14. This great subject has also supplied to the first physicians and sages of the world matter for excellent books, in which these mysteries of the body are set forth and admired. And in this respect I must confess that our body should not be called "vile," but rather held as the chef- d'oeuvre of creation, as a mirror in which we behold the Creator reflected, and as an excellent proof of his wisdom and power. In respect to this we may main- tain that there is nothing low or vile in the works of the Lord; all manifest the utmost wisdom, even to the smallest herbs which adorn the fields, or to the minutest insects which range through the air or creep upon the earth. But although, absolutely speaking, all the creatures of God are wonderful, yet, in comparing them one with another, a marked dif- ference appears, so that, without disparaging the Divine Majesty, some may be considered low and vile in proportion to others. In this manner the apostle speaks of our body, calling it vile in comparison with the heavenly and glorious body of the Lord Jesus. For it is evident that in this respect it is a thing very weak and base, far below the beauty and ex- cellence of his admirable body. Its weaknesses are of two kinds ; some may be called innocent, being natural to it from the creation, others are the conse- quences of sin. Among the first I would place the requirements of the body in order to sustain life, such as food, sleep, ten in the " book of life." Such, then, is the exposition of all that Paul teaches in our text, both to the Philippian church in general, and to some members of it in particular. Be content, brethren, that we hold towards you the same language. For although we may be infinitely below this great apostle, yet do we preach among you, though with much weakness, the same gospel that he taught in the church at Philippi. And God knows we can say of you with truth, that you are our " dearly beloved and longed for," and that from you alone we desire to derive our crown of rejoicing. Let Satan calumniate us, let false teachers declaim against us, let the world trample us under its feet as the scum of the earth, we shall be content and happy if you persevere to the end in the grace and commu- nion of the Lord our Saviour. We shall never want a subject of joy and satisfaction, so long as piety abounds among you. If then you consider you owe us any thing in return for this affection that we have for you, and for the feeble efforts that it produces in the course of our ministry in order to your greater edification, dear brethren, give us the consolation that we ask ; crown our troubles and anxieties with the sweet success that we desire. Let your devotion, your holiness, your zeal furnish us continually w itb matter for rejoicing and glorifying God. Let your progress keep pace with our diligence ; let your man- ners grace our doctrine; let the holiness of your lives be the crown of our preaching. O beautiful and glorious crown ! May God of his grace bestow it upon us. Neither you nor we could possibly wish for a better thing. For what on earth is there more beauti- ful and admirable than a docile, obedient flock, covered with evangelic wool, that is to say, full of love and holiness? And who is happier than the pastor who conducts them? And what can heaven itself present more grand and magnificent than (at the last day in the sight of men and angels) the pastor presenting them before the Lord, saying, in the words of the prophet, " Behold I, and the chil- dren whom thou hast given me." I conjure you, then, beloved brethren, by the delights of this hea- venly glory which we hope to enjoy, " stand fast in the Lord." Let nothing interfere with this resolve. I know that the snares of error, and the efforts of the world, are many and great, in order to detach you from the truth, and corrupt your morals. But if the truth be spoken, our enemies have more fury than 15G AN EXPOSITION OF serm. xxvr. power, because Jesus strengthens his people, and makes his strength perfect in their weakness. Love and serve him alone, and leave events to him in per- fect assurance. And if there be among you an Euodias and a Syntyche, weak minds which have not vigour to resist the bold attacks, or the deceits of seduction, remember them, and endeavour to keep them in the right way. Love them, and give them your assistance in the day of need both by your words and your example. Labour with the apostle for the gospel of the Lord Jesus. Join then your hands to his, and partake now of his cross, if you wish hereafter to share his crown. And let none excuse himself here. Let none allege his sex or condition as exempting him from work. The combat is a general one ; no one can be dispensed with. The example of these holy and devoted female war- riors, whose valour the apostle has praised, even call- ing them the companions of his labours j this ex- ample teaches you, O Christian women, that you are capable of serving in this war for the advancement of the gospel. For faith, love, zeal, devotion, the weapons of the warfare, are well suited to your sex. And in Jesus Christ there is neither bond nor free, neither Jew nor Greek, neither male nor female. Being all one in him, let us fight with one heart, so that, enrolled with the apostle and his blessed com- panions in his book of life, we may have part in that eternal glory which God has prepared for them whose names are written therein. Amen. SEEMON XXVI. Verse 4 — 7. Rejoice in the Lord always : and again I say, Rejoice. Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand. Be careful for nothing ; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanks- giving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understand- ing, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Dear brethren, the dolorous death of the Lord Jesus, the glorious memorial of which we celebrate this day, is the true and only source of that spiritual joy and peace which the minds of believers possess. Without it we should be still engaged in a melan- choly and hopeless war against God, the world, and ourselves, and we should see nothing in heaven, or m earth, or in our own consciences, that was not our enemy. Without it we should still be languishing in the bondage of sin and Satan, in the horrors of death, and in eternal mourning and woe. But by the blood of the cross Jesus has appeased the wrath of God towards us, and has rendered him propitious and favourable to us. He has established an eternal alliance for us with the angels and all other holy in- telligences. He has conquered the law. He has R'ounded Satan, and put his armies under our feet. He has crucified sin, extinguished hell, abolished death ; and with the love of the Father he has ob- tained for us Divine knowledge, a complete justifica- tion, an assured sanctification, a blessed immortality ; so that if deliverance from so many evils, and tlie possession of so many good things, has spread joy and peace in our hearts, it is evident that to the death of Jesus alone we are debtors. Seeing then that the apostle, in the words you have just heard, and which occur in the ordinary subject of my discourse, recommends to us this holy joy, and promises us the inestimable peace of God, I consider that the subject is particularly suitable to the celebration of the Lord's supper ; and that, while solemnizing the memory of the death of Christ, it will not be out of place to speak to you of its princi- pal effects, and of the sweetest and most desirable fruits which it produces. The apostle in the text, as you perceive, commands us three things, and promises one. His first command is to " rejoice in the Lord ;" secondly, to be moderate and temperate in our man- ner of life i and finally, to cast all our care upon the goodness and providence of God, declaring all our wishes before him in prayer, accompanied with thanksgiving. And, conducting ourselves in this manner, he promises us in the last verse that the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep our hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. These, dear brethren, please God, shall form the four subjects to be treated of in this discourse. I. The joy of the Christian. II. His moderation and temperance. III. His holy and assured safety. And, IV. His Divine peace. The four principal sources of the happiness he enjoys in this world, while awaiting the glory and blessedness that are prepared for him in another. Believing souls, bring to this sacred subject minds deeply conscious of its sublimity and excellence. I. With regard to the first of these subjects, the apostle expresses himself in these terms, " Rejoice in the Lord always : and again I say. Rejoice." Joy is the fruit that we gather from the presence of some- thing we have desired, and its motions are so sweet and familiar to our nature, that there is no one, how- ever melancholy and unhappy he may be, who has not occasionally experienced them ; so that it would be a useless work to attempt to explain the meaning of that of which none can be wholly ignorant. We shall find more difficulty in proving that to rejoice is the Christian's duty, (as the apostle's command clearly presupposes,) and in describing this joy in such a manner, as that all true believers shall be capable of experiencing it. For it appears as if Christ had banished cheerfulness from the breasts of his disciples by saying, " Woe unto you that laugh now ! for ye shall mourn and weep ;" and, on the con- trary, " Blessed are ye that weep now ; for ye shall laugh," Luke vi. 25, 21. The answer to this, how- ever, is easy. Our Lord speaks thus of worldly joy and sorrow, which arise solely from the prosperity or adversity of the flesh ; of the laugh of the wicked, and of the pleasure which they take in persecuting the righteous, and in other vicious ways, a joy truly cursed and unhappy, which shall be quickly followed in the next world by eternal tears and anguish : while, on the other hand, by those who weep our Lord intends believers, who suffer persecution for righteousness' sake, and whose condition outwardly seems to demand pity. For the tears of such shall be assuredly wiped away, and quickly changed to laugh- ter and joy. And in fact in the same place the Lord commands them to "rejoice and leap for joy" in the day of persecution, in hope of the rich reward laid up for them in heaven, Luke vi. 23. Or even if we un- derstand these words to relate to those who weep for sin, as some commentators do, still it must be said that such tears are by no means contrary to the joy of which the apostle speaks. However plenteously they may flow, the tears of true repentance will always terminate in joy. We must also distinguish the believing penitent from him who has received remission of sins in Jesus Christ, him who seeks from him who finds. For that every believer who Chap. IV. THE EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS. 157 embraces the Saviour with true and lively faith, may and ought to rejoice, ive learn both from the apostle, who commands us in this and other places so to do, and also from St. Peter and the rest of the sacred writers. St. Peter, in the 1st chapter of his First General Epistle, ver. 8, declares, " Though now ye see him (Christ) not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glor)-." The psalmist had also long before enjoined the same thing: "Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling," Psal. ii. II ; and again, he says the Lord had put " joy " in his heart, more abundant than the children of this world possess in their greatest prosperity, Psal. iv. 8. St. jSIatthew, in like manner, represents to us the joy of the blessed man in the parable, who had found'the treasure of the kingdom of heaven, chap. xiii. 44; and St. Paul, in Rom. xiv. 17, declares that " the kingdom of God is righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost." Thus you see that to rejoice is evidently a Chris- tian's duty. But the apostle does not merely say " rejoice,"' but " rejoice in the Lord ;" and this partly to refine and regulate our joy, partly to show the source from whence it springs. For this word ren- ders our joy distinct from that of the world, which, springing from earthly things, is vain, uncertain, and even mingled with disquietude and trouble, whereas ours, springing from the Saviour, is pure, spiritual, and holy. Far, far from hence, ye profane ones, who know no joy but that of the flesh, and ex- perience no pleasure save in the gratification of your sinful lusts and desires. Such a one was the rich man of the gospel parable, Luke xii. 19, who, in the fulness of his imaginary felicity, said to his soul, " Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years ; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be meiTy." Such again were those epicureans who, deriving their joy from that which might rather have been their sor- row, took the brutal resolution of which the apostle speaks, 1 Cor. xv. 32, " Let us eat and drink, for to- morrow we die." Miserable people, who drown the knowledge of evil in gluttony and sin. I would place in the same class the joys of the avaricious, the ambitious, and all other slaves of sin ; and even the joys which human science, temporal prosperity, eloquence, credit, the love and favour of men, and sucii things, give to those who possess them. For although it may be said that such joys are not crimi- nal, yet are they vain, puerile, and unworthy of a Christian mind ; for if the Lord desired his disciples not to rejoice because the spirits were subject to them, Luke s. 20, though this was one of the great- est gifts he had bestowed, how much less would he approve our rejoicing in these worldly things! And first, real believers but seldom partake of them, God calling to the faith, " not many wise, not many noble," not many great men according to the flesh, and often obliging those of them whom he does call to divest themselves of such advantages at the first entrance into his house ; so that in these, however legitimate may be the joy of their possessors, it is evident the Christian has little or no part. But again, I say, that even were we abundantly supplied with worldly things, though we should have the treasures, the delights, the glories of Solomon him- self, yet should we have no reason to rejoice therein. That prince who had made the essay acknowledges, and loudly proclaims, that all was vanity, and there are few persons so corrupt as not to see that such fac- titious benefits could never render either body or soul happy, could never guarantee the one or the other from ills and sorrows, or from the distraction of hu- man passions ; neither could they ever secure a man from the caprices of fortune, (as the world says,) nor from the inevitable stroke of death. 'Whence it fol- lows, that to rejoice in them would be as vain and trifling as the child taking delight in her doll, or Jonah congratulating himself upon the shadow of the gourd, which came up in a night, and perished in a night. Beware, then, believers, of choosing such things for the source of your joys. The apostle says, " Re- joice in the Lord," that is, in Jesus Christ, whom the Scripture, especially in the New Testament, common- ly calls by this appellation, which is indeed his due, since he has redeemed us, and since he is the Master and sovereign Prince of the universe. Christian, he is the living and inexhaustible spring, the abundant and legitimate subject of your joy. For if you pos- sess this Divine Saviour, and are acquainted with the fulness of his benefits, what is there in this world that could add to your happiness ? This sovereign Lord is the brightness of the Father's glory, and the express image of his person ; his word and wisdom, his love and delight, the depository of his eternity, the treasury of his grace, in whom dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. This blessed Saviour is our light and our life ; our salvation and felicity; our knowledge, our justification, our sanctification, and our redemption. This is our true Sun, bringing healing in his wings, and whose rays spread health and happiness wherever they shine. Ko sooner do we look at him than we are enlightened. He is the propitiatory sacrifice which covers us from the wrath of God, and blots our sins from his book ; the tree of life, the heavenly manna, giving immortality to our souls. He is our David, the glorious Prince who has defeated all our enemies; our Solomon, who has established for us a permanent, inviolable peace. He has delivered us from the ignorance in which we were plunged, and revealed to us the mysteries of God ; he has expiated the sins under which our con- sciences groaned, and has given them perfect peace ; he has snatched us from the tomb, (or we should rather say, from hell,) and opened to us the gates of heaven ; and instead of this frail and miserable ex- istence that we derive from the first Adam, he has prepared for us another, full of glorj' and happiness, incorruptible and divine : slaves of Satan he has made children of God, worms of the earth he has made citizens of heaven ; he has received us into the community of angels, has sealed us with his Spirit, and made us the first-fruits of his creatures. There is no dignity to which he has not advanced us, or- daining us for ever kings, priests, and prophets. And, O surpassing wonder! besides all this, he vouchsafes to call us his brethren and co-heirs, mem- bers of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. How dull and insensible must that soul be, which can think of such gifts and benefits of the Divine Saviour, without being, I will not say touched, but overwhelmed with joy ! For if the discovery of any- wonderful and sublime truth communicates joy to the mind, (as it naturally does,) and even as we read, that wise men of this world have been delighted when they have discovered secrets unkno%vn to others in human science, what should be our happiness to see in Jesus these treasures of wisdom which the Father has revealed and exposed to our view ! mys- teries of which not only the philosophers and kings of this world, but even the kings and prophets of Israel, nay, the very angels of heaven, were ignorant until the fulness of time was come. What should be our joy to see the counsels of God revealed in this Divine Lord ! to see clearly in him the reasons of such a dispensation, the justice and goodness of God in union ! to see thus God manifest in the flesh, heaven embracing earth, and earth as it were kissing 15b AN EXPCtsITION OF Serm. XXVI. heaven ! If deliverance from some great and mortal peril would rejoice our souls, how much more should we rejoice to behold ourselves, by the mercy of this sovereign and blessed Saviour, liberated from the prison of the Almighty, redeemed from slavery and eternal death! If the favour of a great prince pleases us, what satisfaction should the love and fa- vour of the King of ages, the Monarch of eternity, give us! If life is sweet to us, if liberty pleases, if honours, riches, dignities charm us, what then should be the joy of our hearts to possess in Jesus immor- tality and sovereign glory ! to possess in him a heavenly kingdom, treasures that the lapse of ages cannot destroy, and crowns which can neither fade nor tarnish ! If the society of well-informed per- sons, if their conversation sometimes softens the ills of life, what should be our consolation to have the Son of God always with us, nay, dwelling within our hearts ! to have his Spirit in our souls, his word in our ears, his prophets and apostles with us ! And besides all these blessings, capable of bringing joy into the most desolate and unhappy mind, where is the man who would not be touched with the deepest gratitude for the manner in which the Saviour has imparted them to us ? who would not be overwhelmed with joy when he considers that the great God be- came a man, that we might be partakers of his Divine nature ; that he descended to our earth, that we might be raised up to his heaven ; that he bore the curse of the cross, in order to crown us with blessing and glory? I should certainly imagine that the remem- brance of this wonderful and ineomprehensilde mys- tery of the love of God never enters the mind of the angels, but they are filled with the sweetest and most delightful sensations of which they are capable. Rejoice, then, believing souls, in your Divine Re- deemer. Drown every care in these sweet reflections : let this rich and beautiful object be before your eyes night and day. In this case you will never want a subject of rejoicing. For you perceive the apostle commands you to be always joyful : " Rejoice in the Lord aluays ;" and, as if he were immediately in a transport of joy himself, he adds, " and again I say. Rejoice." Listen not to the tlesh, which now whis- pers in your car that this may be very well for the day of prosperity ; but that in the season of afflic- tion, when bending beneath the cross, when sickness weakens, when losses afllict, or when persecution presses hard, it would be out of season then to say, " Rejoice." The flesh, brethren, comprehends not this mystery ; it surpasses its sense and understand- ing. The joy of the Lord is unlike that of the world, which the vapours of the earth extinguish, which is easily overturned by the casualties of life; the joy of Christ is eternal ; it maintains itself against every thing; nothing can extinguish it; it lives even in the furnace of affliction, and triumphs over death it- self. Persecution and sorrow rather increase than diminish it. These Philippians to whom the apostle wrote were certainly not in worldly prosperity; they were suffering for Jesus' sake ; they saw their Mas- ter in prison ; they w-ere themselves a prey to divers enemies ; and yet Paul commands them to rejoice, and sets them the example by rejoicing even in the bonds in which Nero held him. So we read (Acts V. 41) that the other apostles, when scourged by the Jews, " rejoiced that they were counted worthy to suffijr for his name." And how many martyrs has the world witnessed who joyfully endured the rack and the flames in the same sacred cause ! all the cruelty of their executioners being unable to diminish the peace of their souls. Say not this was very well for apostles and martyrs, for Jesus is the same yes- terday, to-day, and for ever. The source from which the saints drew their joy is open now as formerly. It is the vileness of our hearts, the weakness of our faith, which hinder us from deriving the same con- solations and the same joys which those blessed per- sons once possessed. We have in him the same blessings as they ; the same Spirit, the same hope, the same glory. And were it in our power to divest ourselves of our natural prejudices, we should see that all these trials and afflictions that we lament are so little compared to our possessions in Jesus, that they ought not even to disturb our joy, much less to extinguish it. You weep perhaps because God has not given you such and such blessings, or because he has taken away some which you formerly had. An- other laments the loss of riches, of children, parents, or friends. One recounts his maladies, another the persecutions he endures from the hatred or envy of men, and all tremble at death, a certain evil. I will not deny that these are severe trials, neither will I undertake to blame the sighs and tears which are drawn from those who suffer them ; human nature is unable to divest itself of this tenderness altogether: but I must say that they will not prevent the tree believer from rejoicing; he can and will rejoice in the Lord, deriving consolation under every sorrow, from the remembrance of so rich a treasure. Re- member, O Christian, though God has not given you the good things of this life, he has given you heaven, which is infinitely better than earth ; though here you may be unhonoured, he has prepared for you an eternal crown ; though you possess not the favour of men, you have the favour of God; though he has taken your children or other ties in this life, he has given you abundant joy in his Son Jesus, the Prince of life. Remember that the trials you endure are salutary, the persecutions honourable, and death it- self is necessary ; yet none of these things shall ever snatch you from the protection of Jesus, the source of all joy, for whom to live or die is gain. Fear not that he will ever leave you ; he dwells in your heart, and will accompany you through life and death. He will sweeten every bitter trial. He will share in your griefs. He will seal the waters under your feet, change flames into balmy dew, convert rocks into sources of springing waters, and deserts into gardens of delight. He will never tempt you heyond what you are able to bear, but will manifest his strength in your weakness, turn evil into good, dark- ness into light, and death into a sweet passage into that eternal life which he has purchased for you. Rejoice then always in him, in whatsoever state you may be ; in prosperity or adversity, in health or sickness, in life or in death itself; and again I say unto you. Rejoice in him. II. But after this holy joy which the apostle re- commends, let us observe what that moderation may be of which he speaks in the following verse : " Let your moderation be known unto all men." The word here employed signifies frequently in the original equily. or vioderalion, in any transaction with our neighbour, that without austerity, but with sweetness and urbanity, we should accommodate ourselves to their deportment, and rather yield our own just right than give occasion to any to complain of our se- verity. But as this seems to strain the meaning in the present sentence, it appears better to understand the word as it is translated in the French Bible, la debonnairete, cheerfuhtess ; that is to say, a certain sweetness of temper, which takes all things in good part, which is not easily offended, which is not in continual trouble because of afflictions and casual- ties, but retains a uniform calmness in every con- dition. And this virtue is necessary in every way. For if you consider the thing itself, is it not reason- Chap. IV. THE EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS. 153^ able that man, who of himself is but a poor weak creature, guilty in a thousand ways, and subject to the wrath of God, should have feelings so humble and submissive as not to be surprised and grieved at the wrongs and disgraces that he may suffer, as though they were something unworthy of him ? And with respect to the utility of this virtue, there is not one in the catalogue of virtues so necessary in the society of men. For that fierce and lofty courage, which can tolerate no offence, does infinite evil, as well to him who possesses it as to others, and is the cause of half the trouble and misfortune which happen to mankind. It is from this evil temper that law pro- cesses, quarrels, and wars, that so frequently afflict states and families, mostly proceed; so that if every man had the moderation and cheerfulness which the apostle recommends, the world would live in peace. But if it be good for other men, it is absolutely ne- cessary for believers, who are more exposed to in- juries and insults than all the world besides. And certainly, if they know the grace that God has given them in Jesus Christ, and if they rejoice therein, considering the true and solid happiness which is their portion, they will not find it difficult to bear with temperance, moderation, and even coldness, the sufferings they may meet with in the world, the most important being nothing at all in comparison of that secret source of happiness which they possess in their heart. Therefore the apostle desires that our moderation should be known unto all men ; not merely to believers, but also to strangers, and in fact to all with whom we have intercourse ; and this, not for the sake of our reputation, in order to its estab- lishment among men : that is a vanity which our Master forbids, and which would be indeed unworthy of our high and holy profession. But he desires simply that all our neighbours, whoever they may be, should be obliged to acknowledge our cheerful- ness and moderation, and that none should have oc- casion to say that we belied our name of Christian, or were far from the temperance and gentleness which the school of Christ demanded. For although we are not called to seek the judgment of men, we must not fly from it ; but, as often as opportunity may offer, we should give them proofs of our piety, by causing our light to shine before men, so that, seeing our good works, they may glorify our Father which is in heaven. And that which the apostle adds, " the Lord is at hand," is here extremely apropos. For the wicked- ness of men is so great, that the milder and more temperate we are, so much the more insolent and turbulent are they, taking occasion from our forbear- ance to conduct themselves the more outrageously. Fearing that this consideration might deter us from the exercise of that moderation which he commands, he sets before us the providence of God, who is at hand to govern and restrain the enemy, to succour in extremity, and to defend us from the violence and injustice of the wicked ; so that we have no need to suppose that we shall be, from our moderation, more exposed in reality to the blows and audacity of our enemies. But, however, it appears to me more proper to connect this sentence with the next verse, to which it evidently has reference : " The Lord is at hand, be careful for nothing." III. And this is the third point which the apostle recommends in order to preserve Christian joy in our minds ; for notliing disturbs that so much as the vain and useless care that we bestow on the things of earth, as the success of our plans, labours, &c. And because the source of this disquietude is in ignorance of the providence of God, he declares " the Lord is at hand." This may have respect either to time or place : To time ; then the Lord will soon come to judge the world, and that great and terrible judgment in which all men shall be confronted together is not far distant. To place ; then the Lord is not far from every one of us ; he is the witness and the arbiter of all human affairs, observing all things that occur in order to assist us in our need, repressing the excess and punishing the wickedness of our enemies. The first consideration (with regard to time) ought to calm our impatience, and moderate the pain we give ourselves ; for neither the prosperity of the wicked, nor the adversity of the faithful, would trouble us greatly, if we had continually in our minds the horrible suflFerings which are prepared for the first, and the infinite consolation which awaits the second, each receiving his sentence from the mighty Judge, whose day nothing can retard. N ever- theless, as the prophet, in the 145th Psalm, from whence the apostle seems to take this sentence, evi- dently speaks of the continual presence of God, say- ing, " The Lord is nigh unto all that call upon him," and as this consideration has a more exalted view, I prefer interpreting it rather with regard to place. For since this lovely and blessed Saviour is near to us, at our right hand, as the psalmist sings, surround- ing us on all sides, so that we cannot turn our eyes without beholding him, knowing our necessities bet- ter than we ourselves can know them, and having both the will and the power to provide for them, what can occasion us anxiety, and why, men of little faith as we are, need we be worn with chagrin and useless care ? The Lord himself speaks against this distrust and disquietude at some length in the 6th chapter of Matthew, and in the 12th of Luke, and gives several motives to rally our faith and courage ; among others, the care which God takes of the small- est animals, and of the minutest herbs of the field, and the uselessness of every endeavour to add one cubit to the stature ; and he finishes his discourse by this excellent sentence, " Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all other things shall be added unto you." His apostle Peter likewise exhorts us to " cast all care upon God, for he careth for us," 1 Pet. V. 7. But besides things necessary for our food and clothing, St. Paul in this place comprehends all those which the church in general, and each indi- vidual in particular, may require for safety or rest; the danger in which we perceive ourselves to be often causing us much groundless anxiety and care. "Be careful for nothing;" repose entirely upon the providence of our God. Yet let not careless ones abuse this holy doctrine. The apostle forbids that care and solicitude which depresses the mind, he forbids distrust in Providence, impatience, vain regret, and useless efforts to ascer- tain the future ; but he does not forbid labour, or assiduous diligence in those duties which belong to the vocation of each individual : did I say he does not forbid ? he expressly commands that every one should " eat his own bread with quietness," 2 Thess. iii. 12; and, " If any man will not work, neither let him eat," Eph. iv. 2S. And again, " If any provide not for his own, and speoially those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an in- fidel," I Tim. v. 8. In this Epistle also (chap. ii. 20) he praises the care which Timothy took of the church at Philippi, and elsewhere he witnesses of himself that the care of all the churches " came upon him daily," 2 Cor. xi. 28. It is not then of labour, or of the law- ful cares of our calling, that the apostle bids us be- ware in this place, but rather of distrust and anxie- ties, and of those miseries which distrust causes in the human heart. In order to deliver us from it entirely, he recom- 160 AN EXPOSITION OF Serm. XXVI. mends that on all occasions when tempted to yield to it, we should have recourse to God in prayer, pouring out our hearts before our heavenly Father, and con- signing our sighs and cares to him : " In every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God." Among all the excellencies of prayer, this is not the least, that it restrains the care which oppresses the be- liever. For having unburdened his soul into the ear of God, and poured forth his anxieties there, he lives in peace, trusting in his providence, and awaiting with contidence the succours he requires. Joined to which, the prayer of faith never returns void, and if it obtains not immediately the required petition, at least it obtains assistance from the Holy Spirit, who strengthens the believer, and gives him grace to pos- sess his soul in peace. Thus the psalmist declares that prayer was his solace in the day of adversity. And therefore the apostle desires that, instead of teasing our hearts with useless care, we should have recourse to God in all things, and " make known our requests to him ;" in other words, declare our wishes before him, our desires and necessities, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving. For I consider that these words are to be understood simplj', without seeking for a mj'stical meaning. God is our Al- mighty King; as, then, subjects in their necessities approach their earthly prince, and cause him to know their wants and desires by presenting their requests before him, so ought we to act towards God by notifying our desires to him : but there is this dif- ference, that this process is needful for the princes of this world, both on their account and ours, it not be- ing possible that they should be aware of our wishes unless we make them known ; whereas it is entirely for our benetit, and not for God's instruction, that we are required to conduct ourselves in the same way before him: for he knows our desires before they spring up in our hearts ; and therefore for us to pour them out before him, is not because they are unknown to him, but because he has commanded us so to do, and it has therefore become our duty and privilege. The apostle, however, not only recommends prayer and supplication, but also " thanksgiving," even for whatever may occur to us ; and this should guard us from the error of those who pray with lamentations, murmurs, and reproaches, as though God had no right to give them trouble; or, at least, as though he could not leave them in it long without injustice or un- necessary harshness. The true believer, on the con- trary, seasons every request with gratitude, and com- mences and ends his prayer with thanksgiving, asking nothing of the Majesty of heaven as a right, but as a favour, submitting himself humbly to his will, and acknowledging that whatever may be ordered for him, glory, honour, and praise are due to God. IV. After these commands, the apostle adds, in the fourth and last place, a very sweet promise, " And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." The word "and" at the beginning of this sentence shows that this " peace " depends upon the previous question : " Let your moderation be known unto all men. Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. Jnd the peace of God," &c. ; that is to say, if these duties be diligently performed, the peace of God shall guard you from every evil. This peace of God does not signify the peace which God possesses in himself, but that which he has given us in his Son ; the fruit of justification by faith, that sweet and holy calm produced by the grace of Jesus Christ upon the conscience, delivering it from the burden under which it laboured, and showing God reconciled to us, and looking upon us as his children, with a kind and propitious counte- nance. Paul says that this peace " passeth all un- derstanding;" first, because there is no understand- ing which, before having experienced it, can possibly conceive what it is, or form an idea of its true and real essence. And, secondly, because the minds even of those who do possess it can never entirely explain or comprehend it. It is a Divine and heavenly thing, full of secret sweets and concealed marvels, that the human understanding knows not how to imagine it distinctly ; and whatever efforts the mind may make, it must yield at last, seeing, after all its thoughts, some new wonders remaining in this delightful sub- ject, which, having exhausted the powers of his in- tellect, constrains him at last to admire what he is unable perfectly to understand. It is with a similar meaning the apostle says elsewhere that " the love of Christ passeth knowledge," Eph. iii. 19 ; and St. Peter tells us that our joy in Christ is " glorious and unspeakable," 1 Pet. i. 8. In fact, if you consider the causes of this peace, where is the mind, whether human or angelic, that could sufficiently comprehend the wonders of the death of the Son of God, which procured it for us ; the inexhaustible love of the Father in the gift of his Son, the only source of hap- piness or peace to men ? If you examine its form and essence, what understanding can enough admire the fact of sinners being at peace with Almighty justice, that they should meet his all-piercing eye, and live secure in him, not merely delivei-ed from his vengeance, but even expecting his greatest fa- vours ? If you consider its effects, who shall know how to describe, or even depict to his own mind, the sweetness which this peace sheds over the hearts of faithful Christians, the joy, the happiness which it establishes there ? converting them into a paradise, and causing to flourish therein, in this world, the glory which belongs to another; maintaining there hope in despair, strength in weakness, abundance in dearth, victory in defeat, triumph in doubt, even life in death itself. But it is in vain that I attempt to represent it to you, since it passes all understanding. Make the essay, believers ; learn by experience what we cannot express in words, or conceive in thoughts. And observe, that, besides what we have just seen, it also has the efficacy which the apostle attributes to it here, " shall keep your hearts and minds by Jesus Christ." When once we have the happiness to be in communion with Jesus Christ, many enemies rise up who endeavour to separate us from him. The devil, the world, and the flesh never cease to solicit us, re- presenting to our minds the affliction of the cross, and the repose and prosperity of the world. But the same Spirit who first gave us to Jesus will preserve us in him, being the author of our perseverance, as well as of our first entrance into alliance with him. And as he is infinitely wise, he does not retain us in this happy communion against our will ; but working with us in a manner suited to our nature, he so draws our minds that they continue firm in their constant desire to embrace the Saviour. The principal means which he employs to this end is the peace of God shed abroad in our hearts, which is, as it were, the seal by which we are sealed unto the day of redemp- tion. For recognising, by the experience of this ineffable peace, the Divinity of the Lord Jesus, the truth of his gospel, and the happiness of those who belong to him, we repulse all the efforts of the tempter, and prefer the grace of God to all the ad- vantages of the flesh. This peace so strengthens our hearts, that they despise all the promises of the world ; it shuts our ears to its seductions, and our eyes to its illusions, and so wins our minds by the \^ Cbap. IV. power of its Divine sweetness, that we are ready to answer those who endeavour to detach us from the Lord, in the words of St. Peter, To whom else should we go? he has the words of eternal life, and we be- lieve and are sure that he is the Christ, the Son of the living God. Such is the meaning of the apostle when he says that "the peace of God shall keep our hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." Consider, believers, the excellence and the price of this peace; it is our chief happiness on earth, the consolation of our hearts, the guardian of our souls, the defence of our understandings, the assurance of our salvation ; it is the one thing needful. "We can pass by all other blessings, and be happy without possessing those things which other men desire ; but we can neither enter into, nor continue in the en- joyment of, true felicity, without this peace of God. For of what avail would be the esteem of the great, the glory of the world, the amassing of riches, the knowledge of science, the pleasures of life, and, in short, every thing agreeable and desirable in this world, if we are at enmity with God? What asylum, what place of refuge, could we find from his arms ? O ye miserable ones, who quit his service for the good things of this world, where is your understanding ? Do you not know that without the peace of God you must be in eternal misery ? There is in the world neither force nor cunning sufficient to shield you from his anger ; the arrows of his wrath will find you wherever you may be concealed, they will pierce through every defence, and will sink into your heart, and suck the life from your soul, even in the midst of your pleasures and your triumphs. His image will every where pursue you, and fill your miserable con- sciences with fear and horror, without allowing you an hour's repose; and after a life of remorse and secret torment he will punish your sin with eternal misery in hell. But, believers, these unhappy ones never had the peace of God in their hearts; if they had had it, it would have kept their hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. As for us, then, who know its value, let us ask it night and day from God. Let all the world be our enemies, provided we are at peace with him. But it is certain that nothing can be our enemy if we are at peace with God. He is the Almighty Lord of the universe. All creatures obey his laws and his motions, of good will or bad will ; and if we have peace with God, we have it necessarily with the heavens and with the earth, with men and with beasts, with the elements, with the sword, with famine, with nakedness, with death and the grave. Nothing can by any means hurt us ; all things must work together for our good ; the most deadly poison shall become wholesome to us ; the sovereign power and wisdom of the Almighty changing by admirable means the very nature of things in favour of those who are in covenant with him. O merciful Lord, give us then this blessed peace ; shed it abroad in our hearts, and make it so to dwell within us that we may experience much of its sweet- ness. Take away from us what thou wilt, but take not away thy peace. As thou hast obtained it for us by the bloody sacrifice of the cross, O communicate it to us by the operation of thy Spirit, our only Com- forter, by the power of thy holy word, and by the recei\'ing of this holy sacrament to which thou hast invited us. Feed our souls with thy flesh, water them with thy blood ; so may the Almighty spare and deal with us as with men in covenant with him. And may this blessed peace so faithfully guard our hearts and minds, that we may remain always in thee by faith and love, and thou always in us by thy Spirit and grace. Amen. THE EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS. 161 SERMON XXVII. Verse 8, 9. Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatso- ever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, irhatsoever things are of good report ; ff there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these tilings. Those things, zvhich ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do : and the God of peace shall be with you. Brethren, the sanctification of men is the true ob- ject of our redemption by Jesus Christ, as the apostle teaches us when he says that the Lord Jesus " gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father," Gal. i. 4 ; that is to say, as he him- self explains more clearly in another place, " that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works," Tit. ii. 14. This is the great end of all that he has done and suffered on the earth, to the astonishment of angels and men. It was for this that he took our nature, concealing the glory of eternal Divinity under the veil of weak and mortal flesh. It was for this that he was tempted in all points like as we are, and sanctified by so many bitter tears. It was for this that he was given over to the cross, the Almighty Lord of the world enduring the punishment of slaves ; for this the holiest of the holy was treated like the worst of malefactors, the beloved and blessed of the Father being made a curse. And as the salvation which he purchased for us is not a common and earthly good, but a Divine and heavenly one ; so the holiness to which he moulds us, and by which he conducts us to heaven, is not a common and natural perfection, such as men of the world may acquire, and which they honour with the glorious appellation of virtue; but it is a holiness singular and exquisite, supernatural and angelic. And therefore it is that the Lord, in that Divine discourse upon the moimt, wherein he explains the rules and regulations of holiness, declares to his dis- ciples that " unless their righteousness exceeded that of the scribes and Pharisees," (that is, of the famous masters of the purest school in the world,) " they could not see the kingdom of God." The design, then, of the Christian religion being so excellent and so lofty, we cannot be surprised that the apostles treated of it with so much diligence and assiduity ; and that this holiness is the great object of their writings, as it was the end of all the deeds and suf- ferings of their Master. St. Paul has commenced this Epistle to the Philippians by praying God that " they might be filled with the fruits of righteous- ness, which are by Jesus Christ," Phil. i. 11; and recommending them to have their conversation as it became the gospel of Christ. He had scattered throughout the whole body of the Epistle various other excellent exhortations to holiness, especially in this and the preceding chapter. Behold him now again finishing as he had begun, and giving to his dear disciples this last precept, which we have just read, to be, as it were, the seal and mark of his Epistle : " Finally, brethren, (says he,) whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, what- soever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard. 1G2 AN EXPOSITION OF Serm. XXVIl. and seen in me, do ; and the God of peace shall be with you." In order to give you a complete exposi- tion of this text, we will consider three things, one after another, by the grace and assistance of God. The first subject shall be concerning those things which the apostle recommends to the Philippians to study and practise. The second, concerning the ex- ample which he had given them in his own person, and of which he reminds them in this place, to en- courage them in their duty. And the third, concern- ing the promise which he gives them, that the God of peace should be with them. I. With regard to the first point, this word " final- ly," with which St. Paul commences his discourse, bears relation to the preceding texts, both of the third chapter and of this one, in which he had ex- plained the fundamentals of the Christian life ; namely, the faith and service of Jesus Christ, union and harmony among believers, and perseverance in piety. When afterwards, therefore, he adds, " Fi- nally, whatsoever things are true, &c., think on these things," it is as though he said, So far I have described to you the very substance and body of Christianity ; for the remainder, employ all the time you can to the study of it, and to the exercise of good and praiseworthy actions. And herein the apostle silently opposes his doctrine to that of the false teachers, and of all those who endeavoured to Judaize the church. For these people, after receiving the gospel faith, desired their disciples to occupy themselves in the practice of ordinances and legal ceremonies, and to trim (if I may be allowed the ex- pression) the robe of Jesus with the fringes of Moses. This passion of desiring the externals of devotion is natural to all men, for such exercises in religion are much more easy and agreeable than the study of real virtue ; and this may be proved by referring to all religions, ancient and modern. But the apostle, instead of such weak, vain, and useless ceremonies, desires Christians to occupy themselves in the con- stant practice of honesty, justice, and all other virtues which a man can exercise towards his neighbour. This was to be the ornament, as it were, the outward mark of their faith. So the holiest, the best, the most honest man, would be considered the most re- ligious, according to the doctrine also of St. James, who defines pure religion thus : " To visit the father- less and widows in their affliction, and to keep him- self unspotted from the world," James i. 27. Perhaps also the apostle, having just declared all our duties, as well toward God as toward believers, adds this precept to show us how we ought to conduct our- selves before strangers ; as though he had said, So far I have described your life in all that concerns the service of God and the love of your brethren ; as to the rest, which concerns them that are without, let your manners and conversation be marked by honesty and goodness. If you take the trouble to count the things which he recommends to us, you will find eight articles : first, "things true;" second, "things venerable" (margin) ; third, " things just ;" fourth, " pure ;" fifth, " lovely ;" sixth, such as are " of jjood report ;" seventh, " if there be any virtue ;" eighth, and last, " if there be any praise." Truly all this is so clear, there is little need of explanation. Ah, would to God it were as easy to practise as to understand ! Yet, in order to aid and strengthen you in so neces- sary an object, we will say a few words upon these eight things, in the order in which the apostle has written them. He places first, " things true." And it is certainly very proper that above and before all things we should embrace the truth, because we are disciples of Jesus Christ, who is the truth itself. Here then should be the base, the foundation of our conduct; we must receive the truth as a daughter of Heaven, as the first and principal mark of our pro- fession, and truth should be the seal of our thoughts, words, and actions. Some would restrain this word to the truths which pagans even and other enemies of our religion hold in common with ourselves; such are the maxims respecting our conduct, the know- ledge whereof nature has engraved in the hearts of all mankind; as, for example, that of not doing to another the thing we do not wish him to do to us, and such like, of which the apostle speaks in the Epistle to the Romans, saying that " the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law ;" and that " that which may be known of God is manifest in them, even his eter- nal power and Godhead," Rom. ii. 12, &c. But as the apostle here expressly says, " whatso- ever things are true," it appears much better to un- derstand the words in their fullest extent. In this sense truth is opposed to falsehood, or mere appear- ance. For, first, we consider those things " true " which are not feigned or invented to please, but which really subsist. And secondly, such as are at the foundation firm and solid ; not shadows and figures, which have indeed the appearance of truth, but are not in reality what they seem to be. There- fore the apostle banishes from the mind and conduct of Christians all falsehoods, of what kind soever they may be. And thirdly, all vain and deceitful ap- pearances. He desires that our manner of life should be plain and simple, not vain and hollow ; and that we should leave shadows to others, and attach our- selves entirely to reality. And in order to conform to this precept, it is not enough to purify your lan- guage from all falsehood, equivocation, and ambi- guity, and your conduct from every species of hypo- crisy ; the heart must also be purged from the esteem, the love, and the admiration of the world, which is as a shadow that passes away, as the apostle teaches us. Neither the gains of avarice, nor the honours of ambition, nor the pleasures of vanity, nor the occupations and enjoyments of any vice what- ever, are " true things;" because it is clear they give not the happiness they promise, and while present- ing a false appearance of good they possess nothing good in reality. No, we must exercise ourselves iii those things that are " true ;" that is to say, in the purity and sincerity of a good conscience, and in the fruits which that will produce. The apostle, secondly, recommends us all things " venerable" (margin) ; signifying by this word all that relates to sobriety and purity of manners, and to the dignity of the high vocation to which God has called us. In order to practise this virtue we must renounce all frivolity, lightness, buffoonery, and folly, which are quite at variance with our holy pro- fession. There should be nothing in our words, in our habits, or in our conversation, that cannot cor- respond with the loftiness and holiness of that Jesus whose disciples we call ourselves ; in other words, nothing but what is pure and simple : on all occa- sions the same life should be manifested in us; no adversity, no prosperity, should depress or elevate us ; in solitude or in company, we should be equally simple and sincere. For as the Christian is a child of God, an heir of heaven, a brother of the Lord Jesus, a fellow-citizen with the angels, the salt of the earth, and the light of the world, the master and teacher of all men, it is clear that such high qualities must oblige him to maintain a holy and grave de- portment ; and that he could not fall in with the op- posite vices, without betraying his honour and scandalously belying his profession. Jhap. IV. THE EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS. 163 " Things just," which the apostle adds in the third Elace, are those which we owe to each other, whether y the Divine law, or by the customs and ordinances of men. He desires us to consider, first, what God commands us to render unto men ; whether honour, or obedience, or deference to our superiors, whether in the liingdom or the family ; whether the guidance, care, and protection of our inferiors ; whether friend- ship and assistance towards our equals ; whetlier charity and kindness towards all. Secondly, that we should remember the laws, especially those of the city and society in which we live, and the duties they require of us. And lastly, that we should be careful to acquit ourselves in all these with the ut- most fidelity, excepting such human laws as may be contrary to the law of God and of our consciences; for with regard to them, as they cannot be considered just, so neither are we bound by them. But in every other case we must submit and accommodate our- selves to the laws of the civil and domestic community in which we dwell. The apostle, in the fourth place, commands us to think of things " pure ;" meaning thereby to place purity and chastity in opposition to filthiness and voluptuousness, which are contrary to the mind of God. That we should be careful not only to pre- serve our bodies free from pollution, but our hearts, our tongues, our eyes, even our dress, should be holy and pure, our deportment modest, our conversation free from every species of dissoluteness. But as drunkenness and gluttony soil the mind and body of man, and render it unfit for the temple of Jesus Christ, I consider that the purity of which the apostle speaks must extend itself to sobriety and temperance in eating and drinking, if we desire to preserve our- selves in perfect consistency. I confess that this " truth," this " gravity," this "justice," this " purity," which the apostle recommends, are most suitable to the perfection of our manners and life. Nevertheless these are not all. He is desirous that we should adorn these virtues with a sweetness and urbanity pleasing to them with whom we converse, and that if there be things worthy of praise and commendation, we should adorn ourselves therewith as with jewels of gold. And this is what is intended by the four graces added next. Fifthly, " Think of whatsoever things are lovely." He does not mean by this that, in order to obtain the good opinion of men, we should practise generally whatever is most pleasing to them. For then we must run with them to their excess of riot, and wal- low in their filthiness, and imitate their superstitions and vices, because nothing gratifies them so much as this conformity, and nothing vexes and annoys them so much as the horror that we manifest for the things which they esteem and practise without scruple of conscience. The apostle here speaks only of such things as are not contrary to the will of God, while at the same time they are agreeable and pleasing to men. In this class 1 would place patience, cheerful- ness, sweetness of temper, generosity, and such-like virtues. For although all virtues are beautiful and excellent in themselves, and deserve the approbation and respect of men, being all emanations from God and the fruits of his Spirit, yet nevertheless there are some more pleasing than others ; some more gay, more fascinating, and universally known among men ; even as we see among the stars, though all are beautiful, yet some shine with greater lustre than others. Among the virtues, these shine with pecu- liar brightness, sweetness of mind, courtesy, patience, clemency, willingness to oblige, &c., for there are few minds so savage as not to love goodness. The worst barbarians are softened when they see a man without violence, without bitterness, full of compas- sion towards the afflicted, liberal to the necessitous, and who, without constraint or any other obligation than that of humanity, does good to all men, and even to those that have injured him. It is impos- sible that a man should not love and respect such ex- cellent goodness, however little in common he may possess with it. To these duties I would add, second- ly, a yielding in things which in their nature are in- different ; and of this the apostle himself gives us an excellent example, and one well worthy of imitation ; for that holy man, renouncing his own liberty, be- came a servant to all in order to win them to his Mas- ter. To the Jew he became as a Jew, to those who were under the law as being himself under the law, to the weak he became as weak, all things to all men, bending and submitting to the humours of his neighbours, and transforming himself, as it were, into them, as much as the laws of piety would permit him, in order by these means to obtain their favour and affection, as he himself explains to us in the First Epistle to the Corinthians. What he says, sixthly, that we should also think of such things as are of " good report," relates to the same end, and must be understood in the same man- ner ; for among actions which are all good and excel- lent, there are some which are more especially in repute among men. St. Paul desires us to give our- selves to them with especial care, because those who hold them in high esteem will love us better; and seeing us constant, ardent, and zealous in the prac- tice of them, will by these means be constrained to acknowledge that it is not malice or hatred, but be- lief and sound judgment, which induce us to abhor their superstitions ; and this disposition of mind is useful to persuade them of the truth of our religious opinions. And further, as among things in their nature in- different some are much esteemed, either by all men generally, or by particular nations or societies ; so, on the contrary, some are held in disrepute, as severity, rigour, penuriousness, avarice, and the like. The apostle, therefore, desires that in matters of this sort we should accommodate ourselves to the public feel- ing, not only shunning evil, but the appearance of evil ; so that nothing in our conduct should possibly give vantage ground to our enemies : for if a pagan,* who had no particular respect for true honour, con- sidered that his wife should not only be pure and chaste in reality, but even that that purity should not be for a moment questioned, how much moi-e should we feel the same with regard to a Christian soul, the spouse of Jesus, Lord of glory, and King of saints ! Having the honour of such an alliance, a soul should be careful, not only of her purity, but of her reputation, in order to bring no spot or stain of evil, whether real or apparent, upon the household of her Divine Husband. Seventhly, That nothing may be omitted, the apostle concludes with, " if there be any virtue, if there be any praise," that is, any thing considered praiseworthy among men, " think on these things." He is desirous that we should neglect no virtue, but that we should adorn the new man which Christ has created within us with every thing excellent and beautiful ; so that none of these Divine and celestial fiowers may be wanting : for it must never be sup- posed sufficient to possess one or two only ; and indeed it is not possible to have one, in any degree of per- fection, without all the others. They are sisters so firmly linked together that they cannot be torn asunder. But even were it possible, nay, easy to * Julius Caesu, 164 AN EXPOSITION OF Sehm. XXVII. possess some without the rest, still it is clejir that a true Christian must strive after all, because the same who commands one commands likewise the others. Let us then renounce the error into which men of the world fall, of supposing it sufficient to exercise one virtue, while neglecting every other: thus luxury and extravagance shelter themselves under the cha- racter of not being avaricious ; thus chastity is suj)- posed to save a man who is at the same time cruel and uncharitable. Let us never separate what God has united. Let us embrace with all our hearts every thing he has commanded, and suffer nothing to escape us. If you desire to reign in heaven, you must present yourselves there with this beautiful crown, from whence radiate all kinds of virtue and praise. Do not forget or omit one, says the apostle. " Think of these things, and do them." He desires us to " think" of them, because the mind is the root of all human actions. It is the mind which influences the will, stirs up the affections, and conceives and produces every action. He therefore would have the act follow the intention. For it is not merely to indulge the mind in the pleasure of vain speculations that we are to exercise ourselves in this lofty study, but rather that we may put in practice all tliat we have understood. Finally, the apostle's words, " praiseworthy and of good report," are not to be misunderstood, as though he commanded or permitted us to consider our own reputation, and do good in order to obtain praise of men. He tells us indeed to live in the study and practice of things worthy of praise, but not in order to obtain it. He who has such an object in view is a slave to his own passions, but not a servant of God. He outrages virtue, the most beautiful thing in the world, in making it subservient to vanity. The Chris- tian regards only the will of God and his approba- tion, from whose goodness and free grace he expects his reward, and for whom therefore alone he labours. II. But the apostle, having thus set before the Philippians in order the duties to w'hich he exhorts them, recommends them, in the second clause of the text, by this consideration, that they had " learned, and received, and heard, and seen them in him." These (he declares) are not novelties of which he has just become enamoured. He had instilled the same lessons into them from the beginning. He calls upon them as witnesses, saying that they had learned, and received, and heard, and seen them in him; thus manifesting in his own person the model of a faithful preacher of the gospel, and in them the duty of true disciples. For respecting the first, he witnesses with what care and assiduity he had preached among them the study of truth, righteous- ness, and Christian purity, having taught or recom- mended nothing else ; on the contrarj', these had been the entire and sole object of his instructions. False apostles taught the observance of ceremonies. St. Paul demanded only of believers holiness and purity of manners. Ministers of the gospel ought, in con- formity with this example, to give their flocks fre- quently this wholesome and solid advice ; and leave the subtilties, questions, and speculations of philoso- phy to others; these latter being mostly unwhole- some food, pleasing perhaps to the taste, but more likely to poison the soul than to nourish it. It is not, however, enough that the servants of God preach sound doctrine to the flock committed to their charge; they must exhibit the same in their deportment, even as St. Paul tells the Philippians, that they not only had heard and received those things from him, but that they also had seen them in him, his conversation and manners having been conformable to his preaching. The sketch of his life which is given us in the Acts proves this fact ; for he devoted himself to the exercise of piety, righteousness, gravity, purity, and every other Christian grace. This demonstrated the truth of his doctrine. He easily persuaded others of what it was evident he believed himself. On the other hand, that preaching which is not enforced by ex- ample is but vain declamation, which but increases the guilt of him who so shamefully disgraces his holy office, and can never truly benefit his hearers, because no one considers his doctrine worthy of faith, while his manner of life testifies that he docs not himself believe it. The ministers of the Lord have however a beautiful pattern of their duty in the person of Paul. You also, dear brethren, have the model of yours in the Philippian converts, of whom the apostle witnesses that they had learned, and I'eceived, and heard the things preached to them ; signifying hereby the attention and docility with which they had listened to the gospel, receiving its Divine lessons with respect, engraving them upon their hearts, and embracing them with zeal and ar- dour. And it is evident that their own interest would prompt them to retain firmly this holy faith; exer- cising themselves and advancing daily in humility and sanctification, even as at the beginning they had received it with alacrity ; for fear lest, relaxing in their course, they might through negligence lose that which they had acquired. III. Therefore, in order to encourage them to per- severe in their holy way, he promises that the " God of peace shall be with them." This promise includes every blessing that we are acquainted with, for who can want any thing with whom God dwells ; God, the only source of all happiness ? Therefore it is that the Scriptures often speak thus, " God is with you," in order to signify the constant assistance derived from him, and the blessings of his providence; as when Moses says, " God was with Joseph," he shows us the paternal care with which he watched over him ; and thus also our Saviour Jesus Christ expressed himself when we would assure his faithful disciples of his assistance in all their laborious minis- try, saying, " I will be with you always, even to the end of the world." Here then, in the same manner, the apostle, in saying that if we give ourselves se- riously to holiness and good works, " God will be with us," intends us to understand that he will bless us, will make all things work for our good, will con- sole us in every trouble, and strengthen us in every conflict ; and thus, giving us while in this world his grace and favour, and guiding us through all our so- journ here, he will at length bring us into his heaven- ly and glorious kingdom. And it may here be re- marked that he gives God frequently this title, " The God of peace," when he would promise us such blessings. Just before he had said that the peace of God should keep our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus ; now he gives us stronger assurance, saying that the God of peace shall be with us. The Scriptures often designate the Almighty thus first, because that Divine and blessed Being enjoys within himself such profound peace, that no changes which may take place in this lower world are capable of disturbing his holy rest ; secondly, because as nothing is so lovely in his eyes as peace, so nothing is so hateful to him as division, war, and tumult. The vision seen by Elijah (1 Kings xix. 12) illustrates this, for the Scripture observes that God was mani- fested to him, not in the wind, not in the tempest, not in the fire, but in a still small voice; thus de- monstrating that God dwells in tranquil, calm, and peaceful minds, not in boisterous and turbulent spirits. And lastly, he is called " God of peace," be. Chap. IV. THE EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS. 165 cause he alone is the author of whatever degree of peace his creatures may enjoy. He it is who main- tains peace among the holy and blessed angels, having (as Job tells us) ordained peace in high places. He it is who bestows on us, in his Son, that peace we now possess, and that we hope for here- after ; peace iut eijis world, and peace in the world to come. But if you understand the expression "of peace" in the sense in which the Scriptures commonly use it, to signify prosperity and happiness, then is he again rightly called the " God of peace ;" because on his free grace and favour alone depends every success enjoyed here below, whether by the church in general, or by individuals in particular. It is under this appellation that he comes to us, if we walk in holiness, shedding abroad in our hearts sweet consolation, blessing both us and our flocks, and those among whom we dwell in communion, and causing all things, even the most apparently inimical, to work for our good. Such, dear friends, is the exposition of this last precept which the apostle gives to the Philippians in this Epistle. May it be deeply impressed on our hearts ; let us meditate often upon it, that we may profit thereby, and be enabled carefully to practise it. We may learn from it how false is the calumny of those who accuse evangelical religion of setting aside good works, and how greatly they err who believe it. For how is it possible to urge their necessity stronger? Or how could they be more splendidly inculcated than by the apostle's words in the text? For they show that a Christian's life should be spent only in thinking and doing such things as are true, just, venerable, pure, lovely, and of good report, and in practising every sort of virtue. If there be any per- sons who live a vicious life in so holy a school, let them answer for their malice and wickedness. The gospel is not to blame either for their error or its punishment. It is their own hardness, and no imper- fection in it, which retains them in sin. The gospel calls and urges them to purity and virtue ; its lessons are repeated over and over again ; the most holy motives are set forth to them ; and if they continue in vice and sin, it is their ow-n fault, and not that of the gospel. We might with much more truth retort this accusation on those who make it. For is it not an evident death-blow to the pursuit of holiness to teach that its loftiest and most beautiful traits are not necessary to all believers, but belong only to the more exalted minds, to those whom they account among the perfect ? and further, that for the com- monalty, a small measure of faith and virtue is suf- ficient, while the most excellent works of holiness are supererogatory, that is, are not absolutely com- manded by God, but merely recommended ? thus leaving it to a believer to work or not, as he may please. O vile and pernicious doctrine ! which with one blow ruins all, both those who perform good works, by the vain presumption of having performed more than was required ; and those who do them not, by the blind security in which it plunges them, under the idea that they may be saved without so needful a part of sanctification. This one passage of Scrip- ture, although there were no other in the whole book of God, is sufficient to refute this error. For it is clear that there is no good action, of whatever nature, that you can possibly figure to yourselves, which does not come under the class of things true, or just, or venerable, or pure, or lovely, or of good report, or praiseworthy, or virtuous, if it could not be classed with any of these, it could not be good, much less meritorious and supererogatory, as false teachers represent. Now the apostle, as you see, commands us to think of all things that are good, and to do them. Certainly then there can be nothing good which we are not desired to do, consequently there can be no virtue supererogatory, or merely advised. And besides the authority of the apostle, the very reason of things proves this. For as God is a Sove- reign, as he has given us all we have of being and life, as, not satisfied with having once given us life, he has redeemed and purchased it again at the infinite price of the death of his Son ; who can but see that we owe him all we are capable of rendering of duty and obedience, and that we are bound to employ in his service every thought and aff"ection ? And there- fore you know he commands us in his law expressly, to love him with all our hearts, with all our minds, with all our strength. Let us then hold and maintain, as a fixed principle, that there is no point of sancti- fication, however complete and refined, which we do not owe to God; and that after we have done every thing, we have merely done that which it is our duty to do ; that no one is exempt from this obligation, whether minister or layman, whether small or great. Let no one transfer the study and aim after perfec- tion into the hands of others. As all believers aspire after eternal life, so must they all walk in the way which conducts thereto, even the way of holiness; and as all are honoured with the appellation of " children of God," so ought all to be perfect, as their Father in heaven is perfect. Be assured the apostle addresses this Divine precept to every one of us, as it is evident that he speaks here to all the Philippian Christians generally, and we should study to practise what he has commanded. Comparing then the rules which he has given us with our lives, we must with shame and sorrow ac- knowledge our numerous failings. He commands us to think of every thing true, just, venerable, pure, lovely, and of good report ; and if there be any thing worthy of praise, if there be any virtue, to think of these things and do them. How many are there amongst us who have never thought of them, and much less done them ; whose religion consists merely in a naked profession, which is denied by their actions and conduct ! They attend public worship, they partake of the outward sacrament ; but they have not that holiness without which no man can see the Lord. Instead of the seal of truth, which ought to be the very mark and stamp of their lives, they are full of deceit and guile ; they act a perpetual farce, in which they appear any thing but what they are ; and their boldness has arrived to such a pitch, that they consider this very vice a virtue. They call hypocrisy prudence, and knavery wit and ad- dress. There is nothing holy and true in their aim or their means. And as for that calm seriousness which ought to manifest itself in our conversation, where is it to be found ? How man^' of us, forgetting what we are, and the majesty of the Lord Jesus whose name we bear, and the glory of that heaven to which he calls us, amuse ourselves with vain trifles, with earthly pastimes, with the puerilities and follies of the world ! It is not for a Christian, a disciple of Christ, an heir of eternity, to waste his time with the children of this world, to mix in their games, in their dances, in their theatrical entertain- ments, in their fetes, their revels, their drunkenness, their excesses. It is not for him to grow old in these vanities, though age, which arrests the career of worldly men, is unable to form such a one to the dig- nity suited to his profession. What shall I say also of that justice which we owe to all men, the foundation of public virtue, the very bond of society, the necessity of which even savages are compelled to acknowledge ? Who would believe 166 AN EXPOSITION OF Seem. XXVII. it is continually outraged in societies of Christian";, where injustice should be met with as a prodigy? And yet (we must confess it to our shame) it is com- mitted every day among us. There are among us people who wrong their neighbours, who spare not their own brethren, who hunt after the wealth of others, who borrow and never pay, who forcibly take what is not their own. There are to be found among us children who have no respect for their parents, husbands without affection for their wives, wives who obey not their husbands, brothers who hate their brothers ; and there are few who do not to others what they would reprobate others doing to them. Purity is no better observed. Dissoluteness of manners, adultery, drunkenness, gluttony, are of fre- quent occurrence ; to say nothing of those " spots on our garments," avarice, luxury, expensive furniture and dress, things utterly at variance with Christian simplicity, chastity, and purity. It is no wonder therefore that, failing so sadly in things of importance, we should have little care for such as are lovely, as kindness and generosity ; every one considering himself as born for his own pleasure, and as owing nothing to any one, while every body owes much to him. And as for things of good report, we care so little about them that we often run after things of bad odour among men, bringing thereby scandal and opprobrium on the church of Christ. The passions of avarice and ambition, for instance, are so violent that they set aside conscience and reputation, and roam right and left to gratify themselves, as monsters search after their prey. Dear brethren, it is with much grief that I thus probe your wounds. But it is needful to discover in order to heal them. Let us then set about a serious repentance. Let a holy shame be its commencement. Let us blush to remember how we have served that God who has been so good to us, scandalizing his church, and dis- gracing his name, by our manner of life. Let us ask pardon for our faults, and kneeling at his footstool let us continue there until we obtain the favour we need. Let us make a firm and solemn resolution to do better in future, and to employ the remainder of our lives in a rigid observation of our duties. Let us renounce every vice, banishing from our society all falsehood, frivolity, injustice, impurity, in short every thing that can provoke the wrath of God, or deserve the hatred and contempt of men. Let that truth, innocence, gentleness, sweetness, beneficence, that purity of manners, that gravity and virtue, which the first ministers of Christ recommended both by their doctrine and practice, and which the world saw and admired in them, revive and shine amongst us. O eternal God, what would be the glory of our church in general, and what the happiness of each individual in it, if, loosing our hearts and affections from eartli, and renouncing the excitements of pas- sion, we walked all with one accord in the way of holiness ; if, leaving the vain occupations of the world, we thought only of practising those true, just, venerable, lovely, and pure things, full of virtue and praise, which the apostle commands us! The light of such a life would confound the enemy. It would shut the mouth of calumny; it would convert the hatred and blasphemy of the world into love, and praise, and edification: new subjects would be ac- quired to Jesus, and his empire would enlarge itself both in length and breadth : for think not that it was either the power of miracles, or the wonders of know- ledge, or the eloquence of the preaching of the first Christians, which converted the world formerly. Their holiness was the great instrument in this work ; and the reason of our not being useful as they were, is not because we are less learned and less eloquent than they j all the difference is that our lives are not holy as theirs were. If we walk in holiness of life, we shall have the same success as they had; and besides the glory of God, this would turn to our own happiness : " The God of peace shall be with you," says the apostle. In the exercise of holiness we should enjoy a sweet and calm repose, passing through this world and looking for the next with a contented mind, free from fear, and trouble, and anxiety, and remorse, and all those miseries which vice invariably produces in the hearts of such as are enslaved by it. Possessing Jesus Christ, assured of his favour and of our own immortality, we should dwell in joy and un- utterable peace, until, after these pledges of paradise, he shall raise us to heaven, and cause us to drink at the very fountain of these delights. To him, then, with the Father, and the Holy Spirit, one God blessed for ever, be ascribed glory, honour, and praise. Amen. SERMON XXVIII. Verse 10—14. But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly, that now at the last your care of me halh flourished again ; wherein ye icere a/so careful, but ye lacked opportunity. IS^ot that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, m whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. I know both how to be abased, and I knoiv how to abomid : ei-ery where and in all thiyigs I am in- structed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I ca7i do all things through Christ which strengthenelh me. Noticith- standing ye have ivell done, that ye did communicate with my affliction. As believers who have wealth are commanded by the laws of the gospel to administer to the wants of their brethren, so also should relief be received with joy and gratitude; and true charity mainly consists in the exercise of these two duties. We have a beautiful example of both in the text which has just been read to you; wherein we see, on the one hand, the Philippians sending to Paul things needful to him in his bonds; and, on the other, the great apostle receiving the gift with singular gratitude and sweetness; for it appears, from the closing of this Epistle, that they had sent Epaphroditus to visit him in his prison, and by his hands had presented a charitable subscription for his necessities. The apostle had not mentioned the subject hither- to, having, in the former chapters of this Epistle, dis- coursed on the more important points of the instruc- tion and spiritual edification of the church. But having discharged fully this more pressing duty, in these few verses he touches upon charity, and re- turns them his acknowledgments for theirs. And in this St. Paul has acted in a remarkable manner. A mercenary person would have commenced by thank- ing them, as though that were the subject nearest his heart, or at least of which he chose to speak first. An ungrateful person, on the contrary, would have said nothing about it. The apostle, avoiding these two extremes, thanks the Philippians for their pre- sent, but only at the latter portion of his letter, and after having spoken largely concerning heaven and his Lord. And further, he treats the subject in so exquisite a manner, that in expressing his sincere and real acknowledgments to the believers, he mani- Chap. IV. THE EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS. 167 fests no low and earthly feeling. All his words are grand and lofty, full of noble and exalted sentiments. For as all things change their nature in the hands of God, a dry rod into a flowering almond tree, a shep- herd into a king, a herdsman into a prophet ; so, in like manner, this blessed apostle, participating in some degree (if we may thus speak) in this quality of his Lord, transforms the subjects he handles. He strips them of every thing vile and despicable, and clothes them with another dress, spiritual and beau- tiful. The Philippians had sent him a small sum in Roman coin. The thing was little in itself, and still less with respect to this great apostle, who esteemed all the riches of the world no more than a morsel of mud or a handful of dust. Yet he changes this little present into a holy sacrifice, the odour of which has mounted to heaven, and there rejoices God and men. He speaks of it loftily, taking occasion in his usual way to philosophize, and showing by his own ex- ample what should be our feelings and affections, respecting the abundance or scarcity of earthly things. Neglect not then, believing souls, this latter part of St. Paul's Epistle, under the idea that it re- spects only the present made by the Philippians. However dry and uninteresting it may at first sight appear, you will see, on further examination, that it opens for our instruction a lively spring of piety. And that we may more abundantly profit, let us consider attentively, and in due order, the three points which present themselves in the text you have just heard. The first is in the lOth verse, and speaks of the jny which the apostle felt in receiving such a proof of the charity and affection of the Philippians by Ejiaphroditus. The second point is contained in the three follow- iiiLT verses, and respects the disposition that we should maintain concerning the things of this life. And the third is in the last verse, and is contained in the praise that the apostle gives to the Philippians. These three subjects I propose, with the blessing of God, to consider in this discourse. I. The joy of the apostle ; his moderation in want or fulness ; and the approbation bestowed on the charitable subscription of the Philippians. It is a law founded on natural equity, established by God in his word, and amply justified in the 9th chapter of tlie First Epistle to the Corinthians, by the apostle Paul, that eveiy church is commanded to furnish to the pastors who instruct it all things necessary for the maintenance both of them and their families, so that the duties and functions of a heavenly minis- try may not be disturbed by anxiety and the care of earthly things. According to this law, the greater I"partofthe Christian churches owed this charitable duty to St. Paul, because he had founded, or con- firmed, or instructed nearly all of them. Yet, as he has declared in several places, yielding his right to the advancement of God's glory and the edification of men, he drew not his subsistence from the believers to whom he had preached the gospel, but procured his living by working with his own hands. This however did not prevent him from receiving, on cer- tain unusual occasions, (either when it was difficult or impossible to labour, as when in prison or sick,) the voluntary off'erings made him by some of the flocks whom he had served. From these acknow- ledgments it is evident that such assistance was ne- cessary for him. And among all the churches to »hom he owed this obligation, he especially men- tions this one of the Philippians, who, from the very Commencement of his preaching in Macedonia, had ijommunicated assistance to him, and it appears that this occurred more than once, Phil. iv. 15. Now again, hearing that the holy apostle, their dear mas- ter, the founder of their church, was in prison in Rome, they called to remembrance their former charity, and despatching Epaphroditus to him, be- sides salutations, they sent a present, in order that they might minister to his necessities. This he al- ludes to in saying, " that at the last your care of me hath flourished again." It is a figure drawn from the plants whose life manifests itself by the verdure of their branches and leaves. Christians, observe this manner of speaking, and learn from hence that almsgiving, care of others, kindness, and every cha- ritable work, are the true and needful marks of piety. First, they are its glory and ornament ; for what can be more melancholy than a tree without verdure, uselessly extending its naked branches in the air? in like manner, nothing is so hideous in the church as a man without charity. But besides being the or- nament, charity is also the very life or soul of piety. I acknowledge that it occasionally happens that faith remains some time without manifesting this delightful verdure outwards, though retaining the sap within, like trees during the rigour of winter ; and in such a case it would be reasoning badly to conclude that piety must be dead because it did not blossom outwardly. But I must say that it could not continue long in this state. I do not condemn a plant as dead because it has been some months with- out leaves; but if it remains in that state for years, if the sweet showers of spring and the bright sun of summer pass, and yet it does not put forth its foliage, I then lose all hope of its life, and root it up without scruple from the earth it occupied in vain. Judge from hence, ye avaricious men, what opinion we must form of your religion, who allow so many suns to pass over your heads without being warmed to life, whom no season has ever caused to put forth either blossoms or fruits. 1 know not what may be your inward feelings, yet am I well assured that God judges of plants by their productions, and will there- fore class you with dead trees ; and unless you change your spirit and mode of life, you must expect the end of the barren fig tree, even to be torn from the earth, which you only encumber, and to be cast into the fire. Prevent then such a sad and severe condemnation. Renounce this hardness of heart, this wonderful ste- rility. Obey those shining rays which the Sun of right- eousness causes to light upon you. Bend beneath the efficacy of the holy light, and, yielding yourselves to virtue, manifest the verdure which she demands, by clothing yourselves with the works of a pure and abundant charity. Imitate these Philippians. Be kind like them to the prisoners of Jesus Christ, and to any believer who may stand in need of your assistance. It is true, the apostle, praising their present charily, seems to accuse them of former coldness and neg- lect ; saying, not only that their care of him was fresh and vigorous, but that, with regard to this care, they " had flourished again," and also this " at the last," which appears as though they had failed in this duty for a long season. The apostle, in order to soften this reproach, and purify the praise he had bestowed from this taste of bitterness, adds, " Where- in ye were also careful, but ye lacked opportunity." He throws the blame of their having for some time failed in this respect upon events, which had not al- lowed them an opportunity of testifying the good- will which they had always felt towards him, whe- ther it were their own need, which had prevented them from assisting him, or whether (and this I con- sider the most likely supposition) they had not been able to find a faithful and trustworthy person by whom to transmit their subscription. Whatever it might be, the means were at length afforded them of 1(>8 AN EXPOSITION OF Sebm. XXVIII. executing their desire, and their charity prompted them to avail themselves of the opportunity, and after a long and unwilling delay, they cheerfully proved to the apostle their verdure, and the lively regard they felt for him. He therefore says " he rejoiced in the Lord great- ly." He makes this declaration for their sakes ; for the believer ought not only to give, but also to re- ceive, with cheerfulness. Coldness in receiving a present seems to imply that the affection of the giver is not returned. It is the least acknowledgment that we can render to those who oblige us, to make it ap- pear that their kindness is agreeable to us. Perhaps it may surprise you that the great apostle should do more on such an occasion than simply " rejoice," rather than " rejoice greatly," and it may seem to you that he carried his gratitude to excess for so small a present ; like Jonah, who " rejoiced greatly for the gourd," that is, for a small plant which gave him but little shade. But St. Paul himself solves this mystery, when he says that he rejoiced " in the Lord." True, the present sent by the Philippians was small with regard to himself, and, were that all, the apostle would not have experienced the slightest emotion of joy. But it is not in respect of its actual value that he regards this present j he considers the heart from whence it proceeded, the love that had produced this fruit, even the love of Jesus, which was at the root, and the glory of his name and gospel, which was the object. This it is that rendered it so acceptable to Paul. These divine marks were the true cause of his joy. What can there be less than a mile ? Yet the Lord prized the two mites cast into the box of the temple by the poor widow, more than the richest offerings of the great, because they sprung from a generous heart, from a lofty charity. And we are permitted thus to estimate and desire the gifts of believers, namely, as they are the fruits of their piety, and marks of that love which they bear to the Saviour. From this source the joy of the apostle sprung. It was not carnal, but spiritual joy. He rejoiced not for himself, because his body might obtain relief by means of their subscription ; but in the Lord, because he saw by it that his name was honoured and his gospel loved and obeyed. It was no small proof of the zeal of the Philippians, that at a period when others turned their back upon the apostle, and abandoned him in his prison, they should take part in his bonds, and assist him to the utmost of their power; and whereas many in Bome concealed themselves from him, or even quitted the city that they might not be entangled in his cause, they should send two or three hundred leagues in order to fulfil towards him the duties of charity. It is no wonder that such rare love should comfort him. It would have been unjust not to rejoice at seeing such precious fruit in his dear disciples. And here, let it not be alleged that he glories else- where in not having received any thing from them to whom he had preached the gospel, adding even that it were better for him to die than that any one should make his glorying void, 1 Cor. ix. 15; for al- though he thus speaks, yet nevertheless his hands were not tied that he could never receive any thing from the churches, and still less was his heart re- strained from rejoicing in the love and charity of those from whom he received assistance. It is easy to perceive, from the llth chapter of the Second Epistle to the Corinthians, that his scrupulously ab- staining from receiving any thing from the churches of Achaia arose from a desire to take away every opportunity for false apostles to speak reproachfully, " in order (says he) that wherein they glory they may be found even as we." But with regard to other churches, he did not reject the subscriptions that were made for him on remarkable occasions, as ap- pears both from this Epistle and another, wherein he says, " That which was lacking in me, the brethren which came from Macedonia supplied," 2 Cor. xi. 9. Thus you see that his glorying in having preached the gospel to the Corinthians without receiving any assistance from them, does not prevent his rejoicing in the present made to him by the Philippians. Having however declared to them the pleasure which their charity had caused him, he hastens to prevent the evil interpretation which might be put upon his words : " Not (says he) that I speak in re- spect of want : for 1 have learned, in whatsoever state 1 am, therewith to be content. I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound : every where and in all things 1 am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need." He had just before said that he was greatly pleased with their care of him. Some might from this imagine that until the Philippians had shed upon him this charitable dew, he had been in sadness and ennui, languishing and low-spirited under the neces- sities of a prison. He therefore corrects this false conclusion, and declares to the faithful that he had never been in this condition, his heart having always found perfect content in the situation in which God had placed him, without being elevated in abund- ance, or depressed in adversity. Do not impute to vanity the liberty w'hich he takes in discovering this noble and magnificent quality of his mind. It is for our interest that he has placed this before our eyes ; for as he is one of the principal models on which we are to form our character, it is of importance to know truly what were the feelings and sentiments of his soul, lest, imagining such as were not in him, we should run some danger in imitating them. First, then, he says that it was not on account of his poverty that he found the subscription of the Philip- pians so pleasing to him. But how is it possible, O holy apostle, that having been so long in a melan- choly state of imprisonment, thou hast not felt the pangs of indigence ? Hadst thou some secret trea- sure ? Has a concealed source supplied thee with necessaries? No, he answers. It is not thus I would be understood. 1 have never possessed riches, and the prison of Nero takes from me the only means I had of providing for myself, so that those who mea- sure things outwardly would esteem my indigence very great. For my own part, I take a different view of the subject. I do not consider myself poor, because " I have learned in all things to be content." As it is not abundance, but content, which makes a man rich ; so it is not poverty, but covetousness, which makes a man indigent. He who covets nothing is rich, though he have neither gold nor silver; while he who is without content is poor, though he possess much. Since then this holy apostle was content with that state in which he found himself, it is clear that how- ever poor he might be, he was not in indigence. Al- though there may be but a pint of oil or wine in a vessel, yet is that vessel full, if it will contain no more ; while, on the other hand, though there be a gallon in it, it is not full if it will hold more than it has. For it is by its capacity, and not by the quantity poured into it, that we judge of its abundance or need. It is the same with man. If he has enough to satisfy the desires of his soul, he has great riches, however small his capacities may be. And if, not- w-ithstanding all that a man has, his soul remains always empty, if he is continually sighing for more pos- sessions, even though he had all the gold of Peru, all the pearls and all the delicacies of the East, yet would Chap. IY. f HE EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS. lf)9 he be indigent and necessitous, and the more he de- sired, the greater would be in proportion his poverty. The apostle in his prison had but bread and water for his food, and clothes sufficient to cover him. I acknowledge that if many of you had no more, you would be poor indeed. You, whose desires are in- finite, who are accustomed to luxuries, you would not know how to live with so little. But as for him, he was rich, because with this little which you de- spise he had all that he required. " Having (says he in another place, 1 Tim. vi. 8) food and raiment, let us be content." Happy apostle ! who could be satisfied with so little! How firm, how calm is thy content, because thy desires are so limited ! We read that a man once was in despair, because, having reckoned his accounts, he discovered that when all his debts were paid, there would only remain for him a hundred thousand crowns ; and that another did not consider himself rich unless he had enough wherewith to feed and clothe a royal army. These, however, are illusions, or, to speak more properly, they are the extremes of avarice and luxury. Reason shows us that he is rich who has need of nothing, who finds his home sufficient, who has what he desires. If his desires are just, and limited by good sense, it will not require an army, or a revenue sufficient to support one, to satisfy his wants. It was thus the apostle was fortified against discontent, not by acquiring riches, but by limiting his desires, re- ducing them to so small a compass, and mortifying them by faith and meditation on the cross of his Master, and by the continual exercise of fasting, so- briety, and frugality, that at length they ceased to give him pain, and submitted without murmuring to the condition in which they happened to find them- selves. And this he teaches us when he says that he has " learned, in whatsoever state he is, therewith to be content;" that is, he has come to this by long ex- perience ; for he does not mean to tell us that he has merely learned to achiou-tedge the justice of this mo- deration, either in the book or by the revelation of God, but rather that he has acquired the feeling, by the crosses in which he had been long "exercised ; living, ever since his conversion, in the midst of strifes, of imprisonments, of perils, of tumults, of la- hours, of watchings, of fasting, of cold, and hunger, and nakedness. By these means he had learned to be content in the poorest and most destitute condition. In the same manner, (if it be permitted to compare the disciple with his Lord,) the Epistle to the He- brews tells us that " Christ learned obedience by the things that he suffered," Heb. v. 8; or that the con- tinual practice of such things had rendered them familiar. II. In the following verses the apostle extends and separates into parts this excellent knowledge which he had acquired, of being satisfied in whatever condition he might be : " I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound : every where and in all thkigs I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need." Human life, as experience daily shows even to the blindest, is but a vain shadow which changes into a hundred forms; awheel incessantly turning, raising up one, depressing another, and often causing the same per- son to pass through various states and conditions. We behold to-day, reduced to shame and ignominy, those who, but yesterday, were flourishing in vain- glory. We weep over the poverty of such as were formerly in abundance, and some that we are pitying to-day may to-morrow excite our envy. The mind of man is so weak, that these changes in outward circumstances affect it also ; and there are few firm enough to continue the same in different conditions. Prosperity and abundance are prone to elevate and puff up the heart, while adversity and poverty de- press it. The first render us insolent and proud, the second weak and feeble. The apostle here declares that he knows how to support either condition; that he is enabled to taste abundance, or to suffer need, and so to conduct himself that neither the eclat of the one, nor the pain of the other, could ever make him varj- ; and that neither time nor occupation could take this moderation from him : for " to be hungry, and to suffer need," signify adversity ; and " to be full, or to abound," signifies the opposite state of prosperity. He knows " how to be abased and how- to hunger" who can sustain necessity and adversity with a humble and patient spirit, acquiescing meekly in the will of God, and being contented in his low estate without murmuring and useless regrets. And although this virtue may be difficult, its opposite ia much more so, even to " know- how to abound and be full :" so that a man who has riches can enjoy them soberly, without pride, without vanity; and with thankfulness, bestowing much in charity, without spending more on himself than is necessary. Many men may be found who have supported poverty and disgrace with much courage and patience. But there are few whose minds have not been spoiled by abund- ance and prosperity. The highest degree of virtue is to know how to endure either; to have a mind firm, upright, and pure, so that it can sustain the threat- enings and blows of evil fortune, (as the world says,) and the caresses and favours of good fortune, with equanimity and calmness. The apostle, fearing that this language, whereby he attributes to himself such rare perfection, might appear like vain boasting, corrects and modifies it by saying, " I can do all things through Christ who strengtheneth me." It is not, he would say, the strength of my mind, or the power of my intellect, which renders me capable of this ; it is Christ who gives me power : of myself I can do nothing ; but in him I can do all things. He speaks in the same manner in his Epistle to the Corinthians, where, having said that he had laboured more than all the apostles, he immediately adds, "yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me," I Cor. xv. 10. You will observe that the "all things" of which he speaks must be restricted to the subject under consideration, that is to say, they signify such as God should call him to ; such as he had to do or suffer in the course of his vocation. For example : Does God call him to suffer need ? He is assured that he shall be enabled to suffer cheerfully. Does he call him to abundance ? He promises that he will enjoy it calmly. There is nothing of this sort that he cannot do, because the Lord who strengthens him is both good and mighty. And these words of the apostle are very valuable. For they teach us, on the one hand, that all the good which believers can do in their several callings is owing to the assistance of the Lord Jesus, who fortifies them ; as he himself also said, John XV. 5, "Without me," or out of me, "ye can do nothing." And this militates against the presump- tion of Pelagians, whether ancient or modern, who attribute religion, and the virtues and graces which depend upon it, to the power of nature and free-will. But these words of Paul show us, on the other hand, that believers, who in themselves can do nothing, are enabled to do all things in the Lord, who vouchsafes to manifest his power in their weakness. Be not proud, then, 0 Christian; you have nothing good in vourself ; you owe all to the grace of Jesus Christ. Vet, fear riot ! weak though you be, you can do all things by the grace of that Divine Saviour who strengthens you. Trust not in yourself, but expect 2n 170 AN EXPOSITION OF Sfbm. XXVIII. much from him. There is nothing, however smfill, that we can do in our own strength; or however great, that we cannot do in his. III. Observe then, brethren, how exquisite is the prudence of tlie apostle, and how exactly he balances his expressions, so as to lean neither to one side nor the other. So far he has spoken loftily of his own constancy, lest the joy he had expressed at the receipt of the present sent by the brethren should have given them reason to think that before it came he had been bowed down by necessity and distress. Now again, lest the strong and powerful language just uttered might offend them, as though he de- spised their liberality, he endeavours to eradicate such an idea from their mind by adding, " Neverthe- less you have done well that ye did communicate with my affliction." Do not suppose (he would say) that your charity is lost or ill bestowed, by being expended upon a person capable of suffering need with cheerfulness, and of living in poverty without murmuring. That which I have said respecting the equanimity of my own mind, was said solely with a view to show you how we should submit to the will of God in whatever condition he may place us, and not with a view to undervalue your charity. I esteem it greatly, and regard it with joy as a good and holy act. You see therefore, brethren, that this declaration of the apostle was necessary in order to show the Philippians that he did not contemn their present, which indeed would have been proud and unchris- tian. And it was necessary also in order to give no pretext, either to those believers or others, to neglect such as were in affliction from the idea that they would be given grace to endure their misery pa- tiently. It is not for us to examine curiously how far others may be distressed by their poverty. If God strengthens them thus far, that they can suffer need without murmuring, without complaining, we may admire their virtue, and rejoice in it, but we may not withhold our relief on that account. We should distribute aid to all who have need, but more espe- cially when we find poverty conjoined with religion. We can never be better employed than in the service of such as, like Paul, "know how to be abased and how to abound," because none will receive assistance more thankfully and religiously. The apostle speaks very highly of the subscription of the Philippians, saying "that they had communi- cated with his affliction ;" as though by sending to his prison they had been there themselves in order to partake of his trials. We can communicate with the afflictions of believers in three ways : First, When we suffer for religion's sake the same distresses as they. Secondly, When we compassionate their suffer- ings with tenderness. And, thirdly, When we con- sole and relieve their pains, not with words merely, but also with liberality : and it is of this last way that the apostle speaks in this place. The truth of his declaration that they did well in rendering him this duty is witnessed throughout the Scriptures ; for although the apostle might have done without assist- ance, yet in bestowing it they had shown at once their charity towards the afflicted, and their respect towards their excellent master, who had so faithfully instructed them in the way of salvation. Such, brethren, is the view I take of the subject in hand this day. Let us be careful to imitate the beautiful examples of the Philippians and of St. Paul here set before us. Let the flocks learn from the former to assist with alacrity the necessities of their pastors; let pastors learn from the latter to receive these sacred donations of their people with all grati- tude. Above all, let us endeavour to aid and instruct one another in that most excellent knowledge of which the apostle speaks, "in whatsoever state we are, to be therewith content." Ignorance of this secret is the cause of the greater part of our miseries. This ignorance is the parent of injustice and envy, and of all the evils which they produce. It is this which occasions wars, trials by law, and continual quarrels in the world, which fills the forests and high roads with robbers, the seas with pirates, the cities with rogues, leaving no part of the universe in safety. It troubles the peace of states and the repose of families ; it extinguishes friendship, and even natural affection. It raises up enmity between brethren ; nay, even animates children against parents, and parents against their children. This it is which forges arms, burnishes swords, invents acts for sinful purposes, and goes down, as it were, to hell, to draw thence all that Satan has of malice and wickedness. What formerly changed the peace of Israel into a frightful war, in which a son was armed against his father, Absalom against David ? It was nothing more than the blindness of that parricide, who was discontented with his condition. What lighted up among the Romans that fierce civil war which termi- nated in the overthrow of the republic ? The cupidity of two men, dissatisfied at having, the one an equal, the other a superior. And if you consider the various events, past and present, which have troubled the world, the church, kingdoms, or families, you will see that they all spring from the same source, that men are not contented with their condition. The universe would enjoy a happy and settled peace, if every one knew with St. Paul how " to be content in whatso- ever state he found himself." But though the world may remain in its ignorance, we, at least, dear brethren, to whom God has given light, and to whom he presents to-day the example and word of his holy apostle, we should come out of so vile, so pernicious an error. Let us set a bound to our desires ; let us bear rule over our lusts; let us respect the order of Divine Providence, contenting ourselves with the situation in which that has placed us, and with the share of worldly things bestowed upon us, receiving from the hand of God with profound humility the allotment he appoints us in life. And here, I entreat you, do not allege that such moderation is only be- fitting an apostle; that for you, who have not such high qualifications, it is needless so to regulate your desires. There is but one law in the house of God, and unless you submit thereto you cannot enter into his happy family. And that which the apostle at- tributes to himself in this place, he commands else- where to all believers: "Let your conversation be without covetousness : be content with such things as ye have," Heb. xiii. 5. Now it were an absurdity to be willing to dispense with being happy ; and yet you cannot be so with- out possessing this moderation of mind. It is not only in accordance with the will of God, but it is also necessary for your peace. Whether therefore you do it to obey your Lord, or to secure yourself a tranquil and happy life, diligently study this lesson. Do not quit it until you have learned it ; until you know how to be content in what condition soever you j may be ; until you are capable of supporting calmly I abundance or scarcity, riches or need. If you find I yourself in poverty, remember that it is not so ex- 1 treme as that in which Paul was when prisoner atj Rome in the chains of Nero. What should hinder ] you from attaining a like courage with him; from! finding the same peace which that holy man pos-l sessed in captivity? He braved poverty, and, not- withstanding its pressure, boasted of not being inj distress. And why ? Because he was content with ] Chap. IV. THE EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS. 171 what he had, and regulated his desires according to his actual need. Do then as he did, and poverty shall have no power over you, even as it had none over him. Your body is not larger than his j you do not require more cloth to cover it, or more food to nourish it, than he did. The little which sufficed for him may suffice for you likewise. If there be a difference, it must arise not from your nature, but from your effeminacy ; from the excess of your lusts, and not of your necessity. Poverty, to say the truth, only inconveniences the ambitious, the voluptuary, the effeminate. It is no evil to a sober and temperate man, who knows he has need but of little, and for only a short period. What did I say, that it is no evil? It is a positive good in many respects; it eradicates from the heart many vices, which spring and blossom only in abundance. It exempts him from the cares, the pains, the fears, the anxieties, the vanities, which accompany the possession of riches. It teaches him sobriety, modesty, humility. It ren- ders him indifferent to the world, and enables us to despise this present life. It detaches him from earth, and weakens those ties which bind others to it. He can more easily quit the world in which he possessed nothing, and will more ardently desire thnt heaven where his treasure is. Support then calmly a thing so desirable. Let the blessings which will accrue to your mind enable you to bear patiently in- convenience to the body. Philosophize over your po- verty, rather than murmur against it. Consider that God, the sovereign Disposer of all things, sends it to you in order to detach you from the world, and win you entirely to Jesus Christ. And even if you can- not draw any practical inference from it, yet at least to you shall be the glory of obedience to the will of God. As it is his will, be assured it is right, and humbly acquiesce therein. Repose tranquilly in his providential care, for he has said, " I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee," Heb. xiii. 5. He knows how to support his Elijahs in the solitude of the valleys ; his people in the deserts ; he can multiply the oil and the meal to the exact measure of their necessity. Observe how he sustained Paul in the Roman prison ; how, besides the mere necessaries that were furnish- ed him there, he caused a subscription to be sent him from Philippi in Macedonia, (a place distant two or three hundred leagues,) and that not barely to supply his wants, but sufficient to minister to his abundance. The Lord's heart is not now changed, neither is his hand. He has always the same kind- ness and the same power for his people. Be assured he will do for you as he did for Paul, if 3'ou serve him, each one in his vocation, as Paul did. If it should happen that you are placed in the middle station beyond the reach of poverty, remem- ber that you are still more bound to be therewith content. Do not then raise your desires yet higher. Continue where God has placed you, and remember the excellent warning which the apostle elsewhere gives us : " They that will be rich fall into tempta- tion and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition," 1 Tim. vi. 9. In the name of God, do not entangle yourselves with these embarrassments. What more can you require, since you have sufficient to support nature ? As that is in reality all you need, so it should be all you desire. If that is not the boundary of your desires, they will have none at all. You will then be in continual excitement ; for the more you have, the more you will wish for. This species of thirst increases by gratification, and if once you give yourselves up to so weak and foolish a passion, nothing will arrest your troubles but death. Your labour and success will always fall short of vour in- tention ; so that what you possess will not give you half the content as what you possess not gives you of discontent. Consider with me the life of a covetous man. His anxiety and trouble are without end. As those who are mounting a ladder no sooner put their foot upon a step than they raise themselves up in order to gain a higher, so a covetous man never ceases to mount, though with pain and disquiet ; the termination of one labour is but the commencement of another. And frequently, after all his anxieties and pains, he loses, at one blow and in one moment, the acquisition of many years. But it is not enough to know how to endure poverty, and be content with mediocrity. We must also learn to endure abundance, when God gives it to us ; to possess it with sobriety and temperance ; to employ it for the good of the church, and the relief of the poor; to distribute it as faithful dispensers of God's gifts ; to make it not so much a means of luxury as of charity : holding it by the grace of God, and be- ing at all times ready to yield it back into his hand whenever he shall be pleased to take it : saying with Job, " The Lord gave, the Lord hath taken away ; blessed be the name of the Lord." Such, brethren, must be our disposition of mind, if we would, with the apostle, be instructed as well how to abound as how to suffer need. May Jesus Christ, the only Author of all good, without whom we can do nothing, so strengthen us by his gi-ace, that we may be enabled to do these and all other things that shall redound to his glory and to our sal- vation. Amen. SERMON XXIX, Verse 15—19. Now, ye Philippians, knoic also, that in the beginning of the gospel, when I departed from Macedonia, no church communicated with me as concernitjg giving and receiving, but ye only. For even in Thessulonica ye sent once and again unto my necessity. Not be- cause Idesireagft: but I desire fruit that may abound to your account. But I have alt, and abound : I am full, having received of Epaphroditus the things which tcere sent from you, an odour of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, well-pleasing to God. But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. It was a reproach frequently uttered by pagans against the early Christians, that they had no sacri- fices in their religion ; and you know, my brethren, that the Church of Rome accuses us now of the same fault. Blessed be God that we are charged with the same crime, as was formerly imputed to the best and first disciples of our Lord. This conformity is hon- ourable to us, and shows very clearly that our doc- trines and theirs are the same. And as this accusa- tion is common to us and to them, let us give the same answers as they did, saying to our opponents what the first Christians said to the pagans, that the sacrifices which God and our religion demand are a pure mind, a good conscience, a sincere belief;* that prayers, alms, and holy and virtuous actions are the most pleasing victims that can be immolated before the Almighty.f At the same time we willingly acknow- ledge that we offer to him no propitiatory sacrifice for the atonement of our sin ; because this would be * Minut. in Octav. t Origen contra Celsum, 1. 8. p. 400. 172 AN EXPOSITION OP Serm. XXIX. a presumption on our part to undertake a thing whicli requires infinite merit ; and it would be also an insult to Jesus, who having once offered himself for the propitiation of our sins, is accused of insufficiency by our reiterating a sacrifice. But if the question concerns sacrifices of thanks- giving, never has any religion established them more richly, more magnificently, than ours ; for while under Moses, during paganism, or among our ad- versaries, sacrifices can only be offered by certain ministers, there is no man among us who is not a priest to offer them, Jesus Christ having given us each this dignity. For his church is entire ; it is a holy nation, a royal priesthood. And while with others there are certain exterior acts performed at particular hours and in particular places, denomi- nated sacrifices, with us every act of love to God and charity towards our neighbour is a true and lawful sacrifice, and can be presented to the Lord in all places and at all hours without limit. St. Paul, one of the most learned and authorized interpreters of our religion, teaches us these truths in many parts of his writings, and especially in this that we have just read, and which I propose, if the Lord will, to make the subject of this discourse. Before, in the second chapter of this Epistle, he had enrolled ministers of the gospel among the num- ber of priests, calling their preaching " a sacrifice," and the sufferings by which it was followed the " sprinkling" of their oblation. Now he extends the same dignity to the people, and honours the fruits of their benevolence with the expression, " a sacrifice acceptable, well pleasing unto God." And from this we may learn how precious before God and his saints are the works of charity and love. Let us then consider, in order to understand it, the manner in which the apostle speaks of the charity of the Philippians, greatly lauding the sub- scription that they had sent him by Epaphroditus. He had begun this subject in the preceding text, declaring that their care of him was very gratifying, not so much on his own account, as he had learned by the grace of God to be content with what he had, and suffer poverty without inconvenience ; but on account of the goodness and propriety of the thing itself, which being built on the right foundation, bore evidence of true piety. He continues to dwell upon the same subject in the verses you have heard, and even takes the Philippifens themselves to witness the truth of what he had said, that " he was content ■with such things as he had," without soliciting or declining the gifts of those whom he had served ; for (says he) " Ye Philippians know also that in the beginning of the gospel, when I departed from Macedonia, no church communicated with me as concerning giving and receiving, but ye only. For even in Thessalonica ye sent once and again unto my necessity." He immediately however corrects and modifies this language, lest they should think his feelings low and earthly : " Not that I desire a gift ; but I desire fruit that may abound to your ac- count." And hereupon he concludes the subject, rendering to Epaphroditus the praises due to his fidelity, and to the Philippians the praises due to their charity, adding a promise that God will bless them : " But I have all, and abound : I am full, having received of Epaphroditus the things which were Bent from you, an odour of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, well pleasing to God. But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus." Thus we have four points on which to speak, in order, by God's help, to give you an entire explana- tion of the text. First, The conduct of the Philip- pian and other churches towards St. Paul, respecting ttie acknowledgment of his ministry. Second, The feelings and intentions with which Paul desired and received these duties of theirs. Third, The especial praise which he bestows upon the subscription which Epaphroditus had lately brought to him from the Phi- lippian church. And fourth and last. The promise he makes them of the reward and blessing from God. I. AVith regard to the first of these subjects, we have already seen, when discoursing upon the pre- ceding text, that although churches are obliged, by the Divine command, to supply their pastors with all things necessary for the support of themselves and their families, yet that St. Paul did not exact this acknowledgment from any of the flocks which he had either collected or instructed by his preaching. He provided for his own necessities by the labour of his hands, choosing rather to submit to this than to give, at the commencement, occasion to the adversaries of the gospel to calumniate his ministry ; as though he exercised it in order to draw therefrom some car- nal advantage. It is true that if believers, touched with a sense of duty, voluntarily offered him assist- ance, he did not refuse to accept it, whether he would not hurt their feelings, or whether it might be iq order to assist such as were in need. And this con duct of his clearly proves the truth of what he had said before, that he had learned to preserve the same mind in abundance or poverty ; either to do without these lawful resources when they failed, or to receive and expend them liberally when they were presented to him. He now recalls this to the Philippians' memory, mingling with the praise bestowed upon them the recollection of their former charity and af- fection towards him : " Ye know, O Philippians, that in the beginning of the gospel, when I departed from Macedonia, no church communicated with me as concerning giving and receiving, but ye only." We learn from the book of Acts that St. Paul, having passed from Asia into Europe by an express command from God, went to Macedonia, and there preached the gospel at Philippi, at Thessalonica, and at Berea ; from which place he retired to Athens. It is of this period that he speaks when he says, " the beginning of the gospel," meaning when first he preached in those places. He declares then that during all that time, until the fury of the Jews per- secuting him from city to city had compelled him to quit Macedonia, no other church but theirs had communicated ivith him on the subject " of giring and receiving." This manner of speaking is re- markable, and is taken from the custom of mer- chants, who are in the habit of writing in their books the articles they have sold as well as those they have received from them with whom they negociate, in order to balance the whole, when they would take account, and prove themselves even, each one with his correspondent. The apostle presupposes that there is a like connexion between a pastor and his flock, by which the one party are obliged to give to him from whom they receive, so as to be even the one with the other. In this mutual negociation the pastor gives the gospel, the peace of God, and the blessings of life eternal. The flock in return give such things as are necessary for the support of his earthly existence. Thus the pastor bestows heavenly and receives earthly things, while the flock receive heavenly and bestow eartlily things. And this the apostle tells us in another place, where he argues the subject at some length : " If we have sown unto, you spiritual things, is it a great thing if we shallj reap your carnal things?" 1 Cor. ix. 11. And fron this it appears that the assistance which churche^ give to the ministers of the Lord is an act of justice Chap. IV. THE EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS. 173 and not purely of charity; the payment of a lawful debt, and not the present of a voluntary olTering. Judge then what must have been, not the ingratitude merely, but even the cruelty and injustice, of the churches of whom St. Paul here speaks, who having received so much from the apostle, had given him nothing in return ; remaining not simply in arrears to him, but owing him the entire whole. This great man had sowed the gospel, even eternal life, freely among them, and had given them with a liberal hand the riches of the kingdom of God. To his preaching he had added the example of his life, the most holy and devoted that could possibly be ; his sufferings, his dangers, his tears, even his blood, the most pre- cious thing he had. Yet these people had received blessings more valuable than their life itself, with hearts so hard as to leave in necessity the man to whom they owed so much. They permitted that hand which had communicated to them the bread of heaven to be reduced to labour like a mechanic, be- cause they had not furnished hira even with a small part of what they owed ; for they owed him every thing, and he required but little for the supply of his daily wants, few men living so frugal and temperate a life as he. But observe, on the other hand, the cheerfulness and mildness of the apostle, who, though being so unworthily treated, yet suffers the cruelty of these churches without complaining, -without ac- cusing them, without uttering against them one un- kind word ; for this mention of them is not in un- kindness. It is the subject of his discourse, and not resentment, which prompts him thus to speak, as much to prove the truth of his assertion respecting the purity and innocence of his conduct, and to ex- cuse himself for having several times accepted the liberality of the Philippians, as to spur on the charity of those believers ; for that charity was the more estimable on account of its being a rare quality, like the gratitude of the poor leper in the gospel, who, out of ten that had been cured by our Lord, alone returned to give him thanks. Thus the ingratitude of other churches gave a brilliancy to the charity of the Philippians. Among all the flocks who were infinitely obliged by the preaching of the apostle, this was the only one which acquitted itself of this duty. The Philip- pians did not plead the example of others as a pre- text for neglecting the right course. Not seeing a good example around them, they resolved to be more careful in assisting the apostle on that very account. In fact all believers in Jesus should regard, not so much what others do, but what their Master com- mands, what religion requires, what charity demands. Reason and the truths of God are the rules in this school, and not the custom of men. Misery will be his lot who follows a multitude to do evil. Though you had the whole universe for your guide in this evil way, it would conduct you down to perdition. The number of those whom you follow will not di- minish your anguish. Remember that the Lord will judge us by his word, and not by the errors of the world, and will examine our conformity, not to the customs and habits of other men, but to the models which he has given us in his gospel. Do not allege to me that those whom you follow call themselves " the church," that they are even so jealous of that name they suffer no others to appro- priate it. Let them do as they please. If they turn from that which the apostles have commanded, they must not be imitated. They who had failed in ren- dering to Paul gratitude and assistance were also the church, they honoured themselves with this appel- lation, and yet the Philippians are praised for not having followed their example. Take yoiu: stand at the simple word of God, and resolve to maintain it constantly unto the end; and, like Noah in former times, rather separate yourself from the whole world, if the world cast aside that rule, than follow its per- nicious example. Say as Joshua said, " Although Israel itself, the people who glory in the name of the Lord, should altogether abandon the service of the Almighty; yet, as for me and my house, we will serve him for ever," Josh. xxiv. 15. But I return to these generous Philippians, who, in the general failure of other churches, alone were careful of their duty. The apostle, to enhance the praise due to them, adds, that, not satisfied with having exercised their charity towards him while he was with them, they had even assisted him since his departure from their city : " For even at Thessa- Innica ye sent once and again to my necessity." Thessalonica was the chief city or capital of Mace- donia. St. Luke relates (Acts xvii.) that the apostle arrived there after leaving Philippi, and passing through Amphipolis and ApoUonia, and that he there preached the gospel after his usual custom ; the two Epistles which he has left us addressed to the church of the Thessalonians prove that his labour was not bestowed in vain, but had produced much fruit. And although that church was much praised for her faith, and her patience, and her constancy, yet it is very evident that in this particular she for- got her duty to the apostle, not having taken care to provide for his maintenance. He, in fact, testifies as much in the Second Epistle that he addressed to the Thessalonians. For although he utters no re- proach either to them, or to others who had fallen into the like fault, yet he clearly discovers his feel- ings, when he recalls to their mind that, during his sojourn among them, he had not even eaten his bread without labouring for it ; " travailing (he says) night and day, that we might not be chargeable to any of you," 2 Thess. iii. 8. The Philippians then having learned how the apostle was situated, in order, as we may say, to hide the shame of their metropolitan city, sent him two or three times voluntary offerings. Oh how generous is real Christian love ! It passed the boundaries of their city ; it followed the apostle, like the water from the rock in the desert, and accom- panied the servant of God in all his wanderings. It refreshed and strengthened him in Thessalonica ; it passed the seas, and came to his assistance even in Nero's prison. There is no place inaccessible to the love of these believers. They do not allege that St. Paul was no longer among them ; that they had maintained him during his sojourn at Philippi ; that now they had their own pastors, their ordinary minis- ters, for whom they were bound to provide ; that it was reasonable that they who enjoyed the ministry of the apostle should be careful to provide for his neces- sities ; that Thessalonica was the richest and largest city of the province, whereas theirs was but of an in- ferior grade. They neither thought nor spoke a word like this. But knowing the poverty of the apostle, they despatched a prompt messenger to him, to furnish him with all that he might need. Nor were they satisfied with sending once. Their affec- tion is too sincere to exhaust itself in a moment ; and they continue their liberality according to the neces- sities of Paul. My brethren, this charity of the Philippians is perfect and complete. And would to God tlMt all Christian churches would follow this blessed ex- ample. We should then no longer see ministers of the gospel in various places languishing and strug- gling in the midst of distress, because the charity of believers, far from spreading abroad, like that of the Philippians, beyond the precincts of their own dwell- 174 AN EXPOSITION OF Serm. XXIX. ing, left those even who laboured among them with- out assistance. But, on the other hand, we should no more behold the avarice, and the ambition, and the numerous evils that we now see among ministers of the gospel who have been rendered rich and powerful by the imprudent devotion of past ages. For the Philippians bartered for the truth with their pastors, but in measure, "according to their need," says the apostle, and not for the sake of luxury. I acknowledge that congregations ought to maintain the ministers of the Lord, and I do not deny that their maintenance should be liberal, not merely suf- ficient to keep them from want, but even to place them in such a situation that they may sustain their name and rank, according to what St. Paul says, " that the bishop," that is, the minister of the gospel, " be given to hospitality," 1 Tim. iii. 2, and this can- not be the case without suitable means ; but still I say it is right to beware of luxury, and it should be remembered they are to be servants of God, and not princes of this world, to live in temperance and fru- gality, and not in extravagance, after the fashion of the great and powerful in the world. Their true dignity consists in the lustre of Christian virtues, and not in the splendour of earthly pomp ; in the holy light of heaven, and not in the false glare of earth. And if you ask me which of these two extremes is the most dangerous and hurtful to the church, poverty or riches; I answer, the latter beyond a doubt. In- deed it has been frequently remarked that ministers were gold, that is, most precious and excellent, as long as their church was of earth, that is, low and poor ; but, on the contrary, they became earth as soon as gold and riches embellished their houses. And an- other saying on this subject is not less true, viz. that devotion having produced wealth to the church, the child has at length devoured the mother ; so much is it easier for man to support poverty than riches, and to stand firm against the anxieties of penury than against the charms and luxuries of wealth. 11. But I have said enough on this head, concern- ing the conduct of the Philippian and other churches towards St. Paul in this respect. Let us then ad- vance to the second head, wherein he declares in what manner he was affected by it. Certainly some, seeing how much he felt the kindness of these be- lievers to him, might almost suppose that he was at- tached greatly to his own interests, and that it was on account of the convenience of their supplies that he so highly praised their liberality. In order, then, to forestall this unjust suspicion, he adds, in the next verse, " Not that I desire a gift, but I desire fruit that may abound to your account." It is not my interest, (says he,) but yours, which prompts me to use such language : when I receive your charity so cheerfully, and esteem it so highly, it is not because of the gift bestowed upon me, but because of the fruit which you will thereby gather. In this holy barter, I rejoice in your advantage rather than in my own; in the prize and the crown which you will receive, and not in the present which you have bestowed. The gifts of charity yield two sorts of fruit; one to him who receives, the other to him who gives. The first is the use which he to whom they come makes of them, whether for his maintenance, for his comfort, or even for the recreations of the present life. The second testifies the piety of him who gives, and are the marks of his faith and spiritual life. The apostle then places these two effects of the Philippians' charity in opposition to each other, and declares that the beauty which he sought and found therein was not in the gift which he received, though that was most useful and jjleasant to him, but rather the abundant fruit that those believers vfould gather from it to their praise and happiness. This is what he intends when he says that this fruit " will abound to their account," that is, to their advantage : for making use again of the same simile as he had done before, he presupposes what the Scriptures elsewhere teach, that God has made a sort of contract and agree- ment with his servants, by which they are obliged, on the one hand, faithfully to employ all they have to his glory and the good of his church ; and he, on the other side, has engaged to return with abundant usury all that they may have spent in his service. And in order to keep an exact account, he notes all their actions in the book of his providence, (which is, as it were, his register,) without neglecting a single one. There all the alms bestowed on the poor are registered; all the acts of kindness and gratitude rendered to the ministers of God ; all visits to the afflicted or the prisoner : not a work, whether of duty or of love, is forgotten, not even the smallest glass of water bestowed in the name of Jesus. And when the great day is come these books shall be opened, and then, in the assembled presence of angels and men, shall be allotted to each one according to his holy deeds done, or the temporal evils he has suffered; and that wealth that was lost or given for the sake of Christ shall be returned to him in hea- venly and eternal blessings. Teachers of human merit, pretend not to draw from this discourse aught in favour of your dogma. It is in mercy, and not injustice, that God has made this treaty with believers. The reward which he will give will show the greatness of his goodness, and not the merit of their works ; the truth of his promises, not the value of their deeds. If he be- stows heaven upon you in return for a glass of water which you have given to one of his poor, you indeed have reason to adore his liberality, but no reason to boast of so small a service. This, therefore, I forbid. I acknowledge that God will reward be- lievers : I only deny that this retribution is deserved, or due to their righteousness. Why would you ex- alt your own praise rather than the mercy of God ? I know that he keeps a reckoning of all the good we do, and that in the sequel he will crown us with glory. But I maintain that it is to his goodness and not our own that we are indebted. This, then, is sufficient to establish and confirm the apostle's say- ing, that their charity will abound to their account, because by the kindness and faithfulness of God they will reap eternal life. It appears, then, that the satisfaction felt by Paul -■ at the bounty of the Philippians was natural and just. For as it is not only permitted but commanded that pastors should desire with ardour, and behold with joy, the spiritual fruit reaped by their flocks, who is there that does not see that the apostle had every reason to rejoice in this charity of his Philip- j plan disciples, which was at once so useful and so | advantageous? It is true that God does not abso- ■ lutely forbid us to seek useful things ; and that a man may, without ofl'ending God's law, rejoice when delivered from necessity, and placed in better cir- cumstances than before, by the munificence of others. But a generous and truly Christian mind, such as was the apostle's, regards more especially the in- terests of heavenly things; and therefore, speaking in this place by comparison, he does not hesitate to say that he sought not the gifts, but the fruit of the Philippians abounding to their account ; meaning thereby that the joy and gratification which he felt in his own relief was nothing in comparison to that which he experienced in the happiness and welfare of these believers ; for, in fact, there is no proportion between these two fruits of charity, that which he Chap. IV. THE EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS. 175 gathers who receives, or that which he receives who gives. Tlie first relieves and supports a mortal and terrestrial life. The second acquires thereby a celes- tial and eternal one. Whatever I receive from you I consume here below ; but the seed you thus sow for yourselves is preserved on high for ever. The assist- ance of the Philippians was of no very great conse- quence to the apostle ; for what could a little money avail to a man who despised life and death ; who re- garded the riches and glory of the world as dung ; who crucified the flesh, and was satisfied with that condition in which he found himself, how sad soever it might be ? All the gain in this was on the side of the Philippians, who from this charity would one day reap the glory and praise of their Lord. And it is on this account that it was so pleasing to the apostle ; this it was which caused him to rejoice. So then in this sense it is permitted to a pastor both to rejoice over the gratitude, and weep over the ingratitude, of his flock ; on their account, and not on his own ; not because of his convenience or ;inconvenience, (ah, God forbid that so low and mercenary an idea should enter his mind,) but because of the health of the flock, to the good or bad state of which these duties bear witness, according as they are performed or neglected. And this concludes the remarks I have to make upon the second part of my text. III. The two last verses still remain, wherein the apostle first acknowledges the receipt of the last sup- ply of the Philippians sent to him at Rome, and then promises to them a reward from God. The first clause is couched in the following words : " I have all, and abound : I am full, having received of Epaphro- ditus the things that were sent from you, an odour of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, well pleasing to God." He owed this acknowledgment first to Epaphroditus, who was desirous that the Philippians should know that he had faithfully placed in the apostle's hands all that had been intrusted to him by them, to prevent any suspicion which might arise of failure on his part ; and for this reason he says ex- pressly that he had received " all," in order to show- that there had been no fraud. And we may infer from this expression what is indeed very probable, that they had sent a list and catalogue of all the things presented by them. For a good man, and especially a minister of the gospel, ought to have a care of his reputation even in the smallest things; witnessing that which is good, not only in the sight of the Lord, but also in that of men, being exceed- ingly careful that no one should reproach him, as the apostle speaks in another place on this subject, 2 Cor. viii. 20, 21. But the satisfaction and consola- tion of the Philippians also demanded this testimony from the pen of Paul. He therefore declares to them that he had received their present; and to heighten his praises, he testifies first that the supply sent was not narrow and defective, (like the alms and gifts of avaricious people,) but liberal and honest, such as not only relieved his necessity, but even placed him in opulence. " I am full, (says he,) I abound." But we must not suppose from this that they had sent him treasures, gold or pearls, for no doubt the sum was moderate. But mediocrity was sufficient to fill a soul formed as was St. Paul's. It did not resemble that of a miser, who would not be satisfied w'ere you to bestow on him all the spoils of the Indies, who dies of hunger in the midst of abundance, and, like the grave, never says, " It is enough." Such a soul as this must be always empty, and always panting after some new prey ; such a soul knows not how to be full and satisfied. These words belong only to Paul and his true disciples. None but they can say in truth, " I am full," because their desires are bounded and their wishes regulated according to their need. But the next commendation that St. Paul bestows upon the supply of the Philippians is still more glo- rious : " I have received it (says he) as an odour of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, well-pleasincr to God." Behold how he exalts their present ! They bestowed it upon a man ; he takes it as a sacrifice to God. "What can we desire more magnificent, more glorious than this ? that our acts of charity towards men should be made a part of the worship we owe to God, and should be as so many sacred oblations which he is pleased to receive at our hands, taking pleasure in them, and willingly accepting them as a sweet and agreeable perfume ? This mode of speech is taken from the custom of the ancient Jewish church ; and it is frequently said in Scrip- ture of the ofierings that were placed upon God's altar, that they were " an odour of appeasement," or, as it is in the Greek version, (which the apostle here and elsewhere follows,) " an odour of a sweet smell." And such language accommodates itself the better to this subject, because, in fact, the greater number of their oblations, such as perfumes and the burnt flesh of immolated victims, did give out an odour pleasing to the senses. It is not that God (properly speaking) is, like ourselves, pleased with a sweet smell, and an- noyed with a bad one. For, as you very well know, the nature of God is simple, spiritual, and incompre- hensible, and has nothing in common either with the bodies or senses of animals. But Scripture, accom- modating itself to our ideas, ordinarily employs our mode of expression, in order to represent to our minds the things of God by some similitude ; and therefore as a bad smell vexes us, and an agreeable one delights us, it declares that these offerings of former times were to God an " odour of a sweet smell," to signify that he approved of and would will- ingly receive them. St. Paul very elegantly applies these terms to such things under the New Testament which have succeeded to the services of the Old, in order to show us that God now took pleasure in them, the law being henceforward abolished. Thus, speak- ing of the sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ, the body, the reality, the truth, of those sacrifices of the Old Testament,' he says that he was "an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savour," Eph. v. 2. And here, speaking of those acts of charity and beneficence which form the principal features of evangelical worship, and take the place of the ancient carnal services, he says likewise, " an odour of a sweet smell," which he immediately explains in other terms, " a sacrifice acceptable, well-pleasing to God." And in the same sense we must understand that expression which we read in the Epistle to the He- brews, chap. xiii. 16 : the apostle, having recommend- ed to us beneficence and frequent communion, adds, that " with such sacrifices God is well pleased." I ac- knowledge that sacrifice is offered to God, that it is a service pertaining to him alone. But I say also, that although our acts of charity may be done to men, yet if we exercise that charity in faith and for the love of God, and according to his commandment, there can be no doubt that they are offered also to the Lord. Men are, as it were, oiily the altars on which the sacrifice is offered. In fact, our Saviour declares that he receives them from our hands as though they were at once presented to his sovereign Majesty : " For verily I say unto you. Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me," Matt. xxv. 40. And that such works are " as a sweet smell," (as saith the apostle,) and " agreeable to God," is evident, first, because he has commanded them to be done ; secondly, because they 176 AN EXPOSITION OF Serm. XXIX. are as representations and shadows of his goodness ; thirdly, because they are the production of his Spirit, the works of his hand ; and lastly, because he has promised to crown thena with favour and reward, both in this life and the next. IV. And this the apostle declares finally to the Philippians, in order to encourage them more and more in well doing : " My God (says he) shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus." This verse has, by some, been understood 8s a wish ; as a prayer made to God by the apostle in behalf of the Philippians, like unto that which he makes elsewhere for the Corinthians on a similar oc- casion, saying, " Now he that ministereth seed to the sower both minister bread for your food, and mul- tiply your seed sown, and increase the fruits of your righteousness," 2 Cor. ix. 10. But it is not straining the sense, and it is more according to the tenor of the words, to understand it as a promise founded upon that of the Saviour, who declares that whoso- ever shall do the smallest kindness to one of his servants shall in no wise lose his reward. He calls the Lord his God, especially, because it was in the character of his seiTant that he had received the charitable donations of the Philippians. " The God whom I serve, and to whom you have offered all which is bestowed on me, accepts your work, and will not leave unrewarded the service you have ren- dered to his minister," He does not merely promise this reward in another world, where we shall indeed receive it in full ; but he assures them that even here the Lord will supply " all their need." Though you may have placed yourself in necessity (says he) in order to relieve mine, yet doubt not but the Lord will provide, and will fully replace to your account what you have expended in succouring me. And it may be observed that he promises to relieve their necessity, not to give them opulence and the means of luxury, according to those limits which our Lord himself placed to our desires, commanding us to ask of him, not greatness and abundance, but our " daily bread." And in order that the Philippians may ex- pect this mercy from the Lord, he adds, " according to his riches i" meaning thereby that this promise would be easily fulfilled by him, because he is in- finitely rich. The following words, i. e. " in glory," signify gloriously, powerfulh', magnificently, and relate to the manner in which God rewards his people here below, accomplishing his power in their weakness, and preserving them by superhuman means. His last words, " in Jesus Christ," show us that the Lord Jesus is the only source and cause of the blessings we receive from God; for it is he who, by the efficacy of his cross, has opened the treasures of heaven, and rendered the Father propitious and favourable towards all who seek and serve him in truth. Such, then, believers, is the praise which the apostle bestows on the love of the Philippians, and the reward which he promises them, both in this world and the next. Having their example before our eyes, let ns carefully imitate it all the days of our life, employing with cheerfulness all that we have in the service of God's sanctuary,' and in re- lieving his poor people. Say not that it was towards St. Paul that the Philippians exercised their charity, and that it was no wonder they were liberal in their gifts to so great an apostle. He whom I recommend to you, and for whom I demand the succour of your alms, is no less a person than was Paul. He is Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Master of the apostles, the King of angels. Let not your eyes deceive themselves. He is hidden in the persons of the poor whom you relieve. It is him, and not them, whom you nourish, clothe, assist, and comfort. He it is who receives your benefits, who will publish and acknow- ledge them hereafter in the sight of heaven and earth. Come, (he will say,) come, my beloved, enter into the kingdom which is prepared for you : for I was hungry, and you fed me ; I was thirsty, and you gave me to drink ; I was a stranger, and you received me ; I was naked, and you clothed me ; I was sick, and you visited me ; I was in prison, and you came to me. Christian, how have you the heart to refuse your charity to so great a King ? You think that if Paul were here, you would esteem it an honour to give to such a man, and how is it you are straitened towards the Lord Jesus, the Master of St. Paul ? If you like to oblige the great, who in this world is so great as the Son of God? If you wish your charity should be known and praised, what more glorious ■ praise could you desire or expect than that which he 1 will give from his own lips before the assembled universe ? Remember the sacerdotal dignity to which he has raised you. You are his priest, and one of the prin- cipal sacrifices which he demands from you is bene- ficence. There is nOj other whose odour is so sweet to the God whom yor,- serve. O wonderful goodness of the Lord Jesus ! He has instituted a worship by which we acquit ourselves at once of our duty towards God and towards men. If the misery of the poor does not affect us with compassion ; if that nature which they have in common with ourselves, and which has often moved the most barbarous people and the most ignorant of God, does not touch us ; if their tears, their prayers, their entreaties, capable of melting marble, do not soften us ; at least, dear bre- thren, let the majesty of our God, let the love and honour which are due to liim, induce us to perform these duties. It is thus (says he) that I will be served. The sacrifice I demand from you is that you do good to your fellow creatures. This is the best and most acceptable sacrifice which you can present unto me. It is to offer me this that I have filled your hands, that I have made you my priests, slaves of devils as you were. It is for this that I have J given you the riches and goods which you possess, 1 not to bury them in the earth, or lock them up in your coffers, but to adorn my altars, the poor mem- bers of my Son, the true altars of my divinity ; not to waste them in luxury and vanity, but to sanctify them for the use of the church, which is my temple. But, miserable creatures that we are ! instead of listening to the voice of God, we deny to our riches the honour which God would put upon them, and instead of consecrating them to his service, we abuse and profane them by vanity and folly, not to say by injustice and vice. With them we adorn our walls, we carpet our floors of wood or stone ; but we clothe not men. We deck our horses and carriages with ornaments, while we leave our brethren in rags and filth. We feed and fatten buffoons and wicked wretches on that which was given us in order to con- sole the saints. We sacrifice the victims that belong to God in gaming and voluptuousness. A single feast swallows up sometimes as much as would have sufficed to feed all the poor in this church for a year. But besides the sacrifice, there is an inconceivable folly in this use of riches ; for of all that these vices and vanities costs us, nothing brings us satisfaction. On the contrary, while God is offended, men ridicule or murmur at it. Whereas, were we to employ our riches in alms, the poor would receive benefit, and bless US; our consciences would not reproach us; other men would praise us ; none would envy us the abundance of which we made so good a use ; and more than all, the God of Paul and of the poor Chap. IV. THE EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS- 177 would assist us, and by the power of his grace would supply all our wants, guard us from every loss, and augment our yearly revenue. He promises us this in a thousand places, yet nevertheless we are unable to trust him. We consider what we lend him as lost. O wonderful unbelief! We can trust the ele- ments ; we hazard our goods upon the sea, we leave them to the mercy of the winds and waves, which are changing every hour. We trust them to men, who are still more variable and faithless than the ele- ments; and all the shipwrecks and failures of which we read cannot cure us of this fatuity. There is none but God who never deceives, who is at all times faithful and unchangeable, and yet he is the only Being we find difficulty in trusting. Dear brethren, let us change our dispositions henceforward, and after the numerous infidelities that we have experienced from men and nature, let us place our goods entirely at the disposal of God. Let us lend him, or rather let us return him, all that he has given to us, and assure ourselves it cannot be more profitably employed. It is the only means of enriching ourselves without risk. If you keep your riches, you will lose them j if you distribute them to the poor, you will augment them. If then the con- sideration of our profit cannot influence us to this, at least let the dread and horror of ruin oblige us. For as we said that he who gives obtains more fruit from his charity than he who receives, so we now say that he who does not give loses much more than he to whom he refuses his charity. The one loses nothing but food or clothing for mortal fleen, which the worms will soon destroy; the other loses theitby an infinite good, even life and eternal glory. For it is of no use to deceive ourselves. God will crown benevolence with immortality ; so also will he punish avarice with eternal death. You well know what was the end of the rich man in the gospel. Such as imitate his example may well fear his pun- ishment. You have no compassion on others. God will have no pity on you. You shut your house against them. He will banish you from his. You refused to give them bread. He will refuse to give you his, even the bread of life, without which you must eternally die. God keep us, beloved brethren, from this dreadful evil ; and, in order to avoid it, let us enlarge our bowels of compassion towards others ; so that, after having here below presented to the Lord these ac- ceptable sacrifices, he may hereafter place on our heads that glorious crown of life, reserved in heaven and promised to all such as serve him in the faith of his Son Jesus Christ; to whom, with himself, and the Holy Spii-it, one God, blessed for ever, be honour, praise, and glory, world without end. Amen. 20. Noic unto God and our Father be glory for ever and ever. Amen. 21. Salute every saint in Christ Jesus. The brethren which are uith me greet you. 22. All the saints salute you, chiefly they that are of Casar's houshold. 23. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen. THR SiTD. GENERi\L INDEX. PAQS Actions of God on his creatures, twofold • , 75 Advice of the Stoics to their 'lii^nple? . . .67 Advocates of God's cause, a glorious ritlo . . 18 Affection and zeal of the Philifoians . , .9 we should imitate this . . , , ib. Afflictions, Paul's tranquillity in ... 21 reasons for God's cufUren bein? visited by 98, 99 not necessarily the marks of God's displea- sure . . . _ . . .100 Aim of a Christian should be to magnify the Lord Jesus 24 'AKipaioL, meaning fourfold . , . ,80 Apostle, meaning of the word . . , .97 in what sense applied to Epaphroditus . ib. Armour requisite for the Christian warfare is that of faith 38,97 Assistance, mutual, necessary . . . .24 Assurance which Paul had of his own safety . 21, 24, 70 oi believers . , , . 24, 39 B Believers, their conflict . , • . .37 faith the weapon of . . . 37, 38 one of their greatest consolations . 39, 40 persecution of them not fortuitous . , .4.^ effect of the grace of God in . . .71 " lights in the world'* . , , .82 dignity of . . . .82, 174 victims and priests of the Lord . 86 — 88 their life compared to a race . . . ]31 duty of perfect .... 134 in what sense termed perleti . . 234, 135 citizens of heaven .... 144 their home in heaven .... 145 should follow after all holiness . 34 — 36, 165 Birth, we contribute nothing to the work of om* new 73 — 76 Bishop, Scriptural meaning of the word . . .3 Jerome's obscrvatiuu on the word . . ib. and presbyter by right equal . . , ib. Bodies, our vile ones changed into glorious . , 144 Boldness of the apostle, in what it consisted . . 23 Bonds for Christ nonourable . , .10 advantages resulting from Paul's . 15, 16 Charity, mainly consists in the exercise of two duties its gifts yield two sorts of fruit Christ, the depositary of the Spirit impossible to ma^nitV him in the mind whilst is dishonoured m the body gain inestimable in ... union necessary in the church of . the cause and source of all the grace God gives consolatina found in . . . truly God ..... consubstantial with th? T,-ith?r distinct in peisun Uoai rne Talher . wherein consisted the humiliation of left us an ensample the day of . the Ruler of the universe Sovereign and Head of the church his human nature not omnipresent Christian religion, design of the . armour ..... piety, self-denying Christians, in what sense called the circumcision the joy of to rejoice, the duty of their rejoicing should be ' in the Lord' 166, 167 174 23 24 26,27 38 40 46 53-56 54 ib. 56 (V 85 90 145 147 45 38,97 150 108 156 ib. 157 PAOH Christians, moderation of . , . 158 their holy and assured safety . . . 159 prayer, the duty and privilege of . .160 the divine peace of , . . 160, 161 Church, its prayers powerful . , . ,24 union necessary in Christ's . . ,38 its good should be one of our chiefest desires . 48 in what its happiness consists . . . ib. mi.\ed with, yet separate from, the world . 81 its dominion, spiritual . , . , 144 its Head and Sovereign, Christ , . 145 of Rome, opposed to the Scriptures. See letter R Churches commanded to support their pastors , 167, 170 Circumcision, in what sense Christians are called the . 108 City of the believer is in heaven , . . , 145 Comfort of love . , . , , .46 Commendation, when proper . . . .66 Communion, effects produced in those who truly partici- pate in the ...... 144 Concision, meaning of the word . . • . 106 Concord, Christian . , , . .49 Conflict of believers . . . . 37, 38 Consolation of a Christian in the providence of God . 39 found in Christ . . , 46, 47 Contarion on justification quoted . , . 123 Contentment of Paul, and its grounds . . lG8, 169 Conversation worthy of the gospel . , 35, 36 Conversion, God the sole author of . . 73—76 Counterfeits in the church of God , , .80 Course of a believer compared to a race . . . 131 Danger of dej)arting from the discipline and language of the apostles Day of Christ Deacons, meaning of the term Death, fear of . does not destroy the soul . not a subject of mourning to a believer deliverance from it requires two things ours should be consecrated to God Defenders of God's cause, a glorious title Delight of ministers to see God's cause prosper in their hands .... Deliverance of the apostle, its objects and effects two fold .... Dignity of believers Dijemnia of Paul . Disinterestedness of true religion . Discontent, evil of Do," "to will and to Dog. meaning of the word Duties relative between pastors and their flock of "giving and receiving" , E Empire of the universe ascribed to Christ End, two acceptations of the word ^Etifi'yzlif, iOitc ofthe word Envy, to preach Christ sometimes exrites Epaphroditus, titles of in what sense an apostle Paul's fellow soldier sickness of cure of his love to his flock Paul's commendation of 'ETrtXEiv, signification of the word Epistles of Paul to be read by all Euodias • • • 3 6, 7, 85 3 27 29 33 70,71 88 18 36 32 176 29 61 170 71, 72 105 172 91 142 73 19 96 97 ib. 98 99 100 101 82 3 152 GENERAL INDEX. ExaltatiuD of Christ, connexion between the voluntary humiliation and . 59, 60 wherein consists the . 61, 62 Example, of Paul, with regard to an assured hope 21, 24 Christ the best . . . . .65 Examples, efficacy of ... . 20, 21 Expectation," "earnest , , • . .22 Experience worketh hope . • • .23 Eye-service condemned . • • • .67 Faith, the weapon of our warfare , • .37 our shield . , • * • .38 the gift of God 40 the objects of ... . 40, 41 nut given because good use of it is foreseen . 41 a peculiar, distinguishing gift . , .42 *' sacrifice of your '^ . . , 86, & 7 word of God, the only infallible rule of . 107, 108 False teachers, appellations given to . , 105 — 107 marks of 141—14.3 "Fear and trembling" . , . . 69,70 Fellowship in the gospel . . . . .4,5 which the Philippians had with Paul in his bonds . . . . .9 of the Spirit . . . . .46 of Christ's suffering . , , . 125 Fellow-soldier, Epaphroditus Paul's . , .97 " Finally," force of the word .... 104 Flesh, difference between living according to and living in the . . . . . .28 "no confidence in the" , . , 110,111 Free-will, Bernard's observation on , . .68 errors respecting this doctrine examined, and objections answered . , 68, 69 Fruits to be deduced from the deliverances God gives his servants . . . . . .32 Funerals of their dead, some nations rejoice at the . 33 Future events depend upon God • . ,90 Gain, inestimable in Christ , • • •26 found in Christ ..... 126 Giving and receiving, duties relative between pastors and their flocks ...... 173 Glorification of the body .... 148,149 God, the, of peace . . . . , 164 Good, all thmgs work together for the believer's 20, 23 *' Good work" ...... 6 Gospel, the, fellowship of .... 4 conversation worthy of . , .34 its superiority to the law . . .58 Grace, and peace ...... 3 growth of grace in the new man gradual and progressive . . . 6, 36, 65, 133 Paul calls a prison for Christ a , . .9 of congruity unscriptural . . . 41, 75 of faith not given because good use of it is fore- seen . . . , , .41 of God, its effects in believers . . .71 Gratitude due to ministers . • . .86 Greek games referred to . . • . 127 — 131 Gregory Nazianzen quoted • • , 133 H Holiness, reasons constraining believers to Human nature of Christ, not omnipresent Humility, nature of true , the true road to glory . effects of true . Humiliation of Christ, in what it consisted Immortality of the soul , , • Inability of man .... Inoffensive, not sufficient to be merely , Insensibility to suffering . Intentions as well as actions must be good . 80 . 147 50,57 . 64 . 69 56,57 29 68 13 100 20 Invocation of saints unscriptural Irresolution of St. Paul . Jesus Christ, the medium of all our blessings the fruits of righteousness arel)y Divine nature of in the form of God , equal with God truly God, in contradiction to the and Socinians . in the form of a servant made in the likeness of man humbled himself excellency of the knowledge of his human nature not omnipresent Joy of Paul . . . ' Justification . . • • 179 PAOB . 29 3 13 53 ib. ib. Ariaes 03-55 . £5 55,56 55-58 116—118 . 147 . 104 . 126 KaTc/Va^oi/, force of the word . • • • 128 KaTtoyd^tadai, signification of . . , ,67 Knowledge, connexion between love and . .11 of what kind the apostle speaks . . 12 of a Christian, practical . , . ib. produces purity . . . . ib. excellency of the knowledge of the Lord Jesus .... 116-118 Labour, without pride . . . . .70 Law, superiority of the gospel to the . . .58 AeiTovpyia, remarks on the word . . .87 Liberty of man, wherein it consists . . .74 Life, distinguished from salvation . . .67 ours to be consecrated to God . . .88 to come ...... 144 " Lights in the world '* . . . . .82 Limbo, observations respecting , . . .30 Love, of pastors to their flocks in Christ Jesus . 5, 11 the highest perfection of the Christian character ]1 connexion between knowledge and . . ib. generous nature of real Christian . . . 173 Lukewarmness condemned . . . .25 M Man's inability ..... sin the cause of his perdition salvation referable to the good pleasure of God Marks of the chililren of God Alarriage of the clergy allowable . Martyr, not the sufiering, but the cause, makes the their iutermenls .... Martyrdom, a gift of the grace of God Paul's readiness for Means, " if by any means "... Meekness commended .... Memory of excellent persons to be preserved Miptfii'TufiLt, force of the word Merit, none in the good works of believers Mind, of which Paul speaks Ministers, delight in seeing God's word prosper in their hands . . . . . union between churches and . judgment and tenderness required in . to be supported by their churches should receive gratefully the donations of their people . . . . _ . should be careful of their reputations, even in the smallest things .... Moral suasion, in conversion God uses something more than ....... Murmuring, remedies against . • • • 68 76 ib. 81 . 154 . 42 . 89 . 43 . 87 . 126 . 137 . 133 . 92 43, 68, 71 135 36 83 91 167 170 175 73 N Nature, the power of our . Nero's palace, scene of gospel triumphs New birth, God the sole author of the . 40 . 18 73-76 180 GENERAL INDEX. Oath, an, not forbidden to Christiana . Obedience, of Christ as man of the Philipnians, praiseworthy blind, of the Komanists, condemned Offence, interpretation given to the word 10 57 66 ib. 13 134, 128- 130, 7,23, Paranomasla, examples of this figure from the Scriptures 106 Pastors, love they owe their flocks . . .5 churches commanded to support their , 167, 170 relative duties between churches and , . 173 Path, no middle . . . . . .27 Pattern, Paul proposes himself as a . . . 138 Paul, a servant ,..,., 2 a merchant . . . , . .25 his reasons for desiring to go to Rome , . IH his bonds promote the gospel . . 16, 17 outline of nis character . , . .21 his assurance of salvation , . . .24 his diligence . . . . 28, 29 his dilemma . . . . .29 joy in the piety of his converts , . 84,151 tenderness of .... 91, 151 his care of the churches . . . 89, 90 vehemence against false teachers . . . 1(17 superiority in seven particulars , . Ill — 114 Jewish privileges no gain to . . . 114 some of Rome's cardinals assert that he w ried .... Peace of a Christian Perfect, signification of the word Perfection, dangerous tendencyof the doctrine of Paul's view of Augustine's remarks on Jerome's observations on Persecution not fortuitous Perseverance of the Philippians . of saints certain God the cause of the believer's Pharisee, meaning of the word Pharisees, their tenets Philippi, description of . gospel first preached in it by Paul Piety, its mfluence on the affections marks of . YloXtTivfia .... *' Poured forth " . Prayer at all times enjoined Prayers of the church powerful . Precepts and advice of the apostle*, Bome's nnecrip- tural distinction between .... 136 Presumption, cautions against , , , ,76 Purgatory, fabulous . . . . .30 B Reasons constraining to holiness . • • .80 Reiteration of duties necessai"y .... 105 Resurrection, the power of Christ's . . 124,126 Reverence, superstitious, at the name of Jesus . . 63 Riches more dangerous than poverty to the church . 174 Righteousness, meaning of the word . . .13 cause and end of the fruits of . .13 of God, typified from the earliest times . 121 of faith ..... 122 of the law .... ib. Rome, Paul's reasons for desiring to go to . . 16 a second time visited by Paul . . .31 church of, its error with respect to the necessity of knowledge for a believer . 12 invocation of saints . 24,98 doctrine of purgatory . , 30 superstitious reverence at the name of Jesus . . . .6.3 views of assurance and perseverance 31, 68 sacrifice of the mass . 88.171 the fallibility of its infallibUity 107, 108 154 160 135 128 •130 131 130 43 4,5 130 23,36 . 113 112, 113 1 2 . 100 . 167 . 145 . 87 . 158 . 24 Rome, church of, its prohibition of the reading of the Scriptures . . 107, 153 abuse of the title Holy . . 135 unscriptural distinction between the _ precepts and advice of the apostles 1.36 celibacy of its clergy . , 154 24, 7, 71, 75, 24, 162- 30, 107, 11'2, S Sacrifices, gospel signification of the word . 86, of tnanksgiving . Saints, meaning of the term invocation of them inadmissible (heir patience under trials Salvation, attributed altogether to God assurance of difference between life and Sanctification, effect of the grace of God the object of our redempti eight parts of Scripture, the only infallible rule of faith Sects of the Jews . Self-denying nature of true piety Servant," " form of a Servants of Jesus Christ . 2h-L'/3a\a, signification of the word Soul, not destroyed by death its state after death . ^TT^vSouai, figurative signification of *' Stand fast" Sledfastness enjoined 2t-?jiv"et£. meaning of the word Stoics, their advice to their disciples Strife to be avoided Sufferings for Christ, honourable . of martyrs, the seed of the church for doctrines, unusual among the pagans for Christ, a gift of God's love , 41 — Supplications with thanksgivings Syntyche .... ■,87 172 2 , 99 100 , 76 ,39 67 71 161 164 108 113 150 55 2 118 29 ib. 87 36 152 ib. 67 49 9 10 16 43 160 152 Tares and wheat ..... TertuUian quoted ..... Thanksgivings of Paul .... with supplication . " Thinketh that he hath " Timothy, praise and recommendation of . Tranquillity of Paul in affliction . Transubstantiation opposed to the declarations of Paul Trembline," " fear md .... Trials of believers ..... Truth, God gives us the knowledge of his . 139 79 4 160 111 93-95 21 30 69 100 136 18, U Ubiquity belongs not to the human nature of Christ Understandings, the pitiable weakness of our Union necessary in the church of Christ . among the Philippians earnestly desired by the apnstle ...... between ministers and their churches . . Universe, dominion over it ascribed to Christ . . Vain-glory to be guarded against . , W Warning to the Philippians, its form and matter Weaker brethren, course to be adopted towards Wishing, distinction between willing and Word of God, (he only infallible rule of our faith ** Work out your salvation " Worship of images .... "Worthy of the gospel" . . . . 147 137 38 47 83 90 50 140-144 . 1.36 . 72 108 67 153 34 107, AN EXPOSITION THE EPISTLE OF SAINT PAUL COLOSSIANS. BY THE REV. JEAN DAILLE, JtrNIBTEK OF THE FRENCH EEFOEMED CHCRCH AT CHAEENTON, A. D. 1C39, TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH BV F S. REVISED AND CORRECTED BY THE REV. JAMES SHERMAN, MLNISTEB OF SUEKET CHAPEL. EDINBURGH: JAMES NICHOL. LONDON : JAMES NISBET & CO. M.DCCC.LXIII. THE EPISTLES DEDICATORY. BY THE TRANSLATOR TO THE HONOURABLE SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY, OF POUDERHAM CASTLE, IN THE COUNTY OF DEVON, BARONET. Sir, The Divine Epistle of St. Paul to the Colossians was not to rest in their hands, but, by his express order, to be communicated to the neighbouring Laodiceans, as we read in the Epistle itself towards the end. It therefore seems a little congruous that these Sermons which expound it should undergo a like disposal, and not be confined to the French, to whom they were originally preached, but be imparted to the neighbour- ing English. The author of them was he whom his auditors at Charenton frequently called, for the beauty and rich- ness of his discourses, the silver-tongue Daille. Headers here have applauded him, and still highly esteem him, for his Apology, and his exquisite treatise of the Use of the Fathers ; both of which have for some years spoken our language. The learned every where abroad know and value him for divers other excellent la- bours. He signalized himself both at the press and in the pulpit, and God was pleased to crown him in his service with the glory of a vigorous and venerable old age. I confess I was not the fittest person to translate and publish this work of his, nor did I design it at the first. But a private exercise receiving some encouragement, it grew up and became at length a publication. Neither am I without hope but that the known civility of the English for strangers will be showed to Mr. Daille, though his interpreter be no more than he is. Yea, while that reverend man interprets here a great apostle, and presses, as he does, solid religion towards God, loyal subjection to princes and superiors, peace, and love, and every virtue among men, I would pro- mise him Christian attention and consideration, a calm and generous enduring of little discrepancies, if any occur, and all the respect that befits a minister of Christ. Now, sir, I deem it not improper to put into your hand a performance which had its origin in France, when I reflect upon the illustriousness of your ancestry formerly there. I cannot but remember, in par- ticular, how the family was ingrafted into the royal house itself; Peter, a son of Louis le Gros, espousing the inheretrix, a name, and the arms of Courtenay ; so becoming the stock from which those noble after- branches issued, which spread forth on this and 0"i that side of the sea. But the dominion and empire of God is equally over all the kindreds and kingdoms of the world, and unto him every one bears the greatest and nearest relation. I tender, therefore, the present volume chiefly as having for its object the illustration and enforcement of his holy mind and will, and beseech you to accept the gratitude with which it is tendered. That every Divine blessing may descend and rest upon your person and afiairs, your virtuous honourable lady, and all those sweet branches about your table, is the earnest and incessant prayer of. Sir, Your obliged and afiectionately devo**c' Servant, F. S. THE AUTHOR'S DEDICATION. CPBEFIXID IN THE OKIGINAL TO THE PABT CONTArNTNQ CHAf, IJ TO MONSIEUR, MONSIEUR DU CANDAL, LORD OF FONTINAILLE, OOUNSELLOK AND SECRETARY OF THE KING, HOUSE, AND CROWN OF FRANCE. Si«, I PRESENT you these sermons, conscious that I owe this acknowledgment to the friendship with which you honour me, and still more to the edification and good offices which the church where I preached them has for a long time received from your piety. For besides the noble example which your life gives us, a life full of virtue and honour, always steady and equal in the profession and holy exercises of the truth of the gospel ; there has been presented no occasion of doing service to the people of God, either in past or present times, but you have embraced with zeal, and managed with prudence. So likewise we see that the good and merciful Lord you serve has crowned your obedience with the bene- dictions of his grace. For in the vicissitudes of the times, and the variety of affairs, he has still rendered you acceptable, both to those within, and even to them without. And, which is the principal thing, he has preserved his covenant in your house, that neither the vanity of the world, nor the scandal of the time, has been able to make any of the breaches there which we see with grief in other families. To establish this precious heritage of piety in your race, his providence has added to it, by alliance, persons excellent in knowledge and in merit, in whose lineage you daily see your own life renew and flourish. It is true, sir, you have also had your trials, as no true believers are exempted from them ; but those which God has dis- pensed to you have been so tempered with his goodness, as I believe you may truly say, that in this, more than in any other event of your life, he has exhibited the wonders of his grace towards you. Such was, some years ago, the bitter, untimely, but blessed and happy, death of your eldest son, who was removed in the flower and vigour of his age. This was, doubtless, a very grievous stroke, which cut down in a moment the sweetest of your hopes, plucking from your embraces a son as worthy of love as he was beloved, and whose merit had already advanced him to the dignity of a senator in the chief of the parliaments of this kingdom. But however painful his death was to you, it was, notwithstanding, accompanied with grace of God, so visible and ravishing, that I fear not to refresh your memory with it, well knowing that it is no less dear and precious to you for the piety and the noble and truly Christian constancy which he showed in those last and happy moments of his life, than troublesome and bitter for the mourning and sadness which it left on your whole house. As soon as his disease appeared to be what indeed it was, he looked on death ■without perturbation ; he prepared himself for it with great courage ; and his deportment, his visage, and his discourses were full of resolution and contentment. He comforted us all; and, amid the tenderness and pangs of such a separation, maintained his mental vigour to the last. And though he left on earth some of the dearest and sweetest he could here possess or desire, yet he quitted it, not only without regret, but even with joy ; so firm was the hope, or, to speak more correctly, so clear and assured the sight, which the Lord Jesus gave him of the bliss and delights to which he called him. He remained in this gracious and holy frame even to his last breath, with an unclouded spirit and a calm soul, speaking to us of his approaching happi- ness, and of the present grace of his Lord, with such efficacy, that it checked your tears, and repressed the ex- I EPISTLES DEDICATORY. v pressions of your grief, that how just soever they were, you had, nevertheless, a secret shame to allow them to appear in the presence and on the account of so virtuous a person, as if lamentations would have offended his piety, and dishonoured the victory of his faith. The same God that loosed him so supernaturally from earth, to raise him up to heaven, granted you to bear the afHiction of his departure with a patience worthy your vocation. After so severe a stroke, he has yet sustained you, and conducted you to an honourable old age, which few persons attain. And now, I doubt not, amidst the agitations of the present world, and the infirmities of age, your chief consolation is the assured hope you possess of arriving also one day at the port of that blessed immortality, into which, contrary to the ordinary course of nature, you have seen this dear son enter before you. If in the holy exercises of piety, by which you daily prepare yourself for that state, the reading of these sermons may find a place, and aflibrd you consolation, I shall therem have exLrcjiie satisfaction ; at least I can well assure you, that it is one of my most ardent desires, who pray (jod lo preserve you with all your family, in perfect prosperity; and remain, inviolably, Sir, Youi most humble and most obedient Servant, Paris, April 1, 1648. DAILLE. 2o THE AUTHORS EPISTLE. [PEEFIXED IN THE OBIGINAL TO THS t/BT CONTAINUJO CBAI. HJ TO MONSIEUK, MONSIEUR BIGOT, LORD OF LAHGNVILLE, COUNSELLOR OF THE KING IN HIS COUNSELS, INTENDANT, AND CONTROLLER-GENERAL OF THE GABELS OF FRANCE. Sir, Among the advantages which the reformation of the church, embraced by our fathers in these latter ages, has afforded us, we m ast, doubtless, ascribe the pre-eminence to the free use we have of the word of Christ, which he, of his abundant grace, has recovered for us. This Divine taper, lighted up from heaven in the house of God to shine unto his people, to express it in the terms of the gospel, remained hid a long time under a bushel. Matt. v. 15 ; the negligence and fraud of men keeping it in this shameful condition. It is now set anew in its candlestick, where it diffuses in every direction among us its enlivening and saving light ; and that too in such abundance, as that we may truly say in this respect, the word of Christ dwelleth in us richly, Col. iii. 16. It reigns alone in our assemblies, where its voice, and no other, is continually heard to resound ; the fables and legends of men being altogether banished from them. It is read there in a familiar language, which every one understands ; whereas if it be read any where else, it is in a tongue dead, and barbarous, and unknown to the people. It is explained among us with all fidelity, sincerity, and diligence; whereas amidst the darkness of former ages, it was so unworthily treated by preachers, that, to read their sermons, one would think they had designed to make them openly ridiculous. I confess that those persons who abide in the erroneous opinions of their ancestors are somewhat ashamed of their gross and profanely licentious practice ; and they have in some measure reformed it. Yet there remain but too many defects among them still, and this one in particular, that they explain in public only some pieces, and, if it may be so said, shreds of Scripture, sometimes taken from one book, sometimes from another, never showing their hearers any complete body. For it cannot be denied that this manner of handling the word of God deprives the faithful of much edification; it being evident that the view and consideration of an entire book gives us a more complete knowledge and greater admiration of it than the view of any isolated part. This fault is 60 much the less pardonable in our adversaries, as, besides being less profitable, it is also contrary to the cus- tom and authority of those ancient doctors of the first ages of Christianity, whose true sons and legitimate successors these gentlemen boast that they are. For it was usual at that time for pastors to expound in the church whole books of Scripture throughout, by sermons continued upon the chain of the holy text, from the beginning of a volume to the very end, which is clearly proved by the remains of their writings. There are extant still the Sermons of St. John Chrysostom upon Genesis, upon the Gospels of St. Matthew and St. John, upon the Acts of the Apostles, and upon all the fourteen Epistles of St. Paul, which were delivered by this great man, part of them in the church of Antioch, and part in the church of Constantinople, the greatest and most populous churches of all the East. And among the Latins, we have the Tractates of St. Augustine upon the whole Book of Psalms, and upon the Gospel of St. John, and upon his First Epistle, which were in a similar manner made and delivered in the assemblies of his people. An evident sign that, EPISTLES DEDICATORY. 73 about the beginning of the fifth century, when these two excellent and famous personages flourished, this custom was in repute among Christians. Whether then the thing be considered in itself, or the suffrages of the ancients be taken, it is manifest that our fathers and ourselves had the best reasons in the world to re-establish this sacred and just usage in the church. Now, sir, this book which I address to you is a fruit of it. For having undertaken, in conformity to this order, to expound in our holy assemblies the Divine Epistle of the apostle St. Paul to the Colossians, and being come to the end of it, by the grace of our Lord, because the whole work could not be commodiously contracted into one volume, I have divided it into three parts, of which this is the second. The piety which has long flourished in your house, sir, and the exquisite knowledge that God has given you of his truth, in- duce me to believe that this book, which wholly treats of his Divine mysteries, and nothing else, will not be displeasing to you. It is this that has given me the liberty to put your name upon it ; a name which numerous excellent graces, with which God has adorned both your family and your person, render very dear and very honourable in our church. I am sorry that this present is not more worthy of it. But such as it is, I do not despair of its obtaining from the dignity of its subject, and from the favour of your kindness, that acceptance to which it cannot pretend upon any merit of its own. Please you then to receive it as a sincere testimony of the respect I bear your virtue, and of the grateful sense I have of the friendship with which you honour me ; as well as an inviolable pledge of the prayers which I present unto God for your prosperity, and of the fervent aflFection I have to be, as long as I live, Sir, ' ' Your most humble and most obedient servant, Parif April I, 164a DAILLE, THE AUTHOR'S EPISTLE DEDICATORY. [PKEFIXED IN THE ORIGINAL TO THE PAKT CONTAINING CHAP. III. IV.] TO MONSIEUR, MONSIEUR DE RAMBOUILLET, LORD OF LANCEY, AND OF PLESSIS-FRANC. Sir, These sermons will not be new to you ; so little time having elapsed since you heard them at Charenton, no doubt you will recognise them at first sight. The support they then received in our holy assembly im- boldens them now to present themselves in public. Perhaps it had been better to rest contented with that favour which our people showed them, and not publish them again in this form. For beside that the eye is much more delicate than the ear, and the defects of a discourse are far more easily observed on paper, where they remain, than in ftie air, where they do but pass ; there is also a great difference between an auditor, whom devotion obliges to hear you, and a reader, who owes you nothing. The one thinks he should sin against piety if he denied you his attention ; the other, that he does you a favour in heeding you, and may examine you without a crime. The judgment of the one is half made for you, whereas that of the other is at its full liberty. These reasons would have withheld me from hazarding the edition of these small books, if the matter had wholly depended upon my opinion. But the desires of my friends and the entreaties of the bookseller interposing, their violence has overcome my modesty. Yet I should have had vigour and firmness enough to defend myself against it, if the question had been simply of myself and my reputation. For as the present age is so polite and well informed, that the most eloquent speakers, and the most accomplished writers, can scarcely satisfy it; I well know that, to please it, graces and perfections are needed which I do not possess. But that also is not the object I seek ; my weakness, and the calling wherewith God has honoured me, have abundantly secured me from such a passion. The motives which caused me to yield to the too favourable opinion of my friends, were the welfare of Christian souls, which they laid before me, and the service they believed this book might render them. The success will inform us whether they had reason to promise themselves so much from it. For my part, the thing being uncer- tain, I held myself obliged to give place to their judgment, and to prefer the profit which they imagine the ' faithful may receive from my poor labours to any other consideration. And if it be temerity to hope for I this result, at least it is not a crime, but a laudable affection, to desire it. Of one thing, sir, I am well as- j sured, that you will not dislike the gift I make you of this third and last part of my work. For, independ- ently of that sweetness of spirit and obliging disposition which every one observes in you, and to say I nothing of numerous evidences which I have received of your kindness towards me in particular, I am con- 1 firmed in this opinion, by your piety, well known in our church, both by the excellent fruits of your charity J in the ordinary course of your life, and by the services you rendered to our flock in the office of an elder,! which you executed among us with much edification and honour. Persuading myself, therefore, sir, may it please you, that you will receive this small present with your usual benevolence and readiness, there re-j mains nothing but that I pray God to preserve you, with your worthy and noble family, in health and pros perity, and daily to augment his most precious blessings, both spiritual and temporal, to you and them, beseech you to continue me the honour of your friendship, and to do me the favour to believe that I an devotedly, Sir, Your most humble and most obedient Servant, Paris, April 1, 1648. DAILLE. EXPOSITION EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL TO THE COLOSSIANS. SERMON L CHAPTER I. Verse 1 — 5. Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timotheus our brother, to the sai)its and faithful brethren in Christ which are at Colosse : Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. fVe give thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, since we heard of your faith iti Christ Jesus, and of the love which ye have to all the saints, for the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, ichereof ye heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel. The assertion of the apostle Paul respecting the afflictions of the faithful, that they " work together for good to them that love God," Rom. viii. 28, is verified by constant experience. Beside the excel- lent fruit which the afflicted themselves receive from them, sooner or later acknowledging with the psalmist, that it was good fur them to have been afflicted, Psal. cxix. 71; they are also serviceable to the edifi- cation of others. For as roses, the fairest and sweet- est of flowers, grow on a rough and thorny stock ; so from the afflictions of the believer, rugged and piercing to the flesh, spring examples of their virtue and in- stances of their piety, the sweetest and most salutary of all productions. See W'hat a rich store of benefits the trials of Job and of David have yielded us ! To them we owe that admirable book of the patience of the former, and a great part of the divine hymns of the latter. Had it not been for their afflictions, we should not now enjoy, after so many ages, those in- estimable treasures of instruction and consolation. What shall I say of the suSerings of St. Paul, which spread the gospel all abroad, and converted the world to the knowledge of the true God! His imprison- ment at Rome alone, under the government of Nero, has done the church more good than the peace and prosperity of all the rest of the faithful of that age. It gave reputation to the gospel, and made it glo- riously enter into the stateliest court in the world. It inspired preachers of the truth with heroic courage. It awakened the curiosity of some, and inflamed the love of others, and filled all that great city with the name and odour of Jesus Christ. Nor was it of use to the Romans only. It imparted its celestial fruit to the remotest regions and generations. For it was in this very confinement that this holy man wrote sevei-al of his divine Epistles, which we read with so much edification to this day : as those to Philemon, to Timothy, to the Ephesians ; and that directed to the Philippians, the exposition of which we last finished ; and the following Epistle to the Colos- sians, which we have now chosen to explain to you, if God permit. Paul's prison was a common reser- voir, whence have issued those living springs which water and gladden the city of God, and will furnish it even to the end of the world with the streams it needs for its refreshment. Having then already drawn from one of these sweet springs that divine water with which we have en- deavoured, according to the ministry committed to us of God, to irrigate the heavenly plants of your faith and love, we now turn, my brethren, to another, a no less vital and plentiful one than the former. Bring ye to it, as the Lord requires, souls thirsting for his grace ; and he will give you, as he has promised, living water, which shall quench your drought for ever, and become in each of you a well springing up to eternal life. The church of the Colossians, to whom this Epistle is addressed, having been happily planted by Epa- phras, a faithful minister of Christ, the enemy failed not, by the hands of some seducers, immediately to sow his tares within it. These men would mingle Moses with our Saviour, and together with the gospel of the one retain and observe the ceremonies of the other. To make their error the more pleasing, they painted it over with the colours of philosophy, terms of science, curious speculations, and other similar artifices. Epaphras, seeing the danger to which this profane medley exposed the faith and salvation of his dear Colossians, informs St. Paul of it, then a prisoner at Rome. The apostle, to draw them from so per- nicious an error, takes his pen and writes thrm this 2 AN EXPOSITION OF Serm. I. letter; in which he shows them that in Jesus Christ alone is all the fulness of our salvation, in such a manner that we should deeply injure him to seek any part of it out of him, since we possess abundant stores in his gospel wherewith to teach our faith and form our manners, without the addition of either the shadows of Moses or the vanities of philosophy. In the beginning he salutes and congratulates them for the communion which they had with God in his Son. Next he draws them a lively portrait of the Lord Jesus, in which shine forth the dignity of his person, and the inexhaustible abundance of his benefits. Upon that he encounters the seducers, and refutes the unprofitable additions with which they sophisti- cated the simplicity of the gospel. Afterwards, from dispute he passes to exhortation, conjuring these faithful people to live well and holily, conforming their deportment to a piety, honesty, and virtue wor- thy their vocation. He concludes with some particular atfairs, of which he speaks to them, and with recom- mendations which he offers them, both on his own part and on the part of other faithful persons who were with him. But you will better understand the whole by the exposition of each part of the Epistle, if the Lord grant us to complete it. For the present, we propose to consider only the five verses which we have read ; the first two of which contain the in- scription of the Epistle, and the other three the joy and thanksgivings of Paul to God for the faith and love of these Colossians. These shall be, God will- ing, the two points on which we will treat in this discourse. I. The inscription of the Epistle is contained in these words : " Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timotheus our brother, to the saints and faithful brethren in Christ which are at Colosse : Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ." At this day it is customary to inscribe letters with the name of those to whom they are written, and within them, after the body of the letter, the name of those who write them : formerly this was not the custom; for the writer wrote both the names within, at the head of the let- ter, with a brief salutation in these words. Such a one to such a one, health ; as we learn by numerous Greek and Latin epistles, which are left us in the an- cient books of the most renowned personages of those two nations. The apostle, who lived in those ages, uses the same form in all his Epistles, as you know, except that instead of wishing health and prosperity to those whom he addresses, he ordinarily wishes them peace, and the grace of God, and of his Son Jesus Christ. According to this form, the inscription of this Epistle contains, first. The names and qualities of those who write it, and of those to whom it is addressed; and, secondly. The good and happy wish with which they salute them. The names of those who write it are Paul and Timothy, sufficiently known to all who are in the least degree versed in the New Testament. They are here described by certain qualities severally at- tributed to them. To Paul, that of " an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God." To Timothy, simply that of " brother." The word " apostle" sig- nifies, in the Greek language, one deputed, a person sent by some one. But in the Scripture of the new covenant it is taken particularly for those first and highest ministers of the Lord Jesus, whom he sent with a sovereign and independent authority to preach tlie gospel and establish his church in the world. The highest and noblest charge God ever gave to men: and to exercise it it was necessary, I. To have seen Jesus Christ alive after his death, that a good and lawful testimony might be given of his resurrec- tion. 2. They must have received their commission immediately from the Lord himself. And, 3. They must have the Holy Spirit in an extraordinary mea- sure, with the gifts of tongues and miracles. Whence it appears how illogical they are that attribute the glory of an apostleship to the bishop of Rome, who possesses none of these qualifications. It is also clear that this dignity is extraordinary, and was not instituted but for the first establishment of the church ; the government of which, after its planta- tion, the apostles put in the hands of an inferior order of ministers, who are indifferently called in Scripture either bishops, that is, overseers and su- perintendents ; or presbyters, that is, elders. The history of the Acts informs us that to the twelve apostles before ordained our Lord added St. Paul ; having miraculously appeared to him, and sent him with the same power that they had to con- vert the Gentiles. He assumes therefore this glori- ous title at the entrance of this Epistle, and declares moreover that he is an apostle " by the will of God ;" signifying that it was the express order and mandate of the Lord which honoured him with this ministrj', and not the suffrage and authority of men ; dis- tinguishing himself by this means from those false teachers and troublers who had not been sent, but by the will of flesh and blood. The declaration of this his quality was here necessary for him, I. To maintain his honour against the calumnies of seducers, who disparaged and slandered him as much as they could, under pretence that he had not lived, like the other apostles, in the company of Jesus Christ during the days of his flesh ; and, 2. To establish the liberty which he took of writing to the Colossians, and of proving to them their duty, as well in faith as in practice, it being evident that the apostles had a right to use this authority over all and each of the Christian churches. To his own name he adds that of Timothy, whom he calls " brother," as having one and the same faith, and labouring in one and the same work ; whether it were to authorize his doc- trine the more, by the consent of this holy man, every word being more firm in (he mouth of two or three witnesses than in that of one ; or to recommend him to these believers, that if he wrote to them, or ever visited them, they mi^ht receive him as a per- son worthy of the fellowship of the apostles, and whose name deserved to accompany that of Paul. As for those to whom he directs this Epistle, he describes them next in these words : " To the saints and faithful brethren in Christ which are at Colosse." I pass by, as childish and impertinent, the opinion of those who say that he means the isle and city of Rhodes, and that he calls it Colosse because of that prodigious statue of the sun which the Rhodians had erected at the mouth of their haven, and which the Greeks J called the Colossus. What need is there of these I frigid and ridiculous notions, since the ancients show that there was formerly in Phrygia, a province of Asia the Less, a city called Colosse, not far from two others, Laodicea and Hierapolis, which the apostle also mentions in this Epistle, and recommends ex- pressly to the Colossians the communicating this letter to the Laodiccans, after they themselves had read it ? Afterwards, this city of Colosse changed its name, and was called Cone. Here one of the most eminent writers of the latter times of Greece, Nicetaa Choniates, received his birth, taking his surname from that place : he boasts in one of his works that J the apostle honoured the inhabitants of Cone, his I native city, by addressing to them this very Epistle.* ' • In Thesaur. 1. i. ch. 22. Chap. I. THE EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIANS. St. Paul designates the Christians at Colosse "saints and faithful brethren." He calls them " saints," a name he usually gives to all true Christians, and which really belongs to them, since God, separating them from the rest of men by the effectual working of his word, and by the sacrament of his baptism, cleanses and purifies them from the filth of sin, de- livers them from the servitude of the flesh, and con- , secrates them to his own name and service, to be to him a peculiar people, devoted to good works. Hence the whole body of the faithful is called in the Creed, " The holy church." Mark this well, my bre- thren, and be assured that you cannot be Christians except you be truly saints. Suffer not yourselves to be abused by the deceitfulness of those who promise you this glorious name, provided only you make pro- fession of faith in Christ, and that you live in the communion of their church, however evil and impious you are in other things. The body of the Lord is too vital and precious to have dead and putrid mem- bers. I confess that if you have the industry to hide your vices under the false appearances of an outward profession, you will induce men to give you the name of Christians, and to reckon you among the members of the church ; as it might possibly be, that, among those whom the apostle honours here with the name of saints and faithful, there were some hypocrites. But God, who sees the secrets of our hearts, and upon whose judgment our whole condition depends, will never account you Christians, or members of his Son, if you are not truly saints. Paul likewise, and the church, who by a charitable judgment now call you disciples of the Lord, will change their opinion, and rank you with profane men and worldlings, when they discover your hypocrisy. The title " faithful," which the apostle gives, in the second place, to the Colossians, is also common to all true Christians, and is taken from that faith which they give to the gospel of the Lord. The word " bre- thren," that follows, signifies the holy communion which they had with the apostle, and with all other believers of whatever rank ; as persons all begotten of the same Father, that is, God ; all born of the same mother, Jerusalem from on high ; all partaking of the same Divine nature ; all nursed in the same spiritual family ; all nurtured in the same hopes ; all destined to the same inheritance ; all consecrated by one and the same discipline. In fine, he adds, " in Christ," because it is of him, and by him, and in him, that we have all this sanctity, faith, and fraternal union ; the titles of which he has given to the Colossians. After having thus described and designated the per- sons to whom he writes, he wishes them, according to his custom, " grace and peace from God our Fa- ther, and from the Lord Jesus Christ." By " grace," he means the favour and good-will of God, with the saving gifts and Divine assistance with which he blesses those whom he loves in his Son. By " peace," he signifies that peace of God which is nothing else but the calm tranquillity of a soul that looks to the Lord with confidence, having remission of its sins by Jesus Christ, and is delivered by the effectual opera- tion of his Spirit from the importunate tyranny of the lusts of the flesh. It is probable that, beside this first and chief peace, the apostle intends also peace with men ; a sweet and calm state, exempt from their hatred and persecutions ; that without offending them, or being troubled by them, they might lead a peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. You also know that in the style of Scripture the word peace signifies generally all kinds of welfare and prosperity ; in which sense it may, without disad- vantage, be interpreted in this place. But he wishes tliem these benefits " from God our Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ." " From God," because he is the first and highest spring of all good ; " the Father of lights, from whom coraeth down every good and every perfect gift." " From Jesus Christ," for he is the channel by which the benefits of God stream down to us ; it being evident that without the death and resurrection, and, in a word, without the mediation of Jesus, we could have no part of the graces of God. He calls God " our Father," because he has adopted us freely in his Son, and on account of this relation he communicates his grace and peace to us; whence it is that Jesus Christ has given us authority to call him " Our Father" in the prayer which he has taught us. He calls Jesus Christ " the Lord," because he is our Master, who has all power and authority over us, as well by the right of creation as by that of redemption. Such is the inscription of this Epistle. II. Let us now come to the second point of our text, in which the apostle congratulates the Colossians for the part they had in Jesus Christ : " We give thanks," he says, " to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus, and of the love which ye have to all the saints, for the hope which is reserved for you in heaven, whereof ye heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel." Here is the pre- face or exordium of the Epistle, which extends as far as the 13th verse ; in which the apostle, by the true commendations which he gives the piety of the Colossians, wins their affectionate regard, and de- clares his cordial affection to them, to prepare them for a right and faithfiil reception of the instructions which he would hereafter propose to them, as pro- ceeding from a soul desirous of their salvation. He protests therefore to them, 1. In general, that as often as he and Timothy prayed to God for them, they did so with most humble thanksgivings for the happy spiritual state in which they saw him. 2. He mentions more particularly the grounds of this thanksgiving, and proposes three of them. First, The faith of the Colossians. Secondly, Their love. And in the last place. The inheritance reserved in heaven for them. Three particulars which comprise all the felicity of man. The part he takes in the happiness of the Colossians teaches us one of the most necessary offices of our love, which is to in- terest ourselves in the affairs of our brethren ; " to mourn with them that mourn, to rejoice with them that rejoice ;" and to be as nearly touched with their good and evil as with our own. Far from our practice be the envy and malignity of the men of this world, to whom the prosperity of others gives trouble, and their adversity gladness; who feed themselves with their miseries, and are sad at their mercies. But the apostle also shows us, by this his example, that the joy which we have for the good of our neighbours should be elevated to God, who is its only source, to render him thanks for it. This is the just and reasonable tribute this liberal Lord demands of us for so many benefits as he communicates daily to our brethren and ourselves. If our meanness and poverty render us incapable of any other acknowledgment, let us at least faithfully acquit ourselves of this one, which is so easy and sojust, and say with the prophet, " What shall i render to the Lord for all his benefits toward me ? I will take the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the Lord," Psal. cxvi. 12, 13. Let us study with so much the more care to render this sacred duty to the Lord, by how much more vile and detestable in this instance is the ingratitude of men. Far from blessing him for tlie benefits which he gives their neighbours, they scarcely thank him for AN EXPOSITION OF Serm. I. those which they receive of him themselves. They impute them to their own industry or fortune, and, as says the prophet, " sacrifice to their net," Hab. i. 16, for the good successes that attend them ; yea, there are some so insensible, that they do not give the glory to godliness itself, but to their own will, and the strength of their free determination. But it is not enough to render thanks to God for our brethren, there must be also prayer for them. For as it is he who gives them all the good things they possess, so there is none but himself that can preserve or augment them : and thus our thanksgivings should be ever fol- lowed or accompanied with petitions ; as the apostle shows, in saying that he gives thanks to God for the Colossians, praying always for them. The title he gives to God, calling him "the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ," is not put here in vain, but to dis- tinguish and specify the object of our prayers and thanksgivings. The appellation of God under the Old Testament was, " the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob," the patriarchs with whom he con- tracted the old covenant, and to whom he promised the new. Now his name is " the Father of Jesus Christ," by whom he has abolished the old testa- ment, and accomplished the new. Besides, by this St. Paul reminds us of that on which we can never suf- ficiently meditate, that it is by the means of this sweet and loving Saviour God has communicated himself to us ; and if we have the honour to be his children, it is by Jesus Christ, of whom he is properly the Father, having, not adopted him, as he has us, but begotten him, from all eternity, of his own sub- stance ; by reason of which that also which he as- sumed to himself, in the womb of the virgin, has the same glory ; according to what the angel said to the holy virgin, " The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee ; therefore also that holy thing that shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God," Luke i. 35. But the aposi le proceeds to add what were those bless- ings of the Colossians for which he and Timothy so assiduously rendered their thanks to God, the Father of our Saviour : " Having heard of your faith in Jesus Christ," he says, "and of the love which you have towards all the saints." He had never been among them, as he says hereafter, placing them, according to the opinion of most interpreters, in the number of those "who had not seen his face in the flesh," Col. ii. 1. Therefore he says it was by hearing that he had knowledge of their faith and love. Here is, faithful brethren, the true matter of our rejoicings and thanks- givings for our neighbours; not that God has given them vigorous health, abundance of riches, the fa- vour of the great, the glory of fame, the knowledge of sciences, and other good things of this world ; which in truth are but figures, dreams, and shadows, that secure no person either from diseases of the body, or death, or from trouble and disquiet of con- science, or true misery ; but because Heaven has re- vealed Je.sus Christ to them, and shed into their souls that " holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord." For these two graces, faith and love, comprise the whole kingdom of God. Faith is the beginning of it, and love the accomplishment. The one clears our understandings, the other sanctifies our affections. The one is the light of the soul, the other is the heat thereof. The one believes, and the other loves. The one begins, and the other finishes, the happiness of our life. Now faith respects generally the whole doctrine of God revealed in his word, believing it to be undoubt- edly true ; but yet it fixes particularly on the promise he has made us, to give us eternal life in Jesus Christ his Son. It is this properly that renders faith saving and vivifying. Without this it would not differ at all from the foith of devils, who believe there is a God, and tremble. But this love of God, which it apprehends and embraces, gives it salvation, and en- ables it to produce in us all that is necessary for en- tering into the celestial kingdom ; according to the assertions of Jesus Christ and his apostles in numerous places of Scripture, that whosoever believeth in the Lord is already passed from death to life ; that there is no condemnation to him ; and that " being justified by faith we have peace with God." Hence St. Paul, to describe true faith, adds expressly these words, " faith in Jesus Christ." He shows us in like manner the object of love, by saying, " the love which ye have towards all the saints;" that is, as we have intimated before, to- wards all Christians, all the faithful. I confess that love extends itself to all men in general, there being none to whom we owe not love, and, when required, the services which a true and sincere af- fection is ever ready to yield; since all men are the works and images of God; since in Adam they all have one common nature with us, and are all called to the participation of faith and of eternity in Jesus Christ by the gospel, which, without dis- tinction or exception, invites all nations and persons to repentance and grace. But still love embraces not all men equally. It has various degrees in its affec- tions, and loves its neighbours more or less, as it perceives more or less in them the marks of the hand of God, and the tokens of his Christ, and of his Spirit. Seeing then that they appear no where more clearly than in the saints, that is, in true believers, it is evident that these make the first and principal part of the object of love; according to what the apostle says elsewhere, " Let us do good to all men, especially to them who are of the household of faith," Gal. vi. 10. Besides that union which we have with them, a much more strict and intimate one than with any others, their necessity also particularly obliges us to do so ; the hatred and persecution of the world putting them generally into such a condition that no creatures more need the offices of our love ; neither is there any object more worthy of the affection and succour of a good and generous soul, than innocence unjustly hated and oppressed: therefore it is that the apostle observes here by name the love of the Colossians towards all the saints. He joins these two virtues together, faith and love, because in fact they are inseparable ; it being neither possible nor imaginable, whatsoever error may please to say, that man should believe and truly embrace God, as his Saviour in Jesus Christ, without loving him, and his neighbours for his sake ; or that he should love him sincerely without believing in him. He puts faith before love, not because it is more ex- cellent, (on the contrary, he elsewhere openly gives the advantage to love, 1 Cor. xiii.,) but because it goes first in the order of things requisite to salvation. It is the blessed root from which love and all other Christian virtues spring forth. It is the foundation of the spiritual building, the gate of the kingdom of heaven, the first-fruit of the workmanship of God, and the beginning of the second creation. As in the old creation light was the first thing he created, so in the new, faith is the first thing he produces; which the apostle elsewhere thus divinely expresses : ! " God, who commanded the light to shine out of] darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light I of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of J Jesus Christ," '2 Cor. iv. 6. After the faith and love of the Colossians, the! apostle adds, in the third place, the happiness that j was kept for them in heaven: "For the hope which! Chap. I. THE EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIANS. is laid up for you in heaven." Some join these words with what he had now said of the faith and love of the Colossians, and understand that these faithful people laboured with alacrity in the exercise of these virtues, for the hope they had of the celestial crown and reward ; according to what the apostle says else- where of Moses, that " he chose rather to suffer af- fliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season ; and esteemed the re- proach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt ; because," he says, " he had respect unto the recompence of reward," Heb. 'xi. 25,26. And he teaches us in general, respecting all those that come to God, that they " must believe that God is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him," Heb. xi. 6. And hence it does not follow either that our works merit the glory of heaven, or that our affection is mercenary. If we might not hope for any thing but what we merit, our hopes would be very miserable. But knowing that God is faithful and unchangeable, we hope with assurance for the bliss which he, of his mere grace, promises to us ; and the less we merit it, the more love we con- ceive towards God, who gives it to us ; and the greater acknowledgment and service ought we to render him for it. And for this gratuitous salary which he pro- mises us, we look not on it as a prey after which we hunt, and without which we should have no love for the Lord ; but as an excellent evidence of his in- finite goodness, as a testimony of his admirable liber- alitj'. That love of God, which is so resplendent in it, is the thing which most pleases and ravishes, and which inflames our faith, our zeal, and our afiection for the ser\-ice of so good and amiable a Lord. If we were to combine what the apostle says of the love of the Colossians with the hope which they had of the heavenly glory, we should speak in strict conformi- ty to evangelical truth. But it seems to me more sim- ple, and more consistent with the context, to refer it to the 3rd verse, where he says that he gives thanks to God for the Colossians, having understood their faith and love, " for the hope," he adds now, " which is laid up in heaven for you." For considering the condition of these believers on the earth, there seemed no great cause to congratulate them for their faith and love ; the afliictions which they drew on them rendering them in appearance the most miserable of men. But though the flesh forms this judgment of them, the spirit, that sees, above all visible things, the crown of glory prepared for the faith and love of believers, esteems them as the happiest of all creatures ; con- gratulates them, and renders thanks to God for the inestimable trea.sure that he has communicated to them. ' I know (saith the apostle) that your piety has its trials and exercises in this world. But I cease not gratefully to bless the Lord that he has conferred on you that great favour. I know the bliss that is prepared for you on high, in the sanctuary of God.' He takes the word " hope" here, as often elsewhere, for the thing hoped for ; that is, the blessed immor- tality and glory of the world to come. I confess we do not yet possess it, for hope is the expectation of a future good. " We are saved," says the apostle, " by hope : but hope that is seen is not hope : for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for ? " Rom. ♦iii. 24. But this good, though absent and future, is as certified to us as if we had it already in our hands. This the apostle shows when he adds that this hope is reserved in heaven for you. It is a trea- sure which God has set apart, having fully prepared it, and keeping it faithfully for us in his own bosom. Hence we are assured of this felicity, for he has de- Eosited it in the hands of Jesus Christ, in whom is id our life and immortality ; so that if we are as- sured of the safety of those things which a man of probity and honour keeps in trust for us, how much more certain should we be of the life and glory to come, seeing God has put them for us into the keep- ing of so faithful and powerful a depositary ! The place where this rich treasure is kept for us confirms us yet more in the hope and the excellence of it ; for, saith the apostle, it is reserved for us in heaven. Fear not, ye faithful. Your bliss is not on earth, where the thief steals, or infidelity and violence spoliate; where time itself ruins all things; where crowns the best secured are subject to thousands of accidents. Yours is on high, in the heavens, in the sanctuary of eternity, elevated above all the capri- cious and uncertain changes of human affairs ; where neither vicissitudes, nor the causes that produce them, have any access. This same place shows you also the excellence and perfection of the bliss you hope for, since all celestial things are great and magnifi- cent. Weakness, poverty, and imperfection reside here ; heaven is the habitation of glory and felicity. In fine, the apostle mentions briefly, in the last words of this text, whence the Colossians had de- rived this sublime hope: "Of which," he says, "ye heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel." This sovereign bliss, which is reserved for us in hea- ven, is so highly raised above nature, that neither acuteness of sense, nor vivacity of reason, nor even the light of the law, could discover it to us, much less give us the hope of it. That same Jesus Christ who has de- stroyed death, hath " brought life and immortality to light through the gospel," 2 Tim. i. 10. Before this they were either entirely unperceived, or imperfectly ' known and hoped for. It is therefore precisely from the gospel that we draw both the faith and the hope of them. He calls the gospel " the word of truth," not, as some have said, because it is the word of Jesus Christ, who is the truth and the life, an exposition more refined than solid, but because it is the most excellent of all truths ; for those which are learned in the school of nature and of the law, are mean and unprofitable in comparison of those which the gos- pel discovers to us. We may justly conceive that the apostle designs also secretly to oppose the doctrine of the gospel to those of the seducers, who still re- commended shadows and figures, as we shall hear in the following chapter; whereas the gospel presents to us the substance and the truth of things. And it seems to be in this sense that St. John, after he had said, " The law was given by Moses," adds, in a form of contrast, " but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ," John i. I", because the law had only dark lineaments and shadows; but, on the contrary, the Lord Jesus brought us the lively image, the body, and the truth of celestial things. The apostle re- minds the Colossians that they had " heard before this word of truth," as it were to protest to them that he would advance no novelty among them, having no design but to confirm them more and more in the holy doctrine which they had already received by faith from Epaphras, and other ministers of the Lord. See, beloved brethren, what we had to offer you for the exposition of this text. It remains that we briefly direct you to the prin- cipal subjects of reflection which we should gather from it, for the instruction of our faith, the edifica- tion of our love, and the consolation of our souls As for faith, it is for its security that St. Paul tells us, at the commencement, that he is " an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God," apprizing us by the title which he assumes, that we required not to receive any doctrine into our belief which has not been announced by these great and highest ministers of the Lord. Let us try the spirits, and 6 AN EXPOSITION OF SiRM. I. admit only the word of the apostles. If any one preaches a gospel beyond that which they have preached, Ut us hold him an Anathema. We have their Scriptures. Let us assuredly believe all that ve read in them. Let the doctrine which appears not there be suspected by us; and praised be God that, according to this rule, we have banished from our religion that which error and superstition had thrust into Christianity. You know that the God, the Christ, the heaven, the worship and sacraments, ■which we preach, have been given to us by the apostles of the Lord, established by the will of God, and appear in all their Gospels and Epistles ; where- as the mediators whom our adversaries invocate, the high priest which they acknowledge, the traditions which they maintain, the purgatory which they fear, the greatest part of the sacraments which they cele- brate, the adoration of the host, the veneration of images, and the voluntary worship which they prac- tise, are not found either in the Old or the New Testament. Let us therefore firmly retain our re- ligion, as instituted by the will of God, and constantly reject what is beyond it, as coming from man, and not from the Lord ; from earth, and not from heaven. But it is not enough to make profession of it; we must plant this doctrine in our hearts by a lively belief, in such a manner that we may be able to say with truth, that we have faith in Jesus Christ, and love towards all the saints. With the apostle, we render thanks to God that of his great mercies he has vouchsafed to communicate tons this treasure of his gospel; and not in vain, since there are among us those who have truly pro- fited by these spiritual riches. But the life of the greater part renders them unworthy of the praise which St. Paul here gives the Colossians. Is this to have faith in Jesus Christ, to serve him so remissly as we do ? to evince so little zeal for his glory ? so little respect to his commandments? so little belief of his doctrines? and so little affection for the in- terests of his kingdom ? As for love, I am ashamed to speak of it, so chilled is ours. For if we loved all the faithful, should we leave the lives of some of them, and the reputation of others, without succour? Should we injure them instead of defending them ? Should we take away their substance instead of com- municating to them our own ? Should we vilify their honour instead of preserving it ? Would their prosperity offend us ? Would their miseries satiate us ? Faithful brethren, remember that they are the saints of God, his children, and the brethren of his Christ. Respect those sacred names, and spare those persons who have the honour to be related so nearly to your Lord. He will judge you by the treatment which you give them, and charge to his own account the good and the evil which they shall receive from your hands, recompensing it or punishing it in the very same manner as if you had honoured or violated him in his own person. He wiii sever you from his communion if you do not carefully improve theirs, and will never avow you for his children if you ac- knowledge them not for your brethren. And allege not, I beseech you, that you have faith. I know well that this Divine light cannot dwell in souls which are cold and destitute of love. But suppose that this were possible, I solemnly tell you that all your pre- tended faith, though you possessed it in the highest degree, without love, would be but a shadow, an idol, and an illusion ; and, as St. James saith, a cor- rupt carcass, James ii. 26. Do all you will, have as much faith and knowledge as you please, if you have not love, you are not a Christian ; you are but a false and deceitful image of one. Love is absolutely necessary to the perfection of a Christian. It is the distinctive mark of this holy discipleship; it is the honour and the glory of it ; and the apostle, as you see, sets it down here among its essential parts. Faith will cease in heaven, where vision will supersede be- lieving. But love will remani for ever. Possess then a blessing so great and so necessary for you. If you have not hitherto realized it, ask it of God in- cessantly with prayers and tears, and leave him not before you have obtained it. If you have it, thank him for it, more than for all the goodsof the universe; and forget not that in giving you love, he has given you the life, the kingdom, and the crown of heaven. Exercise this precious gift continually; let there be none of your neighbours without feeling it. Do good to all. Communicate what you have received : the light of your knowledge, to the ignorant; the succour of your good offices, to the afflicted ; the sweetness of your patience, to enemies ; the consolation of your visits, to the sick; the assistance of your alms, to the needy; the example of your innocence, to all with whom you converse. But have a particular care of saints, the members of the Lord Jesus, who serve him here with you, and however poor they are, yet have been redeemed with his blood, and predesti- nated to his glory, as well as you. IDear brethren, your labour shall not be in vain ; your love will bring forth its fruits in their season with a most abundant interest. For terrestrial and perishing good things, which you sow here below, you will one day reap on high those that are celestial and im- mortal ; for a little bread and a little money that you now give to Jesus Christ, you will receive from his liberal hand the delights of paradise, and the trea- sures of eternity. This is the hope which is reserved for you in heaven. It is not the word of weak and vain men which ha.s promised you this. You have heard, by the gospel, the word of truth, which cannot lie. And as so magnificent a hope should inflame our love; so should it comfort us in our tribula- tions, and render us invincible under the cross to which the name of Christ subjects us. Consider a little what the men of the world do and suffer for uncertain hopes, that whirl in the air, float on the sea, and depend on the wind and on fortune. To how many dangers they expose themselves ! to what toil and disquietude they condemn themselves ! voluntarily passing nights and days in a most la- borious servitude for an imaginary good, that has no existence, and perhaps never will have, and which, however successful in their designs, they will not enjoy at most but for a few years ! Christian, shall it be said that you have less zeal for heaven than they have for the world ? Their hope is doubtful ; yours is certain. Theirs depends on the will of men and the inconstancy of the elements ; yours is in heaven. Pursue then nobly so higli and glorious a design. And since your hope is in heaven, have in- cessantly your heart, your affections, your thoughts there. Regard no more either flesh or earth ; your , bliss is not here. Jesus Christ has placed it on high 1 at the right hand of the Father, in the palace of his 1 holiness. Let this excellent hope sweeten all the evil which you suffer here below. If you are not at ease here, if you are despised, if you have no part in the wealth or honours of the world, think that neither is it here that Jesus Christ has promised you the rewards of your piety. That heaven which you see so fi.xed and immutable keeps them faithfully for you. You will there receive, on a future day, the honour, the glory, and the dignities which you now breathe after ; not to possess them during a few miserable months, as worldlings enjoy their boasted riches, but eternally, with perfect and unspeakable satisfaction, in tlie blessed communion of saints, of Chap. I. THE EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIANS. angels, and of Jesus Christ, the Lord of both. To whom, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, the only true God, blessed for ever, be honour and glory to ages of ages. Amen. SERMON IL Verse 6 — 8. JVhich is come unto you, as it is in all the xrorld : and bringeth forth fruit, as it doth also in you, since the dai/ ye heard of it, and knew the grace of God in truth : as ye also learned of Epaphras our dear fel- low serra7it, uho is for you a faithful mijiister of Christ ; who also declared unto us your love in the Spirit. Dfar brethren, the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ is the most excellent and most admirable doctrine that was ever published in the universe. It is the grand mystery of God, the wisdom of angels and of men, the glory of heaven, and the happiness of earth. It is the only seed of immortality, the per- fection of our nature, the light of our understand- ings, and the sanctity of our affections. There is no philosophy, or other doctrine, but this, which is able to deliver us from the slavery of devils, and make us children of the Most High. It is this only that truly purifies us from the filth of sin, and clothes us with a complete righteousness ; that plucks us out of the hands of death and hell, and gives us access to the throne of God, there to receive of his bounty life and supreme felicity. All other religions, invented and followed by flesh and blood, are ways of perdition, in- structions of error and vanity, that present them- selves to wretched men in the thick darkness of their ignorance, as those seducing fires that some- times mislead travellers in the obscurity of night, conducting them into the deeps of death and eternal malediction. The law itself, though it descended from heaven, is as much beneath the dignity of the gospel as Sinai is beneath heaven, and Moses beneath Jesus Christ. The law affrights consciences, the gospel gives them confidence. The one slays the sinner, the other raises him up again. The one makes grace desirable, the other gives the enjoyment of it. The one presented the shadows and figures of truth, the other gives us the lively image, the very body of it. Whence you may judge, my brethren, how much it concerns us to know so saving and Divine a doc- trine, that we may embrace and obey it. The repose and happiness of our souls are based on it, which we shall unprofitably seek every where else. It is to inflame us with an ardent desire for this holy and blessed knowledge that the apostle St. Paul so often proposes to us in his Epistles the praises of the gos- pel ; scarcely ever naming it without immediately adding something in its commendation ; as the custom is of those that are ardently attached, never to speak of what they love without giving it some eulogy that testifies both its excellence and their estimation of it. Such is the manner of our St. Paul towards the gospel of his Master. He has his soul so full of the love and admiration of this heavenly doctrine, that he can neither pronounce nor write the name of it, but he accompanies it with praises, as the just and due attentions of its dignity. Of this we have an ex- ample in the text which you have now heard. For having said before that tlie Colossians had heard of the hope which is laid up fur us in heaven by the word of truth, that is, the gospel ; he tlience takes occasion to introduce in this verse something in its commendation, describing to us the diffusion and efficacy of this Divine word of life. " The gospel," he \vrites, " which is come unto you, as it is in all the world ; and bringeth forth fruit, as it doth also in you, since the day ye heard of it, and knew the grace of God in truth." In the two verses which follow, he commends Epaphras, who had by his ministry converted the Colossians to the knowledge of the Lord, bearing a strong testimony to his fidelity and goodness, and mingling with it his praises of the Co- lossians themselves : " As also ye have heard of Epaphras our dear fellow servant, who is for you a faithful minister of Christ; who also hath declared unto us your love in the Spirit." This shall be, if it please the Lord, the subject of this sermon ; and to proceed with it in order, we shall consider the two particulars that present themselves in the text of St. Paul, that is, the praise of the gospel in the former verse, and that of Epaphras in the two next ; al- luding also to what the apostle intermingles with them in commendation of the Colossians. 1. As to the gospel, he touches on two points. First, Its admirable progress, and its great and sud- den spread : It " is come unto you, as it is in all the world." And, secondly, Its Divine efficacy to con- vert men and change their courses of life : " And bringeth forth fruit, as it doth also in you, since the dav ve heard of it, and knew the grace of God in truth." He says therefore, first, that the gospel had come to the Colossians. Secondly, that it had also come into all the world. About the first there is no diffi- culty ; for as there was a church in the city of Colossc, it is evident that the gospel, by which Christian churches are founded and builded, had been preached there. Only we should observe in this event the marvellous goodness of God towards the Colossians; for they were a barbarous and an idolatrous people, very far off from the country and the religion of Israel ; a portion of Phrygia, a province infamous for its abominations, whence had issued the mysteries and infernal devotions of Cybele, called by the Gen- tiles the mother of the gods, the most detestable of all pagan idols, and in whose service were committed the most unclean and shameful horrors. The Co- lossians, as other inhabitants of Phrygia, were im- mersed in this vile gulf, when the Lord vouchsafed to visit them, and make the light of his gospel to arise upon tliem. Whence it appears that the knowledge he gives us of his word is a donation from his mere grace, and not the payment of our vaunted merits. For what had the Colossians, in their deplorable con- dition, that could invite him to communicate to them this rich treasure ? what had they, on the contrary, that might not have diverted him from that design, all of them being saturated with an inveterate love of idols ? You see also the apostle says, not that they had come to the gospel, but that the gospel had come to them ; to show us that it is God who comes to us, who prevents us by his grace, according to the determinate purpose of his good pleasure. The sick go or send to the physician, and solicit the aid of his skill. Here, perfectly contrary, the supreme Physician of souls seeks the sick. He comes to them in his be- nignity. He sends them his ministers, and presents to them his remedies, when they dream of nothing less than of their malady, and the cure necessary for them. " The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost," Luke xix. 10. He despatches his servants to Colosse, and other places, to bear thither his salvation to men who were intent on noihing but their own destruction. He causes him- self to Lie " found of them that sought him not ;" and 8 AN EXPOSITION OF Sebm. II. says " unto a nation that was not called by his name, Behold me, behold me," Isa. Ixv. 1. Let a man search as much as he pleases, he will never be able to find any reason of the dispensation of God in com- municating his gospel at certain times, and to certain places, but his mere good pleasure. And that we may the more carefully note tliis truth, he often directs the light of liis word to those who conducted themselves the worst of all men in the state of na- ture, and hides it from them who seemed less defiled than others. He imparts his gospel to the Colos- sians, to the Ephesians, to the Corinthians, and others, who were of all people the most abandoned to super- stition and vice. He says nothing to the gymno- sophists, the brahmins, or to various others, as well barbarians as Greeks, who at the time were esteemed the most innocent of all mankind, and who, in fact, appear from history to have possessed much more justice and integrity than any other people. Why has God taken this course ? Because if he had acted in a different manner, if he had called only those in whose religious systems and lives was seen a glimmer of exterior goodness, passing by those whose manners had nothing but what was detestable, we should have believed, without doubt, what some cannot even now forbear to say, that the works of men oblige God to call them, and impart to them his gospel; and that, as they speak in the schools of Rome, if in rigour they are not worthy of this favour, yet they merit it at least in a seemliness of equity and con- gruity. The Lord therefore very often fakes a per- fectly opposite course, to make us understand that the persons whom he calls are as devoid of all merit as they are whom he leaves ; and that if he vouch- safes to illuminate any with the light of his gospel, he does so of the sole good pleasure of his grace, and not in the least degree for any of their merits. In- deed it is most certain that no man whatever, in his native depravity, can do any good work, the most splendid of their pretended virtues being only a de- ceitful daub, which by a fair appearance hides de- formity and corruption. It was therefore a miracle of the Divine goodness that this saving doctrine came to the Colossians, who, by tlieir nature, were so far from it; and the apostle reminds them of it, the more to excite their sincere gratitude to the Author of this great benefit. But that which he adds is much more strange and incredible, that the gospel was come into all the world. He makes the same assertion in a succeed- ing verse of this chapter; "The gospel is preached to every creature that is under heaven." And in the 10th chapter of the Epistle to the Romans, he applies to the ministers of the Lord Jesus what the psalmist had sung of the heavens ; " Their sound is gone forth through all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world." And in the 15th chapter of the same Epistle, speaking of himself, he says, " From Jerusalem, and round about it, even to lUyricum, I have fully preached the gospel of Christ ;" and after this he sowed the good seed in the isle of Malta, and at Rome. Now if the other twelve apostles, and the seventy disciples, and the evangelists, laboured each according to his measure in proportion with St. Paul, and that they did so is not to be doubted, it is not astonishing that by that time they should have carried the gospel through the whole world. We read also in the writings of the first Christians, Justin, Clement, Terfullian, and others, that in their time, that is, about one hundred and thirty and one hundred and sixty years after the Lord's death, all places were filled with Christian churches, and that there was no nation among cither the Greeks or the barbarians, nay, the very Scythi- ans or Tartars, where Christ Jesus had not his serv- ants. And though these testimonies cannot be re- jected without extreme arrogance, there being no pro- bability that either St. Paul, or the other writers now mentioned, would have asserted such a fact without reason ; yet, entirely to disarm incredulity, I will add, that the very same statement is made in the books of heathen authors of that age. For Tacitus, a Roman historian, a violent enemy to Christianity, though dispassionate in other things, and of great esteem among his countrymen, has recorded that in the eleventh year of Nero, that is, eight years after the date of this Epistle of St. Paul to the Colossians, a severe search liaving been made, there was found a very great multitude of Christians at Rome.* This is sufficient to justify the statement of the apostle. For as the gospel in the west was able to penetrate quite through the provinces that constituted, as it were, the heart of the Roman empire ; it would more easily extend itself to Parthia and the Indies, where St. Thomas conveyed it; and other eastern parts, where its vestiges remain to this day ; and in Egypt and Ethiopia in the south, where, according to ecclesiastical history, St. Matthew preached it ; and towards the north, which occupied the attention of other disciples. This was almost the whole world tliat was then known by the Greeks and Romans ; and, without doubt, in this sense we are to under- stand the apostle's statement. For as to those ex- tensive countries discovered in the west, about one hundred and fifty years ago, which are commonly called the West Indies, or the New World, it is evi- dent that the ancients had no certain knowledge of them, and it is very probable that they were not peopled at the apostle's time ; the memorials which those nations have preserved of their own history reaching back for not more than four or five hundred years at most. We may therefore conclude, that, taking the world, as it is commonly understood, for countries inhabited and known at the time, the gosi)el had, when the apostle addressed the Colos- sians, come into all the world. The apostle mentions this to the Colossians, first, to confirm them the more in the faith of the gospel. I con- fess that its truth depends not on the success attendant on its promulgation, nor on the number that believe it. Though all the world were to reject it, though heaven and earth were to persecute it, the faith of a Christian should continue firm and unshaken, founded, as it is, on the word of God, and not on the approbation of men ; as, on the contrary, though the universe main- tained error, it would be our duty to reject it, our condemnation to receive it. The command of God is in force for ever, " Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil." But though this is true, yet it is a great consolation to a believer to see the extensive dif- fusion of the truth. And as the admirable power of the Lord is the more impressively manifest in pro- portion to the greater number of converts it brings to his Christ, so it is evident that this extension of the gospel confirms our faith; furnishing us with an eminent testimony of the power of God, and of the efficacy of his word. I add, also, that the success here mentioned by the apostle contains a strong argument for the di- vinity of the gospel, and that in two respects : First, if you consider the thing in itself; it is so great and marvellous that it shows sufficiently that this doctrine is not only true, but even Divine and ce- lestial. When St. Paul wrote this Epistle, it was not full thirty years after Jesus Christ had suffered death in Judea, and yet the gospel, as he says, had • Annil. 1. 15. Chap. I. THE EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIANS. 9 already come into all the world. How could it have made so much way in soliltle time, surmoimted so ma- ny obstacles, flown into so many places infinitely dis- tant, if it had not been of celestial origin, and was not carried by a Divine power? Certainly, as the extension of the light of the sun, that in a short time illumines (he whole hemisphere, and by its rapid motion visits all climes of the globe in four and twenty hours, evidently shows us that it is a work of God, and of a nature altogether diSerent from that of earthly and element- ary things ; so the swift and sudden course of the evangelical doctrine, that filled the world in so little time, penetrated and dissipated its moral darkness, and so speedily made itself visible from one end of the heavens to the other, invincibly proves that it is a Divine and not a human production. Look at all the systems of religion that have ever prevailed in the world, and you will not find one of them that was established in this manner, and that in so short a time was equally progressive. The pagan religions existed only in the countries where they were gener- ated ; and if sometimes they extended farther, their growth was owing rather to the love of novelty in travellers, who transported them from the place of their birth, than to their own native genius and energy. All the celebrated systems of philosophy among the Grecians lived only in the soil that pro- duced them. And the doctrine which the popes of Rome have established in their communion arrived at the state in which we see it only by a long succession of ages ; gaining something in every pe- riod, till it took its present consistence and form, and in which it is maintained, by the terror of inquisitions, the pomp of worldly power, and the favour of the mighty, who find their own interests combined with it. It is only the gospel of the Lord that, from its birth, had the courage and the power to fly every way, penetrating with incredi- ble swiftness all the regions of the habitable world in less than five and twenty years. And here let none allege the seduction of Mohammed, which in- fected the east, and the south, and a part of the west itself, in a very little time. For there is no similarity between the progress of these doctrines. I pass b)' other observable differences. I will touch upon only one of the most essential ; namely, that Mohammed and his successors were unable to advance their im- postures but by the force of arms, and propagated their creed no where except in the countries which they conquered, and among the nations which they subjugated. It was their iron, and not their Koran, that passed through and devastated the world, ^\'as there any thing marvellous or supernatural in their success ? or that a troop of robbers, whom their own necessities, or the cowardice and distractions of others, had fitted for enterprises, should, by force or stratagem, capture certain towns ? or that, elated with their first successes-, and receiving great acces- sions to their numbers, they still advanced, and, pass- ing out of Arabia, they attacked the extremities of the Roman empire, which at that time were almost defenceless ? and that, aided by the disunion and im- becility of their enemies, they found themselves, at the end of three or four score years, in possession of the east and the south ? Surely in all this there was nothing superhuman. In earlier times, Alexander the Macedonian was equally victorious in less than fifteen years, as was Sesostris also, and others both before and after him. It is then no miracle that the religion of the Saracens, borne, if I may so say, on the wings of their victorious ensigns, saw much of tlie world in fifty or sixty years. If we marvel at any thing, it is at the success of their arms, not at the I exploits of their Koran, which never gained admit- tance into any place whose gates were not opened for it by fire and sword. On the contrary, the gospel of the Lord Jesus was not sustained and advanced in the world by military force, the favour of arms, the successes of war, or the achievements of any con- queror. It was not promoted either by the charms of eloquence or the subtilties of philosophy ; in one word, it had no conceivable human succour. Those who carried it were twelve or thirteen fishermen, with a small number of others of no higher rank in life ; without credit, without arms, without cou- rage, without experience ; the ofiscouring and refuse of the world ; mere weakness and imbecility ; who, far from invading the rights of other men, had re- nounced all their own ; who, instead of smiting and slaying, were scourged and stoned at every turn ; and, instead of attacking others, did not resist those who maltreated them; living in very great humility and innocence. With this poor equipage the gospel undertook the conquest of the world, and though it met every where with gates shut and walls garrisoned with all that was terrible to repel it; though the Jews persecuted it, the Gentiles derided it, the great and the little held it in abomination ; though magis- trates banished it, or put it under the most crue. punishments ; though all rent it by outrage and re- proaches ; yet, unprotected as it was, it made itself room, and, in spite of so many dreadful obstructions, ran from east to west, and from south to north. Con- stantly despising all earthly aid, it reigned in a hun- dred and twenty years in every place, before it had one magistrate or captain on its side, and disarming them when it received any ; so far was it from making ad- vantage of their arms or authority. We may affirm therefore that this progress of the gospel is a thing altogether peculiar to itself, never occurring at any time in the world, and with which neither Moham- medanism, nor any other religion, has any thing in common. It follows that this is an evidence of the truth and divinity of this holy doctrine, those that are human neither having nor being able to have that admirable power and energy which are here seen. This will be further evident, if we contemplate this event in another light, inasmuch as it was a manifest accomplishment of the ancient oracles, given by the Lord to his ancient people, and registered in his Scriptures, which foretell, in numerous places, that the Messiah would universally diflfuse the knowledge of the true God, which was before confined within the narrow limits of Judea ; that the nations should walk in his light, and that the " people walking in dark- ness should see a great light," Isa. ix. 2; words which the Lord Jesus, in the days of his flesh, had thus interpreted, " This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world," Matt. xxiv. 14. These predictions, therefore, appearing at that time so punc- tually, so admirably, and in so short a time fulfilled, who can doubt any more whether the Lord Jesus is the true Christ ? and especially since He only re- vealed the God of Israel and his service to the world, and declared that his apostles were the servants of this same God, who, having many ages before pre- dicted these things, so mightily in the fulness of time executed them by their ministry ? But besides the confirmation of the faith of the Colossians in general, I conceive that by this eulogy of the gospel, the apostle designed more particularly to fortify them against the new doctrines which some seducers were sowing in their church. For since other churches, founded in divers parts of the world, had heard nothing of these doctrines, it was very evident that they were not any part of the gospel, that is, of what the apostles preached. Whence we may deduce, as we pass on, an invincible proof, both 10 AN EXPOSITION OF Serm. 11. of the truth of the doctrine which we helieve, and of the vanity of that which we contest with our adver- saries of Rome. For as to what we hold, it is evident that the apostles taught it in all the world, both by word of mouth and by writing, as all the neces- sary, positive, and affirmative articles of our faith fully appear in the monuments of apostolic preach- ing; that is, both in the books which they wrote, and in the churches they founded. As for our ad- versaries, it is no less evident that they can never show that the monarchy or infallibility of their pope, or the adoration of their host, or the service of their images, or their invocation of saints, or purgatory, or the traffic of their indulgences, or any other of the points which we debate with them, was preached in all the world at the time of the holy apostle. Not a single trace of them can be found in any of the books or memorials remaining of that age, or of a long time beyond it ; only a man may perceive them, some ages after, growing up, one in one place and another in another, at various times and in different regions ; an evident sign that they are not parts of the gospel of Jesus Christ, which was fully preached in all the world in St. Paul's lifetime, but the inven- tions and traditions of men that have arrived since. II. Having mentioned this sudden and admirable diffusion of the gospel, the apostle directs us, in the second place, to its efficacy in the places where it had been preached. It is not only " come into all the world," but, which is more, it "brings forth fruit" there, " as it doth also in you." It bears the same fruits there which it has produced among you. You discern that these fruits of the gospel are nothing but that faith, love, integrity, modesty, temperance, and other spiritual graces, which it produces in the souls of those who hear it and receive it as they ought, and in which the sanctification of men consists. It is this energy of the gospel which the Lord would represent to us in the parable of the seed, to which he compares it, Matt. xiii. ; and which, according to the various properties of the places where it fell, brought forth more or less fruit ; in some a hundred, fold, in other sixty, and elsewhere but thirty. Never was seen a thing more marvellous. In a few years the gospel transformed the whole earth. It crowned plants with flowers and fruits that were barren and accursed. It filled the deserts, the plains, and the most desolate heaths with exquisite and delicious trees. That which the laws of nations, that which the most excellent philosophy had for many ages cultivated in vain, no sooner felt the hand of these evangelical vine-dressers and husbandmen, than, losing the austerity of its primi- tive juices, it became bland, and was laden with celes- tial fruits. Piety, sweetness, and philanthropy were seen to flourish where nothing had ever appeared but the horrors of superstition, of atheism, of cruelty, and of all other vices. This is the change which the Lord had foretold in Isaiah, in those figurative words, " I will plant in the wilderness the cedar, the shittah tree, and the myrtle, and the oil tree ; I will set in the desert the fir tree, the pine, and the box tree together," Isa. xli. 19. And elsewhere, comparing the gospel to rain that waters the earth, and makes it bud and bring forth fruit, he says, " So shall my word be that goeth forth out of mouth : it shall not return unto me void, but it shall do all my pleasure, and prosper in the things for which I send it," Isa. Iv. 10, 11. And this Divine fruitfulness of the evan- gelical doctrine, which miraculously changed the world, is also a most evident argument for its truth, and its heavenly origin ; for never has a system of religion or morals been known in our world possess- ing 80 animative and universal an efficacy. But the apostle particularly commends the fruits which it had brought forth among the Colossians : " It bringeth forth in you, since the day that you heard and knew the grace of God in truth." He praises both their teachableness, for this word had produced fruit in them from the first day they heard it ; and their constancy, for it still continued to yield fruit. The earth produces not fruit as soon as it re- ceives seed ; there must be time to mollify the grain, to make it germinate, to invigorate it, and decorate it with fruits. It is not so in this spiritual husbandry. The gospel, from the very moment that it is rightly received into your heart, will produce fruit. Receive it, then, faithful brethren. Defer not till to-morrow. This day, while you hear the voice of the Lord, " harden not your hearts," Psal. xcv. 7, 8- It is one of the most pernicious artifices of the enemy, to sug- gest to men that they defer their conversion to the future. Give me, says he, this day, and give God the next. Give me the present, and him the future ; to me the flower and vigour of thy life, to him the remnant and thine old age. So men find at last, when all has been given to Satan and the world, nothing remains for them to give the Lord, to whom they have left only the future, that is, what was not theirs ; disposing of the present, which alone was in their power, to the service of their mortal enemy. Christians, take ye heed of his wiles, and hasten out of his snares. Imitate these faithful Colossians. Receive the word of God so deeply into your hearts, that it may bring forth fruit there from this very day. You cannot be the Lord's too soon. Put not off the design of being happy to another time ; consider that time flies, and life escapes, and death comes, while you deliberate. But if we are required at once to bear fruit worthy of the gospel, it follows not that we may soon after cease to do so, as certain trees, which, if they are the first to flourish, are also the first to fade. The plants of the Lord soon begin, but never cease to yield fruit. They bring forth fruit in the hoariness of old age ; and are even then " fat and flourishing," as the psalmist sings, Psal. xcii. 14. If you have embraced the gospel with ardour, retain it with invincible constancy. For salvation is prepared for none but those who per- severe, who retain the verdure of heavenly principles, in defiance of the scorching heats of summer and the chills of winter ; so that no season, however severe and adverse, ever strips them of their spiritual flowers and fruits. As to what remains, the apostle calls the faith of the gospel " the knowledge of the grace of God," because it is not possible to enjoy this heavenly doctrine, if a man has not received and experienced the mercy which it offers us in Jesus Christ. This grace is the heart and substance of the gospel. Whence it appears, that to thrust into it the doctrine of the satisfactions and the merits of men, is to corrupt it and to change its nature, for these things are wholly incompatible with grace, or such as at least extremely darken and enfeeble it. When he says that they " heard and knew the grace of God in truth," he means, either that they received it truly, in sincerity of heart, without hypocrisy, or that they knew that this grace was delivered to them pure and sincere, without any mixture, either of Pharisaical supelstition or philosophical vanity; or, finally, so as it is declared in the gospel, not in error, and in fictions, and lies, as in false religions, nor in shadow and in figure, as in the law of Moses ; but nakedly and simply, as it is in itself. Of these three expositions, all good and convenient, the first is com- mendatory of the Colossians, the second of Epaphraa their pastor, and the third is to the praise of the gospel itself. I Chap. I. THE EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIANS. II As to Epaphras, he speaks of him by name in the second part of this text, consisting of the last two verses. And to commend him to the Colossians, and secure to him their hearts and regard, he bears a strong testimony to his fidelity, his sincerity, and his goodness: " As ye also learned of Epaphras our dear fellow servant, who is for you a faithful minis- ter of Christ, who also hath declared unto us your love in the Spirit." This holy apostle knew how very important it is that churches should, for their edification, have a good opinion of their pastors ; and with what artifices the enemy usually labours to decry the faithful servants of God, and ruin their reputation amono; their flocks : on this account he here exalts Epaphras as his piety deserved ; and, to remove from the Colossians all suspicion against the purity of his teachings, expressly assures them that the doctrine which they had learned of him was the 7ery same gospel of which he had spoken. And from this great anxiety of the apostle for the reputa- tion of Epaphras, the ministers of the Lord should learn the necessity of insuring the high and cordial esteem of their people ; abstaining not from evil only, but also from its appearances, and whatever might cause them to be suspected of it. It is not enough to obtain the approval of our own conscience, we should also be prepared to satisfy the judgment of our neighbours. Innocence is necessary for our- selves, and reputation for others. And since it serves to edify them, we are evidently bound to preserve, not only our own, but also the reputation of our fel- low brethren, whom God has appointed to the same office. And who does not see that if we bite and rend one another, the disgraceful conduct of indi- viduals will involve us all in one common infamy and ruin ? And you see also that as the reputation of pastors is a public good, tending to the edification of the whole church, each believer owes it a peculiar respect, and that the crime of those who unjustly violate it is a kind of sacrilege. It is robbing the church, stealing from it its means of edification, to calumniate the life and doctrine of them who serve it, or to expose them to ridicule and contempt by your defamations. But to return to Epaphras ; the apostle honours him with two or three very great eulogies. First, he calls him his " dear fellow servant." Admire, I be- seech you, the ingenuousness, the kindness, the hu- mility, and modesty of this holy man. His ingenu- ousness; for whereas there is commonly a jealousy between persons of the same profession, St. Paul, contrarily, acknowledges and exalts the gifts and piety of this servant of God. His kindness ; for he tenderly loves him, and every where plainly shows that of all men there were none whom he more tenderly esteemed than the faithful ministers of the gospel. Finally, his humility ; in that being raised to the throne of apostolic dignity, the highest in the church, he makes Epaphras, as it were, to sit there with him, owning him for his fellow. Next he styles him a " minister of Christ." It was much to be fel- low servant with St. Paul, but it is much more to be the minister of Christ, the Lord of glory, the Head of the church, the sovereign Monarch of men and angels. Judge with what reason some of our adver- saries deride the title that we assume, denominating ourselves ministers of Christ, or of his gospel, since it is the word that the apostle expressly uses here, to denote that holy service to which God has called us. But he calls not Epaphras simply a " minister of Christ," he says moreover that he is a " faithful minister:" the appellation of minister was his in common with many others, the praise of faithfulness with few. It is all that the apostle required in a good steward of the house of God : " Let a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God. ^Moreover it is re- quired in stewards, that each one be found faithful," 1 Cor. iv. 1,2. To have this praise the minister of the Lord must, first, seek the glory of his Master, and not his own : and, secondly, he must keep close to his orders ; not parsimoniously concealing from his sheep any of the things committed to him for their edification ; and without setting before them any thing of his own invention beyond, or contrary to, the will of the chief Shepherd. But though all these good qualities greatly recommended Epaphras to the Colossians, yet the apostle adds another, which, no less than the former, obliged them tenderly to love and cherish him, namely, that he employed the Master's talents to their edification : " He is a faith- ful minister of Christ for i/ou." They ought there- fore to love him both for the dignity of his office, and for the profit that thereby came to them. For though we are bound to love and respect all the faith- ful servants of God in general, yet, doubtless, we owe them particular affection and reverence who specially consecrate their ministry to our edification. In fine, the apostle tells them that this holy servant of God had informed him of the pure and spiritual love they bore him. He " hath declared to us" (^that is, both to him and to Timothy) " your love in the Spirit." I conceive that by love he means here, not the Christian grace which we ordinarily call by this name, (for of the love of the Colossians, in that ac- ceptation of the word, he had already spoken in the 4th verse,) but the affection which these believers had for St. Paul. And he calls it a " love in Spirit," that is, spiritual ; because it was founded on the Spirit, and not on the flesh ; upon the interests of heaven, and not on those of earth. And here con- sider, I beseech you, how prompt and active Epa- phras was to cement spiritual friendships. The Colossians had never seen St. Paul ; doubtless it was he who had recounted to them the eminent virtue and piety of this great man, and by this means had en- kindled in their souls that holy and spiritual love which they felt for him. And behold, also, how, by his narration of the love that these believers bore to him, he excites in his soul a corresponding affection for them. O holy and blessed tongue, that sowest nothing in the hearts of the faithful but charity and love, how far from thy candour and goodness are those mouths of hell of these days, that inspire nothing but hatred, and kindle nothing but animosity, envy, and revenge, in the souls of all on whom they breathe ; who busy themselves in making dissensions among brethren, in dividing and arming against each other those whom nature or grace has most strictly united ! But it is time to conclude this discourse. That which you have heard may, I think, suffice for your understanding this text. Nothing remains for me, but to conjure you to seek most earnestly to profit by it, and to draw from this subject the holy uses which it contains, whether for correction in the duties of life, or the consolation of your souls. The gospel of Jesus Christ is come unto you ; the same gospel which aforetime changed the world, which abolished idolatry and paganism, and made the knowledge and sers-ice of the true God every where to flourish. The Lord has raised you up Epaphrases, faithful minis- ters of his word, who have published it to your fathers and to you with exquisite sincerity and truth entirely, as Paul preached it to the nations, without any leaven of superstition or error, acquitting themselves in their stewardship with so much uprightness of conscience, with so much zeal and ardour, that I assure myself, were the great apostle now on earth, he would do 12 AN EXPOSITION OP Serm. II. them the honour to own them for his dear fellow la- bourers. You have seen this sacred doctrine repeat the evidences of its divinity by the swiftness of its course, and its mighty efficacy. In a short time it flew through all Christendom, and, in spite of the oppositions of hell and earth, raised up every where noble and flourishing churches to the Lord. We may Bay particularly of your church, that the gospel yield- ed fruit in it from the day that it was heard there. The blood and the sufferings of so many of the faithful, who therewith nobly sealed its truth, their charity, their zeal, their good and holy works, still fresh in our memories, are unexceptionable testi- monies of this fact. But I know not whether I may justly add what the apostle says here of his Colos- sians, that the gospel bringeth forth fruit still in you ; for those few fruits which it produces here are choked up with so many thorns and briers, so many sins and vices, that they scarcely deserve to be con- sidered. I mean not that the gospel itself is changed. It has still that immortal energy which God gave it, to germinate, and grow up, and produce the fruits of righteousness and life. It is ever the incorruptible seed of God, liis word living and abiding for ever, full of efficacy and vigour. Whence then comes this sterility? Dear brethren, it comes from the bad quality of our ground, and not from the weakness of the heavenly seed. The gospel is not yielding fruit among us, because it falls in stony places, and by the highways, or among thorns ; on souls full of worldly lusts or carnal cares ; or it is exposed to the feet of evil spirits, who are ever going to and fro in the land ; or it is frozen and hardened with the fear of temporal evils. This is, Christians, the true cause of our barrenness. Let us then cleanse our hearts, and, as a prophet says, "break up our fallow grounds," Hos. x. 12; Jer. iv. 3. Let us pluck up the thorns which the world has pl.'mted there, avarice, the desire and de- ceitfulness of riches, ambition, and the love of our flesh, sensuality, and vanity. When you receive the gospel into souls so prepared for it it will not fail to show its fecundity ; it will bring forth its fruit abund- antly, in some an hundred for one, in others sixty, in others thirty. Without this it is in vain that we boast us of Jesus Christ and of his word ; his word is given to us that it may bring forth fruit. If we con- tinue barren, far from proving beneficial to us, it will aggravate our condemnation, and draw upon us a judgment terrible in proportion to the plenty in which it was communicated to us. Remember that dreadful threatening, verified in the lamentable ex- perience of multitudes, which the apostle denounced to the Hebrews : The earth that bringeth forth thorns and thistles "is rejected, and nigh unto cursing; whose end is to be burned," Heb. vi. 8. " It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God," ■who is the most severe to punish the contempt of his word, when he has been the most liberal in impart- ing it to men. For not continuing to bear fruits worthy of their vocation, these very Colossians, whose faith and love the apostle here commends, and their neighbours, the Laodiceans and the people of Hiera- polis, saw, some years afterwards, their cities de- molished and buried by a tremendous earthquake. And all those noble churches of Asia, so much cele- brated in the Acts and the Apocalypse, are at this day desolate, for not having profited by the gospel ; and God has already begun to avenge this con- tempt of his word in various places in Christendom, which the briers and thorns of the old supersti- tion now cover again, instead of the gospel which lately flourished there. God forbid, dear brethren, that we should fall into the like condemnation. To prevent it, let us recover the zeal of our fathers; let us do our first works. Let the gospel again be fruit- ful in the midst of us, abundantly prolific in love, meekness, honesty, peace, humility, patience, alms, prayer, fasting, sobriety, chastity, and the other fruits of the Spirit; and, above all, a spiritual love of St. Paul and the other apostles who report the gospel to us, that we may respect them and walk in their doctrine, and in concord and love among ourselves. If we make this use of the gospel, God will take pleasure in the midst of us. He will daily visit us, he will cherish us, as his paradise, his heritage, the garden of his delights. He will pour out upon us here below graces of all kinds, blessings in abund- ance. And after having seen us fruitful on earth, he will one day transplant us into heaven, that we may for ever live and flourish in the courts of his own blessed and eternal habitation. Amen. SERMON III. Verse 9. For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in ail wisdom and spiritual understanding. The love of beauty and excellence is so natural to us, that we cannot discover so much as the earlvest germs of them any where but with delight; and the secret pleasure they excite within us always makes us wish for their growth and their perfection, unless envy, or some other malignant passion, check the natural emotions of our hearts. Thus when we see lovely and docile children, there is no soul having any of the sympathies of man that is not delighted, and utters a similar prayer for them to that which Joseph offered for Benjamin, when he was presented to him by his brethren, "God be gracious unto thee, my son," Gen. xliii. 29. From such sentiments, flow those benedictions which we cordially pronounce on persons that are employed in beneficial affairs, whether natural or civil ; as when, with the psalmist, we see the busy reapers of a luxuriant field in harvest time, and address them, "The blessing of the Lord be upon you; we bless you in the name of the Lord," Psal. cxxix. 8. But if natural beauty and perfection engage our affections and good wishes to those in whom we per- ceive them, the gifts of Divine grace, which are in- comparably more excellent, should much more affect us, and kindle in our hearts more ardent flames of love and of desire for those that possess them. For as high as heaven is above the earth, and as much as eternity is preferable to time, so much advantage have the beauties and perfections of grace above those of nature. If therefore we estimate them ac- cording to their worth, we cannot see them shine out in any without advancing towards them, and attach- ing ourselves to them as holy and as happy persons. An eminent example of this motion of Christian love we have in our text; for the apostle Paul here shows us that he was no sooner informed by Epaphras of the faith and love of the Colossians, than his soul was seized with ardent love to them ; and being hin- dered by his absence from giving them other evi- dences of his affection, he presented incessant and earnest prayers to God for their advancement and perfection in piety ; that is, for the continuation and the perpetuity of their felicity. Chap. I. THE EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIANS. The sum of his desires for them is contained in three verses, each verse evidently relating to a dis- tinct kind of benefits : for he wishes them, first, in the 9th verse, the benefits that respect a perfect knowledge of the truth ; then, in the 10th, those that respect the exercise of sanctity ; and, finally, in the 11th, such as concern perseverance in faith, and pa- tience in afflictions. For the present, we will medi- tate only on the first of these three articles, deferring the two next to another discourse : " And for this cause," saith the apostle, "we also, since the day we heard it, cease not to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding." For the right understanding of this text, we will consider in it three particulars, by the help of the grace of God, which we implore to produce this effect. First, The motive of the apostle's prayers. Secondly, Their form, manner, and quality. And, finally, which is the most important, the subject of them, that is, the blessings which he requested of God for them. I. The motive that induced the apostle to pray for the Colossians, he expresses in these first words : " And for this cause, since the day we heard it, we cease not to pray for you." For these words send- ing us back to the former verses, with which they are connected, teach us that the information which the apostle had received from Epaphras, of the faith of the Colossians towards Jesus Christ, and of their love towards the saints, of their heavenly hope, and their other spiritual graces, of which he spake before, that this knowledge, I say, having filled him with love towards them, made him continually pour out prayers before God to complete their salvation. I confess the affection they bore him in particular, and which he mentions in the verse immediately pre- ceding, contributed something to his anxiety to pray for them. But its principal cause was their piety and sanctification, because they had the first-fruits of the Spirit, and the beginnings of the kingdom of heaven. Seeing the foundations of the gospel, and of the building of God, so happily laid and estab- lished among them, he beseeches the supreme Mas- ter and Architect of this spiritual work by his power to finish it. The same reason made him also present his prayers to God for the Ephesians, as he testifies at the beginning of the Epistle which he wrote them, using almost all the same words that he does here. Having "heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints, I cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers ; that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation," Eph. i. 15—17. Faithful brethren, learn by this example of the apostle to pray to the Lord principally for those in whom you see the work of his Spirit manifest. Rejoice ye for their faith and zeal, and love them for the integrity and purity of their life ; but remember that the first and principal office which your love owes them is the continual succour of your prayers. Object not that they are too far advanced to need them. During the course of this life, the progress of a Christian is never so great that the prayers of his brethreii for him are un- necessary. When he is most advanced, the enemy makes most attempts, and lays most in ambush for him. The nearer he is to the crown, the more need he has of Divine assistance. As there are none in the lists whom we favour more with our wishes, acclamations, and applause, than those who come nearest to victory ; so in this career of the gospel, we should love those most who run best, and accompany with our vows, prayers, and benedictions those who are nearest to the mark of the heavenly calling. We never utter more wishes for a vessel than when after a long and dangerous voyage it arrives near our coast, or we see it ready to come into the haven. When the believer, having escaped the shoals and tempests of the world, steers the direct course for heaven, and makes, (if we may so say,) with oars and sails, for the port of salvation, it is then we should redouble our wishes and benedictions for his safety ; it is then we should fear more than ever lest some accident mar his progress, and bereave him of the reward of all his pains. II. But let us now consider, in the second place. The manner and quality of the apostle's prayers : " Since the day that we heard this good news, we cease not to pray for you." First, he did not pray alone. " Jf'e cease not to pray ;" where you see he speaks of more praying with him, comprising in this number Timothy, whom he had expressly named at the beginning of this Epistle, and the other believers who were at Rome with him. Urged by one and the same love, animated with one and the same desire, they all lifted up their hearts and voices to God wit'n the apostle for tne spiritual prosperity of the Colos- sians. As there is nothing on earth more grateful to the Lord than this divine concert of many souls thus mingling their voices and supplications, so there is nothing more effectual to draw down his blessing and obtain his graces in the behalf of our neighbours. " If two of you agree on earth concerning any thing that they shall ask," saith our Lord, " it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven," Matt, xviii. 19. In addition to the conjunction of believers who prayed unanimously with the apostle for the Colossians, they had also two other qualities which gave them much power ; assiduity, and the devotion of heart from which they issued. He expresses their assiduity in prayer, when he says that he " ceased not to pray for them, since the day he heard of" their piety, of their zeal in the gospel. As soon as he was informed of it, he deferred not this duty to another time. He commenced praying for them immediately, and pleading with God for the completion of their faith ; so ardently did this holy soul love all who bore the badges of his Lord. But he was not satisfied with praying once or twice for the salvation of these dear disciples of his Master. He went on constantly, and ceased not to solicit the goodness of God for them. For it is not enough that Moses lift up his hands once or twice for Joshua's victory: for the entire defeat of Amalek, this holy man must continue to hold his hands stretched out towards heaven. Hence Isaiah commands the watch- men of Jerusalem, that is, its pastors, not to hold their peace, nor give the Lord any rest, " till he establish and make Jerusalem a praise in the earth," Isa. Ixii. 6, 7- And our Sover3lp;^n Master expressly teaches us in one of his evangelical parables that we " ought always to pray, and not to faint," Luke xviii. 1. And his apostle enjoins us to " continue in prayer," Col. iv. 2; and elsewhere, to "continue in- stant in prayer," Rom. xii. 12; and again in another place, to " pray without ceasing," 1 Thess. v. 17. So you see he very carefully practised himself what he commanded j;h:rs. Think not that this holy man was on his knees from morning to evening employing himself in nothing but the recital of prayers, as the Messalians or Euchites did, a sect of heretics con demned by the ancient church, who professed to bt always in prayer, and under this fair mask concealed a most profound and infamous laziness. The greater part of the monks of the communion of Rome at thi